Tangled: Stardust and the 12 Zodiacs (Varian Fanfiction)

Chapter 5: The Journey Begins

((This chapter would be rewritten soon))

"Is everybody ready?" Rapunzel asked her friends. It was around eight in the morning, and everyone except for Rapunzel was still sleepy and barely awake.

They were waiting for Soul to show up by the castle gates as Eugene was helping some guards place their things inside the caravan that the king lent the group for their journey. The caravan was a bit bigger than the old caravan Rapunzel and the last group used when they were following the black rocks.

"When do you think Soul will get here? " Eugene asked as he leaned on the door of the caravan. "I mean, Old Corona is pretty far. Shouldn't we just have met her outside of Corona? We are taking the same route we took before right?"

Just then, a hoot was heard from above. Looking up, it was Sir Hoots-a-lot holding a scroll in his claws. Dropping the scroll, Rapunzel caught it and opened the letter reading its contents.

"Meet by the kingdom walls. I am still marking out the safest and fastest route to take. I would have done it last night, but I got home super late, and I still packed my stuff. Sorry for the inconvenience - Soul." She read out loud. Sir Hoots-a-lot let out a loud hoot as he perched himself on Rapunzel's shoulder, causing Pascal to move from his owner's right shoulder, to the left.

"Great, so we were waiting for nothing?" The ex-thief complained, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Cut her some slack Eugene. She is helping us the best she can. Plus, without her help, we wouldn't have known that Zhan Tiri would be coming back." Varian scolded the older man lightly as he yawned. The bags under his eyes were evident to everyone who would look at him.

"Yikes! Varian, did you even sleep last night? You look like a zombie." Eugene asked, his voice laced with concern as he watched his friend, who was struggling to keep his eyes open.

Varian yawned again, waving his hand as if to say he's fine.

"I barely slept, but it's alright. I stayed up late to make some chem balls and some chemical bullets for my gun. Soul did say we needed weapons to defend ourselves." Noticing the looks his friends gave him when he said the word gun, he waved his hands and shook his head muttering a series of no's. "The gun is harmless. It won't kill anybody. With the power of alchemy though, i have constructed a way to trap enemies using long-range shooting." He explained, causing the couple to let out a sigh of relief, knowing their friend won't commit any murder, and land him back in prison.

"Angry and Catalina went back to sleep after flopping down on the bed inside. Are we gonna leave soon?" Lance asked as he peaked his head from the caravan's window. Rapunzel, Eugene, and Varian looked at each other and nodded, having a silent conversation among themselves.

"Yep! We're leaving right now." Eugene answered as he took a seat in front of the caravan to direct the horses.

"Wait, I thought we were gonna wait for Soul?"

"Change of plans buddy. We're gonna meet her by the kingdom walls. She said she got caught up on something." Varian answered as he entered the caravan. Ruddiger and Sir Hoots following after him.

Before entering, Rapunzel hugged her parents goodbye as the king and queen wished them safe travels. Lightly pulling on the reins, the horses moved pulling the caravan along with each move they made.

"Next stop, Old Corona!"

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"Soul told us that she'd wait for us here, so where in the world is ....." Eugene's sentence was cut off as he spotted the girl sleeping on a tree branch. "..she." Eugene ordered Max and Oren, a horse lent by the king, to stop moving.