Chapter Text
This was it, the light trial. After a year long journey of completing the other 6 other trials and outsmarting Donella a long the way, they had finally made it. It was all going to be worth it. They would see the Eternal Library.
They had spent at least an hour exploring the tunnels under Corona. Dodging traps, walking down long winding hallways, and going up plenty of steps, until, they finally found an archway leading to a circular room.
The walls were smooth and black, with words engraved on them in a foreign language. The floor was made of black stone bricks, there being lighter ones in a circle to the left of the room with a copper tripod in the center. In the back of the room was a large arched doorway, copper being where a door would have been. In the center of the copper was a large panel of buttons, switches, and nobs. The only source of light was a tall window on the left side of the room where the tripod is; making it hard to see, but not impossible.
Varian made his way to one of the walls, tapping his staff against the floor to get it to glow, and held it up to start translating the text. Nuru walked over to the tripod, inspected it, then pulled out a small telescope from her purse to look out the window at the stars. Hugo followed Nuru shortly after she pulled out her telescope, looking more closely at the tripod and the area around it. Yongs eyes immediately locked on the copper door. When he walked over to it, he put his hand to the cold metal and started moving it around, his hand soon landing on the panel. He tried to get a closer look at it to see if he could find what each thing does. After trying and failing to make out the various switches and buttons littered across the panel, he turns towards the rest of the group.
“I think I found how to open the door guys!” He said excitedly.
Nuru and Hugo turn to face him. “Good find Yong!” Hugo said, making his way over to the panel, inspecting it as well.
“Who needs that many buttons for a door…?” Nuru muttered from behind them.
Yong turned around again, looking at Varian who was still translating the text on the walls. “Hey Varian”, Varian turned to face him, after scribbling down some words in a journal he had pulled out earlier. “Can you come over here? We need some light.”
“Be right there” Varian said, standing up. “Ok, what did you need me to- AH!” He tripped over something, his staff falling to the side and falling onto his hands and knees.
“You ok?” Nuru asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he stood back up. “Just tripped over something.”
He looked down at the floor to see what he’d tripped on, and saw the small point of a black rock sticking out of the ground, illuminated by his staff’s green glow.
“What the..” he muttered to himself, crouching down to get a better look at it. ‘I thought all of these were gone.’ he thought to himself
Come to think of it though, he had seen one earlier. When they were making their way through the tunnels. He just thought he was seeing things though.
“Are you sure your ok?” Yong questioned.
“Yeah, I just- it’s fine.” Varian said, standing up and swiftly making his way to the door.
“Ok! What did you guys need?” Varian asked, trying to ignore what he’d saw.
“I need you to hold your light…” Yong gently guided Varians hand, the one holding the staff, to the panel of buttons. “Here.”
“Woa! That’s.. a lot of buttons” Varian said.
“Sure is.” Nuru replied, hand now on her chin.
“So,” Hugo asked, stepping next to Varian. “The walls tell you any secrets?” Hugo asked.
“Nothing too interesting on the side I was looking at. Just a bit of history of Corona and Demanitus. Nothing we don’t already know though.” He said with a shrug.
Hugo hummed in thought. “Well, we don’t have much to go off of right no-“
Nuru gasped, interrupting Hugo’s sentence. She rushed back over to the window with her telescope and examined the stars again, soon making her way back and glancing over the panel again. The group looked on in confusion as she did this a few more times, mumbling under her breath.
After her final walk between the two spots, she stoped back at the panel on the door.
“Whatcha find Starlight?” Hugo questioned, now leaning against the wall next to the door.
“The panel is a map of the stars!” She stated excitedly. She pointed at one of the nobs. “These are planets,” she moved her finger down to a small button, “these are stars,” she then moved her finger to the left to a switch, “and these indicate constellations!” She explained, looking back at the group with a grin.
“I would have never guessed that.” Yong said in disbelief.
Varian was thinking, his finger rhythmically tapping against his staff. He looked up at Nuru. “Do you think there are certain things we have to change?” He asked. “Maybe that will open the door…” he trailed off at the end, going back into thought.
“Most likely, but from what I saw everything on here looks accurate.” Nuru said, now thinking as well.
Hugo looked around the room, seeing if there was anything that could point them in the right direction. “Hm… you didn’t finish reading that text right goggles?” He said, looking at the other wall Varian hadn’t translated yet.
“No, I came over here before I could start on-“ he pointed to the side of the room opposite of the window. “that side.” He replied.
“Oh! Maybe it tells us something! Come on!” Yong said happily, grabbing Varians hand and leading him to the wall he pointed at.
Varian chuckled, letting him be led by the younger. “You’re.. really excited about this, huh Yong?” Varian playfully asks.
“Well yeah! It’s our last trial! How could I not be?” Yong chirped.
“Huh..” it didn’t really set in before for Varian. But, after this, they were done. No more trials, no more running from Donella, no more being homesick. “Well we better keep going then” Varian said, pulling himself out of his thoughts.
After a few minutes of Varian translating the text on the wall and writing it down, he had finally found something. ‘If you have made it this far, you have more than proven yourself worthy of the knowledge of the Eternal Library. Your bond with your companions is as strong as your will. You are one, like the totems you have collected thus far. Let the light within you guide you to your destiny”
Varian’s eyes went wide. ‘Finally!! A clue!’ Varian thought. “Did you find something?” Yong asked, sitting up from where he was laying on the floor next to Varian.
“Yeah,” the others started to make their way over to gather around the journal that held the translation. “If we can figure it out, this,” Varian points to a specific part of the translated text, “should tell us what to do.”
“Let the light within you guide you to your destiny.” Nuru repeated. “What light though…”
“Really Demanitus? ‘You are one, like the totems you have collected thus far.’? I could come up with something better.” Hugo said.
Varian rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you can Hugo. Do you think you could also help with the clue using that smart brain of yours?”
“So you admit I’m smart?” Hugo asked with a smug smile.
“Yes, you are very smart. Now let’s come up with some ideas.” Varian said, turning back towards the journal.
After a little bit, Nuru spoke up. “Maybe it’s talking about the totems?”
The group looked up at her.
“It says ‘you are one like the totems.’ So maybe ‘the light within’ refers to the with the totem.” She explained.
“Well if that’s true, how would we get the light out?” Hugo asked.
“I don’t know yet, but I think something around here must be the key.”
She looked around and started walking towards the tripod. “Maybe we put it on this.” She said, brushing her hand over the metal.
“We can try” said Varian. Lifting the totem.
He walked over to the tripod and placed the totem on top of it. He rotated it a little until it clicked into place.
Suddenly, a beam of light shot up from the totem and out the window, like a large flashlight, shining on a few stars.
“It worked!” Nuru said excitedly.
The group breifly celebrated.
“Woa!”
“Not bad starlight.”
“Nice job Nuru!”
“Thank you, thank you.” She said with exaggerated bows.
She then turned to the window.
“These must be the buttons we need to press.” Nuru stated, memorizing them.
“They sure are princess.” An all too familiar voice said.
The group darted around to see Donella and a few of her goons standing in the entryway to the room.
“I do have to thank you for all your hard work.” She said, making her way towards the group. Her goons staying at the entrance, blocking it.
“You are not getting into that library Donella.” Varian said sternly.
“Are you sure about that?” She smirked, snapped, and more goons they hadn’t seen before walked behind her, circling them.
Nuru, Yong, Hugo, and Varian all went back to back in a small circle. Each person pulling out their respective weapons and getting into a fighting stance. Varian had his staff, Hugo pulled out a few alchemy vials, Yong his fireworks, and Nuru readied her fists.
Hugo stared daggers at Donella.
“What’s with that look Hugo?” She said, a smirk forming on her lips.
‘Don’t you dare.’ Hugo thought. He knew exactly what she was going to do. She already got the eyes of everyone on the two. It was time to get her payback for him turning his back on her.
“That’s not the way you should be looking at the woman that raised you.”
And there it was.
The room was silent. Everyone knew.
Before Hugo could respond, Varian spoke.
“Raised you?”
Varian couldn’t belive anything that was just said.
“The woman we’ve been fighting against, the woman we’ve hid the totems from, the woman we spent hours evading the plans of, raised you?!” His anger was rising as he made his way through the sentence.
“Tell me that’s not true Hugo. Tell me she’s lying.” Varian looked at him with pleading eyes. All Hugo could do is hang his head and mutter a quiet “she’s not.”
Donella and her goons moved to the side of the room, letting the scene play around her.
“You’ve.. you’ve been with Donella? The whole time?” Yong asked, tears starting to form in his eyes.
“I.. I didn’t want to help her. I mean, I did at first but-“
Varian cut him off before he can finish. “I knew it. I knew it from the start. I should have never trusted you.” He spat. He reached into his bag, fingers searching for anything he can use to stun Hugo. He now knew he needed to go into the library alone. He needed to get away.
His fingers gripped around a vial of- something. He didn’t know what it was, but he was in a hurry and fueled by anger and betrayal, so it didn’t really matter.
He smashed it on the ground in front of Hugo and bolted towards the door.
Then, he made the mistake of looking back.
He stopped at the scene before him. Nuru was pulling Yong, who was trying to light a firework, away from Hugo who was now frantically looking around. His and Varians eyes locked.
“Varian, what is this?!”
Golden amber clung around his feet and was now making its way up his legs. He struggled, trying to pull them out, but eventually gave up.
A firework blasted, the noise pulled Varian from his thoughts and he started running towards Hugo. The firework hadn’t even made a dent in the amber.
“I- I don’t even know why I still had this! I thought I got rid of it all the way back in Bayangor!” Varian desperately searched his bag for something- anything, to free Hugo.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up. “I deserve it, Varian.” Hugo said, avoiding Varians eyes. “I should have told you guys sooner.”
“No. No, I shouldn’t have been so careless.” Varian replied.
“But I- '' Hugo started to speak but was cut off by Nuru. “GUYS! Let’s focus on the problem here.” She gestured to the ever growing amber. “How do we reverse this Varian?”
“That… that’s the problem.” Varian looked down. He didn’t want to see their faces when he told them.
“The only way I know of is Rapunzel’s hair but..” he trailed off.
Yong’s eyes went wide. “Doesn’t she have short hair now?” He asked wordily.
“Which means she can’t harness the power of the Sundrop and use the decay incantation.” Varian finished with a sigh.
The room was silent.
The amber didn’t stop growing.
“And that’s the only way?” Yong asked, voice incredibly small.
“I think.. I think if I work on making variations of the Flinnolium…” Varian stopped to think, his brain already coming up with ideas. But he soon brought himself to the present. He looked back up at Hugo. “I’ll find a way to free you. I promise.”
Hugo’s eyes widened a bit. Varian hates promises. But, if he went out of his way to make one, it meant he was serious.
Varian looked behind him to Nuru and Yong. “You guys go find Rapunzel. We need to alert her.” They nodded and walked out, Yong looking back and giving a small, sad, wave.
Varian sighed again.
The amber was half way up Hugo’s chest now.
Varian put a hand to Hugo’s cheek. Tears started to form in his eyes. “I’m so sorry…”
Hugo gave him a soft smile. “Hey, we’re some of the brightest minds in the 7 kingdoms right? You’ll figure something out. I’ll be fine.” ‘…right?’ Was left unsaid.
A small smile made its way onto Varians face. “Yeah..” he trailed off, eyes fixated on Hugo’s lips.
Varian knew that if he didn’t do what he wanted to now, he may not have had another chance to. He only stared for about a few seconds, but it felt like eternity. The sound of Hugo’s voice didn’t seem to travel to his ears, despite how much he fancied it.
He was sure Hugo was about to repeat a question but he didn’t care. He knew all he needed to know. He knew that they didn’t have time. He knew it’d be longer than he wanted for them to reunite. He knew he had to move.
So he did.
The kiss was bittersweet. So tender with so much emotion behind it— so many words that would have to be left unspoken for however long it took to find a solution to this disaster. The two were in their own tiny world for about 4 seconds before Hugo hesitated— that soft twitch of the lips let Varian know it was time to pull away.
This small action would have consequences, but that was an afterthought.
The amber was up to Hugo’s neck now.
Varian didn’t think he could watch any more.
He looked at Hugo one more time, cheeks still pink. “I promise I’ll get you out.”
When Varian left, he could have sworn he heard a drop of water hit the floor.
~
After at least half an hour of running through the underground tunnels of Corona, Varian had finally made it out. The lanterns of the Coronan people lit up the night sky. The people were happy. Walking the streets talking with loved ones, dancing traditional dances, making chalk art on the floor, and celebrating the princesses birthday.
Varian hurriedly made his way towards the castle, squeezing through groups of people and dodging carts of various Rapunzel and Corona themed items.
He made it to the the courtyard and took the steps up to the castle two at a time.
He raced down the familiar hallways of the castle, disregarding the guards and maids questioning him.
Varian turned down a hallway, slowed his pace, and jogged through the door to the throne room.
Nuru and Yong were already there, talking to Rapunzel about the situation.
When they heard the door open they all turned their heads. Realizing who it was, Yong ran over to Varian, tightly wrapping him in a hug.
Before he could say anything, Yong spoke.
“Is he ok?! Is he dead? Can we save him?” Yong said, pulling away from the hug.
“He’s not dead.” Varian replied softly. “I’m going to figure something out to free him. I think I know what I need to do.”
Yongs eyes lit up. Nuru and Rapunzel made their way over to the two, Nuru putting a comforting hand on Varians shoulder.
Rapunzel spoke up, “I’m having some maids prepare you all some rooms, it’s been a very…eventful.. day.” She gave them a sympathetic look.
“Thank you very much Princess.” Nuru said, hands clasped in front of her.
“It’s the least I can do.” Rapunzel replied. “I also doubled security in the entrances to the tunnels, and the walls of Corona. So that lady that was following you-“ “Donella” Varian interrupted, “Donella, won’t be able to access the tunnels again.” Rapunzel finished.
“Thank you Raps,” a small smile started to form on Varians face, but quickly disappeared. “Do you- do you know where she went?” He looked around at the other two in case they knew.
Rapunzel’s face got more serious. “Eugene had spotted her, he and a few guards went after her but eventually lost her. We currently don’t know where she is.”
Varian sighed and nodded in reply.
“Would you like me to show you to your rooms?” She offered, trying to lighten the mood.
“Yes please.” Varian replied.
Rapunzel led them out of the throne room and down a hallway.
Yong and Rapunzel were talking in the front of the small group. Nuru was close behind them, but consistently checking behind her shoulder, making sure Varian wasn’t left behind. She grew more concerned every time she looked.
She eventually slowed her pace to match Varians. Looking over, she realized he was crying.
‘This is all your fault’ Varian thought to himself. ‘You did this. Hugo’s trapped because of you. If you weren’t so reckless-‘ “Varian?” A soft, concerned voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Nuru standing beside him and Rapunzel and Yong in front of him, now stopped and looking at him. He hadn’t even noticed he’d stopped walking until he was pulled out his thoughts. He felt a hand on his cheek, wiping away tears he hadn’t noticed were there.
“Hey,” started Nuru. “Beating yourself up about what happened won’t do any good. A lot just went down but,” she looked over to Rapunzel and Yong to make sure she was doing ok, she wasn’t used to giving speeches like this. They nodded in encouragement back. She looked back to Varian and continued, “you have us with you. You aren’t going to fix this alone. We’ll help you no matter what Varian. And not just with freeing Hugo, you can talk to us, Varian.”
Varian sniffled and gave a small nod in reply. “Thank you Nuru.” He said quietly, a small smile making its way onto his face. “I’ll.. need a bit t- to process things first.”
Nuru nodded and gently started to lead Varian down the hallway, signaling at Rapunzel and Yong to continue moving.
~
Yong couldn’t sleep. He tossed, and turned, and stared at the ceiling, and sung himself lullaby’s, but nothing worked. Nothing could get that image out of his head. That image of genuine fear in Hugo’s eyes when the amber crystals started climbing. ‘Varian, what’s this?!’ Echoed in his mind. He’s never seen Hugo that scared before. The whole time he could tell he was putting on a brave face, but it wasn’t very convincing.
He didn’t know what to think of Hugo. He had betrayed them..but.. he’d apologized hadn’t he? He’d had so much regret and seemed genuine when he tried to explain what was happening. Yong still couldn’t help but question if anything they had was real. ‘Was he really just using us? This whole time?’ He thought. ‘No! He- he cared. He wouldn’t have helped me so many times and kept watch over the group if he didn’t. I know him.’ He tried to combate.
‘But do you?’
He couldn’t take it anymore. He sat up and got out of bed, walking down the winding hallways of the Coronan castle.
‘I’ll keep my door unlocked for you if you need me. Don’t be afraid to come in if you need to talk.’ Rapunzel said, hand on Yongs shoulder. ‘Ok! Thank you Princess!’ He replied cheerfully.
When he got to Rapunzel’s room, he noticed two guards standing in front of it. The one on the left had his helmet over his eyes, clearly asleep. The other guard didn’t seem to notice Yong, his eyes half closed.
“Umm, excuse me?” Yong spoke up.
That seemed to wake up the guard on the right, his eyes opening fully in surprise and his posture improving.
“Rapunzel said i can come to her room if I needed to talk at night.” Yong continued.
The guard studied him for a second, then opened one of the doors for him.
Yong gave him a quiet “thank you”, and walked into the room.
He saw Rapunzel sitting at her desk doing what looked like paperwork. She was leaning her head on one of her hands, using the other to write. The desk was cluttered with paints from various projects, and scattered papers. The document she was writing on was illustrated by a small lamp on the desk.
‘Maybe she couldn’t sleep either?’ He thought.
“Uh- Rapunzel?” Yong tested, not wanting to scare her.
Rapunzel put her pen down and turned her head to see the small boy standing near the entrance of her room.
“Hi Yong,” she said sweetly. “Can’t sleep?” She asked.
“Yeah…” he replied.
He sat up from her desk, making her way over to her bed. “Here.” She said, patting a spot next to her.
“What’s on your mind?” She asked, Yong sitting down in the spot she’d shown.
~
Varian stumbled through the halls of the castle. ‘I need to save him. I need to save him-‘ Kept replaying in his mind.
As much as his body wanted to sleep, he couldn’t. His brain was screaming at him to experiment. To try something- anything to free Hugo. He couldn’t just lie there while his… he didn’t know what Hugo was, but he couldn’t just leave him.
He turned a corner and saw a large set of double doors at the end of the hall, protected by two guards, with one of the doors cracked open.
He started wandering towards the door, his subconscious seeking comfort.
Once he reached the door and the guard asked him “you too?” He froze. ‘Had I really walked that far?’ Varian thought to himself.
“No, I was just-“ Varian started, but was cut off by a voice from inside the room.
“Varian?” They asked. “You can come in.”
The guard opened the door wider for him. Varian sighed, relenting, and walked in.
Inside the room were Rapunzel and Yong. Rapunzel was sitting on the edge of her bed, Yong using her legs as a pillow as he laid down.
“Looks like someone already beat me here.” Varian said softly with a small chuckle.
“Yeah,” Rapunzel said with a sad smile. “He’s been through a lot.” She said, looking at Varian.
“He reminds me a lot of myself.” Varian said, moving to sit on Rapunzel’s other side. “He just wanted to prove himself.” He paused. “I knew it was gonna be a dangerous trip…but I never meant to put him through- all of this.” He gestured with his arms.
Varian signed. “He's just a kid. He doesn’t deserve this.”
He felt a hand on his shoulder. “No one deserves this Varian.” Rapunzel said, carding her other hand through Yongs hair.
Varian yawned, being around Rapunzel eased his mind.
Rapunzel dropped her hand from Varians shoulder, motioning for him to lay his head on her shoulder. He complied and started drifting to sleep.
Before he fully could however, he heard the door creek open. Varian opened an eye he hadn’t noticed he’d closed to find Nuru walking towards the group.
“Looks like we got three out of three.” Rapunzel said with a smile. Nuru returned it and walked to stand in front of Rapunzel, who moved herself and the other two to the middle of the bed. Nuru climbed in after and pressed her back to Rapunzel’s.
Once everyone was settled and drifting to sleep, Rapunzel started humming a soft lullaby.
Tomorrow they figure things out. Right now, they just needed to relax.
~
It was much too easy to get past the guards in front of the light trial. Just some simple sleeping powder and they were out like a light.
She silently stepped into the room. She stood there for a second to take in the room, then walked over to the left side where the pedestal with the totem on top is, and now, Hugo is too.
She rubbed a hand against the amber. “That kid is too dangerous for the library's secrets.” She said, then continued to the totem, still shining the beam of light at the stars needed to complete the trial.
She jotted all the points down, then walked over to the door.
As the flicked the last switch into place, the door swirled with a blue glow.
“I could have sworn it was yellow.” Donella mumbled, but entered anyways.
The light from the totem faded, and was replaced by the blue glow of the portal to the Eternal Library.