WHY DO I HAVE TO BE ALWAYS SO DAMN INCONSISTENT?! AAAAAAAHHHHHH!
Hello everyone, and sorry about being so very late... yet... again, but now that I'm back I'm back with a big one! I really hope it can make up for the wait, so I won't stall you any longer. Let's go!
Varian shook the vial violently, but all he got was a little flickering.
"Come on, you stupid... Come on!" He mumbled agitatedly, as he kept shaking, and a few seconds later, its blue glow returned. It wasn't as strong as it should have been, but at least it was there.
"Will it last?" The princess asked nervously.
"It better. It's the only one left." He replied, as he placed it carefully on the tallest shelf he could reach.
"Okay, so what are we looking for?"
"I don't know. A key, a map, something that would open a secret door... Anything that could help us get out of here." He said and turned to the large bookshelf in search of a way out (and maybe something more...), while cradling a sleeping, yet tense Rudiger in one arm.
He wasn't gonna lie, it would be more convenient to let him sleep on the floor nearby, but after all they went through today, he couldn't leave him. They both needed each other at the moment.
Regina stared at them for a while, but she quickly turned to the bookshelf as well, trying again to ignore that stupid, stinging feeling (and so much more...).
Going through the witch's stuff seemed to be their best, and actually only, choice, since they had turned the place upside down and still weren't been able to find any way out. She was the one that trapped them in the first place, after all. But as time was going by and the vial was starting to flicker, neither of them managed to find anything other than some other scrolls written in that ancient language, which all looked almost exactly the same as the one Varian took before.
"How many do we have now?" The young alchemist asked with a groan, after rolling up another scroll.
"I don't know... Eighty nine... Ninety nine... After forty seven I lost count." The princess replied wearily, sinking into a pile of scrolls. "This is hopeless..."
With narrowed eyes and another groan, Varian immediately turned back to the half-empty bookshelf, but he didn't reach out to take another scroll. And probably it wouldn't even matter...
This is hopeless...
Even before he heard those words, he could feel them. With every copy he found, with every flicker of the vial. Still he tried to push it down and keep looking, refusing to let go of the only lead he- they had left... And now he could only stare, struggling to keep himself from ripping every damned scroll to pieces, or from throwing the vial to the ground, to extinguish that bright blue glow above his head... His only source of light, which almost seemed to be mocking him. As if it was reminding him of its existence the one moment, and the next that it would soon be gone and leave him alone in the darkness.
"Hey, uh..." The princess suddenly came next to him, trying to meet his distant, forlorn gaze. "Listen, I don't really know how to do this, but... I got something that's been bugging me."
The young alchemist didn't respond in any way. Only for a short moment did his eyes drift to the side to look at her, before he quickly returned to his previous task.
"Excuse me, I'm right here! How dare you ignore me? What's wrong with you?" She huffed, putting her hands on her hips.
"You mean other than everything else that's already happened today?" he deadpanned as he kept rummaging through the shelves, his movements tense and in a way mechanical.
"You drop that attitude, and look at me when I'm talking to you! This is important!"
"Oh, really? How important exactly? More important than finding a way out of here before our last light source dies?" Varian said and turned to her, his voice tense with an agitation he was struggling to hide.
"Well... I-I..." She stuttered, taking a step back with a worried, doubtful look.
Varian immediately turned away again, before she could see him mirroring that look. "Just... keep looking."
He knew better than carrying on with this conversation. It was already starting to turn into a fight and the last thing he needed at the moment was to partake in it. Everything was enough of a mess as it was...
Regina stayed put, stuck in her place by mixed feelings. On the one hand, she was fuming and ready to throw another fit at him. But on the other... She simply stood there, her eyes drifting around nervously, contamplating what to do, as she wrapped her arms around her stomach again. In the end, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, bracing herself for whatever was to come (from him starting to yell, to her throwing up):
"I'm sorry."
Completely caught off guard, the young alchemist dropped some scrolls from a shelf. For a moment he remained frozen, before he turned to face her. "Wait, what?"
"UGH! Will you seriously make me say this again?! I'm. Sorry! For runnning off. For getting us stuck down this pit. For this whole ordeal with the witch and whatever was that happened with you before. This... this is all my fault..." She blurted out, as the frustration on her face was slowly fading with every word.
As she finished, her eyes locked with Varian's, this time showing clearly what she had tried to hide, and she could feel it getting stronger, more painful each second.
Varian opened his mouth to speak, but before he could utter a word-
"There, I said it! You can go back to searching now." She spat and immediately sat down with her back against the bookshelf and her knees to her chest, avoiding eye contact and slightly trembling.
Well, there was a familiar sight. But this time, it felt somehow different. As surprising as it was, this time the young alchemist could see more than just a trembling, nervous girl. He could see something honest, something regretful. And probably that was why it felt a lot stranger to try and talk to her. After giving a glance at the vial, he took a soft breath and sat beside her, wishing he was making the right choice.
"How come?" He asked in a calm tone.
"Huh? What do you mean 'How come?'?" She asked back, unsure of what had been more odd. The question itself, or the way he asked it? "You didn't want me to?"
"Well, it's just... I didn't really think you would. I called you out on... almost all of this before and you kept insisting it was my fault."
"I know... And I still stand by that choice. Above all, a princess must have pride!" She acknowledged, that snobbish tone coming back in her voice.
Varian rolled his eyes, stiffling a chuckle. "Uh huh... And what made you let go of your pride now?"
"...What I saw earlier." She finally turned and face him, a hint of sadness in her eyes.
Hearing her, Varian shuddered, as a sense of discomfort and fear washed over him. He tried to suppress those feelings, but they were pretty clear and not to the princess alone.
Rudiger thrashed a little in his arms, softly gritting his teeth. Apparently Varian wasn't the only one having nightmares.
He started running his hand across his friend's back and whispering reassurances, trying to ease him... and himself.
Given that neither dared to speak a word, the conversation seemed that it would probably end there. And even though they wouldn't mind at all if it did, deep down they knew that this time that couldn't be the case.
"You... you really scared us, you know..." The princess carried on. "For a moment we thought you were gone. For good."
"I thought so too." He held Rudiger tighter as he spoke, lowering his head with his eyes squeezed shut.
For a second, Regina was about to reach out her hand, but again she quickly retreated it. That little conversation, with them tiptoeing around each other and around this whole thing that happened before... they both felt so strange in completely different ways, with the second one being the more pressing of the two (at the moment). He probably wouldn't like it if she asked, and she probably wouldn't like it if he answered. But what she saw back there, it felt far too familiar to be dismissed.
"So... what happened then? How did you escape her?" She asked in an almost fearful tone.
Varian immediately turned away, a look of shock exploding in his face. He should have known it would come, but he hoped it wouldn't be now. He still didn't have anything yet... and he dreaded to admit it. But then he looked at those scrolls he dropped. All of them that were lying all around them, some opened some rolled up.
"I don't know what happened exactly..." He finally answered, staring at the ground, a struggle heard in his voice. "She trapped me in a world of darkness. It kept pulling me down and I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak... I'm not sure if I could even breathe. And then... I saw something. A distant light. And there was a voice behind it, singing a song. I think... they brought me back."
The princess eyed him with uncertainty, as he stroke his uneasy raccoon again. "Are you... telling the truth?"
"Yeah. Why would I lie?" He asked, sounding matter-of-factly, but looking almost shocked.
"Because I think you're hiding something." She replied, attempting (and failing) to harden her tone. "I saw you. Your eyes and your hair started glowing and you were reciting some strange stuff. You trapped that witch in a blue... shimer-cloud... thing. And you burned her!" She kept going, her words shocking Varian and scaring her. "You can't tell me that you're not hiding anything after this. She called you a wizard before. And I've-" She suddenly stopped herself.
"What? You've what?" He asked, his tone steady and still shocked, yet almost demanding.
Regina remained silent, picking carefully her next words. "...Remember yesterday? What you said about Gothel... claiming she was your mother?"
Anger flared in Varian's eyes. "Are you saying that...?"
"Listen, I know how messed up it sounds, but I've seen her do something similar. That's how she killed my parents... I'm just saying that maybe she-"
"No, she's not! She's not my mother, do you hear me?! She's not!" He called out, making her recoil a little.
Realizing, only when he stopped, that he had stood up and Rudiger had ran to a corner of the room. With a regretful expression, he quickly went and kneeled next to him. He found him facing the walls, whimperring softly, and his entire body was trembling.
The moment the raccoon noticed his friend was there, he came slowly, almost carefully into the hug he offered. But he still wouldn't calm down, no matter how tight the hug was, no matter how many the pets and the reassurances were. Varian had to do something else, but-
...
...He gave a glance behind him and caught the princess staring at him, hugging her knees. And as soon as she saw him looking, she looked away. And Rudiger didn't seem to be getting any better...
After letting out a sigh, Varian gently shushed his friend, before he begun:
The sun is down
Stars are twinkling in the sky
The moon is out
You're safe in my embrace tonight
Our love's as constant as the stars that shine bright up above
And with this love and the night's soft breeze,
I've built for you a home...
Just sleep, my dear
Let your worries fall behind
And don't you fear
I am not going to leave your side
And if there ever comes a night that I... can't be with you...
You'll hear the moon whisper for me:
...I love you too
As he finished, he sniffled a bit, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. Part of him hurt singing that song, but somehow he still couldn't help but feel like he needed it too. And it appeared that it had worked, as Rudiger had fallen asleep again. Varian looked at the sword, tempted to bring it out again. But after what he heard from the princess, he quickly turned his attention to Rudiger again.
"Hey..." The princess said awkwardly, after a few seconds, before sitting beside him. "Is your raccoon okay?"
"...Yes." The young alchemist answered, sounding almost hollow.
"Uh huh. Okay."
An uncomfortable silence was quick to settle between the two, but it wasn't long before it was broken.
"How are you so sure?" She asked.
He didn't look away from his sleeping friend as he answered"...Because... Because I remember her. In a way."
"What do you mean?"
"...I remember how I felt when she was around. How warm it felt when she held me. How happy I was when I could hear her voice or see her face..." He was hesitant to reply, and, just as it happened when he sang the lullaby, it hurt to say those things. So, why did he keep speaking... and more importantly, why could he feel a smile starting to appear on his face? "And all I ever felt around Gothel was anger and... and fear." His smile faded, as he remembered that night again. "So, there's no way, my mother is her anything like her...!"
"If I'm allowed to ask... what happened to your mother?" Regina asked, bracing for another outburst.
But Varian merely shrugged, as a saddened expression appeared on his face. "I really wish I knew that myself. My father never told me. He... He didn't really like talking about her. And especially about the day we lost her."
She reached her hand out to him, but this time with less hesitation than before, and she touched his shoulder, giving him a tight squeeze and earning herself yet another stare of surprise from him.
"I'm sorry..." She said softly, her eyes never leaving his.
Slowly and hesitantly like her, Varian placed his hand over hers and gave her the weakest of smiles, before guiding her hand off his shoulder.
She returned the smile, if only for a second, before they both went back to the bookshelf.
"Now what?" She asked. "I don't think we have much time."
"I guess we make the most of it." He said, and they both turned to the scrolls that were still on the shelves.
But then Varian noticed the ones he had dropped. He kneeled to look through them, and then:
"Princess, I think I found something!"
And that's how it ends. The chapter, that is. Gotta go, but I'll see you soon (I hope) Bye everyone! And please stay safe and healthy! (Also please leave a review) :)