Inner Demons

Chapter 7: Deep Inside

In the next morning, everyone felt concerned and nervous. Ever since Rapunzel told her gang about Varian and his little chat with no one, they all felt a sense of unsettlement, they are were all concerned.

Varian had grown even paler, tired, and thinner by the day. Instead of sleeping, he would just sit silently, and sometimes even let tears fall from his eyes. He didn't even try and be rude to anyone, all the anger and rage inside seemed to have washed out. Rapunzel wanted it more than anything for Varian to stop being mad, but not in this way.

One day, the caravan's wheel fell off, so everyone stepped out and watched as Eugene and Cassandra both argue about how to put on the tire.

"You have to screw it back on!"

"Just use glue! Everything can be fixed with glue!"

"You are such a fool! How could someone like you survive in the wild for most of his life?!"

"I don't know, you cold-hearted demon!"

Varian's head perked up at the word demon.

Rapunzel sighed, she REALLY didn't want to deal with this right now. She looked at Varian, who was sitting against a tree, his head down.

"Hey, Varian? Do you wanna take a little walk while they deal with that?" Rapunzel asked, gesturing towards Eugene and Cassandra.

Varian looked at her, not with an angry expression, but with a confused one. He sighed, "Uh, s-sure." He mumbled. They both started to walk into the forest, which was littered with flowers and vines. Rapunzel was walking fine, while Varian was stumbling and tripping everywhere.

"It's a nice day, isn't it?" She asked Varian with a sweet tone. He nodded, "I just wish I could enjoy it without Eugene and Cass fighting all the time." She commented, sounding slightly disappointed.

Varian trips again, and this time, he couldn't get up.

"Varian! Are you ok?!" Rapunzel yelps as she kneels down to check on him.

"I-I'm fine, you really shouldn't worry about me...I don't deserve it..." Varian mumbles to Rapunzel.

Rapunzel doesn't seem to notice what he said and instead inspects his wounded leg. Once she touched the bandages, Varian flinched. "I know he doesn't want me touching it, but I have to!" Rapunzel thought to herself.

She carefully unwraps the bandages around his leg and gasped.

"Oh my gosh..." She slowly examines the leg, "How on Earth did this happen? Varian, your wound, it's gotten so much worse...How did it get bigger?!" Rapunzel exclaimed. But that wasn't the only thing worse about his leg, it seemed to be infected.

The leg was infected with these strange, black, inky streaks. But it didn't really infect the leg, it came from the leg. It was like something was trying to get out.

Rapunzel didn't shriek in terror, even though she should've, she did her best to keep her cool, she wouldn't want to freak Varian out even more.

Rapunzel sighed, she took some fresh bandages from her purse and slowly wrapped it around Varian's wounded leg. She then helped him back up, which took many tries, it seemed as his leg wouldn't budge. Eventually, he did get up and they both started to head back to the group.

While walking, Rapunzel couldn't help but ask. "Hey, Varian? A couple nights ago, I h-heard you talking to somebody...who were you talking to?" Varian stopped, a looked down, started to tremble, and opened his mouth to say something, but closed it.

He stopped to think for a bit, then opened his mouth to speak once more, "Someone has been-" Varian whispered before he started to shake vigorously and bend down to cough.

When Varian coughed, it felt like a thousand people were punching his stomach. He couldn't seem to stop. He started to puke out this tar-like liquid from coughing too hard.

Rapunzel rushed to Varian, and patted his back to ease his coughing. When it seemed he wouldn't stop, he took in large, heavy breaths and stopped. He stumbled, but stood up eventually and walked towards the group back at the caravan. Not saying another word to Rapunzel.

When the two came back to the caravan, they saw a familiar face, asking for directions. "Madame Canardist?" Rapunzel asked the old, hag. "Greetings, little one, can you help me- AHHHH!" Madame Canardist shrieked.

She pointed at Varian, and started to scream, "GET THAT BOY AWAY FROM ME!" She continued to shout and step away from him. "Why would you be scared of Varian?" Rapunzel asked the gypsy. "I CAN SENSE IT! I CAN SEE IT! IT IS ALL SO CLEAR! THAT BOY HAS A GREAT EVIL INSIDE HIM! EVIL! I CAN FEEL IT!" The old hag began to shriek in pure terror.

Everyone stepped back, it was so out of character for Madam Canardist to be acting like this. All on eyes fell on Varian. Varian was startled at the her accusations, he stumbled back, and tripped over a rock. The fall knocked the air out of him, and he started to cough again. The coughing was worse than before, and Varian felt a pain in his chest that was unbearable. He curled up into a ball and held his chest from the pain. He started to cough up the tar-like puke even more than before. He held out his hand and tried to reach out to Rapunzel, "Ra-Rapunzel...?" He faintly said before becoming unconscious.

Madam Canardist stepped into her wagon, "I TOLD you so! By the way, if I were you, I would find shelter. I feel a storm coming." As soon as the gypsy said that, dark clouds started to fill the sky. And all of a sudden, it started to pour hail-sized drops of rain.

"We should get out of here, Blondie!" Eugene cried out to Rapunzel, as she shook the unconscious Varian to wake up. "Lance! Pick him up, let's try to find a nearby cave!" Rapunzel responded while she led the group through the forest. On a nearby cliff, Cassandra noticed a cave under it, "Raps, look over there!" She shouted as she pointed to the cave. "Good eye, Cass!" Rapunzel complimented Cassandra. "What about the caravan?" Lance called out to the group. A huge bolt of lightning struck and hit the tree behind them. The tree then collapsed and blocked the path to the caravan. "We'll have to get it later!" Eugene called out as he ran to the cave. The rest of the group followed behind, along with Maximus, Fidella, Pascal, and Ruddiger.

They all ran inside, and Eugene began to start a fire. Lance laid Varian down by the fire, and everyone sat at the opposite side, staring at the unconscious boy.

"I dunno, Raps, if Madam Canardist was right about the storm, what if she was right about Varian?" Cassandra said to Rapunzel. "So what? Do we kick him out? Hurt him?! She probably was just being hysterical!" Rapunzel snapped back. "Blondie, I'm with you, but I mean, did you see what the kid coughed out? This is definitely not your run-of-the-mill fever, there is obviously something wrong with him." Eugene commented to the blonde-haired princess.

Varian started to speak and squirm in his sleep, "Go away...Stay away from me...Just leave me alone...Stop saying that...I deserve this, I know..."

Everyone turned to look at him, "He's talking to someone..." Rapunzel whispered to her gang. "Let's try and get some shut-eye, Raps." Cassandra said to Rapunzel.

Rapunzel nodded, cuddled up with Eugene, and watched Varian until her eyes started to slowly close.

"Please let him be ok." She thought, until, finally, she fell asleep.

Chapter End.