It's Varian Appreciation Week, so I guess I'll go ahead and post part of this story.

It's an excerpt from the first chapter.

This takes place in season 3, so if you haven't seen it yet read at your own risk.

~~~

"Varian! Come on!" a young girl, called out to her friend as they walked along a path, "I think it's this way!" she exclaimed as Varian caught up. They ran together around a bend in the path, "There it is!" the girl gasped, pointing to a dark foreboding castle in the distance.

They kept walking for another minute, when suddenly, a bird dropped to the ground in front of them. They gave each other confused looks, then the girl knelt down to pick up the bird.

"Um, (Y/n)..." Varian said with a panic, looking up to the sky.

"Huh?" the girl then looked up where her friend was looking, "Uh oh..."

The pair began ducking and dodging as a huge flock of crows began attacking them.

"Wait! I think they're all following that one!" Varian exclaimed, pointing to one of the birds, "Maybe we can trick them, or something!"

"I've got a better idea..." the girl said, pulling out a bow and arrow, and quickly stringing it. She pulled the arrow back, and let go, sending it flying towards the lead bird. It dropped to the ground, and the other crows fled, "That takes care of that problem. Let's keep going." she said, then continued down the trail. Varian followed behind, a bit shocked at her actions.

Not even a mile later, they reached another problem.

"How are we supposed to get across that?!" the girl huffed, looking out across the deep gap at the castle, but the boy had already thought up a probable solution. He threw some spheres of chemicals at the edge of the cliff, and a sort of bridge began to form.

"Come on," he said, "It'll start to deteriorate in 15 minutes, so we need to get across as soon as possible."

They headed across, and Varian had to throw more chem-balls, to extend the bridge. Soon enough they were nearly across.

"We're almost there, Varian!" the girl smiled. Suddenly, a bear-like creature wearing a cape came out of nowhere and began attacking them, "Okay. With as much as we've faced, I think this is by far the weirdest..."

"This is the weirdest they've faced?" she heard a voice say, but she didn't know where it came from. The bear then crept over to Varian, and after making the boy take a few backwards steps, he pounced on him. The young girl ran over to aid her friend. She jumped on the bear's back, wrapping her arms around its neck. That's when Varian noticed something off about this bear. It wasn't a bear at all.

The 'bear' stood up, trying to shake the girl off him. Within a few seconds, he had succeeded. As the 'bear' began to stalk back over to Varian, the girl drew out her bow and arrow, let an arrow fly towards the 'bear', hitting him in the thigh. It stumbled, and fell over the edge of the cliff. The pair of friends ran over to look down into the gap, and saw that the 'bear' was on a ledge, not too far from the cliff's edge.

"(Y/n)! You just shot him in the thigh, which could be fatal!"

His words were met with a look of confusion, but seem to, deep down, say 'So?'.

"That was a human being, (Y/n)."

"That was a bea-"

"No. It was a human being dressed as a bear, to scare us." he paused for a moment, in shock, as he remembered what the girl did, "...and you shot him..."

"He might've killed you, Varian!" the girl spoke with a slightly venomous tone.

"Might've, (Y/n), Might've..."

The two glared at each other for a minute, then the girl spoke.

"Let's just get the moonstone, okay?" she said, turning around and walking down a path leading to the dark castle.

The pair walked in silence for a while, until the girl spoke.

"So. How did you know it was a human?"

"That symbol on his cape. It took me a bit to recognize it, but then it hit me. It's the symbol of the Brotherhood." the boy replied, "I remember my dad talking about it a long time ago. The Brotherhood was formed to keep the moonstone a secret. I didn't really understand any of it till now."

Eventually, they reached the large doors at the front of the castle.

"Help me turn this wheel,"

Varian then ran over to help his friend. Together, they opened the doors, revealing the 'bear' once more, now with a cloth bandage wrapped around his upper leg. The 'bear' stalked over to them, but stopped when the boy spoke.

"Please, don't hurt us." he said, "I'm Quirin's son, Varian."

"Quirin, of the Brotherhood?" the 'bear' pulled off his mask to reveal a man. The boy nodded. "Well! Do come in!" the man said, seemingly excited.

~

"And that's when he said, 'No, Edmund, it's pronounced 'taradiddle''," King Edmund, who had been the 'bear',  had just finished another 'funny' story, and burst out laughing. The duo 'laughed' as well, as a courtesy. Edmund had invited them to eat with him, since he hadn't had company in forever. His cooking didn't exactly look super appetizing, as he had gotten used to eating whatever he had available, but luckily Varian had ham sandwiches for the pair.

"And then of course there's my son," Edmund paused for a moment, "I haven't seen him in so long..." he then pulled out a paper, "He's so grown-up now..." he then turned the paper towards the friends.

"Eugene?" they questioned at the same time.

"You know him?" the man asked.

"Yeah..." the girl answered.

They chatted for a few more minutes, as they finished eating.

"So, why are you two kids all the way out here?"

And finally the question the pair had been anticipating came.

"We need the moonstone to save our kingdom." the girl lied, knowing that it was all a part of a bigger scheme.

"I'm afraid I can't let you have it." King Edmund said, standing up, his face suddenly serious.

"I expected that response, but I need that moonstone. I need to save my kingdom and my dad!" Varian said, throwing a chem-ball at Edmund's feet, trapping him in an ultra-sticky goo. Varian turned to the girl, "Let's go get the moonstone."

Once they got to the room with the moonstone inside, they opened the doors, and entered. The boy crept along the bridge, as the girl followed silently behind. Soon they were at the pedestal-like area where the moonstone was.

"At last..." Varian said, reaching for the stone, with a specially prepared glove, which was now floating outside of it's former 'cage'.

~~~

Cliffhanger!

So, yeah, I hope you enjoyed this excerpt! I'm trying to get this written, so I can start posting it, but idk when I'll be ready.

Thanks for reading,

~TesserPhantom