Varian stepped up in front of the entrance to the cabin. "You know, kids used to dare each other to come here because it was haunted. They used to say that's why Miss Gothal left it."

"Wait? You knew about here?"

"Not the secret underground place you told me about, but yeah, I used to come here all the time when I was little. It was a way to find a way to be alone when I didn't want anyone bothering me... more specifically, the kids that caused the reason for me not to attend the local school." He stepped inside.

"You mean bullies?"

"Anything new?"

"I suppose I guessed..."

"Don't worry, they only shout and chant things at me anymore. Too cowardly to come into a ten foot radius since my automaton attack... don't know if that's something I should be proud of..." Varian muttered the last part as Rapunzel followed him into the cabin.

"So, you taught everything to yourself?"

"Since I was nine. When my dad had taught me all his knowledge on science, math and so forth. So I taught myself with my mom's books. I liked being homeschooled. It was just the fact that I was considered dangerous that I was not able to make friends... at least, not until you."

"I was your first friend?"

"Yeah... and Cassie-er-Casandra and Eugene..."

"No wonder why you felt so betrayed. You really did have no one..."

"It wasn't your fault. Besides, those days are behind us and I'd rather not speak of them. At least, not now. We have a job to do." He stopped when Rapunzel opened the entrance.

Varian took in a deep breath. Rapunzel set a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Nervous?"

"...Yeah... I was not expecting to become a council member, a leader overnight... It's very overwhelming..."

"I know, and it's the last thing I wanted to do is to put this pressure on you. I know what it feels like to suddenly be thrown a role you never exactly wanted at you just like that... Thank you for stepping up. Look at what you've already done! You got an entire council to agree to your plan in less than ten minutes!"

"I just hope I don't give them cause to regret that decision..." Varian mumbled to himself as he tied his glowing chemicals to a staff. "Gas, right?"

"Yep."

"I have this mask with the tank of air, incase you were wondering what I had strapped to my back. It has two areas where we can breathe into if it turns out that we have an issue with the gas."

"I'll bring some flowers so that if they wilt, we no to put on the masks," Rapunzel suggested.

"Great! Let's begin!"

Together, Varian and Rapunzel made their way into the cave.

"So the critter problem?" Varian inquired.

"Can be delt with if have a lot of light. They hate sun light," Rapunzel answered.

"So, if I can amplify my chemical lights, make it brighter like the sun, we can avoid the whole critter issue. I'll have it ready by noon tomorrow, I'm sure..."

"Varian, aren't taking on more than you should? Just because it's your plan and you're a council member does not mean you can do everything."

"I-I know that Rapunzel. It's fine. It's just until we get this whole storm situation under control. Everyone else is pack full themselves, it's not just me. Besides, I'm used to working nonstop. It's kinda what I just do."

"Right... All I'm trying to say is, don't do too much or you'll end up stressing or hurting yourself, and that's the last thing I want you to do," Rapunzel reminded him.

"Don't worry, princess, I got this!" Varian flashed her a smile, but she only returned it with a concerned look.

Soon, they cam to a room full of mirrors. Well, broken mirrors. "So gas has not been a problem," Rapunzel said. "That's good, right?"

"Yes... I want to seal these cracks in the floor it that's possible. Help prevent it from becoming an issue," Varian explained. "I can just cover it with my sticky bombs and it should do the trick."

"You have enough made?"

"I'll make another crate or so of them, so you all have back up. They're easy to make. It'll only take a little time," Varian added.

Rapunzel sighed. "Ok... is the cave stable?"

"Surprisingly, yes. It is," Varian said. "Though I'd feel more comfortable if we built a couple beam to ensure that it is stable," he admitted.

"We'll have a team come down here to clean this place up and set the beam up," Rapunzel said.

"While you form a team and bring then here, I'll get as many sticky bombs made and over here ASAP," Varian said.

"Right!"

◇◇◇◇◇◇

"Woah..." a hooded figure brought their horse to a stop in front of the Snugly Duckling. They left the chestnut horse tied outside and entered the pub, sitting at the counter.

"Can I help you with something?" Atilla offered.

"We have cupcakes fresh out of the oven! Attila's specialty," Lance offered.

"Heh, you're offering me cupcakes?" The hooded figure took their hood down.

Lance gasped. "Weasel! Long time no see! When was the last time we saw each other? Oh, yeah! I think it was Vardaros... wait... no, no, no, you were on the prison barge, right?"

"I heard you adopted the two brats," Weasel answered idly.

Lance's light attitude suddenly became dark and grim. "If you even think about touching a hair on their heads, I swear-"

Weasel chuckled. "I'm not hear to harm them, I promise. I'm here to pick something up and I'll be on my way and out of here. I know where I can't win in a fight."

"You better stay true to it, and keep out of Eugene's way. He can lock you up with a snap of his fingers."

"I heard the news that he was Captain. Word travels fast," Weasel stood up, chugging down the full mug that Attila had placed in front of him. He then tossed a few coins. "I'd say it was a nice chat, but it wasn't. See ya around, Lance." He left the pub, slamming the door shut.

"I better warn Eugene and the others about him," Lance said to attila.

"No one's gonna hurt those two girls if I can help it. You go get them and do what you need to do," Attila said firmly.

"Thanks!" Lance took off his apron, and running out of the pub.

◇◇◇◇◇◇

"Alright, everybody! Listen up! We have to get this done super quick! I appreciate you all coming here to help out," Rapunzel began. "In a minute, Varian will be back with the supplies we need to fix this place up. Any questions?"

A man raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"How can we know that we can trust him?"

Rapunzel was taken aback by the question. She had just assumed that his mistake had been forgiven and forgotten, but she supposed she couldn't expect everyone to let go of the grudge. It made her angry when the man said that about Varian, but he had the right to his own opinion, so she had to clamp her mouth shut.

Thankfully, Xavier was present and quickly answered for her. "If you got to know him, you would not have to fear his intentions. Do you trust the princess."

"Of course, but not blindly," the man answered.

"Which is well, but trust the princess on this. We need full cooperation, not division," Xavier replied calmly.

"Yes, thank you Xavier. I trust Varian and he has already helped save Corona quite a few times, and I can not force you to do the same, but right now, I plead you toss disagreements to the side until this is over, then voice your opinions. We all must make sure to keep are odds with one another to a minimum so that we can get this done."

"I have the supplies! Sorry it took so long, I had to find a way to get it down here so I made a quick pullie system..." Varian pushed the cart in next to Rapunzel.

"Awesome, Varian! Now we can get started!"

"Here are the plans for the beams so that you can oversee them being done while I hand the cracks in the flood," Varian explained as he handed her a rolled up paper of blueprints.

"Alright! You've all been given your numbers so that you know where to go! Ones with me, two's with Varian," Rapunzel called and the teams split up.

Varian walked over to his team.

"Hi!"

He looked at the female voice who had spoken. "Hi?" Varian said back.

"Remember me? I'm the girl you almost ran over earlier."

"Oh! Right... er... sorry about that..."

"No, prob! How do we help?"

"First," Varian began, raising his voice so all could hear. Even if he had only ten people with him. "You take one of these sticky bombs (which I have crafted a revised version for this). Then you throw it, aiming for the edge of the crack..." he threw it and the blue goo went over the crack in a smooth surface. "You don't want to throw it down the crack because it won't do us any good, but you want to get as close to the crack as possible. Any questions?"

A hand was raised behind to tall men.

"Yes?"

The men stepped aside, revealing Irene. "Was Sticky Bombs the best name you came up with?" She said in a teasing tone.

Varian's cheeks grew a bright red. "Uhhhh... I gave them a scientific name, but it was too difficult for others to say, so the princess nicknamed them Sticky Bombs... though this version is more like an instant dry glue... anything else?"

"Nope," Irene grinned.

"Great... Let's get started then..."

Dara picked up one of the blue balls, throwing it at the crack. "Wow! This is really neat!"

◇◇◇◇◇◇

Eugene looked to his right. "Thanks for helping us out, Captain. I know that you're retired, but we're pretty slammed with everything."

"Corona is still my home," Captain replied. "Now, what is it that you need me to do?"

"We're searching for underground areas to hunker down for from a storm. It's a storm that's stronger and more dangerous than any records we have, so Varian is having is search for more underground places as a back up if the one place doesn't work. I need you to lead a team of men to the south to check on things."

"I can do that," the Captain nodded.

"Thanks! I'll have Lance (once he gets word to come) lead to the north and Pete and Stan lead to search in the east and I'll lead to the west."

◇◇◇◇◇◇

"I'm not sure how the princess came up with idea of using these underground tunnels as shelter, but it may just work," Quirin said as he shoved one of Varian's final boxes out of the way.

"Oh, it wasn't Rapunzel's ideas," Ariana began. "It was Varian's. He's part of the council now."

Quirin looked at the queen with surprise. "He didn't tell me that part..."

"He didn't know himself until hs came to the castle. It wasn't in the letter," she explained.

"I see..." Quirin replied slowly.

"You must be very proud of how much he's done," Ariana continued. "He's a very special person."

"He is that. A father couldn't be more proud than I am," Quirin agreed, a fond smile on his face, thinking about it. "He took after his mother a lot, you know. They would be the perfect duo of she were still here. I know she would be proud too pf what he's become..."

Ariana set a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry about Ulla."

"Do you remember her any?"

"I can't say I've gained all my memories of her just yet, but I can say that she was a good woman."

"Thank you... we should probably continue cleaning the next area out. Varian had a lot of projects down here I didn't realize he had going on down here," he chuckled at the last part.

◇◇◇◇◇◇

"We got the last one done and only two balls were loss to the abyss," Irene announced.

"Was that just your count or everyone's all together?"

"The first one," Irene answered.

"Both," Dara said in unison with Irene.

"Hey, that last one was your fault," Irene countered.

"Well, you were the one holding it." Dara shrugged.

Varian chuckled. "It's fine, Irene. They're very easy to make. Maybe I'll show you how I umm... make them sometime..."

"Really? I'd really like that!" She exclaimed.

Varian felt his cheeks blush for the umpteenth time that day due to her speaking. He wasn't actually crushing on her, was he? At a time like this. She had such long eyelashes though, how were they natural-yep. He had the case of the stolen heart. Perfect.

"Steady, steady..." Rapunzel was instructing the team raising the final beam. "Uh-oh... Varian, the pulley rope is stuck, can you get that?"

"Don't worry, Rapunzel! I got it," Varian answered. Him and Irene went to inspect the rope. "Huh, I don't know what is wrong with it. It seems fine to-" Varian was cut off when he bent down to give the rope a small tug. The rope suddenly snapped and the beam came crashing down, separating Varian and Irene from the rest of the group. Dust exploded into the air and a hiss of gas leaking started to seep out from new cracks.

"Is everyone alright?" Rapunzel called.

She received a bunch of weak "Yeahs", but everyone was in view and standing. Except for Varian and Irene.

"Princess, gas is leaking!" Someone shouted.

"Hurry! Use Varian's solution to stop it from leaking in too much!" Rapunzel ordered as she grabbed a handful herself. "Varian? Where are you?"

"I'm over here!"

There was a muffled call and Rapunzel ran to the broken beam. "Are you ok?"

"Me and Irene are fine. Is there a way out?"

"If you continue on down the tunnel and follow the tracks, it will eventually get you out. We have gas leaking out that we need to fix. Is there gas on your side?"

"No, we're fine!" Varian's muffled voice returned.

"Ok, I'll meet you on the other side of the cave, ok?"

"Ok."

Varian sighed from his side of the beam. He took out two of his glow chemicals and shook them. He handed the pink one to Irene and kept the green one to himself. She coughed a little, brushing some of the dust off her dress.

"Looks like we're walking out of here," Varian explained.

"Ok," she said as she accepted the vile. "Also your creation?"

"Yep."

"Super easy to make?"

"Uh-huh."

"Is that your answer to everything you make?"

"N-no... just the stuff you've seen so far..." Varian stuttered.

Irene giggled.

◇◇◇◇◇◇

"Eugene!" Lance ran up, panting.

"Lance! You got my message?"

"What? No. I came to tell you that we have trouble. Weasel is here and he's planning something, but I'm not sure what."

"Lance, this is not the news I needed..." Eugene ran a hand through his hair. "Right now Weasel is the least of our worries. I need you to take a team to the north and search for a large underground area that is stable enough for the citizens of Corona's to use as shelter from this storm coming up. Can't explain everything now."

"What about that mine?" Lance suggested.

"No, they became too unstable after Andrew's reign. They moved into it too quickly and used too much dynamite. We had a collapse just the other day. Luckily, no one was hurt," Eugene answered.

"I'll take the lead then," Lance exclaimed as he suddenly saluted. "It has been an honor serving for you, Eugene, and whatever may happen-"

"Now's not the time, Lance! You're just going on a search!"

"Right! See ya later, Eugene." Lance finger gunned his friend before going off.

Eugene groaned. "Now I have Weasel to worry about? Can this day get any worse?"

◇◇◇◇◇◇

Varian and Irene walked through the cave when they suddenly stopped. Varian felt the ground beneath him break away. "Ah!"

"Varian!" Irene screamed, grabbing onto his arm. Instead of stopping his fall, it pulled her down as well. They both began screaming as they slid down a steep wall like a super fast, bumpy slide.

Eventually the sliding needed with Varian hitting ground, front forward. "Ooph!"

Irene came next, landing on top of him, groaning.

"Ow!" Varian yelped.

"Oh, my goodness!" Irene jumped up. "Are you ok?"

Varian moaned. "My wrist..."

"Oh heck, I don't know a thing about injuries..."

"I think it's just sprang," he admitted as he slowly sat up.

"Here, we can use my cloak as a sling-" Irene began to unbutton it.

"No, there's no need it's just a sprang, nothing broken."

"But it will remind you not to use it just until we can get someone to look at it," Irene replied stubbornly.

"Fine," Varian muttered.

She found one of Varian's glow chemicals and shook it. The rest had broken. In the dim light, she made a makeshift sling for his arm. "There," she said at last. "Let's get out of here..."

"But which way is out?"

"There's no tracks down here and there's no way we can just climb back up," Irene replied.

"Then we explore a way out from down here. If all else fails, we turn around and come back here and wait for someone, like Rapunzel, to come save us."

"Ok," she agreed. "We just have to be careful.

"Man, can this day get any worse?" Varian mutteted.

◇◇◇◇◇◇

Nigel was overseeing the supplies being taken to Old Corona to store for the storm. "Wait! Stop!" He shouted with horror as the wheel to the wagon in front to them fell off.

Immediately, the carriage fell, the supplies falling out the back and rolling into the river. The horses to Nigel's wagon reared back so suddenly that their reigns snapped and they took off. Nigel's wagon rolled into the river, along with the supplies. Luckily, both the driver and Nigel could swim and quickly resurface the water, gasping.

"No!" Nigel growled.

◇◇◇◇◇◇

Varian and Irene were walking the cave, ankle deep in water. "Heh, this is not what I thought I'd be doing today when I woke up this morning. Heck, I wasn't even expecting being offered the position as Royal Alchemist, let alone becoming a council member..."

"Stressful, isn't it?" Irene remarked.

"Yeah..."

"Well, do you know what I do when I'm stressed?"

"What?"

She splashed him with water.

He sputtered. "Drown people with water cave water that you aren't sure is sanitary?"

"No! Have fun!" She laughed, splashing him again. Varian chuckled himself as he splashed her, making her squeal.

*Music Starts*

V:There's so many things I haven't learned yet
So many things I've yet to try
So many things I'd never thought I'd have chance to get

Varian and Irene were walking in the caves again.

There's mysteries on the bright horizon

Varian leans into a smaller hole but bats fly out of it. He draws back with a gasp.

Experience the sunrises
Tons of discoveries to make and chances to take

Varian's panting and Irene blinked with surprise before laughing.

I wanna know where this goes
The river flows

The two walked by another small stream.

I wanna know I can
Be all I am
Discover it all

They came to a hole in the floor. Varian backed up a few paces.

'Cause I know I won't fall

He ran forward and jumped over it. He wavered a moment but was able to keep himself from falling in.

So come what may
Nothing will stand in my way

He turned around ready to catch Irene only to see that she found a ledge she used to walk across. She hopped down beside him, smiling. Varian blew on his bangs, realizing he took an unnecessary risk.

Adventures around ev'ry corner
Mistakes in my path and road
I'll let destiny lead me no matter where I go

They came to a large room in the cave where there were tons of bridges across a huge fall.

Wanna see where paths will lead
What will show me

Varian lead the way, taking large steps over the broken boards.

Everything I will need
And what'll be

He held his hand out. Irene accepted it and picked up her skirts to take a long stride.

I'm ready to see
What is coming for me

The bridge wobbled and they grabbed each other to keep the other one ballance.

So come what may
Nothing will stand in my way

They let go each other and made their way through.

Wanna know where the rivers flow
Know where everything goes

Irene took the lead after the bridges, holding up the vial for light.

See where all the paths lead
And know what all I need

Finally they reached the outside, but it was night.

I'm ready for it all!
So come what may!

A small breeze blew through and they both took deep breaths of fresh air. They closed their eyes, smiling as they took in the moonlight.

Nothing will stand in my way!

*Music Ends*

"We made it!" Irene exclaimed.

"Air's so sweet," Varian sighed.