The secret of the Moondrop

Chapter 24: Solutions

Arianna's POV:

The queen stood silently next to her husband, the king, waiting for the final decision conceiving Varian's future.
It had been a difficult trial, balancing whether they should send the young boy back to prison or let him be free.
"I think he has already been punished enough, Frederic" she had reasoned that same morning, two days after Rapunzel's retrieval "the boy was kidnapped and tortured, almost dying in the process, and yet he was able to help our daughter defeat Gothel"
On the other hand, as many had exposed, Varian no longer was a defenseless teenager. He had almost unlimited moonpower. Meaning that a bad decision could provoque him a change of heart and make him try to attack Corona, again... which would definitely be a bad thing to occur considering that his strategic mind had almost ended her life.
Arianna sighed, such a conundrum.
Rapunzel and her friends were all in favor of letting Varian run free, and to be honest, so was she. He had already suffered too much, and it wasn't as if he had vengeful thoughts anymore.
During the trial he had explained his plan of freeing his father, using both his and Rapunzel's powers to break the amber.
Supposedly, if the sundrop and moondrop where to combine their energies a white aura would appear which was capable of greater things that either of them could accomplish individually.
It was intriguing, at the very least, but not enough to convince Frederic.
Rapunzel had then stepped forward and told everyone about their bond, allowing them to share their feelings. This had come as a shocker to the audience, and they had asked some demonstrations about this and their healing abilities.
Arianna could see the kingdom's elders thinking, whispering among themselves the military power the princess and that strange boy would add to their forces.
They were slowly considering Varian as an ally, or more specifically a weapon.
This made Queen Arianna slightly uncomfortable, but she pushed those thoughts aside, thinking that anything would be better than to send Varian to rot in a cell.
Her gaze slowly scanned the audience, a bunch of old people that democratically assessed the king on difficult choices as the moondrop's fate. Finally, her eyes landed on Varian. A scrawny kid with white hair and baby blue eyes. Rapunzel was next to him, a comforting hand placed on his shoulder, her hair once again braided in intricate patterns.
Cassandra and Eugene where also there, and so was Adira, who was sending menacing glares to whoever tried to get close to Varian.
He looked to the ground, fidgeting his fingers with his bare hands. The boy was wearing a new pair of googles the lady-in-waiting had insisted to buy, as well as a new outfit similar to the one he used to wear, which had been torn and soaked in blood.
Queen Arianna shuddered, so many things had happened since they arrived two days ago.
At first everyone had been relieved that Rapunzel was OK, then that same relief had turned into anger towards Varian. The two of them had been awfully exhausted after their display of power, and Varian flinched every time someone tried to touch his wrists.
Arianna had assumed he had been chained, which would explain his reaction, so she ordered the guards to leave the boy alone and lead him to one of the spare rooms in the castle.
The next day, Gothel's physical remains had been compressed and transformed into a crystal by Varian's reconstructed machine. Eugene kept claiming he had discovered a new material once again, gotholium.
And so, the lump of gotholium had been sealed away in the depths of the castle's dungeons. Hopefully to be forgotten and remain dead...
Queen Arianna was pulled from his thoughts when Frederic cleared his throat.
All eyes in the room darted towards the king's throne, including Rapunzel's.
Arianna bit her lip, wondering how would her daughter react if Varian, whom she had grown to care about as a brother, was sent back to his prison cell.
"A decision has been taken" the king announced.
Varian frowned slightly, the poor kid was probably fearing the worst.
"I, the king of Corona, don't trust this young boy" he said pointing to Varian. Rapunzel opened her mouth to reply. "However" the king interrupted her. "It seems that my daughter truly thinks he has changed, and as the person that knows him the most in this room, I choose to trust on her judgement"
A few approving murmurs flooded the room, as well as the occasional scowl from one of the elders.
Arianna couldn't help but smile.
"Varian" the king commanded to him.
The boy took a step forward, not daring to look up from the ground in case the king decided to change his mind.
"Varian, you are free to go on the condition that you must free Quirin, understood?"
Varian nodded eagerly. Rapunzel grinning at her father.
And with that, Varian was no longer a criminal.

Varian's POV:

Varian took a deep breath, as if to steady himself for what he was about to do.
He was standing in front of the amber prison that had encased his dad, who had his eyes and face twisted with pain and resignation.
The princess was also there, trying to hide her guilt, even though Varian no longer blamed her for what had happened.
And Adira, well, she had insisted to come.
The stubborn-overprotective warrior wouldn't accept a no for an answer, reasoning that they might need her swordsman skills.
The fact that Varian had tried (and failed) to raise her sword only made her more determined to accompany them.
Oh, well, if something goes wrong we might actually need her, he thought.
But just as his mind started to follow that depressing line of thought, he shook his head, it couldn't go wrong, he was determined not to fail.
That might make his father proud.
"Ready?" Rapunzel asked.
He nodded without hesitation.
And with that, Rapunzel took his hand and started singing.
Her sweet voice echoed throughout the thick walls of his lab, some of his crystal science equipment vibrated.
Before he knew, his hair had started to glow.
To him came a feeling of overwhelming power, that same feeling that had come to him the first time he used his powers.
He closed his eyes, focusing the energy on his hand. Rapunzel did the same.
The white energy tingled his fingers, they stayed like this for over a minute.
"I think it's enough" Varian thought.
"No, don't be impatient, wait for three more seconds" Rapunzel scolded him.
They talked telepathically, until, suddenly, to Adira's surprise, they opened their eyes at the exact same time.
With fierce determination, they extended their free hands, the white energy finally been let loose and directed to the amber.
Both Rapunzel and Varian where expelled backwards by the force of the impact.
Adira yelped.
She run to the exhausted casters of such force.
"You okay, squirt? Rapunzel?" she asked worriedly.
"Never been better" she responded.
But Varian didn't even answer, he was already halfway near the disintegrated amber.
"Dad!" he exclaimed, taking the large man's hand and searching for a pulse.
His heart squeezed when he found none. "Ra...Rapunzel"
She understood. "I'm here"
Rapunzel hurried at his side and put her hand where Quirin's heart was supposed to be beating.
Adira was now also kneeling next to him between the small fragments of amber. She paled. "Don't tell me..."
"No" Varian cut her off.
He met Rapunzel's gaze, a look in her eyes told him she already knew what he was going to ask her.
"Adira, I suggest you take a step back"
The warrior simply nodded.
Varian put his hands on top of Quirin's chest while Rapunzel put hers on his shoulders.
They didn't need words, the recent connection allowed them to feel each others plan.
The white energy not only could destroy and control black rocks, it could also heal.
It wouldn't be the first time their powers combined had deceived death, if not... Varian wouldn't be there.
White light flooded the entire room, leaving everyone temporary blind as Rapunzel's melodic voice kept singing the magical chant Gothel had composed.
In that moment, Varian understood he wasn't alone.
It was true, Rapunzel had betrayed him, the entire kingdom had turned their backs on him. But not anymore, he thought as he smiled.
His enemies where his friends again, including the motherly and overprotective Adira, and soon, his father would be back too.
Varian's smile widened when he felt the sound of a heartbeat flood his ears.
His father was alive.
Rapunzel let go of her grip in his shoulders, just as his dad opened his eyes.
He stared at him in confusion, and was about to say something (probably conceiving his son's sudden change of hair color and why wasn't he dead) when Varian tackled him in a hug.
Tears of happiness fell down his cheeks as Quirin returned the hug, his strong arms wrapping around Varian's shaking form.
In the end, Varian thought happily, not only princesses can have happy endings.

The end.
Well, so this is it, the end of this fanfic (sniffes).
I hope you guys liked it, and I think the next one will be about Naruto.
Who knows? Maybe I even start to write something of my own!
I've been thinking of writing a series of books, but I still haven't decided or started them.
Anyway, if you like my writing style and love angsty books with powerful and cute protagonists like Varian... follow me!