You slurred your steps. You dreaded this, you really did. But you couldn't very well march up to the king and queen now, to tell them 'Oh, I changed my mind, I don't want to talk to Varias.'.
Was his name even Varias?
You forgot. Why did the guy have such an unusual name anyway?
You walked down the steps that led to the cells, your willingness to run away and never show your face again growing with each passing seconds.
But, when you were prepared to actually do so, you had already arrived. And the guards nodded to you, indicating that they saw you and knew of your arrival.
So it would've been embarrassing to turn and run off then.
'Might as well get this over with.'
You shone them a forced smile, and they let you through. Seemed like you had to find his cell on your own.
Most of the cells were unoccupied. The few that were occupied had criminals in them who were glaring at you.
Other than that, the walls were damp and covered in moss. One could hear water dripping from the ceiling, and it felt more like a cave than a prison. The thing you had immediately noticed was the dim light.
Even for a prison, this place seemed too run down. You didn't have much experience with prisons, but you were sure that it should've been in a much better state than it was.
Ah. How charming.
You had almost reached the last few cells when you spotted him. The boy whose name was in everyone's mouths these days.
He didn't look as cruel as you would've imagined him to, after creating an army of automatons that destroyed everything in their paths. Hadn't it been for the black rocks, they would've nearly been indestructible.
Well, to be fair, you couldn't see his face. His back was turned to you, and he stared at the one barricaded window, the one source of light in his cell.
A raccoon slept soundly at his side, and you wondered why it was there - it couldn't be a criminal too, could it?
It didn't matter anyway.
The king and queen had already entrusted you with a key to his cell, which you tightly clutched in your hand. But you weren't ready to step foot into his cell just yet, he could attack you and escape for all you knew.
Luckily, they had been kind enough to place a chair in front of the bars. That way, you didn't have to come into direct contact with him just yet.
You cleared your throat, but he gave no sign of having heard you. So, with a sigh, you sat down onto the chair.
You had practiced this. It was basically a script. You just had to say 'Hello, my name is (Y/N). I'm here today to help. What's your name?' ... you didn't feel like getting his name wrong, even though you had heard it a million times by then. That would be a horrible first impression.
"Hello, my name is (Y/N). I am here-"
The alchemist sighed in pure annoyance, turning around with an unreadable expression.
"Cut the bull. I know why you're here. And I am not interested in talking to you. Just shoo."
"You know, I would, but it's kind of my job to-"
"Yeah, yeah, believe me, I've heard it all before. I get that it's your job, I get that you get paid, but you're wasting your time."
"I wouldn't call it wasting my time."
"Right. I don't know you, you don't know me. I don't trust you, you sure as hell don't trust me. Just look at you, all tense, even with these bars separating us"
He rattled the bars for emphasis, a ghost of a smile on his face before his face fell at your non-reaction.
"This won't amount to anything. I can assure you, I will not open up to you, nor anyone. Might want to write that down for the report."
You glanced at the paper that you had neatly placed on your lap, frowning in frustration.
Right, you still had to fill that out.
Name, Name of the criminal, notes about the conversation, goal.
You tapped your quill on the paper.
"Your name?"
"Hm?"
"I asked you for your name."
"Oh. Varian. Don't wear it out."
Ah, his name was Varian. Well, Varias wasn't too far off.
You quickly scribbled it down.
But you weren't going to write 'no compliance' into the currently empty conversation field. You weren't going to be satisfied with that.
"Okay. Varian. Look, I don't want to be here either, alright? I don't want to talk to you. I see no reason to help you. To be frank, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing here."
You took a deep breath, closing your eyes for a brief moment
"There is nothing that's holding me here. I'm not saying you're a lost cause, because I don't think that, and I can't fathom the amount of pain you must've gone through to make you commit the crimes you have either."
You glared at him through the iron bars keeping you apart, although he probably couldn't see it anyway, due to the lack of light
"And I definitely didn't come here to hear you whine about your life, if that's what you were thinking. There is nothing that can excuse your actions. But there for sure is an explanation. I'm here to try and help you sort through your emotions. I am not here to play all buddy-buddy with you. Your actions affected people, and I can't forgive you for that. The only thing I want, is for you to at least tolerate my existence and to at least give me a shred of information. I am not going to leave empty handed."
That shut him up.
Varian stared at you for a few seconds.
Well, he definitely hadn't heard that before. To a degree, it was kind of refreshing to hear someone who didn't just sugar-coat everything and who didn't belittle him.
But it also annoyed him. Two emotions that didn't mix very well.
At least you weren't as bad as the other ones. He could give you that. You were intriguing in the slightest.
Maybe that was just his insanity talking. He hadn't had much contact to people after being thrown into jail.
At least he had the luxury of having a cell of his own, for now.
But the way you glared at him through the bars of his cell, with so much determination, made it known that you would definitely stay there until you got your progress.
He took a closer look at you, which was kind of hard with the lack of light. He could barely make out your features, but you looked vaguely familiar.
"Hey, aren't you (L/N)'s kid?"
"I'm pretty sure that I'm a bit older than you. But yes, I am."
"Tell your parents I said thanks for the glass spheres they custom made for me. I appreciated it."
"Don't switch the subject."
Varian clicked his tongue, leaning back lazily.
The light from the window illuminated his face, and that was the first time you could truly see him.
His eyes were a bit red and swollen, making it obvious that he had been crying.
It was a bit too early to bring that up though, so you kept quiet. He would've gotten defensive, you were sure of it.
After a short while, he gave you the bit of information you wanted.
"Rapunzel."
"The princess?"
"Yep. Might want to start with her. That's all I'm telling you."
Well, that wasn't much, but it sufficed. For now.
Now you just had to ask for an audience with the princess.
Notes:
- he seems to carry some dislike towards princess Rapunzel
Goal:
- gaining Varian's trust