Peppermint tea 🍵

Okay, Varian is pretty much a mad scientist already. And aside from his impressive engineering and alchemy skills, he was able to mutate Ruddiger into a monster and engineer a truth serum from a mood potion which implies he also has a grasp on biology (at least.)

My idea is this: Varian is hysterical trying to do everything to free his father, but his human limitations of needing to eat and sleep have never been more infuriating. So, he creates his own artificial stimulant that he called Varinium (after himself and Quirin,) which shares a lot of the same composition as the amber solution (not that he really recognizes the fact.)

It works a lot better than intended, one dose lasting him for three days, taking away his need to sleep, eat and drink so much, and providing a feeling of pure energy and euphoria. He becomes addicted to how it makes him feel beyond his 'need' for it, and it starts to leave lasting side effects.

Along side one or two more blue stripes, locks of his hair start turning green. His skin gains a sickly-cool pallor (my drawings are rendered images of highlighter sketches so the artistic colors are not all literal lol) and his eyes start to gain a neon green colouring. As well, from both the strain of the stimulant and not sleeping like at all, his mind starts breaking. Delusion, paranoia, and hallucinations begin forming, and he steadily becomes more erratic and violent. He becomes twitchy, and his mouth and eyes always want to stretch wide into a horrific smile.

All of this coupled with complete isolation and uncontrollable grief as he's stuck staring at his father's corpse, he goes insane.

The Masked Guards are a breaking point, as in his mind the graphtic is just a cover up for what they really want: his precious Varinium. He sets up deadly traps around his house and lab, and the next time they come around, it's a blood bath. It's unclear if anyone dies, but they all walk away seriously injured in some way.

Varian, completely out of control by this point, he revels in the violence and the safety it brings him once they finally leave him alone. Poor Ruddiger is terrified by this point, but doesn't want to leave his boy. He ends up hiding the Varinium from Varian, but this just sends Varian into a spiraling breakdown and he ends up screaming at Ruddiger. The racoon runs away, and Varian is left completely alone.

Now unrestrained, Varian begins formulating his plan to free his father. He sends the letter to Rapunzel, and flees his crime-scene-looking home after Ruddiger— he still needs him. The truth serum drugging goes about the same as well, if not more people being unnerved by him.

The main trio find Varian's home eerily silent, no guards or anyone, just destruction, blood, the amber, and several vials of Varinium. They pocket one to ask Xavier about later.

His meeting with Rapunzel to steal the Sundrop Flower goes both better and worse. Varian is in the throes of a high proclaiming his "Great Plan to Save Corona" and Rapunzel is completely on board at first, just thinking he was excited to finally see her again and get started. She quickly realizes something is super wrong with this kid when he starts giggling after almost dying several times due to the traps, practically throwing himself into them "to see if he can take it." This coupled with his weird greeny eyes, hair, and general unwell demeanor have Rapunzel being more cautious. Especially after Varian takes a hit from the Automaton that leaves a dent in its metal.

Varian still takes the flower, but the ensuing conversation is less "I will do what I must" and more "I will save Corona by destroying it by its corrupt foundations so that no one has to suffer under its rule like I have, and I will laugh Victoriously on the rubble of your graves!"

Yeah, it's bad.

While Varian goes back to launch his plan, the group decided it's time to take the Varinium to Xavier. He studies it, and explains that it's a stimulant that can decrease need for sleep and food, give the user energy, and cause a euphoric high. He also warns that the chemical makeup of it would make it highly addictive, and could start to harm the user if they didn't recover between doses. This doesn't explain how strangely durable Varian had been in the tunnels.

Back home, Varian realizes the flower is useless and crushes it. But doing so accidentally mixes it with a does of Varinium, which does something weird. The Varinium basically "refuels" the matter of the flower, practically necromancing the magic back to life as it mutates into the Varinium. Even Varian can't tell what it would do to him, so he keeps it as a last, last resort.

The reason the original stimulant has such a unique affect on Varian is because of his hairstripe, a physical mark made on him by his father coming into contact with the moonstone's power. On its own, it's completely inert. But the same chemicals that fueled a reaction with the black rocks were used in Varinium, causing them to react again with the moon's mark in Varan. Varinium gave the mark fuel, causing the magic in the mark to mutate and give him unnatural durability.

The rest of Varian's plan is the same as canon, he mutates Ruddiger as a distraction, kidnaps the Queen to lure Rapunzel in for her hair, and he builds both the regular and ultimate automatons. He is also defeated the same way, but everyone involved is much more terrified because of how maniacally crazy Varian is acting.

But when Rapunzel uses the rocks to stop Varian's machines, he realizes he has no choice but to take the flower infused dose.

When he does, the mutated flower's power and moon mutated Varinium react volatilely, and basically create a much much much much much much weaker and bastardized version of the heaven's united power inside of him that fuses into his very physiology. Now, his body can create the enhanced Varinium on its own when he feels agitated or stressed, like an enhanced adrenal gland.

It grants him enhanced durability, speed, and strength, that he quickly takes advantage of by breaking out of his ruined Automaton. (See figure/image 3 lol.) As well, excess energy from the mutated magic physically emanates from him like lightning, which at this point just makes him look really scary. Oh, and now he blond highlights with his blue and green :D

Then, Varian basically mops the floor with whoever's left, since at this point he has completely lost the plot and has totally scapegoated Rapunzel in his mind and thinks ending her will make everything better. Problem is, the rocks sense the abominable magic in him and are like FUCK THIS. They let Rapunzel direct them to protect herself and try and destroy the unnatural energy that's trying to harm her.

But Varian is able to throw her away from the rocks so she can't control them, but before he can land a finishing blow—

Adira steps in and slams him away.

She'd been watching the Sundrop battle Quirin's son, and she hoped she wouldn't have to intervene, but she couldn't let the sundrop die (or let Varian kill anyone else.) The thing is brotherhood members get the blessing of the moonstone when they swear in, so she is actually able to go toe-to-toe with the inexperienced Varian.

Varian is pissed, completely beyond reason. He only snarls and roars, pushing his body passed it's limits. Unfortunately, this causes a build up of Varinium in his body, burning him up from the inside out and causing him to cough the glowing green stuff up.

But before he can destroy himself to badly, Adira is able to restrain him with the help of Rapunzel using the rocks. He has a full on Azula-style break down, screaming and howling and crying and just losing his shit before he just starts scream-sobbing. Despite everything, Ruddiger goes to his side and comforts him.

The battle is finally over.

But when Frederic tries to take Varian away to prison Adira is like "fuck no. I do not trust you to be able to restrain him or get him the mental help he needs. You will make everything worse if you just try to throw him in prison, he'll escape and try this again and I think that's the last thing we want. Plus he's more a citizen of the Dark Kingdom than Corona, so I'll be much better equipped to take care of him."

And no one can stop her when she throws the now unconscious Varian over her shoulder and bolts.

Any traces of Varinium were destroyed by the Automaton crashing through the house, the last in existence besides in Varian is hidden with Xavier.

Things get looser after this: I want Adira to help temper and train Varian while she's still helping Rapunzel's group travel, keeping Varian away from them until she can get him to Hector who would now how to better wrangle his wild and unpredictable nature.

Varian takes a while to warm up to Adira, but after she helps him through a rage episode he starts to mellow a bit. He's also going through withdrawals because his body can now regulate how much Varinium is safe for him as long as he doesn't push himself, and he feels every bit of it since he isn't able to make any more without his lab. Without the excess stopping his body from sleeping and having an appetite, Varian starts to get a little better. His mind gets a little clearer too, and he is able to start differentiating reality from his brains delusions and hallucinations.

Varian is not and will never be the same after what he went through by his own hands and the actions of others, but he does get better little by little. But he is still absolutely crazy, off his rocker, and a total maniac— and he is more than content to remain that way. Because despite everything, he has never been freer, never had more autonomy over himself than he has now. And despite it all making him "dangerous" he would rather die than feel as powerless as he did in the blizzard. And sure he has some wanted posters— but they are objectively the coolest of any criminal around right now, so it's fine.

By the time he is sent to Hector, he has been following Adira willingly for awhile now. They split up so she can help the sundrop reunite with the moonstone, and Varian can distract Hector with his presence. Varian doesn't like to think about his former friends because he feels guilty on some level but he is also super super pissed at them and hates their guts.

Hector and him get along like a house on fire, and Varian is lovingly nicknamed "monkey" because of his tendency to crawl all over Hector during sparing practice and his screeching maniacal laugh that "sounds like one."

It makes the reunion with the Rapunzel's group at the great tree that much worse, especially when Hector pulls the spear out and Varian realizes maybe crazy runs in the family. Rapunzel's Decay Incantation also nearly kills him, because apparently the sundrop and moonstone hates his existence. Even more terrible, he wonders what will happen if the moonstone and sundrop reunite— if that will free his father or trap him forever. No one knows, and even though Adira asks him to trust in her that everything will work out as the group leaves, Varian and the still injured Hector follow from behind to make sure the moonstone survives.

Everything happens like in canon, Cass escapes with the moonstone, which is able to restrain Varian with rocks again while she escapes. He realizes this will be a problem, and endeavors to fix that ASAP.

He and the brotherhood reluctantly decide to return to Corona— Varian's the only one that can translate the scroll and Adira and Hector definitely need to keep an eye on him, and Edmund wants to bond with his son very badly.

The Saporians were able to do their little take over, but with Varian reluctantly on Rapunzel's side, they get their butts whooped real quickly. The king and queen are without their memories though, which Varian counts as a win. He's a troll about it.

Varian is conditionally pardoned, as long as he agrees to see a real psychiatrist and do community service for a year. He reluctantly agrees.

But freeing his father is something that terrifies him deeply. He'd turned himself into a monster and did heinous things, and the idea of looking his father in the eyes as the monster he is now strikes fear into his heart. He and Rapunzel end up talking, and she apologizes for leaving him alone for so long, and Varian apologizes for all of the awful things he did. Absolutely insane or not, he wanted to take responsibility for his actions!

When Rapunzel frees Quirin, despite his previous reservations he simply tosses the bucket at Rapunzel when the water doesn't work and leaps at his father while crying.

Quirin is... disconcerted when he hears what happened, but more than anything is devastated that Varian was so destroyed by everything. He sees moments of his naive child, but in general Varian is sharper, more menacing, and unsettlingly crazed. Adira and Hector help him adjust and come to terms with everything, grateful beyond measure that they were there to help Varian heal.

'Be Very Afraid' goes much the same. Everyone is absolutely terrified of Varian, since he was still wanted after the infamously horrific battle. He basically became Corona's boogieman, and people are way more concerned about him walking the streets compared to Cass. While stopping the red rocks with the amber solution helps, most people just opt to pretend he doesn't exist or cower away from him. Varian can't find it in himself to blame them.

While translating the scroll, Varian works on a side project that can transmute the stray energy around him into a weapon (he builds guns powered by excess Varinium energy that can theoretically break black rocks.)

Unfortunately, Cass shows up for the incantations before he can test it out. Things are probably pretty similar to canon, without his weapons Varian can't concentrate the energy enough to do anything to the rocks, and truth serum still works on him despite the Varinium in his system. He puts up a good fight though, and gives Cass flashbacks to the battle a year ago. She isn't exactly nice to him after that. But the rocks are still indestructible so he's captured, and Varian needs to get Rapunzel the incantation.

Varian tries to get through to Cass, but he basically ends up telling her that he refuses to let anymore innocent people be harmed to make up for what he did. And if that means taking her down, then he will.

When the others show up, Eugene brings Varian's energy gun, which allowed him to break out once Varian figured out how to use it for the first time. Varian fights Cassandra to protect Rapunzel while she gets the fourth incantation to save Eugene, but Cass ends up taking his arm off with a black rock since he's too inexperienced with the gun and its charge up time.

Cass is shaken up by this, and it really makes Rapunzel scared and angry enough to use the incantation.

Varian is seething when they return, and Quirin is both disturbed by the expression on his son's face and one wrong word away from going after Cassandra himself. As soon as Varian is released from bed rest he builds himself a new arm, and enlists Eugene's help to build as many anti-Cassandra weapons as he can. He trains relentlessly, and Rapunzel is terrified by the fact that the idea of a happy ending keeps getting farther away.

Ummm... gosh, most things happen the same? Except when Cassandra begins attacking the kingdom Varian is there and VERY excited to 1v1 her cause ooooh boy time for some revenge.

Unfortunately, he is pulled away from the fight by the brotherhood under mind control, which allows Zhan Tiri to return anyways.

Maybe someone tries to take the last dose of Varinium from Xavier? Idk.

And when everyone was "dead" Varian gets visited by some higher being that's like "we don't want anything to do with whatever 'magic' you got going on there, don't start destroying everything and you won't be bothered again" and Varian's like "okay sweet"

Then yeah, end of the show happens, and then maybe some Vat7K later idk.

WOW THATS A LOT OF WORDS, DIDN'T EXPECT TO PRACTICALLY OUTLINE EVERYTHING LMAO.

But yeah, if it wasn't obvious I took some inspo from Jinx and the drug shimmer from arcane, but I tried to put my own twist on it. Also, didn't really think about green lighting and how I just practically ripped off MHA until I drew it lmao