Chapter Text
The sound of the drill hitting amber is deafening. It pierced Varian’s ears painfully, the sound eerily similar to metal upon metal, though he barely noticed. His focus laid solely on the space ahead of him, watching the tip of the drill pressing harshly against the amber. He finally had everything secured. Every step accounted for, every play calculated. He’d gotten the princess here in a position where she’d been forced to cooperate, to listen; coerced to go along with what he knew was his father’s only hope. Isolating her and the king as his army was forced to deal with the machines he’d constructed overnight. The process had been grueling and tedious but it had been worth it. He was going to get his father back. His plan was going to work.
It had too.
He repeated the mantra in his head over and over, as he pressed his finger deeper into the button on the drill.
This would work.
He wasn’t wrong. He’d free his father.
Behind him, he could briefly register a pained cry from Rapunzel along with a soft thud behind him, but his concentration was too deep to pull him away, he had to make this work. His father was relying on him. He needed him back.
Just one more-
He felt a wild panic twisting in his chest as he watched nothing happen. The amber wasn’t cracking. It wasn’t even chipping. Hysteria started to creep into the corners of his mind, yelling out an anguished cry while drawing the drill back to press it further into the honey-bright amber.
The sound of the drill screeched through the air with a righteous fury as he slammed it into his fathers' prison.
“Work please work” Varian pleaded through gritted teeth, tears brewing in his eyes. The hysteria becomes stronger at the image of the amber continuing to gleam despite the pressure of the drill.
Why wasn’t it working? The amber should’ve shattered by now! His dad should’ve been free at this point, arms open wide.
Yet the amber stood, a solid monolith of his failure, refusing to crack or move. His chest felt as if it’s about to cave in on itself. He wasn’t wrong. He couldn’t have been. He did everything right! Why wasn't it working!
Tears finally fell.
Wet hot tears crept their way outside of his goggles and rolled loosely down his cheeks as manic breaths seized his body. His grip on the button of the drill is so tight,he’s almost afraid it’ll break. Just as he’s about to stop the drill and run to the amber he finds himself enveloped in light.
The princess's hair was suddenly aglow. Varian could barely hear Rapunzel let out a painful cry as the light became brighter, the sound of her yell was joined by the rush of wind sweeping around his lab. The velocity of it almost brought him back to the vortex his machine had made at the Science Expo. The wind in the lab rippled the air around him and ruffled his hair as it waved in and around his face. Varian found himself letting out a small gasp having to raise his hands in front of his eyes against the blinding light. Finally forced to close his eyes altogether or risk being blinded as the light somehow grew even brighter.
Then just as quick as it had appeared it was gone.
Varian slowly opened his eyes, heart pounding,blinking spots out of his vision, struggling to adjust his eyes back to the dim atmosphere of his lab.
“Rapunzel!” Varian could hear the king yell out as he struggled against the pink goo at his feet in vain, reaching his arm out towards where his daughter lay in a crumpled heap on the floor.
The king rounded his attention to Varian glaring daggers towards him, “You need to stop this, you're killing her!” He snarled, hand gripping the hilt of his sword.
Varian scoffed, rolling his eyes at the demand, irritation bubbling to the surface as his eyes finally adjusted.It didn’t seem to matter how many times he explained it to the king,it just wouldn’t get through his thick skull. The old man was as dense as a brick wall. The king was so used to being the only one in charge that he didn’t even realize that he was in absolutely no place to bark out orders. Least of all to him.
Varian began to Turn, sneering, “Your Majesty you are re-“. Varian’s retort was cut off sharply by the sound of cracking.
Varian whipped around eyes wide, the sound increasing. The king already forgotten in his mind as he felt hope skyrocketing his pulse in his ears. The sound was loud and hollow, almost mimicking the sound of ice splintering. Varian watched in elation as a crack grew its way along the center of the crystal amber. Cracks started to emerge slowly from the center, not unlike a spider weaving its web. One by one the cracks spread outward, shards covering the once pristine surface of the amber prison.
Varian stood in awe. His mind raced as he choked out a laugh, the cracks continuing to grow.
He hadn’t been wrong!
He hadn’t failed his father!
He won!
The sounds stopped.
The alchemist sucked in a shaky breath watching the amber with hope-filled eyes, as the lab was filled with a deafening silence.
The web snapped.
Chucks And slivers of amber rained down on the floor. Varian let out a startled cry, raising his arms over his head and ducking slightly to protect himself from the shards of amber tumbling in the air.
When the sounds of amber pelting the floor subsided, he slowly lowered his arms and lifted his head.
All he could do was stare.
There was his father, laying flat on his back, surrounded by the remains of his former prison.
He was free. He wasn’t surrounded by the glow of amber. He wasn’t trapped. He wasn’t frozen in time anymore.
He had done it.
He had freed his father.