Aqua was trembling as she held on tight to her necklace.

"I know it hurts, darling. It's gonna hurt for a while, but it'll be okay. We will make sure he gets help after this," Arianna tried to soothe her youngest daughter.

"I failed him though... I should've done more... I don't deserve his forgiveness... I just... I love him so much... he means so much to me..." Aquaria sobbed before the curtain was opened.

"Mom! Aquaria!" Rapunzel shouted, but Aqua didn't look over, keeping her head buried in her mother's neck.

"We're okay, Rapunzel," Arianna assured her daughter.

"Let them go, Varian! Please!" Rapunzel begged desperately.

"First, you're going to do something for me." Varian grinned as he stood in front of Aqua and Arianna.

"What do you want?!" King Frederic asked harshly.

"Oh, so now you care about what I want. All it took was threatening the things you love," Varian sneered as he grabbed Arianna's shoulders. He looked down at Aquaria who looked up at him with tears streaming down her cheeks. He pushed down his feelings before grinning at Rapunzel and Frederic.

Varian rolled one of his machines over to the amber.

"What are you going to do, Varian?" The king was terrified for his family.

"Yeah, I'll spare you the details about the sundrop and darkness, blah, blah, blah, and get to the good stuff," Varian said as he unveiled his drill. He then walked over to some black rocks in his lab.

"Unbreakable," he said, knocking on the rocks a few times before walking over to Rapunzel and he grabbed her hair before repeating, "unbreakable."

Aquaria was so afraid and she felt so guilty. She wanted it all to go away and she wanted to be Varian's partner again. She wanted to be his girlfriend. She wanted this nightmare to be over with.

"To put it plainly, with assistance from my drill, Rapunzel's hair should be able to shatter the amber and free my father," Varian explained as he let go of Rapunzel's hair and walked over to the amber.

"What do you mean 'should'?" Frederic asked quickly.

"Oh, I suppose it's just as likely the amber shatters Rapunzel. I mean, the properties-"

"Absolutely not!" The king drew his sword as he glared at Varian.

"It's not your choice, dad," Rapunzel said as she held her hair.

Varian walked over and rested his arm on Frederic's chest. "She's right, dad."

Aquaria frowned and looked at the ground.

"Oh! And I almost forgot, we're, uh, kinda on a time crunch here, so, I'm gonna need to speed things along," Varian said with a smirk as he walked over to Aquaria and Arianna. He opened a vial and poured the contents onto the black rocks next to the two royals.

The alchemist smirked as amber started to sprout from the rocks, spreading towards Aquaria and Arianna.

"Varian! Stop!" Rapunzel begged and Varian looked over.

"Well..." He walked to Rapunzel and used an orb to make the pink goo around her feed dissolve. He looked up at the princess with a grin. "Shall we get started?"

Aquaria breathed heavily as the amber inched closer to her and her mother.

Rapunzel sighed and looked at her family as they backed away from the amber as far they could. She let her hair down and Varian smirked before he set up Rapunzel's hair on the tip of his drill.

Rapunzel held her hair as Varian moved the drill closer to the amber.

"Varian, if this doesn't work, and something happens to me, please, please, let my mom and sister go," Rapunzel pleaded desperately.

"I can't make any promises, princess." Varian put his goggles over his eyes and turned on the drill.

Rapunzel let out a slight cry and Aquaria watched helplessly. Her magic wouldn't be of any use and it would make Varian hate her even more.

Rapunzel's hair started to glow and so did the amber as they fought each other's indestructibility.

Varian kept his focus on the drill, desperately wanting it to work, but there wasn't even so much as a dent in the amber.

"What?! Why?!" He started to panic, gritting his teeth as he kept trying to drill into the amber.

Rapunzel groaned as she collapsed, her energy being drained from the power her hair was using to battle the amber.

"Stop it! She can't take anymore!" Frederic watched his daughter with fear.

"Rapunzel!" Arianna was so afraid that Rapunzel would be severely hurt or even killed.

"Varian! Please! Stop this!" Aquaria begged desperately. She gasped slightly when the amber reached her dress. She was so afraid.

"Wha- I just... I-I don't understand! Why won't it- her hair! It-it should've cut through it! Why didn't it work?!" Varian slammed his fists against the amber and put his head on the amber as tears filled his eyes.

Aquaria heard a crash and looked over to see the cage Pascal was in broken on the ground as Ruddiger dropped an orb to the little chameleon. Pascal ran the orb over to the king's feet, the pink goo dissolving as soon as the orb hit it.

"Arianna!" Frederic shouted as he launched his sword over to his wife who caught it.

Arianna used the sword to break her and Aquaria's shackles before cutting part of Aqua's dress that was stuck in the amber.

"Rapunzel!" Frederic rushed to his daughter's side as Arianna and Aquaria did the same.

They all hugged Rapunzel tightly and Aquaria was still trembling.

"No! No! I wasn't wrong! It's not my fault! None of it is! It's her fault!" Varian glared at Rapunzel.

"Rapunzel, are you okay?" Frederic asked gently, worry laced in his voice.

"Yes, I will be," Rapunzel panted out before looking over to where Varian had been. "Varian! Oh, where did he go?"

The ground below them started to tremble and Aquaria gasped when the giant robot Varian had been working on burst out of the ground.

"Varian!" Aquaria looked into the red window where she could see Varian.

"Sorry, princesses! We were in this together! But if I can't have a happy ending, then neither can you!"

Varian brought the arms of his robot up and smashed them down as the family ran away. He was clouded by his rage, not thinking clearly.

"Rapunzel!"

Aquaria looked at where she had heard Eugene's voice come from once they had made it outside, but she quickly dashed to the side with her mother as Varian's robot smashed through the entrance of the lab.

"Sorry, buddy, but there's a line," Eugene said sarcastically.

Cassandra let out a battle cry as she charged at the robot and leapt at it. Varian smirked as he easily grabbed her out of the air.

"Let her go, Varian!" Arianna demanded and Varian turned, grabbing the queen in the machine's other hand.

"Arianna!" Frederic cried.

"Mom!" Rapunzel and Aqua shouted in unison.

Rapunzel threw a frying pan at the window where Varian was. She walked down the crumbling steps and glared at the alchemist.

"That's enough, Varian," Rapunzel said sternly and Aquaria walked to her sister's side.

"It's not enough until you endure the same amount of pain and agony I have!" Varian growled as he squeezed the two women in his robot's grasp.

"Arianna!" Frederic called as he watched his wife crying out in pain.

Rapunzel watched in horror while Aquaria felt both rage and agony at the sight.

Suddenly, the ground started to shake and black rocks shot up, coming straight at the two princesses. Aquaria gasped as she and her sister were encased in the black rocks.

"Rapunzel!" Eugene called from outside of the rocks.

"What's going on?" Aquaria asked with a bit of fear as Rapunzel's hair started to elevate off the ground.

A black rock sprouted up and a tendril of Rapunzel's golden hair touched the tip of the rock. There was a huge flash of light and the black rocks around them sunk back into the ground while a stream of rocks sprung from the ground and impaled Varian's automatons. Another lock of Rapunzel's hair connected with a second rock and another stream of rocks took out a few more of the automatons.

Rapunzel walked forward with a stone faced expression and stopped in front of Varian. She held out her hands, letting two black rocks rise up on either side of her.

Aquaria watched, unsure of what was happening.

Rapunzel breathed deeply before grabbing hold of both rocks.

A blast of pure energy blew everyone backwards. Aquaria cried out as she was thrown back. She sliced her arm on a black rock. Eugene rushed to her side as Varian charged at Rapunzel.

"Squirt! Are you alright?!" Eugene helped Aquaria stand, the skirt of her dress ripping after being caught on one of the rocks.

Aquaria quickly looked over to see a huge rock emerge, shooting straight through Varian's robot.

Eugene let go of Aqua once she got her balance, but she gasped when she saw the rocks busting through part of the wall that surrounded Corona. The rocks started to lay flat as if in a pathway.

Rapunzel collapsed and Eugene quickly ran to catch his girlfriend.

"Rapunzel!" He caught her before she could hit the ground. "Blondie..."

Rapunzel's eyes fluttered open and she smiled before pecking Eugene on the lips.

"Hi," she breathed out and he let out a little laugh.

"We have got to start finding better ways to spend your birthdays," Eugene said before they looked at the fading light of the sunset that shown through the hold in the Coronan wall.

Aquaria turned, running to her mother and father.

"Oh, Aquaria, your arm," Arianna hugged Aqua and looked at the gash in her arm.

"It's fine... I'm fine..." Aqua said weakly before she saw Varian struggling as he got out of his busted robot.

The guards quickly grabbed the boy and cuffed him.

Aquaria frowned and her heart ached as she watched the guards take Varian into the wagon that would carry him to the dungeon.

Ruddiger scurried over and into the barred carriage. He climbed his way up onto Varian's shoulders and pet his cheek gently.

"I will make you proud of me, dad," Varian murmured as the door was closed in front of him. "If it's the last thing I ever do..."

He looked through the barred opening on the door and immediately locked eyes with Aquaria. His heart throbbed as he saw the tears falling down her face. His hard gaze softened and he felt guilt rise in him. He quickly looked away and sat on the floor of the carriage, pushing away all of his guilt.

Aquaria watched as the jailing carriage was pulled away. She hugged herself tightly and cried.

"Don't be too hard on him, dad," Rapunzel requested, putting an arm around her sister.

"I'll be sure to do everything I can to get him help. As for Quirin, I'll not give up until I find a way to free him," Frederic promised and Aquaria let out a soft sob. She pulled out of Rapunzel's grasp and dashed into Varian's lab, well, what was left of it.

She searched on his desk desperately for the photo of her and Varian. She gasped when she saw the frame on the ground, smashed to pieces.

Aqua dropped to her knees and sobbed, assuming that he had ripped up or burned the drawing itself.

"This can't be happening... I can't lose him forever... I love him... I really love him..."

She looked at her desk which had been destroyed and she found her journal. She saw that it was intact and clutched it tight.

"Squirt?"

Aquaria jumped with a startled shriek before she turned to see Eugene.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," Eugene apologized quickly and she sighed as she stood up.

"It's fine..." Aqua looked down and Eugene hugged her.

"I know you're upset. Varian is gonna be okay and we're gonna get Quirin out eventually. For now, we just have to be patient," he said gently, knowing that it wasn't the time to be his witty self. "Now, come on, we're all heading back to the palace."

"Okay..."

Aqua walked out of the lab with Eugene and they went over to the others.

💧

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

"Rapunzel, I would love to come with you on your journey, but... I want to go visit some friends..." Aqua looked at Rapunzel and Eugene as she fiddled with her necklace from Varian.

"Alright. I'm gonna miss you," Rapunzel said as she hugged her little sister.

"I'm gonna miss you too, Squirt." Eugene hugged her as well and ruffled her hair a little.

"I'll miss you all too. Now, I have something I have to do before I go to bed. I'll see you guys in the morning before you leave," Aqua said as she gave them a small smile.

"Okay, goodnight, sis," Rapunzel said before she left with Eugene to find Cassandra.

Aquaria breathed deeply and walked to the kitchen. She grabbed two apples and then made her way down to the dungeon.

"Princess, what are you doing here?" The guard asked when he saw Aqua.

"I need to speak with Varian."

"Your majesty, I can't-"

"Please, just let me talk to him. I'm not going to let him out. I promise. I just need to talk to him," Aqua persisted desperately and the guard sighed.

"Alright, but you cannot bring him those apples," the guard compromised.

"Oh, they aren't for Varian. They're for Ruddiger," Aqua said and she smiled to herself a little.

"Ruddiger?"

"Varian's raccoon. He is in there with Varian, right?"

"Oh, yeah. The king told us to make sure Varian had his pet," the guard nodded and Aquaria hummed.

"Well, am I allowed to give the apples to Ruddiger?" She asked politely.

"I suppose. Don't take to long though. I'm trusting you, princess," the guard said and she nodded quickly.

"I won't do anything I'm not supposed to. I promise."

The guard let her into the dungeon and she quickly ran down the hall of cells. She saw Varian and stopped in front of his cell.

"Varian..."

She frowned as she was met with silence. The alchemist didn't even look at her, turning his back to the princess.

Ruddiger, however, perked up and scampered over to her. He slipped through the bars and Aquaria giggled a little as she sunk to the floor.

"Hi, Ruddiger. I brought you a snack," she said softly as her furry friend crawled all over her.

Ruddiger chittered happily when he saw the two apples that Aquaria had brought for him.

Varian glanced at the two quickly, fighting back his guilt. He felt awful for telling Aqua that he hated her and he really felt terrible about almost encasing her in amber as well. He scolded himself for feeling guilty.

Aquaria ran her hand through Ruddiger's soft fur as he sat on her lap, happily eating his apples. She looked up at Varian and frowned.

"Varian... please... I just wanna talk..." Aqua said softly and Ruddiger got up, taking his second apple with him as he ran back to Varian.

Aqua stood up and held her arm as she looked at Varian.

"About what?" Varian spat and Aquaria flinched.

"A-About what happened..."

Varian turned and stood up, glaring at her.

"You wanna talk about what happened?! I needed help and my own girlfriend turned her back on me when I needed her most! Rapunzel broke her promise! And my father is still stuck in the amber! What else is there to talk about, Aquaria?!" Varian shouted as he stood in front of the bars.

"I-I... I'm sorry... I tried to go after you in the storm, but I didn't make it and I just couldn't help you steal the flower..."

"Couldn't or wouldn't? Rapunzel helped me steal it so why couldn't you?" Varian asked bitterly.

"I couldn't because if we were caught then-"

"Then mommy and daddy would be mad at you," Varian cut her off.

"No! If we were caught you would've been punished! The crime of stealing from the royal vault is punishable by death, Varian! I may have been able to get away with only a slight punishment, but you wouldn't!" Tears poured from her eyes as she looked at him.

"It wouldn't have mattered anyways. It didn't work. You could've helped me but you didn't. You didn't even attempt to come looking for me after I asked you to steal the flower," Varian said as he stepped closer to the bars.

"You're right! I didn't! I should've and I regret not going after you! I'm sorry, okay!"

Varian couldn't help himself as he grabbed her and pulled her against the bars, kissing her deeply. She immediately kissed him back and put a hand on his cheek gently.

Varian pulled away and she looked up at him, her eyes still misty.

"Varian... I-"

"Save it, princess. I may still have feelings for you, but I am done with you. I never want to see you ever again," Varian said and she shook her head.

"You don't mean that..."

"Yes, Aquaria, I do mean it. I wish I never met you," Varian growled and Aqua choked out a sob.

"Please... I'm sorry... I really am sorry... d-don't leave me... please... I need you..." Aqua begged desperately as she held the bars.

"Well, I don't need you. I don't care if you're sorry. I want you out of my life."

"Varian! Please! I love you!" Aqua trembled as she cried.

"I don't love you!" Varian snapped. "I will never love you! Now just leave me alone! Never come near me ever again!" He stormed over to his cot in the cell.

Aquaria's arms fell to her sides and she turned to leave.

"I will always love you, Varian..."

💧

"Are you sure you don't want us to just send you on a ship? How long are you going to be gone?" Arianna asked her daughter with worry as she, Frederic, and Aqua stood on the beach.

"I don't need a ship, mom, and I have no idea how long I'll be gone. I just... I can't stay here right now..." Aqua wiped her cheeks only for fresh tears to fall.

"Just promise us that you'll be safe," Frederick said gently as he wrapped his arms around Aqua.

"I promise, dad. I love you guys," Aqua said softly as she hugged her dad and her mom joined the hug.

"We love you too, sweetie. We always will." Arianna kissed Aquaria on the forehead gently.

Aqua smiled a little and then turned to the water.

"Goodbye," she said softly before she fell into the sea, her body dissolving into the calm blue water.