Secrets Beyond - The Beginning (a Tangled the series original fan fiction)

Fang Buddies and Trolls - Chapter 12

'So this is how it ends then.... a watery death by what I thought was my friend!.... I told Dad I'd come back ok... but no... I had to chase some random girl into the woods.....' Varian thought to himself as he desperately clung to what little oxygen he had left. The world around him was blurry and dark, figures swimming and moving about in his vision. As Iris carried him deeper and deeper his lungs, ears and head began to feel like they were being crushed.

Iris pumped her tail hard and fast, their destination rapidly approaching. The siren was quick and careful to navigate him around the rocks and other dark merfolk. Panicking as she suspected he might already be drowning, she darted into a dark tube in one of the cavern walls.

Iris finally shoved him into a rocky chasm pocket. She had found the air bubble while swimming and exploring earlier and felt it might be her best chance. "Varian,... Varian you can breathe now!" She huffed, still mad at him. 'Why'd he freak out like that!? We've literally been traveling together for almost a month now!!!...Was our relationship really that shallow??' She thought, more upset now than before.

The alchemist's bright blue eyes snapped open. He quickly looked down only at the water surrounding them. Varian was unable to see as there was no light, though Iris could particularly well. She watched his eyes dart around surveying what to him was an empty blackness. Still glaring she allowed her fins, eyes and previously invisible markings on her skin to light up. His eyes fixed on her as he scrambled backwards through the water, pressing himself against the cave wall. "Please don't eat me! I probably taste like chemicals and dirt!" He half whimpered half screamed, putting on quite the show.

The siren was both angrier and beginning to feel even more sympathetic for the poor, frightened boy. "Good gracious! I'm not gonna eat you!" She partially yelled. "What on earth gave you that idea!?" She asked, already knowing part of the answer. He looked at her fearfully through parted fingers, his hands previously covering his face in a protective manner. "I- I- y- D-don't sirens e-eat hum-humans?!..." he shakily asked, chest heaving with each terrified breath. "Others do, I guess, yeah, but why on earth do you think I would!?" She followed up with another dumb question. "B-because you're a sir-si-siren....r-right?.. And you d-dragged me down underwater... like they do when they eat people!..." he stuttered, slowly moving his hands from his face, down to the rough, stone wall, using small ridges and ledges to lift him out of the water more, its crystal clear surface glittering with the illuminessence that Iris created. 'Even in such a life threatening situation she's stunning,' He almost subconsciously thought, his heart rate slowing, the adrenaline in his system declining. 'There is something definitely wrong with me... How can I think that when I'm about to die?!' He felt his cheeks and ears suddenly get hot, despite the frigid water.

"Okay... I guess I see your point... But I didn't drag you down here to eat you like some gross monster, I did it to try and get you to stop screaming!..." Iris explained, tone and expression softening..... 'He looks so scared... How can I be so mad at him?.... He was only reacting as I would have had I been in a similar situation....'

"As you can see, having clearly demonstrated, there's a reason I can't tell people what I am...They'll judge me before they even know me..." 'Even after apparently.....' She dejectedly replied, causing Varian to realize how she was right. "I-...I'm sorry... " The alchemist rubbed his soggy leather gloves through his hair, messing up his already crooked goggles, if this was even possible. Iris softly laughed, "It's not your fault... I probably would have been nervous too... It's not your fault sirens have a bad rep, you had every reason to be afraid!" She rambled, allowing herself to sink ever so slightly into the deeper water. "Well, it's not your fault either...I should have trusted our re-friendship," He quickly corrected himself, "More than the tell-tale reputation of others... So I guess I am a little in the wrong... and I'm sorry." He apologized again. Iris smiled, laughing quietly. "Thanks.... Promise not to tell anyone?" She, smiling up at him from where he had seated himself on a small seat naturally created by the water's pushing at its underneath. Varian smiled back, face still a bright pink, hardly visible. "Promise." He held his hand out to which Iris grasped it, shaking it briskly once. "Deal... hold your breath!" She laughed, smiling wide. He grinned wider, sort of nervous now as she pulled him beneath the liquid surface, her light allowing him to see the incredible ravine around them as they made their way up.