"How is he?" Rapunzel asked anxiously, squeezing her hands together.

"He'll be fine.  He's already doing much better," the doctor said. The others let out a sigh of relief. "But," the doctor continued, "Something is wrong.  It doesn't take a doctor to see it."

"What is it?" Cassandra asked.

"That's the thing.  I don't know.  He's healthy, strong, and he has no sign of any physical problems.  In other words, I've done all I can."

"Can we go and see him?" Rapunzel asked.

"Please.  By all means." The woman nodded before picking up her black bag and leaving.

"Raps, that woman was lying to us," she whispered.  "She didn't even try to hide it."

"You mean you think she does know?" Rapunzel raised a brow.

"I'm not sure," Cassandra muttered.

"Let's go see him first."

Cassandra nodded in agreement.  Her and Rapunzel entered the room.  Varian was sitting on a window seat, his head on the windowsill, looking out at the starry sky.

"Varian?" Rapunzel sat on the other side of the seat.

He glanced her way.  "Hey."

"How are you feeling?"

"Better than before."

"What's going on?" Rapunzel asked.

He shrugged.  Cassandra gently grabbed his shoulder.  "Varian.  What is wrong?"

Varian looked at her and sighed.  "Remember when Rapunzel used the moon powers?"

"Oh, no! Is this my fault?" Rapunzel gasped.

"No, no, no, no this is…" Varian ran a hand through his hair.  "I've thought about it for the past few months, and I've finally come to a conclusion.  My body was fine without the Moonstone, but now that someone else has it-"

"It's slowly draining you of what powers you have?" Cassandra whispered.

"On the contrary.  You know how Rapunzel's hair protects her?  The rocks automatically do that for me now, but they're white."

"So… you're going to be ok?" Rapunzel asked.

Varian winced.  "For now.  I didn't want the doctor to say anything, because I wanted to tell you, but this is a whole lot harder than I thought…"

Cassandra looked him dead in the eye. "What is it."

"With Andrew holding the Moonstone, my body now needs it."

"You're dying?" Cassandra finally understood.

"Yes?  Maybe?  I'm not sure, but the doctor agrees with me… although… she could be wrong.  But even Caine has connected the dots..."

Rapunzel and Cassandra suddenly pulled him into a tight hug.  "No.  We're going to find Andrew and we're going to give that Moonstone and make this right."

Varian shakily hugged them tightly.  "Lady Caine got away again too..."

"That doesn't matter.  Why don't the three of us just spend some time together tonight," Rapunzel said.  "And tomorrow, we'll start figuring out how to set our lives back in order."

"That... That sounds nice..." Varian agreed.

The door creaked opened.  A familiar raccoon hopped on Varian's lap.

"Hey, your raccoon stuck around," Cassandra said.

"Ruddiger!" He scooped up the raccoon. He had left Ruddiger behind, not wanting to lose him on the road, knowing the raccoon's tendency to explore. "I missed you!"

Ruddiger chittered happily, getting on his shoulder.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The number one reason I'm glad to be back in Corona, you ask? Why, the cupcakes," Lance said, holding up two.  One a dark chocolate and the other red velvet.

"I didn't ask," she retorted, focussing on her sword.  It was the morning after they had taken back Corona.

"You're just a mood, aren't you?  Would you like a cherry on top?"

She finally looked up and saw the chocolate cupcake he was holding out for her.  Slowly, she accepted it.  "Thank you…"

"Anytime, Angel."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You know, I can't really figure you out," she admitted.

"I am a man of many layers," Lance replied, mouth full of his cupcake.

She rolled her eyes, but then she looked at her sword. "And Lance… I think I'm ready to talk about Andrew… but don't expect it to be clear… I'm not good at this…"

"Well, then, I am all ears."

"At first, I felt so betrayed. After all, Andrew's my or was my boyfriend… and I don't even know what he is anymore and what he's doing or planning.  I just wish I knew or understood more about what is going on… But now I know that Varian needs that Moonstone, I have no choice but to hunt Andrew down."

"Do you think if we told him, he'd hand it back?" Lance asked.

"I'm not sure." Sparks flew as she sharpened her sword.  "But I'm prepared to fight for it.  My brother and sister always come first to me.  So it shouldn't be a problem."

"And I'll be there with you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Rapunzel is going to have to stay here.  She is acting Queen at the moment, but she will be sending search parties.  Eugene is no doubt going to stay here and help her and Varian out.  And sun knows that no one should have to face off an ex like this on their own.  Plus, I kinda wanna watch you punch him in the face."

She snorted.  "Ok.  That's a good enough reason for me."

"So, when do we leave?"

"At noon.  Is that enough time for you to get everything arranged for yourself for our departure?"

"Yep!  I still have everything packed anyways," Lance admitted.  He got up to leave.

"And, Lance-"

He popped his head back in her room.  "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"Not a problem."