Forget {Varian x Reader}

-Chapter Nineteen- Dream Sweet in Sea Major

"But who..." Varian trailed off, the wheels spinning in his head.

"We've got to think." Y/n mused, spinning the wrench around her hand. "Who's the most vulnerable?" Who do I want to hurt the most?

Varian looked at Y/n with a smirk, and she met his eyes as he spoke. "The queen."

Y/n smiled in shock, and Varian gave a small laugh. "And not just for Rapunzel. I'm assuming this is for you, too."

She gazed at Varian, touched. Yes, she was the one who had suggested taking someone as bait, but Varian cared enough to know that she wanted revenge too. He really had listened to her.

"Thank you." she whispered, and she meant it.

Varian smiled, before leaning down and petting Ruddiger.

Y/n tossed her wrench again, verbalizing her thoughts. "What should we use when Rapunzel inevitably sneaks out? We need something to keep her and the guards out of the palace while we get to the queen."

Varian tapped his fingers on the ground and stared into space for a moment, before looking back up at the princess across from him. "What about that enhancing serum? The one for Ruddiger? It's unfinished, but I could have it ready in a day or two."

"That's perfect!" Y/n exclaimed.

Varian grinned at her, and Y/n pushed herself to her feet, extending a hand to Varian once she was standing.

He took her hand gratefully, and she pulled him up, but she let go too late and wound up standing very close to him- nearly as close as they were in the tunnels.

They stared at each other for a moment, their faces barely a few inches away. Close enough to kiss him- pardon, what?!?!

Wow. Y/n... really needed some sleep.

She decided to chalk that completely unprecedented thought up to her sleep-deprived state, and backed away, pink blooming on her cheeks.

"Well," she said confidently, though a hint of embarrassment crept into her voice, "let's get to work, shall we?"

"We've got a lot to do."

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

Ruddiger's serum was done. The raccoon seemed slightly nervous for the role he was to play, but Y/n was sure that he'd pull through.

Y/n was preparing a very specific compound- something like a smoke bomb, but to a much larger scale. This was supposed to flood the entire courtyard with fog, and make it last for up to an hour. They'd release this when Ruddiger was ready, so that no one could see them entering the palace.

On the other side of the room, Varian was trying to determine how the automatons were going to function. The timing cylinder was the important part, and they already had it, but the specifics were... complex.

"Y/n?" Varian asked, exhausted. "Could you... could you help with this?"

Y/n set down the beakers she was holding with a sigh and walked over to Varian, who was standing over several tables covered in metal pieces, which he had constructed based on the automaton that the two had seen.

"Yeah?" she asked, stopping next to Varian and peering over his shoulder at the metal littering the table, the timing cylinder they had recovered front and center.

"So," began Varian, "when wound, the timing cylinder spins and plays the melody. That will trigger a chemical reaction of some kind to power the automaton, and the reaction will stay stable as long as it keeps spinning."