Within The Dimenscape And Beyond

Chapter 11: A Mother's Rage

Hours Before/No One's POV:

Hunter walks down the sunny hallways of the Coronan castle with a large smile on his face. He had just travelled to the bright kingdom, and the knight was very excited to see his husband and child again. The King and Queen had welcomed Hunter to their kingdom before he hurried off to find Varian.

Hunter had been searching for the alchemist for almost twenty minutes now, but there seemed to be no sign of loving advisor anywhere. He reaches the kitchen where he finds Gruffy and Ruddiger, accompanying Lance and his two daughters: Kiera and Catalina. They were surprised to find Hunter there but seemed to be grateful that was only him, and not the chef.

"What are you doing here, man?" Lance asks his witch friend with a friendly smile. "I didn't expect to see you until later today."

Hunter chuckles at the older man's confession. "I couldn't wait to see Varian. It's been too long. Waffles was also begging to see Corona again." He waves his hand, and the playful wolf pup comes to life, yapping happily at the young girls.

They all couldn't stop themselves from laughing as Waffles hopped up and down from the wooden table. The small pup began to run about with the girls following him around the kitchen.

"Have you seen him?" Hunter quietly questions the larger man. "Is he in his lab?"

Lance's expression changes negatively at the mention of the alchemist's whereabouts. He sheepishly shrugs his shoulders prior to taking a cookie for a jar and turning his heel. Hunter hurries over to Lance with confusion at their sudden change in emotion, asking the large man what the problem was.

"Is something wrong?" The Dimenscape guard questions after finally reaching Lance before he could leave the cooking area. "Did Varian do something, because if he blew up a part of the castle then we can easily fix it. What did he destroy?"

Lance shakes his head gravely, "he didn't blow anything up." He replies. "He's just been... different since he came back to Corona. It's like he's mad at us for some reason but we don't know what." The former thief explains with a dissatisfying frown. "Varian was okay the first day though but the longer he stayed, the grumpier he seemed to get."

"Lance is right." A voice from the far side of room states. They all turn around to find Cassandra walking over to them. "Varian's been distant with us except to Artemis; most likely because she's his child, but that doesn't explain why he doesn't want to be around us."

Angry and Catalina trot over to where the adults were with firm gazes. The red headed girl held onto Waffles like they were a baby while feeding him pieces from a banana muffin. They too agreed with their grown ups' accusations as they began to share their fair share of information.

"He growled at me one time when I bumped into them in the hall once, then they just marched to their room before slamming the door." Angry admits with an upset glare. "I said that I was sorry, but he didn't forgive me."

"There was a time where I passed by the portal area in the town square, and I found Varian trying to enter it. I don't know what stopped him, but they just left angrily afterward." Catalina tells the group. "He smells different too; like something terrible. I'm scared."

Lance kneels down to comfort his daughter while Waffles whimpers, rubbing his head against the girl's chin. This appears to bring the girl opulence. Hunter was trying his best to take all this information in, yet there was something inside of him telling him that they had to be lying. Varian would never do that. And use the portal to travel back? Sure, he must've felt homesick although the thought of being caught possibly pained him. However, there was the bad smell that Catalina mentioned due to her werewolf form. There was no explaining that one.