panfluidme

[panfluidme]

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So, I just finished Memories Etched in Stone, but that still leaves eight other AUs for me to finish. I'll need to rewatch ROTTMNT for most of them, but I was planning on doing that anyway Information about each one under the cut

Purple's Second Chance:

While going to the store, Donnie falls through a time vortex and is sent to the future. He spends the next three years in the bad timeline, trying to find a safe way home. When Casey Jones Jr is sent to the past, Donnie joins him.

Growin' Up Wrong:

Splinter is only able to get away with Donnie, leaving Raph with Draxum. He does take Leo and Mikey away from Draxum, but he falls asleep outside of Big Mama's Hotel, the Grand Nexus. Mikey wanders inside while Leo wanders away. Mikey is taken to live with Big Mama while Leo goes to live part time with Hueso and the other time with Piel.

Experiments Gone Array:

Donnie discovers that he has some bad effects from being linked to the Technodrome. The ship was extremely radioactive and Donnie's body was not built for it. Because of him being linked to it then violent ripped out, Donnie grows ill. He takes it upon himself to fix this, so he begins to experiment on himself. Things go horribly wrong and now his memory is awful.

Twins of Chaos:

After an argument with Raph, Leo and Donnie run away. The two decide to become actors to help make some money as it has been Leo's dream to be an actor since he was a little kid.

The two leave the crime fighting life behind, leaving Raph and Mikey in the process.

Lab Rat:

Donnie loved owning his very own research, development, and tech company. It was everything he's ever wanted in life. His employees respected him, well, most of them respected him.

He had one employee who constantly went behind his back. Recently, this employee found a Yokai and decided to take them back to the company's building. With Donnie gone, off on a business trip, he made a few changes and a special place to keep any other Yokai he finds.

Raised Separately:

Baron Draxum had mutated four turtles, but due to unexpected circumstances, he was only able to have two of them. He made those two into his soldiers, things he was willing to throw away if need be.

Turtle in a Web:

ROTTMNT X TOM HOLLAND'S SPIDER-MAN

Before Iron Man was even in the process of being thought up, there was a group of turtle teens who protected New York. Flash forward fifteen years, and they had all gone on to do different things. They didn't even speak together, mostly because they were too busy to spend time together. Well, a new superhero came into town and the least busy turtle, Donnie, decided to take him under his wing.

EXPERIMENT 23-1-12:

Wally's parents sold him to some shady science company after he got his powers. Flash forward, and the TT take the company down years later.

Robin notices that the only experiment that was alive was deemed 'Experiment 23-1-12'. It's obvious that he hasn't been outside in a while as he's super pale. He's extremely malnourished and dehydrated because they didn't give him enough food with his superpowers in consideration

[panfluidme]

I would have a request for a Varigo smutt story if that's okay with you and if you're still open.

Hugo wants to have sex with Varian for the first time but Varian always starts acting weird about it.

He has no problem blowing Hugo off or fingering him, but he just doesn't want to take off his clothes.

Varian warns Hugo that he might not like what he's about to see, but Hugo is insistent and says that Varian has nothing to be embarrassed about.

Varian finally takes of his pants and Hugo pales.

Varian. Is. HUGE.

Hugo has seen some big cocks, but this, this a literal monster.

Varian is all like "I know I'm not normal I'm sorry", but Hugo imediately kisses him and says "Where have you been all my life?".

It takes a lot of prep and even more lube, but Hugo is determined.

No mission he has ever been on was so important.

He's going to take his boyfriends dick, NO MATTER WHAT!

He's finally capable of sheathing the entire thing and has the strongest prostate orgasm of his life and can actually feel the bulge of Varian's member on his stomach.

What do you think?

Sorry it's taken me so long.

That's definitely a very interesting idea. I'm not sure if I know how to properly write that. I apologize. If you have any other requests, I'm more than happy to give them to you. I'm just not sure about this one

[panfluidme]

Alternate Ending #2

Chapter Twenty

March 24th, 2026

Varian’s been through many things. He was a villain for over a year, hell, he took control of Corona for a brief moment of time. He fought Cassandra when she was in control of the moonstone, put in a small cage and jutted out of her castle tower with a bridge that got increasingly smaller in size until Eugene brought the engagement ring for Varian to use. Then he was turned into stone for a couple hundred years.

The way things have turned out was never how Varian thought they would be. But yet, he wouldn’t change a thing. He still missed his childhood home, even if he didn’t talk about it to anyone by a small handful of people. But Danville really has grown to be his new home. He just didn’t have the strong ache to go back to Corona anymore. Now it was just a dull pain in his heart.

He hopped over an open manhole cover— really, Scott? Why would you leave one of your many front doors open?— and kept making his way to his job. Yeah, it sucked to work on his birthday, but that was such the way of life.

It was crazy. He had been here for almost ten years. Ten years.

Which meant ten birthdays without his father. Ten years’ worth of fun adventures without the other half of Team Awesome. Ten years of tears without Rapunzel’s comfort. Ten years without Angry and Catalina’s teasing.

Ten years of being away from home.

Varian slowed to a stop. Suddenly he wasn’t as happy as he was before. His birthday, the day he had turned into stone, and the day he was freed were always the hardest days. Sometimes, his wedding anniversary was hard. He cried a lot on his wedding day. A mix of happy tears, excited to start this new chapter of his life, and tears of sadness, upset that his father hadn’t been able to watch him get married.

He wiped his cheeks and looked at the ground. It hurt. The only person he really got to say goodbye to was Eugene, but even then. It didn’t feel like a proper goodbye.

“Look out!” a familiar voice shouted.

Quickly turning on his heels, Varian saw Milo running towards him. He looked up and noticed that a sharp and broken support beam was falling towards him. He tried to get his feet to move, but he was frozen in fear.

A different familiar voice then spoke, one he’s been wanting to hear for a long time, “it’s good to see you again, son.”

[panfluidme]

Alternate Ending #1

Chapter Twenty

March 24th, 2023

Varian walked around his room, smiling widely as he gathered his things. He was so excited to go back to Corona. Sure it meant going on a plane. Which wasn’t at all exciting. But he got to go back home, so it was worth it.

Even after seven years, Corona was still his home.

Gene chuckled. “You’re so cute when you’re excited, love.”

“I just love going to Corona. I know we can’t live there because of our jobs are here. Your family’s here. My family’s here.” By that, he meant the Murphys. “We can’t just uproot our lives just because I want to live somewhere that’s far away from everything we know.”

“It’s okay. We can always move there.”

“No. I can’t do that. Besides, Willow’s life is here.”

Willow was their adoptive daughter. Technically, she was Gene’s niece, but his sister and her husband had passed away. So the two agreed to take over and raise her as their own. Of course, making sure she’d have stories of her mommy and daddy.

“She’s two, Var. It would be a little scary for her at first, but she would get over it.” Gene grabbed his hands. “If you really, really wanted to, I would be just fine moving there.”

He chuckled lightly and gently squeezed Gene’s hands. “Thank you, Gene. I’ll think over it.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He kissed Varian’s forehead then helped Varian pack their things.

Ruddiger chittered, deciding to sit on Varian’s head. Varian didn’t acknowledge him since he was used to the feeling of Ruddiger on his head.

Varian blinked, something suddenly feeling very wrong. He fiddled with the engagement ring. Anxiety arose inside him. He looked down then froze.

Stone was quickly going up his legs.

“Not again,” he whispered softly before the stone took over his face.

[panfluidme]

Epilogue

Chapter Twenty

March 24th, 2030

Varian, now in his early thirties, sat on the roof of his home. One knee was up, his arm resting on it, while the other leg was stretched out. He was watching the sun set. It was a pretty day out.

It still was hard, somedays, to be here in this time. It felt more like his home now. Varian had a good life now. He was happy with his partner and had a ten, almost eleven, year old daughter. Things were good.

Yet, Varian never truly felt like he belonged. He still wore the same style of clothing that he did when he was growing up. He still hated planes. He still was never truly home.

He shut his eyes and let the warm sun gently beat on his face as it dipped beyond the horizon.

Everything he had was thanks to his new found family. Martin and Bridgette were practically his parents, he even called them mom and dad. Sara was his sister, Milo his brother. He wouldn’t trade them for the world. He wouldn’t trade Gene or Katalina for anything.

Martin told him that everyone from his old life would be proud. They would be happy with the man he’s grown to be. That they would happy for the life he was leading.

And Varian agreed.

[panfluidme]

Chapter Twenty: Goodbye, Son

Chapter Nineteen

January 25th, 1799

Quirin put his son into his lab then looked at the statue. He carefully cupped his cheek. His heart ached. He had effectively lost his son. Under his skin, he could feel the ghost of tears.

Tears of his own formed in his eyes.

No parent should outlive their child. No parent should have to lock away the shell of their child. No parent should have to say goodbye to the person they helped create and raise.

This must be something similar to what Varian had felt when Quirin had been trapped in the amber. Lost and helpless, knowing that his loved one was just out of reach. It was a little different. This time it was a father looking down at his son, not a son looking down at his father.

He rubbed Varian’s cold cheek with his thumb. He had taken off his gloves so he could feel Varian one last time. Even if it wasn’t the skin it should have been.

Things weren’t going to be the same. Quirin knew he wouldn’t be able to bounce back right away. He didn’t really even know what he would tell the friends Varian had made along the way.

Quirin realized that he should’ve told Varian more that he was proud. That he loved Varian. He’s said it a few times, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Hopefully Varian knew just how much Quirin loved him.

“Goodbye, son. I love you,” he said softly to the statue. “You did amazing things like I always knew you would be able to do.”

Epilogue

Alternate Ending #1

Alternate Ending #2

[panfluidme]

Chapter Nineteen: Her Brother

Chapter Eighteen

January 23rd, 1799

Rapunzel held Eugene’s hand then squeezed it before letting go. She took a deep breath then walked into Varian’s lab. It had been a few days since Varian had turned into stone. The whole castle felt quiet and empty without him.

The lab was a mess. Varian really never did organize his space. It was impressive that there weren’t more explosions and fires with all the chemicals that he laid around.

A part of her wanted to keep it exactly how it was. But she knew they couldn’t.

She started to organize it. Varian was going to kill her for doing so, but they couldn’t just leave dangerous chemicals laying around. Rapunzel insisted on being the one who took care of it.

With every object, she took the time to look through his research. Rapunzel blinked back tears the longer she went on. Everything here was things of someone she’d lost. Someone she wasn’t supposed to lose yet.

Not yet.

Varian’s writing was neat, yet messy. She loved his drawings and diagrams. He was a very talented artist. His writing was all over the place as he would jump from one thing to the next as he worked.

It was perfect.

She sank to her knees and held one of his journals close to her chest. Eugene knelt next to her and rubbed her back. She leaned against him, letting out a sob. He was her brother, her brother. He was gone.

“He’s never coming back, is he?” she whispered.

“No, he’s not. But, Sunshine, he’ll always be in our hearts. And you can always come here and visit him.”

“We’re sealing him away. I can’t just come and visit him whenever. We’re keeping him safe, but… we’ll never see him again.”

“Then we have stories. Varian’s legacy isn’t going to die, I promise you that.” Eugene cupped her cheek and used his thumb to wipe away some of her tears. “I promise you that he’ll be remembered for so much more than what he did when he was fourteen. He’ll be remembered as a hero for all the good he’s given into the world.”

Chapter Twenty

[panfluidme]

Chapter Eighteen: Prototype One

Chapter Seventeen

March 5th, 2017

Varian was officially all moved in. He and Gene are planning to share a room. One of the spare rooms was going to be his new lab. And it was the biggest one! Varian had lots of space for his experiments and projects.

He quickly got the fire alarm removed from his lab and got it all set up. It was nice to know that he wasn’t taking over someone’s space that they needed. It was a space all for him. He wasn’t going to be in anyone’s space.

The moonstone and the sundrop were put into their new space. Soon, his new space was all set up and he got to work again.

Gene watched him get to work and smiled. He leaned against the doorframe. He felt so much pride in Varian. Gene would even go to say that he loved Varian. So much. So much.

“Hey, Varian. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Varian said absentmindedly. He paused and looked at him. “You love me?”

“Yes. We’ve been together for a while. Five months now. I love you.”

His cheeks darkened. “I love you too.”

“How’s things going?”

“I’ve almost cracked how to extract the moonstone’s power.”

“What exactly is the moonstone?”

“Well, I’ll have to explain a lot of things.” Varian pointed to his chair. “I suggest you sit down.”

Gene raised an eyebrow and sat down. He crossed his arms. “What is it?”

“You know about Corona and how I said I was from a few towns over?” He waited for Gene to nod. “Well, it’s partly true. I am from around there. Just… uh… not from this time. I’m from Queen Rapunzel’s time. I even knew her before she became queen.”

“What?” Gene stared at him.

“Yeah. Remember the unnamed citizen statue from the Coronan part of the museum. That is— was— me. Somehow, I got cursed and turned into stone. And somehow, I turned back. Two hundred and eighteen years later.” Varian looked at his feet. “I understand if you don’t want to be with me anymore.”

“Why would that change anything? I love you, I just said I do. You’re my best friend, Varian. I’m here to support you.”

“Thank you.” Varian smiled and grabbed Gene’s hand. “Anyway, the moonstone is from my time. It’s a powerful magical object. I still don’t fully believe in magic, but it’s a little hard to deny once I was turned into stone. The power inside the moonstone is potent and dangerous. I want to learn how to harness that power to help people. Make clean energy for the world. As the name suggests, the moonstone comes from the moon. The moon gave a single drop of its power, which then manifested itself into an opal.”

“The legends from your time is true?”

“Yeah. I saw the power of the moonstone firsthand.” He laughed a little. “It creates these black rocks that are indestructible. If used by the wrong people, it will cause a lot of problems and pain and suffering. It has been used by the wrong people before.”

“How do you control it?”

“Two incantations. I think the second one is the better one. It doesn't really… it can’t kill someone just by being said. It all depends on how its used. However, the first one causes the environment to wither and start decaying.”

“I’m guessing you’re not going to use those?”

“I could use the second one, but I won’t use the first. Now, I can also use the sundrop and its power. I can try to harness it in such a way that people are healed. Its incantations are safer to use, so we can use them. The healing incantation is what we’re more likely to use.”

Gene smiled softly. “I’m proud of you.”

Varian perked up. “I’m proud of you.”

March 10th, 2017

“I’m proud of you” quickly became the couple’s way of saying “I love you”. Varian had explained to him how much the phrase meant to him. Gene was more than happy to change things. Plus, it felt more meaningful.

Varian put the finishing touches on his first protype and put the moonstone inside. He knew he would make machines to safely extract power from both celestial objects. He just needed to figure out how.

And this was going to be his first attempt.

He plugged it into an outlet— those things were fascinating still— and turned it on. Varian did need power to extract the power. He grabbed the remote he had made then stepped back, turning it on.

It fizzled then popped. The house’s power went out. Varian heard Gene shout a bit from downstairs.

Huh. That wasn’t the outcome he was expecting, but it was something, wasn’t it? He lit a candle then started to clean up. Well, it was time to modify the machine then test it.

How exciting.

Chapter Nineteen

[panfluidme]

Chapter Seventeen: Clean Energy?

Chapter Sixteen

February 25th, 2017

Varian quickly sat up, pulling his blankets over his bare chest. His head buzzed with new ideas. Gene was right. He thought better with a good nights rest. Well, a few days rest. Gene had made sure that Varian got as much rest as he could. They even went on a date or two.

He got dressed and made his way to his makeshift lab. Varian fixed up his hair along the way. He picked up a cup of coffee from the kitchen.

Drinking his coffee as he worked, Varian got to studying. He grabbed some printer paper and sketched out some designs so he could harness the moonstone as a clean energy source. If he could do that, maybe he could use that energy to improve Martin and Bridgette’s cars. They’d never have to stop and pay for gas again!

“What’s on your mind, love?”

“I think I have a way to make some clean energy. I’d have to test it and actually find out how to make it a reality, but I have an idea.” Varian grabbed the moonstone and showed it to Gene, who’s hair was a complete mess, and dark bruises covered his neck and shoulder. “And it all stems from this.”

“That’s a rock.”

“Yeah. But it’s so much more than just a rock.” Varian set it down again and showed him some blueprints that he had already sketched up.

Gene looked them over, getting more confused. “I don’t understand any of this.”

“These are just possible ways that I can drain some of the power inside the stone. If I can get it right, I can possibly change how the world works.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“Then I start again. Part of science is trial and error. I’ll make mistakes, but I can certainly promise you that I won’t stop trying.” Varian threw the paper to the side and tossed an apron at him. “If you’re going to help me, then you should get a shirt and apron on.”

The other blushed. “Okay, okay. But we should eat before we do anything else.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do that later.” Varian waved it off and picked up the opal again. He examined it carefully while he sat on the ground.

Eventually, Gene returned with two plates full of food and a couple cups of coffee that he carried on a tray. He set the tray down and smiled softly. Gene knelt next to him. “Love, I’ve been thinking.”

Varian hummed in acknowledgement, soldering some wires together. He had gotten to work on a control panel for an extraction device.

“Would you like to move in with me? My parents are giving their house then moving to Florida to be with my sister. I’d be living alone otherwise.”

His head shot up to look at Gene, pulling the tools he was using away from the panel box. “What?”

“I asked if you would like to move in with me? You don’t have to say yes, but my parents are giving me their house. I don’t have to pay rent, just finish paying off their mortgage then pay for upkeep. I’d love it if you moved in with me.”

“Wow. That’s… wow.”

“We’ve been together for a little while. It’s a big step, I know, but—”

“Yes. I’ll move in with you,” Varian interrupted. It would be wonderful.”

Gene smiled and kissed his cheek. He handed Varian his food. “Eat. Then we can work on your little project.”

“Alright.” Varian ate quickly then went back to soldering. His heart was fluttering.

Eugene would be making fun of him right now, if he knew. Eugene loved to tease, of course, not as much as Angry and Catalina did, especially Angry.

Another idea popped into his head. Varian should work on making a book about his life back home. Maybe show the world how exactly they lived back in his day.

Gross. Varian hated even thinking about him being someone who even could say “back in my day”. He never did, but he could, and it would be completely true.

Back in his day, there weren’t cars or lightbulbs. Back in his days, Varian wouldn’t even be able to make anything like what he wanted to make.

What he wanted to make— and what he was going to succeed in making— were many things. Many things that would help the world. Yes, Varian had big plans.

No one could ever say he was a villain ever again after this.

Chapter Eighteen

[panfluidme]

Chapter Sixteen: Go Sleep

Chapter Fifteen

February 13th, 2017

“The sundrop?” Sara asked in shock.

Varian nodded with a hum. “It was bound to show up at some point. I just didn’t think it would be in the same city as the moonstone. Last time it was kingdoms apart. Not just some miles.”

“Huh.” Sara looked at it. “So what does it do?”

“It has healing magic and can protect people if needed. It’s a lot safer than the moonstone ever will be.” Varian carefully rubbed a petal with his thumb and pointer. “I’ve seen the flower before, but it was dead and rotting. It didn’t have any of its magical abilities. But it does now.”

“I’ve never seen a flower like it before.”

“There’s no other flower like it. It’s one of a kind.” Varian let go of the petal then grabbed her hand. “Here, you’ve got a cut, why don’t you try using its magic.”

“How do I do that?”

He put her hand near the flower. “You sing.” Varian took a soft breath and started to sing softly, “flower gleam and glow, let your power shine. Make the clock reverse and bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt, change the fates design. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine. What once was mine.”

The flower glowed with his singing, its magic moving towards Sara. The cut on her arm— a Murphy’s Law mishap— healed itself. She looked at it and smiled.

“That kind of power is cool.”

“And dangerous. If it gets into the wrong hands again, who knows what things could happen? We need to find some way to keep it safe so that doesn’t happen. I could…” he trailed off, putting his fingers to his chin as he thought. “But that would cause some problems. Possibly hurt someone. We could… no, that wouldn’t work. We can’t promise that…”

Sara watched him, silently wishing that she could read his mind. He wasn’t making any sense at the moment. “Varian, what should we do?”

“Unsure. I’ll have to do some research.”

“More research? Varian. You can’t overwork yourself. You haven’t gone to college.”

“I did the quarter. I don’t have any classes.”

It was February, just over four months since he was freed. Just under four since he started school. Classes had let out for the semester. Varian didn’t feel the need to continue. He had work he needed to do.

Apparently, he was destined to build flying cars and solve world hunger. And he had a feeling that he needed to use the moonstone and the sundrop in order to do those things.

February 20th, 2017

Gene draped a blanket over Varian, who was hunched over the dining room table with his head in his arms. He smiled softly. His boyfriend had been overworking himself ever since he got that flower two weeks ago. Gene didn’t understand what was so special about the flower and the stone that Varian felt the need to spend all of his time working on them.

Varian tiredly looked at him and smiled a little. “Gene, hey. Didcha need something?”

“I was going to ask you on a date.” Gene sat next to him. “But then I saw that you were practically asleep. So instead, I’m going to make sure that you go to sleep.”

“I’m not tired.” Varian waved it off. He tried to stand up.

The other grabbed Varian’s shoulders and pushed him back down. “Varian, you’re even more pale than you usually are. You need sleep. What are you even working on that’s so important?”

“I’m working on discovering secrets.” Varian put the top of his head against Gene’s chest. “Then I gotta see what I can do with them.”

“Ah, very important stuff.” Gene scooped him up. “But first, sleep. You can’t get anything done if you aren’t taking care of yourself. Please get some sleep, for me?”

He looked at Gene then sighed. “M’kay. But just for you.”

“Thank you.”

Chapter Seventeen

[panfluidme]

Chapter Fifteen: Construction Site

Chapter Fourteen

February 13th, 2017

Sara was taking Diogee out on a walk. The dog had been whining since Milo told him that he couldn’t go somewhere— Sara never did catch where— with him. Which was a very normal occurrence, but Diogee still got upset about it. She didn’t mind taking the dog on a walk. She had been needing to get out of the house.

Whatever thing that Varian was currently working on was strong smelling and made her eyes water. Sara had been more than happy to take him out.

They walked past a construction site. A very common sight. However, something caught her eye.

There was a flower.

A flower that seemed to glow. Purple in the middle. It didn’t seem like it should be there in the slightest.

She walked into the gardening store right next to the construction site then went back to the flower. Sara had a strong feeling that she needed to take it home.

Kneeling down, Sara carefully dug the flower out of the ground. She put it into the purple flowerpot she had bought then started her return home. It didn’t take her long to return. She walked into Varian’s ‘lab’.

“Varian, I brought something that I feel like you need to see.”

He set the flame gun down and looked at her. His eyes widened from under his goggles. Varian quickly made his way over. “Where did you get that?”

“A construction site by Mont’s Flowers. I’m guessing it’s important?” She set it on his table.

“Very.”

“What is it?”

“The sundrop.”

Chapter Sixteen

[panfluidme]

Chapter Fourteen: First Halloween

Chapter Thirteen

October 31st, 2016

It was Halloween. Varian really only knew it as the day before he woke up with his feet turning into stone. Which probably was the day that he was actually cursed. So, he didn’t really have much of a plan other than double his efforts on the moonstone research.

However, Milo decided that that wasn’t an acceptable plan.

Varian didn’t have classes on Monday, so he was holed up in the garage all day. Ruddiger was chittering to add in on the work. That was another thing that Varian found odd about this place. People didn’t seem to understand animals and what their noises meant.

Which was crazy! How were people supposed to work alongside animals if they didn’t understand what they were saying? Then again, not many people seemed to work with animals. Just keep them as pets. Which wasn’t very cool. Animals were more than just pets.

Milo walked into the garage right when he got from school. His entrance caused Varian to drop the moonstone into a beaker that then caught on fire. Varian blinked and dumped some baking soda over it before he turned to face Milo.

“What do you need?”

“It’s Halloween! I think we should get you a costume so you can come trick or treating with us!”

“Trick or treating?” Varian pulled his goggles up. “Halloween?”

“Yeah! It’s a day that we dress up and go to people’s houses to get free candy. It’s fun. I was going to do another haunted house, but dad doesn’t have anywhere for me to do it since you get the garage.”

“Sorry?” Varian cleaned up a little then followed him out. “Anyway, wouldn’t going house to house getting free candy cause some problems?”

“Sometimes it does. But everyone here is pretty nice. There shouldn’t be any problems. Now, you need a shower then I have a few options for costumes you could wear tonight.”

Varian slowly nodded. “Alright then?”

Soon, Varian was all cleaned up. Milo showed him different costumes. He ended up picking a well-made king costume. Sara had laughed when she saw that he had picked the king one. He didn’t really see how it was funny until she explained that he knew some kings. Even then, it wasn’t funny to him.

“Zack and Melissa should be here soon. Then we’re going to have dinner. Oh, I invited Gene! He’s bringing potatoes.”

“You invited Gene?”

“Well, yeah. Outside of Ruddiger, he’s your best friend. I want your first Halloween to be special.”

“Oh, well. Thank you.” Varian adjusted the fake crown on his head. “I was just going to spend today working.”

“You work all the time.”

“Yes. I need to unlock the moonstone’s secrets. I know the incantations to use it, but I’m hesitant to actually use them. Both of them are dangerous. Especially the first one we learned. That one quite literally sucks the life out of things.” He paused to think. Varian remembered that it hadn’t affected him. “Most things.”

Milo stared at him. “And you’re lighting it on fire?”

“Yep! Seeing how different things affect it. Trail and error, that kind of thing.” Varian shrugged. “Plus, fire didn’t trigger anything negative. And if it did, it would’ve only affected me. And probably Ruddiger. He was there too. But nothing happened. I’m still working on things with the moonstone.”

“What’s the moonstone?” Gene asked, seeming to have popped up out of nowhere.

Varian yelped then looked at him. “It’s my newest toy. I’ll go get it.” He ran and returned. Varian held up the opal.

“It’s pretty.” Gene reached out to touch it.

He pulled his hand back. “Nope. It’s not a toy. Not something you should touch without gloves.”

“You’re not wearing gloves right now.”

“I’m not?” Varian looked at his hands. “Oh, right. This costume doesn’t have gloves. I’m going to go put some on.”

“And ruin the look?” Gene grabbed his other hand. He gently kissed it. “It is weird seeing you without them, but it’s a good look on you.”

“I suppose that I can just for tonight.” He put the stone into his pocket, his cheeks dusting a light pink.

“Now. I heard that this is your first Halloween in America. I’m excited to be here with you.” Gene put Varian’s hand against his own cheek and nuzzled into it. “You’re going to have a lot of fun. And you’re the cutest king on the block.”

October 31st, 2016

Everyone was ready to go out and trick or treat. Varian was still a little hesitant about getting free candy from strangers. He barely even accepted free candy from Uncle Monty. And Uncle Monty is— was— one of the kindest men Varian’s ever met. Quirin had taught him to be careful with things such as that.

Bridgette cooed. Milo and Zack were doing a couple’s costume, the two had gotten together in the last week or two, while Sara did a Time Ape one and Melissa went with a Joan of Arc one. Gene did a skeleton. Sara had convinced Ruddiger to do a cute little pumpkin. Ruddiger was not happy about that. Varian would never say it to Ruddiger, but it was absolutely adorable.

Once Bridgette was done taking pictures, the group left to go trick or treating. Varian found himself really enjoying the activity. He got candy and traveled around the neighborhood. It was so cool to do so.

It made today just that much more fun. He spent it with friends instead of moping around about how over two hundred years back this day, he was cursed to be stone. Maybe whoever had cursed him had planned it to be for the rest of time, but Varian was glad that that wasn’t the case. He liked the future.

Chapter Sixteen

[panfluidme]

Chapter Thirteen: The Stone

Chapter Twelve

October 13th, 2016

Varian was out with Milo and Sara. Zack was out sick, and Melissa was off doing something. She was pretty vague about it, so Varian decided not to push her on what it was. He knew how fun it was to be vague. The three were at the park, Milo playing fetch with Diogee.

It was a nice, sunny day. Varian decided to use their time in the park to watch the clouds. They were such fascinating things of nature. Varian wasn’t fully sure if he believed that they were made of water mist, but they were certainly very cool. No matter what they were made of.

A glint caught his eye. Varian sat upright and walked over to where it came from. He picked up whatever it was then examined it. His eyes widened.

The thing in his hand… it-it was the moonstone.

This was not good. How did the moonstone get here? They had sent it back to the skies, had they not? It shouldn’t be here. And since it was, where would the sundrop flower be? The two came in pairs. Even if they were king— cities or states apart.

He put it inside his pocket and snapped his fingers to catch Ruddiger’s attention. Ruddiger ran over and climbed up his body. Varian looked at Sara. “I’m going to head home. Take a nap or something.”

“Alright. Be safe. Dad’s home, so I don’t know how much sleep you’ll really get, but it’s still worth a shot.”

Varian nodded and started walking back to the Murphy household. Yeah, he occasionally referred to the house as his home, because it technically was his home. At least until he found one of his own.

Once he got home and, in the garage, he looked at the moonstone. He was a little anxious about the return. But somehow it almost made sense. Adira, well after the fight with Cassandra and Zhan Tiri, told him— and just him— that it was possible that the moonstone and the sundrop might return. But even then, this tiny little stone caused so much pain and suffering.

He put it onto a table. The garage had basically become his living space and lab. Varian gathered some supplies and put his goggles over his face.

Despite it being a bad thing, Varian could admit he was a tad excited. He actually got a chance to study the stone. He had wanted to know more about its powers and abilities.

“Okay, test one,” he whispered to himself. He grabbed the flame gun Martin gave him and started it up. Varian grabbed his metal scissor tongs and held the moonstone between the spoon-like tips.

The moonstone took flame very well. It glowed with heat when he pulled the flames away before it cooled down and returned to its normal color. It didn’t even seem like it had been on fire.

Varian grinned and wrote down the results. He thought carefully then mixed up a very small batch of bleach and baking soda. He dropped the stone inside and crouched down to watch what happened, scribbling the results into his notebook.

He loved pens and pencils. Varian tended to stick to pens. They were similar to quills, but he didn’t have to dip the tip into an ink well. Or wait for it to dry. He could just keep writing with no problems.

Soon, he used the tongs to remove the stone from the bleach mixture.

“Varian, dinner’s ready,” Sara told him. She paused then laughed. “What are you doing?”

“Research.” He pulled the goggles up. His face was covered in soot from some of his experiments creating heavy smoke. The family had the fire alarm removed from the garage a few weeks ago for reasons such as this.

“On?”

“This.” He grabbed the moonstone and held it up. “I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but this. It’s the moonstone. The one I told you about with Zhan Tiri and Cassandra. And my dad.” His grip on it tightened. “I have the chance to study it. Learn how it works and what it’s made up of. It’s extremely dangerous, so I’ll just work on it alone.”

“The moonstone?” Sara looked at it. “I thought that that was just a legend and a story you made up to go with the legends of your time.”

Varian snorted. “My time? You make it seem like I’m an old man who yammers on about the ‘good ol’ days’ while whining about modern times and differences.”

“Technically, in a way, you are an old man. You do jump with some new things. Like the plane.”

“I don’t like heights. Unless I’m in a hot air balloon. Even though he wasn’t the greatest person ever, Andrew taught me how to build one of those. I know exactly how they work. I don’t know how planes work. And I’m eighteen. That’s not old.”

“It is when you were born in the 1780s.”

He stuck his tongue out and took off his gloves, shoving them into the tan apron he had arrived with. Bridgette had gotten him a handful more. In her words, “you need more than one so you can clean them while still doing your experiments instead of having to wait for the load to finish.” Varian could live with that. But his tan one was his favorite.

“Pft, what’s with your face?”

“For your information, Zack, I was playing with chemicals.” Varian got his plate of food. It wasn’t uncommon for Zack and/or Melissa to be over for dinner, so he didn’t question him being there much. “Some of which, their reaction created smokey fumes. Which then got onto my face. My eyes aren’t because I was wearing my goggles.”

Zack looked at him then laughed. “What cha playing with?”

“Several kinds.” He looked at Martin. “Speaking of which, you might want to buy some more bleach.”

Martin chuckled. “I’ll add that to our shopping list. I’m glad we can help fuel your passions.”

“As am I.”

Chapter Fourteen

[panfluidme]

Chapter Twelve: Hitting a Movie

Chapter Eleven

October 10th, 2016

The project was finally turned in. Gene was a little nervous. This probably meant that his time with Varian was over, didn’t it? Gene wasn’t really ready to say goodbye to Varian, but he was well aware that it was the most likely outcome of their story.

Well, perhaps Gene could have one more night of fun with Varian. Finally ask him on that date he wanted to take him on. He had a massive crush on Varian. It took about a week for him to start developing feelings. And another week for him to realize it.

Three weeks after meeting Varian, Gene was going to have to say goodbye. Even if Varian said no to the date, it could always just be a farewell dinner. That would be okay, right?

“Varian!” Gene said excitedly before class ended. “Can I talk to you?”

“Sure. About?” Varian shoved his computer— Dakota said he liked Varian enough to get him a birthday present. It wasn’t anywhere close to his birthday, but who was Varian to stop him?— into his bag then followed Gene out.

“Would you like to go out on a date with me?”

The younger’s (older’s? Varian was still unsure about his own age) cheeks darkened a little. “You want to go on a date with me?”

“If you would do me the honors, absolutely. If not, it could just be a goodbye meal.”

“A goodbye meal?” Varian crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. “Why would it be a goodbye meal?”

“Because we’d lose touch after this?”

“And who said we would?”

“I just assumed it.” Gene rubbed the back of his neck.

Varian stared at him then started laughing. “Why would you think such a thing? You’re my friend now. I wouldn’t want to say goodbye at all. I’d love to go on a date with you, Eugene.” He grinned widely. “You’re just as amazing as the other Eugene I knew.”

“You knew another Eugene?”

“Yep! He was like an older brother to me.” Varian shrugged and opened the door to the outside of the college. He bowed. “After you, my king.”

“Hey! Just because Eugene Fitzherbert is my great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, doesn’t mean I’m a king.”

“You’re a king in my eyes.”

October 10th, 2016

Varian rocked back and forth on his heels while he waited outside the mall for Gene. He ignored the odd looks people gave him for his attire. Varian still wore the style of clothes that he wore back in his time. It had been a tad hard to find them, but Bridgette and him had been able to find them, nonetheless.

“You look nice,” Gene told him when he arrived.

“Thank you. So do you.” Varian accepted the rose that Gene had given him. He grabbed hold of Gene’s hand. “What kind of thing are you thinking we could do?”

“We could hit a movie then get dinner.”

“Hit a movie?” He was confused. How and why would someone hit a movie? And weren’t they on TV? Would that person be hitting the TV in order to ‘hit a movie’?

“Yeah! There’s a theater in the mall. How does that sound?”

“I’m willing to hit a movie.”

“Great.” Gene gently pulled him along to the mall’s movie theater. He bought two tickets to see some Krill Hunter movie— really, Varian had no clue what that even meant, but he just went along with it.

October 10th, 2016

Hitting a movie, Varian learned, was just watching one on this giant screen with louder sounds than a normal TV could offer. Why it was called that was beyond Varian’s knowledge. He spent more time a little freaked out by the massive screen than he did contemplating why a phrase was worded the way it was.

“Not the best Krill Hunter,” Gene said as he took a bite of his dinner. “But not the worst.”

“I haven’t watched any other ones, so I wouldn’t know.”

“Oh. So that’s why you were confused.”

“Yep. No other reason.” Varian laughed awkwardly. He tried to play if off.

“So, I’ve noticed that we don’t really know all that much about each other. We both like Coronan history. And we’re around the same age. I’m just a few months older than you are. I’ve lived in Danville my whole life, where are you from?”

“A town a few miles away from Corona.” That was an oversimplification. Technically, Old Corona was a little bit away from Corona, but it was still in Corona. “I moved to Danville just over a week before we met for college.”

Gene was surprised. He smiled a little. “That’s really cool. How did you get Ruddiger?”

“Well, we had a small rodent problem that were eating my dad’s crops. I devised a way to humanly trap them. Ruddiger was one of them. And the only one that kept coming back. Somewhere along the way, he and I became friends. He stuck around for a lot of things in my life. What made you dislike raccoons?”

“One gave my dog rabies. Another kept taking my food. I just don’t like them because of that.”

Varian hummed softly and nodded. “That makes sense. I can see why you wouldn’t like raccoons.”

October 10th, 2016

“That was a lot of fun,” Varian told Gene when he dropped Varian off at the Murphy home.

“It was.” Gene thought then kissed Varian’s cheek.

Varian blushed as he looked at Gene. He kissed Gene’s cheek in return then went inside, doing a little wave. He shut the door and sighed happily.

If only his dad could see him now. He knew Quirin wouldn’t care that Gene was a boy as he would be too proud of Varian to even really notice. Varian loved that his father was proud of him. There was a time that he would’ve done anything, and that means anything, to make Quirin proud. It even drove him to do some horrid things to people.

Chapter Thirteen

[panfluidme]

Chapter Eleven: Cup of Tea

Chapter Ten

October 2nd, 2016

Varian gripped Sara’s hand for dear life when the plane started to land. She winced and awkwardly patted his back. It was probably a good thing that her brother and father hadn’t come.

If Varian was this scared without them, he would be even more with them. Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. That probably wasn’t reassuring at all when flying for the first couple of times.

“Hey, V. The plane’s landing right now. We’ll be off in just a moment, just hold on.”

He nodded, keeping his eyes squeezed shut. Varian leaned against her shoulder.

The plane landed and everyone got to get off. Varian was more than happy to be free and firmly off the ground. He really didn’t like heights. He didn’t mind them when it was a tree or something. Really anything higher, he really didn’t…

Was this because of that one time with Cassandra when she put him in a small cage and practically dangled him over a couple hundred feet over the ground? He had noticed that that was around the time he stopped liking heights. Even the hot air balloons felt wrong being up high like that.

After they got off the plane, they gathered their things and went home. They dropped Gene off at his place. Then they picked up Slushy Dawg for everyone back home.

Melissa kicked open Milo’s front door and marched in. “Milo~! We’re home~!” she sang loudly.

Milo shut the book he was reading, which fell apart as he set it down. He sighed softly and went to Melissa. “It’s nice to see you again, Melissa. How was the trip?”

“It was a lot of fun! We brought home a lot of souvenirs for everyone. Varian doesn’t like planes. Corona’s castle is so cool. You and Zack would love it.”

He smiled and looked at Varian. Varian held up a bag that had all of their bought goodies. Milo’s eyes sparkled a little as Varian handed them to him. He sat down and started looking through them.

Most of them were just t-shirts with Corona’s symbol. But there was a snow-globe, a handful of keychains, and some photos.

“They’re wonderful souvenirs, mom.” He looked at Varian. “I talked to Cavendish and Dakota. They’re ex-time travelers.”

“And they’re able to get me home?”

“No.” Milo bit his bottom lip. “They don’t have a vehicle to go through time anymore. And they mentioned something about you needing to be here to do something. They didn’t say what.”

“Can I meet them?”

“Sure! I can ask them.”

“Thank you.”

October 2nd, 2016

Cavendish sipped his tea as he waited for Varian to arrive. Varian arrived around ten minutes late. He smiled awkwardly at Cavendish. Cavendish raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s nice to see that you’re here. I’m Balthazar T. Cavendish. You must be Varian. I’ve read much about you.”

Varian paused and sat across from him. “You read about me?”

“Of course I have.” Cavendish smiled softly while he poured a cup of tea for Varian. “I’m not as big of a fan of you as I am of Doctor Time. He’s the one who invented time travel. But I am a fan of your work, nonetheless. You helped solve world hunger. Helped crack the mystery of flying cars. And all within five years of your arrival in Danville. There are a few more things that you did for the world.”

“I barely know what a car is.” Varian took the cup from him and took a small sip. “How would I be able to help ‘crack the mystery of flying cars’?”

“Because you’re still determined to make up for the mistakes of your past. It wasn’t until you were near your death did you write a book to explain to the world that you weren’t in your time for most of your life.”

His shoulders slumped. “I never get home, huh?”

“No. I’m sorry. I understand how it feels to feel out of place in a time that is not your own. That’s how Dakota and I are now. Our old boss, Mr. Block, decided that we had failed in our mission of saving the pistachio nut too many times and believed the report we had written about the pistachion attack was faked. He decided that he couldn’t even stand to look at our faces. So he revoked our time machine and left us here in this time.”

Varian stared at the amber liquid of his tea then set it to the side, deciding he wasn’t thirsty enough for it. “I’m sorry that that happened to you.”

“You were cursed, corrected?”

“Yes. It took two and a half months for it to fully cover my body. I honestly didn’t think that I would ever be…” he looked at his hands then clenched them together. “Be flesh again. It hurt.”

“Hurt?”

“Yeah. It felt like our molecules were constantly ripping themselves apart and rebuilding themselves. I didn’t even know that could happen! I really don’t suggest getting yourself turned into stone. Mostly, I feel bad that I dragged Ruddiger into it. I don’t know how I got cursed, but I just know that if Ruddiger wasn’t with me, he wouldn’t have been stone.”

“But then you wouldn’t have him now, wouldn’t you?”

He didn’t answer for a while. “I just want to go home.”

Cavendish softened. “I know.”

Chapter Twelve

[panfluidme]

Chapter Ten: A Crush

Chapter Nine

September 28th, 2016

Milo mentally chuckled when he heard Zack squeak and hug onto him after some fish dropped a few feet away from them. Maybe it was a little mean to laugh at it, but Zack’s squeak was cute, and he wasn’t laughing out loud over it. He grabbed Zack’s hand and pulled him along.

His sister, mother, and oldest friend were out of the country with the teen that was like his older brother already. Which just left him, his dad, and Zack.

Zack stopped and tugged Milo to the side so they wouldn’t get hit by the burning tire. The two slowed to a stop, watching it roll by. Milo laughed.

“Wonderful day for a tire burning, isn’t it?” he asked jokingly.

“It is,” Zack agreed. He didn’t let go of Milo’s hand. “Anyway, think Cavendish and Dakota would still like to meet up for sandwiches?”

“Most likely.” Milo held the strap of his backpack with his free hand. “If not, we can go get sandwiches ourselves. I have enough money to pay for both of us.”

“And I’ve told you, Milo, I can pay for myself. Or both of us. You pay for things a lot. It’s my turn.”

“It’s not a problem! I’m happy to pay.” He jumped over a hole in the sidewalk. “You know that I am.”

“Yeah, I know.” Zack looked at him. He took the time to truly take in Milo’s features. He liked Milo’s deep brown eyes and—

Oh.

Zack had a crush on Milo, didn’t he? Well, it wasn’t all that surprising, honestly. They did almost everything together. They hung out all of the time without Melissa. They had sleepovers at Milo’s. They teased each other all the time. Milo was Zack’s best friend.

Everyone thought he would end up having a crush on Melissa. He liked Melissa, but she felt more like a sister.

“What’s on your mind?” Milo asked, snapping Zack out of his thoughts.

“Hm?” Zack blinked rapidly then blushed lightly. “Just thinking about something important. But it’s not anyone you need to worry about.”

“That’s okay! Hello, Cavendish, Dakota!” Milo dropped the subject.

“Greetings, Murphy,” Cavendish said softly. “How has your day been?”

“Eventful. Oh! I’ve been meaning to talk to you two about something. We have someone staying with us, his name’s Varian. He and his raccoon, Ruddiger, are from Corona, Queen Rapunzel’s rule.”

“Milo, we can’t take him back. We were banished to this time.”

“I know, I know. But I was hoping you could ask Brick and Savannah if they could—”

“Let me stop you there, kid.” Dakota took a large bite of his Slushy Dawg burger. He and Cavendish had arrived early and ordered everyone’s food. “Brick and Savannah hate us. They would never do that big of a favor for us.”

“And if he’s the Varian I’m thinking of it would change reality as we know it if he returned. His inventions and innovations shaped the future of the future as we knew it. He was the one who—"

Dakota sharply elbowed Cavendish. “Not a word. We can’t tell them.”

“Ah, yes. I apologize.”

“Tell us what?” Zack asked, tuning back into the conversation.

“We can’t say.” Dakota waved it off. “You should be learning about it soon enough anyway.”

Chapter Eleven

[panfluidme]

Chapter Nine: His Things

Chapter Eight

September 26th, 2016

Varian walked through the halls of the castle for the first time in over two hundred years. It looked so different from the last time he was there. The paintings were different. Everything wasn’t the same.

He stopped at the broken-down entryway that had once hidden away his lab. The group that had found him didn’t mean to find him.

“That room was found just over eighteen years ago,” a castle caretaker told him when she noticed that he was just standing and looking.

“They stripped it down.”

“Well, yeah. They had wanted to study things. It had seemed to be a lab. From what I heard, within the next few days, the items will be returned here so people coming here can see it for their own eyes.”

A smile found its way onto Varian’s face. “Can I ask how it was found?”

“Someone accidentally knocked over a bookcase. They were trying to clean behind it. When it fell onto the wall, the force broke the bookcase and a brick fell. It showed that the wall behind it hid a room.”

“So they broke down the wall to get in,” Varian finished her thought. I’m Varian, by the way.”

“I’m Adrianna. It’s nice to meet you. Let me know if you have any questions.”

“Will do, thank you.” Varian waved at her then walked down the halls once more.

September 28th, 2016

It was weird. As Adrianna said, his stuff was returned to his lab. Varian was very excited about it. He was going to be able to see things that were from his time. From his home.

He wasn’t able to be there when they were putting things away. Nor was he the first one to see it. When people learned that they were opening up a new spot for people to see, many tourists and even locals lined up to visit.

One rule was no touching anything.

No touching.

Varian couldn’t touch his own stuff. But he couldn’t just out right say that. No one would believe him. He couldn’t touch his things, and that was…

Hard.

It was going to be hard not to touch the research he had worked so hard to gather and sort through. Varian didn’t think they’d organize it as it should be. They’d put it how they wanted to put it. Not how he had it organized. It would be hard to find things.

Oh, but…

Nothing there was technically there was his anymore. The objects there were the public’s now. Or were they historians stuff now?

Did it really matter anyway?

Varian sighed and looked at his hands. Sara put her hand on his shoulder. Instead of looking at her, he just hummed in acknowledgement.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” she asked quietly. “I’m sure it’s going to be difficult.”

“I’m sure. I.. I need to do this.”

“Alright. We’re here to support you.”

Chapter Ten