~The Ghost Alchemist~

Chapter 2

Varian felt broken, when the words of Rapunzel about his death being her fault reached his ears he shut down, "her fault?...what..did she mean her fault? It can't be the princess's fault.." bringing his hand to his cheek and looking down at it; he noticed there was a familiar liquid present on his gloved hands, looking up confused at where the princess was once standing and croaked out words of doubt "...can it?".

Varian searched his mind for answers but couldn't bring himself to think no further as if he has been locked out from his mind. A frustrated growl emerged from Varian's throat, what had happened to him before this? What caused Rapunzel to blame herself? These were questions he needed to know, and he was determined to find them; one way or another.

~~present time~~

Closing the book with a slam, varian let out a huff of air and leant back in the old wooden chair he was in; staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression. Squinting slightly as a Brief sadness flashed in his eyes, muttering quietly "I wonder what dad is up to right now". It had been three weeks ago when he had heard the news about his father being free, apparently they had found a piece of the black rock before cutting him out of the amber. The group who had discovered it could cut the amber were unsure at first but they had gotten lucky enough to save someone, unlike he had.

Getting up from his seat with a stretch; varian decided to see if anything new has happened within the hour he had been absent, usually he would follow people around and cause them small amounts of distress out of pure boredom. Smiling slightly varian floating his way over to the library entrance, "I bet the princess is still working on that painting project" he thought out loud.

Phasing through the library doors; while fixing his collar to his preferred style, varian made his way toward the direction of the last place he had seen the princess, which just so happened to be her bedroom. When he arrived he glanced over the large space and took note Eugene had left but Cassandra and the Princess were still in fact there, and made his way over to the window and sat down on the soft seat it connected to.

Reaching over to the desk, rapunzels hand met with nothing and looked to the empty surface in confusion before speaking "Cass, can you pass me the big brush? It should be on my dresser". Cassandra who was leaning against the wall reading, looked up from her page toward raps a confused expression on her face "sorry what was that raps?".

Varian smirked, while Cassandra was distracted momentarily he had quickly made his way over to the dresser and hid the requested brush away from its original resting place. Watching from his position beside the dresser, he followed Cassandra with his gaze as she made his way over to where he was. Confusion struck Cassandra on the face as she glanced over the surface before speaking up "hey raps..I don't see it, are you sure you left it here?".Rapunzel looked over toward Cassandra with puzzlement before making her way over to the dresser. "what are you talking about, it's right-" stopping mid sentence in alarm, Rapunzel looked at her brush holder and began to panic "oh no no no not again, I just got that brush!"

Varian floated up and watched with an amused glint in his eyes, letting out a sarcastic comment "oh no, that's so horrible princess! Who would ever do such a terrible thing?". Amusement quickly died out as he blankly stared down at the young princess searching for her new brush, thinking about how in a week's time she will be gone. Varian's eyes trailed over toward the painting she was currently working on and took in the details, it wasn't anything flashy. Floating down towards it to get a better look, varian noticed she had added in the black rocks; they were pointing towards a building of sorts.

Raising an eyebrow at the sight of the building in the painting and spoke up "this another one of your vision dreams?" he looked over towards the princess as if she would answer his question. Giving the blonde a blank look, he looked back at the painting one more time before shrugging. It wasn't anything important to him and besides the princess was leaving next week to follow the path the rocks had apparently made, he would find out soon after her return.

Leaving the two in their search, Varian made his way out into the hall and slowly came back into contact with the floor. The hall in the castle never ceased to amaze Varian; it was so easy to get lost and figure out which room was where, especially when he help Cassandra out with her chores that one time. Glancing out the window with an sudden interest and took in he blue sky before looking down towards the castle gardens, it was a very beautiful part of the castle and he would find himself sitting out there listening to the birds from time to time.

Suddenly seeing something dash into a bush; perked Varian's interest even more. Thinking to himself at what it could have been, but tensed up quickly at seeing whatever it was once more running into another bush. Varian's heart skipped a beat and felt tears beginning to form in his blue eyes, speaking with a soft tone "there's no way it can be you". Quickly floating through the wall and down onto the soft looking grass, varian looked around desperately for what he had seen.

Chittering..

He heard chittering in a bush ahead of him. Hesitantly making his way over to where the noise was emitting from, Varian stopped in front of a bush of flowers. A pair of brown eyes stared back at him, and without a doubt it was who he was looking for.

"Ruddiger?"

The raccoon titled it's head in confusion before recognition sparked in it's eyes, jumping out from the bush the fluffy creature jumped up at varian only to fall back onto the ground. It wasn't a surprise that Ruddiger could see him, all animals could as varian had discovered a week after he had woken up. Ruddiger look up at his boy in an alarmed state as if asking what had just happened.

Varian's heart dropped and crouched down in front of the confused raccoon, tears ran down his cheeks as he held his hand out to his friend. Ruddiger looked at it before waving his paw through Varian's hand and flinched back when met with cold air. Varian smiled sadly before answering a question he knew Ruddiger had. "I'm..sorry rudy..I can't hold you anymore..I'm-" pausing and looking into his friends eyes before continuing "I'm not alive anymore Ruddiger".

Ruddiger flinched at these words and lowered himself to the ground before he let out a quiet chittering noise. It came to no surprise that Varian had understood what that chittering meant, Ruddiger understood what death was and was grieving for his loss. Staring down at the raccoon he had come to befriend, Varian showed a small smile before speaking up "hey it's okay I'm just happy your here Ruddiger..I've missed you a lot buddy". At these words Ruddiger looked up clearly a bit cheered up as he let out some lifted chittering directed toward his boy, Varian didn't know what he would do without Ruddiger in his life and he was more than happy to have him back.