^He's so focused
"My theory is that the red rocks can make someone see their worst fear through an illusion of some kind," Varian says as we walk down the street, Ruddiger prancing along beside us.
I nod in agreement. "So, that must be why we both had nightmares last night. The influence of those rocks affected our subconscious."
"I hadn't thought of that before, but I bet you're right." Varian comments, resting his chin in his hand as we walk. I study his face as he does so, watching his all too familiar 'deep in thought' expression. Something about seeing the boy so deep in thought intrigues me and gives me a sense of admiration for him. "Now we just need to figure out where they've come from."
I think for a moment. "I bet it was Cassandra. If she has the moonstone, then she probably has all the powers that come with it."
"But then..." He trails off. Varian stops in his tracks and quickly glances around.
I stop beside him. "What's wrong?"
Varian's breath hitches. "Ruddiger. Where is he?"
"I don't know..." I worriedly say. "Maybe he ran off to find Dandelion?"
"This is bad, this is really really bad." Varian nervously mutters.
"I'm sure he'll come back eventually-"
The alchemist cuts me off. "But what if he's lost somewhere? Those red rocks are growing more common by the second! I don't wanna lose track of him for even a moment."
I place my hands on his shoulders reassuringly. "Don't worry, Var. I'll help you find him." I give him a comforting smile and Varian seems to calm down for the time being.
"Okay."
The two of us begin wandering the streets, calling Ruddiger's name, hoping to find him. After several minutes of searching, I suddenly hear a chattering noise. I hold my arm out, stopping Varian in his tracks. "What is it?" He asks.
I quickly shush him and slowly point up toward one of the rooftops, where a furry creature with a striped tail is resting.
"Ruddiger!" Varian exclaims, trying to call his little buddy. Instead of coming to him as I expect, Ruddiger dashes away from us, running along the rooftops. "Ruddiger!! Get your bushy tail back here!!" Varian calls, quickly grabbing my hand and chasing after the raccoon. "Hey! Buddy, where are you headed?"
We chase after him as quickly as our legs can take us. "Hurry!" I cry, pointing after Ruddiger's tail.
We turn a corner and practically crash into Feldspar and a village woman holding her baby. Varian skids to a stop, and nervously chuckles. "Oh! Sorry. Hi." He waves.
"Don't you have a kingdom to overthrow or something?" Feldspar scoffs.
Varian looks taken aback for a moment. He laughs a bit and tries to play Fedlspar's comment off as a joke. "Heh, yeah...you haven't seen a raccoon around, have you?"
The woman 'humphs' in reply, and her baby suddenly bursts into tears.
Varian's eyes widen, him clearly getting uncomfortable with the whole situation. "Okay...uh...n-never mind." He says, walking away.
As Varian leaves, I angrily turn to Feldspar and the woman. "What was that all about?!"
"I prefer to not solicit with anarchists." Feldspar spits, his voice laced with venom. The shoemaker crosses his arms over his chest.
"Varian isn't an anarchist!!" I exclaim. "He helped save this kingdom from the Saporians while you people were busy hiding!"
"He also helped them take over." The woman scoffs.
"You are unbelievable! How long will it take you people to forgive him?! He's more than proved himself worthy of a second chance!" I cry.
"This is ridiculous!" Feldspar says with exasperation. "I didn't come here to get harassed."
"Oh for the love of..." I sigh. "I don't have time for this," I growl, stomping away from them. What will it take for them to just move on? The battle wasn't even on this island where they live! How hard can it be for them to at least try and forgive Varian?
I quickly run after Varian and soon catch up to him. "Sorry..." I pant.
"You don't have to stand up for me, Angel," Varian says. "I don't want you ruining your reputation by defending me." He sighs, not glancing my way. He keeps his eyes fixated on the road ahead, as though he couldn't bear to see my face.
"I don't care about what they think of me if they don't even have the common decency to be civil adults." I scoff.
"But you're a princess! You have a big reputation to uphold." He exclaims. "Those people are watching you like a hawk. If you keep defending me, it's going to look bad on you." The boy sighs again, still not meeting my gaze. "They already hate me. I don't want them to hate you too."
I gently smile at him. "I appreciate it, Var, but don't care what they think of me. The only people whose opinions I care about are the people I care about. Which includes you." Before I can see the blush that has formed on Varian's freckled cheeks, I stop dead in my tracks. "Is that...Ruddiger?" I point at a red-tinted striped tail poking out from behind the red rocks.
Varian breathes a sigh of relief and runs over to the raccoon. "Hey, buddy! I was looking for you-" he stops as he gets a closer look at Ruddiger. "Wha-what are you..." he waves his hand in front of Ruddiger's face. "Hello? What's wrong?"
I approach the two and examine Ruddiger's face, frozen in fear. "What in the world...?" I mutter. I gently tap the top of Ruddiger's head, only to not receive a response. "He's the same color as the rocks...I think he's frozen because of them."
Varian picks up the raccoon and flinches when we hear a crash followed by several screams. We quickly run onto Main Street, where several villagers are frantically running around screaming as though they are being chased by an invisible force. "What is going on?!" I ask.
"It's Rapunzel!" Varian suddenly exclaims, pointing to a very concerned-looking princess. "Maybe she can help!"
We quickly run over to my sister, who is trying to calm a very stressed-out Eugene down. "These rocks are messing with our heads-" Rapunzel turns around and comes face to face with Ruddiger and lets out a loud yelp.
"Sorry, sorry." Varian quickly apologizes, lowering Ruddiger a bit. "Just me and (yn). Hi."
"And, uh, Ruddiger..." I add as Varian places the frozen raccoon on a barrel.
"Kinda."
Rapunzel stares at Ruddiger with worry evident on her face. "Is he okay? What happened?"
"Uh, we aren't quite sure..." I nervously say. "We think it has something to do with these new rocks."
"I've only been able to study them for a few hours, but their effects appear to be..." Varian's eyes shift to Ruddiger. As he glances at his frozen buddy, he swallows the lump in his throat. "...extremely dangerous."
"Oh yeah?!" Eugene frantically asks. "More dangerous than bringing people's greatest fears to life?!"
"Yes, well, if people remain under that fear spell for too long..." Varian's lip quivers as he stares at his furry friend.
"It looks like they'll become frozen with terror," I say, finishing for Varian. "...permanently."
Rapunzel, ever the optimist, places her hands on her hips with determination. "Well, gang, then it sounds to me like we need to find a way to turn these fearful frowns upside down!" She exclaims, trying to mold Ruddiger's terrified face into a smile.
I wince in horror. "Oh boy..." While I admire my sister's can-do attitude, I can't help but feel bad for poor Ruddiger.
As Rapunzel steps back to admire her work, she nervously chuckles. "Okay, yep. Sorry. That just wound up making him look creepier."
:-:-:-:-:
"Now, theoretically, if we sever this chain of rocks," Varian looks to the diagram of underground tunnels Rapunzel drew up, and circles one of the tunnels that hits a huge patch of rocks. "Using one of my alchemical solutions, then we can cut off the red rocks' fear power." He triumphantly says.
Rapunzel smirks. "Oh, we can so cut off their power."
"We'll need to take the deepest cavern," I comment. "The farther down we go to stop those rocks the better."
"Deep cavern..." Rapunzel looks at Eugene, trying to think of a place to go. Her eyes suddenly light up. "I know just the place!"
Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream cuts through the halls of the castle. "Someone's in trouble!" I exclaim, already standing up. I quickly run out of the study to follow the screams. Rapunzel, Eugene, and Varian quickly follow after me, right as we find the source of the desperate cries.
One of the maids is leaning against a red rock, frantically screaming about whatever illusion the rocks were showing her. "No, no, no, no, no!!!" She cries. Suddenly, she freezes in place, turning a bright red color.
"Oh, this is bad..." Varian nervously says, running his fingers through his black hair.
"Oh no..." Rapunzel mutters, placing a hand on the now-frozen maid. "It's getting worse." She turns to us. "We can't let this happen to anybody else. Varian, (Yn), your plan starts now."
Varian and I glance at each other and exchange a nod. "Let's do this."