#I'm sorry if this isn't really well written or if the instructions aren't that clear 😅 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mytwistedhome · 4 years ago

Text

“The Alchemist” ❤️❓

A very old request that I’ve finally finished for @rainebowkitty !!

It took me a while because it required a bit of research (of which I really enjoyed doing!)

This little drabble involves Riddle and... another Disney character (leaving the name out in this intro because you don’t really need to know who it is to be able to understand this story >u< )

Summary: During his alchemy class, Riddle Rosehearts gets paired with a strange, magic-less student that he's never noticed before. This student seems to know quite a lot about the subject, but his bizarre ideas tend to stray from the rules that Riddle is used to.

I think that the reason why this particular story took me so long to complete was because the subject of alchemy was quite intimidating to me •́ ‿ ,•̀ Even after weeks of having the basic plot written and taking many notes on the actual science of alchemy, I still always hesitated to complete this. Every day, I would try to write just a little bit, but I always ended up cowering away because all the different little parts of the science seemed overwhelming and, again, intimidating. I've never before procrastinated this much or run away from subjects of my own writing, so this was quite a new experience for me... I wish I could've gotten this done much faster, but I think this entire writing process helped me to face a fear I didn't even know I had--a fear of writing about science/scientific topics! It might be silly, but that's really the way I felt while writing this: afraid to delve too deep into the subject.

Still, I am very happy that this is finally done! I only hope that I served justice to this ancient science 💗 Kitty, I very much hope that you enjoyed your two favs together!!!

Okay!!! I'm gonna stop being annoying now

Riddle stood in the midday class with his back turned to his alchemy professor, easily slipping the buttons through the holes of his lab coat as Divus gave his greetings and instruction. His voice was clear and loud, reciting his usual classroom demands of always taking full precautions, ensuring safety, and arriving prepared. Always, it was these same rules, yet they were just a little bit different each day to suit whatever the current project may be.

But, on this day, Divus added to his instruction, "And, boys! Make sure you pair with a NEW partner today."

Riddle turned his head to stare at his professor and froze in place, absolutely dismayed. Crewel was asking them to switch partners? A brand new partner? All of a sudden?

How very strange that was, for wasn't it better to keep with the same partners? So that the two are familiar with each other and can work their best together? This switching of partners was truly, very odd, and it seemed just the thing that Professor Crewel would be against, for he was always the most sensible in keeping to rules and the traditional order of things. But, who was Riddle to argue or question the one in charge of the classroom?

He turned his head away once more and smoothed over the small wrinkles in his coat as the clean, clear goggles slipped over his eyes. It seemed the others in his class were just as confused as he, for they stumbled about awkwardly in search of a friendly-looking acquaintance of whom they were unfamiliar with. Riddle breathed out a huff and narrowed his eyes, a bit annoyed to have to deal with the uncertainty and the bother of finding a "brand new" partner. He turned around and looked, himself, for a person that seemed amiable and new, and to his luck, he was able to spot someone standing at one of the large, wide cauldrons of whom he was sure he hadn't ever worked with before.

He slowly approached where the other boy stood with his back to him. He was hurriedly flipping through the pages of several different books that were spread over the long desk just beside the pot of which they were to work. He had dark hair of an impressive volume and seemed rather intriguing in the way he went about his work. Riddle tilted his head slightly, watching with curiosity and interest as the boy worked quick to search what he was looking for, before he said in warm greeting, "Hello.. I don't believe I've worked with you before."

The boy went still upon hearing Riddle's voice, and he turned himself around to acquaint the unfamiliar classmate as he pushed the round goggles he wore over his head. "Hello!" he said with a nod, "I could work with you, if that's what we must do." There was clear enthusiasm in his voice before he turned his head once more to focus back on whatever he may have been searching for.

Riddle blinked several times in bewilderment. He had never even seen this student, let alone worked with him before. In alarm, he stared to get a better look at this stranger. His dark hair was accentuated by a teal stripe that ran down the center--a unique trait that Riddle had never noticed in a student before. He also had a soft, summer, sun-kissed shine to his complexion, which flattered and glowed upon his warm and freckled face, making him even more unrecognizable to Riddle.

Divus then gave further commands to the class, telling them that their goal was to make a particular potion. Riddle payed close attention to the details of the instruction, but all the while, he could not help but think in the back of his mind upon how strange his partner seemed to be. And, then, with the brief lecture over, he turned his attention again to that unknown student. "I'm sorry, but what is your name?" his voice was soft and polite with an ease in his eyes, "I don't believe I've payed much notice to you in this class before, and I'm sorry for that."

"Oh! Uh, I...." he dragged that last syllable out, much to Riddle's distaste, as he rummaged with the ingredients spread before the cauldron, "I only just began coming to this school. Not that long ago, really, so it makes sense if you didn't know. And--I'm Varian, by the way."

"You just began coming here?" Riddle said with alarm as his head tilted with even more interest than before, "A new student on the middle of the school year... And just like that? That isn't a typical thing here. How did it happen?"

Varian gritted his teeth and briefly glanced off to the side in attempt to avoid the question, "It's a... rea~lly long story. Don't worry about it."

Riddle looked at him with skepticism in his gaze. How odd it was to have a student transfer in the middle of the school year. As far as he knew, it was incredibly uncommon in NRC, for it meant that they would miss the welcome ceremony and so many other lessons and meetings that were essential in their learning.

But, again, who was he to argue with the way the school was run? Perhaps Crowley had a very special reason to allow this student entrance in the middle of the year.

Riddle took a small step to better observe what Varian was doing. All around on his side of the desk, there were sketches of obscure symbols that appeared unrelated to their project at hand, along with notebooks opened to pages of quotes that were beautiful poetically, yet seemingly unintelligent. How strange, how strange That one word kept repeating in Riddle's head, and he grew slightly skeptical of the student standing beside him.

Riddle pulled his head away and pressed his lips together as he began looking over the ingredients, chemicals, and metals that were laid out neatly upon the long desk, but his attention was seized once more by Varian who immediately grabbed two beakers of melted medals and mixed them carefully with one another.

"Just a touch of sulfur, and some more iron for the base...The iron brings forth the energy of Mars, so we'll have a fiery and quick result for this potion!" Varian was getting more and more excited as he explained the steps, and he seemed to talk more to himself than to Riddle. But, he soon took a breath in woeful thought as he continued with the mixture. "I really wish we had access to use gold in this lab. I guess it's understandable that we aren't allowed, but it isn't fair! Gold, after all, represents the sun, and the sun is connected to a princess I've been honored to become well-acquainted with--"

"Varian!" Riddle let out loudly, cutting him off after having had enough of his mindless chattering, "What are you even doing with all of those metals and chemicals?"

He reached out and took hold of the beaker that his partner held in his left hand, vigilant enough as to not disturb the dangerous mixtures, but harsh enough to cause a drop of the pinkish liquid to fizz onto the table.

"Woah be careful with that..!" Varian said frantically, trying to steady all the beakers that could cause a mess.

"What have you made?" Riddle's eyes were fixated in a glare, yet his voice wavered with fascination as he asked the question.

"Oh," Varian smiled with excitement and straightened his back, and he cleared his throat, preparing to deliver a recitation of all he created in a matter of minutes, "That's still just sulfur with an iron base, but the sulfur also works as a primer. You know... the 'spirit of life'. I also added a bit of mercury to better blend the high concentrations with the low ones, which also aids in connected the high and low energies. And, of course, I added a touch of salt as well, just as another primer."

"I see..." was all Riddle said in quiet response. He knew of the three primers and their functions in the mixtures--every student learned that at some point or another in the class. But, as for the other symbolic and rather spiritual things mentioned by Varian, he had never heard of them before, and he wasn't sure if he should believe them now.

Varian only continued, "It's unfair that we can't use gold or silver. I'd complain if I wasn't so new to this school." Getting excited again, he seemed to be talking mainly to himself once more, "Gold is the sun! And the sun is willpower, inner ability and inner strength! It's deeply connected to the heart and the heat of the body... It ignites passion and life! And it's connected to vision, too. But, silver probably has even more use than gold does. It's connected to the moon and creation... but in formulas, it helps the metals grow more quickly and aids in their blending."

The scowl on Riddle's face deepened, and his small nose wrinkled every slightly in skepticism and suspicion, yet that typically unsavory expression looked oddly beautiful over his fair face, and so Varian payed him no mind. Instead, he kept up on speaking, though this time it was less of a ramble. "We should probably go through the first couple steps together, shouldn't we?" he asked with a kind smile. "The first thing would be to go through the operation of calcination. You know, heating things to purify the metal and cancel out any toxins. But, I trust this lab, so it's fine to skip that step. Next would be dissolution, like... using water to dissolve bits of the metal into rust at the edges. It usually works as another purifier, as the water brings in life. But it really isn't that important, is it? Let's skip that one! Then, that brings us to the operation of separation. Specifically, separating the components of the dissolution... But if we don't do the dissolution, there really is no point. It's basically isolating the rust and the different elements of the metals by filtering them carefully and then discarding the bad materials. That always seems to tedious to me. I doubt there's anything very bad that could sabotage our results, anyway. I don't think it's necessary; it'll only eat up our time. We should skip that as well--"

"Varian!" Riddle's patience was reaching its brim. His anger ripped through his voice, causing Varian to flinch back and widen his eyes. "We shouldn't skip anything! There's an order for a reason!"

"Okay, okay," Varian said with a timid smile in attempt to ease his partner's nerves. "But trust me, we should just go ahead a proceed with the fourth operation. Conjunction. It's basically the re-combination of the components that should have been separated in the previous step. But, combining the metals is basically what I've been doing so far, so it's like we're ahead. All we need is potassium nitrate. I promise! It's like a short cut." Varian said, looking to Riddle with pleading eyes in hopes of convincing him.

"Alchemy is a discipline," Riddle said sternly, though his voice was now kept soft, "There are rules and a direction you must follow. Every step involves a precise measurement, and unless you adhere to the order set in place, you will never achieve a good result!"

"Well, yes, you're... kind of right."

Riddle stepped back, blinking in disbelief. Kind of right? Who did he think he was? An alchemy expert? Someone so profound that he could skip around on the steps? Riddle's anger was building up inside, heart racing, blood boiling. His face was heating up, just about to burst--

And, then, Varian quickly drew from the cauldron a small sample of the potion they were to create. It was small bit, but it was perfect. Made with such quick ease, and filling up half of the beaker. It was quite impressive to have achieved such a wonderful result in such little time, and noticing this, Riddle slowly calmed.

"Hey... Relax, okay? It's really not something to stress over," Varian reassured with a confident chuckle and a mocking role of his eyes that went undetected by Riddle.

Riddle pressed his lips together before softening his expression and letting out a sigh, easing himself of the tension and excitement, yet also ashamed now for having gotten so angry before. Maybe, perhaps, he could trust this kid to do what he seemed so passionate about.

yes... drew the pic because I wanted the two of them together but, obviously, there are none that exist, so I had to create my own with my very slim art skill. I was originally going to have it at the top, but I am NOT confident enough in my doodling to do that lmao

#twst #riddle rosehearts #varian #fanfic #my fanfic #my writing #twisted wonderland fanfiction #<3 #crossover #tangled the series

27 notes · View notes