These Runaways Will Run the Night

Hand In My Hand And We Promised to Never Let Go

"I think he changed his mind," Varian said. Rudiger followed this up with his own comment and Juliet laughed. Varian raised an eyebrow at the exchange.

"What did he say that was so funny?" he asked. Juliet let out last chuckle and crossed her arms across her chest from the cold.

"Something along the lines of 'obviously'," Juliet answered. To this Varian did laugh lightly, the movement in his chest causing a slight rumbling that did not please Rudiger all that much. Rudiger tittered a few times and jumped towards Juliet, who quickly took him in her own arms.

"Oh, my fairy godmother," Juliet said, hugging Rudiger tightly to her chest, "He's freezing! Oh, goodness, Rudiger, why did you come out here? Your fur won't keep you completely warm, you know that!"

Rudiger looked up at her with a pleading expression and said something to her, but Juliet dismissed what he said with a 'tsk!' and a stern expression.

"No excuses, mister," Juliet said. Her eyes shot towards her human companion. "We need to take him back."

"Now?"

"Yes, now," she said to him. Varian looked at her, flabbergasted.

"If we go now, we'll lose a whole night," Varian said to her. Juliet rolled her eyes and held up Rudiger, his small black eyes looking into Varian's blue ones directly.

"Look at this face," Juliet said. "Say no to this face. Let this face get sick." Her eyes narrowed. "I dare you."

Varian, who really didn't want Rudiger to get sick at all, sighed and ran a hand over his eyes over-dramatically, more for pretense than anything else.

"Alright, fine, let's go," Varian relented. Juliet smiled and moved past him, Rudiger looking rather sheepish as he made eye contact with Varian.

"Sorry," Varian whispered to the racoon, hoping Juliet couldn't hear. There was no stopping Juliet once she got started, and now she had decided that Rudiger needed to return to their hideout. It would be best for all three of them if they just let her return the racoon back before it turned into an ordeal.

"Varian!"

"Coming!" he said, following her. They made their way back to the hideout in relative silence, the only sounds being their gentle steps against the loosely packed snow and the rustling of their cloaks.

The silence didn't bother Varian all that much, it wasn't awkward but instead was a comfortable one. Neither one bothered to breach the quiet which allowed Varian's thoughts to return to his own musings.

What was the future? Juliet – unlike him – had technically been innocent of the crimes she was accused of. While he still believed what he did to have some justification, busting out of that jail cell had been her first transgression against society and after the plan was implemented, she would rack up many more of them. Any leniency that had been allocated for her would be gone if they were sent back, as would the small amount that had been lobbied for him against his wishes.

If this plan was going to send her spiraling into the possibility of a punishment far worse than what they had in the dungeons, could he go through with it? Could he let her go through with it?

"Do I even want to go through with this anymore?"

Varian blinked at such a bizarre thought. Where had that come from? Of course, he wanted to go through with it! That's what all this was for! There was no going back now....

Right?

"'Rian!" came Juliet's voice, calling him back from his thoughts. Varian shook his head and looked up at her after a moment. Her head tilted to the side in confusion – Rudiger mimicking it in a way that was not creepy at all, Varian swears, no really, -- at the door of the hideout. Rudiger was still clutched tightly to her chest in a protective, maternal way.