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grilledcheezer · 3 years

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Summary: Two years after the events of Barviel Keep, Varian has tried to adapt to the expectations brought by being a King’s Ward, with mixed results. Haunted by ghosts, Varian is forced to face the demons he tried to leave behind in Bayangor when his abdication is forcibly stopped by a third party, out for revenge against the Bayan Royal bloodline. On the run, with few allies left to turn to, Varian finds himself chasing a ghost through a series of tests that only a true heir of Demanitus could ever hope to pass.But the shadows are ever present, looming and dark, and not everything is as simple as it might seem.

Notes: There are many things of interest, buried deep in the earth.

The adder stone was a slight weight in Varian's hand. He idly played with it, watching how the carved runes seemed to glitter in the sunlight. It was hypnotic, the shimmering light of subtle magic playing through the stone in delicate wisps. Ori had said it was good for lost things, whatever that meant, but he’d neglected to give any more information after that, instead opting to shuffle them out the door with a grin and a wave.

They'd gone back to the boat after the events of the early afternoon. Ori's cabin, it turned out, was only a small walk back to the center of town, so the trip had been brief at best. Rapunzel had kept a hold of Varian's hand the whole walk back, her grip tight and unyielding as she borderline dragged Varian back to the known territory of the Oracle.

The boat rocked softly under them, still tied off to the pier. Eugene bustled in front of a small cook-stove, one made of thick metal to avoid burning the wood of the deck. The man's jaunty whistling mixing in with the gentle beating of waves against the Oracle's side. Varian could smell some kind of fish cooking, alongside some roasting onions if his nose was correct, and tried to ignore the small pang of hunger he felt at the smell. Ruddiger made an impatient chirp next to him, making grabby hands towards Eugene.

"Almost time, bud," Varian gave him a scritch behind the ear. "Be patient."

Ruddiger huffed but settled, curling closer to Varian's leg on the crate they were sitting on. Varian snickered, giving the raccoon another scratch for his trouble.

The boy took another look to the adder stone, twisting it between his gloved fingers. It looked relatively normal, save for the shimmering runes of subtle magic, but he knew better than to trust something based on looks alone. He turned it again, seeing his palm through the smooth, circular hole carved in the center of it.

He brought up the stone, at least somewhat familiar with the mythos surrounding it, and held it to one of his eyes. He squeezed the other shut, peering through curiously. Everything seemed relatively normal, if not a little duller in colour, and he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He looked around a little more, trying to see if anything looked interesting. He saw Eugene, just as dulled as the rest of the Oracle, the deck of the ship, up above he could see seabirds flying without a care.

"Varian?"

He twisted a bit to look at Rapunzel. Through the adder stone he could see her entire figure glowing a bright yellow, like an aura. It was similar to how she'd glowed when using the power of the Sundrop. Varian blinked, lowering the stone. Without it, Rapunzel looked normal, if not confused about what he was doing. He brought the stone back up once more, noting with a little bit of childish delight that he could once again see the glow.

"What are you doing?" she asked, tilting her head. "Isn't it just a rock?"

"It's a special rock," he grinned, lowering it again. "Lets you see magical things easier. You still glow!"

"I do?" she asked. He handed her the stone, and she peered through it like Varian had been, looking at her own hand. "Huh," she said, "That's different."

She passed him the stone back, letting Varian continue to look around with it. He didn't see much else on the boat; Ruddiger seemed even more monochrome through the stone, which was kind of funny but not important, and though Rapunzel glowed it wasn't exactly breaking news that she'd had magical ties.

He twisted again, this time looking at the town through the stone. Like most things it was dulled, almost black and white, save for one noticeable difference.

Off in the distance, in the same way Rapunzel glowed, was a shining blue light. Varian tilted his head, standing up to try and see what was causing the light, but it was too far away. He let the stone drop, trying to for a better look, and caught the look of a clearing in the trees at the far side of the town.

"What're you lookin' at, kid?" Eugene asked. Varian didn't turn around, still squinting in the sunlight.

"I'm not sure," the alchemist replied, "But I think there's something at the edge of town." He un-twisted, looking at Eugene. The man pursed his lips, thinking.

"Think it's her?" he asked, "No one in town seemed to know who she was, but if Ori's weird rock is giving you hints, maybe that's where we're supposed to look?"

"Maybe," Varian shrugged, "Can't hurt to check, I guess."

He felt that creeping disappointment from town creep up again, at the reminder that they hadn't found his mother yet. He'd been nervous, and excited, to meet her, and the sting of a failed day was still fresh. He let himself sink back onto the crate, looking out over the water to where he'd seen the light.

Eugene seemed to pick up on his mood, the man smiling easily and scooping up some fish with his spatula. He plated it, along with a few other odds and ends, and gently set it next to Varian. It smelled good, but Varian didn't break eye contact with the shoreline.

He felt Eugene put a hand on his shoulder, patting gently.

"It's okay, goggles," the man said, "We'll find her. Just gotta keep trying, right?"

Varian smiled, weak but there. "Yeah. Of course."

Eugene's grin got wider, more real. "There's my boy," he nodded. "Now eat your lunch, you need some meat on those bones."

Varian snorted, but took the plate nonetheless. He fed Ruddiger in between bites of his own, eyes drifting to where he'd seen the glow. From the way the trees broke, there was definitely something there, though he couldn't tell what it was. The sound of conversation behind him fuzzed out, the boy focused on the parting of the trees.

The town may have been a bust, but they weren't out of ideas yet. With a newfound determination he shoveled food into his mouth, ready to take on the next step.

He just had to keep trying, and eventually he'd find her.

No matter what it took.

>>>><<<<

The gap in the trees, it turned out, had been a graveyard. An old one, from the looks of the crumbling tombstones and large, creeping vines covering everything. Probably abandoned, Varian thought as he almost tripped over an exposed root, or at the very least uncared for.

They passed by a large mausoleum, one of many littering the grounds, and reached the center of the graveyard. It was oddly huge, for being near such a small town; the graveyard for Old Corona had been maybe a quarter of the size. When Varian pointed it out, Eugene just shrugged.

"Maybe the town used to be bigger," he said, "Or there was a lot of deaths. Sometimes there's things like plague, fire, flood, things like that... that'll make a graveyard double in size in a short time."

Varian grimaced at the implications, the numerous gravestones suddenly seeming all the more sinister. The sun blazed high above them, hot and brutally beating down on them all. Varian looked around for a second, noting how isolated they were, before dropping his hood. Rapunzel made a nervous noise when he did, but a nudge from Eugene and she dropped it.

Varian looked around again, unable to see anything that seemed out of the norm. Just a creepy, old graveyard, he thought, a little fed up.

He reached into his pocket, drawing out the adder stone and holding it to his face. The rock was warm to the touch. He peered through it, but had to bring it away from his face with a grimace when everything was glowing the same blue he'd seen from the boat.

He blinked the spots out of his vision, looking through again more carefully. Sure enough the entire graveyard was permeated by the blue glow, a soft, seafoam shade. It covered everything like fog, making picking any sort of source impossible. Varian let his drop with a scoff.

"Useless," he mumbled. Though, if there were something around here sending this much magical energy into the surrounding area, it must have been powerful.

Or, theymust have been.

Eugene set himself down on a fallen log, looking around the graveyard. "Got anything?" he asked, "Cuz I'm seeing a whole lotta nothing, I'll be honest."

Varian snorted, scratching at his chin in thought. "Nothing yet," he admitted, "But I'll keep you posted. There's gotta be something around here to cause the glow, even if it's not... not her."

He combed over the graveyard for the rest of the afternoon, slowly growing more desperate as the time ticked on. Soon enough the sun was beginning to set, casting the graveyard into shadow. Varian had walked the perimeter of the graveyard six times, had looked at every tombstone and mausoleum a hundred times over, and even had climbed a tree at one point to try and get an areal view, only for all of his ideas to end in nothing. It was more than a little frustrating.

"There has to be something," Varian grumbled as he threw himself down next to Eugene. The man had given up an hour ago, he had long since slouched against a rock and covered his face with an arm. Eugene snorted awake when Varian flopped next to him, blinking rapidly.

"Ehm-up!" he slurred, "What's first, captain?"

Varian rolled his eyes, glaring around the graveyard again. "I must be missing something," he said, "A key, or a clue, or a cypher, but whatever it is I can't find it."

Ruddiger chittered in consolation, patting Varian's knee. The boy scratched his pet with a frown, leaning back against Eugene's rock. The sun was nearly down for the night, but Varian wasn't ready to give up. Rapunzel was nearby, picking her way through the graves carefully.

She'd been quiet since they'd gotten to the graveyard, but Varian was slowly growing used to being able to get his way through a full sentence. It was oddly... nice. He felt the sting of guilt for feeling that way, but shoved it aside. He could have something to himself for now, even if it wouldn’t last forever. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. One problem at a time. Rapunzel knew what she'd done, even if she'd apologized Varian wasn't quite ready to forgive her for the note-

Wait.

The note.

Varian pulled out the note from his mother, looking it over again. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but... well, it was worth a shot. He snagged the adder stone out of his other pocket, setting the note down on his lap and lifting the stone to his eye.

He squinted through the green haze caused by the graveyard, looking down at the dull page. The letter was the exact same as always, though when Varian looked down to the very bottom he noticed a subtle green glow. He tilted his head, peering closer, and blinked in shock when words began to appear at the foot of the page.

He moved the stone away to double check, and sure enough the words vanished without a trace. Varian felt a grin split across his face, bringing the adder stone back and took a better look.

"I lay within the gaze of our ancestor," he read aloud, voice soft to not break the quiet of the coming evening.

"Whazzat?" Eugene asked. Varian let the hand holding the stone drop down, shaking the note gently.

"I found the missing piece!" he crowed, shooting to his feet. "She left me a clue, I just needed to look closer!"

"That's great, kid!" Eugene got to his feet as well. "What did it say?"

"I lay within the gaze of our ancestor," Varian repeated, putting the note away with the adder stone.

"Great!" Eugene said, "...What does that mean, though?"

Varian paused, unsure. "I don't know," he admitted. "But has to be a reference to something, right?"

The man nodded, but stopped when Rapunzel cleared her throat from nearby.

"We should call it a night," she said, "It's getting dark."

Varian felt his heart sink. They'd been in the graveyard for half a day, and she wanted to leave just when they found their first real clue? He didn't want to leave yet, not when he'd finally had a break! He knew the second she succeeded in getting them back to the boat, it would be a fight to get back here tomorrow. He needed time, and space to figure this out, and he wasn’t about to get it back on the Oracle.

"I think I'm going to stick around," he said. He tried not to feel cowed when her eyes snapped to him, but it was a near thing. "I'm going to look around for something to do with the clue."

Rapunzel pursed her lips, looking ready to argue, when Eugene piped up. "If you're going to stay, then so am I," he shrugged, "No sense in splitting up. It'll be a team awesome sleepover under the stars, right kid?"

Varian couldn't help but chuckle, nodding. "Sure, sounds like fun."

The boy could see the way Rapunzel wanted to argue, the way her shoulders were raised, and her mouth opened only to snap shut when she realized she was out voted.

"I'll start the fire," she said flatly, spinning on her heel and leaving the boys behind in the graveyard.

Varian sighed, slumping a little. He felt Eugene put a hand on his shoulder, and looked up at the older man with what was probably a very kicked puppyexpression from the way Eugene frowned.

"She'll come around," he soothed. "She's under a lot of stress, and we both know how this whole thing makes her feel. Give her some time to get settled. She was the same when Cass- well, when they had their problems."

Varian slouched a little more. As much as it hurt, this was something he had to dig his heels in over. If he didn't, he'd go right back to being dragged everywhere by the wrist for the rest of his life. He couldn't do it again, not now that he'd finally broken through that boundary. He wouldn't be shoved back into the mourning waif box, even if it was causing strife with Rapunzel. Not after all the progress he’d made while out of Corona.

But that didn't make the sight of her retreating back any harder to watch.

>>>><<<<

They'd set up a fire on the outskirts of the graveyard. Nowhere near the tombstones, more of an open field that was next to the graveyard to be honest; just far enough to feel respectful. Varian huddled close to the fire, wrapping his dad's cloak tightly around himself to ward off the cold. It didn't do much, but he was, at this point, used to the chill in the spring air. Eugene was nearby, as was Rapunzel, the two of them quietly talking between themselves.

Ruddiger purred as he snuggled close to Varian's hip; the boy smiled and ran a soothing hand down the raccoon's spine, lost in thought. The note was on his lap, just as cryptic had it had been before. Varian grumbled, flipping it over and staring at it through the adder stone. Other than the new sentence, the note didn't have any more secrets to give, it seemed, and Varian couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at the fact.

Rapunzel quietly stirred a pot that they'd put over the fire, filled with some kind of soup. Eugene had said what kind, but the specifics slipped Varian's mind in favor of staring at his mother's handwriting. He pursed his lips, flipping the paper over again and letting the adder stone drop. He chanced a glace up when Eugene pushed himself to his feet, the man stretching.

"Gunna get more firewood," he explained when Varian shot him a look, "You two don't burn anything down while I'm gone, yeah?"

Rapunzel patted his knee with a small smile. "I'm sure we can handle that, between the two of us," she said. Eugene took her hand, bending at the waist and pressing a kiss to her knuckles. Varian made a dramatic gagging noise, pulling a face at the lovey-dovey display; doubling down when Eugene stuck his tongue out in retaliation. The man laughed, walking past Varian and taking a second to rustle the boy's hair as he passed. Varian grumbled at the attention, swatting at Eugene's hands, but took it with grace. Eugene's footsteps faded behind him, the man wandering off into the forested section in the middle distance.

Varian sighed and looked back to the note, gnawing at his lip. It hadn’t given him any more clues, and he’d be staring at it for hours now. He’d be content to stare at it for hours more, but not even a minute after Eugene left, the silence was broken again.

"Can you please put that down for a second?" Ah, Rapunzel.

Varian looked up, blinking in question. Rapunzel wrung her hands, looking at the note.

"I- sure, why?" he asked her, folding the note and putting it away in his cloak pocket.

Rapunzel visibly relaxed with the letter out of sight. She waved him over, shuffling over to make room when Varian got up and shuffled around the fire to sit next to her. He waited, knowing Rapunzel enough to know she would speak when ready. She didn’t usually ask for his undivided attention unless she had something to say; and he was willing to hear her out, for now. He wanted to try and mend things, but if she wasn’t willing to give ground, he wasn’t sure if he would accept that. Rapunzel seemed to finally get her bearings, twisting her hand around her brunette hair.

"I... know you're excited," she started. "To find your- well, to find her."

Varian felt a tingle of apprehension in his gut, but tried to ignore it. This was the first time Rapunzel had said anything beyond flat, safe statements regarding Aisha, and if this was her way of making a step towards reconciliation, then Varian was willing to hear her out.

"I am," he admitted. "Excited, but mostly nervous, I guess?"

Rapunzel smiled, her face drawn and tired. "I understand that," she admitted. "When I first- well, when I first came home, after the tower, I felt the same way about meeting my parents."

Varian nodded. He felt the urge to hold her hand, to reach out to her in comfort, but refrained. He still felt a little off when it came to her; if he pushed too quickly, he knew he'd let her steamroll him once again.

"Sounds stressful," is all he said, trying to get a laugh. It worked, Rapunzel huffing out a breath. The fire in front of them crackled, bright and cheerful. Varian felt himself relax a little, forcing his shoulders to lose their tension. Rapunzel shook her head fondly, obviously lost in her memories.

"It was," she agreed. "I didn't know them, didn't know what they were like. After m- after Gothel, I had a few days to think about what they could be like."

Varian felt a rock settle in his gut, starting to get an inkling of where she was headed with this. He clenched the hand farthest from her so she wouldn't see the reaction, and kept his face carefully blank, hoping beyond hope that he was wrong.

"When I first met them, I had this... idea, of what they'd be like," she mused. "I was wrong, for both of them. The real version of them turned out... a lot more complicated, then I thought they'd be-"

There it is.

"-And I had to give up that perfect idea of them, to see how they really were. I'm sure they had to do the same thing for me. But if I had clung to that imaginary version, I'd never really meet them. See them." She huffed another breath, toeing at the ground with a bare foot. Varian's hand clenched tighter, the apprehension settling into proper dread.

"I just want you to be careful," Rapunzel said, and bingo, we're back on this. Varian had to refrain from rolling his eyes, not really wanting to have this conversation again.

"I will be," he soothed. "I know, she was evil incarnate, I remember."

Rapunzel's face fell at the sass, the woman leaning forward and wrapping her arms around her knees.

"You know I didn't mean it like that," she said firmly, but Varian cut her off. He was over trying to dance around each other, if she wanted to have this conversation, then it was time they had it.

"Then how?" he asked, not harsh, but firm. "How did you mean it? Because you've made it perfectly clear what you think of me trying to find her-"

"I'm just trying to keep you safe!" Rapunzel argued, "You seem to think that you're going to find her and everything's just going to work out!" She slouched again, shaking her head. "Things don't always happen like that," she said, "And I just want you to be ready if something goes wrong."

Varian scoffed, looking away. He didn't want to admit she was playing to some of his insecurities, the nerves that had been plaguing him for days since finding the note stirring at her words. They’d been whispering in his ear since he’d arrived on the island, but he wasn’t about to let them ruin what he was trying to build. He ignored the insecurities, shaking his head. He knew exactly why she was trying to feed those doubts.

"Are you saying that because you're worried about me?" he asked, "Or because you want to see this go south so you can be right?"

Rapunzel reeled back, bodily flinching. "What?" she asked, stunned. "How could you think I'd want that?"

"Because I'd go home with you." The feeling of apprehension in Varian's mind was long gone, replaced by irritation. "Because if this all goes to hell, then you get exactly what you want. You want her to be terrible, so I'll run back to Corona and hide in the castle with you until I'm old and grey."

Rapunzel balked. "Is that really what you think?" she breathed. "You think I'd ever want to keep you somewhere you didn't want to be?"

"You already lied to me." Varian pointed out. The letter in his pocket felt impossibly heavy. "Honestly, I'm not sure how far you'd go."

"I just want you safe!" Rapunzel finally seemed to lose her cool, her volume raising. "After everything that happened, why do you think I want anything else? I'm trying to protect you!"

"You're trying to keep me in a box!" Varian snapped back, "So yeah, I might be safe there, but I wasn’t ever given a moment’s peace! And everyone treated me like glass all the time, and I couldn't escape, Rapunzel, every time I looked around there was something that reminded me of- of him, or of Meave, or my dad-"

"And what, you think finding her is going to solve it?" Rapunzel seemed more agitated, "That if you just pack up and abandon everything that it'll be like nothing ever happened? It doesn't work like that, Varian!"

"It's better than staying!"

"Is it? You'd leave everything and run away just so you can keep ignoring Bayangor?"

"If that's what it takes!"

Rapunzel threw her hands up, shaking her head. "You can't just run forever," she told him. Varian felt a pulse of panic as the conversation quickly got away from him. Rapunzel didn't realize, continuing to rant. "I knowit's hard, out of everyone I promise you I relate the most out of anyone, but that's why I'm telling you that you can'texpect finding her to make you suddenly-"

"Suddenly what?" he demanded, "Suddenly my own person? Someone that I actually am instead of what you all want me to be? I want out so I can be treated like I'm not going to shatter the second anyone looks at me wrong!"

"That's not what this is about-" Rapunzel was as tense as bowstring, "-And you know it! You just want something to chase, so you don't have to work through things back home. I was the same, with the Moonstone! And look how well that turned out! You wanted to leave before you knew she was alive!"

"Which you lied to me about!"

"So you wouldn't use it as an excuse!"

This was getting too close to the chest. Varian could feel himself start to hyperventilate, the breaths coming quick and stuttering. He pushed himself up off the ground on shaking hands, refusing to look at her. He hadn't meant for that to come out, hadn't meant to get that close-

Rapunzel's hand grabbed his, keeping him in place. He whipped around, tugging fruitlessly at his arm to try and pull himself from her grasp. Rapunzel held firm, irritation clear on her face. Varian's panic only grew, the boy tugging harder the longer she refused to let go.

Rapunzel stood, the woman still taller than him. "I'm letting you do this-" she said, the bitterness easily apparent in her voice, "-Because you want to do it. But I'm not going to pretend like this is going to fix all our problems, no matter how much you pretend they will."

Varian tugged again, nearly frantic. "Let go," he breathed, voice weak. "Let go."

Rapunzel didn't seem to hear him, still on her own train of thought. The alchemist gasped again, yanking his arm away.

"Stop touching me," he wailed, backing away and tripping over a rock behind him. He felt a pulse of pain on his spine where he landed, one of his wrists smarting as well. He sat there for a second, stunned, before pushing himself up into a sit and looking at his sister with wide, fearful eyes.

Rapunzel stopped dead, blinking in shock at his reaction. "Varian-" she started, reaching for him.

Varian scrambled back in the dirt, ignoring any sort of decorum in the animal urge to run. "Please," he gasped, "I just, I need space."

Rapunzel flinched back like he'd burned her. She brought her hands to her chest, closing them into tight fists. "I- are you okay?" she asked, eyes bright in the light of the fire. They were wide as saucers, the princess seeming unable to process what exactly had just happened.

There was a long beat of silence. The only sound was Varian's heavy breathing, like he'd just run a mile. Varian felt himself tense when she shifted on her feet. He- she wouldn't hurt him, he knew that, this was Rapunzel, but something in him still looked at her, looming over him just like Father had, and screamed threat.

"I need space," he gasped again, finally getting his feet back under him. He turned and nearly ran in the opposite direction of her, unable to look at her broken-hearted expression for another second. He sprinted for the trees; he tried to ignore the feeling of salt burning his eyes, of dampness on his cheeks.

Tried, and failed.

>>>><<<<

The next morning, it was raining.

The air was considerably tenser than it had been before; any sort of tentative truce between Varian and Rapunzel had been shattered. Varian refused to even look at his sister, keeping to himself as he paced around the graveyard in the light of a new day. Rapunzel seemed to get the hint, maintaining the distance that Varian had created between them.

Dead grass crunched underfoot. Varian paced towards the center of the graveyard, slowly circling it by walking through every row. He kept an eye on names, bitterly wishing he'd listened more to Aldred's insane rambling- how was he supposed to know what ancestor Aisha had been talking about? In theory he wasn't even supposed to know about any of this.

He entered into a section of mausoleums, all of them surrounding a large statue. Varian looked at it, and was startled to see in the light of day that it was Demanitus. He peered closer, noting how worn down the statue looked in comparison to the ones he'd seen in Corona; it seemed the graveyard really hadn't been cared for in years. Something in Varian felt sad at the thought- he personally made sure that Quirin's grave was kept spick and span no matter the weather, just as his dad would have liked it. It was upsetting to think that all of the people buried here didn't get the same treatment, that they'd been forgotten here.

It made him despondent, the idea that someday Quirin's grave would likely end up the same. Hells, his own would too. It made him feel... cold. Eventually no one would be left, and they would all fade into nothing but dust. He looked back to Demanitus, deciding to drop that train of thought.

The great inventor hadn't been buried here. Varian knew that, the boy had been to his tomb in Corona, after all. To see him here, on a tiny island's disproportionately large graveyard, was a mite bit suspicious if he did say so. Varian drew close to the statue, inspecting.

Demanitus looked the same as he always did, the cracked marble doing nothing to hide the statue's visage. Varian chewed on his lip, thinking. Aisha had said our ancestor, the only one Varian knew of was Demanitus himself; in theory all of Aldred's family history was null and void, as it was Aisha's family line that would hold the clue.

Varian walked around the base of the large statue. He squinted up at the statue, noting that the eyes were indeed focused somewhere other than directly ahead. In fact, they were looking off to the side, towards another mausoleum. Varian fetched the adder stone, peering through it. Sure enough the marble building glowed the same bright blue, though it seemed to be much stronger than the light on the outskirts had been.

Choice made, Varian marched to the thick, iron doors of the tomb. Eugene was nearby, having been kicking stones, and wandered over when Varian moved.

"What's up, goggles?" he asked, eyeing the tomb. Varian reached up and rattled the door, testing it.

"I think it's in here," he said. Eugene went a little pale, eyes flicking between the mausoleum and Varian.

"You think she's... in the tomb," he said, apprehension obvious. "Are we, uh, are we sure about that?"

Varian nodded. "In the eyes of the ancestor," he repeated, pointing at the statue of Demanitus. Eugene turned toward the statue, then back to his charge.

"This feels morally wrong," he said thoughtfully, before his tone turned giddy. "Look at my little man, all grown up and graverobbing!"

Varian snorted, moving aside as Eugene drew a lockpick from his boot. The man-made quick work of the door, the old iron creaking open. Varian peered into the looming darkness with apprehension. Eugene stood next to him, brushing off the knees of his pants.

"Et, voila," he said, gesturing with his hands.

Varian didn't tear his eyes away from the tomb, slowly taking a step inside. "Thanks," he mumbled, offhandedly, already distracted by the interior.

The mausoleum was the same white marble as the outside had been, a large space that was nearly five meters square. In the very center was a single, stone coffin, topped with a sculpture of a woman. Varian could only assume that was the person buried in there, though the thought made him a little squeamish. At the foot of the coffin was a large, ornate design in the floor, a compass rose with north pointing towards the coffin.

Varian nearly jumped a foot when the torches on the walls all sprung to life at once, the flames all starting without a trigger. He let out a very manly yelp, nearly falling on his ass when his boots slipped on the marble. Ruddiger hissed, digging his little claws into Varian's shoulder to keep steady as the boy found his balance.

"Magic," Varian muttered, "Why is it always magic?"

"Kid?" Eugene. "Everything okay?"

Varian turned, shrugging as Eugene and Rapunzel entered the crypt. "Everything's fine," he said, trailing off. "I just need to figure out the next step. She said she was hiding, in the note, right?"

Rapunzel nodded, looking around at the blank, stone walls. She fidgeted, obviously a little unhappy with being in such a small space, but did aid the boys as they began to search. The stone was cold, unnaturally so. The rain pounded on the old roof, leaking through in a few places and making the polished stone slick. Varian walked the perimeter of the room, a hand on the wall. He didn't feel anything odd, nothing that would indicate a secret door or compartment at least, but he refused to give up.

"Guys?" Rapunzel's voice drifted across the room. Varian paused his pacing to look at her; Rapunzel's green eyes were locked on the compass rose design on the floor. "This isn't right," she said, tilting her head.

"How do you mean, sunshine?" Eugene asked. He walked over to Rapunzel, looking at the design as well.

"It's pointing the wrong way," Rapunzel explained. "Look, it's got its north pointing towards the south." She pulled out a working compass from the duffle bag, holding it up. Sure enough she was right, the arrow spinning and pointing toward the door. Rapunzel remained kneeling near the design, running a hand along it once more.

Varain drew close, inspecting it again. It was a darker stone, embedded in the marble with perfect accuracy. When Rapunzel squatted down next to it and ran a hand across the compass her fingers never hit even a groove. Varian mimicked her, pausing when he saw something strange in a puddle nearby.

It was on the edge, overlapping where the two types of stone met, and in the puddle Varian could see small bubbles of air floating up. He scooted over. His brows furrowed in thought as he swirled a finger through the rainwater, disturbing it roughly. When it settled again, Varian noticed that the bubbles began to rise once more.

"There's something under here," he said softly.

"What?" Rapunzel asked, leaning closer.

"Look," he pointed to the bubbles. "There must be a space under the floor, there's air coming up through a seam in the rock."

Rapunzel blinked, nodding. Eugene took a peek as well, patting Varian on the back.

"Good catch guys," he said, "Now we just have to figure out how to get down there. I don't suppose either of you brought shovels?"

Varian huffed a laugh through his nose, poking at the design again. Rapunzel did the same, to his left.

"I still don't understand," she mumbled, "Why include a compass and have it point the wrong way?"

Varian tuned her out for a second, watching the bubbles. Eugene began to poke at the center of the compass rose, Varian was ready to ignore him too before a subtle click was heard. The boy snapped his attention back, seeing Eugene fiddling with the center of the design, which had popped up and out of the floor.

"Woah," Varian said, "How'd that happen?"

Eugene shrugged, tugging at the centerpiece. Varian and Rapunzel scooted backward, watching with curiosity as the entire design of the compass rose slowly lifted from the floor, held by a small contraption in the very center. It was only a few inches off the ground now, but Varian still looked at in in fascination.

"Rapunzel," he caught her attention, "What way did you say true north actually was?"

Rapunzel caught on to what he was asking, pulling out her compass. "It's towards the door," she said. She twisted a little, looking directly behind them. Varian smiled, feeling a rush of satisfaction as he grabbed one of the points of the compass, the west one, to be exact, and gave it an experimental push. Sure enough the large design began to spin on its axis, still parallel to the floor and supported by the mechanism in the center.

The alchemist kept pushing, slowly rotating the stone until it had gone in a perfect half-circle. The north arrow finally pointed to true north, as it should have. Varian then pressed gently in the center, putting it back down into its original spot in the floor.

They all held their breath, waiting for something to happen. Rapunzel reached for Eugene's hand, eyes wide, while Varian set a hand on an anxious Ruddiger's paw. Varian held his breath, listening for anything at all; the only sound was the pelting rain above, an occasional gust of wind, and his own excited heartbeat.

They waited a second more, before Eugene slumped forward with a dramatic sigh. "Damn," he sighed, "I was actually thinking we had it-"

The coffin in front of them burst open like a balloon.

All three of them shrieked, jumping out of the way in a tangle of limbs and panic. Varian ended up with an elbow to the gut, letting out an oomph as they all hit the floor. His own landing was soft, cushioned by poor Eugene. Stone fragments rained down on all of them, clattering to the floor like hail. Varian covered his head with his arms, keeping Ruddiger covered as well; it wouldn't go well to get a shard to the eye.

Eventually the aftermath settled. Varian chanced a look toward the tomb, grimacing when he saw the entire lid, statue included, absolutely decimated by whatever explosive had been set inside.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked, slowly pushing his aching body into a kneel. Eugene groaned, facedown on the floor and seemingly unwilling to move but unhurt. Rapunzel was behind him, sitting up and rubbing at her head.

"We're alright," she said, "Are you?"

"Fine," Varian dusted a bit of the dirt from Quirin's cloak. "Fine, I think Eugene broke my fall."

"Yer we'chom," Eugene grumbled, his voice muffled by the floor he refused to get up off of. Varian bit his lip, trying not to laugh, and instead forced aching arms into pushing the boy to his feet. He slowly approached the coffin, coughing and trying to wave the plume of smoke away from his face.

"What was that?" Rapunzel asked, "Some kind of explosion?"

Varian coughed again. This probably wasn't good for his lungs. "Gunpowder, I think," he replied.

He inched closer, peeking into the gaping maw left behind. Varian blinked, a wry smile crossing his face.

The coffin was not only empty, but not a coffin at all. Varian waved dirt from his face, looking down into the hollow shell created by the coffin, covering a dusty old stone staircase that led deep into the earth. There was no corpse, hell at this point it seemed like the entire tomb had been a coverup for something much, much bigger.

"Guys," he waved them over. "I think we just found our way in."

Eugene and Rapunzel were taking behind him, but Varian tuned them out and put his hands on the lip of the coffin, swinging a leg over. He tested the stairs, grinning when they held strong. He brought the other leg in, taking the first step down.

"Ah, hey kid?" Eugene asked, "Maybe we shouldn't be going down the creepy staircase in the graveyard. Do you want ghosts? Because this is definitelyhow you get ghosts."

Varian looked down into the darkness, shrugging.

"I dunno, I have the afternoon free," he replied.

Eugene paused, before rolling his eyes. "If we end up haunted, I'm blaming you, goggles," he grumbled. Rapunzel giggled next to him, following Eugene's lead as they trailed Varian down the steps.

The stairs were long and thin, a straight shot down into the deep. Much like in the mausoleum, torches sprung to life when they drew close, only to snuff out once they'd passed. Varian grew used to the dim light, his eyes adjusting slowly to the darkness the further down they got. Rainwater followed them down, drip, drip, drip that echoed in the quiet.

Soon enough they hit the bottom, after nearly a full minute of descent. It was cold, so far underground; Varian couldn’t help but shiver as he peered through the darkness at the foot of the stair. There was nothing but a hallway; one way forward. Varian peered into the depths, not seeing anything untoward lurking in the dark but still cautious. He turned to his friends, seeing both of them looking nervous.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"I think it's creepy-" Eugene began, but Rapunzel cut him off.

"It might be dangerous," she admitted. "But if she- if your mother needed a place to hide, I could see this being a good one. If you want to keep going, we will." She pulled a piece of chalk from her dress pocket, and made a little arrow on the wall, pointing toward the staircase. "I'll add these as we go, that way we can find our way back if we need it."

"Haunted," Eugene grumbled again.

Varian snorted, taking a small step back toward the stairs. He felt his foot catch on something and looked down with a gasp. A small trip wire, barely noticeable, was caught on his boot.

"Oh, that's not good," he muttered. Eugene and Rapunzel followed his gaze, the two of them already moving. Varian felt two pairs of arms grab his own, dragging him forward and away from the stairs in a dead sprint as there was a loud poppingnoise coming from the walls.

With a horrible BANG the ceiling above the staircase crumbled, the large stones dropping to the floor in a plume of dust and smaller rocks. The noise it made was deafening, echoing through the thin halls and into his chest, rattling up his spine and into his brain. All Varian could register was the noise, flinching away as the ceiling continued to collapse.

Rapunzel and Eugene stopped a few meters away, all three of them watching with horror as the rocks continued to crumble down, quickly covering the way they'd come from with a pile of boulders and loose earth. The light from the staircase got dimmer and dimmer, unable to break through the stone. Varian felt a pulse of pure, primal terror as the sunlight was thinned out to a single, weak beam. With a tense note of finality, the last stone came down, covering their last hint of the surface and cutting off the light once and for all.

And then, there was nothing left but the dark.

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