Varian... Varian...

     The voice echoed in his head.  He didn't recognize it, but it felt oddly familiar.  How the two went together, he wasn't certain; but it wasn't like it was the weirdest thing he'd heard before.

     Varian!

     There was a loud rumble, waking Varian up with a startled yelp. He stumbled to get out of his chair only to fall to the floor.  The ground was shaking and his pencil rolled off his desk.  Beakers and viles tipped over shattering and spilling.

     "Oh no-"

     He managed to stand up enough to stumble out of the lab.  Why he thought to shut the door was beyond him, but he did.  Then he kept his hands on the wall, trying to guide himself out of the halls underground.

     Varian had thought that an underground chamber was the safest place to work on his projects.  Unfortunately, he clearly hadn't taken earthquakes into the equation.  But it was Corona.  Ever since the black rocks disappeared, there hadn't been a problem with rumbling.  Unless... It was the water heaters.

     Inwardly, the boy scolded himself for thinking that he had it under control.  How could he be so naive to install it under the Castle of Corona to begin with?  He should have tested it in other places for years before he even deemed it safe enough to put it so close to the royal family and the capital of the country.

    His thoughts were cut off with a loud boom.  He whirled his head back, looking towards his lab.  The heavy door had been blown off by an explosion, and some of the ceiling fell into a pile of rubble.  It was a good thing he had gotten out before the chemicals started mixing and reacting.

     Suddenly, the ground stopped shaking.  Varian didn't waste a moment.  He sprinted towards the door that took him to ground level.  Swinging the door open, he skipped steps and plowed into a hall.  He ran as fast as his shaky legs would carry him past the confused and frightened servants that were still standing in shock.

     When he reached the boiler room, he shoved the door open and grabbed the wheel to turn off his water heater.  The green light made him pause.  Immediate confusion washed over him as he looked closer at the pressure meter.  According to the meter, there was nothing wrong with the chemical reaction.  Come to think of it, the ground shaking was too intense to be from his machine.  But if it wasn't the heater, what was it?

     "Varian!"

     He turned towards the owner of the voice.  His dad had grabbed the doorframe, panting.  It was obvious that he had been running.  Whether if it was because he thought it was the heater too or if he was looking for him, Varian didn't know.

     "Dad-"

     The man ran the last few strides, pulling Varian into a hug.  The boy stood there for a moment before returning it.  Honestly, he didn't know what he was supposed to feel.  Perhaps scared because he had just almost died.  However, apart from being shaken and confused, he didn't feel anything at all.  At least, none of the emotions he assumed he should feel after an earthquake.

     After a moment, Varian pulled away, turning back to his heater.  "I just don't get it..."

     His father, Quirin, frowned.  "It was the water heaters?"

     "No, it wasn't." The seventeen year old tapped on the glass to the pressure meter.  "It's stable."

     "Then what's the problem?  Isn't that a good thing?" Quirin raised his brow and crossed his arms.  The position he took to get ready for a bunch of information that Varian might dump on him.

     "Well, yes.  It is a good thing that my water heater is stable, but if it wasn't the heater, then what caused the earthquake?"

     "Tectonic plates?" Confusion washed over the man's face.

     "I mean, yeah, I suppose it could be natural," Varian admitted.  It felt strange, having concluded it was a natural cause.  He was so used to it being the cause of greater evils or himself.  Or both.

     "Varian, why don't you get cleaned up first," his father suggested gently.

     For the first time, Varian realized that he was covered in dirt.  Probably from the dirt crumbling off the tunnel ceilings from beneath the castle.  He nodded in agreement.  Nothing was in immediate danger, so he minus well take the time to clean up before diving into what could take weeks to figure out.

     He walked out of the water heater room and started to make his way down the hall towards his room.  To his surprise, the castle appeared to receive little to no damage despite the severe shaking.  Variana wondered if the rest of Corona was so fortunate.  Sun knew he wasn't the only one who scream if they had to rebuild again.  It was a wonder that they even tried to keep walls on the castle the amount of times they had been taken out the past few years.  He couldn't have been the only one who felt that way, even if he was one of the people who had caused damage to it before.

     When he made it to the staircase, he made it halfway up the first before he heard someone call him. It wasn't by his name, but by his title, the Royal Alchemist.  Varian turned his head in the man's direction.  It was a guard and he believed he remembered the man went by the name Coli.  He heard Coli tell the story of how he was with the former Captain, hunting down Flynn Rider.  They hadn't realized he was accompanied by the princess and he always liked to leave out the part that he was left to watch the Stabbingtons only to get immediately knocked out by then in front of the entire pub of thugs.

     He shook his head, calling himself back to reality as he looked down on the Coronan guard.  "Yes?"

     "The Princess requested to make sure you were ok.  There was concern when we found your underground lab in ruin," Coli explained.

     "Oh, I'm fine." Varian was surprised that they'd be concerned.  If it was his Dad, Rapunzel, Eugene, Lance or the girls, he'd understand.  "Where's Rapunzel?"

     "I don't know.  I heard she's well though," Coli admitted.

     "How did she send you if you didn't see her?" Varian raised a brow.

     "Nigel passed it on," he explained.

     "Oh.  If you see her, let her know I'm ok.  And that the quake was not from the water heaters if she was wondering."

     The man nodded before sprinting off.  Varian let out a deep sigh before making his way up the stairs towards his room.  When he reached it, he closed the door behind him and immediately started digging through his drawers for clean clothes.  He set the clothes he chose before pouring water from a pitcher into a bowl.  Thanks to the water heaters, the water wasn't freezing. With a bar of soap, he used it to wash himself off and dunk his hair in to get all the dirt out.

     When he felt satisfied that he was clean, he changed his clothes.  He put on a long sleeve, tan undershirt, which he tucked into his gray pants.  Varian then put on his blue vest with the royal crest on the shoulder. He slipped his feet back into his dark gray boots and adjusted his black belts.  His goggles had to be cleaned before he put it back on his head and his look was complete with thick, dark gray gloves.

     Before he left the room, he looked in the mirror to make sure his appearance was presentable.  Apart from his black hair probably needing a cut, he looked decent.  He ran his fingers through his hair to make his blue highlight more visible.

     A glimmer of light reflected in the mirror made him pause.  He turned around and his baby blue eyes settled on a gold pendant that was hanging from a chain on his dresser.  How he didn't notice before was beyond him.  Walking over, he grabbed it, running his gloved thumb over it.  He turned it over to examine it, only to immediately throw it and stumble back.

     It was Andrew's.  It was the necklace he had seen the man hold and stare at the Saporian symbol as if it were a ritual.  How did it get in his room?  It had to be a sick prank, right?

     Panicked, Varian grabbed the locket again and ran out of the room.  He needed to find Rapunzel or Eugene and make sure it was just a prank.  Andrew was securely locked in a prison, unable to reach him.  He had to be.

     Varian's first choice was the throne room.  It made sense that they would be there after a natural disaster and trying to figure out what needed to be done.  He swung the side door open, immediately resting his eyes on Rapunzel and the girls sitting on the steps to the thrones.

     Rapunzel turned her head towards him.  Her face lit up as she stood up.  She had already thrown her arms around him in an embrace before he could even react.  "You're alright!"

     "Yeah, I'm... I'm ok." Varian pulled himself out of her hug.

     She frowned.  "What's wrong?"

     He didn't say anything, only holding up the locket.  Rapunzel's face immediately fell as she stared at it.  "Where did you find that?" She asked.

     "I found it in my room." Varian clenched his fist and gritted his teeth.  "After the earthquake, I went to my room to clean up.  Before I left, I saw it hanging on my dresser.  Someone put it there.  We should make sure the prison is secure and the quak didn't open any cells-"

     "Varian," she cut in.  "Andrew had already escaped before the earthquake."

     "What?" He felt the color drain from his face.  How?

     "Stan was telling us before the earthquake started.  But it's going to be fine.  We're going to track him down and put him back in his cell," Rapunzel said, putting reassuring hands on his shoulders.

     "He could be anywhere at this point!" Varian felt himself begin to tremble.  Andrew had left the locket in his room as a threat.  After all, traitors of Saporia paid with their lives.  How could any of this be fine?

     "He couldn't have left Corona yet.  He hasn't had enough time.  Varian, we're going to figure this out," Rapunzel insisted.  "We took out a giant demon with the power of the Sundrop and the Moonstone combined.  We can track down a few terrorists, right?"

     She did have a point.  He passed her a tired grin.  "I guess you're right." Varian slipped the locket in a pouch attached to his belt.  "Do we know what the earthquake was caused by?" He asked.

     "Platonic plates?" Kiera retorted from behind Rapunzel.

     "It's tectonic," Catalina whispered.

     Kiera snorted.  "The difference?"

     "I think it's just natural?" Rapunzel answered hesitantly.

     "So it's not related to some big magic thing?" Varian gave her a skeptical look.

     Rapunzel shrugged.  "Not that I know of.  For once, this can't be related to my magic hair.  The sundrop and the moonstone aren't even a part of this world anymore.  I don't think we have to worry about that anymore..."

     "It's just... I feel like everything is related to something bigger," Varian admitted.

     Rapunzel looked out the window and into the courtyard.  She frowned and her eyebrows creased together.  She wasn't disagreeing with him, which wasn't easing his conscience.  A bad feeling was starting to bubble in the pit of his stomach.  He wrapped his arms around himself, as he tried to think of anything but Andrew.

     Certainly the earthquake wasn't related to him, right?  It was just a coincidence that it served as the perfect cover to get Andrew enough time to get away.  Right?  Maybe it was Varian's past of unfortunate events to make him think the worst, or maybe it was helping prepare for the worst.  Regardless, nothing was helping him lose his anxiety creeping up in his chest.