The Third Power: TTS AU

Chapter Two

Rapunzel hummed as she stroked her paintbrush against the canvas. It was a beautiful day and the princess had taken herself and her art supplies to a secluded but beautiful meadow.

The princess studied what she'd painted so far. It looked so pretty: grassy planes, gorgeous, vibrantly coloured flowers, but...

"Something's missing," Rapunzel muttered as she tried to figure it out.

"Would that something be a dashingly attractive, goatee rocking boyfriend?" came a voice from behind.

Rapunzel turned and saw Eugene approaching. He had a large grin on his face as he thought about how smoothly he'd given his opening line.

The princess rolled her eyes and smiled at the former thief. She then wrapped her arms around him as Eugene opened his own for a hug.

"The painting's looking good, Sunshine," he complimented.

"Thanks," Rapunzel responded before giving her boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek. "I just wish I knew what it was missing."

Eugene hummed as he tried to think what it might be.

"How about some people?" he suggested.

Rapunzel considered the idea.

"Maybe," she said with a distant voice. "I could... put us there." Her voice started to grow excited as the image came to her mind. "And Lance, Red and Angry over here. Oh and Varian-"

She stopped. Her smile disappeared at the thought of the alchemist. She couldn't help but wonder what Cassandra was doing to him. She wouldn't hurt him would she?

"Sunshine?"

The princess looked up at her boyfriend's concerned face. His eyes shone with worry.

"You ok?" he asked.

"Oh I'm fine," Rapunzel told him as she tried to put a smile back on her face. "I'm just... worried. Worried about Varian."

Eugene nodded solemnly.

"I hope the kid's alright," he sighed. "He's tough that's for sure but Cass is..."

"Yeah."

—————

Rapunzel was in the field again. She was looking at the incomplete painting again, still wondering what it needed.

Not really thinking about it, she placed her paintbrush on the canvas, hoping just a fake stroke might spark some inspiration.

The painting faded.

The beautiful field faded and was replaced with a coating of black, leaving the canvas looking like it had been doused with coal.

"W-What?" Rapunzel asked in shock as she backed away from the canvas. What had happened to her painting?!

After a moment, the black started to disappear, bringing back the meadow.

The princess sighed with relief and stepped back up to the painting only to almost immediately jump back again.

There, stood in the painted field, was Cassandra. She was holding her sword against something and seemed to be looking at Rapunzel with a stare that could've killed and a ridiculously smug grin.

Rapunzel then noticed what Cassandra's sword was pressed against and it took everything she had to not scream. Her eyes brimmed with tears that quickly blurred her vision.

Stood with the sword pressed against his neck was Varian. His arms were dropped by his sides as if he'd given up a struggle. His head was tilted so that his face was lost in shadow as well as his thick, black bangs.

Except they weren't black.

Varian's hair was a brilliant blue. It wasn't light blue like Cassandra's but more of a dark blue. It reminded Rapunzel of the ocean or the night sky.

The princess ran a trembling hand over the painting of the young alchemist.

"What happened to you?" she asked fearfully.

Varian's head suddenly snapped up. His throat caught on the blade of the sword, causing a small cut and a trickle of blood ran down his neck. He opened his eyes which had no irises or pupils. Just a dark red sclera.

"You happened!" he yelled at the princess in the most hoarse and distorted voice she'd ever heard.

Rapunzel screamed as she woke up to find herself in her room, in her bed, dripping in cold sweat. It had been a dream?

She looked around as she tried to calm down. Her hair was all over the place. With a sigh she got out of bed and started gathering up the blonde locks from her bed, the floor, the ceiling, and everywhere else.

There was a knock on the door.

"Y-Yes?" she called in a shaky voice.

"Everyone ok, Blondie?" Eugene asked as he came in and shut the door. "Woah! What happened here?" he asked again as he looked around at the hair all over the place.

Rapunzel tried to laugh at the question.

"I er... I don't really know," she told him as she rubbed the back of her neck. "But could you help me gather all of this up?"

Ten minutes later, all of the princess' hair was collected and she was pulling it into a plait. She and Eugene were sat on her bed, discussing what happened.

"I really don't know," she told him again. "I just woke up from a dream and my hair was everywhere!"

"Hm," Eugene hummed as he helped to plait her hair. "Well doesn't this usually happen after weird dreams? Like those kinda visiony ones."

Rapunzel nodded.

"So maybe you were having a vision?"

The princess thought about it and could see why that made sense. But that dream was so... What did it mean? Was Varian in danger? That made sense, considering the boy's situation, but, in the painting, Cass was holding a sword to his throat! Surely she wouldn't do something so drastic?

Rapunzel tried to push the vision from her mind as she got ready for the day.

—————

Varian woke up to his entire body aching. Turns out that sleeping on rock with a backpack full of chemicals and paper as a pillow isn't very comfortable.

Groaning softly from the aches, the alchemist did his best to stretch in the hopes of relieving some of it. He could only hope that Rapunzel and the others would be coming soon.

"You're finally awake then?"

Varian turned to see who had spoken, not that he didn't already know who it was.

Walking across the rock bridge towards him, with a hand behind her back and a cold look in her eyes, was Cassandra.