Chapter Text
Once upon a time, there was a boy.
A boy who suffered greatly, yet rose back stronger than before. He set out on a mission to find the Eternal Library, armed with nothing more than a stubborn donkey, a loyal raccoon, and a fragile hope. His kindness and determination drew companions to him: a fiery young boy, a princess whose wit shone like the stars, and a mysterious lad with a mind as bright as his own.
Together, they faced trials, found the Eternal Library, and saved the world—
But that was a long time ago.
Let’s tune into something a little more… current.
The morning sun had just begun to spill over the green pastures of the kingdom of Corona. Its warm light crept across the quiet forest surrounding the capital—quiet, that was, if you ignored the thundering of hooves that broke through it. The sound was familiar to any early riser: the prince’s morning horse race, joined as always by his best friend.
Trees blurred past the two riders as they darted through the woods, effortlessly dodging roots, branches, and anything unlucky enough to be in their way. “You’re going down, Elian!” A light but determined voice cut through the packed air.
Elian only laughed, leaning forward as their horse surged ahead. “You wish, princey!” Taking the lead just in time to hit the narrow bridge connecting land and island—a stunt the royal guards had grown far too accustomed to watching.
“Prince Nicholas, stop!” One called, already defeated. His partner only sighed, fixing his helmet. “No use. Just pray they don’t break something today.”
Nicholas was catching up again, grin wide, when Elian suddenly swung into a side alley, leaving the prince blinking in disbelief. He shouted something behind him, but Elian was too absorbed in reaching the finish line as they led the horse through the alleyways.
It’s been twenty-two years since the world was saved from the Demantitus comet. And things were far from perfect between the seven kingdoms.
The wind blew against Elian's skin, and the empty alley prompted them to close their eyes.
Noise made them look back in front of them, and a woman carrying baskets suddenly stepped into the road. “Move—!” Elian managed to yank the reins and swerved, barely dodging her; they yelled an apology before they got far enough she couldn’t hear.
Both racers drew near to their finish line despite the different routes they had taken; they were so close to the castle that knowing who would end on top was nearly impossible.
Nicholas felt confident, as he didn’t see Elian the moment he took the last leap into the castle grounds to the stables; his victory was more than guaranteed.
The moment he jumped off the horse, his attention was drawn to the clapping beside him. “Your Highness!” Elian's voice came from inside the stables as they took slow steps towards Nicholas. “Thanks for gracing us with your presence.”
A sigh escaped the prince as he saw his friend. “And here I thought I finally had beaten you.” Nicholas chuckled as he guided his horse inside the stable.
“You wish.” Elian leaned against the entrance frame, basking in the sunrise rays with a satisfied smile.
Although the moment was short-lived.
“Young Elian!” Elian turned their head to the guard that had just called to them. “The royal engineer is searching for you.” Elian just nodded as a sign he understood.
Nicholas snickered beside them, startling Elian at his sudden appearance. “Duty calls, doesn’t it, El?” That propped the prince with an elbow swing from Elian.
“And Prince Nicholas,” the guard spoke again, obviously still there, “your daily lessons are to begin after breakfast. Miss Finnigan sent me to assure your punctuality to them.” Elian snorted as karma hit Nicholas fast.
With that, neither could really sneak out, so with heavy feet they made their way through the enormous castle. Elian walked expertly to the castle's lab; having been raised here made it easy to get there faster than normal—they were sure their boss was already annoyed, so the quicker they got there, the better it would be.
When Elian reached the door, they just pushed it—not really bothered with knocking. “So you finally decided to show your face, hmm?” A tired but stern voice echoed through the large room.
Elian shuffled forward awkwardly. “Yeah…sorry, I just went for a ride with Nicho, and we kind of lost the handle of time, you know?” They searched for the man that hid in the world of vials and machines, walking and scanning with their eyes to no avail.
“I figured.” The voice moved, but no person was in sight. Elian noticed what was happening; it was a test—he was probably using the invisibility powder, and it was their task to find him. So as normally as they could, they took a pink ball from their utility belt and continued to look.
A faint clank drew their attention as they threw the ball in the direction, being careful that it hit the floor and not the person.
Elian walked towards the pink goo and raised his eyebrows as they identified an old raccoon clearly annoyed at being trapped. “Not bad.” The voice appeared now beside Elian, making them jump and promptly fall on their ass.
“What the—!” The standing man—Varian, the royal engineer—chuckled at the younger’s reaction, offering a hand so they could stand again. Elian accepted the offer, and as soon as they were back on two feet, they got to work on freeing the raccoon. “Sorry, Ruddiger.” They muttered as they let the dissolvent fall on the parts that weren’t touching the creature so as to not harm him.
Ruddiger looked at Elian with an annoyed expression before walking towards his bed, plopping on it with a tired chirp.
Varian chuckled as he saw the animal and turned to look at Elian. “Well, a lot of playing—time to get to work!” That made them groan as they got dragged to a table full of vials and compounds.
“Do I really still have to do labeling?” Elian’s question bordered on a pleading, “Can’t I do something more fun?” Their eyes were firm on their mentor.
It took him a moment of pondering before a mental battle ended in the man's mind; with a sigh, he started walking away from the table, Elian following behind with curiosity.
Before them there was one of the water heaters that was set to be shipped in the next batch to Nesdernia. Elian waited for an instruction before doing anything—careful to not seem as excited as they were.
“You’ll have to finish building the shipment for Nesdernia; I believe there are still forty heaters to build from scratch—luckily for you we got all the necessary materials to do so.”
Although the task sounded like too much, Elian couldn’t help but feel like they finally were being able to do something important. “As the next royal engineer, you’ll have to do this regularly, so better to start now.” Varian placed his hand on Elian’s shoulder, his face a mix of happiness and uncertainty.
“Don’t worry, I assure you I’ll end before sunset! You don’t even need to watch over me.” Elian talked with a prideful tone as they turned to look at the older man, exuding confidence with the way they stood.
Their hands moved to pick the parts that were needed; Elian's hand moved so expertly and without hesitation. The knowledge of what they were doing was noticeable.
It’s been just over a year since Elian had started their training to become the next royal engineer of Corona, and saying it has been easy would be no more than a lie.
As much as they tried, there was something that just kept them from really getting the hang of it, and the pressure of fulfilling their father's dream of becoming it dawned on them…
Varian just huffed, a smile placed on his face as he watched the younger start to work. “Fine, fine, if you insist. I’ll go to the library then.” He gave the younger one a side hug before starting to make his way out of the lab. “And don’t forget to get some lunch!” A last shout could be heard across the big room.
Elian rolled their eyes as they shouted back, “Yeah, Dad!” As they locked all of their attention on completing the task ahead.
Their dad being the actual royal engineer.
With Varian becoming a royal engineer when he was 18—the youngest anyone has ever done that. He helped—at the time—Princess Rapunzel defeat Zan-tiri, went on a quest of his own to find the eternal library, actually did it, defeated a couple of bad guys, and saved the fricking world from a comet. 'And after all that, he decided to adopt me, little baby Elian; as time went on, his efforts to make me interested in alchemy didn’t go unnoticed, and I decided to follow in his steps. The thing is…'
Elian tried to tighten a really sturdy nut; their dad had realistically made it look much easier than it actually was. When they turned it on to see if everything was working properly, the internal clanking was far too present, and they managed to just barely evade the flying nut that came their way.
'I’m not the best at this.' They couldn’t help but self-loathe at the sight of the unfinished heater. 'Everything I’ve ever managed to do right are things that have barely anything to do with actual alchemy, pure luck, and… a helping hand.'
The last part made an idea pop up in their head, making their way out of the lab as someone came to their head.
Nicholas walked through the long halls; he hated that every one of his classes had to be so far apart from one another. Although he was thankful it gave him time to actually relax and read one of his non-historical books for a change.
“Nicho.” A quiet whisper reached his ears, the known nickname making him prick up without taking his eyes off his book—even though his reading had promptly stopped. Nicholas recognized the voice, but he really did wonder what Elian was doing trying to get his attention.
“Nicole.” When he didn’t answer to the annoying change of name, a suppressed groan was heard from behind him. Careful steps drew closer, trying to catch up to his steady ones.
“Nicholas!” An arm surrounded his neck, making the prince yelp at the sudden attack. “Stop ignoring me, you butt!” Elian's loud voice screeched into Nicholas' ears as he was unable to get away from their grasp.
After a few seconds of silent fighting, Nicholas gave up breaking free and finally spoke, “What do you want, Elian?!” His voice had annoyance sprinkled in the tone as he tried his best to turn to look at the younger.
Nicholas couldn’t believe how someone that was two years younger than him bested him in both force and height—even if the latter was just slightly.
“I need your help.” Elian's tone turned whiny, which made the prince chuckle slightly.
“Obviously, in what is a better question?” Nicholas managed to put more distance between them as Elian's grip lightened, his head managing to fully look at his friend.
“I kind of promised my dad I would finish a task before the sunset, but I’m a hundred percent sure I won’t be able to do it alone.” Elian's arms finally let go of Nicholas, as they started to frantically move around as explaining the situation.
Nicholas looked at them confused. “You only label stuff, Elian; how hard can that be?” His head tilting in a soft confusion.
“That’s the thing; it’s not labeling this time.” Elian's tone turned a bit embarrassed as they spoke, “I convinced my dad that I could finish the heater shipment on my own.” The younger deflated a bit, their tone getting slightly quieter as they explained.
Their words left Nicholas in a short stint: “Elian, I’d love to help you, but I still have classes to attend and—”
“I’ll think of something! You know I always do!” The younger’s loud and confident tone cut Nicholas’s words, but they didn’t seem to convince the prince as he looked at Elian through half-lidded eyes. “And you don’t even like those classes; it’s all stuff you already know!”
Nicholas thought for a second; he hated the classes and loved when they let him help in the lab—so with a mostly fake huff, he agreed to help his friend.
Now it was up to Elian to devise a plan to assure Nicholas didn’t get in trouble.
They just needed to create a reason for Nicholas to not attend his classes; the only thing that had a power like that was a royal family matter without it requiring Nicholas to actually be there—they needed the help of the most terrifying person in the whole land of Corona.
“And what's in it for me?” Samantha, Nicholas' younger sister and princess of Corona, sat in her bed, arms crossed and an uninterested look on her face as she looked down at the kneeling Elian in front of her.
“The satisfaction of knowing you helped your big brother?” Elian’s tone was hopeful, his voice a higher pitch to make her feel pity for their situation, although her face remained uninterested. So there was nothing more they could do but compromise. “Fine! Ten coins.” With a groan, Elian stood up as their eyes looked at the younger girls.
Her mouth turned into a sly grin. “Thirty.” She spoke with a confident tone, not bothered by Elian’s towering presence.
“Fifteen.” Elian felt their eye twitch at how confidently the girl talked.
“Twenty-seven.” Samantha squinted her eyes like she was daring them to go lower.
“Twenty, last offer.” She smiled as her hand extended to accept the deal. Elian could’ve let a tear run as their coins flew out of their pocket—they wondered how a twelve-year-old had learned to haggle.
With that secured, the rest of the plan would flow on its own. Samantha went to her mom to request some family time and defend Nicholas not going, as he would be busy studying. All the guards would then be notified of the situation, and when the teachers asked the guards, Nicholas would have the spontaneity of his mom as an alibi.
By the time they were surely safe, lunchtime was around the corner, so a little snack wouldn’t hurt before they got to work.
Both had managed to finish everything before the sunset started. Nicholas had left so Varian wouldn’t figure out his involvement, and Elian was grateful for that.
There was still some time until their dad arrived, so Elian just started to wander the big room that was the royal lab. Varian kept a lot of stuff hidden in some of the boxes, clearly to keep them away from Elian’s grasp—so this was the perfect opportunity to see if there was some artifact or souvenir from their dad’s past adventures.
They opened the boxes that were more hidden, the ones in corners or that were behind bigger and heavier ones. Elian had always loved when he got a tale of his family’s old adventures; most came from his aunt Rapunzel, aunt Nuru, and uncle Yong—though they weren’t actually blood family—since their dad had grown to what they called being cursed with terminal seriousness.
Of course Elian had always wanted to hear from his dad how he felt in those moments and what other things he had experienced in his own adventures.
As they were about to stop looking, a small box drew their attention. It lay undisturbed at the top of a big cupboard, which prompted Elian to drag a chair to check the contents of it. They had to be quick, as their dad could be arriving any minute.
Maybe there is a memory stone or a medallion forged by Demantitus himself, or maybe—!
Small pieces of paper appeared as he took the top off the box. The pieces were folded to fit inside, and as he took the papers and unfolded them slowly, portraits that were clearly drawn by their aunt Rapunzel flooded their eyes.
It was clear they were old; Varian was holding a baby Elian in it—and he looked far less tired. As they looked at it, wonder overcame them as to why their dad had hidden these away. The moment they moved the last fold, the reason became as clear as day.
“Elian?” The tired voice made them jump, almost falling off the chair. They quickly closed the box and left it where they had found it, scrambling to put the paper inside their pockets.
“I’m here, sorry!” They sprinted in front of their dad, trying to hide their nerves with exhaustion.
Varian looked at them with a confused look as they laughed nervously, already fearing that something would be broken. “What happened? How big was the damage?” He sighed as he tried not to sound nervous at the unknown situation.
“What?! There was no damage!” Elian retorted, annoyed that that was the first thing he thought of. “No fire and no explosions!” Varian still looked unconvinced, and Elian could admit their records didn’t really help them, but his doubt was still a little hurtful to the younger.
With a decision, Elian took their dad's hand and showed him the complete order, neatly displayed on the floor, ready for the final green light.
Varian started to test and revise every single one, his face growing more and more surprised with each one he passed. “Wow, Elian, these are perfect!” Varian had a hand on his hair; the other held his newly acquired glasses—that he hated, as a matter of fact—as he leaned against one of the nearby tables.
Elian celebrated internally until they watched their dad’s expression change into confusion as he approached one of the heaters. Elian approached him as well—their happiness stopping abruptly as what their dad had spotted reached their eyesight.
A golden ring with the symbol of the sun—it was far too recognizable to even try to justify themselves. Varian stood and turned to look at Elian, clearly wanting an explanation.
“I—I—well, you see, the thing is we—well, I, and then there was this nut, and you know how it is, right?” Elian rambled in an attempt to confuse Varian.
It was a shame he had raised them and had grown far too accustomed to it. “So you asked Nicholas to assist with your work, or am I mistaking the situation?” Varian's tone wasn’t angry, more so disappointed, which was worse for Elian.
“No…” Elian lowered their head for a moment. “But I still worked on them; there’s as much Elian as there is Nicholas.” They held their ground as they stared at Varian’s expression.
“I understand, but Elian, I’ve told you countless times that you can’t rely on other people to do your job,” the older handed the band to his son as he continued talking, “much less Nicholas; there are important things he needs to do as the crown prince—things I’ll assume he put aside to help you.” Varian placed a hand on Elian's shoulder as he lowered his head to reach theirs.
Elian looked away, a little embarrassed at being called out. “He already knows all that stuff, and I made an incredible plan so he wouldn’t get in trouble, and it just took a single bribe!” Elian tried to defend their actions to their father, even if they sounded a bit incriminating.
Their words made Varian huff a laugh as they pulled Elian into a hug. “I can’t believe how similar you are to your father, even though you’ve never met him.” Elian hugged him back as he noticed the melancholy behind his words.
“Yeah, we share eye and hair color.” Not wanting the mood to get more spoiled, Elian cracked a joke he knew would work.
Varian let out a chuckle as they separated from the hug, taking a small tuft of Elian’s slightly long hair. “I still can’t believe you fried your precious hair to be blonde.” They both laughed at Varian’s annoyed tone.
After that there wasn’t much left to do; Elian had to label the compounds Varian had prepared as a small punishment for interfering with the prince's ‘important’ classes. That hadn’t taken long, as they were basically an expert labeller.
What had remained of the day passed quickly, and after dinner and a bath, Elian just lay on their bed as they tried to fall asleep. As their attempts seemed futile, they stood to rummage their clothes for the paper that was hidden. The moon shone enough that they didn’t need a candle to see the drawing clearly; apart from their dad and themselves, another man was depicted.
Elian knew them, although just by name—Hugo. They didn’t know much about him; most information came from everyone but the person who knew him most—that being their dad.
What they did know was that as much as Varian talked about him as if he were a ghost, he wasn’t dead—or they thought he wasn’t. A bit after they had finally adopted Elian, Hugo…he just disappeared, no trace, no note, just gone. Nuru and Yong had once told them that Varian had been destroyed the moment he realized Hugo was nowhere to be found.
And with time that sorrow had become resentment, someone Varian only mentioned when he and Elian were alone—most of those times being to compare things they did with ones he found annoying in the missing man.
As much as Elian was angry with the man for what he had done to their dad, the feeling of sadness and longing never left them. That’s why they had used what their dad taught them to make a safe way to turn their black hair into a blonde shade; as much as Varian had hated it, it just made them feel more connected to someone they’d never even met…
Just as their eyes started to close, tiredness finally hitting, voices and the closing of a heavy door woke them.
Elian walked as silently as they could to the door, opening it slowly so the hinges didn’t make any loud noise. Elian poked their head through the gap, managing to see two figures walking away; as they stared, the figures became clear.
One was their dad, and the other was their aunt Cassandra. That picked their interest, as they knew for a fact Cassandra was supposed to be on a mission—her returning wouldn’t go unnoticed, as Rapunzel always threw big celebrations for her arrival.
Elian, determined to find out what was happening, left his room and started to follow the pair silently. They didn’t walk long before both entered one of the meeting rooms; Elian hid behind a pillar as they noticed Cassandra scanning the hallway. When she finally closed the door, Elian scrambled to put their ear on the door to hear what was going on inside.
As they closed their eyes, the voices became clearer: Cassandras, Rapunzels, and Varians—no one else. Everyone sounded tired, like everything was last minute.
There was a silence before Cassandra’s stern voice caught them off guard. “Something really dangerous is coming…” That perked up Elian’s ears; worry about what that meant and curiosity about what it was flooded them.
“What do you mean, Cass?” Varian spoke with a neutral voice, but the lingering worry couldn’t be shaken from it.
“I’m still not sure.” There was a silence as the three of them exchanged looks of worry. “A few months ago I heard some people talking about this new up-and-coming crime boss.” There was a sound of rummaging accompanying her voice. “Some weirdo that claimed to have found a way to rule the seven kingdoms but didn’t tell anyone that hadn’t sworn allegiance to them…”
A loud thump was heard as she placed a gold cylinder on the table; Varian and Rapunzel’s faces grew more curious at the sight of it. “At first I ignored it; people say weird stuff all the time, but then weird things started happening…”
She walked towards the big map that was displayed on the wall of the room, with seven kingdoms marked neatly. “First crops started to wither and spoil quickly near Nesdernia, fish were infected when fished in small towns of Galcrest, and overall quiet destruction infected each kingdom slowly.” Each location was marked with a red dot.
And with each new piece of information, a mix of horror and dread filled the others' faces. “I looked more into it and was led to a dense forest in the middle of nowhere; there’s where I found this.” The pop of a cap could be heard as Cassandra opened the cylinder to take the contents.
“A map?” Rapunzel looked at the scroll with wariness, unsure what part it played in all of this.
Cassandra nodded as she let it roll onto the large table; everyone examined it—its age could not be hidden, as in front of them lay a map of the seven kingdoms, although each kingdom seemed to be smaller in terrain.
Varian stared at it intently; nothing looked apart from ordinary—yes, it was old, but nothing about it was really eye-catching. In reality Varian doubted the relevance this held in this whole ordeal.
“There was this abandoned village; I found the map and this near some dead guy.” Cassandra slid a page that looked torn from somewhere.
On it was a neat drawing of a crystal and a story of a force that would rival that of the sundrop and moonstone, a perfect blend that could be manipulated at will.
With this, Varian stared back at the map; a glimmer was caught by his rearview—it was coming from the part furthest from the light. In one move he placed his hand in front of the candle, stopping the ray of light.
The now dark engulfed map shone, revealing locations marked with glimmering circles and a big ‘D’ placed in one of the corners. “Of course.” Varian groaned at the familiar mark.
“This is really serious, Cass. Do you think you could continue with the research?” Rapunzel looked at her friend with hopeful eyes.
“I would love to, Raps, but right now I have a very delicate mission at hand.” Cassandra’s face turned grim at her inability to perform both tasks; it was only until Rapunzel placed a reassuring hand on top of hers that she relaxed her posture.
“If what I heard is true and someone is after this, we have to act quickly,” Cassandra’s serious tone shone as she looked at both her friends. “I was thinking maybe Varian should be the one that takes on this task.”
Varian looked at her stunned; Rapunzel placed a hand on her face as she thought about it. “Me?!” Varian’s voice was a pitch higher as he took a step back. “Cass, you know I don’t do adventures anymore.” There was an underlying hurt in his words.
“But she’s right, you’re one of the few people who have any experience with Demantitus and his inventions, Varian.” Rapunzel looked at him with sure eyes, and even if her words were true, a thought kept coming back to him.
“And Elian? What am I supposed to tell them?” Varian walked towards the only window in the room, his voice quieting as he got farther away from the door. “What if something happens to me?” Elian swallowed hard as the thought of that crossed their mind.
“Varian, you pushed a comet back to space, and you’re standing right here.” Cassandra’s encouraging words still weren’t enough for Varian.
“I had help that time; I always did.” His words hid so much on them at the mention of his accomplishment.
“You were a kid back then; you’ve grown so much and also learned. Please, Varian, I don’t want to get more people than necessary involved.” Rapunzel now stood beside him with pleading eyes. There was a silence as Varian tried to put all of his thoughts in check.
With a long sigh, Varian nodded as he accepted the important task. “What will I say to Elian?” He groaned as he placed his on his forehead.
“Maybe this could be the perfect opportunity to have your first daddy-kiddy adventure.” Cassandra spoke with a light and playful tone that drew a small chuckle from the queen. Elian couldn’t help but get excited at the idea of them going on such an important adventure.
Varian rolled his eyes as they started to pick everything up. “Yeah, no.” The moment their father's words reached them, Elian's mind went blank as they continued to hear the combo going inside the room. “They’re just not ready for something like this.”
Elian stepped away from the door and quietly walked back to their room; the meeting was going to be over in any moment, and they didn’t want to be caught eavesdropping.
They were lucky that just a minute after they got inside, the sound of their dad's room opening and closing was heard. Elian had the sleep knocked right out of them, angry and sad thoughts flowing through their head. “How could he say that? They’re not ready, they’re not ready, that’s stupid! I’m almost 18! He was trying to kill Aunt Rapunzel by that age, and I can’t go on a supervised adventure with him; it’s STUPID!” Elian let themself plop into their bed as his internal riot brewed.
“I’ll show him…” A small but dangerous thought crossed their mind. “Yeah, I’ll show him I can do it, even if he doesn’t believe in me.” Their eyes closed slowly as his mind quieted down, a sly smile in place as they drifted into sleep.