Worlds To Discover

--- What If? ---

"You know I was just joking," Varian shrugged, "I have none of it left after...something happened."

"After what happened?" Mr. Lee was suspicious.

"Uh...something," Varian said, casting his gaze to the ground.

"Be specific," The senior illusionist had a semi-glare on him.

Varian hesitated. It was almost like being under the trap of the truth serum again. "I-uh...might've tried to take down an entire kingdom?"

"A kingdom?" Mr. Lee looked confused, "Do you mean city?"

Varian shakes his head. "No. I mean a kingdom. The kingdom of Corona to be specific."

Their universe is in an older time... explains a lot. Mr. Lee thinks, "Why did you try to take it down?" He says.

"W-we don't need to go into that, do we?" Ann cut in nervously.

"I want to know," He glances at the shapeshifter, then glares at Varian, "I will know."

"Why do you have to know?" Ann asked, laughing nervously. "Why does it matter, exactly?"

"Because I don't want this universe getting cursed by whatever it is, this place is already very cursed."

Varian seemed almost unable to speak. He stammered for a few seconds before just going quiet. Savannah was too scared to say anything at all.

"Talk."

"I-I-ugh-I-um...gah," Varian stammered, "I...I...uh...millions of years ago, a drop of moonlight fell from the heavens. From this opal...there grew a kingdom. The royals swore to keep this stone from everyone. But then...one king decided to try to destroy the stone. But it almost killed...everyone. Everyone was sent away...including...my dad."

"So meanwhile," Ann cut in, "a drop of sunlight also fell from the heavens. Around this drop grew a flower. And so, the story of Princess Rapunzel's kidnapping and return."

"But then the black rocks, which were controlled by the moonstone, started going for the sundrop, or Rapunzel. T-they destroyed Old Corona," the young royal engineer's voice shook with the pained memories. "My dad is the village leader. We went to talk to the king about the black rocks. But...dad just lied. I was able to get a word in with Rapunzel about the rocks. S-she made this promise to me that no one would get hurt. Then, well, you're going to think I'm dumb for this. I experimented on the rocks, even when dad told me to leave them alone. I was so sure that...that I could get rid of then. Then...there was this amber. It apparently started sprouting when I was arguing with my dad. He pushed me aside and...got trapped."

"He ran for help," Ann cut in. Her best friend seemed close to tears. "But Rapunzel had other things to worry about. She...she let the guards throw Varian out in the snow. Then, he ran back to the house, but Quirin...he...he was encased. This is when I came to find Varian. I-I saw this and...well...he explained to me and I said I'd help him. We tried all methods of getting Quirin out from the amber but...well...it was just as unbreakable as the rocks. The conclusion we came to was that the only thing powerful enough to shatter the amber was the sundrop flower. Somehow, we got the information that the king had been keeping it in the vault."

"So we-I-used Rapunzel to get it. But the flower wasn't the sundrop anymore. The sundrop was Rapunzel. Unfortunately, and I regret it, Annie was arrested in the robbery. She got back on Rapunzel's side. But...I....well, you know how we said we're just friends? We're not. We've been dating for the last six months. But back then, I , well, had a little crush. But when I was, well, crazy, to me, she betrayed me. I kidnapped her and forced her to help me. We-well, I, again-sent an automaton after Rapuznel as a distraction, turned my raccoon, Ruddiger, into a beast and sent that after Rapunzel as a second distraction, and then kidnapped the queen"

"So," Ann cut in again, a little flustered since Varian revealed the fact that they had been dating already, "They launched an all out attack on Old Corona village. The catch was King Freddy and Rapunzel would sneak into Varian's lab. But that's what we expected.So, Varian had built an army of automatons to attack the assault.The king and princess got caught, so on and so forth, and Varian threatened Rapunzel's mom with the amber. Rapunzel agreed to help Varian. But then, apparently her hair couldn't shatter the amber."

"Then," Varian cut in, "I, well, I got angry. I swore I'd make my dad proud and that no one would stand in my path. I attacked them, but Rapunzel, with the help of the black rocks. Vairan, he-he was put in prison. So was I, in fact. But the king thought prison was too harsh for children. So, we had to tag along with Rapunzel and her gang.

"After a few days, something possessed Varian and he tried to kill Rapunzel again. He was taken back to prison and-"

"They hated me," Varian cut in, "Even the guards, who were supposed to do nothing more than watch me, well, they abused me. They hurt me like you couldn't imagine. Then, they moved me in with this guy named Andrew. He was one of the Seporians of Seporia, who also sought revenge on Corona. Together, with some other people, we took over Corona."

"Meanwhile," Ann said, "I had rejoined Rapunzel's side once again. When we returned to Corona, we found out what had happened. After a while, I was trapped in a room with Varian where we made up since I didn't help him escape last time. Then, he apologized to Rapunzel and we saved the kingdom from being exploded. Then, Rapunzel used this wither incantation to melt the amber. Quirin was alive! Then, Varian became the youngest and first royal engineer, he helped decode the Demanitus Scroll, and he got kidnapped by Cassandra. Simple."

Seeing the semi-confused face from Mr. Lee, Varian smirked, "You're welcome. You know all this now."

"We just trauma dumped on all you guys!" Ann played along. The young couple burst into fits of laughter.

"So..." Mr. Lee was speechless.

"So what?" Varian asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "We told you...everything."

Mr. Lee's face darkened and he looked serious. "I don't think you guys should be allowed here," He says.

"Why not?" Varian asked, a mix of suspicion and worry in his voice.

"As I said earlier, this universe is already very cursed, and that, if it appears here, will cause too many problems," One of his eyes had become the color of Rachel's eye, but with a crossed pupil.

Varian noticed this and backed up a little, pushing Ann behind him protectively. He wasn't going to let anything happen to either of them in this universe.

"Leave now," The senior illusionist pointed at the door. Still semi-protecting Savannah, Varian walked over to the door and stepped outside.

Outside stood a portal, beside it stood Rachel and Philip with their hands behind their back.