Eclipse
EvermoreElements
Rescue of the Father
The sorrowful group made their way back to Corona. The original group as well as Edmund, Adira, and Hector (who had joined them when they passed the tree and had everything explained to him.
"Now I can't protect the Moonstone, I will protect the next best thing. A nephew I would have like to known I had" he had said. Adira nodded in agreement.
Rapunzel had quickly learned that Quirin had kept Varian a secret from his family. Did Quirin know?
The group had made quick time back to Corona and within a few months found them standing outside of Old Corona. Rapunzel grabbed Eugene's hand and pulled him back.
"I think we should attempt to free Quirin" she whispered to him, unaware that Hector had also stopped and was listening in.
"What do you mean 'free Quirin'?" he asked. That got the rest of the Dark Kingdom warriors interested. Rapunzel blushed and Eugene found himself having to fill in his own family – he was still getting use to that – and what had happened to Quirin and what had happened to Varian as a result.
Hector growled in his throat and quickly marched toward the houses that had been destroyed by the black rocks before he quickly stopped, his animals stopped behind him as he realised he didn't actually know where his brother lived. Eugene sighed, "this way" as he lead them to what may have been the biggest house long before the destruction. He guided the group through the large hole that lead directly to Varian's old lab.
Standing in the centre, in the same place that he had been trapped for the past year, stood Quirin, immortalised in the amber from the black rocks. Adira and Hector gasped. There was no sign that their brother was even alive.
"Do you know how to free him?" Hector growled the princess. She gulped.
"I think so. I just hope this works because if my father had just left him in the prison then his father might be the only thing that will make Varian listen to us" said Rapunzel. She and Eugene worked together to wrap her hair around the amber and she stood back. The rest of the group stood as far from Rapunzel as they could.
"I don't know what will happen" she said, preparing herself, "so if this goes wrong. Tell Varian that I am sorry."
Hector and Adira glared at her. Eugene was nibbling at his finger tips. Edmund was the only one to nod.
Rapunzel turned back to the amber, took a deep breath and started:
Wither and decay
End this destiny
Break these earthly chains
And set the spirit free
The spirit free
Everyone gasped as they watched the amber around the black hair begin to melt. Eugene stared at Rapunzel, holding one of the kids goo balls that he had found.
"She should be stopping, right?" Hector asked, wanting to run toward his brother but not wanting to falter under the enchantment's deathly aura. Eugene nodded. He looked at the goo ball in his hand, and without hesitation threw it at his girlfriend.
Somehow, the goo managed to trap Rapunzel and she lost her concentration on the song and she would have fallen if not for the goo and her boyfriend.
"Is he okay?" she gasped as Eugene grabbed her into a hug.
Hector and Adira made their way to Quirin, who was groaning as he slowly came back round.
"Easy, Brother" said Adira as she helped Quirin slowly rise to his feet.
"Varian" he gasped, "where's my son?" He noticed Edmund standing next to Rapunzel and Eugene and he frowned.
"What is going on?" he asked. Rapunzel took a deep breath and was about to speak when Eugene clapped his hands and stood up from beside her.
"Let's take this upstairs. I'm sure that the table is still standing. Sit around the table, fill each other in before heading to the castle."
An hour later, everyone had headaches and Quirin was rubbing his forehead both in concentration and in an attempt to calm the thumping.
"You think Varian is the child of the prophecy of Eclipse?" he asked, wanting to ignore the likelihood that his child is currently rotting in a prison cell.
"All we have discovered so far suggests so" said Edmund, then he turned to his bird, "unless he found out something else. I would hate for my son to be part of a prophecy."
Rapunzel watched as Quirin looked at the family portrait before sighing and looking back at Rapunzel and Eugene. Eugene had also been observing the tired father.
"You know something else" Eugene stated. It wasn't a question.
Quirin sighed and nodded.
"Ulla, Varian's mother, knew more than what the Dark Kingdom did. In her travels, she had encountered many mentions of Eclipse. The noticeable one she had found which she used in every argument with me about Varian being eclipse was that Eclipse was said to be a reluctant prince. And Varian is not a prince."
"We don't know what the King and Queen have done with Varian in the time we have been gone" said Rapunzel. Hector snorted.
"And you think that your parents might've adopted the child who amazingly held the queen ransom and threatened the entire kingdom." Rapunzel bit her lip. She knew that her father would have more likely threw Varian into a prison cell that let him roam free.
Adira stood up from where she was sitting.
"Well, I for one want to meet my nephew, prophesied hero or not – he is still part of this crazed up family" she said, slamming her hands onto the table.
Everyone nodded in agreement and stood from the table. Quirin blinked at the midday sun as he stepped outside for the first time in over a year. The castle was nothing more than a spot in the distance but Quirin knew that his son was there and he knew that he wasn't leaving without the child Quirin felt he had failed.
