Chapter Text
At the Castle of Corona…
Soon the fanfare started, and Princess Rapunzel appeared with Eugene as the part seemed all ready to get started. Everyone was having a good time chatting, the princess and her boyfriend looked like they wanted to talk to Varian, though he really didn’t want to. He just wanted to give the present, have some cake, and then leave.
But then things began to get all the more complicated.
Cassandra came and everything would be different.
Varian felt a weight on his chest, like ghostly fingers desired to take his heart and tear it from his very body… Of course, Cassandra would come for him, after all, he was the true Moonstone, he wielded the power without any side effects (like having your very life being sucked out of you like a leech) and didn’t even have the Moonstone. The boy king was being shielded by his guards and by Eugene, such an act that did not go unnoticed by the boy. It seemed that the birthday boy wanted to prove himself.
Hmm…
“Hey Raps, Kid.” Cassandra greeted the royals in a cold, stony tone as the shadow of death loomed over her like a vulture in the night.
“Cass.” Rapunzel breathed while Varian crossed his arms.
“You certainly have looked better. Feeling the price of power, yet?” Varian mocked the woman, who tried to spike his face but was intercepted by another, his own, “You know that’s not going to work on me, Cassy. You’re not nearly as strong as me.”
“Kid, careful,” Eugene warned him as both black rocks disappeared.
Cassandra scoffed and moved towards the cake.
“What are you doing here?” Rapunzel questioned her former handmaiden, who pulled out her sword.
“I thought I had some delicious cake and talk business.” The owner of the Moonstone jeered at the princess whom he once saw as a friend.
“You have a funny way of showing it, Cass and you look pretty funny too.” Varian interjected while earning a scowl from her, “Hard to feel fear from a dying woman.”
“…So, you noticed.”
“And you figured it out. The very power you’ve been hungering for, your oh-so-proclaimed ‘Destiny’ is killing you. It’s leeching you dry because it knows that it doesn’t belong to you, it is mine, how to explain it without sounding morbid… ah, the heck with it, it’s my true heart.” Varian clarified as he created a black rock plate, causing it to levitate and slice himself a piece of cake before returning, “Huh, maybe I should do kid’s parties.”
“I know all these things,” Cassandra growled at him.
“Oh, really? You think I would make a great performer. Well, I do have an electric personality, and I do know how to make a good entrance-.” Varian joked
“I meant about what the stone is doing to me! …tch. That is why I’m here.” Cass sighed as she approached the boy, well aware but unfazed by his protectors.
“You want me to help? Okay, just give me the stone and I can reverse it but then I would have to take back the Moonstone for good-.”
“No.”
“Okay, interrupting me. That is getting very annoying. Look, you don’t have a choice. That’s my power, my stone. I am the real moondrop and it’s time to give back what you stole.” Varian frustratingly detailed while holding out his hand.
“Oh, but I do have a choice for there is a way,” Cass smirked while her ghostly friend smirked a sinister grin.
“hAIL gREAT zHAN tIRI!!!”
“hAIL gREAT zHAN tIRI!!!”
“hAIL gREAT zHAN tIRI!!!”
“hAIL gREAT zHAN tIRI!!!”
Varian shook his head a little, trying to shake his nightmare away.
“Oh, and how are you going to do that?” Varian questioned his former friend.
“Does the Demanitus Scroll ring any bells?” Cass reminded him of the cheat sheet that holds every single secret of the two stones.
“…So, that’s it.”
“Yes.”
Cassandra and Varian stared down at each other, the other ready to kill…
“Cass, please, you don’t have to do this. Let us help. Varian is right, the moonstone is killing you, it wants Varian.” Rapunzel pleaded to her friend.
But she was not interested.
“You have until sunrise tomorrow to deliver the scroll to me or I will be back and this time, ready to draw blood.”
“Cass-.”
But before anyone could do anything, she was gone.
“This is really bad,” Eugene muttered while Varian frowned and crossed his arms again.
“That it is.” Varian agreed, “Time for a refresher on the scroll.”
“hAIL gREAT zHAN tIRI!!!”
“hAIL gREAT zHAN tIRI!!!”
“hAIL gREAT zHAN tIRI!!!”
“hAIL gREAT zHAN tIRI!!!”
Why don’t the nightmare voices leave him be?