𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕘𝕖𝕥 {𝕍𝕒𝕣𝕚𝕒𝕟 𝕩 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣}

-Chapter Twenty-Seven- Crossing the Line

/you don't know how much i've been denied/ well, i'm not being patient anymore/ i'm crossing the line!/ and i'm done holding back!/ so look out, clear the track, it's my turn!/

-crossing the line, eden espinosa & mandy moore

"Perfect!" Andrew exclaimed with a sharp smile. "Two new Saporians, then, just in time to take Corona."

"Where are we going now?" Varian asked.

"First," Andrew began, "we're going to get our stuff back. You know where the guard room is, kid?"

It took a moment for Y/n to realize that the question was directed at her. "Down the hall." she replied, a bit disoriented.

Clementine gestured with her wand. "Lead the way, Princess."

As Y/n turned to go, she heard Varian's voice behind her. "Wait!"

She half turned to see Varian jogging up to her from where he was waiting, and Y/n smiled as he fell into step with her, walking by her side as they ascended the stone steps.

Together again.

Y/n waited until she and Varian were a few yards away from the Saporians before she spoke. "Are you okay?" she asked softly, keeping her voice low.

Varian didn't respond immediately, walking in silence and staring down at his boots before he answered in an equally quiet tone. "I will be."

She sensed that he had something more to say, and stayed quiet. She was right.

"I just-" he sighed. "I was so worried about you. Every day you didn't come, it wasn't that I thought you had forgotten about me- they just kept telling me you were dead, that they'd seen you die, and every day you didn't show up... it became a little harder to believe you were still out there."

He ran a hand through his hair, which had grown out slightly, his bangs almost completely covering one of his eyes. "And it's been pretty bad, but I kept going, because I knew that wherever you were, it was better than here, and that you'd help me. But then, when you didn't come back..." Varian looked away, and Y/n caught a hint of shame in his eyes. "It got harder not to believe what they were telling me."

Y/n felt heartbroken.

"Did they hurt you?" she asked. "The guards?"

Varian looked down. His hands went to his arms, and he pulled his shirt sleeves tightly around himself, like armor shielding him from the world.

"Not the guards." he whispered, his voice even quieter than before.

Something inside of her seemed to snap.

Andrew. Hurt. Him.

"Alright, that's it." she growled, reaching down and unclipping a sphere from her belt. "I don't give a crap about whatever deal I just made, this is not going to stand."

As she slowed her steps and turned to face Andrew, Varian reached out and grabbed her arm. His gloves were gone, but his bare hand clung to her coat sleeve, stopping her in her tracks.

"Don't." he asked, a hint of fear in his voice. "Please. We've made our deals. No one's getting hurt anymore. Andrew said no one else would get hurt."

Y/n sighed, looking into Varian's pleading blue eyes for a long moment, before turning to continue walking down the hall.

"Fine." she said. "But Varian, if he so much as lays a finger on you, you can trust that he won't be seeing it again."

She reached down to fasten the sphere back to her belt, and when she looked up, Varian was staring at her with an admiring smile on his face.