Siblings of Corona B1:Life In the Tower

Chapter 15

Rapunzel woke up to the sound of screaming.

"No! No, no!"  Eugene was being dragged away by a white horse.

"Ah!  Eugene!"  Lance jumped up, clearly recognizing who the horse was.

"Give me him!"  Rapunzel and Lance tugged on their friend, trying to yank him free from Maximus.  They succeeded, but lost a boot in the process.

"Woe, woe, woe!"  Varian held his hands up and tried to keep the horse from advancing the criminals.  "Easy…"

The horse blinked when he noticed the blue streak in the boy's hair, but immediately disregarded it.  "Hey!"  Varian gasped when Max brushed past him, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Woe! Easy!"  Rapunzel jumped forward, now blocking his path.

This time a chameleon caught the eyes of the horse.  It was perched on the top of the girl's head and signaling him to calm down.  "Sit."

Max neighed unhappily and only half sat.

"Sit,"  Rapunzel ordered sternly.  He obeyed.  "Now drop the boot."

He shook his head and snorted.

"Drop it."

He listened, but not happily.  The action caused Rapunzel to smile and she began to pet him.  "You're such a good boy!  Yes you are!"

"Wait what?"  Lance blinked.

"Excuse me?"  Eugene asked.

"You all tired of chasing the bad men all over the place?"  Rapunzel looked at the horse.  He snorted, agreeing.  "Nobody appreciates you, do they?  Do they?"

"But he's a bad horse!"  Eugene said confused.

"Oh, he's nothing but a big sweetheart!"  Rapunzel noticed the royal gear with the name entitled on it.  "Maximus."

Cassandra helped her brother up.  He dusted himself off.  He reached out to pet the horse himself but hesitated.  "He doesn't bite,"  Rapunzel assured him.

"Uh, I'm pretty sure both of us have scars on our arms that proves you wrong,"  Eugene stated.

Maximus snorted angrily at the thieves.  Varian gently set his hand on the horse's neck and gently stroked the horse.  "He feels soft!"  He laughed.  Cassandra realized she had never touched a horse either and began to stroke the creature herself.  She let herself smile.

"Max, I'm going to need you not to get them arrested…"  Rapunzel began.  The horse wasn't too pleased with this news.  "Just for twenty four hours and then you can chase each other till your hearts' content…  and it's also my birthday.  Just to let you know."  she added.

Maximus sighed and shook his hooves with Lance and Eugene.  When Rapunzel turned away, he slammed his hooves into their stomachs.  Varian winced at the sight and Cassandra laughed shamelessly at it.

The gang began to walk through the woods to finish the remainder of the journey to Corona.  Eugene looked at the blond haired girl.  "So, Blondie, since you have the magical hair, does that mean your siblings have magical something too?"

"Well…"

"You don't need to know!"  Cassandra barked.

Varian set a hand on her shoulder.  "No, it's okay, Cassie.  Yes and no."

Cassandra sighed.  "No, I don't have any magical powers, that is why I protect them."

"But I do,"  Varian admitted.  "Hence the blue hair streak."

"Does it heal?"  Lance inquired.

"Uh… no… it doesn't exactly come off my hair but more like just off of me.  It actually does the opposite of Rapunzel's powers."

"Opposite?"  Lance and Eugene looked at one another.

"It… decays?"  Varian tried.  "Withers plants…"

"How about people?"  Lance asked.  Eugene elbowed him.

Varian shrugged.  "Theoretically, yes, but it's not like I'm ever gonna experiment it on people.  It's just sickening.  The whole thing about it is just sick.  Mother told me people were scared of me when they realized I had these powers.  People tried to steal Rapunzel's hair because of its healing power, but…"

"Once it's cut, it loses its powers and turns brown."  Rapunzel pulled her hair away to show the brown strands that she kept short to keep them out of sight.

"So we were in that tower to… that's why we never…"  Varian rubbed his arms.

"That's why you three never left that tower," Eugene finished.  "And you're still going back?"

"No."

"Yes."  Cassandra had said no in unison of Varian's Yes.

Rapunzel sighed.  "It's complicated."

"Sooo… Eugene Fritzherbert, huh?"  Varian tried to change the subject.

"Ah, you wouldn't be interested in poor little orphan boys Eugene and Arnwaldo-"

"Let's just keep it Lance," the young man huffed.

Varian gave a weak laugh and he gave pleading, puppy, blue eyes for them to continue the story.  Eugene supposed it was only fair that they shared some of their backstory with them since they did just tell them some big secrets.  "There was a book, it was called the Tales of Flynnigan Rider, I would read it to the other kids.  He could do anything he wanted, he could go anywhere he wanted to go, not bad with the ladies,"  he added with a wink.  Varian giggled, knowing that Flynn Rider had been a flirt.  "And for kids with nothing… well, we just wanted to be him.  Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not the real Flynn Rider.  He's just fictional and I see now why you wouldn't have known that."

"I know you're not but, for the record, I like Eugene Fritzherbert much better,"  Varian gave a weak grin.

"Well, you'll be the first."  Eugene smiled back.

"What's that?"  Cassandra gripped her weapon.  "What's that music?"

"That would be the party."  Lance's eyes lit up as he heard the music too.

"Corona is just past these trees!"  Eugene announced.

"Really?"  Rapunzel gasped as Corona came into view.

"Oh, wow," Cassandra exclaimed.

"It's amazing!"  Varian's eyes were wide in wonder.

"Welcome to Corona," Eugene said.