({ AUTHOR'S NOTE })

This fanfiction is going to be a pretty emotional one.
You probably won't need a tissue box or anything, but it still is kind of sad. :(

This is based in an alternate universe where Varian did not debut in Tangled: The Series, and his "first debut" is right now.

I hope you like it and enjoy it, and please if you'd like, leave a review, it makes me smile and boosts my creativity. :)

Chapter 1
"I'm not going to hurt you..."

Cassandra, years ago, didn't expect to see Corona wither and decay right before her eyes. But yet, here she was, staring it down like it had killed everything she loved. And it actually did, it killed her stepfather, her owl... It had injured her horse, Fidella... She was almost to the point of giving up on trying to revive the kingdom from its' destruction, until this one night...

"Captain, no signs of life towards the gates." One of the guards riding on their horse called to her. Cassandra bit her lip and closed her eyes for a moment, fighting tears. She hadn't been the type to cry, not often, but this was the type of crisis that made even the strongest...weak...

"Check through the castle tunnels, all throughout. That's an order." Cassandra commanded. "Yes Ma'am!" The guards shouted, saluting her. As the guards left, Cassandra went to check Old Corona, the last place that there could possibly be anymore life.

The place looked bad off, more so than the Kingdom of Corona.
Cassandra was almost completely certain no one had survived.

"Dam...Dammit." Cassandra's voice cracked, turning Fidella around and slowly heading away from the area. The war of Zhan Tiri had caused no good outcomes, except for Zhan Tiri's death.

Looking up into the sky, she felt as if it mocked her. The orange and red of the sunset looked like fire that burned down the whole town, the grey looked like smoke and dust, which was what was left of most of the cities. Trees turning black from the sunlight setting behind them, it only reminded her of the black rocks that had coated every building with terror.

It was filthy.
The sky was filthy.

Cassandra hated it, looking at her, going on like nothing has changed around it or within it. The sky kept on going, while the others all died off, or were injured, or trying to survive, or helping others. But... Cassandra looked down; It's not the sky's fault, it doesn't know.

Kicking herself in the back end, Cassandra was.
Why bleed all your anger out on something that wasn't part, and innocent?

...That's when she heard a cry.

One of a human... a human cry...
Cassandra's heart throbbed with fright, surprise, excitement at the sound of it. There was someone out there, there was someone out there! Cassandra cracked the reins on Fidella and headed quickly to the voice heard, careful not to trample anything with Fidella.

Closer Cassandra got, the more the cries got louder and more desperate for help.

Cassandra jumped off of Fidella, before Fidella could even fully stop. Running to the rocks, grabbing at them before reaching them even, and pulled away the rocks with all her strength. More and more, as Cassandra got rid of the rocks, the voice was revealed.

It was a young boy, he couldn't be more than 14 years old. His hair was of the black rocks, highlights of the ground's dirt and a one blue streak too. His skin was of a slight caramel color, just barely, and it leaned more towards being an orange color than a brown color. He had freckles dancing across the bridge of his noses, under his eyes and over his cheeks, some scattering down to his neck, shoulders, legs and arms. Thick, unhealthily black, bags laid underneath his eyes, due to the lack of sleep, probably

Various versions of red, from carmine to crimson and much much more, wounded his skin, from his face, to his arms and legs. His clothes were very tattered and torn, beyond repair it seemed, as it was barely covering him at all, the only thing managing to keep him warm, being his dark brown apron and what was left of his brown pants, which wasn't much, but enough to cover anything...unsightly. He did wear goggles on his head; Cassandra was curious about that, and they looked to be fixable, just some new glass and some welding maybe...

"Kid, I'm the Captain of the Royal Guards, from the Kingdom of Corona. What is your name? Are you okay?" Cassandra knelt down into the grass, that had turned a ghastly black from the previous fires that crawled its' way from, what seemed like to Cassandra, hell.

The young one let out a sob so cracked, that it didn't even sound like anything understandable. "Please calm down, you're safe here now. Please, what is your name? Are you okay?"

He managed to back away from her, pulling himself closer to the ground, scared of her. "I'm not going to hurt you..." Cassandra lowered her voice into a gentle tone. He stared at the woman with eyes that seemed to be scarred for life, terrorized. Tears managed to accumulate from his tear-ducts covered in dirt, and the corners of his eyes began watering.

Rolling down his cheeks, he spoke; "Va...Varian...Is my name..." His voice cracked so much from screaming and begging for help. Not to mention he was crying. "I'm...no..." Varian shook his head.

Cassandra took some of her gear off, put it in her bag, took off the bag and threw it to Fidella's hooves (in-which Fidella picked up with her mouth and secured it tightly between her teeth, since there was no room in Cassandra's hands) and grabbed the young male, trying to be careful with him as not to hurt him in anyway. "I'm taking you back to the Royal Guard Camp. We need to treat those wounds before infection occurs." She said quietly, walking over and getting on Fidella, holding him in her arms, barely leaving room to grab the reins of Fidella's straps. Varian closed his eyes and put his head close to Cassandra's chest, sniffling and voice still cracking with no words.

Agh! I hope that was a good story and I explained it well!
Please leave a review if you liked it! Have a nice day/evening/night. :)

~ VarianLeAlchimiste