Chapter Twenty-One

Madeline awoke again to an empty workshop. She moved her arms, and realized that the effects of the potion were wearing off. Yes! She moved her arm, and a rock shot from the ground and into a loop of the shackle. She expected it to break but… as she moved closer, she realized the shackle was made from the rocks themselves. She commanded the shackle into the ground, but it started to drag her with it. She couldn't, for whatever reason, get it to unbuckle.

Madeline glanced at the rock that it was clipped to. She urged it to sink into the ground, but that, too, pulled her. Closer examination revealed that it was welded to the other rock.

“How…”

“That’s a secret,” Varian said, coming out from behind a corner.

She gasped and spun around, flipping her wrists so they were pointed at him, then pulled a rock cage out of the ground.

“Wait!” he said.

“No!” she fired back. But he threw a vial at her which set her coughing.

“Okay- fine-” She coughed. “I’ll-” She pulled down the cage as the smoke dispersed.

“Stay quiet,” he commanded, “the princess will arrive any minute.”

Madeline was feeling brave. “Why should I?”

“If you don’t resist, I’ll let you and everyone else go,” he said, and just for a second his voice softened. “I promise.”

Madeline stared at him for one, two, seconds. His eyes were almost the ones she’d seen in her vision. *Almost.*

 *Could this keep those eyes from becoming reality?* she wondered.

“Fine,” she said, standing up and shaking his hand.

He pulled the curtain in front of her and she was left in darkness.

Madeline dreamt of him again. She saw those eyes, over and over, the same ones she’d been seeing in her sleep ever since that terrible Christmas Day. As much as she hated him, she loved him still, and she knew in an instant that she’d do absolutely anything to protect him from her vision of the future.

She woke up to the sounds of wielding. Blurry-eyed, she sat up and rubbed her eyes. She moved open the curtains.

“Believe me I know, I’ve sunk pretty low, but whatever I’ve done you deserved.”

“Varian-”

“Quiet! I’m the bad guy, that’s fine, it's no fault of mine and some justice at last will be served.”

“Please, listen!”

“Now it's time to step up or it's time to back down and there's only one answer for me! And I’ll stand up and fight ‘cause I know that I’m right, and I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready! Ready as I’ll ever be!”

*Meanwhile at the palace…*

Cassandra entered the room, addressing her newfound soldiers.

“Now it's time to rise up or it's time to stand down and the answer is easy to see! And I swear by the sword if you’re in, get on board! Are you ready?”

“I’m ready!” Eugene responded

“We’re ready, we’re ready,” the soldiers responded.

“Ready as I’ll ever be!”

*Back at the mansion…*

“My heart is broken, don’t know what to do. Do you think I could die in your arms?” Madeline spied the small circle necklace, still around Varian’s neck. “Then I look, see the token, I gave you, not broken, I’m ready,”

“I’m ready…” he said.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” they both sang.

*And in the forest...*

“Are you quite sure we can do this?” the king asked Leandra.

“Together, we will guarantee!”

“Now it's time to redeem or it's time to resolve, and the outcome will hardly come free!” they all sang.

“I’ll make them hear me!”

“Prove they can trust me!”

Madeline and Leandra, together- “I’ll save my home and family!”

“Now the line’s in the sand and our moment’s at hand!”

“And I’m ready,” Eugene…

“I’m ready,” Cass.

“I’m ready.” Leah and Maddie.

“Ready as I’ll… ever be…” Varian sang as the trapdoor snapped shut.

\*\*\*

Varian turned to Madeline and smiled. He had seen the coming army. “What a happy family reunion this will be,” he said, and she gasped. “For both of us.”

\*\*\*

Madeline heard the coughing through the curtain, then Varian’s voice. “Welcome back, Leandra.”

Madeline gasped softly. It was supposed to be Rapunzel! Why, why, why couldn't it be Rapunzel?

Madeline mentally slapped herself. Didn’t she care about Raps more than her stuck-up, arrogant little sister? Still… if Leah got hurt…

“Varian, I demand you release us, and tell me where my sister’s friend is!” The king's voice.

*Friend…?* Madeline thought. *She… cares about me?* She didn’t know why that made her heart leap and pound, so she shoved it out of her mind.

“Your *Majesty*, I know it's hard for you,” Varian said, voice dripping with sarcasm, “but for once in you life, you are not in a position to demand *anything.* But, in the spirit of compromise, how about I meet you halfway.”

He pulled open the curtain, and Madeline could see Leandra. They gasped and stared at each other.

“MADDIE!” Leandra screamed, trying to run forward. Her father and the goo held her back.

“I’m okay,” she said, knowing she had to do *something* to reassure her friend.

“Let her go, Varian, please!”

“First, you’re going to do something for me. I *thought* your sister would be the one to come, but-” he ran a hand down her hair, and it glowed. It lengthened, too, until it was almost like Rapunzel’s, and Varian smiled- “I think it’ll work fine with you.”

“What do you want?” the king growled.

“Oh. So *now* you care about what I want.” He laughed. “All it took was threatening the things you love the most,” he said, placing a hand on Madeline’s shoulder.

“Please, don’t do this,” she whispered, but he ignored her.

“What are you going to do, Varian?” The king.

“Yeah, I’ll spare you the details about the Sundrop, and darkness, blah blah blah, and get to the good stuff.” He unfurled a giant drill with the same bravado as he had revealed his element creator long ago. It made her miss that version of him, the version she’d loved.

“Unbreakable,” he said, tapping a rock. “Not unbreakable, but with the counteracting magic.” he said, running his fingers through Leandra’s hair. “To put it plainly, with assistance from my drill, Leandra’s hair *should* be able to shatter the amber and free my father.”

“What do you mean, should?” the king asked.

“Well, I suppose it’s just as likely that the amber shatters *Leandra*, I mean the properties of-”

“Absolutely not!”

“It’s not your choice, Dad.”

“She’s right, *Dad*. Oh, and I almost forgot. We’re, uh, kinda on a time crunch here, so I’m gonna need to speed things along.

He uncapped a *very* familiar vial. Madeline flinched, afraid, and as he poured it onto the rock next to Madeline, she flinched away, closing her eyes. Amber crystals started to grow out of it.

“Varian, stop!” Leandra called.

“Well…” he said, freeing them. “Shall we get started?”

The drill was ready. Leandra’s now-lengthened hair in it, the amber reaching for Madeline. “Varian, if this doesn't work and something happens to me, please, *please*, let Madeline go.”

“I can’t make any promises, Princess,” Varian mumbled, and *that’s* when Madeline became truly afraid, because she knew that he would not hesitate to make either of them another casualty.

He fired up the drill, pressing it into the amber. Leandra’s hair glowed, but the amber held strong.

“Ow!” Leandra yelled, as a streak was pulled past her chin, choking her.

“Leah!” Madeline yelled, using her nickname for the first time.

“I’ll be okay,” Leah whispered back.

“What?!” Varian screamed. “No! Why?!” He pushed the drill back into the amber.

“Ah…” Leandra moaned, collapsing. Madeline reached out a hand for her.

“Stop it!” the king and Madeline yelled at the same time. “She can’t take anymore!” he screamed. Varian ignored their pleas and continued to push the drill into the amber.

“I- I just- I don’t understand, why won’t it work?!” Varian screamed, and Madeline felt a twinge of sadness, of sympathy, through all her fear. “Her hair, it- it should’ve cut through it, why didn’t it work?!?”

In the corner, Ruddiger freed Pascal, who, in return, freed the king. “Madeline!” he yelled, throwing his sword into the air.

With two hands, she caught it and brought it down on the shackle, but she had forgotten one tiny detail- it was a rock. She tossed the sword aside.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Madeline felt something cold around her ankle. It squeezed painfully and then- nothing. She couldn't feel her foot. The feeling rose up her leg- pain, numb, pain, numb. Varian turned away from one amber to another.

“Maddie!” he screamed, terror in his eyes, running toward her. “I- I’m sorry. I- I’ll find the release around here somewhere, I’ll-”

“Shh,” she said. “It’s too late.”

Leandra looked up. “No!” she screamed, trying to get up, but she tripped out of weakness, collapsed, and stayed there, staring at Madeline. Varian burst into tears, and they held onto each other. The amber had reached Madeline’s knee, and was slowly crawling up her other foot.

“I’m so sorry, I was awful, I was-”

“It’s okay,” Madeline said. “I- I forgive you. Just promise me… just promise me you’ll never do anything like this again!” she said, crying. She didn’t care what happened to her so long as he was fine.

“I p-promise,” he whispered.

“I forgive you,” she whispered, kissing him one last time. She couldn't breathe, both because of the pain of loss and love and the amber numbing her chest. When it reached her lungs, she gasped in agony. The calm and numbness after was almost unsettling. She pushed him away as the crystal reached her neck.

She turned her face to the stars and the moon. They shone through a hole in the roof, and almost seemed to beckon her. She knew that part of her soul belonged to that heavenly body in the sky. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as the amber rose above her face and she saw no more.