Rapunzel was excited and anxious to finally be back home. She'd been homesick for awhile, and she couldn't wait to see her parents again, but she was scared of the emergency they would find. She didn't know what the specifics were. All she knew was that she was needed back home.

Even with the hot-air balloon speeding up the trip home, it still took a few weeks. She hadn't realized how far away the Dark Kingdom was from Corona, even though they'd been gone for all these months. Even though the journey back was shorter, the distance felt further.

Rapunzel didn't know what state she'd find her kingdom in, but she'd prepared herself for the worst. She had nightmares about finding the entire kingdom on fire, or invaded by intruders. She was scared that she would come home to find everybody she loved hurt or worse, and she didn't exactly half her magic hair to save them anymore.

Rapunzel would have to adjust to having short hair all over again, as well as no longer having magic. I was odd. She hadn't even fully adjusted to having unbreakable hair in the first place, and yet she felt empty without it.

When they finally landed back in Corona Rapunzel was relieved and concerned that nothing seemed to be immediately wrong. The buildings were intact. The citizens were still walking around, living their day-to-day lives.

The people didn't look as cheerful as she was used to them being, but they weren't as defeated and hurt as she had been terrified they would be.

"This is the big emergency?" Lance frowned as he looked around. "Everything looks fine to me."

"Maybe the situation fixed itself?" Rapunzel suggested optimistically, though she didn't sound convincing even to herself. She needed to see her parents, and not just because she missed them. "Let's hurry up and get to the castle. We need to figure out what happened.

They quickly began to make their way to the castle, with Rapunzel feeling more and more anxious every step she took. She was so distracted that she didn't notice that they weren't the only ones headed towards the castle. She accidentally walked right in the path of Xavier's cart, and she could have gotten hurt if Cass hadn't pulled her back.

"Watch your flank, Raps." Cass said.

"Right, right, sorry." Rapunzel took a deep breath. She needed to calm down. And think rationally about this. "Thanks."

"Your highness." Xavier sounded somewhat awed. "You've returned."

"I'm sorry I took so long." Rapunzel instinctively tried to brush her hair behind her ear, though it wasn't long enough to make it stay. She would need to get some hair pins or something, because she knew that her hair wouldn't grow back, and she didn't think she'd be able to handle not being able to keep her hair out of her face. It would remind her far too much of Gothel.

"I am just relieved you're safe." Xavier said. "Your presence should help the kingdom to recover."

Rapunzel's breath got caught in her throat. "Recover from what? I know something happened, but I don't know what."

Xavier's eyes darkened, though there was a sad look in them as well. "We had some issues with usurpers." Rapunzel felt like she couldn't breath, but Xavier hurried on before she could get too scared for her parent's safety. "Their majesties are safe and well, and the criminals have been dealt with accordingly."

Rapunzel felt like her heart was pounding inside of her head. "So everything's okay?"

Xavier gave her a slightly pitying look. "I wouldn't say that, but things aren't as terrible now as they had been just a few weeks ago. The new royal advisor has made a lot of progress for our kingdom."

Rapunzel blinked. "New royal advisor? Who?" She wanted to know who she owed her kingdom's well-being to. Not to mention that she really was desperate to see her parents.

Xavier's smile grew tight. "Perhaps it would be best if you see for yourself." He sounded nervous, and that did nothing to make Rapunzel feel better. She steeled her nerves, took Eugene's hand to ground herself, and continued on the way to the castle while Xavier talked more about what had happened.

The Saporians were responsible for this. Andrew had escaped from the dungeons, and he and his cellmate, who Xavier didn't name, used their combined knowledge and resources to erase the memories of Rapunzel's parents, putting themselves in a position of power.

Rapunzel felt terrified and angry when she heard about the Saporians enslaving her people and manipulating her parents. Xavier assured her that the people were freed, and her parents were already making progress to get their memories back, but the reassurance could only do so much. She would have to see it all for herself.

Cass asked what had happened to the Saporians. She looked like she was ready to march into the dungeons and give Andrew a piece of her mind. Xavier frowned as he told them that the Saporians were locked up and carefully guarded, all except for Andrew. According to Xavier, the new royal advisor who had prevented this uprising had already killed Andrew. Rapunzel didn't like the Saporian, and she definitely didn't approve of what he had done, but she couldn't help but feel a sadness in her soul at the knowledge that a life had been lost.

"Did he really have to die?" Rapunzel asked quietly. "Why couldn't he just be locked up with the others?"

"And what happened to Andrew's accomplice?" Cass asked. "His cellmate."

"He's being taken care of." Xavier said with a small smile. "As for Andrew, well, the advisor did what he felt was necessary."

They entered the castle and made their way to the throne room. Rapunzel was ecstatic to see her parents, but her eyes were drawn to the man standing at their side, talking to them. She had only seen this man a few times in her life, but she was so sure that she would never see her again. She was confused and relieved to see a man that she barely knew at all.

"Quirin." Rapunzel said breathlessly. "You're alive?" She felt like she had a weight lifted off her shoulders, only for a pit to grow in her stomach. She honestly hadn't thought about Quirin since they had left Corona.

The farmer turned towards her. There was a caution and fury in his eyes that looked so familiar that Rapunzel almost had a moment of whiplash. She had never thought that there was much of a resemblance between Quirin and his son. She could see it now though.

"Princess Rapunzel." Quirin said stiffly. "Yes, I'm just fine."

"But…how?" Rapunzel asked.

Quirin frowned. "The working theory at the moment is that when the black rocks disappeared, it made the same thing happen to the amber I was trapped in."

Rapunzel's chest lightened slightly. "So I was able to keep my promise after all."

Quirin very nearly growled and he stepped towards her. For the first time Rapunzel could see that he had once been a great warrior, just like Adira and Edmund were. Quirin was not somebody who's bad side she wanted to be on. Rapunzel just wasn't sure what she had done to wrong him.

"Do not pretend that accidentally freeing me from my prison makes up for what you've done." Quirin said.

Rapunzel blinked, unsure of what he was talking about. She wanted to ask him about it, but she felt a touch on her arm. She turned to see her mother looking at her with eyes full of hope and unfamiliarity.

"You're Rapunzel." Arianna put her hand on Rapunzel's cheek, cupping her face. "You're our daughter." It wasn't a question, but it was still said as though she was trying to convince herself. Tears came to Rapunzel's eyes as she was overcome with grief and relief.

"You really can't remember me?" Rapunzel's voice broke. She had only recently reunited with her parents. She couldn't lose her relationship with them all over again.

Arianna's own eyes were wet with tears. "I'm sorry, darling. You don't look familiar to me. Somehow though, you feel familiar. I don't know you, but I know that I love you." She let out a wet laugh. "That doesn't make any sense, does it?"

Rapunzel remembered when she had first reunited with her parents. They'd been strangers to her, but they'd never felt like that. She had known in her heart that they were her family from the second she met them, and they knew the same thing. That hadn't changed.

"Actually, it makes a lot of sense." Rapunzel said tearfully. She hugged her mom and dad and just held them close. She could have stayed with them forever, she could see Eugene, looking a little uncomfortable. Then there was Quirin, who was looking to the side, seething.

Rapunzel felt an odd feeling of guilt. Her parents had lost their memories, but she hadn't really lost them. Eugene on the other hand had only recently realized that he had a family at all. And then there was Quirin.

Rapunzel reluctantly stepped away from her mother and turned to face the man. "Quirin, I don't know if you know, but Varian-"

"Don't you talk about my son." Quirin actually did growl this time. Cass stiffened and stepped protectively next to Rapunzel, though the man did not threaten her. "Nobody in your family has any right to even speak his name after everything you've done."

Rapunzel blinked, a rare feeling of indignation rising up inside of her. "What I've done? He's the one who-"

"I know what Varian did." Quirin said coldly. "He kidnapped and threatened your mother, and I'm not excusing his behavior, but he's a child. He only did this after your father, who is not only an adult, but also the king, sent his guards to hunt my son down like a dog."

Rapunzel wanted to deny it, but she remembered the masked men that had scared and chased her and her friends. She'd been so busy running from them that she hadn't really stopped to think that those men had gone after Varian first.

The guards wouldn't actually hurt their princess, and she wanted to think that they wouldn't hurt a boy. Before the excuse could even finish crossing her mind she remembered the fatigue and desperation in Varian's eyes when he'd come to her for her help to steal the flower. He'd been alone for months at that point, afraid and tired.

Rapunzel couldn't help but curl slightly in on herself. For almost two years now she'd had guilt about Varian sitting there in the back of her mind. She kept on pushing it down and ignoring that it was there, but every once and awhile it would creep back in. When Quirin was standing right there, judging her for her faults, it was hard to ignore.

"Don't act like the kid was innocent before that." Cass snapped. She didn't realize that calling Varian a kid was not easing Rapunzel's conscience. "He was considered a dangerous criminal before then."

Quirin's eyes flashed. "What, may I ask, was his crime?"

Cass couldn't answer. Rapunzel could, but the answer made her feel sick to her stomach. "He attacked me." But that wasn't what happened at all. Varian had just been upset and got a little desperate when he'd asked for help. He'd grabbed her arms, but that hardly counted as attacking her. But it was used as an excuse for the guards to target him and the kingdom to isolate him.

Tears ran down Rapunzel's cheeks. "I never meant to-" Eugene pulled her into his arms.

"It's not your fault, Sunshine." Eugene said quietly.

"I disagree." Quirin crossed his arms. "You and your family made mistakes. Varian made mistakes. The difference is that my son has acknowledged what he's done wrong, and instead of ducking his head and hiding from it, he has tried to make things right."

Rapunzel blinked. "H-He has?" She had thought that Varian would hate her forever and hold onto his anger. She'd never considered that he would be repentant.

"Even as we speak he's in his room, looking for a way to fix your parents' memories." Quirin said. There was a sad look in his eyes. "He barely sleeps, and he doesn't eat unless I make him."

Cass narrowed her eyes. "Why isn't he in the dungeon?"

"I wasn't going to send him back there." Quirin looked at Cass like she was crazy.

"Back there?" Rapunzel frowned as she thought. "Meaning he'd gotten out. But how-" Her eyes widened as she realized the answer. "Andrew's cellmate. His accomplice. That was Varian." She felt a brief moment of anger. Quirin claimed that Varian regretted what he had done, but he had helped Andrew enslave her people and erase her parents' memories. Why should Rapunzel believe that he had changed?

"Hang on, I have a question." Lance raised a hand. "How old is Andrew?" Rapunzel didn't understand why that was relevant.

"He's a few years older than us." Cass said. Eugene winced, Quirin looked furious, and Lance looked uncomfortable but determined.

"And how old is the kid?" Lance asked.

"He just turned sixteen." Quirin said. He sounded furious, but there was something like despair in his tone.

Eugene sighed and looked to the side. Lance looked horrified. "Hang on, let me get this straight. A kid got locked up, even though Corona claims that it doesn't imprison children. And the one kid we make an exception for is locked up with a man who's, what, ten years older than him? And nobody thought there was a problem with that?"

Rapunzel twisted her hands together. "I don't…what's wrong?"

Eugene gave Quirin a concerned look. "Blondie, a lot of not very good people are locked in the dungeons." As though she didn't already know that. "And sometimes those people like to hurt people, just because they can. And if one of those bad people are locked up with a teenager who can't really protect himself…well-"

"Varian could have gotten hurt worse than he already was." Quirin said. "And nobody would have cared."

"I would have cared." Rapunzel said defensively. She hated the thought of anybody getting hurt, but especially somebody she cared about. "He's my friend."

"How dare you." Quirin looked like he was barely keeping himself from attacking her. "How dare you call yourself his friend when you don't even know him." Rapunzel opened his mouth to answer, but Quirin didn't give her the chance.

"What is Varian's favorite color?" Quirin asked.

"Uh…blue." Rapunzel said quickly. Varian hadn't said as much, but he had that blue streak in his hair, and he wore blue. Besides, most people had some shade of blue as their favorite color.

Quirin's eyes narrowed. "What happened to his mother?"

"She died." Rapunzel said.

"Why did he get into magic?" Quirin crossed his arms. Something about that sentence felt wrong to Rapunzel, but she didn't know exactly what.

"I-I don't know." Rapunzel admitted.

"What's his favorite element?"

"Uh…fire." Varian exploded things often enough. Quirin's eyes flashed, and Rapunzel had the feeling that she couldn't be more wrong.

"His favorite color is orange." Quirin said. "Because it reminds him of his mother, who left when he was young. She's the one that introduced him to alchemy in the first place. Alchemy, not magic. And his favorite alchemical element is copper, because he's fascinated with the way that lightning passes through it."

Quirin looked exhausted, but defensive. "Varian would talk about these things without any prompting, and he would definitely tell his friends. I don't see how you can consider yourself his friend, and not know a single thing about him."

Rapunzel didn't know what to say. She wanted to say that Varian probably had said some of these things to her, but that she'd just forgotten because she'd done his best to not think about him at all in the past year and a half. Of course, she didn't think that this excuse would give Quirin any reason to trust her. It sounded weak, even to her.

So Rapunzel said nothing, and Quirin looked both content and furious at her silence. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

"I'm going to look in on my son." Quirin said. "He's doing his best to fix his mistakes. We're staying in the East wing of the palace until we've found the cure for your parents and he feels like his debt has been paid. As soon as he's done, we're leaving Corona, and our families will never have anything to do with each other if I have anything to do about it." He nodded at Rapunzel, professional but cold. He left the throne room, slamming the door behind him.

As soon as Quirin was gone, Rapunzel realized how weak her legs felt. She fell to the ground, tears falling down her cheeks.

She was back home. Her family was okay. Her kingdom was safe. She should be happy, but she felt worse than ever. She tried so hard to do good things, but she felt like every step she took she just hurt everybody around her.

Sometimes Rapunzel found herself thinking back to what Gothel had told her about the world being terrible. She'd grown up terrified that everybody was a terrible person. Now Rapunzel knew that most people were generally good, but now she wondered if she was actually the dangerous one who couldn't help but hurt people.

She wondered if maybe everybody would be better off if she'd never left her tower in the first place.