Here's a new Tangled story called Outcasts of Old Corona. I wanted to write a story where Varian had his own friends and see what that would do to the plot.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Tangled or Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure. I only own my OCs.
Eight-year-old Varian wasn't going to lie; he was scared.
When he had accepted the dare to go to Old Lady Gothel's cottage, he thought he would just be in and out without trouble. There wasn't supposed to be a terrible storm that would make the other kids run and leave him stranded there.
That last part hurt Varian the most. He thought they wanted to be his friends…
Curling up in the corner of the bedroom behind the bed, Varian started crying. It was so stupid; he should've known better. Like anyone would wanna be friends with the town menace.
Why couldn't people just accept him for who he was?! Why couldn't he just fit in…?
… Why did his mom have to go? Why didn't his dad love him?
A hard sob tore from his throat as the eight-year-old broke down from sadness and fear, burying his face in his arms. Varian was so stuck in his head that he didn't hear the cottage door open or the frantic footsteps on the hardwood floor.
"Varian!"
The boy looked up, startled. Standing before him was one of the boys who brought him here, Kevin. Despite being the same age, he was taller than Varian, with short blond hair and dark brown eyes that almost looked black in the dark. He was carrying a wooden sword, and his green shirt and dark pants looked soaked.
"There you are!" He sighed in relief, moving toward him. "Come on, let's get out of here!"
When the blond reached out a hand towards Varian, the shorter boy flinched back, still running on fear from the whole situation.
Kevin stopped advancing after that, seeing the tear tracks on Varian's face. He looked down, feeling guilty because he was part of the reason this happened. It wasn't his idea, but he didn't stop it either.
"Varian…" He whispered, getting down on his knees, so they were at eye level. "I'm sorry I ran. But I'm here to help. Let's go home."
Kevin held out his hand again, waiting for Varian to take it. Varian hesitated, looking between Kevin's face and hand, trying to sense if it was a trick. Slowly, the shorter boy uncurled himself and reached out to accept the blond's help.
Before he could, however, they heard the front door open. Both boys turned to the entrance before Kevin got to his feet.
"Stay here." He said before making his way out of the bedroom, wooden sword at the ready.
Despite being told to wait, Varian followed Kevin out. In the living room, he saw the blond confronting a cloaked figure shorter than Kevin yet taller than Varian.
"Who are you?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the stranger.
"… Seriously?" Was all the figure (a girl, probably their age) said. Her face was covered by Varian could feel the deadpan expression underneath it.
Kevin was taken aback by the response. "Seriously? What do you mean 'seriously?'"
"You're going to attack me with a dummy sword?"
"Hey, these things can still hurt someone, you know!" Kevin retorted before shaking his head. "Never mind that, who are you?! You're not from the village, and no one from the capital's crazy enough to be all the way out here!"
"I wouldn't think anyone from the village would be out here, either." She replied without missing a beat.
Before Kevin could fire anything back, Varian startled them both by suddenly sneezing. Then thunder and lightning cracked, nearly scaring the kids into falling over themselves.
The trio stood silent momentarily before the female sputtered a giggle that evolved into a full-blown laughing fit. Soon the boys were laughing along with her as well.
None of them knew what was so funny, but the spontaneous laughter caused the tension to bleed out of the room. Once they calmed down, they looked at each other and smiled. If they were gonna be stuck here, at least they had company.
"Name's Kevin Daniel," Kevin said, pointing to himself.
"And I'm Alice Christensen." The girl introduced herself, pulling back her hood.
Alice was a young girl with pale skin, long auburn/red hair, and heterochromatic eyes. Her left eye was a golden amber, while her right was a bright red.
"Varian Ruddiger." The other boy nodded in greeting.
Another crash of thunder reminded them of the situation, causing them to tense up.
"Let's see if we can get a fire going," Kevin suggested as they all glanced at the ceiling.
"May as well get comfortable," Alice added. "There's no way any of us will make it home in that rain."
Varian only nodded in agreement, not saying a word.
By some miracle, there was some firewood that was still good to burn, so they soon had a decent fire going. Varian and Alice were by the fireplace, with the latter's cloak hung up to dry, while Kevin shook the dust out of some blankets in another room.
Alice's outfit under the cloak consisted of a hand-sewn purple sweater with white star designs on the chest and shoulders, a dark blue skirt, and brown shoes. She has also been carrying a basket of wild herbs she had picked for her grandmother.
Turns out, Alice lived with her grandmother and older sister in the Melodieux Forest, the woods around Old Corona. Alice knew she wouldn't make it home when the storm came, so she went to the cottage, knowing it was closer and empty.
Once Kevin was done, he returned to find the other two had fallen asleep by the fireplace. Smiling, he set the blankets down and draped two over Varian and Alice. He then took the last throw and settled on the window seat to watch the fire and the rain.
He thought he saw the weird stripe in Varian's hair glow, but when he blinked, it was gone. He shrugged and looked out the window.
Given the time, they would have to spend the night. Since he was part of the reason one of them was here, the least he could do was keep watch to ensure they were safe.
"Good night, you two." He whispered before focusing on the world outside.
None of them realized it at the time, but this meeting would be the beginning of a life-long friendship.
(Timeskip)
Years passed since then, and before anyone knew it, Varian, Ashley, and Kurt were eleven. After their night in Gothel's cottage, the three started to hang out together and became close friends. They knew everything about each other; their home lives, families, hopes, and dreams.
Varian was the son of Old Corona's Mayor, Quirin Ruddiger. He had a passion for the art of alchemy, something he inherited from his mother, Ulla, who had disappeared on an alchemy-based journey three years before they met. Varian was also an inventor, always making things to try and help his village… which didn't always work. Things between Varian and his dad weren't always the best, especially when one of Varian's experiments blew up and caused damage, but he had Kevin and Alice to turn to when he needed it.
As mentioned, Alice lived in the woods with her grandmother, Mona, who they called Gran, and her older sister, Giselle. Her father, Lucas, was killed when she was little, and her mother, Bellatrix, had also gone on a journey and never returned. Her older sister was the primary provider for the family, being a botanist and running their mom's old flower shop in town. To the boys' surprise, Alice was a real witch, able to cast spells and make potions. Varian and Kevin were the only ones who knew of her abilities and would help her with some of her spellwork when they had the time. Her main passion was astrology, studying the stars and constellations. Since she was often up most of the night, the boys tended to not see her until sometime in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, Kevin was a farm boy interested in being a member of the Royal Guard. His father, Raymond, was the second-in-command of the village. Whenever Quirin had to go to the city, he would leave Mr. Daniel in charge of the town while he was gone. Kevin's mother, Elise, was a dutiful farmer's wife, and Kevin also had an older sister named Katherine, who was older than him by a year. Kevin and his sister were some of the popular kids in town, though Kevin hadn't hung out with the other kids since that night at the cottage. After one of them made fun of Alice, he cut off ties with those kids and played with Varian and Alice only, much to his parent's chagrin. Since Kevin had dreams of joining the guard, he usually spent his free time practicing his swordsmanship and fighting skills. He even taught Varian archery (mostly because Quirin didn't want Varian to try sword-fighting).
"I still can't believe you got kicked out of school," Kevin said as he observed Varian pour an alchemy solution into a glass ball that would create an alchemy bomb, a weapon that was easy to carry and easy to use. Alice was standing next to him in case he needed an extra hand. "That mess wasn't even your fault."
Kevin was taller than he was when they were eight. His blond hair reached just past his chin, and he was dressed in a green shirt similar to Varian's shirt, black gardener's gloves, brown pants with suspenders, and black boots.
"It doesn't matter," Varian responded, putting a cork in the glass.
"You didn't need that school anyway," Alice said reassuringly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're already smarter than most of the adults here anyway."
Alice's hair was shorter than before, reaching to her mid-neck. She wore a white short-sleeve shirt under a brown and blue dress and blue shoes.
"Thanks, Alice," The alchemist smiled a little before wrapping up his work and cleaning things up. "Xavier, the blacksmith, offered to tutor me personally. Besides, we're almost done with school anyway."
"I still say it's wrong," Kevin stressed, unwilling to let the matter go.
"Just forget it, Kevin," Varian insisted, turning off the burner, knowing they weren't getting anywhere with the matter. "I need to get started on dinner anyway. You guys wanna stay?"
"Okay." Alice nodded. "I'll help you get started."
All three turned when they heard the door to the lab open, seeing Mr. Quirin walk in. "Oh, Alice. Kevin."
"Hi, Mr. Quirin." Alice smiled.
"Sir." Kevin nodded in greeting.
"Hey, Dad, can the guys stay for dinner?" Varian asked.
"I suppose so," Quirin said after a minute. "As long as their families are okay with it. Kevin, can you come and help me with the cow?"
"Yes, sir." The blond nodded before moving past him up the stairs, the other two following him.
Varian stopped to hug his dad, who smiled down at him, but it was strained.
Quirin's eyes focused on the teal stripe in his son's hair before the eleven-year-old went to the kitchen. He hated what it meant. He hated what he'd have to do.
Duty be damned, he wanted to throw it away, but it was far too late.
(Timeskip 2)
Varian woke up on the morning of his fourteenth birthday and stretched before he grabbed his clean clothes and headed out of the room.
"Dad?" He called, receiving no answer as he came out of the room. "Must be out in the fields already…."
This wasn't uncommon. Varian and Quirin didn't celebrate the former's birthday ever since he was four… when they learned his mother was gone. They treated it just like any other day.
Sighing, Varian headed towards the kitchen to get to the washroom when he stopped short at what he saw. Alice was in his kitchen, cooking something that smelled good on the stove. She smiled at him when he entered the room like it wasn't weird she was cooking in someone else's kitchen.
Despite all three of them being the same age, Alice looked younger than they did. She was now the shortest of the group with a rectangle body build and flat-chested. Alice had big round eyes, chubby rosy cheeks, a small button nose, and pale skin. Her hair was long again, reaching her upper back, but now she styled her bangs to cover her red eye (Over the years, she had gotten more self-conscious about people seeing it). She was dressed in a navy blue and white dress that stopped just below her knees with elbow-length sleeves. She had flat brown shoes, a white and blue checkerboard apron around her waist, and a red ribbon in her hair.
"Morning, Varian," She greeted him, getting off the stool she was using. "Happy birthday!"
"Uh, hey, Alice," Varian blinked. "Not to be rude, but what are you doing here?"
"Cooking." She replied like it was apparent.
"No, I got that. I mean, why are you at my place this early?"
"Well, today's your birthday, so Kevin and I planned something special for you," Alice explained, returning to check on the food. "First, we're gonna have some breakfast together. It'll mainly be you and me since Kevin ate with his family. Maybe your dad if he shows up. After that, I thought you and I could hang out and do some alchemy until Kevin gets here. Then, we're gonna spend the day in the city, get some food, you pick out a present, Kevin's offering to pay–."
"Uh, you guys remember I don't celebrate my birthday, right?" Varian reminded her.
"I know, but…." Ashley sighed, giving Varian a kind smile. "It's been ten years since that day, so in a way, this birthday is kind of a milestone. So, we wanted to make your day a little special. I mean, we already do that, but we wanted to make it extra special this time."
She wasn't wrong.
They usually did something for Varian on his birthday, something small that made the day a little happier. Alice would make cupcakes, and Kevin would do whatever Varian wanted to without complaint. (He supports Varian's alchemy, but he gets bored quickly when Varian gets invested in a project)
Even so, this was different. The guys were practically planning a whole day for him.
Touched, Varian smiled at his best friend. "Thanks, Alice."
The teen witch smiled brightly before speaking again. "Now, I've prepared a warm bath for you. The food should be done soon, so don't take too long, okay?"
"Okay." Varian nodded, then headed for the washroom.
Alice sighed, watching him go. She was worried Varian wouldn't have wanted them to do this. It was nice to see him smile on his birthday.
Varian washed up in the hot water his friend prepared for him and considered a schematic he was secretly making, a machine that would bring hot, running water to the Kingdom.
Wouldn't that be amazing? No more putting water over a fire to warm it up for the bath, dishes, or whatever else! He hadn't even told his friends about it, that's how secret it was!
He finished washing up and got dressed before checking himself in the mirror. He nodded and joined Alice, who was using her magic to set the table. Items were surrounded in a light arctic blue as they levitated to their spots before vanishing.
"I'm done!"
"Great!" Alice chirped, wrapping up her work. "Sit down, and let's eat, and then we'll go to the city to pick out your birthday present once Kevin gets here!"
He beamed at her and sat down eagerly as she again used her magic to pour syrup on his pancakes and juice into his cup. Then she sat down, and they started to eat.
A few minutes later, Quirin came in from the fields. Like Varian, Quirin was also surprised to see Alice there so early.
"Alice, hello," He greeted her kindly. "What brings you here so early?"
"Oh, just wanted to see Varian," Alice waved off. "We have plans to hang out with Kevin today, and we'll probably go over to my place."
They kept their plans vague because they knew Mr. Quirin wouldn't let them go into the city alone if he knew. He was… a little overprotective of Varian.
"I see…" Quirin said after some hesitation.
Varian had to fight an eye roll at his dad's response.
He knew his dad wasn't too happy about his friendship with Alice. He didn't hate her, but her magic made him nervous, especially when he was at her place in the woods for several hours. It was one of the many things his dad wouldn't give a straight answer on. Even so, his father may have a lot of weird rules in place, but Varian drew the line at letting them dictate who he was friends with.
"I made plenty of pancakes if you want some, Mr. Quirin," Alice said, trying to distract him.
"Ah, thank you." The village leader said before getting some food.
The three of them ate in relative silence, which may or may not have felt awkward. Once done, Alice and Varian cleaned up while Quirin returned to the fields. When the kids were finished, they hung out in Varian's lab before Kevin showed up.
"Sorry, I'm late," The blond said when he arrived. "Figured I go clean up a little before heading into town."
If Alice looked younger than the boys, Kevin looked older than the other two. He was tall for his age with a toned, athletic build from farmwork and battle training. His blond hair was kept short in a military-style cut, and he had sunkissed skin from being outside a lot. Typically, Kevin wore a green pull-on shirt, black pants, suspenders, and gardening gloves, but right now, he was wearing a green vest over a white shirt, brown pants, and black boots.
"You're just in time," Alice responded. "Quirin just headed out to the fields, and as far as he knows, we're gonna be at my place all day."
"Okay," He smiled before turning to Varian. "Is there anything in particular you want?"
"Uhm… I'm not sure." Varian admitted, thoughtful, before grinning. "I mean, I'm already pretty happy!"
"You know Varian. 'I'll know it when I see it,' right?" Alice smiled at him fondly, and Varian chuckled.
"Yeah, pretty much." He nodded.
"Well, then," The witch held out her hands. "Ready to go?"
"Yeah!" Varian cheered, taking one hand while Kevin took the other.
Once they did, Alice summoned her power, and the trio disappeared in a flash of magic.
(The Capital of Corona)
It wasn't often that the friends got to go on outings to the city, much less by themselves. More often than not, it was either Varian's dad, Kevin's dad, and/or Alice's grandmother/older sister.
Even so, Varian cherished every moment. Even if sometimes, when Quirin took them, Varian and the others separated from his father while he went into the castle to speak with his friend, the King since he was in the area. Varian didn't mind, though. His friends always made up for his absence by taking him to see Xavier so he could get more alchemy stuff when his father wasn't around to tell her she shouldn't.
His interest in alchemy was a significant contention between him and his dad. It was something they fought about sometimes. Okay, "sometimes" being "every time Varian caused trouble with his inexperienced alchemy skills." Which… happened more often than he'd like to admit. And by "fighting," he meant "Quirin would give a disappointed sigh and ignore Varian until the mess was cleaned up, then give him a lecture and grounding."
But it wasn't his fault! Usually… It would've been fine if he didn't get pushed by that kid and used more of the solution than he meant to. He was good at his alchemy as long as things went as planned!
Sure, he made a few mistakes, but…
Maybe he should show his friends the schematics of his new project. This would be his biggest project to date, so he could use some help. Alice did some inventing in her own time, so she could help him find any mistakes he made.
But he wanted to surprise them, too! He knew he could pull this off! He'd gotten better at alchemy, so he could do this!
"Varian, do you want to go and buy a new book?" Alice asked, pulling him from his thoughts as they left Xavier's blacksmith forge. Kevin was carrying a small crate of alchemy supplies Varian wanted.
(Kevin had to remind them not to completely break his bank. He had his eye on a few daggers, and he still needed money for that.)
"Uhm, sure!" He nodded, and the boys followed her to the bookstore, but Varian stopped and looked up at the mural in the town square. Alice and Kevin stood beside him, and the magic user gently squeezed his shoulder. "They still haven't found her, huh?"
"No." She shook her head. "She'll be eighteen this year."
"I still think she's being held someplace close by," Kevin speculated. "There's no way someone could've gotten too far with a baby on foot."
"Do you think she's okay?" Varian looked between them.
"Like Gran says, we can only hope. Come on, Var, let's not think about this today." Alice took his hand and led him to the bookshop, Kevin following them. "It's your special day."
The alchemist nodded, looking at their joined hands.
As long as he could remember, he'd always worn gloves. It was a rule his father had set, one of many. Don't go in the master bedroom. Don't remove your gloves. Don't go outside at night (admittedly, he had broken this rule many times, but with the life-size doll he'd made, his dad didn't know). Don't use alchemy on the fields. Don't mess with other people's lots. Don't talk back.
He preferred being with his friends because they listened to what he had to say and didn't dismiss him.
He picked out the latest Flynnigan Rider book since he hadn't gotten it yet, and an encyclopedia and atlas, which Alice put into a basket she'd brought with her. Then they walked down the street towards Monty's Sweet Shoppe and got something sweet to eat by the fountain while they took a break.
"Hey, Alice, uhm, do you think you and Gran could use your… you-know-what to find her?" Varian asked as he looked at his lollipop thoughtfully.
"If we could, we would've done it long ago." She shook her head. "Gran tried shortly after it happened, but even with the lock of hair left behind, she couldn't locate her. I tried when I was old enough to learn the spell and couldn't get anything either. Something stronger than both of us, darker and more powerful, is blocking the locator spell."
"Hm…" He looked thoughtful. "Maybe I can do it with the power of alchemy!"
"Or see if you can get the wolf pack in Ingram Forest to help us out," Kevin added, half-joking, half-serious.
Alice giggled. "Oh, you guys. We'll find her someday. Whoever took her can't keep her forever."
"If she's still in the kingdom, the lanterns must have drawn her attention by now," Kevin added.
Varian nodded with a broad smile, then looked thoughtful. "Where do the lanterns all go, anyway?"
The blond shrugged. "No one's followed them."
Varian chuckled. "Well, maybe this year will be the year she comes home!"
"Is that your birthday wish?" The redhead asked. "For the Lost Princess to come home this year?"
"Yeah!" He grinned. "Do you think it'll come true?"
"Who knows?" Kevin shrugged, but he was smiling fondly. "Maybe it will."
Ashley smiled as well before standing up. "Well, if we're done with our snacks, how about we get some food?"
"Sure!" Varian smiled as the friends started on their way again.
They walked together to a café and got some food and drinks. They smiled, laughed, and all-in-all had a great day.
Varian smiled at his friends, then looked towards the mural in view of them and silently wished the Princess would return home safely.
And that's the end of chapter one. Next on the list is Starlight. I know it's still up, but I've made some changes.