BUCKLE UP MY DUDES, BECAUSE I WENT FOR SOME ANGST IN THIS ONE!

This chapter came a bit earlier than planned but I couldn't just miss the opportunity to fit it into iVariantology/i. So, here it is, my Day 17. (Check out Project OBSIDIAN!)

️ TW: Drowning, choking

Varian wasn't sure why, but at first, he wanted to snatch the portrait out of the Queen's grip and hide it. It looked odd in her hands; it felt wrong that she even held it and addressed its existence.

For some reason, it was private—more private than the hardened resin in the middle of his lab, more private than his dad's chest he had rummaged through, more private than the family portrait hanging above it. It was not to be seen by anyone besides him.

But then, Varian felt alone as he locked stares with the flat, painted version of his parents.

It was a different kind of alone though—a new kind, with a tender weight of an unfamiliar hand on his shoulder. Varian didn't even realize how it had happened, or when he had let her in on his alone and allowed her to join the soft strokes of a fluffy tail somewhere around his calf.

"Would he forgive you?"

It wasn't easy to be rude to her. Queen Arianna, whom he had taken captive, whom he'd threatened, who had been so confused about it all, who had seemed so infuriatingly innocent…

Honesty came easier than spite. "I'm not sure."

Varian's father always forgave him. He was disappointed, sometimes annoyed, sometimes ashamed, but when Varian really thought about it, he was always forgiven. About mom, he didn't know a thing.

"He told me not to mess with the rocks," he said, and that's when he dreadfully realized that she was looking at him, at his dad, and at his mom. The portrait shook as Varian took it in his hands.

No, he thought distantly. He would not cry over it now, not in front of her.

"He told me not to." And with that, he let the paper fall back onto the table, pressed his palms to his face, and cried, right then, in front of her.

-x-

Arianna awoke to an unusual brightness, soft sheets bathing in the morning light. A gentle breeze caressed her cheeks. She smiled. It must've been the first time in years that Frederic had left the balcony door open for the night.

"Fred—" She turned around to snuggle to him, but what her hand met was not her husband's strong shoulder. A flower had been placed on Frederic's pillow, its pink edges beautifully contrasting with the pastel yellow petals.

Arianna sat up in the bed, then lifted the plant to her face. She closed her eyes as she smelled it. Rising moon lilies always reminded her of the flower that had gifted her with so much happiness. "Oh, Frederic," she whispered.

He must've thought that she could use something to comfort her after her confrontation yesterday. After all, she still hadn't told him much about how it went, how it was like to talk to—

Arianna froze under her light duvet as a realization struck her.

The night had passed. And she slept through it all.

There were no shimmery clouds of green in dark corridors, no harsh rope or heavy chains. Her dreams had been void of Rapunzel's groans of pain and purple goo at Frederic's feet; no sword had flown her way, no amber had crept toward her.

All she could remember from her dreams were sets of honest eyes and long talks, ones she wanted to finish.

"Varian," she tested out loud. The name rang different, new and brave, strangely loud in the calmness of the royal bed-chamber. "Varian. Old Corona. Amber."

Her gaze fell upon her beautiful lily. "Sundrop," Arianna finished with newfound confidence.

And she didn't shudder.

She only brought a hand to her chest, surrounded by the lovely smell of the flower, and let a relieved tear drip down to her widening smile.

-x-

"I will get you out, I promise." Reluctantly, Varian allowed his hand to part with the amber's surface.

A stolen flower lay on his workbench, small and soulless, but a vessel of desperate hope nonetheless. Muttering more breathy promises, the alchemist walked away from his father to retrieve the delicate plant. He placed it in a mortar to grind it, and then, just as he readied his hand…

"Varian."

The mortar fell to the floor.

"Dad?"

Heart racing wildly, Varian spun on his heel to meet his dad's gaze— his dad's gaze—

The figure was facing him. It moved slowly, as though bathed in thick liquid, but finally, a gloved hand reached out to Varian, almost breaking the monolith's surface.

Tears flooded the alchemist's face in a matter of seconds. "Dad!"

His father no longer seemed petrified inside a solid crystal. He floated freely within a hollow pocket of air, muscles tense in an effort to force the resin to melt and thicken at his command.

He wasn't frozen in amber. He was swimming in it.

Nearly heaving, Varian slammed his own hand into it, expecting the resin to be soft and plastic now, but it felt cold and smooth as ever. He pressed harder, hoping to somehow make the amber bend to his will just like it yielded to his father's movements.

Varian patted the crystal randomly as if he could find a weak spot and overcome the mere inches that were separating their hands now. But then, Dad sank back further into the amber.

The boy continued to scramble over the solid surface, just like he had that day, his chest pressed against it. "No!"

"You put me in here." A quiet voice paused Varian completely.

His desperate hands stopped at his eye's height as if adhered. His lips moved, but no matter how hard he tried, not another sound left his tense throat.

Suddenly, something pressed on his forearms. Golden resin spread and crawled on his skin, crushing his wrists like a tightening vise. He cried out in horror. He wanted to pull away, to do something, but as soon as the thought appeared in his mind, the amber wrapped around his ankles, keeping him in place.

With nothing else left to do, Varian observed how his father moved his hand vigorously. The amber almost danced according to his movements, consuming the boy's body with every swift motion.

Numerous alchemical compounds fell off the shelves and tabletops. The lab disappeared in a violent vortex of thunders and shapes, explosions of all different smells and colors encompassing the scene. Smoke rose from the floor making it even harder to see, a pair of repelled eyes the only thing prominent in the chaos.

"It should've been you."

The shapes around them formed into a hundred figures, crying in fear, screaming in anger. The royals looked down on Varian with disgust. Eugene laughed, pointing his finger at him. Cassie polished her knife, dark eyes focused on the blade.

"No one's coming."

They watched as the amber grew, pressing on Varian's chest and reaching his neck.

Finally, he screamed.

And then, quiet.

The people were gone, the lab was gone. Not even a fading echo of Varian's own shriek accompanied the sudden darkness.

Dad was there.

Just Dad, just his dad, not a terrifying twisted version of him. He stood free, spreading his arms, inviting his son into an embrace.

Varian needed to get closer, but his body would not obey him. All he could do was look, inspect the wrinkles on his dad's face, the sadness of it, almost as unbearable as the cruel anger of his nightmarish doppelganger.

It was him, it was really him.

"I miss you," Varian blurted out, and suddenly, he was drowning.

Terror disrupted the face in front of him as the man surged, failing to grab the boy before he got pulled away, swallowed by another beat of chaos.

He vainly kicked his legs, trying not to sink further into the freezing golden liquid that flooded him. The amber behaved like thick honey, nearly impossible to navigate through.

Varian stifled a cry, but despite his efforts, his mouth forcefully opened. Molten resin painfully invaded his lungs, burning and clawing at his ribcage.

Even more of the sticky substance filled his insides when he failed to stop another muffled scream. Choking, he hopelessly outstretched his arms.

His fingers caught up in soft threads, and soon, his whole hand was entangled in a delicate net. He desperately held onto it, burying himself in the twisting mass of blonde hair.

He strengthened his grip once the strays of hair lit up, barely standing out in the golden void he had collapsed into.

Rapunzel?

Something violently pulled the hair up.

Rapunzel, please!

Maybe she wanted him to let go of her, or maybe she tried to rescue him.

But he would never know because it slipped from his hand.

RAPUNZEL!

-x-

"Rapun—!"

Varian's shout was cut off by a fit of coughing and gasping, as if he still had to fight for breath.

It took him a moment to recognize his room in the castle, bright, blurred and swaying. Once he sat upright, welled up tears fell freely. Shaking hands clutched at his chest as he choked on the hair, on the resin, on thin air.

His gaze darted around the room, something grey frantically moving in his field of vision.

When sobbing replaced Varian's gasping, the thing slammed into him. He let go of the front of his shirt to push it away, but his muscles didn't obey him.

It was soft and warm, and shaking along with the rapid trembling of the boy's whole body.

"R-Ruddi-ger?"

The raccoon cooed, still pressed firmly against Varian's heaving chest.

"Rud-Ruddiger. Ruddiger," the boy repeated. " Rud-diger, oh, Ruddiger, h-hey…"

The door opened, two people rushing to the bed, asking something, but only answered with mumbling. He kept repeating Ruddiger's name, he couldn't stop. Pressure appeared on his back when someone sat down next to him.

" ...okay? Varian, are you…"

" ...for Aldred."

"I don't…"

"I'll take the portrait now, alright?"

The odd question brought Varian back to reality. He released the paper from his right fist, only then realizing that he had been clasping it.

It was a dream.

He must've had fallen asleep with the portrait in his hand.

Just a stupid dream.

He looked down, the paper wet and crumpled.

He had ruined it.

Varian collapsed into the stranger's arms with a wail.

On the other side of the castle, Queen Arianna slaughtered a monster.

Heh. At least Arianna is doing better. :)

When I die, bury me in fanfic reviews. Thank you for reading! ❤️ I'm so insanely grateful that you're reading this story! I'm really insecure about my English so this is the best feeling in the world. I hope you stay for the rest because there's a lot to come. ❤️❤️❤️