Tangled: Stardust and the 12 Zodiacs (Varian Fanfiction)

Chapter 10: The Missing Astrologer

BOOM!

A loud explosion was heard outside waking everyone up.

"What was that?" Lance asked frantically as he woke up to the explosion.

"Is everyone alright?" Rapunzel asked worriedly, her eyes scanning over her friends to see if someone was hurt. She then noticed that Soul was missing worrying her even more. "Where's Soul?"

Varian's eyes looked at the couch Soul was sleeping in and saw that the couch was made with her blanket folded neatly, her stuff was gone as well as her pets.

"Do you think someone took her?" Eugene asked concern laced his tone. He might not have been close or that nice to the girl, but she is still Rapunzel's friend and he knows that Soul means well.

"No. She couldn't have been kidnapped, I could have heard someone come in. I'm a pretty light sleeper, I would have woken up if the door opened. Plus, she intended to go out." Varian informed the group with a frown on his face.

"What do you mean?" Lance questioned, raising an eyebrow. Varian turned to look at the couch and everyone followed to look at where the alchemist was looking.

"The couch is clean, her blankets folded, Flick and Hoots are gone as well as her bag." Varian pointed out looking down. Rapunzel stood up and ran outside.

"SOUL!" She called out. The others soon followed the princess and looked for the missing astrologer.

"SOUL! Where are you?"

"Soul! Soul!"

Everyone searched around shouting and calling out for the girl. Varian eyed the forest near the caravan. They were halfway to their destination and decided to stop traveling for the night.

" Ruddiger, come with me bud." He commanded as he let the raccoon climb on his shoulders. Ruddiger chittered happily as he nuzzled his chubby face on his owner's cheek making the blue-eyed boy giggle. "Let's go find our friend." The alchemist entered the forest using his luminescent chemicals as a source of light, leaving marks on the trees with his pen so he wouldn't get lost. While walking through the forest, he arrived at a large clearing in the forest with a lake in the middle.

"Woah." He gasped in awe. The lake was fairly large and occupied most of the clearing. There was also a waterfall cascading down from a small mountain connected to the forest. The water was crystal clear and sparkled in the moonlight. The loud sound of water gushing down the cliff was relaxing to the ears and oddly therapeutic.

"Hoot! Hoot!" The sound of hooting snapped Varian out of his awestruck expression. He turned to look To where the sound came from and saw Sir Hoots-a-lot flying above him.

"Sir Hoots? What are you doing here - Wait! Where's Soul?" He questioned the owl as he looked around the clearing, and sure enough, he spotted a shadow behind a tree on the opposite side of where he stood, and Soul's belongings were hanging from the branch.

"Soul!" The alchemist ran to the other side and as he neared the tree, he called the girl's name once more, earning a squeak from behind the tree. "Soul? Are you alright?"

"I'm alright." Varian let out a sigh of relief, thankful to whoever was above that the girl was safe and sound.

The alchemist almost screamed in shock when he felt something rub against his leg, but stopped when he saw that it was only Flick. Varian let out a small smile as Ruddiger climbed down from him to play with the fox. The two got along really well and often played together. Varian's smile disappeared when he saw the girl come out from behind the tree.

"What are you doing out here? We were really worried when we heard the explosion and saw that you were gone." He questioned." You could have left a note or, woke me up and told me where you'll be going - you could have woken up any one of us! We were scared of what might have happened to you, especially because of the explosion. Where have you been?" The alchemist tried to keep the tone of his voice softly, however, he just couldn't hold it in. Varian was confused about why he was so angry, but he didn't let his confusion show instead, he kept up his angry expression as he watched Soul lowered her head, wincing at the boy's loud voice.

"You don't have to worry so much. I can handle myself." She said as she rubbed her arms attempting to warm herself up.

Footsteps softly echoed as Varian walked closer to Soul. Soul looked up at the boy, she couldn't make out what the alchemist is feeling as he stared at down at her with such seriousness. Soul flinched when she saw Varian raise a hand. She lowered her head down again, her body trembling as she waited for the impact. However, instead of hitting her, Varian gently placed his hand on the girl's shoulder. Soul looked up again, this time, Varian was smiling softly.

"We know you can handle yourself. You did live on your own for who knows how long in Melodiah Forest, just, know that we're here for you. Alright?" He said. Soul continued to stare at the boy in front of her, her eyes searching his own blue eyes for any type of sign that he was lying. Concluding that his words were true, Soul let out a small smile as she nodded her head. Varian's smile widens at the girl's response, however, his happiness turned into confusion as he just noticed how the girl's hair was soaking wet.

"What happened anyway, why is your hair all wet?" He asked as he let go of the girl's shoulders stepping back a bit.

"Oh, um. Yeah, remember the explosion?" Varian nodded, urging her to continue. "Yeah, that was my fault."

"How? That explosion was really loud. What did you do?" The alchemist replied shocked that their missing friend was the cause of the explosion.

"Well, you see, I couldn't sleep so I went outside to study the map. Hoots and Flick decided to come with me so I let them. While, studying the map, I noticed that in this forest, there was a waterfall so I decided to take a peek. But when I got here, there was a huge boulder blocking the water from flowing down. Good thing I brought some explosive chem balls, and so I slingshotted the boulder using the chem balls as ammo and tada! The waterfall is now running again. " She explained making jazz hands towards the waterfall. "Oh! And I got wet in the process. My clothes are dry now, but I went for a small swim so my hair is still wet."

"Small swim? How did you- oh..." Varian blushed in the realization of why Soul was hiding behind the tree when he saw her earlier. He awkwardly scratched his cheek as he mumbled a small sorry.

"Come on, let's go now. You said the others were worried, and I'm sure that if they notice that you're gone too they would panic even more." The girl suggested as she took her belongings from the tree branch. Composing himself, Varian agreed as they walked back to the caravan together. Their pets tagging along behind them

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"Please, please please please! Don't do that again Soul! We were really worried." Rapunzel said as she hugged the life out of the poor girl.

"Princess - Air!" Soul choked out. Rapunzel instantly let go of her, mumbling a small sorry.

"Yeah Stargazer!" Eugene was about to say something rude, but then he remembered what Varian and his fiancee told him a few days back, so he quickly changed what he was supposed to say. Perhaps it was also time to try and be a little nicer to the girl. "Just don't run off like that again."

"Don't worry, I won't." Soul replied with a small smile. Eugene smiled back. His eyes widen as he let out a small cough, mumbling something along the lines of "Not that I was worried, I mean I was, but not as concerned as them." And the rest was gibberish to the girl.

"Alright let's go back to sleep, we still need to travel tomorrow." Lance suggested. The four agreed as they went back inside the caravan. Catalina and Kiera went back to sleep earlier as the adults went to look for Soul and Varian who also disappeared while looking for the girl.

Soul placed her rucksack down below the couch as she sprawled herself onto her makeshift bed, wrapping herself in her blanket. Varian did the same, on the floor with Ruddiger snuggling close to him. He felt someone staring at him, and turned to see it was Soul staring at him.

"Goodnight Soul." He said as he pulled the blankets over him and went to sleep.

Staring at the boy for a few more seconds, she replied, "Goodnight Varian." Before drifting off to sleep while cuddling Flick.