Chapter summary: Varian joins our motley crew.

Varian would like it stated that, for the record, he never intended to end up back here meeting Rapunzel again, at least not until he had the necessary tools to defeat her. His chemical store had been pretty much eliminated following his experiments on Dad's entrapment, which meant he didn't have anything that he could use to fight her, because he wasn't ignorant enough to believe that he could beat Rapunzel in a singular, physical fight.

No, he was smaller and younger which made him naturally weaker physically than them. That was something he couldn't argue with, which was why he always used tricks and traps to ensnare his opponents. His mind was far stronger than theirs, but that advantage is one he couldn't have without the things he needed.

That forced him to push that need for revenge down on his priority list, much to chagrin. But that also left him purposeless because he had no idea where to go from here. He very much couldn't waltz into town (not that there was much town left, he noted with a bitter thought) and he couldn't stay here either.

So – with nowhere else to go – his eyes once again came upon that ugly necklace. He carefully examined it for what felt like forever, contemplating if it would work again. Whoever had sent it hadn't made a note that it would – but they also didn't disclose what it did in the first place all that obviously.

And so Varian made up his mind, pulled Rudiger up on his shoulders again, and clutched the necklace tightly in his hand from where it hung on his neck.

"Take me to where I can save Dad," Varian had thought. And then the colors and lightness and dizziness, all came back, as well as Rudiger's slight squeal of fear. Then it was gone, replaced by a vision of green trees and some yellow and pink monstrosity out of the corner of his eye.

He frowned and looked at where he was, feeling his hear drop again once his eyes slid over the other people in the place he was.

Rapunzel had her back to him, blonde hair now tied back by purple instead of red beads, Cassandra and Eugene flanking her two sides. Lance and Hook Foot (he believed those were their names – he had never been introduced to them aside from that infamous night) stood off from them, all five watching a tall woman with silver hair and red face paint. The tall woman was a mystery, imposing with a sword and armor, but Varian couldn't recall seeing her anywhere before.

"You have got to be kidding me," Varian said aloud before he could think. Five collective people cringed and turned to face him, each one of them putting a rotten feeling in his stomach.

Cassandra – rather predictably – reached for her sword and held it out towards him, scaring Rudiger into his shoulder. Eugene took one step forward in front of Rapunzel, reaching out a hand to block her from stepping forward herself. Lance and Hook Foot gave some semblance of a fighting stance, still a bit away.

Rapunzel, however, did nothing beside turn. She simply stared at him with an expression he couldn't name.

"Stay back!" Cassandra ordered. Varian fought the urge to roll his eyes. He hadn't made a motion to do anything to them yet – and besides, he was no idiot. He had no advantage here, the element of surprise had been quickly compromised by his own self and he had no weapon or tool beside his necklace, which he doubted would be much help after the switcheroo it just pulled on him.

"Varian!" the mystery woman said, tone much friendlier than the other's faces.

Varian raised an eyebrow in time to the befuddlement in everyone else's expression.

"Uh, I'm sorry, but I don't think we've met before," Varian said. He cast a glare at the group in front of him. "And I know you don't know me from these guys. They have a nasty habit of forgetting me."

Now, Rapunzel's expression shifted to a frown. "How did you get here Varian?"

Varian blinked back the surprise threatening to spill in his eyes. If it had been a few weeks ago, that would have gotten a rise out of her, something he very much enjoyed doing. He frowned back at her and clutched the necklace tighter in his palm.

"From one of the Stars," the woman said expertly, walking towards him. "Princess, we just went over this."

Varian furrowed his brow and held up that necklace. "Is that what this is called? A Star? Last I checked, those are in the sky, mysterious lady."

The woman smiled. "Yes, Little Man, that's what it's called." She reached down and ruffled his hair. He abruptly took a step back with a frown. "Just like your father, he didn't like being touched much either."

That got his attention. "You knew my father?"

"You knew his father?" Eugene echoed. Cassandra smacked his shoulder and Varian made a mental note to thank Cassandra for that later.

"Yes, I did know Quirin," the woman said. A fond smile passed her face. "The name's Adira."

Varian's eyes widened. "You're Adira?!"

"Wait-wait-wait, you know her?" Rapunzel asked incredulously, stepping forward. Varian continued to stare at Adira with open-mouthed shock.

"My-my dad used to tell me stories about – about a woman named Adira!" Varian said. "That was you?"

Adria nodded smugly. "Me and him were good friends back in the day."

Varian's old memories of his father telling stories of a woman named Adira came to him in a blinding flash. She had been cast a brave woman that could fight off hundreds of soldiers at once, and Varian had more than once wished to meet her but had always assumed she wasn't real. That she was just a figment, like Little Red Riding Hood or Victor Frankenstein – just the hero, notreal.

And yet…. here she stood.

Adira continued to smile at him for another moment, silence taking the whole camp, before she slipped her gaze over to Rapunzel.

"The others will come with time," Adira said. Varian felt a snarl of curiosity in his stomach as he watched Adira. She was supposed to be brave and noble – why was she working with people like Rapunzel? Weren't their many more people she could be trying to help? Not some wishy-washy princess going God's know where?

And who were these others? Was Adira bringing people here? Why-why had she brought him here – to the place of his greatest enemies? Varian didn't like this, it was putting an uneasy feeling towards this woman in his stomach, even if she had been one of his childhood heroes.

(He supposed the real questions was how she knew Dad – but that wasn't the issue here, or he wouldn't let it be, at least for the moment.)

"Wait – are you leaving?" Rapunzel asked. Her voice sounded uncertain. It seemed Rapunzel too was unsure what to make of Adira.

"So soon?" Lance tacked on, eyes pleading for her to stay. Varian bit back a scoff. At least one person here it seemed was more than a little trusting towards Adira.

Rudiger hopped off his shoulder, Cassandra's sword still out but attention distracted enough by Adira that the animal no longer felt frightened. He positioned himself at Varian's heels, watching the scene before him the same as Varian.

"I'll be here if you need me, Princess," Adira said, placing a hand on Rapunzel's shoulder. "But for right now, I have other matters I have to take care."

Rapunzel frowned at the explanation but didn't question it. Varian rolled his eyes. It seemed despite everything that had happened, Rapunzel was still too trusting for her own good. It was yet to be seen if this Adira was useful to him or not, so for now – unlike Rapunzel and her cohorts, who appeared to trust her, - he would leave judgement unresolved.

Rapunzel took a step back from Adira, green eyes not leaving her heavily armored form as she slipped between the trees and away from them. A quiet, tense moment as all tried to process what just happened, before Eugene smiled widely in the direction Adira had went.

"Well, that went well," Eugene said, hands akimbo.

Varian scoffed. "Yeah, right."

Eyes whipped around to meet him again, very degrees of shock, anger, and confusion in all of them.

Varian opened his mouth to say something else, but then everything went black.

"Jeez, Lance!"

Cassandra marched forward, sword returning to her sheath with a slight clink. She stopped in front of the unconscious form of Varian, Rudiger sitting next to the teen boy in concern as he fiddled with his blue shirt, as if that would wake hip up.

Rapunzel looked over at where Lance was standing over him, a cup in his hand (taken from somewhere, Rapunzel couldn't even guess) as he looked rather apologetic. Rapunzel frowned at the scene and crossed her arms.

"What?" Lance said. "The kid was giving me the heebie-jeebies."

Cassandra shook her head and broke the cup of his grasp, looking at him sternly before casting the cup onto the ground.

"Varian has barely said two words," Cassandra said sternly. "None of which were to you."

He had spoken to anyone really, Rapunzel noted. Except Adira that was. Not that he had really the opportunity to say much else before he had the wind knocked out of him – quite literally.

"Still gave me the heebie-jeebies," Lance said. "With that weird little smirk of his."

Cassandra sighed and turned away from Lance, eyes landing on Eugene and Hook Foot.

"Get some rope," she said to them, no room for argument. Eugene and Hook Foot – catching onto her meaning – gave a nod before disappearing into the caravan silently. Rapunzel, at first, was confused. Why did Cassandra need rope? It's not like they had to tie anything –

Then it hit her.

"Looks, Raps, I know you're not going to like this," Cassandra said, "but he's a threat."

Cassandra looked so calm, much calmer than Rapunzel, but she could see anger in her eyes. Rapunzel supposed it was right, they had to do this, but her resolve wavered as she looked at the teen boy. He was much gaunter than the last time they had seen each other, apron stripped away to reveal a stained shirt with a hole in the sleeve, hair greasy from months without washing.

Was is it necessary to do this? Surely Varian posed no threat – he seemed to hold no threat to them, at least not now. He had none of his inventions or toys to help him, no weapons as far as they could tell. He looked so weak, wouldn't it be cruel to tie him up in addition?

Rapunzel looked closer, into his unconscious face, and frowned. The bright lights of the rock came back to her, and the screams of Cassandra and her mother.

She looked back up at Cassandra with a nod. "Do it."

Cassandra – looking a little surprised that Rapunzel didn't put up that much of a fight – nodded in return. Eugene and Hook Foot returned a moment later with the required rope.

Lance and Eugene quickly picked up the young boy, leaning him against a tree so that he was sitting up. Cassandra cut the long slip of rope with the sword, handing one end of it off to Eugene. Cassandra reached down and tied Varian's hands together with a stiff, emotionless face. Eugene did likewise to his feet, and Rapunzel ignored the holes in the soul of his boots.

Rapunzel watched this silently. This was necessary, yes, but it did not mean she had to like it. She hugged her arms to herself, eye brows furrowed together as they continued with the task.

She felt a soft brush against her heel, and she looked down to see Rudiger staring back up at her. Rapunzel smiled down at the raccoon. In that all ensuing chaos, she had almost forgotten the animal's presence. Rapunzel reached down and took Rudiger in her arms.

Pascal popped up from her shoulder, smiling widely at Rudiger. Pascal made a whirring sound to Rudiger, which the animal returned with a tittering. Rapunzel let this continue for a moment before getting Rudiger's attention by clearing her throat.

"It's great to see you again, Rudiger," Rapunzel said softly. Less so to see Rudiger's human companion, but she would admit that Rudiger was a nice surprise. Aside from the time Rudiger had been mutated to that vicious beast they had fought in the courtyard, Rudiger had never been anything but a perfectly pleasant raccoon to be around.

Rudiger made some more tittering, sounding almost excited in an attempt at a smile, and licked her face. Rapunzel laughed at the motion and wiped at her cheek.

"I see you and the raccoon are bonding," Eugene noted with a laugh, walking up to her. Rapunzel looked up at him in surprise before returning to Rudiger with a smile.

"He's so well-behaved," Eugene said.

The unspoken words Hard to believe he likes Varian were tacked on by Rapunzel.

Why did Rudiger like Varian? After everything that happened, wasn't Rudiger one of the first in line to be angry with Varian? He had given him that wicked potion, forced him into attacking Corona, something that Rapunzel had a hard time believing the sweet-tempered animal in her arms would agree to do.

In the end, yes, technically, Rudiger had betrayed Varian and let Pascal out of his cage, but why was Rudiger with Varian now? Standing alongside a boy that by all accounts deserved punishment, none of which Rudiger had even remotely earned?

The sound of close moaning jarred her from her thoughts. She looked to see Varian slowly waking, his eyes blinking rapidly as they tried to open. Cassandra stiffened at this motion, hand clutching her sword, ready to strike if necessary.

Eugene stepped closer to her, hand reaching out to her protectively. Rapunzel didn't argue this. Everyone – including her – knew that Rapunzel was his number one enemy, and no claim that she could take care of herself was going to wipe that away.

Hook Foot shifted somewhere nearby, a little awkwardness in his eyes. He had no personal stake in this, like the rest of them did, so Rapunzel couldn't blame him.

Varian mumbled something under his breath as he came back to consciousness. Rudiger jumped down from Rapunzel's arms and came to sit at his feet, looking at him in concern.

"Rud-Rudiger?" Varian said first, focusing on said raccoon. "What-what happened? Last-last I remember we were-we were –"

He stopped talking then, eyes shooting open. His back banged against the tree trunk, blue eyes filling with poison as he looked amongst the group in front of him. He lingered his gaze on Rapunzel, and their eyes met for a brief moment.

I hate you, his eyes said. There was no light in them, no room for questioning. They were hard and cold and stiff.

She shivered, hating herself the second she did so, because his lips twerked up into a small smirk.

"What are you doing here?" Cassandra demanded. "And how did you get here?"

Cassandra was taking the lead in the interrogation of Varian, and Rapunzel was fine with that.

Varian looked down to his chest, where a rather ugly necklace was sitting. Rapunzel felt a strong string at the sight. Varian was said to be a Star – and that necklace must be it.

Varian looked down at his hands now too, raising an eyebrow at the rope tied around his leather gloves.

"Still don't trust me?" Varian chided. "What am I going to do, smirk you to dea—"

"The necklace," Rapunzel said, cutting him off. Varian snapped up at that, eyes becoming darker. Eugene turned back to her for a moment, eyes wide in surprise that she had something at all. Lance leaned over to see the necklace, eyes widening as he noticed it.

"That is one ugly necklace," Lance noted, nose crinkling at the sight. Varian grit his teeth and glared up at Lance.

"But's it my ugly necklace," Varian said. "Back off."

Given his protectiveness of it, Rapunzel was willing to wager money that that the money was the Star he was gifted.

"It's also what brought you here," Rapunzel said sternly. Varian returned his attention to her and frowned for a few minutes, but Rapunzel only stared back. She too could stare, if that's what he wanted.

It was silent between them for several moments, something no one else dared to break. It was an understood silence, one where Rapunzel dared him to deny that it was what it was. Varian seemed to consider it for a moment but held it back.

Everyone took the silence as an admission.

"How did you get it?" Cassandra asked. "And how did it bring you here?"

Varian raised an eyebrow. "Why would I tell you?"

Eugene frowned. "Because we have two former thieves, a guy with a hook for a foot, and girl with magic hair, and we're still afraid of her." He pointed to Cassandra with a smirk. "And you've already tried to kill her once, buddy. I wouldn't push it."

An extra glint of coldness shined in Cassandra's eyes as Eugene said that and a small bit of fear of did shine in Varian's face. He shifted on the grass, Rudiger crawling up now to rest on his shoulders at the image of Varian terrified.

"Fine," Varian spit. "Some kind of magic put this thing in my pocket back in the dungeon, it had a note, it said it would take me where I wanted to go." He made an appalled face. "But apparently it's defective because it brought me here when I asked it to take me somewhere I could save Dad." He scoffed under his breath and looked down. "Like you care about that though."

Rapunzel sighed deeply, tucking that very last comment away for later. Any kind of argument about that would have to wait until they figured all this out.

"Maybe it is working," Rapunzel offered. Varian's expression would make one think that she had grown a second head. She smiled at him, which was much more than he deserved given how he was acting. "We're going to solve the rocks, in the Dark Kingdom. Adira said that we were going to encounter people along the way, and that you were one of them. Maybe all of us – as in you too – are meant to go, and something there can save your dad."

Varian bit his lip. His face was a conflict, one any here can see.

Rapunzel hoped this would appease him. The Sunflower magic was mysterious, and half the time didn't work the way she thought it would, so her guess on this magic necklace was not that strong. But it made sense at least, right? Varian had asked to go somewhere where he could save his dad, and that thing – his Star – had brought him here.

Their had to be a reason for that, right?

"Fine," he bit out. "I still don't understand what that means though – what, you want me to come with you on your little journey to figure out where these monstrosities come from?" He eyed some of the rocks in the corner with a nasty look.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Rapunzel said. "It's the only option you currently have that doesn't involve us turning around and delivering you back to my parents." Varian looked at her in surprise, before his shock melted back into an almost impressive smirk.

"Nice to see you've got a backbone now, Your Highness," Varian sneered.

And Rapunzel then knew Varian was the newest member of their little adventure party.

Hook Foot was an unbelievably loud snorer, Varian decided.

Varian was atop of the caravan, because apparently him being on the ground allowed for a far too easy means of escape. Something that Varian was very reluctant to believe because a) his feet and hands were tied and b) on top of the caravan he could very easily slip down inside and sneak back out to leave. He rolled over on his side – or at least as far as he could, given that once he had risen that last complaint they had tied one end of his leg rope to Hook Foot to keep him from running.

That was a smart move, he would concede. Tie him up with another member, that way he couldn't bail on them with the necklace. It was a good idea, one he was surprised Lance of all people came up with. But Lance Strongbow had been one hell of a thief, so Varian may have been too quick to judge that he wasn't intelligent.

He settled his head against the pink wood, which he found he liked on about equal footing as the cell in Corona.

Today had been one heck of a ride, Varian decided. Waking up this morning hadn't been that normal of an experience, what with waking from teleportation and then puking all over his floor, but the day's events had only gotten stranger. More teleportation, coming face-to-face with his enemies again, and meeting a childhood hero.

And after all that, he was here now, with the worst people he could think of on a journey to save Dad. But he had a sinking suspicion they didn't care all that much about that part – far too focused on Rapunzel's supposed destiny than saving his father.

(That, however, didn't surprise him. Rapunzel had always been more concerned with herself than his father's fate, and he expected no different.)

Hook Foot snored and shifted farther away on the roof, making Varian's jut out closer to Hook Foot. Varian grumbled at the movement, turning back on his other side so that he could be a slight bit more comfortable.

Rudiger – whom had been sitting quietly at the edge – looked up at this, his dark eyes meeting Varian's in the moonlight.

"Hey buddy," Varian said softly, voice warm. Rudiger didn't say anything as he came over to him, sitting down to look Varian dead in the eye. "What are you thinking?"

Silence.

"I know," Varian said. "But it's the only way to save Dad."

Rudiger did make a sound at this, chittering quietly to him. He reached out a paw and put it on Varian's nose with a smile. Varian who was unsure what to take the meaning of that as, just laughed at Rudiger and removed his paw.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Varian said. Rudiger – happy to have been listened to – now curled his tail around himself and sat down to rest, and Varian watched for a moment. At least he had Rudiger to keep him company.

At least he had Rudiger whom he could trust.

Varian shut his eyes and tried to rest, hoping his dreams would be better. For now, he was stuck here, surrounded by untrustworthy and unscrupulous people he knew would drop him of the chips were down, but it was the only way to save Dad.

Until it no longer necessary, he would play the game on their terms, because his only advantage was this Star, which thanks to Adira they knew existed. He clutched the necklace tightly in one hand.

This necklace was the ace up his sleeve, and he wouldn't play unless vital, that was for sure.

And that moment, he hoped, wasn't soon.

In another part of the forest, there were two girls sitting by a fire.

One was short with tan skin and black hair, while the other was tall with red hair. There clothes were worn, but they were smiling as they sat next to their homemade fire, laughing at jokes the other one had made. They couldn't be more than nine-years-old.

Adira watched them for a moment, checking and rechecking the parchment in her hand. These were the next two, the owners of the next two Stars? She had thought it crazy that Varian – a boy whom she could consider a child was chosen – but small ones?

But their they were, a perfect sketch of the two kids right in front of her. She frowned and stepped back from the trees, flipping over the page to uncover what it is the Protectors knew of them

Red and Angry –

(Adria raised a brow at those names. Really? Well, at least it saved the need to make nicknames for them later –)

Former thieves for the Baron, still wanted in many kingdoms. Birth regions unknown. Birth family unknown, but recent investigations suggests connection to Iridia.

Angry – Necklace of Strength

Red – Ribbon of Speech

Adira tried to reconcile how these two could have been picked. There was nothing about them! No home! No families! No nothing! Why had two Stars chosen little girls of all people?

Adira shook her head pulled the two items – a gray necklace with an elephant charm and a pink ribbon—out of her bag and prepared herself to step forward to greet them.

S'up my dudes? I present finally a third chapter of this fic! School has started for me again, so it has been fun trying to start a new fic and do that.

What do you guys think? Is everyone in character? I almost didn't include the part about Red and Angry, but the chapter just felt off so I put it in.

Review replies:

The Authverlord: Thank you so much! I'm aware of some of the spelling and grammar stuff, and I catch it when I can, but not all of it I get before publication and at that point I'm so deep into newer chapters I really don't have time to go back and fix it, because I have a bunch of other non-fanfiction stuff to do. But I'm slowly getting better at proofreading my work, I think. I hope. Probably not.

Sisternature365: Thank you! This story means a great deal to me, so I'm always excited to hear people like it!

Cerussi: Thanks! When writing an AU story I try to have as much reason put into it as possible, and when writing this one I had to come up with a way to explain things that just kind of expanded into it's one lore. And I love writing Varian, in almost every single Tangled story I've written he's a POV character, so I'm glad you think I'm doing his character right!

Rock Mint Swirl: Some will be returners, others won't. I love seeing characters retuning, and I wanted to bring back as many as I could, but it just wouldn't be believable if Raps knew everyone who has a Star. As for Stalyan? I may have her come back later...

Guest: Thank you! It's great to hear from you

Hope y'all like it!
- Princess Chess