I don't really like how this chapters turned out, and I'm losing steam because I have ideas for more Varian-centric stories and new OC's, but I need to finish this before I begin a new project or it will never get done. Also, further chapter requests are temporarily closed. I've been getting too many from guest reviewers, and while I appreciate the input, they are becoming overwhelming, so i won't be taking anymore requests for a while.


Flinching back as Varian launched orb after orb of the Amber compound at fake Cass cut outs,

"All right, team awesome!" the blonde teen had perched herself some distance away, wondering who in their right mind would trust Varian with a gun, much less, who would teach him to use it. "Project obsidian is a success.

"Project obsidian?" Artemis tucked her sketch book away, Since lance had blown up their last alarm system, they'd had to make due with what they could salvage so she was drawing up plans for a new system, her idea was to use a series of light signals to send alarm to guards stationed at the kingdom's cardinal towers.

Varian quickly hid the rocket launcher of a gun behind his back, "Project obsidian, it's a device that can destroy Cass—" Eugene nudged the teen "—andra's…self-esteem…" he made a quick cover before darting off.

"Eugene, we are not attacking Cassandra." Tucking the book into her bag, Artemis hurried over, "Rapunzel, we may not have a choice. Project obsidian might not be the best option, but it could temporarily immobilize her until we can come up with a better course of action."

"The kid's right. I'm captain of the guard now, I have to be prepared to protect our people from any contingencies." Artemis peered over her brother's shoulder as another cloud of orange formed in her line of vision.

"Varian!" The young alchemist jumped, weighing the option of whether he should fire again or put the weapon down, seeing the look on his girlfriends face he chose option 2.

"But I won't use this thing without your approval." Eugene pulled out the permission contract, "All military grade weaponry must be approved by a states person, Rapunzel, it's entirely your call."

"Princess, believe me, I don't wanna hurt Cass either but we can't promise that she's not gonna try to hurt us." Rapunzel grabbed the contract, "Okay, I will sign it to protect Corona, but, we won't need it because I know that the Cass we love is still in there somewhere. Eugene handed her the quill.


"Remind me why I have to be here when you address the people?" Rapunzel placed a hand on the girls shoulder "It's a valuable learning experience, a good ruler knows how to rally her people." She peered over her shoulder, "Come on, Princess. You got this." Varian gave her a cheeky grin, she just laughed and shook her head, As Rapunzel pulled her along onto the balcony.

"I'll be right there in the crowd!." Varian waved them off before making his way towards the courtyard.

King Frederick began to address, "I regret to inform you that, in light of recent events, I have decided to exercise caution and…cancel the goodwill festival this year." The crowd seemed disappointed as Rapunzel stepped forward,

"Unless anyone has any…objections?" her father and mother looked over, curious as to what the older royal was doing, "Rapunzel, we talked about this."

"I know we did, dad, but I still think we need to let the people decide."

"Um…your Majesty, i-if I may?" Frederick and Arianna both looked back at the youth behind them, "I-I know it's not my place to tell you how to run your kingdom…"

"Artemis?"

"I just think…" She hesitated, looking for Varian's face in the crowd, he gave her a dopey wave from where he stood and she bit back the urge to laugh, "I just think that…given the recent events, the Goodwill festival could help your citizens…boost morale? You know, keep their spirits lifted." Rapunzel, Eugene, Frederick and Arianna all looked at her surprised.

"I-I know I'm still inexperienced with this royal affairs stuff, but we shouldn't punish the whole kingdom for the mistakes of one citizen, right?" Frederick seemed to mull this information over, seemingly impressed by the negotiation,

"Very well." Rapunzel continued her address, "If the goodwill festival is important to you, speak now, or forever hold your peace."

"I'm with you, Princess!" All eyes turned to a familiar, brunette, lady-in-waiting, "Faith, really?"

"Whoa, coming out of her shell."

"Look, we don't always have control over what happens to us, but we can choose how we respond to it, right? So when tough times come to Corona, Corona fights back by doubling it's good cheer, that's why we're gonna make this the greatest goodwill festival, ever!"

"Well, it looks like the festival is happening after all."


"You did wonderful out there, a little choppy with your address to the king and queen, but otherwise I'd say you're getting the hang of this. I'm proud of you, Kiddo." Eugene ruffled her hair, swatting his hand away, she laughed,

"Thanks, Eugene."

"He's right, I'd say you're almost caught up with me." Rapunzel teased, "You have years of education over me, Gothel provided you books while she held you captive. I was lucky if my mom had time to teach me how to write when I was little, with everything going on in Old Corona, though…Quirin helped a lot too, whenever my mom had errands to run he'd teach me alongside Varian and vice versa."

"Her mom was certainly unique in her ways of teaching, she made everything a game. Oh! Do you remember that silly hand clap song she taught us?" A huge grin spread across Artemis' face,

"Say, say, oh playmate." Varian began, a teasing smile on his face,

"Come out and play with me." Artemis fired back as they began to clap their hands together in a rythym,

"Bring out your dollies three."

"Climb up my apple tree."

"Slide down my rainbow,"

"Into my cellar door."

"And we'll be jolly friends,"

"Forevermore, more, more!" Rapunzel and Eugene shared a look of adoration as they watched the teens continue the silly song, their hand clapping getting faster,

"Say, say, oh playmate."

"I cannot play today."

"My dollies have the flu."

"Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo ," The two rubbed their eyes, pretending to cry. Rapunzel and Eugene laughed, The two teens joining in as the finished the game.

"My apple tree is dead."

"My rainbow's gone away."

"My cellar door is locked."

"Forevermore, more, more!" Rapunzel looked repulsed by the ending to the song, "So…she was a prisoner?"

"No, Rapunzel, it's just a silly children's game, but we spent hours doing these hand claps games to learn music, she taught us a whole bunch of songs and I even used to write lyrics when I was little."

"I didn't know that." Varian looked over surprised, "None of them were all that great, so I never shared them. But…when my home got demolished and I moved into the palace…" she looked down at her hands, "I lost all of my old journals." She perked up,

"Oh well, nothing I can do about it now. Even magic can't bring back what I've lost, so there's no point crying over I, right?"

"Right…the anniversary is coming up." Eugene put a hand on her shoulder but Artemis kept the smile on her face, "She wouldn't want me to be sad, and besides, I've spent far to long crying over the past. It's time to move on and look towards the future. We have a Festival to prepare for."


"Is it just me, or did he get even lazier?"

"Come on, Gregorio, you can't wait for the grab, right?" the gopher just looked lethargic, "Ooh yeah, I know you're pumped." The gopher fell over, half asleep, "That's the spirit. Jumping jacks, come on. Okay, sitting jacks…yeah, good? Okay, take five." Artemis looked at the gopher,

"I still don't understand this tradition."

"Okay, I do not want to alarm you, but I think Gregorio might be a little…past his prime, and what's a gopher grab without a gopher, you just run around and grab nothing, that's not fun."

"Hey, why don't I help you track down a gopher that's a little more…spry?" Rapunzel smiled, "That's a great idea, Faith. But…where would we find another gopher?"

"So, it's a gopher you're after? There's only one place you can go to get a gopher, some say it doesn't exist others say…it doesn't exist." Artemis and Eugene shared an unimpressed look as they stared at the old man,

"So…"

"It doesn't exist?" the blonde teen stepped back, plugging her nose as he got in her face, "Or does it?!" once the horrid smelling old man backed away he placed his hands on his hips, "It does. It is a valley of gophers, and I call it ba da da da da…the Valley of Gophers."

"Wow…so inspired… do you know what a bath is, shorty?"
'Sure do. I get one from Milton the goat bi-monthly." His reply was quick, and Artemis scrunched up her face in disgust as he left the tent.

"Ugh…that is….that poor goat."


"So, they went to catch a new gopher?"

"Yeah. So, what are you working on" she peered over the Alchemists shoulder to look at his work journal, "I'm hashing out some last minute kinks in the Project obsidian compound gun."

"Mind if I show you something I've been working on? I thought we could improve on the roosters design a bit." Varian spun around to face her,

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well, considering that Lance blew up the initial test machine by adding all that Flynnolium, I thought about using a system to alarm the guards stationed in each of the four main towers of the palace, the explosion just seemed a little…flashy. Not that flashy is bad, I thought the mixture of Flynnolium, and Gunpowder was a great idea—" Varian shut her up by putting a finger over her lips.

"If anything, an explosive alarm system would be a mess, a quieter system might not be a bad idea and it could give the guards a chance to catch the enemy off guard." She beamed as she pulled to her sketch book,

"I was thinking that if we cut the gun powder down so that rather than a full flare it could give of a signal of flashing lights, from there we could work out a system of flash response for the guards to communicate with if the kingdom ever fell under attack, I just haven't figured out how to discreetly hide the silent communication system in each tower."

"What about if we implemented lanterns paired with the air balloon tech? they could send signals to each other by turning the accelerator key in different patterns to form a code."

"That could work! Rather than using oil lighting, maybe we could also figure out a gas-based compound to light the lamps, it would be a lot more cost effective than having to continuously stock on supplies, and large quantities can't be cheap." Varian patted the bench next to him as they began to work on the design together.


"Citizen's of Corona, I present to you a masterpiece of my own making, 'The triumph of Princess Rapunzel.'" Feldspar stepped away from the stage as the audience clapped. Faith looked at the script as if she were lost,

"No, Cassandra, don't take the moonstone. We can make this right."

"The moonstone is mine." Artemis laughed as Vlad stepped onto the stage in a bad wig, "Oh my…"

"Wait, Vlad, he's playing C-Cassandra? Oh that's just swell."

"Your destiny belongs to me!" Artemis couldn't help but laugh as Vlad's voice cracked, Varian looked at her, "What? He's terrible…" she whispered, he nodded, she wasn't wrong.

"Tremble in the face of my evil villainy."

"Okay, this is not accurate." Faith stepped towards the audience, "Cassandra, I understand you've been feeling like…like no one ever gives you a chance and that is my fault." Vlad looked upset, "When I accepted this role I specifically said I don't do improve." He threw the blue wig down into Feldspars hands and stormed off the set.

"Oh, Oh, this is a catastrophe." Varian and Artemis watched Rapunzel weave through the crowd to get backstage, taking the wig from Feldspar.

"You're right, uh, Rapunzel, it may be your fault, uh, partially…but maybe, if I had been more honest about how I was feeling…things would not have gone this far."

"Well, maybe it's not as easy for everyone to say how they're feeling. Not everyone can look someone else in the eye and say…I'm hurting or I'm sad or even…I'm sorry."

"Just because it's not easy, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it." Artemis looked at Faith with suspicion,

"Wait, I'm confused, so who's the bad guy in this story?"

"It's complicated!" the two women fired back at Monty. Feldspar threw his script to the ground, storming off stage as Atilla started a slow clap in the audience.


"Hey, Fai—" Artemis stopped in the entry way to the gopher grab tent, "C-Cass?" the blue-haired woman turned around, shock and surprise on her face, "Artemis! wh-what are you doing here?"

"I came to ask Faith a question…but now—"

"You didn't really think your plan to make things right would work, did you?" Artemis' eyes trailed to the little girl and her anxiety spiked

"Y-you…"

"Artemis, don't" Cass stood protectively in front of the younger girl

"What are you doing here?"

"I don't understand." Zhan Tiri hopped off her chair, "You could have just gone up to her and apologized, face to face."

"I said get away from us."

"Cass, I…I have to tell Rapunzel."

"No, you can't!" Zhan Tiri looked at the teen, "Ah, the Princess of the Dark Kingdom, a pleasure to see you again."

"The feeling is not mutual." She spat back; Cass pushed the girl farther behind her

"You've had more than a few opportunities and even still you haven't done it. Why is that? I think—"

"Because I'm scared she won't forgive me!" A look of realization dawned on Cassandra's face.

"You're right to be scared . I'm guessing she hasn't told you about project obsidian." Cass crossed her arms, looking at the small child, "A weapon that was designed, by her little…boyfriend, to destroy you. Rapunzel just authorized it yesterday."

"What? No, I don't believe you. she would never—"

"You can ask her yourself if you don't believe me. You might want something to defend yourself against her." Zhan Tiri pulled a small bottle from her dress pocket. "This potion may be your only protection against the princess when she inevitably turns on you."

"It's that time folks, the gopher grab is about to begin. So make your way to the stadium!" Zhan Tiri turned her eyes back to Artemis,

"And you, I've been watching you, don't think I don't know about that little secret you revealed in Gothel's cottage."

"Secret?" Zhan Tiri's smile only grew, "Ah, you don't know about her, well, I expect you'll find out soon. Ta-ta." With that, the drab little girl left the tent.

"Don't listen to anything she says." Cass' voice was harsh, "She's been manipulating all of us since the we split up in the Dark kingdom." The older woman finally let the teen roam the tent freely,

"Cass…about what she said, about Project Obsidian…It's—"

"Totally crazy right? Varian's a good kid, I know he wouldn't make anything to hurt me."

"That's…what I was trying to tell you. I know you think it'll be as simple as an apology, but everyone is on high alert and…" she felt the guilt double in her chest as she avoided telling Cass project Obsidian was real.

"And?"

"Just…be careful. I know you came to reconcile with Rapunzel, but not everyone thinks you can be redeemed."

"Do you?" Artemis looked startled, " I…don't remember much form gothel's cottage, and I know you wouldn't intentionally hurt me. I…think there's still good in you, Cass and I still want to believe that the woman I saw as a sister is inside there…somewhere, but in the end, I'm not the one who can pardon you, Cass. You—"

"I have to go, the Grab is starting." She made a grab for the cloak

"Be careful." Cass offered her hand, "Come on." Artemis had a bad feeling as they left the tent.


"There you two are. So, about that play, that got kind of weird, huh? Can I ask you something? What made you change the lines like that?

"Oh, I just, I heard there's a lot more to the story."

"there is." Artemis looked between the fake Faith and Rapunzel, a hopeful smile on her face, "Cass as reasons for doing what she did and though her…methods may not be the best, I really believe that deep down she is still a good person."

"Really?" 'Faith' cast her eyes downwards, "Raps, I…I have something I need to tell you." Artemis put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder,

"um…can we talk in private?"

"Oh, Okay." None of them saw Zhan tiri tailing them until the cloak was pulled from Cassandra's body, leaving the blue-haired woman exposed.

"Cassandra?" the woman looked between Artemis and Rapunzel, just the mention of her name incited fear and panic in the crowd,

"We have to protect the princesses."

"Rapunzel, Listen I-I-I can explain!"

"Step away from them, now!" the guards charged Cassandra full on, Halberds aimed for attack,

"Wait!"

"Stand down!" Cass used her powers to block the guards, just as they were about to hit them Artemis used her own abilities to swerve the rocks in another direction,

"Cass, no!" Rapunzel and Artemis each grabbed an arm.

"Please… don't do this." Using the rocks, she trapped another guard who had charged in to attack, "Its not too late to make things right." Artemis watched as Varian and Eugene rode past, watching their position she saw the project obsidian gun.

"Rapunzel, I want to believe you, but…" the younger teen noticed Zhan Tiri sneaking up behind the young Alchemist,

"Varian!" without thinking Artemis knocked Cass aside, taking the hit from the amber compound,

"No!" Rapunzel turned around, "I said we didn't need to attack her." There was fear in the boy's eyes as Cassandra pulled herself off the ground, looking in horror at the frozen Artemis,

"I don't know what happened, it must have malfunctioned!" the amber shattered seconds later, the blonde stepping out of her temporary prison, shaking any debris from her hair "Cass…"

"Project obsidian, huh? Zhan Tiri was right"
"Cassandra."

"You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I'm the bad guy." Artemis reached a hand towards the woman, almost like a child reaching for their mother, "Cass…" the blue-haired woman knocked the girl backwards as she fished something from her pocket,

"Cassandra, no!" a blue smoke erupted from the bottle knocking both girl's unconscious,

"No!" Eugene charged in as the guards attempted a capture, Varian hesitated to join the fray, his machine had backfired and caused a lot more trouble than intended. As Eugene loaded Rapunzel onto Max' back he looked back at his sister,

"Get Rapunzel as far away as you can, now! I've got her." He motioned to Varian,

"Kid, you need to take her and get her somewhere safe, I don't care where you go, just don't make it obvious." He looked down at the sleeping girl, it was the most peaceful he'd seen her in weeks, Calling for Fidella, Eugene helped him hoist her onto the horses back and they took off.

"Don't look back!" Eugene called after the teen.


Artemis came too in an unfamiliar place, it was dimly lit and as she looked around all she saw was dirt walls, black spikes and…

"You're awake!" she felt arms wrap around her waist.

"Whoa." She groggily wrapped an arm around him, patting his back, "I am so sorry you got caught up in my mistake."

"Mistake?"

"Project obsidian, you got hit." She pushed herself into a sitting position as he let go, "I couldn't let her get hurt, Cass came back to reconcile, Varian."

"yeah, well she's destroyed Corona, the entire kingdom is a mess."

"What?" she shoved her way past him "I need to get outside."

"It's not safe. Artemis!" she hurried up the ladder and out a trap door, "Artemis, come back!" she kept running through the ruins of old Corona, not stopping until she got to the Cliff side, taking in the scene before her. Black rocks were everywhere.

Once Varian caught up to her he noticed that both eyes were exactly as they were at Cassandra's strong hold.

"Artemis?"

"Looks like the end is here, I hope you're ready for a battle, young man." He looked at her in concern, she had never called him young man before,

"You're not Artemis." She smiled, "That is correct, Varian, son of Quirin."

"If you're not Artemis…who are you?" Artemis turned, offering a hand,

"I am Thalassa, Keeper of the celestial stones."