Tangled: The Series

Alternative Series, Story #3: My Flashlight

Welcome to the beginning of the 3rd story of my 'Varian and Ophelia Alternative Series.' I'm so excited to finally be posting this one because this is the first of the 'Own Episodes' in the series; which means it's an original episode I'm plugging into the show because there wasn't enough episodes with Varian before 'Queen For a Day.' And like I said, I'm not gonna just plug them into existing episodes that have nothing to do with them.

*See my profile for titles and summaries of 'own episodes' between this one and 'Queen For a Day.'

I think it's a good blend of working with the real episodes and being original.

"… I look up to the sky, and in the dark, I found a hope that I could fly. And I sing along, I sing along, and I sing along…" Ophelia's sensual voice sounded from the castle's music room. The young kitchen maid sat at the piano, hitting the keys to match the melody of the song she was singing.

Like the Science Expo a few weeks ago, the capitol was hosting another grand event that promised many patrons and participants coming from all over the kingdom; A Musical Showcase.

There was a nice, big auditorium set-up in the ballroom, with a stage with curtains and so many chairs for an audience to sit in. The performers could sing or play whatever they wanted—be it a favorite song or a song they wrote themselves.

Another great thing was that, unlike the Expo, there were no stuck-up judges. Because there was no first-place ribbon or grand prize. That's why they were calling it a showcase, not a contest. The most rewarding thing for the performers to get from this show was cheers and applause from the audience.

Ophelia was one of the first people to sign up. She had a song she had been working on for some time now and this was the perfect time to perform it.

Because she wasn't the only one who lived in the castle that signed up to be in the show, the king had allowed every staff member who signed up to take a little time from their duties everyday so they could practice. Everyone had to share the castle's music room so they all had access to the instruments and the time they needed to practice.

They all picked a time for every day and took turns using the room. Ophelia's time off to practice—the music room all to herself—was in the afternoon, right after she mopped the main dining room floors.

With the show later that evening, it was her last rehearsal session.

Her song was complete, but she still wanted to perfect her piano playing while she sang so she would sound amazing at the actual show. Another great thing about the music room was the amazing acoustics.

"Sounding good there, Ophelia," a delighted voice from the door echoed through the room. Ophelia lifted her head and saw Rapunzel coming in. Accompanying her from behind were her boyfriend and best friend.

"Thanks. I still need to practice a bit more, but I think it's really coming together," Ophelia smiled back as she stood from the piano bench and walked around the piano to stand with them. "What about you, princess? Are you ready for the show?"

"So ready. And so excited!" Rapunzel exclaimed with joy.

"As am I," Eugene said confidently. "Lance and I are doing a duet, and it's going to bring the house down!" the former thief emphasized his excitement by adding jazz-hands at the end of his sentence.

Rapunzel giggled for his enthusiasm. Of course, she would have loved to do a duet with her boyfriend, but he and his best friend had made their own plans to perform together before she could ask him. And that was okay. She was still going to have a good time performing a solo.

"Well I hope you all have fun with that," Cassandra said, an amused smile on her face. Cass sort of liked to sing too—she certainly wasn't bad at it—but she wasn't into the whole performing thing. However, she was just as excited for the event as her friends because her father was giving her another shot at being a guard to help oversee the showcase. And this time, she wasn't slammed with too many other chores. She was going to finish, on time and on her own. So she was anticipating the night to come as well.

"Thanks. I'm so nervous but so exited at the same time," Ophelia said with an almost painfully big smile on her face. Quickly, she turned around and picked up her music sheets from the piano's music holder. "I worked so hard on this song. I can't wait to sing it for everyone tonight," she said, clutching the sheets tight to her chest.

A second later, there was a light knock on the music room door. Just as the four inside turned their attention to it, they saw Stan the guard poking his head in.

"Excuse me, your Highness," the older man said respectfully. "There's someone here to see you."

Rapunzel looked surprised for a moment—she wasn't expecting anyone specific—but she smiled. "Oh, well send them in, please," she urged.

Stan pulled himself away from the doorway before gesturing to someone in the hallway that they could go in.

That someone quickly burst into the room. "Hello everyone!" he exclaimed.

"Oh, Varian!" Rapunzel hollered before enveloping the fourteen-year-old boy in a big hug.

When the princess pulled away, Cass greeted him with a light punch to his shoulder. "Sup' boy genius," she said with a grin.

"Good to see you again kid," Eugene also greeted him with a friendly smile. "You didn't bring another invention, right?" he quickly asked, giving a nervous chuckle.

Varian just kept smiling. "It's good seeing you all too, Eugene," he said, not fazed by the question. "And no, I didn't bring any new inventions. I'm here for one reason and one reason only-" he said to the group before looking past them and walking up to the girl still holding the sheet music. "To support my best friend and watch her perform," he declared proudly, looking at her with much joy. "Wait, that was two reasons," he quickly realized.

Ophelia stayed silent when she saw Varian enter the room. But when he talked to her, she quickly snapped herself out of her haze and replied. "Varian… It's so great to see you," she said slowly, giving him a smile and then hugging him. "I'm so glad you're here. I didn't even know if you knew about the showcase," she said after they pulled away.

"Uh, Of course I did. There were posters for it all over Old Corona," he said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And if I know you, which I do, you were gonna be in that show for sure," he said confidently.

"Yup. You know me," she said, discreetly pulling her hands behind her back, along with her music sheets.

"But why didn't you tell me about the showcase in your letters?" he asked. Varian had been surprised not finding a single hint about the showcase in their letter exchanges. After he heard about it, he thought that was all his best friend would talk about in her letters. Just like when the Science Expo was coming and it was all he could write about.

Ophelia paused for a second, trying to think of how to explain that. "Oh, uh… you know, I was just busy. You know, writing my song, practicing my piano playing. You know my piano skills are a bit rusty," she said.

Varian nodded before putting his hands up in understanding. "I totally get it. When I'm super focused on a project, I skimp out a little on my letters to you too," he said, accepting the excuse. "But you know what? It doesn't matter. All that matters is that I'm here, and I can't wait to hear you perform," he grinned at her in anticipation. Ophelia smiled back, but hers was more nervous. But the young lad didn't notice. "So what song are you gonna sing?" he asked.

Ophelia's smile immediately dropped. "W-what song? Oh, it's uhh…" she stuttered, not sure what to say to him. She obviously couldn't tell him the truth. "Uhhh… a-a surprise. I want it to be a surprise. For everyone," she quickly blurted, her fist clutching her music sheets behind her tightening.

Again, Varian didn't see anything abnormal in her behavior. "Even me? Your best friend?" he asked in mock-hurt, clutching his chest.

Ophelia mentally signed before playing along. "Even you," she told him.

"Fine, but I won't like it," Varian replied with a pout. "I mean, I won't like waiting, not 'I won't like your song.' I'd never say that," he scrambled to correct himself. He would hate to accidently offend her.

Ophelia just giggle. That was all Varian needed to know she knew he was just being a dork and he smiled back.

Rapunzel smiled as well, adoring the sweet interaction of the two close friends before her. "Well Varian, if you're staying for the showcase tonight, do you have a place to sleep afterwards?" the princess asked the younger boy. The showcase was meant to end late into the evening so it wouldn't be a good idea for him to try and make the long journey back home by himself at that hour.

"Oh, I was just gonna find an inn or something in town and then head home in the morning," he told her. His dad had given him some money for the trip. Plenty to pay for at least a night's stay at an inn in the capitol.

"Oh no you're not," Rapunzel replied, taking a step forward. No visiting friend of hers was paying for an inn while her home had rooms to spare. "You'll be staying here tonight."

Varian looked wide-eyed at the princess. "Here? As in, here in the castle? Overnight?" he exclaimed, not believing he had heard her right. "No, princess, I couldn't," he tried to respectfully decline her generosity. The castle probably had a lot of other visitors staying because of the showcase. He didn't want to trouble her with another.

"Yes, you can," she told him before turning to Stan, still guarding at the doorway. "Stan, can you please bring my good friend Varian here to one of our available guest rooms?"

This time Varian's eyes flew open so wide they looked ready to pop. He was okay with being given one of the spare bedrooms in the servant's quarters, but a guest room?—one of the bigger, fancier bedrooms for important visitors staying the night was far too much.

"Really, princess, you don't have to-" he uttered out, but the princess was persistent.

"Varian, please," Rapunzel slumped down to look Varian in the eyes and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I insist. It's only one night and I want you to enjoy it," she said gently.

For a few moments, the young alchemist just stood there with his eyes cast down nervously, not sure what to say. Seeing her young friend in need of a different perspective, Cassandra came up behind him and gave his arm a light nudge to get his attention.

"It'd be kinda rude, turning down such a nice gesture from a member of the royal family," Cass muttered to him.

After thinking that over for a second, Varian decided that she was right. There was nothing wrong with accepting the offered room and there was no point in trying to refuse it either.

The young lad turned his attention back to the princess. "Well, okay. If you're offering, I'd love to," he said with a grateful smile.

"Great," Ophelia said, happily clapping her hands together. While her best friend and the princess were talking, she had placed her music sheets behind her, on the piano top. "Why don't you go get settled in. I still have a few minutes left to practice before my time is up."

"Right, of course. I won't distract you," Varian said to her. "But maybe after you're done in here and I unpack, we could hang out?" he asked hopefully. They didn't really get to hang out the last time he was there, so he really wanted to this time.

"Sure. But I have a few things to do a little later. Just helping with some last-minute setting up for the showcase," she told him. She really wanted to spend some time with him too, but she still had her duties. There was no reason she couldn't do both.

"Awesome," Varian replied, looking forward to that. "Well, I'll leave you to it. See you guys later," he said while stepping backwards until he reached the doorway, where Stan was still waiting.

"Bye Vary-Berry!" Ophelia waved to him as he walked out of the music room. The others all gave their own collected goodbyes as the young alchemist left with Stan to show him his room for the night.

Everyone left in the music room smiled as they watched the younger boy leave, but as soon as the door closed, the fifteen-year-old kitchen maid snapped into hysterics.

"OH MY STARS!" she yelled, trying not to be too loud—for fear of being heard from the hall outside. With her hands on her head, her fingers tugging on her dark auburn hair, Ophelia started pacing from the piano by the door to the windows on the other side of the room. "This is bad. This is not happening! What am I gonna do?!" she rambled to herself.

The three older people still in the room were startled at first from the younger girl's unexpected outburst. As they watched her pace and mutter worriedly to herself, they became concerned. "Ophelia?" Rapunzel tried to ask her as she stepped toward her.

The young kitchen maid paid the princess no notice and kept going. "WhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIdo!?" she mumbled as she looked down at the floor.

Impatient to know what her problem was, Cass marched up to the crazy girl and grabbed her shoulders, stopping her from pacing and making her look at the lady-in-waiting. She could see the panic in the younger girl's wide eyes. "Ophelia!" she said gently and firm. "What is the matter with you?"

"Varian-" the younger girl uttered. "He-he wasn't supposed to be here. He wasn't supposed to come," she said, despair in her voice.

"What? Why not? I thought you were happy that he came to support you," said Rapunzel as she and Eugene came up beside her and Cass.

Cass finally let go of Ophelia and the younger girl faced the princess. "I am… but I'm not. I mean, it's wonderful that he thought to come to support me…" she said, her tone light and happy—a gleam in her eye. "but I really wish he hadn't," her tone going back to despaired again.

"Okay, she is making less and less sense," Eugene said as he scratched the top of his head.

"Ophelia," Cass demanded, snapping the girl's attention back to the impatient lady-in-waiting. "Just tell us. Why is it so bad that Varian is here?"

Sighing, Ophelia reached behind her to grab her music sheets from off the piano top. "The song I wrote," she said as she handed them to Rapunzel.

The princess curiously took the papers and started looking them over. "What about it?" she asked. Eugene and Cass leaned over her shoulders to look too. The word at the top of the first page titled the song Flashlight. None of the three knew exactly what that word meant, but they continued reading the lyrics, flipping from the first page to the next. Rapunzel narrowed her eyes as she read. "It sounds like a love song," she said carelessly. Then in no time, her eyes widened when her brain made the connection. Rapunzel lowered the papers and looked at the younger girl, her mouth hanging open. "Oh my gosh!" she gasped before a big smile erupted on her face. "You're-!"

"Shhhhhh!" Ophelia frantically hushed her, afraid of anyone outside the music room hearing the princess's excited swells.

Rapunzel quickly covered her mouth with her hands—still holding the sheet music—for a second. "-with Varian!" she uncovered her mouth to quickly whisper-shout before covering it again.

"No. I just… I don't know," Ophelia admitted sheepishly before reaching out for her music sheets back. Rapunzel quickly handed them back to the song writer before covering her mouth again, not trusting herself to not scream her ecstatic joy. Ophelia stepped away, looking down at her music. "I was starting to have these feeling for him, stronger than our normal friendship and… this song happened," she admitted with a small smile on her face. But her face went back to frustrated a second later. "If I had known Varian was going to hear it before I was ready to tell him, I would have prepared a different song for tonight," she groaned, almost slamming the sheets back on the piano top.

"Calm down. Even if it is a love song, Varian won't know it's about him," said Cassandra.

"Yes, he will," Ophelia told her. "I based it off of how we first became friends."

Finally calm enough to speak normal again, Rapunzel took her hands away from her mouth. "I thought you guys grew up together and were always friends," she said, a bit confused.

"We did grow up together… but we weren't always friends," Ophelia confessed, rubbing her arm and averting her eyes, looking away somewhat uncomfortably.

"What do you mean?" Eugene asked.

Sighing again, Ophelia leaned her back against the piano. "When Varian lost his mother, my mother wanted to help Quirin with looking after him. While he was busy, Varian would be with my mother and I. Sometimes at our house, sometimes at their house. Either or, we were always together." That much the three friends already knew. "When we were babies, I guess we got along just fine. Until we started going to school. Varian was the smartest kid in our class and it annoyed the heck out of everyone. Always raising his hand, always knowing the answer to every question the teacher asked the class, always correcting the other kids when they said the wrong answer. The girls I hung out with the most were especially annoyed. They teased him, called him names and said other mean things." Ophelia turned her head down, looking shamefully away. "And so did I…" she admitted, her voice full of regret.

Flashback: Old Corona Schoolhouse- 8 years ago

"…a plague of locus?" a six-year-old Ophelia said, a little unsure of being right.

Their teacher, a kind-looking young woman, Miss Nancy Beezle, stood at the front of the classroom and lightly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Ophelia. It was a plague, but not of locus," she gently told her student. Ophelia was about to open her mouth to make a different guess, but a hand right in the middle of the front row of desks shot up eagerly and the teacher turned her attention to him. "Varian," Miss Nancy said, gesturing to the little boy with his hand up.

"The city of Camorrot was plagued with mice for three months, destroying most of their stored food. Until King Landon the II ordered every household to have a cat to protect their food and keep the mice away," the five-year-old lad with a mop of dark hair said, proud and confident.

Miss Nancy smiled. "Correct. Very good Varian," she congratulated the bright, young student.

Every other student in the classroom either rolled their eyes or huffed a light groan, not loud enough for the teacher to hear, as Varian elaborated. "The king had seventeen cats in his own castle."

In her seat—farthest to the right by the window, middle row—little Ophelia slumped in her chair, disappointed that she couldn't think fast enough to give the right answer herself before the class-brainiac corrected her.

When the day's classes were over, young students filed out of the schoolhouse and started walking home. But three girls decided to stay behind and talk by the side of the small building, a few feet away from the door—where students were still coming out.

"Ughhh, that Varian kid. Could he be any more of a know-it-all?" one of the girls, Myrtle, said. She had a head of super curly bright blonde hair, and wore a light green dress.

"No kidding," the second girl in a pink dress, Amanda, said before brushing a stray piece of her red hair out of her face just in time to see Ophelia exit the schoolhouse and walk towards them. Before she could walk off, the red-head stepped out of her little group. "Ophelia," she said as she stopped her. "I am so sorry," she said, making the young girl in purple looked at all three of them, confused.

"For what?" Ophelia asked.

"For the way Varian corrected you in class today. You must have been so embarrassed," Amanda told her, like she was trying to make the other girl feel like it was a big deal.

Ophelia looked down and shrugged. "I guess a little."

Not accepting that answer, the third girl in an orange dress, Elizabeth—or Beth as her friends called her, stepped up beside her friend in pink. "A little? Be honest, did you know the answer to that question?" she asked, her short light brown hair hitting her cheeks as she moved.

"Well, yeah. I mean, as soon as I said 'locus' I realized it wasn't right. I was going to correct myself but-" Ophelia said honestly before trailing off.

"Varian," all three girls added for her, rolling their eyes.

That name had become a nuisance to Ophelia as of late. "I just wish she had given me a chance to correct myself instead of calling on Varian… again," she said meekly.

"Hey, we've all been there," Myrtle tried to be sympathetic. Ophelia wasn't the only one in their class that had been passed over because Varian couldn't give anyone else a chance to look smart.

"That small fry just doesn't know when to stop," Beth added in a snide voice. "Making the rest of us look dumb."

"Yeah. He does do that," Ophelia had to agree. "Like when my mom is helping us with homework, he always answers before I even have a chance to think. And… it does make me feel kinda dumb, and in front of my own mom too," she said, starting to get a bit angry.

Looks of realization came over the girls faces. "Oh that's right, your mom babysits Varian like all the time," Myrtle said. "So you're with him more than anyone else."

"You poor sweet girl," Amanda patted her shoulder as all three girls looked at her like she was the most unfortunate person in Corona. Then, out of the corner of their eyes, they saw little Varian finally stepping out of the schoolhouse. Miss Nancy was standing in the doorway, waving goodbye to him. When the teacher walked back inside and Varian started walking in their direction, a book opened in his hands and his eyes down on it attentively, a mischievous smirk came to Amanda's face. "Watch this," the girl in pink said as she moved passed Ophelia and stood with her back to the path Varian was walking. When she saw him coming closer, out of the corner of her eye, she lifted her foot up behind her. Varian, not seeing the foot in his way, tripped. The young lad hit the ground, making all the books he was carrying—including the one he was reading—land in the dirt. Amanda and her friends laughed as Varian laid on the dirt path. A few other students still around saw him fall and laughed too. Some pointing. Ophelia let a small and slightly awkward chuckle escape her lips, which she decided to try and conceal with her hand. "You shouldn't walk and read at the same time bookworm boy. Impossible to see where you're going," Amanda sneered to Varian as he got to his knees and started picking his books back up again.

"Thanks. I'll try and remember that," Varian said in a small, uninterested voice. He knew she did it on purpose, but chose to act like he was taking her advice to heart. It was just a tripping. Hardly worth the fuss. When he had his books back in his arms, he brushed off most of the dirt that was left on his clothes, and stood back up. When he was back on his feet, Varian turned his attention to the girl in a purple dress with her long dark auburn hair in two braids standing behind the girl that tripped him. His timid frown turned up into an anticipating smile. "Ophelia, you ready to go? We're spending the rest of the day at my house. Dad gave me my own space to conduce my own science experiments. You gotta see it," the young wanna-be scientist said enthusiastically.

Ophelia simply just wanted to tell Varian she wasn't interested in his scientific endeavors as gently as possible and leave it at that, but something about the way the other girls were looking at her made her want to throw tenderness out the window.

"Thanks Varian, but I don't feel like getting my face blown up today," she said as snooty as she could. Her comment had the desired effect; the girls giggled and she saw Varian's smile fall before he quietly walked away, clutching his books to his chest, heading for home.

End of Flashback

"Dang," Cassandra said. It was hard for her and the others to believe their Ophelia and Varian weren't always close friends.

"I know. He annoyed my friends so much that I just let myself be annoyed by him too," Ophelia said, still not proud of how she described herself back then. She was just a little girl and didn't know better, but still. "I never did or said anything too mean to him, but I certainly didn't stop those girls or anyone else from doing anything much worse. I just watched and didn't care. All I cared about was fitting in and making sure at least those girls wanted to be my friends. And if that meant standing on the sidelines while Varian was being picked on and making it look like I enjoyed watching, then that's what I did. I basically ignored him outside of school too; my house, his house, out in town, anywhere where we had to be there at the same time." Ophelia grabbed a small piece of her dark-auburn violet hair in one hand, pulled it in front of her and started brushing her fingers threw it.

"Because we were always together, Varian tried to show me stuff and hang out with me, but like I said, 'I didn't care.' Sometimes I made up excuses if I didn't want to hurt his feelings, and other times if I didn't care about hurting his feelings, I just told him I didn't want to. Although, I don't think anything I said bothered him that much. If I turned him away, he never went to my mother to tell on me. But if she saw for herself me turning him away, then I usually got scolded for it. Then she would make me spend time with him. Most of the time, he just wanted to share with me an interesting fact from one of his books. That only took a minute, if he didn't go into too much detail, so I just let him tell me it quickly just so we could move on." Ophelia gave a light chuckle at that memory. Remembering Varian when he was so young and eager to learn and share his findings. But her smile fell when she wished she had never pushed him away just for the sake of 'fitting in.'

"I did my best to avoid him at home and at school. But at school, I tried distancing myself from him more. Having everyone see me with Varian following after me and trying to talk to me was not the attention I wanted." Ophelia let go on her hair and flipped it back behind her, still looking down at the floor, ashamed of herself.

"Gosh. What changed?" Rapunzel asked, very engaged with her story and eager to know what happened next.

"Yeah, how did you guys go from being completely indifferent to completely inseparable?" Eugene asked from his girlfriend's side, quite engaged as well.

"And what does it have to do with your song?" Cass asked.

Ophelia looked back at the small group and smiled. "Well, it's like I said. I wrote it thinking back to what made me rethink what I thought of Varian and how we started to be actual friends," she said, stepping around the piano to face them as she leaned back against it. "I was about seven years old and Varian was six. We had the day off from school. I had spent most of the day with my girl friends at Amanda's house. It was later in the day; I was out behind my house picking flowers. Varian was inside reading of course, mother was starting dinner, and our fathers were out working. I went out to get a bouquet for the dinner table, but I mostly just wanted a moment away from Varian's constant rambling about science," the young kitchen maid in purple said with a nervous chuckle.

"There were some clouds gathering in the sky over the village. Mother said rain was coming, but I told her I would be quick outside. I was at the edge of the forest, a few flowers already in my hand, when I heard a noise. Something was moving in the bushes close by. I was startled, but when I turned my head, I saw it was just a bunny. It was so cute and looked so soft. I wanted to cuddle it so bad, but when I stepped closer with my hand out, it ran off. I totally forgot about the dark clouds above and my mother's warning and ran after the bunny.

I ran and ran, and when I did catch up to it, it just started running again. I don't even know how long I was chasing it for. I just knew that when I finally lost sight of it, I was lost. The sky was covered in dark clouds and the wind was picking up really fast. I turned around and tried to find my way back but the weather just got worse.

I remember the cold wind against my cheeks and blasting into my eyes, so it was hard to keep them open. I saw flashes in the sky followed by loud claps of thunder that made my heart jump. And when the rain came pouring down… that was when I truly felt helpless.

Cold. Wet. Lost. Alone.

The flowers I had picked had been blown out of my hand. I had nothing. I felt like I was going in circles. Every tree, every bush, every rock I passed looked the same. Until I found a small cave in a low rock-face. It wasn't the best place to take shelter, but it was better than standing out in the middle of the open storm. And I was too tired to take another step.

For hours, I sat in that small cave. At least it felt like hours. There wasn't enough room to completely keep me out of the rain. I shivered and hugged myself while I thought about my parents and how they must be so worried about me. They were probably out looking for me, along with Uncle Quirin and a few other villagers. I thought it would be a miracle for any of them to find me.

I was crying. Then, out of the darkness among the trees, I saw a little light. It was sort of flickering and looked like different colors. Sort of a gentle flashing. I thought it might be someone out looking for me, but I wasn't sure about the different colors. I thought I was seeing things. But then it started getting brighter, and I could vaguely hear someone calling my name.

So I started calling back. Then the light got closer and brighter. I could see the outline of a person with a light running towards me. I covered my eyes to the brightness and looked away, then I felt a warm cloak being wrapped over my shaking shoulders. When I looked back up at them… I couldn't believe it…" Ophelia laughed, remembering how dumbfounded she was that night. "I was fully expecting one of my parents or Uncle Quirin or some other adult to find me. But the one who did was the last person I was expecting." She turned her head away bashfully as she smiled. "It was Varian," she finally admitted. Everyone vaguely heard Rapunzel gasp with delight before the younger girl continued.

"Little Varian in a rain-cloak with the hood up, those goofy goggles over his eyes, and the colorful lights I saw were these glowing test tubes tied to the top of a walking stick he was carrying," she explained. "He helped me up and held onto my arm as he guided me out of there."

"How did he know his way back to the village?" asked Eugene. It's easy to get lost in the woods when the weather is clear; day or night. During a storm, it's almost impossible to find your way anywhere.

"Oh, another neat trick. While Varian was looking for me, he left a trail of these glowing goo markers on the trees he passed. He created them to not wash off from the rain or be harmful to the trees. So we followed those all the way back to the village," Ophelia explained proudly.

"Wow," Rapunzel said in awe, amazed Varian made something like that at such a young age. Well, younger than he already was. "Your parents must have been so worried."

"And angry. But relieved when they saw I was okay," she said with a shrug. "I was in so much trouble. Varian was in trouble too. Despite that he saved me, Quirin was not happy that his six-year-old son went out in the middle of a storm by himself." Not only did she still remember the frazzled and somewhat hysteric expressions on her parents faces, she also remembered Uncle Quirin's face; more worried and furious than she even saw him to this day. "With the messes his weird experiments caused, Varian got in trouble quite often, and I didn't care if he did or what happened to him. But it was different this time. Varian saved me, and I didn't deserve anything from him, not for the way I treated him. Yet he risked himself going out in that storm to try and save me. And even if he did find me and we both made it back, he must have known he would get in trouble anyway for going off on his own. But he still did it. For me. And it was my fault. He wouldn't have even been out there if I hadn't let myself get distracted by a silly old rabbit and wondered off. I couldn't just stand by anymore. It didn't feel okay anymore. For the first time… I did care."

"That was the first time I stuck up for Varian and tried to convince his dad not to punish him. But, of course, we both got punished," she said with a sigh. "Because of the damage from the storm, school was canceled for four days. I wasn't allowed to go and play with my girl friends and Varian wasn't allowed to conduct any experiments. My mom gave Varian and I a lot of chores to do together. When we took breaks, we read books. I read fairytales and Varian had his science books. Varian tried to show me something he thought was fascinating—like always—and I let him tell me, but this time, I actually thought it was interesting, then I even asked him to explain it more. I sat beside him and we read that book together. And I enjoyed it. I actually enjoyed being around Varian. All I had to do was get my head out of the sand and give him a chance. And when we went back to doing chores, we kept talking and laughing as we worked. Varian even joined me in one of my working songs. Despite all the chores, it was an actually pretty fun four days," Ophelia smiled fondly at the memory. "I still remember that first day back at school after the clean-up…"

Flashback: Outside Old Corona Schoolhouse—5 days after the storm

Varian and Ophelia walked side by side, satchels over their shoulders and books held tight to their chests, towards the schoolhouse. The six-year-old alchemist to-be was batting on about a new chemical combination he wanted to try later after school. Now that they weren't under punishment anymore, he couldn't wait to go back to experimenting. As he talked, Ophelia listened attentively and with genuine interest. She was curious to watch him experiment and work his so called 'miracles of alchemy.'

The schoolhouse was in sight, only a few yards away, when the new duo's path was suddenly blocked by the three girls Ophelia once called her only friends.

"Hey Ophelia. We heard what happened," Amanda said, her voice laced with concern that didn't sound 100% genuine.

"You went out and got lost in the storm for hours," Beth added, also not spoken with much worry.

"Did you get in trouble?" Myrtle asked, lazily twirling one of her bright blonde curls with her finger.

The young girl in purple could obviously see these girls didn't really care. For a moment, she let herself feel dumb for not seeing that sooner. These girls weren't really her friends. "Yes, I did," Ophelia replied civilly. "My mother had me stay home and do chores with Varian for the past four days."

All three girls gasped. "Four day?" Beth said, flabbergasted.

"Doing chores, with him?" Myrtle sneered, gesturing to the young boy cowering at Ophelia's side, clutching his books to his chest tightly, looking smaller and small by the second. "I don't know how you survived," she added with a chuckle. Making her two other companions chuckle too.

"If it were me, I would have just gone right back out into the storm," Amanda said followed by more giggles from her and her friends.

"Yeah, the storm would have been far more merciful," Beth said, making them all laugh again, louder and without restraint.

"And less annoying to listen too," Myrtle added. All three girls laughed cruelly again.

"And less unbearable!" Amanda crackled through her laughter, making them all laugh even harder.

While they both stayed quiet during the mean girl's cruel jokes, Varian kept his eyes down with a crestfallen face, and Ophelia looked like steam was about to start coming out of her ears. Her knuckles tightened around her books, making them start to turn white. Had she really just let these girls say stuff like this to a sweet and brilliant little boy like Varian all this time?

Well not anymore.

"I'd take being back in that storm over being friends with any of you any longer, you… you rude little bullies!" Ophelia shrieked, interrupting the girl's laughter immediately. The three girls looked at her, wide-eyed and at a complete loss for words. Varian also looked at her with a shocked expression. Ophelia started stepping forward, poking a finger out to each of the girls. "And if I even catch any of you bad-mouthing Varian again, you'll wish you were out in that storm too." With that warning, and before any of the girls could reply, Ophelia grabbed Varian's hand and dragged him with her away from them.

"Don't you think you were a little harsh?" Varian asked when they stopped on the other side of the schoolhouse.

"Varian, I know you don't like confrontation, but you can't let people stomp all over you," Ophelia told him. Just because she was going to start sticking up for him from now on didn't mean he couldn't learn to do it himself. "Stand up for yourself. Push back a little. I'll help you," she said, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder and offering a comforting smile.

Varian smiled back. "Thanks," he said. "But, don't think I can't help you when you need it." The young alchemist-to-be placed his hand on top of hers. "I've got your back too." Just because he had a hard time standing up for himself, didn't mean he couldn't come to the defense of a friend, now that he had one. "Because that's what friends are for."

Ophelia smiled bigger, glad that Varian felt that way.

When they heard the bell ring, the two new friends linked arms and walked into the schoolhouse together.

End of Flashback

"From that day on, I've always had Varian's back. And we've been best friends ever since," Ophelia ended her story with a fond smile.

"Ahhh! That's such a sweet story," Rapunzel gushed, her hands on her cheeks in adoration.

"Wait, I'm still a bit confused," Eugene raised his hand. "Out of that whole story, where does the word 'flashlight' come from?"

"Oh right. It was sort of a nickname I gave to the thing Varian used to light his way while out looking for me," Ophelia explained. "Remember, I said I saw a light, and it was flashing through the trees? So from then on, whenever it was dark, I would ask Varian for one of his 'flashlights' and he would laugh. Then when I was writing the song, that word kept coming into my mind for lyrics, so it just seemed like a fitting title."

"But if that was how you became friends, why would Varian think the song you based it off of is a love song?" Cass asked.

"Cassandra, didn't you see the lyrics?" Rapunzel said before grabbing Ophelia's music sheets from off the piano top. "I got all I need when I got you and I…" she read aloud off the paper. "Kick start my heart when you shine it in my eyes… it's totally a love song. And since it's based on this important memory of their friendship, Varian will of course know it's about him."

"Exactly!" exclaimed Ophelia. "That's why Varian cannot be at that show," she said desperately.

"But Ophelia, this song is beautiful and I think Varian would love it," Rapunzel tried to convince her.

The young kitchen maid took a moment to think but her mind did not change. "No. I'm sorry Rapunzel but I'm just not ready to tell him yet," she said, holding herself with her eyes cased down. "Right now, we're just friends. What if I freak him out and he can't be friends with me anymore?" she said fearfully.

Her friendship with Varian meant everything to her. If he didn't feel the same way about her, that would make everything strange for the both of them. So much so that they couldn't be friends at all. She already knew Varian had a big crush on Cassandra—for reasons she still didn't quite understand—which meant he wouldn't accept a confession from her anyway. And Ophelia wouldn't risk their friendship for anything. Even if it meant being just best friends forever.

Rapunzel, recognizing the younger girl's concerns, placed the music sheets down and went up to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Ophelia, as much as I would love to see you and Varian together, I understand. If you're not ready to tell him, we'll help make sure he doesn't hear your song," she reassured her.

Ophelia sighed with relief and smiled. "Thank you, Rapunzel."

"But what can we do?" Eugene asked. He was onboard with helping the poor girl too, but didn't see how they could prevent a fourteen-year-old genius from going to a concert to support his best friend. "The kid came all this way just to see you perform. How are we supposed to get him to not go?"

"Okay, let's think," Rapunzel said, her hand on her chin in thought. "What would make somebody miss an event they really wanted to go to?"

"Sick, maybe?" Eugene said after a few silent moments of thinking.

"How are we supposed to get Varian sick by tonight?" his girlfriend asked.

"We could slip him some bad fish and give him food poisoning."

"Absolutely not! I am not going to poison my best friend!" Ophelia exclaimed. She had been feeding Varian for half of her life, she would never intentionally serve him food that would make him sick.

Eugene held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, it was just a suggestion. We'll think of something else."

As her over-eccentric friends (and Eugene) plotted how to keep Varian away from the showcase, Cassandra stood back, thinking of her own plan.

Ophelia might not remember so clearly because she was sick and slightly delirious at the time, but Cass remembered clear as day. Varian had said a lot of things during the aftermath of the Science Expo. Things that would suggest he cared for her much greater than as a friend. He was also giving her some serious goo-goo eyes. She of course knew Varian already cared greatly for the girl, but from what he was saying suggested a change of heart.

Although, the lady-solider could understand Ophelia's concerns. She said that she wasn't ready to tell Varian she liked him more than just as a friend, plus she was sure Varian still had a crush on her and didn't feel like that about his best friend. And that could ruin a friendship if feelings like that were only one-sided.

But Cass had a pretty good suspicion that they weren't.

That being so, maybe Varian should hear that song. Even if she had to sneak around Rapunzel's plan, Cassandra was going to make sure he did.

I know, really long chapter. But there is more to come.

Also, just wanted to say I don't own the song sampled here (full version will be used in later chapter). The song lyrics from 'Flashlight' I got from the Jessie J version. I loved hearing this song at the end of Pitch Perfect 2. The list of songwriters for the song was longer than I could have thought: Mario Mejia, Sia Furler, Jason Moore, Samuel Frederick Smith, and Christian Nicolas Guzman (those are all the names under 'songwriters' that I saw at the bottom of the lyrics).