AN: Okaaaaaay, so this is my first time actually writing something on , and it's a lot more complicated than Wattpad, so I have no idea how the formatting and stuff is going to come out as.

Other than that, please give me useful criticism (if anyone even reads this). I have the plot mostly planned out, so yeah, but if anyone wants any small scenes, tell me!

Oh, and last thing, I, um, didn't really watch Tangled the Series, only read the summaries for a couple episodes on the fandom wiki. So I'm really really really sorry for anything not in-character. If you think something's off, tell me immediatly!

Thanks, and I hope you enjoy.

The first rays of sunlight shone through Corona. Citizens woke up, and some launched themselves into various tasks, while others curled up back into their covers, mumbling for a couple more minutes.

But there were a couple places, underground, that the cheery sun couldn't reach. The deep dungeons, for example.

The normal dungeons had a single window, near the ceiling, crisscrossed with iron bars, allowing a gloomy sample of sunlight to filter through and light up the place. But a couple prisoners had managed to use that window in various ways to escape, even with the height, guards, and bars. So the king was not willing to risk putting the most dangerous criminals in a cell with windows.

Instead, he decided to put Corona's number one enemy, along with some others, in the deep dungeons, where security was doubled. There were no windows, and the lights were placed outside the cells, turned on at all times, even night.

This "number one enemy" was currently sitting on the edge of his bed, cursing many things at once. For one, how was he supposed to sleep here? Not only was the "bed" a slab of cold metal, but those blasted lights were keeping him constantly awake.

A mildly flexible bowl (probably so he couldn't break it and use the shards as weapons) was shoved through the small metal grate. Varian looked up to see one of the servants hurriedly locking the small door and scurrying away.

Sighing, Varian reluctantly stood up. Ruddiger, his faithful raccoon, followed at his heels as Varian picked up the bowl and carried it back to his bed.

What was it with the food? Every day there were two meals, and every time it was a disgusting-smelling brown sludge thing. Varian felt a weak urge to study the ingredients through his machine.

Except. Of course. He didn't have his machines any more.

He looked down at the bowl. Someone, probably as a cruel joke, had snuck in a purple cookie - his own invention, laced with truth serum - into the bowl. It was sinking through the "soup", as the prison guards called it. Yeah, right. Soup. As if.

Varian reached through the sludge and pulled the cookie out, then stared at it for a moment, actually considering eating it. Pete, who he had first given the cookie to, had marveled at how delicious it was under the effect of the truth serum. But then he thought of what the guards could question him about, particularly about his dad and Rapunzel and how he felt about kidnapping the queen, and gave the cookie to Ruddiger instead.

The raccoon snapped up the cookie eagerly, the first sweet thing in weeks, and Varian felt a pang of guilt. The poor animal had been cooped up with him in this cell, where there was no sunlight, no apples, no fields and no bushes. Only the constant flickering light of lanterns, unidentifiable gloop to eat, cold metal walls, and slightly rusty bars.

"I'm sorry," Varian muttered, stroking the small critter's head with bare hands, and averting his gaze to the wall. Ruddiger, who had finished the sugary treat and was now licking the crumbs off his paws, gave a chitter.

"I know you freed Pascal," Varian suddenly said, eyes still on the wall, and the raccoon froze. "That's the only way he could have escaped and freed the king."

The boy finally looked down, fingers absently running through Ruddiger's fur. "But it's good you did that," Varian said softly. "Imagine… imagine if I actually killed any of them. The queen, the king, Rapun- I mean, the princess." He paused for a second, realizing that saying Rapunzel's name felt so wrong, so awkward, like an axle too big for the wheels. He shakily continued, "The whole kingdom would fall apart. No one left to rule. Well," he gave a dry chuckle, "I suppose Eugene could have done it, but..."

Varian was not liking how this conversation - if it counted as a conversation, with one end only being able to chitter - was going. "Anyways, my point is, I forgive you." And those words felt even more wrong. What position did he have to forgive this creature, the one he had experimented on and ignored? "I- I mean, I'm glad that you did it. And you didn't have to stay with me. I'm sorry you're stuck in here with me, really sorry."

Varian swallowed. He knew that the truth serum worked on all mammals and birds as well, and by eating that cookie, Ruddiger was under the effects as well. But using such a crude way to ask this question made him feel queasy. But he had to ask. He had to know the truth. In barely a whisper, Varian asked, "Ruddiger, I experimented on you and made you a horrible m-monster." He gave a small shudder, remembering what he had done. "I did bad things. I tricked the princess into stealing the sun flower, then took it. I kidnapped the queen. I made replicas of the automatons, and attacked the people. I- I threatened the king and-" his voice cracked, and Varian buried his head in his hands, unable to bear it any longer. His voice and shoulders shaking with sobs, he said in a muffled voice through his fingers, "And even now, I just fed you truth serum. Truth serum! Just to ask… just to ask..."

Ruddiger chittered nervously, pawing at Varian's prison outfit, which was a bright orange vest (so that it was easily recognizable) with about a million clasps on the back (so it would be hard to take off).

"... do you forgive me?"

If Varian had been looking at Ruddiger, he would have seen the answer in those dark brown eyes. But the boy was cradling his head in his hands, not looking at the raccoon.

Ruddiger chittered softly, and clambered onto Varian's shoulders, gently caressing the boy's cheek.

Varian lifted his head slowly, blinking away tears, and reached up to pet Ruddiger's head, hoping that this was a yes.

The raccoon made a purring noise, leaning into the touch. Of course he would stand by Varian forever. Ruddiger loved the boy, just as he knew that Varian loved him back. Maybe he had made some mistakes, maybe a lot of mistakes, but the raccoon knew how Varian truly was inside.

And Ruddiger would do anything to bring the real Varian back.

A couple cells away, a group of prisoners studied the boy and his raccoon, exchanging whispers.

"Do you think the boy will be useful, Andrew?"

"Yes. And I think I know just the way to get to him."