"There you are!" Nuru greets when Varian finally pads into the inn's dining room for breakfast. "I hope you slept; you look like your raccoon with those eye bags."
Hugo's head snaps up when he enters, then quickly averts his gaze to the table. Varian slowly takes the seat perpendicular to Hugo's.
"Varian, pass me the honey?" Yong asks, stirring sadly at what looks like a very plain bowl of porridge.
Varian reaches forward but at the same time Hugo says, "No problem, I got it–"
Their hands halt, overlapping one another around the ceramic honey jar. They look up to find one another's faces inches apart and stare in fright like cornered deers and the moment goes on uncomfortably long. Hugo yanks back first, stuffing his hands under his thighs as though to restrain them, and Varian bustles with getting his own bowl of porridge like he's suddenly remembered he's starving.
Nuru clears her throat and reaches bodily across the table to grab the honey for Yong, looking between them with a raised eyebrow. "Anyway," she says. "Here's what we've been talking about, V..."
Varian seems to do his best to pay attention while she catches him up on the plans for the day, but his gaze keeps flicking over to Hugo's knee bouncing under the table, and she notes the deep, slightly-shaky breath the blond boy takes when he finally looks up from his lap and stares determinately at Nuru and Nuru only.
So, Nuru has older sisters. She knows what it looks like when they're acting confident but feeling anything but; when they're holding onto their smile with their last shred of willpower; when they're barely holding back a rant that they will be spilling as soon as they're behind closed doors.
She knows what it looks like then they're crushing hard.
She likes to think she clocked the thing going on between Varian and Hugo while the two of them were still oblivious, but if the feeling in the air this morning is anything to go by, that obliviousness has come to an end. Time for the little sister shenanigans to begin.
"Hey, remember when Hugo called Varian 'sweet cheeks' that one time, and we had to save him from getting strangled?" she asks Yong loudly once they're on the road, loud enough that she knows the boys in question can hear her from the way they both tense up hilariously. "Yeah... I miss those days."
"Wait, didn't that happen when Hugo drank the last of the hot chocolate?" Yong wonders, oblivious.
She smirks and leans in to whisper in his ear.
"No!" he gasps, covering his mouth as he looks at the two older boys with new eyes. "Really?"
"Hey, can you two shut up over there?" Hugo barks, shoving the map into Varian's hands and folding his arms. "I can hardly hear myself think."
"Wouldn't want you to stop thinking about whatever...you're thinking about," Nuru says, eyeing Varian and smiling innocently. The dark-haired boy blinks like he's not really following her point and shrugs before going back to his map, but Hugo goes the color of a ripe beet.
"Princess, I'm not above regicide," he hisses, stomping closer.
Yong gasps again, seemingly before he can stop himself. "They're such a good match!"
Nuru laughs so long that she has to drop to her knees and beg the goddess for mercy.
The weather starts to get colder as they near and cross into Ingvarr's borders. The city is huge and intimidating in its differences from what they've experienced before, but Hugo seems to know how it like the back of his hand. He shoos off a pickpocketer that Nuru didn't even notice, stops Yong from walking into the path of a nobleman's oncoming horseless 'automobile' (something designed by the royal engineer of Ingvarr but only for the rich, he explains sourly), and navigates the group to an inn owned by someone he apparently knew in childhood. The lady waxes nostalgic about what a bright, cheerful little boy Hugo was before he disappeared one day.
Hugo ducks down, red and muttering about needing air. When Varian makes to follow, Nuru touches his arm and tells him that she'll get their rooms set up. The bell over the door signals his leave and she takes a self-satisfied sip of spicy Ingavarrian cocoa.
Apparently they're in town just in time for some kind of holiday the next day, which everyone but Hugo seems excited for. Again, Nuru knows siblings, and she reads this boy as highly troubled. When she finds him writing a letter by candlelight early the next morning, she pauses to ask if everything's fine.
"Yeah," he tells her, and she sees sincerity and steel in his eyes. "I've just made up my mind about something."
...
"Was I even alive before today?" Varian wonders, unable to contain the raw enthusiasm he feels watching the parade of culture and technology go by. There were the winter festival dancers, the band full of musical instruments– the things he's not surprised to see. But the giant mechanical lion– he heard about that but that was nothing compared to seeing it.
To his left Hugo snorts at him, unimpressed, but then he would be if he grew up here and got used to it. He doesn't know what it's like to grow up as practically the only person in your village who enjoys scientific pursuits. Varian is bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Look at that float!" Yong exclaims, tugging his arm. The massive stage rolling by has its own miniature ice rink on which a skater performs tricks whilst in motion. "Oh, do you think we have time to go skating while we're here?"
"It's trickier than they make it look," Nuru warns. "We do that in Koto sometimes. You can get big bruises from falling on ice."
Not if someone good at it is holding your hand , Varian thinks to himself, glancing at Hugo and then away quickly. He burrows his hands deeper into his puffy coat sleeves and watches their frosted breath spiraling into the air, intermingling and disappearing into the white sky.
"Hey," Hugo murmurs, and Varian snaps a wide-eyed 'I was thinking respectful thoughts that weren't about you' look on his face when he meets the blond's eyes. It's obviously not perfect because Hugo raises an eyebrow but thankfully doesn't comment, simply pointing and telling him, "The best part is coming. You don't wanna space out for this."
Varian turns back to the parade, eyes searching out the newest float turning the corner, a wave of excitement rising in his chest–
And then he sees her.
And the icy wave crashes back in on him.
His hands move of their own accord, patting his inner vest pocket. He quickly withdraws a sheet of parchment paper, worn from being folded and unfolded dozens of times in the years since Varian first got it from Calliope way back on his trip to the Spire with Eugene. The same day he learned of the Iolite of Obedience and the woman who stole it around the time Varian was born. His hands are shaking as he holds it up and uses it to compare, to make sure he's not imagining things and–
It's her. No mask on the lower part of her face, but the same hard eyes, the same gray braid. The woman who is most likely responsible for his curse is seated atop the upcoming float.
Varian grabs Hugo's arm without taking his eyes off of her. "Who is that?" he hears himself ask.
"Uh... Queen Anya? And the princesses–"
"Not them," he interrupts. "The lady in green next to them. Closest to us."
Hugo goes quiet and Varian looks over to make sure he heard. Is it the cold, or is the blond's face suddenly paler? He notices the drawing in Varian's hands and his brow furrows. "Wait, what is–"
" Do you know her ?" Varian demands, more urgent.
Hugo draws back, eyes flitting around. "Like, not personally ." He clears his throat. "But um– she's Donella, the royal engineer of Ingvar. She designs the floats and does other stuff for the royal family."
"Donella," Varian repeats, eyes narrowing as he studies her with this information. He folds the paper back into his pocket. "I need to talk to her."
"I mean, that would be hard. She lives on castle grounds," Hugo says dubiously. "What's so important?"
Varian hardly hears him over the sound of his racing thoughts. He nibbles at his gloved thumb anxiously, happiness at the new sights all but extinguished like a flame under water as he takes in the sight of Donella going by in slow motion. Her hard face looks forward impassively, untouched by the jubilation around her. At the bend in the road where she's closest to them she looks out and– maybe to his imagination, maybe not– locks eyes with Varian for a split second.
The smallest smile turns her lips. He stops breathing.
And then the float passes.
"Varian?"
He turns, air whooshing back into his lungs.
Hugo's brows are drawn together in concern as he reaches out but Varian steps back, cutting him off. "It's nothing."
Before anything else can be said, Varian flees.
...
He excuses himself to go to bed early that night. Eventually the others settle into their bed rolls around him and Varian pretends to be asleep while they drift off. Hugo tosses and turns for awhile but even he eventually starts snoring softly.
And that's when Varian gets up.
Ruddiger chitters at him questioningly as he grabs his shoes in one hand and coat in the other, and Varian shushes with a finger to his lips. "I'll be right back," he whispers reassuringly. "Hold down the fort."
The raccoon tilting his head is the last he sees before he shuts the door. His back sags against it for just a moment as he contemplates before straightening and hurrying out into the cold. His teeth chatter but he pushes on through the dimly lit streets in the direction he saw the looming architecture of the Ingvarrian palace.
The closer he gets to its wrought iron gates, the dirtier the streets, the more frequent the occasional homeless person huddled in blankets on the sides of buildings. He imagines a small Hugo as one of them and winces. Whatever Rapunzel's flaws, she would never stand for such economic disparity right on her doorstep.
Guards stand post at the entrance of course, but Varian came prepared. He makes quick work of creating a distraction with a smoke bomb at one side of the gate, and when the guards go running he uncorks a bubble potion to get himself up and over.
The large double doors of the actual castle are no doubt well-guarded on the inside so he scouts around until finding a servant's entrance and making use of metal-corroding acid on its lock.
Then he finds himself in a maze of hallways.
"Okay, Varian," he mutters, hand hovering over his alchemy belt as he begins creeping forward. "You got yourself this far..."
...
Hugo stirs to the feeling of a cold wet nose huffing in his face. Disoriented, he opens his eyes and takes in the blurry gray shape above him.
"R... Ruddiger?" he asks, and receives a responding trill. He rolls over to his other side with full intent of going back to sleep, but the critter crawls over him and gets into his face again with more determination. Hugo groans.
Blearily he reaches a hand out to the side until his knuckles brush what they're looking for. Putting his glasses on doesn't help much since it's still fully dark in the room, but it does make the unmistakable worry in Varian's raccoon's face become clear. And the whatever the problem, he's come to Hugo, not Varian; which means—
Hugo suddenly feels more awake.
"Varian?" he asks, pushing onto his elbows to look over at other alchemist's set up. "Varian, you good?" Slowly so as not to wake Yong, he tiptoes over and lays a hand on the bedding. It's cold.
Varian is gone.
"Where is he?" Hugo asks, turning to face Ruddiger again. The creature is at the door now, scratching at the wood with his little paws. Hugo suddenly remembers back at the parade how a weird mood settled over Varian when he saw Donella, how he mumbled something about talking to her.
Oh no. Oh no no no.
Hugo's reaching for his clothes before he can think.
...
A sign stating "this way to the Royal Alchemist's quarters" would be helpful but why would Varian get that lucky now? It's been a good hour since he infiltrated the Ingvarrian palace and he's beginning to wonder what his plan really was. He's managed to avoid catching attention up til now but even that meager luck can't last forever.
"You there," a strong voice rings out, and before Varian can scramble up a pair of earplugs, the guard orders, "Halt! Put your hands up and state your business."
Varian winces as he obeys.
"I'm– Varian of Corona, royal engineer to Princess Rapunzel," he says, hoping it will give him some merit. "I'm looking for Donella. She– she knows of me." It might not be a lie.
The guard rounds him, appraising Varian's appearance suspiciously. "It's too late for guests to be wandering the halls," he states, roughly taking hold of Varian's upper arm. "You can spend the rest of the night in the dungeons and tomorrow we'll see if the lady corroborates your story."
Varian winces again. He really doesn't want to see the inside of another kingdom's dungeons. "Wait, wait! I can–"
"You can what?" a new voice interrupts.
Varian and the soldier look up to see a woman leaning against the wall in the shadows. She pushes toward them and when she enters the torchlight, the scarred face of Donella herself comes into view.
"Um," Varian says.
Donella smirks, then tilts her head at the guard. "I can take it from here." She and the guard exchange looks of silent communication that Varian fails to keep up with before it's over and he's being shoved toward Donella.
"I wouldn't touch that belt of yours if I were you, Varian," Donella murmurs warningly, eyeing the alchemy that Varian is already subconsciously inching towards, already walking briskly away with her hands clasped behind her back. Varian glances between her and the guard uncertainly before hurrying to follow.
"Y-you know my name?" he asks, a little breathless both from the turn of events and the pace of this lady.
"You announced yourself back there, didn't you?" Donella says, pausing briefly both in speech and pace. Varian nearly runs into her. Her head tilts, not quite looking at him but addressing as she tacks on, "But yes. I did know your mother, after all."
Varian's eyes widen to what must be a comical proportion, but Donella continues on leading him who-knows-where as if she didn't just drop a bombshell.
Ella says I'm too optimistic about this, but I think that...
This one nearly got the better of us, but thanks to Ella's handiwork...
I need to rethink Ella's trust. The Dark Trial revealed so much...
"You're Ella," Varian realizes. "You- you were her research partner. She wrote about you in her journal."
"Did she?" Donella muses, pushing open the door to what appears to be a laboratory and holding it for Varian. He cautiously steps inside, eyeing the equipment both familiar and unfamiliar. "How nice. Nobody's called me that name in years. And you," she finally turns and studies him for the first time, pinning Varian like a specimen under a microscope with stormy eyes, "I haven't seen you in years. Not since you were an infant."
As it has a tendency to do for him, rage ignites under Varian's skin with little warning. "It was you then," he hisses, fists clenching. "You did this to me!"
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."
He laughs humorlessly, yanking the folded drawing out of his pocket and tossing it at her. She plucks it up, analyzing the picture, her apathy only adding fuel to his anger. Before she can feign ignorance any longer, he states, "You stole the Iolite."
"Iolite..." she echoes, brow pinching. Something clicks and she says, "Oh, from the Spire. That was such a long time ago. Yes, that was me. Ulla's idea, she thought we would need it, but that ended up not being the case."
Now it's Varian's turn to stare blankly. "...What?"
She sighs as though put upon and gestures to a seat. Varian remains standing and she sighs again. "Well, as you know since you're doing the same thing now, Ulla and I took upon ourselves Demanitus' seven trials in the seven kingdoms. And as you've probably discovered, not all of the trials are open for public exploration."
"How–"
"Some trials require cooperation from the kingdoms themselves in order to gain entry, and to foreigners that is not always granted. You were fortunate enough to have family in the Earth Kingdom who helped you, for example."
"How do you know all this?"
She winks knowingly but carries on. "In planning, we tried to think of what might help us best access more restricted trials, and that's where the idea of this obedience rock came in. Get people to cooperate with us. I obtained it, yes, but Ulla took it on herself to run tests beforehand. I don't know what happened to the thing after that point. Ulla claimed it broken."
"You're... you're lying," Varian accuses. That can't be it. He– he can't come so close to answers only to get more questions.
"You think so?" she laughs, eyeing him with interest. She reminds him of a barn cat: unassuming but fully capable of viciousness for her own wants or needs. That makes him the mouse being toyed with before a meal. "What is the truth, then? Why do you care so much about it?"
So she doesn't know.
"I– I..."
"Because when I first saw you sneaking over the wall," she continues, brushing her hand over her desk and scooping up an opened letter, "I assumed it was to talk to me, not about this but about–"
The door to the laboratory opens with a crash and Varian jumps about a foot in the air as a wild-eyed Hugo bursts in.
"Varian!" he exclaims, looking Varian over in a dizzying mix of fear and relief. "Maker, what were you thinking, sneaking off without telling anyone?! You, uh-" he eyes Donella cautiously, "What are you–"
He cuts off with a yelp as Donella grabs him by the scuff, rolling her eyes. "I'd like a word," she says simply before she begins dragging him hissing and spitting back out the door.
"Hugo!" Varian exclaims, heart jumping to his throat in a sickening way. "Hey, stop, let him go!"
But as usual, he's the only one who has to obey such words.
"Wait here, Varian, and don't touch a thing," she orders casually, and Varian nearly trips coming to a stop. "This won't take long."
...
The panic-stricken look on Varian's face before the door slammed shut between them sticks in Hugo's vision like the imprint of light behind closed eyelids, ripping him in two over and over. Even though it was the plan all along for his two worlds to collide, he feels gutted at the thought of being exposed now.
Oh, this is such a fluster cluck.
He pushes away from Donella's hold and demands, "What did you say to him?!"
"Watch your tone," she hisses and he shrinks. "He knows nothing of our pact from me, and apparently not from you either. Care to explain this ?"
She holds up the familiar envelope of his last letter, and Hugo tries to draw himself up despite being backed up against a wall. "Exactly what it says. I quit."
"Oh, you think it's that easy, do you? Ungrateful brat. After all this time, you would walk away with no payment, no nothing to show for it–"
"I don't care, I don't want my share anymore, I'm done. These ones– they deserve to get what they're working for."
She starts to circle him, reading him like a book one line at a time in a way she's always been able to do, has tried to train out since she picked him off the street and began sharpening him into a weapon for her hand. Her tone shifts from sharp to condescending. "Interesting, someone gave you morals. It's that boy, isn't it? As I found out from his mother before him, you would do well not to trust so easily. The smiles, the friendship– it's all an act."
"He's different," Hugo seethes. "He's not like you or me, he's– he's good just to be good."
She stops, looking at him in a pitying way that makes him feel less than the worms in the dirt far below their feet. "You've fallen in love with him."
Hugo's face burns. "No! Th-that's– why would I ever..."
Donella shakes her head. "I'm surprised at you, Hugo, but you do tend to be weak for pretty things, don't you? Let me ask you something." She tips her head toward the door behind which Varian waits. "I told him to stay in there and not touch anything. Is that what he's going to do? Exactly as I ordered?"
Hugo didn't think he could feel any worse at this moment but the universe loves proving him wrong. He swallows dryly, saying nothing.
Her eye twitches in impatience and she adds, "Because if you don't want to tell me, I can easily go back in and experiment on my theory. He brought to my attention that due to long-forgotten actions on my part, he may in fact be... cursed with obedience."
His stomach drops. " You did that to him?"
"It's true then. And you never thought that pertinent information to let me in on? You had to have noticed even before your little change of heart."
"It doesn't matter!"
"Doesn't matter? Hugo, if I'd have known, I wouldn't have needed you to waste your time infiltrating their group in the first place. You could've been sitting on your ass fiddling with your toy mouse to your heart's content while he does whatever we want just because we tell him, and for the first time in your life you didn't want the easy way out?"
"No," Hugo grits out, fear twining around his heart. "No, it's not right–"
She puts a hand on his shoulder, and Hugo shuts up. "Let me guess. You want to be the knight in shining armor who helps him break his curse."
He hangs his head, unable to hold her stare. She tuts.
"Let me help you think clearly again since your head has obviously been in fairytale land. Whatever you think is going on between you and Varian is going to end as soon as he finds out you've been using him all this time. I will have the Library, with your help or without. So here are your new choices: you can call it quits as you wish, and I will go back in that room and order Varian to do whatever I wish–"
Hugo's eyes snap up, blood draining from his face.
"--since he was so useful in the totem trials after all. And even after I get to the Library, who knows... he could be useful to keep around. He probably listens better than you." She walks back to the lab door while Hugo struggles to keep up. " Or , you can proceed with the con and turn the totems over to me at the library entrance as planned, and your little friends walk away unharmed. I will even allow you access if you wish to search for a cure to the curse in the Library. Maybe he will even forgive you."
Her hand is on the doorknob, and by the way she raises an eyebrow, he knows she intends to hear his answer without delay or else she'll choose for him. It feels like she's offered him two ways to die and asked which one he prefers.
Both ways end poorly for him... but there's only one that ends well for Varian.
"Fine," he grinds out.
Donella nods. She's not satisfied or triumphant; she doesn't need to be. She knows he will always bend to her will.
When the door opens and she sends Varian out, he comes running to Hugo like an arrow from a bow, eyes wide and checking him over worriedly as questions pour from his lips. Hugo hardly comprehends them, can only focus on the care with which he's being looked at, talked to, hugged. As if he's someone worthy of–
Of what he definitely isn't .
"Hugo?" Varian asks, setting a hand against Hugo's cheek in an attempt to meet their eyes. Hugo snaps into the present moment and pulls away as if burned.
"I'm fine!" he says, turning and leading them out of the palace on autopilot. "We can go, I explained that it was a misunderstanding, they're letting us off with a warning since I'm an Ingvarrian citizen."
Varian hurries after, twisting his hands. "I- I'm sorry. I never meant to get you in trouble. Donella knew my mom, I thought if i talked to her i could get some answers about... But I shouldn't have gone off without telling anyone-"
"Yeah, you shouldn't have," Hugo snaps before he can stop himself, tugging at his hair in frustration. Hue takes a deep breath, closing his eyes. "Sorry. I- we care about you, idiot. And getting into trouble now isn't gonna help you get to the Library any faster."
Varian says nothing. He follows a few feet behind as Hugo keeps moving.
The thing is.
( "You've fallen in love with him." )
The thing is that Hugo knows Donella keeps her word.
If he tries to double-cross her by not forfeiting the totems, he knows she will happily use Varian to her advantage. There was a gleam of interest in her eyes when she sussed out his curse, and that spells danger too great to tempt. So yeah, giving up is the safest way for Varian, especially if she really lets Hugo in to find a cure afterwards...He could possibly even talk her into letting Varian in, too.
If Varian will even speak to him after this, that is.
She gave him two options, but maybe he can think of a third. Maybe he wants to be selfish. It's just sad that you got attached , part of him whispers. People betray, people hurt .
That's true , he thinks bitterly. But not of them; of me.
...
Since her first time sitting for citizens' petitions, Rapunzel has gotten much better at handling the role but that doesn't make it any less tiring. It's always a blessing when everyone's needs have been met so she can finally collapse onto her bed or escape for a long ride with Max and Eugene. So when Feldspar finally shuffles out, and seemingly nobody else in sight, she is happily planning her escape.
Then there's a knock on the door and she heaves a sigh, signaling the guards to let in none other than Quirin of Old Corona. A genuine smile lights her face.
"Quirin! To what do I owe the pleasure? I hope everything is alright in your village?" she greets as he approaches.
"Quite alright," he confirms with a humble bow. "I just thought you'd like to know that, well–" he turns and smiles at the door through which he came. "My son has returned."
A familiar head pokes around the door sheepishly and Rapunzel bursts from her seat with the renewed energy of an ignited firework.
"Varian!!" she squeals, already halfway across the room by the time her friend gets past the threshold. She swallows him in a hug that lifts him off his feet with a squeak. "Oh my goodness, and who are your friends?!"
"Th-these are the ones I mentioned in my last letter," Varian manages, smiling widely as she drinks in his appearance and that of the four people over his shoulder. "Yong, Nuru, H-Hugo, and um–"
"CASS!" Rapunzel squeals in higher pitch, excitement doubling as she races to hug the other friend she hasn't seen in several months. Cassandra, looking just as remembered in her green travel clothes, reciprocates the embrace with a happy sort of resignation. "You guys met up? Why wasn't I invited! I feel like I've missed so much!"
"Ran into this lot while I was doing undercover work in Socria," Cass says, nodding toward Varian and company with a sly smile. "After getting them out of some trouble, I thought I'd just escort them all the way back while I was at it. Plus I haven't visited in awhile so it's only fair."
"Your princess doesn't wear shoes," the younger boy named Yong states curiously, tugging Varian's arm.
The girl Nuru makes a show of stepping out of her shoes and picking them up in one hand. "I love it here already," she sighs. "It's nice to meet other royalty who can be laid back about appearance." She holds out a hand to Rapunzel, and the two are quickly caught up in conversation.
"Sunshine, what's all this noise?" Eugene's voice asks as he rounds the corner from the other side of the room. "I thought by now you would've been done with–" his eyes flicker around the small crowd and widen comically when they land on Varian. "KID! You're back!"
Rapunzel clasps her hands happily as her two favorite boys collide and Varian's sorely-missed laughter rings out in the throne room. Eugene pats Varian all over like a mother hen checking over a chick and her heart swells.
"My eyes must be playing tricks on me," Eugene mutters, smiling despite his mock disbelief as he measures the crown of Varian's head. "Have you gotten taller?"
Varian opens his mouth to answer but is interrupted by a new voice snickering, "He wasn't that tall to begin with." Everyone turns to the blond boy who's been mostly keeping to himself thus far, hands behind his back and keen eyes taking in the goings on in what Rapunzel might call uncertainty. Despite the new attention on him, he only levels a humored look at Varian's glare.
"Wow, a short joke, I've never heard one of those before," Varian says sarcastically.
"You might say it's low hanging fruit," the blond returns, smirk widening.
"Hugo, I am trying to have a happy moment with my family, do you mind not making me want to smack you for five min –"
"You!" Eugene interrupts, leaning around Varian and pointing at Hugo with a dumbstruck look on his face. His eyebrows draw down. "Do I know you?"
Hugo stares at Rapunzel's husband, expression morphing from confused to carefully blank. "Definitely not."
"I do know you!" Eugene erupts, shifting Varian behind him and stalking forward "Hang on, are you that scrawny backstabbing brat who dropped a piano–"
"Gee, would you look at the time!" Hugo says, unsubtly backing away from Eugene in equal strides, sliding a sleeve up to check the wrist watch he doesn't have. "It was nice meeting everyone–"
He backs straight into Xavier, and for a moment gets a startled deer look in his eye and he turns and looks up at the sturdy blacksmith who has appeared in the doorway. Xavier pats his shoulder and chuckles deeply.
"Whatever your history with our prince consort, I think you will find people with bad apple histories don't stay bad apples for long in the Kingdom of Light," he says, a twinkle in his dark eyes.
Eugene continues to fume as he hovers by Rapunzel, Varian quickly running to greet Xavier along with Quirin while Nuru, Yong and Cassandra make conversation about accommodations for their stay in the castle. She couldn't have asked for a better almost-birthday gift, and the thought makes her gasp so loud that everyone looks at her.
"Varian," she says, forlorn. "We missed your birthday!"
Varian blinks. "Well, most of us had birthdays on the road, Princess. That's an occupational hazard of going on life-altering journeys. Right, guys?"
Nuru and Yong nod, but Hugo scratches behind his ear, unbothered. "I don't even have a birthday." At his companions' looks, he states matter-of-factly, "Orphan sob story, remember?"
Eugene hums in grudging agreement.
"You've never had a birthday? No cake or presents ever ?" Yong looks scandalized.
Hugo scowls. "You guys knew this already."
Nuru slugs his shoulder and he jumps back, hissing at her in offense. "That was before we actually cared about you, idiot!"
Rapunzel gasps again and over the sound of their devolving into argument, shouts, "I have a great idea!! Group. Birthday. Party!"
With the driving force of one very determined princess, it doesn't take long to plan a small (at Varian's insistence) but extravagant party. She insists that Varian and his new friends spend the next few days resting and having fun while she, Cass, Eugene and Lance set up the preparations. Decorating the dining hall would be easier if she still had 70 feet of hair to levy herself around to different beams of the room needing streamers, but a ladder is next best.
"Tape!" she calls, and Pascal runs up from the rung below her with a bit of tape extended. She takes it, humming cheerfully as she pins the blue ribbon in place.
"So..." Cass starts from where she's laying the table cloth down. "When I got your letter that Varian was going on a road trip, I didn't think that meant alone ."
It takes a moment for Rapunzel to shift from her decorating mindset into interpreting the meaning her friend implies. "Oooh, you mean because of his problem."
"Problem?" Lance interjects, placing plates of Atilla's catering onto the newly clothed table.
"I think the owl lady is referring to how you say 'jump' and he says 'how high'," Eugene says seriously. To Cass, "Trust me, it was not my idea to let him go alone. I was not for that. I've seen how quickly things can go south; I think we all have."
Cass hums, crossing her arms self-consciously. Rapunzel knows that she's been protective of Varian out of an abundance of guilt ever since her own redemption, and that it has something to do with whatever happened when she kidnapped him.
Rapunzel slides down the ladder, planting her feet on the floor. "Of course we worried for him, Cass, but he's grown a lot! It's not like we can tell him not to chase his destiny– er, well we could but that would be hypocritical. Besides, he came back to us just fine, and with new friends!" She grins conspiratorially and leans onto the table, cheeks in hand. "And a boyfriend ."
Eugene chokes on the sip of water he'd been taking. "What?!" he demands, outraged. "You- you mean that awful-haired beanpole? No, no way, all they do is argue!"
"That can be a love language," Lance points out, no doubt considering the amount of love his two girls have despite all their fighting.
"But–but– I was with them in Varian's old lab yesterday and they kept stealing each other's stuff!"
"Sounds like the nerd version of holding hands to me," Cass snorts, but she looks troubled. "As... sweet as it is, I can't say I entirely trust the guy. Something feels off about him."
"Do you think he knows about Varian's curse?" Eugene asks darkly, stepping close to her and becoming serious.
"Maybe," she sighs. "I really hope this Demanitus Library that they're opening up has something to help him." Everyone in the room nods in silent agreement.
Rapunzel puts her hands on her hips. "Well, I can't wait to put Varian and Hugo into situations together. I will water their love garden till it blooms. I am the gardener of love."
Her husband rolls his eyes but smiles. "That you are, Sunshine."
And the party that kicks off that very night is a success, if Rapunzel were to say so herself. The Coronan citizens Varian grew close with over the years come and it warms her heart to see them intermingling with the new ones he brought home with him: Yong being regaled by Angry and Catalina, Nuru talking emphatically with Xavier about a telescope design she'd like to commission, and Hugo–
Hugo hovering at Varian's side and teasing the boy at every opportunity into giving attention. It comes in the form of sneaking berries off of Varian's plate, of whispering things into Varian's ear that either earn him a laugh or a smack, of stealing Varian's goggles and holding them out of reach until Varian concedes some arbitrary point. Despite the air of annoyance her friend puts on, throughout the pestering Varian's smile remains, bright and unabashed like he's forgotten about it on his face as he leans into Hugo's bids for attention like a flower receiving light.
She knows Quirin picks up on it too, by the way Rapunzel meets his eyes behind the boy's heads and they exchange a knowing smile.
There is cake, music and dancing. Small gifts are exchanged among the friends at the center of the celebration, and – having played a small part in Varian's gift herself– she will admit she settles herself near the exchange to eavesdrop just a little.
"Rapunzel is an artist, and, well," Varian begins, looking at his friends, "I asked if she could paint these for us..." To each member, he hands out small canvas paintings.
"Oh my goodness," Nuru breathes. "It's beautiful!" The portrait portrays her among the stars. Yong is similarly enthralled with the drawing of himself framed by triumphant fireworks.
"What, I don't get a picture of me being the best alchemist in the seven kingdoms?' Hugo teases after peeking at the others, but his fingers brush reverently over his own gift: a painting of the four of them all together smiling out at the viewer.
Varian's face reddens and he rubs his arm self-consciously. "Well, you brought up how you never had birthdays because you didn't have a family. I wanted you to have something that shows... You do now."
Hugo goes slack-jawed, looking up with wide eyes.
"We're a family!" Yong cries, rushing to glomp onto Hugo's side in a tight hug. He awkwardly allows the group hug that it quickly becomes, and gazes at the painting until after Nuru and Yong have gone off to dance some more. When Varian comes back from retrieving a cup of water, Hugo clears his throat.
"Well–" The blond rubs the back of his neck. "I've never actually... given a gift before, and uh– I didn't do anything like this , but... You should know that this morning I synthesized a compound which I've decided to call Varinium." From out of his pocket he produces a vial of blue liquid, shaking it so it glows.
Varian blinks in surprise, then a lopsided grin splits his face. "Yeah, I guess I do deserve this. So, what does it do? Explode in people's faces? Inconsistently produce semi-useful results?"
Hugo grins slyly. "Well, the main reason is that it's surprisingly strong."
Rapunzel smothers her grin in the back of her hand to keep from giggling too loudly, but luckily any noise she might've made is covered by the sound of Varian himself cracking up.
...
The day they complete the Light Trial, Varian is excited to discover that when they combine all the totems they've earned so far, they form a miniature model of something that supposedly opens a portal into the Library for which the totems act as a key. He decides on his old chamber below the castle as the perfect place to build it.
His Coronan friends rotate through the chamber as it gets closer to construction as the feeling of excitement grows among them. Hugo seems antsy in particular, getting cross and looking after the many visitors with mutters of, "Doesn't this place have any security?" He can't stop pacing, suggesting Varian take more breaks, offering to take over. Varian doesn't understand, but he can't think too hard about it.
The Library is so close.
Varian suppresses a twinge of annoyance when Yong's voice interrupts his hyperfocus screwing in one of the last panels. "Varian, have you noticed this?"
When Varian tugs his goggles back and looks, he sees his young apprentice peering at the Light totem with squinted eyes. "Huh?"
"What's that, Sparkles?" Hugo asks, beelining for whatever Yong is pointing out.
"Something is written here. Not– not anything I understand, but you're the one who knows codes," Yong says, referring to Varian. Varian leans in– and smiles.
"I never thought I'd see this again," he says, but despite the years since his translation job helping Rapunzel, he's spent enough time staring at Demanitus' code to be able to recognize it like an old friend. "Demanitus, you mad genius. It's some kind of password phrase."
Demanitus certainly liked his puzzles. It makes Varian feel like this library is meant for him and his mom in that way– since they share a familiarity with codes and code breaking, based on the way she journaled and how he was able to crack it.
Hugo looks up sharply. "You mean... someone wouldn't be able to open the library without that code?"
"Well I'm glad you found it!" Nuru calls from where she's carrying over supplies. "That would be embarrassing if we got all this way and couldn't get the door open. You know how to read it, right, Varian?"
"Of course!" Varian chirps, but then he tilts his head. "Actually... I'll admit I'm a bit rusty with some of this. But I know exactly the book in Corona's library that will help me." He pulls a sheet of paper close to scribble down a copy then peels himself up.
Footsteps bound after him. "I'll come with you," Hugo says.
"Oh," Varian says dumbly, red coloring his face. "Um, I'll be right back..."
"No, no, you two can go," Nuru insists, smirking. Varian looks at her with wide eyes and she winks.
"We've got this," Yong adds, picking up a tool that is definitely not a screwdriver and heading for the part Varian left off on. Varian reaches out to correct him but then stalls.
"Fine, just...fine," he sighs. Hugo snickers and butterflies fill Varian's stomach at the crooked smile on the other boy's face. He can't help but smile a bit also, flushing harder and attempting to hide it by spinning on his heel to lead the way.
The library is empty save for the old librarian reading something at his desk and a worker browsing the shelves who doesn't even glance their way when Varian and Hugo walk in. Varian goes straight for the stacks he used to frequent back when translation study was his full-time job, and against his better judgment he can't seem to turn off his motor mouth, info-dumping and tripping over himself like an idiot as he looks for the familiar spine of the book he wants.
"--wait, a demon?"
Varian pauses, looking at Hugo who has a quizzical look on his face. "Huh?"
"You just said you fought a demon."
To be honest, Varian's not sure exactly what words have been coming out of his mouth. Get it together. "Oh. Yeah, well, I did. Not me personally– the princess and her friends did most of it– I just helped get the translations..."
Hugo stares a moment longer before taking a seat. "This kingdom is weird."
Varian grins, setting the heavy volume on the table beside him. "What, no demons in Ingvar?"
"Just the ones disguised as people."
"Ah." Varian taps his fingers on the table, momentarily stalling before he grabs for the book he wanted and flips it open. He pulls out the paper he wrote the Demanitus scrawl on and lays it out alongside the page filled with common symbols and their meanings. He's hyper aware of Hugo learning in and tries not to think about the closeness of their body heat as he traces the text with one finger. "Okay... Okay, just what I thought. I got it."
He snaps the book shut with self-satisfaction and Hugo blinks. "Aren't you going to write it down?"
Varian shrugs, carting the book back to its place on the shelf. "Well I–" he pauses at a judgemental cough from the librarian and wilts, placing the book onto a sorting cart instead. The librarian nods and Varian starts again, at a lower volume. "I can, but I don't think it's necessary. it's not like I'm going to forget."
"Still, it might be a good idea..." Hugo insists, fidgeting. Before Varian can respond, the other boy snags a notepad and quill from the center of the table and scoots them in his direction expectantly. Slowly Varian resumes his seat and takes them, but not without shooting a quizzical look Hugo's way.
"There," he says, holding it out for him to see.
Hugo's eyes dart across the line of text and he snorts. "A cheesy rhyme?"
"Oh, Demanitus loves cheesy rhymes," Varian confirms, withdrawing to fold the paper into his pocket and stand with a stretch. "Somehow the rhyme holds steady between translations, which is the real magic if you ask–"
"Varian," Hugo interrupts. There's an... odd expression on his face. He looks caught in a trance, eyebrows drawn minutely in discomfort and gaze not leaving Varian's vest wherein the translation disappeared. His mouth opens and his throat works as though there are words stuck in there that he can't quite get out. Then he raises a hand, palm up and says softly, "Let me hang onto it."
Unease knots in Varian's stomach unexpectedly and he tilts his head, considering Hugo's face a moment longer as he delays the instinct to obey. There's something wrong in the way Hugo won't meet his eyes, in the way that he said it. Deliberate.
But it wasn't intentionally an order, Varian argues with his irrational side. All his friends have accidentally ordered him around before, and this is by far one of the most harmless examples...
And this is Hugo . Hugo who has given no reason at all for Varian to feel such suspicion.
Before the knot in his stomach can intensify, Varian lowers a hand slowly back to the pocket and takes hold of the paper. He pauses, prompting Hugo to finally look up at him. Is it the fading sunlight glinting off his glasses, or is there something afraid behind his eyes?
Varian drops the translation into his waiting palm. Hugo's fingers close around it and withdraw in one quick motion, breaking the odd spell. A smile plasters on his face that looks like many other smarmy, confident smiles Hugo has given Varian over the past half a year, but somehow feels like a bad imitation at the same time.
"You have the memory of an elephant already, Goggles," Hugo says by way of explanation, still smiling wrongly. "You've gotta leave something for the rest of us to use."
"Heh, I guess that's fair," Varian says, returning a half-hearted smile of his own.
He shakes his head, trying to brush the whole interaction away. Hugo seems eager to do the same, and the two make quick work of starting up a more comfortable banter as they head back to the Demanitus chamber. Varian is even in the middle of a genuine laugh when they round the corner of the stairwell.
It's only when he looks up that the sound dies in his throat, the scene hitting him like a slap in the face and making him stumble back.
Nuru and Yong are where they left them, but now lay on the floor with legs trapped by crystals of adhesive alchemical compound and gags tied around their mouths, muffling their yells of warning.
"Guys! What happened?" Varian cries, rushing forward and leaning down to inspect Yong's bonds. His young friend looks behind him with wide eyes.
"Well," a new voice purrs, so maliciously self-satisfied that ice cascades through Varian's veins before he recognizes to whom it belongs. He whirls as a vice-like grip closes around one of his wrists. "Isn't it nice to see you again."
Donella of Ingvar grins down at him.
"You!" he growls, gritting his teeth and yanking away. He grabs for alchemical bomb, pulls his arm back to threaten her with it–
She calmly orders, "Drop it," and the pink goo splats to the ground uselessly, barely missing trapping his own two feet as he jumps back. "Oh, that is a fun little trick..." she muses. "What else can I make you do?"
Varian's heart sinks and he tugs at her hold helplessly. She grins.
" Don't you dare ," Hugo's voice hisses, low and threatening from behind. Donella turns to face him.
There's another guy, big and muscly and working for Donella if his Ingvarrian clothing is anything to go by, and he's got a tight grip on Hugo's upper arm. Hugo isn't fighting the hold but he is looking at Donella darkly, fists clenched and anger burning in his green eyes.
"Brat," she greets appraisingly, untouched by Hugo's heat.
She tosses Varian's hand away and clasps her hands behind her back, approaching Hugo as though coming to inspect the progress of any other project. She raises his chin with one finger and tuts when he pulls away from the touch. "I haven't heard from you in awhile. Did you think just because you stopped writing that I wouldn't find you when time came to collect? You know better than that."
Varian doesn't know what that means, so much is happening so fast, but he sees anguish twist Hugo's face and his chest tightens protectively. "Leave him alone!" he yells.
Donella actually laughs. "Oh, darling," she says. "You should thank me. In fact– yes. Thank me."
"Don!" Hugo yells angrily, kicking out against the guy holding him. Donella ignores him, her interest wholly in Varian.
"Th–" Varian bites his tongue till he tastes copper, and the nausea forces his jaw apart. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," she says diplomatically. "For allowing you to get this far, that is. The charade is done but I'm sure you had fun while it lasted. Once I see that what you've built is functional, the Library entrance will be disassembled and rebuilt in Ingvar, where it belongs." She gestures, and the shadows at the edges of the room step forward, shaping into a dozen or so Ingvarrian men. "Where it has always belonged, ever since your good-for-nothing mother stole it from me in the first place."
"You can't do this," Varian breathes, backing away. He turns– there, his alchemical staff.
"I think you'll find I can. Leave it," Donella says, and Varian's hands drop from his weapon as though burned. Desperately he casts about for something else and she doesn't even try to stop him, just watches in amusement as he grasps at a wrench instead. He barely turns and brandishes it as Donella shakes her head and points to the ground as if telling a dog to sit. "Nuh uh. Hands behind your back."
Varian curses, throwing as much resistance as he can into pushing his hands up against his head instead but it's like going against a magnetic field: the effort makes blood pound in his ears and his wrists shake, and after a handful of infinite seconds he falls to his knees with a gasp and bends down before her, hands chained to invisibly bindings at his back.
Disgust rolls through him; by his panting it seems he'd been holding up the sky, not something so little as trying not to obey.
Through the static in his ears he makes out shouting.
"Stop, just stop!" Hugo's voice is frantic, high-pitched with terror. "You got what you wanted, Don! Just leave him alone already! Cyrus, let me go !"
Through the gaps in his bangs Varian peers up to see the other boy straining against his captor, pale and wide-eyed. He inhales sharply as he meets Varian's gaze, and Varian burns with embarrassment.
Donella ignores Hugo with the indifference of a parent waiting out a child's tantrum, but the expression gives way to actual interest as Hugo reaches into his pocket and holds something out to her. She regards Varian with one last look of curiosity before strolling back and snatching whatever it is out of Hugo's hand.
At the same moment Varian's heart clenches in realization. "No!"
But it's too late and betrayal washes through him like nausea: Donella must recognize the paper because her eyes light up eagerly.
"So you did come through," she murmurs, tussling Hugo's hair roughly. "Good boy."
It's then that Varian is hit with two realizations simultaneously:
The first is that Donella and Hugo are displaying far too much familiarity for their relationship to have begun recently.
And the second...
"You knew," Varian breathes, denial in his tone even as he realizes it, the words tasting like ash. Hugo flinches back, shrinking in on himself. "You knew all along."
Hugo goes a shade of gray like he's going to be sick. The grunt holding him lets go and he takes a step forward, hand reaching out as though he could recall this whole situation. "Varian, I..."
Varian shrinks back.
He's thinking, trying to look back and pinpoint when he'd started to relax around Hugo. It was subconscious, but he can see in rearview– it was because Hugo never gave orders. He must've figured it out, saved it... because he was never on Varian's side, was he?
Hugo doesn't pick up from where he trailed off.
And something in Varian cracks.
"Oh, yes," Donella relishes, bypassing both of them in favor of approaching the machine that's effectively just become hers. "Hugo is always good at playing his parts, that's why I gave him this assignment in the first place— "
Nuru sucks in a breath so sharply that Varian looks at her. She's shaking her head and to her side Yong's eyes shine with tears of disbelief.
"—but letting me in on your little secret was a special prize," Donella finishes. "One of the marks is a teenager who does whatever he's told? Now, that's not something you hear about every day."
"That's not how it happened!" Hugo refutes, but he's just standing there, looking between his friends pleadingly. His gaze lingers on Varian. "I wouldn't, I didn't, I-I never mean for this to happen—"
There's a ringing in Varian's ears that superimposes over everything else. He's vaguely aware that more is said, that Donella isn't done gloating as she puts the key into the portal and uses the code to bring it to life. There's an explosion of light and wind gusting into the cavern of Demanitus' chambers underneath the castle of his favorite kingdom and Donella's wide smile is lit harshly with green-white light as she beholds the spiraling door with awe, her Ingvarrians around them backing away, but Varian is registering it as though it happens to someone else. He's gone numb.
In the chaos that his world has become he feels a hand grip his arm and looks up to see Hugo pulling him to his feet, mouth moving soundlessly. He takes Varian's hands and Varian snaps back into his body with vicious clarity.
He pushes back.
Over the wind Varian hears the other boy yelling, "Varian, I can explain. If you just listen—"
In one fluid movement Varian snaps up his alchemical staff and points it directly at Hugo's chest like a sword, eyes blazing despite the tears that he can now feel budding at their corners. Hugo freezes, expression raw and heartbroken. Varian doesn't care. He doesn't care. He doesn't care.
He growls, "Do not tell me what to do."
He turns and launches a bomb into the controls of the portal, which jam as it begins to shut off. Lightning arcs over the panels of the machine and Donella shrieks in outrage.
Just before the portal blinks out of existence, Varian pushes forward and disappears into a blinding white light.