It wasn't uncommon for Rapunzel to require his assistance. Being the Royal Engineer meant he was called upon whenever there was trouble, and they looked to him to help find a solution. What was different was Rapunzel did not come to visit him herself. She sent Howard, one of the newer guards, to fetch him instead.

He felt his heart pounding in his chest as he followed the young guard up into the palace. It must be serious. Rapunzel never passed up a chance to come to see what new invention he was working on. He knew the threat of war was looming over them, and without the power of the magical Sundrop, Rapunzel wasn't protected in the same way she was four years ago when she battled Zhan Tiri.

Don't get him wrong; she was a strong, compassionate queen who knew her way around the frying pan, and Eugene was one of the toughest Captains in Corona history. He also had some of the strongest guards fighting by his side. They had a strong defense around the kingdom. The last thing they needed was to rebuild the city again. So he was confident they could get out of this without much combat.

Still, when she got the threat from King Trevor about war, she looked frightened. No doubt remembering the last war she fought in. He was a bit shook by it himself. At least this time they weren't fighting one of their close friends. He was pretty sure the whole kingdom shared a dislike for the neighboring king. So if war did come, hopefully, it would be easier…

When he entered the Throne room, he saw Rapunzel and Eugene look up from their thrones, confused. She stood up and walked over to him, her bare feet patting against the cold stone floor. "Varian!" she smiled and pulled him into a friendly, warm hug. "It's good to see you, but..why are you here?" she let out a small chuckle as she looked at the young man who now stood over her by more than a few inches. "Did one of your water tanks malfunction again? I told you before, you have permission to fix them, and you don't have to apologize-"

Varian looked at the queen with his own confusion, "Um, no...you summoned me?" he said, gesturing to Howard. "Sent a guard and everything…" he caught the eyes of Howard and tensed. "It's a trap," he said, seeing the same look in the eyes of the guard that he once saw reflected in his own.

In an instant, Eugene was by his Wife's side, "Howard." Eugene said slowly, "Why did you bring Varian here? You are supposed to be on Prisoner duty." the Captain of the Guards narrowed his eyes, "And walking the cells twice does not mean you can take a ten-minute break. Math apparently doesn't work like that."

Howard pulled his sword out and pointed it at the trio, "I'm worth more than dungeon duty! I found a group of people who can see my potential and my worth!" he shouted, and as on cue, a familiar woman came crashing through the window, followed by two men. They landed on the glass and pointed their weapons at the three as well.

"Lady Caine?" Rapunzel gasped in disbelief, grabbing Eugene's arm as he pulled out his own sword.

"Hello, Queenie." She said as she strolled over towards the door, "Long time no see...well, no see of a lot of things, I suppose since you left my crew and me to rot." she growled, "You are no different than your father."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Rapunzel glared at the woman, "What do you want?"

"Oh, I'm sure you do." Caine rolled her eyes, "But I'm not the main course in this feast, Sweetie, I'm the tasty appetizer." She smirked and opened the door.

Varian's mouth dropped as an alpaca wool wearing, and man bun styled man stepped into the room. He was even still wearing the alchemy balls he made! Varian clenched his fists in anger at seeing him.

"Man Bun guy!" Eugene cried out, pointing the sword in his direction, causing the man in question to stop in his tracks and glare.

"You know me, Eugene, I am Andrew, leader of the Separatists of Saporia!" He puffed his chest out in pride. "And this time, I have more than a handful of people on my side," he smirked at them as he stepped more into the room and allowed his followers in.

Varian felt his heart pound hard in his chest, they were surrounded, and there was no way to alert the guards. In fact, it looked like some guards were on their side!

"Traitors!" Eugene glared at his soldiers that he once thought of as friends. People he took under his wing and trained. He felt betrayed and used.

Rapunzel seemed surprisingly calm, but Varian knew that she was trying to keep face. He caught her free hand and gave it a squeeze, which she returned. "Let's do this." she murmured to the two. Eugene nodded and ran at Andrew with his sword raised.

Andrew dodged out of the way, parrying the attack with his own sword. "You're better than last time, but I'm better as well." he bragged, "While I was locked in your prison, I practiced three hours a day, so when we met again, you will remember the name "Andrew!"

"You need to get yourself a girl." Eugene replied, already done with the other man's theatrics, "And not use them to get to something in return, seriously, it changes a man for the better." Eugene fought the Saporian, catching him a bit off guard by the sudden change of subject. He noticed his eyes drift over to Lady Caine, which caused the ex-thief to smirk. "Or, maybe you already found someone, and you practice three hours a day because you are unable to woo the lady."

Andrew swung his sword more wildly, growling, "I know what you are doing, and it won't work on me!"

"Are you sure? Cause it kind of did." Eugene smirked, with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Flynn Rider volume 38, disorientate opponent by talking about their love life...classic." Varian laughed, before pulling out some of his Alchemy balls from his pocket and throwing them at the Saporian supporters.

Rapunzel made a run to her throne and grabbed the frying pan that she kept there for emergencies such as this.

"Aw, you think that will protect you? How cute." Lady Caine said as she lifted her weapon to the queen.

"Oh, I know it will," Rapunzel replied, putting on the game face Cass helped her perfect years ago.

The three of them fought hard and long, but they were outnumbered and were soon overpowered. They were forced to their knees, weaponless, guarded by two of the goons that came in with Lady Caine.

Andrew smirked at the three of them as he sat on the throne and looked at Howard. "Good job. Now, send word to King Trevor to let him know phase one is complete. Corona is ours."

Rapunzel glared heatedly at the man before her, "Our Guards will not let this happen, the people of Corona will rise up and fight you. Corona will never be yours."

"That's where you are wrong." Clementine snickered from behind Andrew, holding up a familiar purple potion. "You really need to tell your Blacksmith to lock the door after him."

"That's the mood changing potion!" Varian gasped.

"It is indeed." Clementine confirmed and then held up the Memory wand, "And with a dip of this...they forget who they are and fall under our complete control!" she crackled

"Was that really all it took to perfect that?" Varian mumbled under his breath, his mind calculating, before being snapped out of it by an elbow in his side from Rapunzel. He looked down at her and noticed Pascal holding something colorful and familiar. It was the emergency Alchemy ball he made for her!

Making sure no one noticed, Pascal slipped them in his hand and gave him a nod. He waited for the opportune moment before throwing the balls, which caused smoke to fill the room. He, Rapunzel, Pascal, and Eugene took a deep breath before the smoke reached them and grabbed the hands of each other as they ran from the room while the Saporians were blinded.

They ran down the halls, but there were guards everywhere. They looked the same; nothing about their mood seemed different other than them wanting to hunt them down and kill them. They were being controlled somehow, and Varian couldn't understand how the wand and potion could do that. It didn't make sense...unless they got their hands on the…

"Oh, no." Varian gasped, stopping in his steps, causing Rapunzel and Eugene to stop as well.

"Oh, no? What do you mean, oh, no?" Eugene exclaimed, "is it only now just sinking in that Corona is being attacked?"

Varian glared at the Captain and then looked at Rapunzel, "I think I figured out how they are controlling the Guards….the Mind Trap!" he said, causing her to pale at the name of it.

"But that should only work on the Brotherhood…" She pointed out, looking confused, but also scared.

"Uh, Guys?" Eugene pointed to a now memory erased and mind-controlled Stan that was running at them.

The three of them started to run again towards the treasury, where King Herz Der Sonne's journal was locked away. Varian panted as they ran and started to regret not accepting the offer Eugene gave him about joining the guards for warm-ups.

"I think if they somehow isolated the mind control element in the Mind Trap, plus the mixture of the mood serum and the memory wand...they..they could have actually succeeded in a mind control potion and I don't know if I'd be able to reverse it...not without a sample of the Mind Trap." He explained as they ran into the treasury and locked the door behind them.

Rapunzel let out a sigh, as she grabbed the journal and ran her hand over it. She closed her eyes before turning to Varian and holding out the journal for him to take. "Luckily for you...the pieces of the Mind Trap were saved."

Varian took the journal and slipped it into his bag. His eyes widened with excitement at the idea of examining the artifact, before a flash of his father being mind-controlled popped up, causing his excitement to die quickly. He needed to protect all those who were and will be controlled. He couldn't add an electric plate to every guard's helmet. "Great, where is it?" He asked, looking around the room.

"At the Spire," she said, walking over to Eugene, taking his hand. They gazed at each other and seemed to have a silent argument before he finally gave in and looked back at Varian.

"Varian, we can't leave Corona. I owe it to my people to be there for them and protect them." She walked over to Varian and placed it on his shoulder. "Varian, you must go to the Spire. Find a way to fix this…"

Varian felt his heart quicken at that and looked between the two of them in shock, "No, no you can't stay...what about…?" he trailed off, as Eugene walked over and wrapped his arm around Rapunzel's waist.

"She's safe." Eugene said, "She's with her grandparents, and they are visiting the kingdom of Avalor."

"We'll send word to make sure they stay away." Rapunzel took a deep breath, thinking about her child being tangled in all this. "Varian." she looked him in the eyes, "I don't think we can take on all of them alone...and if King Trevor is involved, that means Andrew and Lady Caine have two armies at their disposal."

Varian felt his brain wheeling before he realized what she meant. "You want me to get..?"

"Yes." She agreed, standing up straight. "It's time to bring Cassandra home."

Varian felt his heart pick up the pace at the mention of the older woman that he hadn't seen in 4 years. It was odd, it's been so long since he's heard from her and even longer since he's seen her, but his heart still raced at the thought of her. Just the mention of her name made his mind switch back to his 14-year-old self. No other girl has ever made him feel like this. Sure, there were a few that turned their head to him, and he turned his head in return. But no one could ever fill the hole that was meant for Cass…

He shook his head. He was twenty now, not some teenager with a silly crush. He needed to focus on the task at hand. He looked up at Rapunzel with a look of determination and nodded. "You can count on me."

She smiled at him and hugged him, "I know...there is no one else I would trust to get her back." she said, causing Eugene to cough loudly, "Do you really think she'd listen to you?" Rapunzel teased.

"She might!"

"Ahuh, sure."

"Um, guys?" Varian said, breaking up the married couple before they got caught up in being too cute for him to take. "What do I do once I get there? I can't go to my lab...I can't go home. I can't risk my dad getting hurt, not again."

Eugene was the one to walk over to him this time and smiled at him, "Rally as many people as you can. Find Lance. He will take you in and help you with whatever you need."

At the mention of Lance, Varian felt mixed feelings. On the one hand, it would be good to see him again, on the other...he couldn't examine the stone there! Lance and the girls will get in the way!

"That's a good idea, Pascal!" Rapunzel looked at the Chameleon that sat on her shoulder who was miming Varian.

"Varian." she looked up at her friend, "Once they realize you're gone, they are going to look for you."

"Yeah, and the blue streak in your hair is a bit of a give away of who you are." Eugene pointed out, "You're going to have to hide it."

Rapunzel let her eyes wander the room before spotting an old brown cloak. It's not exactly a treasure, but it will do nicely of what she had planned. She walked over to the Alchemist and wrapped it around him, pulling the hood up over his head and smiling when it covered his streak entirely. "Use the maps to get out, we'll distract them while you escape." she hugged him one last time before parting, "You got this, Varian, I believe in you." She said, before taking Eugene's hand.

"Good luck, kid." Eugene saluted at him before pulling his Wife and the frog out of the room.

Varian took a deep breath and pulled the lever to open up the secret passage. "You too," he whispered before jumping down the hatch.