Chapter 2, on the same day!
Again reminder; the episode progressed like it originally did (for the most part), I only write what needed alterations. One or two small changes here that were skipped (something Varian says in the vault, and Rapunzel takes the empty flagon with her).
This is the aftermath. Drama and twists ahead!
They didn't arrive soon enough. Varian had the flower and escaped with it easily.
Fortunately, Rapunzel was fine—physically.
She felt so horrible for letting him fool her like that. For disobeying her father, breaking the law, and letting Corona's most powerful and sacred treasure be stolen.
However, even if Varian got away, there was still the possibility they had a small link to him in the guard's protective custody right there in the castle.
Cass and Eugene had told her what Pete had told them. About getting the purple cookies from Ophelia and then telling 'a man in a bush'—Varian—about the Sundrop flower.
This information had Rapunzel's mind racing back to what Varian had said to her back in the vault:
"You'd be surprised what people will tell you for a cookie. Especially one made by my sweet Ophelia."
So, Ophelia did make those cookies. And they were laced with a truth serum Varian had made from Xavier's mood potion. How he got his hands on that flagon, she did not know. She threw that thing into the bay. She knows she did.
Did that mean Ophelia was in on Varian's plan? Was she working with him?
If she was, then at least she was still in the castle, so they could hopefully get some information on what Varian was up to from her.
As ordered, Pete had found Ophelia, who was still trying to pass out her purple cookies to castle staff and citizens, and calmly escorted her to an empty parlor. He didn't tell her the reason, but she went with him without any resistance and was very confused about what was going on. Another guard was watching over the young kitchen maid while Pete was leading the princess and her friends back to her for questioning.
When they arrived, Pete opened the doors. There inside the parlor was another guard, standing beside Ophelia, who was sitting patiently in a cushioned chair with a wicker basket in her lap.
Upon them entering, Ophelia immediately noticed them and sprang to her feet.
"Cassandra, Rapunzel!" she said, sounding surprised and a bit remorseful. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what went wrong."
"Oh, I think it went exactly as planned," Cass sneered with her hands on her hips as the small group approached her.
Ophelia raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? This prank was a dud."
Now all three of them had an eyebrow raised. "Prank?" Rapunzel asked.
"Yeah. The prank? The cookies?" Ophelia told them like this wasn't supposed to be new information. Then she looked down in thought. "Maybe the 'special ingredient' had a chemical reaction with the baking soda and loss most of its power. Darn it, I knew I should have used baking powder instead," she thought out loud. Baking was a science after all.
Rapunzel reached into her satchel and pulled out the empty flagon Varian had dropped in the vault. "You mean this special ingredient?" she said, holding the tiny bottle out for her to see.
Ophelia recognized it immediately. "Yeah. That's the flagon. Only, it was full of purple liquid when Varian gave it to me this morning," she replied.
"Ah-ha! So you confess!" Cass shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the young kitchen maid.
Ophelia just looked at her like she was crazy. "Yes! I made the cookies with the purple stuff! I thought-" she stopped talking as her face turned into a look of realization. "Oh! I guess I just assumed you were in on the plan." That was the only explanation to why they were acting like this.
"In on it? You're the one who was in on it," Cass said accusingly again.
"Hold on a second, Cass," Rapunzel said firmly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I don't think she knew."
"Knew what?" Ophelia asked, now totally lost.
"Ophelia…could you just, start at the beginning," Rapunzel asked her to explain. "When Varian gave you this flagon."
The violet-auburn haired girl still looked confused, but sat back down as she looked up in thought, recalling how her day had started. Eugene silently hoped she was better at summarizing her day and getting to the important stuff than Pete. "Well, this morning, I was in the kitchen, alone. I was flipping through one of my favorite cook books, looking for something to make when Varian came in. I was so happy to see him. I wasn't expecting him to visit today. I wanted us to go do something together but he said he was on a 'special mission' and needed my help. He pulled a little flagon full of a purple liquid from his apron and gave it to me. He told me to make some cookies, add the whole bottle of purple liquid to the dough, bake them, then pass them out to everyone in the castle," she explained.
"And you just went along with that? No questions asked?" Cass asked rudely.
"Of course I asked questions. I didn't know what that purple stuff was. Plus, I wanted to know more about this 'special mission' of his," Ophelia said defensively. She trusted Varian with her life but she didn't blindly do anything for anyone. Then she continued. "Varian then told me that the purple stuff was a harmless edible food dye he had made himself. Then after it was baked into the cookies and someone ate one, their lips and entire mouth would turn purple for hours," she said that last part with a humorous smile.
Eugene raised an eye brow. "A food dye?"
"Why would Varian want you to do that?" Cass asked.
"He was trying to help you," the kitchen maid replied to her.
This had Cass confused even more. "Help me? With what?"
"Helping Rapunzel understand the art of pranks," she answered. Both Cass and Rapunzel remembered a few months back when the king was trying to prank King Trevor of Equis with the help of Eugene. While they were doing that, Cass was trying to teach the princess how pranks work and how to pull them off. "He wanted to help you get Rapunzel to understand how to pull pranks that were funny but not mean by pranking the whole castle, and I thought it was a very good and well-thought-out prank. You said a prank had to be unexpected, cleaver, funny, and mischievous. It was all those things. Plus, harmless and the victim gets a free cookie out of it."
"That does sound like a pretty good prank," Eugene thought out loud with a smile.
"Exactly. But it didn't work," Ophelia grumbled. Her disappointment showed as she looked down into the basket on her lap, at the purple crumbs left at the bottom. "Out of everyone who ate a cookie, none of their mouths turned purple."
She just didn't understand. She had followed Varian's instructions exactly. Why hadn't it worked?
Rapunzel understood the younger girl's frustration and confusion. She hated being the barer of bad news. She knew this would upset her greatly, but she had to tell her the truth.
The princess took a deep breath and stepped up closer to the sitting girl. "That's because it wasn't a food dye, Ophelia," she finally said.
Upon hearing this, Ophelia's head shot right up to look at her. "What? But Varian said-"
"Whatever Varian told you was a lie," she told her before holding the flagon up again. "This flagon, when Varian gave it to you this morning, was full of a truth potion."
"Tr-Truth potion?" Ophelia stood up, setting the empty basket on the floor.
"The people who ate your cookies, they have been unable to stop confessing the truth about anything on their minds, or answer any question asked with one hundred percent honesty," Rapunzel continued.
Ophelia paused for a second, thinking back to earlier while handing out cookies and checking on those who had already eaten at least one. "I…did notice a lot of people were being a bit too honest today. I just thought they were messing with me or trying to pull their own pranks," she said. Then she chuckled a bit. "I even thought for a second that you had just established some new holiday that was all about pranking each other for a whole day."
"Oooh, a day of pranks," Eugene said, thinking about that for a minute. "That sound like a great holiday," he said but groaned when Cass nudged him harshly in the side with her elbow.
"Focus, Fitzherbert," she scolded him.
"But…how do you know my cookies are what-"
"Because Varian told me," Rapunzel quickly cut Ophelia off, making the girl gasp. "While we were in the vault…stealing the Sundrop flower," she admitted slower.
"WHAT!?" Ophelia yelled. Her expression quickly went from shocked to horribly confused. "Why…why would he-why…?" she stuttered, not sure what to think.
"Ophelia," Rapunzel stopped her, placing her hands comfortingly on both her shoulders. "After Pete ate some of your cookies, Varian found him and asked where the Sundrop flower was being kept. Pete, of course, couldn't help but tell him the truth. When he learned that it was in the castle vault, he found me. We both knew my father wasn't going to just give us the flower, so he convinced me to help him steal it so we could save-" she paused, not sure if she should tell her about the other thing. "Corona…from the black rocks."
Eugene, however, didn't like these half-truths. He knew Rapunzel was trying to spare her at least a bit of heartbreak, but this could not be ignored. Ophelia deserved to know. "And Quirin," he added.
Both girls looked back at the ex-thief, the younger one even more alarmed now.
"Quirin? My uncle, Quirin? Wh-what happened!? Is he okay?! What's-" she asked franticly, grabbing onto Rapunzel's arms.
"The rocks…incased Quirin," she finally admitted.
Everyone in the room watched Ophelia's face pale further.
"In-in-INCASED!?" she cried. "What-what does that mean?!"
With a heavy heart, Rapunzel continued. "Varian told me he was going to use the power of the Sundrop to stop the black rocks, save Corona, and free his father," she paused, still feeling awful for falling for his deception. "But as soon as he had the whole flower, he told me he didn't care what happened to Corona."
"Why would he…why would he do this?" Ophelia cried, her eyes misting more by the second.
"He…blames me, for not helping him sooner. If I had helped him with the rocks sooner, this wouldn't have happened," Rapunzel scolding herself. She couldn't help but feel like she could have done something more, helped him sooner, than he wouldn't have felt he had to do this.
He thought that she and Corona turned their backs on him when he truly needed help—more than ever before. So the last thing he wanted to do was help them in any way.
His top priority was saving his dad. So, to him, this was the only way he could.
"But why did he…lie…to me?" Ophelia stuttered, practically on the verge of hyperventilating.
"He needed you to make those cookies and pass them out to everyone in the castle," Cassandra told her. "I doubt anyone would have taken a purple cookie from a stranger hiding in a bush." Would you accept a cookie from a stranger? If you're smart, no. But would you accept one offered to you by a trustworthy friend who works in the castle kitchen? Sure, why not?
Varian was clever for his age. Perhaps, too clever.
Overcome with sorrow, hurt, and betrayal, Ophelia's tears finally fell. Hard. "Varian… How could he!?" she sobbed, collapsing to the floor on her knees. "L-lied to me…tr-tricked me…used m-me…betrayed-" she cried out between sobs.
Rapunzel wiped tears from her own eyes, heartbroken for the young lady. Eugene came up behind his girlfriend, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. He too felt bad for the young kitchen maid.
"I'm so sorry, Ophelia," the princess said to her. She wanted to comfort her more. Maybe offer her a hug, but when she tried to lower herself down to her own knees, she felt Eugene jerk her shoulder. She looked back at him and he lightly shook his head. Ophelia was in a very delicate state right now. Space was probably better for her at this point. "Pete, could you escort Ophelia back to her quarters? I think she needs a bit of rest," she told the guard.
"Of course, princess," Pete replied respectfully before going over to the younger girl's side. "Come on. It's okay, Miss Ophelia. I've got you," he said comfortingly as he helped her to her feet. Ophelia shakily stood, allowing Pete to walk her toward the door, supporting her with a hand on her back and the other holding her arm.
"Wait," Ophelia managed to say. Pete stopped them just at the door, allowing her to look back to the princess. "Could-could you please tell everyone who ate my cookies that…I'm sorry," she said though her sniffling and tears.
If they've been spilling the truth all day, a lot of people must have embarrassed themselves or hurt other people's feelings. Eugene certainly knew that.
"I'll make sure everyone understands that it wasn't your fault," Rapunzel told her, offering her a small, reassuring smile. "And the royal medic said that the effects of the serum will wear off on their own eventually."
Ophelia forced her lips up into a grateful smile as tears continued to fall down her red cheeks. "Good. Thank you," she said before turning back to the door and letting Pete lead her back to her bedroom.
That was the last time any of them saw the poor young lady for the next couple of days.
Rapunzel, being the understanding princess she was, excused her from her kitchen duties for the time being, just until she calmed down.
Every time someone tried to go to her door to bring her food or talk to her, she'd yell at them to leave her alone. Rapunzel felt so bad for dumping all of those awful truths on her, but it was necessary. For all of them.
The princess felt bad about not telling Ophelia about what happened during the snow storm, and about her trip to Old Corona. She kept so much from her, thinking she didn't need to know to spare her from worrying.
God, she sounded like her dad!
She hated that he had lied to her, thinking he was protecting her. Now she was doing the same.
She felt like such a hypocrite. But no more! She had come clean, told her the truth, now she was allowing her what she needed to process and let her emotions go.
As Rapunzel sat on her balcony, hoping Ophelia would feel better in time, she also lamented her act of treason and letting Corona's most powerful relic fall into the hands of an emotionally distraught young teenaged boy genius.
What did this mean for Corona? Now that Varian had the Sundrop, what was going to happen next?
End of story #7. Again, fast one. But I'm excited to get started on the NEXT STORY! Even more drama, and maybe another twist or two.
Next story: Secret of the Sun drop (episode alternative) See u then ;)