Tangled: Stardust and the 12 Zodiacs (Varian Fanfiction)

Chapter 2: The Astrologer

((This chapter would be rewritten soon))

After a few minutes, the rustling of the bushes stopped. Everyone was holding their breath, scared of what was causing the rustling. A second later something came out of the bushes and everyone screamed in surprise, Lance, however, let out a girlish scream that rivaled Kiera and Catalina's screams, making everyone's focus turn to the black man, giving him a questioning look. They stood there awkwardly for a few moments before turning their gazes back to what came out of the bush to see that it was only a fox.

"Aww, it's so cute! Hey, there little guy." Rapunzel squealed kneeling and holding a hand out to pet the fox.

The fox tilted its head on the side letting out a small bark. It sniffed Rapunzel's hand before deciding that the brunette princess was allowed to pet him.

"I want to pet it too!" Kiera shouted as she kneeled next to Rapunzel to pet the fox. Catalina followed her sister, kneeling as well.

"Hoot Hoot"

The new sound startled everyone. They turned their heads to where the fox entered and saw that an owl was perched on a tree branch near them. It was a silverish gray owl with hypnotizing yellow eyes. Upon seeing the owl, the fox left the girl's hands and leaped around the branch the owl was sitting on.

"An owl? " Eugene questioned as he eyed the gray owl. The owl stared back at Eugene, blinking as it let out a small hoot.

"It looks like the two of them know each other." Varian mumbled, eyeing the owl as well.

The owl flapped its wings and flew next to the jar of worms. It picked one up with its beak and ate the worm. Upon noticing the bowl of sweet berries next to the jar of worms, the fox's eyes seemed to sparkle as he dove right into the bowl of berries, and ate every single one.

"Oh no! Their eating the tribute!" Varian panicked. He tried shooing the animals away but none listened to him. Xavier chuckled at Varian's panicked look before he told the alchemist to calm down, saying that the worm and berries were for the fox and the owl anyway. Everyone's ears perked hearing this as they turned to look at the old man in disbelief.

"You mean that we wasted our time waiting here for some witch, or whatever she is to show up? This entire time, a fox and an owl were the ones we're truly waiting for?" Varian annoyedly yelled, crossing his arms childishly as he flopped back down.

"I am NOT a witch. Sure I have friends who ARE witches, but I am not one!" A female voice shouted back from behind the bushes, making Varian stand up, and the others get their guards back up as well.

After a few seconds, a girl came out of the bushes. She groaned while taking out some leaves from her hair, and brushing off some dust from her clothes. The girl was wearing a purple dress with a dark purple half-cloak covering most of her upper body. She was also wearing a witch's hat with a moon and sun pendant pinned on the side.

"Xavier, I told you to stop doing this! What if I get used to this, and the next time Flick and Sir Hoots-a-lot goes out, and I decided not to follow them because it might be one of your 'traps' but it turns out that you weren't trying to summon me and my babies end up getting hurt?" The girl shouted at Xavier.

Feeling everyone staring at her, the girl cleared her throat and hid her hands behind her back. Smiling awkwardly, she waved to the group of people in front of her.

"Everyone, I would like you to meet a good friend of mine." Xavier went to stand behind the girl, placing both of his hands on her shoulder. "This is Soul, she's the person I told you all about."

"So she's the witch that's going to help us decode the scriptures?" Eugene asked, clearly not hearing what the girl said earlier.

Hearing the word "Witch", Soul's smile turned into a scowl as she glared at Eugene." I might not help you anymore if you keep calling me that." She growled. Eugene put his hands up in the air as he muttered a sorry.