Trigger warnings: mentions of concussion, injuries, self-deprecation, panic attacks, mentions of past abuse, gaslighting
Their feet slid across the falling rubble, skidding, slipping, unable to find purchase in the depth of the wreckage that crashed and collided around them. Cold light filtered around them, just enough for them to see the broken stones and branches that threatened to knock them out. They bounced from perch to perch, dancing in a dangerous maze as they spiraled further and further down. Adira's sword shattered a block as it spun towards their heads. Hands clenched tightly together, they dropped gracefully through the center of the Tree, the dying light of the vines flickering distantly below them.
Hector yanked Adira off course as a boulder bounced off a wall and flew towards them. He sprang off a ruined wall and pulled her along, their movements perfectly in sync. Their years of training as a team rushed back, and he was aware of her every move and breath. When one depended on their siblings to keep them alive, they learned every habit, every gesture, every pattern of thought. They were a single unit, their blood-bond forged in the heat of battle, one mind in two bodies. And oh, how he'd missed that! How the aching loneliness pierced at him day by day, longing for his siblings to return and fight by his side, rest by his side, in war or peace. They were a part of him, and the years away had carved a hole in his heart. For all their fighting, for all their disagreements, for all their declarations that they were better off on their own, for every time they battled each other with blood in their minds and pain in their hearts, they all knew it was a lie. They all knew they missed a part of themselves when they were apart. It was a bond only rivaled by the truest love of a soulmate. Hector supposed that was why Quirin left; he found that truer love. It didn't hurt any less, though, knowing that. He'd tried to be happy for him, but that was like being happy with someone cutting off his left arm. He'd missed his siblings, blast it, and if he would never see Quirin again and would likely lose Adira again once this was all over, he'd enjoy the time he had with his sister, even if it was for a cause he wished had never come to pass.
The ground rushed up below them, the last vestiges of the green glow fading from sight. The Tree continued to collapse as they slid across the wreckage and rolled to a stop at the bottom. The rubble rained down among them as their eyes scanned the pit, searching for the blue of the spear to light their way. They dodged the debris as they ran, their expert balance challenged by the dangerous footing below.
"Varian!" Hector yelled. "Varian, where are you? Talk to me, please!" Beside him, Adira was calling as well. Dust coated the wounds on his arm and head and lodged in his throat. He coughed and kept yelling. Varian might already be buried. Might be dead.
He shut that line of thinking down immediately. His kid had come too far to die now. He had to have faith. Varian was fine, just maybe dazed or unconscious.
A large piece of wood, torn from the walls of the Tree, ricocheted toward them. They ducked and rolled, never losing their grip on each other's hand. As they leaped up, Adira suddenly pulled him off to the right. A section of stone wall slammed into where they had been standing and tumbled forward. They dove against the base of a rock as the wall crashed down on them, stopping inches above their heads. Hector started to move out from under it, but Adira pulled him back. She screamed something in his ear, the sound dulled by the thundering around them. She leaned closer and tried again.
"We have to wait it out!"
He shook his head, ignoring the searing pain in it that had only grown worse with the current circumstances. Varian was out there! He couldn't afford to wait it out! He started to pull away, but Adira yanked him back down and wrapped her arms around him, pressing his head to her shoulder. "We can't do anything for him now!"
He hated to admit she was right. But just the fact that she was holding him, restraining him, comforting him even, meant she was serious. He sagged against her side, letting her keep him in place, listening to the sound of his home falling to pieces around him while his nephew was out there defenseless.
O‴O‴O‴
It was ages before the booming, clattering devastation slowed to an end. Hector wasn't overly given to emotions, but the sound of his home falling apart in the darkness tore at him inside. As sunlight finally drifted through the haze, he and Adira pushed their way out of their hiding place and looked around. The Tree was, surprisingly, somewhat intact, though ruined beyond repair. The shell still stood, morning light pouring in through gaping holes in the sides. Hector blinked and shielded his eyes as pain stabbed through his head, noting Adira watching him strangely. He'd nearly forgotten about his concussion.
They stumbled to their feet, still clinging to each other, and looked around. Hector placed thoughts of the destruction from his mind and focused on the task at hand. If Varian was okay, he wouldn't care about anything else. All that mattered was his boy's safety.
Step after careful step, they picked through the remains. The piles underneath them swayed dangerously. "Varian!" Hector screamed, his throat raw. "Where are you?" The Tree was massive, and it could take hours or even days to search. Varian might not have that kind of time.
A screech from above dragged his eyes up. Artemis glided down through the Tree to circle them. Then she flew on, her bright eyes piercing through the ruin. "Attagirl," Hector rasped.
It pained him to know Adira had probably been right in trying to make him leave the Tree. He could have come back when the Tree settled and looked for Varian then instead of risking his own life as well as Adira's. But he'd promised he wouldn't leave Varian. He had no intention of doing so now. He'd never forgive himself if he had a chance to save him and didn't take it.
Artemis called to them from the distance, circling a few feet above the ground. The warriors slipped and tumbled over to the hawk. Laying against the stones, a pale, half-buried body stuck out from under a makeshift shelter of brick, much like their own. Hector rushed forward, letting go of Adira and dropping to his knees beside the boy. His sister disappeared from his side. "Varian? Varian, talk to me! Tell me you're okay!" He ripped off his glove and placed his fingers against the boy's throat, feeling for a pulse. He nearly cried when he found it.
Varian stirred at the touch and flinched away with a whimper. Hector withdrew his hand. "Var, kid, it's me! It's Hector. I'm here. You're gonna be okay. I'm here now." Varian's eyes fluttered open, dust lacing his thick lashes. He squinted in the sudden light, and Hector shifted to let his shadow cross over him.
He was alive. Thank all that was holy, he was alive! Dazed, disoriented, covered in blood, but blessedly alive.
"Glad you're okay," Hector choked out. "Now I'm gonna kill you."
Varian's eyes widened in fear.
"Crap! Sorry. Old inside joke. I'm not—you're gonna be fine." Being around Adira again had brought up old habits and phrases he'd nearly forgotten. That sort of talk was okay for his siblings, but not for his battered nephew.
Adira came up beside him. "Thank goodness," she breathed. "I found the lady-in-waiting. She's better off than him. Let's get him out and leave." She knelt down to start unburying the child.
"Wait!" Hector ordered. He searched around until he found a small piece of smooth wood. "Bite this, kid." Varian opened his mouth slightly for Hector to slip the wood between his teeth. "Ready?"
Varian nodded, wincing as he did so. Hector and Adira reached for the sheltering stone and lifted it gently, setting it off to the side. Then they started digging him out from under the rest of the remnants. Varian hissed and grimaced but otherwise made no sound. When one of the rocks came off his chest, he bit down on the wood hard enough to crack it.
Hector struggled to control his temper. Another part of the damage these people had caused. Varian had been so quiet when they met, afraid that his screams of pain would result in punishment. He'd done better since then, willing to let on when something hurt him, but Hector had worried he'd fall back into his old habit of biting himself to keep silent. Hence the wood.
Tears collected in the corners of his nephew's eyes as they continued to unbury him. Aside from a slight gasp here and there, he was silent as—well, as a tomb. His eyes stared, unfocused, at a spot somewhere off in the distance.
Every action pained Hector probably almost as much as it hurt Varian. Every little noise he made, every time he cut himself off quickly, sent daggers into the warrior's heart. As he worked, his brain pounded with unhelpful reminders. This is your fault. You were supposed to protect him. You weren't quick enough. You were right there and you couldn't grab his hand. He's in pain because of you. If you hadn't sent him back to the Tree in the first place, he wouldn't be hurt right now.
They kept working, hands moving rapidly and carefully, Hector trying to keep his mind from going into shutdown. You said you were never going to hurt him again. You just stormin' said that and look at him now.
"Hector." Adira placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't."
He didn't have to ask. He knew her. And she knew him. He nodded. Years of training kicked in, and he shoved his emotions to the side to deal with once the situation had been resolved. His siblings had been injured before, and the immediate circumstances had to be taken care of first. The mental stuff went into a corner to be sorted later.
They pulled the last of the stones and wood off the boy. Hector breathed a sigh of relief as he got a full look at his nephew. Nothing looked to be broken, at least not at a glance. His ribs would need to be checked. He had fallen on the dead and dormant vines—Hector reminded himself to check later and make sure the spear was safely embedded in them, just in case—and the stone that had fallen over him had sheltered him from the worst of the destruction.
He was going to be okay.
Hector reached down to lift the boy into his arms. Varian gasped and shrank away, moaning a little as he moved.
"What now?" Adira asked. "We have to move him, but we don't know the extent of his injuries. And we can't check him out here."
He weighed their options. "Nothing for it. We have to get him out of here. I'll get him. You get the other one. I don't trust myself not to stab her if I see her."
Adira stood and returned to where she had found the handmaid. While she fetched her, Hector set about helping Varian. "I'm gonna pick you up now, 'kay? It's probably going to hurt like the dickens, so take a deep breath."
Varian nodded shakily. Hector slipped an arm under his back, grimacing at the soft cry of fear and pain his nephew gave despite his attempts to keep quiet. He carefully extricated him, gathering him into his arms with all the care and caution of a mother. Not that he knew anything about that; he couldn't even remember his own mother. Or father, for that matter.
He remembered the first time he had rescued Varian and carried him to safety. He'd been an absolute idiot then, throwing the boy over his shoulder despite his obvious injuries. He was more careful now, gently supporting his head as it leaned against Hector's chest.
"Hector?" Adira had slung the girl who had caused this mess over her shoulders and returned to them. "About Quirin…"
Varian, lying tense and stiff in Hector's arms, flinched. Hector looked down at the boy and shook his head. "Later."
"Please. At least tell me what the princess had to do with it."
He weighed his words carefully. "She made a promise then didn't keep it. Varian and Quirin paid the price."
"Didn't or couldn't?"
"Didn't."
They fell silent as they picked their way through the ruin. At the wall of the pit, they stopped and looked up. "What's the plan?" Hector asked. "We could climb, but I don't want to hurt Varian."
"I'll climb and throw down a rope," Adira offered.
A blonde head peered over the edge. "There they are! Guys, I found them!" Several more heads joined the first. "Okay, hold on! We made a sling!"
A makeshift stretcher was lowered down by ropes. Adira nodded to Hector. "Take Varian first."
He placed the child on the stretcher and tied the attached belts around him to hold him in place. "I'll be right beside you, 'kay?" He motioned for them to pull him up, nervous about placing his nephew's life in the hands of those who had let him down before. But they weren't likely to drop him, not with Adira holding the handmaid.
He scaled the wall of the pit, outpacing the stretcher. Fitzherbert and the bald man were at the top, pulling the ropes. As the child came into view, Hector unhooked him and scooped him up before the stretcher even hit the ground. The princess, standing nearby, gasped in horror as she saw the boy.
Adira and Cassandra joined them. Then they silently journeyed through the wreck of the Tree to the mountain path on the other side from which they had entered yesterday. It felt like an eternity ago to Hector. As they emerged from the ruin, the sudden fierceness of the morning light, unblocked by the shade of the Tree, stabbed daggers into Hector's eyes. He flinched and stumbled, keeping his head down. At the edge of the Tree, the men clambered up the side of the mountain and lowered the stretcher once more to help the two injured up. The animals waited for them, Riki laying near Kubwa and Kiki. Artemis sat on Kubwa's head, and Kiki held a squirming Ruddiger in between his paws. The raccoon screeched when he saw Varian. The sound set Hector's teeth clenching together.
"Here." Adira motioned to a nearby tree. They placed their charges, semiconscious and unconscious, in the shade. Hector sat next to Varian and put his head down. As the adrenaline wore off, he became aware of just how tired he really was. Every muscle in his body ached, his bones felt like lead, and his vision had become unfocused.
Adira grimaced as she looked at him. "You look like crap. Go to sleep."
"'M fine. Gotta help Varian."
"I'll take care of him. You need to rest. You didn't sleep last night, did you?"
He glared up at her. "I'm not letting him out of my sight."
"You can hardly see him as it is. I'm not going to let anything happen to him. Go to sleep."
He grumbled but acquiesced. The animals could keep an eye out. He stretched out near his nephew and propped his hands behind his head.
"After I'm done checking him over, I'll take a look at your injuries," Adira informed him.
"I'm fine."
She gave a disapproving glare.
"Whatever. Fine. Just take care of him first." He closed his eyes. Within seconds, he fell asleep.
O‴O‴O‴
He awoke to an unholy screeching. He sprang to his feet and unsheathed his sword, checking Varian's location before he moved to attack anything. The boy was laying nearby still, but he writhed and twisted. His blue eyes were wide with fear, and he dragged himself backwards to press himself up against the tree, sheltering himself with his arms.
Adira stood nearby, her mouth open in shock. In her hand was a bucket, dripping with water. Hector noted Varian's missing shirt, his blood mingling with the water pouring off his thin body.
"WHAT THE CRAP, ADIRA!" He threw himself in between the two. Nearby, Ruddiger was scrambling to get out of Kiki's grip, where Adira had apparently ordered him to stay as she tended to Varian.
"I don't know what happened!" his sister exclaimed. "I was trying to clean his wounds!"
"By throwing water on him?" He turned to the child. "Varian, hey, kid, look at me. You're safe. It's okay. Look at me, huh?"
Varian pressed further into the tree, curling up in fright. His teeth chattered, probably both from fear and cold. Hector took off his cloak and draped it over his nephew. "It's gonna be fine. You're safe. I'll protect you. No one's gonna hurt you."
"What was that?" Adira asked, her voice low. The others sat nearby, watching.
He glared up at her. "When you said you were taking care of his injuries, I didn't think you meant throwing water on him." He kept his tone calm so as not to startle Varian. "He's had that done too much. Which I personally think is the reason even more of his wounds weren't infected than already were when I found him, since Heaven knows he didn't get medical attention!"
"What do you mean?" The princess stood and came over to them. Her handmaid sat near the others, her arm in a sling.
"I mean they had this thing about dumping water on him to wake him up. Or just if they felt like it. It's probably the only thing that kept his injuries clean. Still didn't do much, since I had to treat him for infection and fever when I rescued him, and now he's got this thing about water since he thinks it means they're gonna hurt him. He's fine if it's raining or he's expecting it, unless someone surprises him. Like, oh, I don't know, tossing a bucket of cold water on him when he's already in shock!" He didn't feel too much hesitance in informing the princess of this. About time she saw what damage her people caused.
He turned to Varian, who had uncurled slightly. Blue eyes peered up at him, swimming with tears. "It's okay. You're safe. You're not there again. I'm here." He held out a hand. Varian flinched and drew back, but he cautiously looked up again and extended his own quivering hand in return, letting his fingers brush against Hector's palm just barely. "Hey, that's it. I'm gonna take care of you."
He continued to speak gently for several minutes. Varian kept his other arm around himself, which worried Hector. He needed to make sure Varian didn't have any damage to his ribs, and the way he was sitting was bound to put unnecessary strain on them.
"Hector?"
He turned to look at the princess, noting the concerned look on her face. "What." He couldn't be bothered to frame it as a question.
"You really care about him, don't you?"
"Yeah." In a time when he felt less like crap, he might get sarcastic. For now, he didn't care. "I do."
"How did this happen? I mean, how did the two of you meet?"
"How did I rescue him, you mean?"
She winced. "Yeah."
He met Varian's eyes again. The child glanced off, clearly uncomfortable. Hector stood and motioned for the princess to follow him away.
"I went to Corona looking for Quirin. Found his body. Then I found Varian." He sighed, running his hands through his hair and wincing when his fingers tangled in the section matted with blood. "I thought he was dead when I first looked at him. I didn't see how any kid could look like that and still be alive." His yellow eyes flashed with anger. "The things they did to him… I know your plan is to put him back in prison, but my plan is to keep him as far away from that place as possible, and since I'm his guardian, my plan goes. I won't let those sadists touch him ever again."
"Look, whatever happened to Varian down there, I'm sure my father doesn't know. I know Varian said it was him, but maybe he thought Dad gave the orders—"
"Your dad was there, princess. He was there, watching, when they tortured Varian. Face it. He hated this kid enough to want him to suffer."
"I—I don't understand! He said he'd help!"
"And you said Varian wouldn't be on his own. You said you'd help him. Fact is, princess, Varian is expendable to you and your father. It doesn't matter what happens to him. Just so long as he does what he's told and stays out of the way. But he's not expendable to me. I won't let anyone hurt him. And that's my promise." He pointed at her. "Listen. The only reason I haven't killed you yet is because Varian doesn't want me to. Heaven only knows why, 'cause if it was up to me, you'd've died back in the Tree. Plus, if I tried to kill you now, one of your friends would kill Varian, and I'm not exactly in a good condition to defend him. But if you try to go to the Dark Kingdom, I assure you I'll have ample opportunity to make you regret it. So go back to your pretty little palace and your loving family and forget about your fool's errand. Now if you'll excuse me, my nephew is having a panic attack, and I need to take care of him." He stalked back to the tree, where Adira was chatting with Varian to try to calm him down.
"Hey, kiddo. How you doing?"
Varian looked up as he came over. "Fine," he whispered.
"Bullcrap. Mind if I check you over if you're so 'fine'?"
Varian slowly uncurled and slid forward to lay down at Hector's order. The warrior examined his charge carefully. He was in pitiful condition, but still he looked ten times better than the day Hector had met him. He reached for the second pail of water and took the cloth Adira handed him. "'Kay. I need to clean these cuts. They don't look to bad; I just have to make sure they don't get infected. Adira, get the bandages and medicine from the bag on Kubwa's saddle."
She complied, and he set to work cleaning the cuts. Varian didn't make a sound outside the occasional hiss. Hector used one of the canteens to pour the water directly on him to wash away the dirt and grime. The others hung back to give them some modicum of privacy and modesty.
"S-so-orry," the child gasped out.
"For what?"
"I sh-shoul-dn't have tried to-to fight them. Tried to stop th-them. Should—should've stayed put." He coughed, and Hector lifted the canteen to his lips.
"Don't," he ordered. "This isn't your fault. It was my responsibility to protect you, and I failed." Varian started to shake his head, but Hector kept talking. "You were only doing what I taught you to do. And that's my fault. I didn't mean to pressure you and make you feel like you had to protect the path. It's my job, not yours, and I should have told you that." He smiled softly. "I'm proud of you for trying, though. But it's okay if you worry about your own safety every once in a while, you know. You're too selfless."
"I should've left when you said."
"You were trying to protect me. Just remember from now on, that's my job."
"Y-you're not mad?"
"Nah. I just want you to be more careful. You scared me half to death."
Varian gave a weak smile. "Then I could fully kill a normal person like that?"
"Ha. Ha. Ha. Don't try it."
Varian stuck his tongue out. Hector returned the gesture childishly as he finished patching the boy up. As soon as he was finished, Adira descended upon him with all the gentleness of a thunderstorm and started fussing about his head. He grimaced and allowed her ministrations. The less he argued, the quicker it would go.
O‴O‴O‴
"So, what now?" Varian looked over at where his home had once stood.
Hector sat cross-legged next to him, his head and arm finally bandaged. "Now, we keep going. We—I have a job to do." He stood and approached the group, who sat talking nearby.
About that time, the bald man stumbled up the mountainside, carrying two more buckets and panting as if he'd run a marathon. "How… do… you… move… so… fast…" He set the buckets down and collapsed.
"He insisted on coming with me," Adira informed Hector as she retrieved the buckets. Then she turned to the others. "By the way, I followed the river back and fetched the caravan. It's a bit waterlogged, but once it dries, it should be fine. It's waiting at the base of the mountain."
"Thank you, Adira," the princess answered. "We still have a long ways to go."
"You left Varian alone with them?" Hector hissed angrily.
"For a few minutes. I told them not to mess with him, and the princess agreed."
Hector rolled his eyes and turned back to the others. See if he got any sleep after this. He'd need to keep his focus on his nephew at all times if Adira wouldn't watch him. "So I see you didn't give my more-than-generous offer any consideration," he growled. "Fine. Your blood's on your own heads."
The latecomer, apparently not paying any attention, picked his head up. "How's the kid?"
"Better," Adira responded. "Mind keeping an eye on him while my brother and I talk? Don't let him fall asleep. He hit his head."
He trudged over and sat down next to Varian, who sat leaned up against the tree with Hector's cloak wrapped around him like a blanket. Adira motioned for Hector to follow her away from the others. "Listen, Hector, I know what the Sundrop is capable of. If you'd just come with us, you'd see, too. She has the power to stop the Moonstone. Isn't it worth it to try?"
"So now not only do you want to commit treason, you want me to help? I won't be complicit in this. Either stand aside or kill me, because I'm not letting you take her to the Dark Kingdom."
Her brows knitted in distress. "Hector, I don't want to fight you. I'm tired of fighting about this. I'm ready for it to be over. Aren't you? Decades dedicated to protecting the Moonstone, watching it destroy everything? Our people, our homes? What more can it take from us? Eventually, we're going to die. There will be no one left to carry out the mission."
"There will be one. Varian knows what damage the Moonstone causes. With proper training, he'll be a formidable knight."
"And you'd bind another to the same life of denial and imprisonment we suffered?"
"We took our oath willingly, sister." Hector tried to muster up any anger at her but found it impossible. "We knew what we were doing. We did this to keep others from losing everything."
"And they still did. The Moonstone's power can't be contained. It reached all the way to Corona to summon the Sundrop. I saw the destruction it caused. Keeping people from its evil won't keep it's evil from people. It's time to find a permanent solution. And we have one."
"Mind if I join you?" The princess appeared beside them. Hector rolled his eyes and motioned for her to speak. "I know you want to protect the Moonstone, but as the Sundrop, it's my destiny to stop it. Whatever it takes. What are your concerns about the situation?" She held her shoulders back, acting like the princess she was.
Hector decided to humor her. "My 'concerns' are that I took an oath to keep anyone from going to the Dark Kingdom and disturbing the Moonstone. I'm 'concerned' that trying to destroy it will cause another wave of destruction like the one that got us banished in the first place. I'm 'concerned' that this is all a ruse so that someone could steal the blasted thing."
"Oh." She took a step back. "Then why not come with us?"
"What?"
"You're supposed to protect it. So come with us to make sure we don't do anything wrong. That way no one steals it. And we can do it right to make sure nothing bad happens when we destroy it."
"And just how do you plan to do that, Your Royal Snootiness?"
Her mouth dropped in an offended O. "Okay, that was uncalled for. But I can see your worries. This is how we can do it." She pulled scraps of paper out of her purse.
"Ooh, nice! Kindling. We can start a campfire and sing songs with the stone. Maybe it'll be so happy it'll just jump into your hands!"
"Ha. Sarcasm aside, this is part of a scroll that gives answers about the Sundrop and Moonstone. Maybe there's an answer on how to destroy it safely. The problem is, we don't have all the pieces yet. And we'd need someone to translate it." She glanced over at Varian, who was listening to the bald man spin some whimsical tale. Something about birds?
Hector's nerves stood on end. "Leave Varian out of this. Stay away from him. In fact, don't talk to him at all."
She drew back. "I just want to ask him. He translated part of it before. If you want, you can ask him."
"I don't want to, though. He's hurting enough as it is. The last thing he needs is anything more to do with you people."
"Hector." Adira stepped closer. "Princess Rapunzel may have a point. If Varian can tell her how to safely destroy the stone, we'll have nothing to worry about. Besides, bringing the two together may end up destroying both of them, so we won't even have to worry about an imbalance."
"I'm still concerned about bringing these two together." He jerked his thumb at the princess, then at Varian. "My answer is no."
He turned away and walked back over to Varian. The boy smiled wearily as he returned. "Hey. Lance was just telling me about the time they turned into birds. I think they met the same people who turned me into a cat."
"Whoa, wait a minute; you turned into a cat?!" Lance gasped in shock. "Oh, that had to be so adorable!"
"It was… kinda weird."
"It was adorable," Hector added. "Until he nearly died. How you feelin'?"
"I've been better. Been worse." He shrugged. "I'm tired."
"I know. You can't go to sleep yet, sorry. Not after whacking your head like that." He paced near the edge of the ledge, looking down at the remnants of the Great Tree.
"What are we going to do now? I know you said we keep going, but go where? Do we have an actual plan? We don't even have a home anymore."
"You could always come with us," Lance offered cheerfully.
"Yeah, no. But thanks."
"You don't get a choice," a voice came from behind Hector. He turned to see Cassandra walking over to them. Varian scrambled up against the tree to get away from her, and Hector immediately placed himself between the two of them.
"Keep your hands off him," he snarled. "He's not going anywhere with you."
"Technically, he's my prisoner, so yeah, he is. You want to try to fight all of us?"
"For him to be your prisoner, you'd actually have to have him. If you haven't noticed, I have him right now."
"I can change that."
"You wanna fight with a busted arm, lady-in-waiting? I'll do more than break bones this time."
She started to make a retort, but their attention was caught by the cold voice behind them.
"I won't go back."
O‴O‴O
They both turned to look at Varian. He didn't meet their eyes. "I won't go back," he growled, trying to stop the chattering of his teeth. He had calmed down from his former shock at Adira's questionable medical treatment—yet another thing that shouldn't bother him; he was fine whenever he and Hector did splash wars, because he was expecting it, but this was another bad reminder of his prison days—but he was still freezing. "I told you that. I know I did wrong, but my debt was paid the hard way. I didn't deserve the things they did to me."
"You tried to kill people!"
"I know what I did." He looked up to glare at her finally, though keeping his eyes open was becoming more and more difficult. "I'm not saying it was right, or I didn't deserve to be punished. But the things they did to me were… beyond justice. It was their chance to be cruel and take out their frustration on a kid who couldn't fight back, and they took that chance. And for the record, I never tried to escape. I thought I deserved it. They told me I did, and I believed them. Uncle Hector had to rescue me from prison and from my own mind. So, yeah, you'll either have to kill me or let me go. But my debt has been paid."
Fitzherbert, who was listening nearby, scoffed. "Your debt was paid? Look, I'm all for second chances and forgiveness and all, but how is getting roughed up a bit payment for treason and attempted murder?"
"'Roughed up a bit'?" Varian snarled. "You don't have a clue what they did to me! You think just because you got a second chance, you're the defining bar of what constitutes a reformed criminal? You think you get to decide how much I have to suffer? Why didn't you come to my trial and tell them how much to punish me, then? Oh, right; I didn't get a trial! If the queen herself thinks I deserved a second chance, who are you to tell me I don't?"
They exchanged glances of confusion. "What do you mean?" the princess asked.
"I mean she showed me mercy. Helped Uncle Hector get me out. She saw more in me than what I or anyone else saw."
Her eyes widened. "Plus est en vous," she whispered.
Varian nodded. "'There is more in you'."
"She told me that the day of my coronation." She smiled sadly. "She's good at that. Seeing more in people."
He sighed and put his head in his hands. "She's the last person who should've had mercy on me. But she did it anyway. I was unconscious. Didn't even get to tell her I was sorry. And I wanted to. To apologize to her. I wanted to say sorry to all of you. Didn't get the chance. You left."
"Well, you could do it now," Cassandra growled, pointing at him with her sword in her left hand. Hector snarled and flicked his wrist. Varian held up a hand to stop him.
"I'll apologize on my own terms, when I'm ready," he answered, glaring up at Cassandra. "Not when I'm being held at sword-point."
"You may not get another chance," Hookfoot noted. "This guy seems pretty determined to kill us."
"Whether or not you die is completely up to you," Hector answered. "Those of you who do the smart thing and go back home will get to live. Those of you who don't won't. Simple."
"Yeah, simple," Fitzherbert grumbled. "Except we still have a job to do, and if we don't, the black rocks destroy everything in their path and we'll probably all die anyways."
"The operative word being 'probably'. If you keep going, you'll definitely die."
The princess came closer and sat near Varian. Hector growled but didn't stop her. He kept his sword out, though, the threat obvious.
"Look, Varian, I know we don't see eye to eye—" she grimaced when he scoffed rudely and pointed to his blind side— "but there's one thing we can agree on. The black rocks take everything. So many people have suffered from them. You especially. But if we work together, we can stop them once and for all." She pulled the papers from her bag.
"What did I just tell you?" Hector snapped.
"I think it should be his choice. Varian, this is part of the Demanitus scroll. If you can translate it, we can stop the Moonstone safely. And maybe we can figure out how to save your dad."
He took a breath to keep the tears at bay. Of all things, why did she have to bring that up? "My dad is dead, princess."
"But you were so certain he was still alive! That's why you did what you did."
"Do you honestly think he's still alive? Look me in the eyes and tell me you think he managed to survive a year in there. I had hope he was okay. Prison has a way of making a person's perspective change. That's when I started to think maybe I was wrong. They all said he was dead, anyways."
Her brows creased sadly. "I'm sorry. We can at least free his body, though. You can give him a proper burial."
He huffed. "Really? Isn't bribing beneath you, princess? Trying to get me on your side with the one thing you know for a fact is my weak point? My dad was a knight of the Brotherhood. He'd never let you take the stone."
"I disagree," Adira interjected. "He's the one who told me of the Sundrop, remember? He had faith that she could solve the problem."
"And a lot of good that did him." He drew back into his protective ball, keeping Hector's cloak around his shoulders. "She couldn't help him. And why should I trust her this time? She let me down last time when it came to my dad. Why is this any different? You'll get what you want from me and leave me to pick up the pieces afterwards. Just like before."
"Varian, I—"
"Is this where you bring up the blizzard again? Because then I say you had a whole month, and then you can't give a good excuse, and then Cassandra defends you, and we could keep going in circles. I'm not in the mood."
She held out the papers. "Would you at least look?"
He rolled his eyes and glanced over the papers in her hands. Then his blood ran cold. He reached out and snatched one. "Th-this is…" He clutched the paper in trembling hands. "This was my dad's. The one I sent you to get from my lab." He shuddered at the reminder of that day. His freedom won, if only for a few days, but at the cost of his own sanity.
She nodded. "We have two other pieces of it now. Once we get the fourth piece, we can figure out what Demanitus was trying to tell us."
"Demanitus, huh?" He looked over the piece in his hand and the ones she was still holding. "Yeah. I recognize the writing."
"Could you translate it?"
"Of course I could. I spent weeks translating the scrolls in the Tree you just destroyed. Most of them were written by Demanitus as well. A week or so and I could have this one finished."
"Great!" She tried to hand him the other two pieces.
He drew back. "I didn't say I'd do it. I just said I could."
"I don't get you, kid," Fitzherbert spoke up. "One day, you're dead-set on solving the black rock mystery and putting a stop to all the destruction so you could save Corona, now you're trying to stop us from doing the one thing that could!"
Varian whipped his head around. "That's your argument? Really? Pulling on my desire to save Corona? You know what? I did want to save Corona. I was willing to do what no one, including your wonderful father, princess, would. I tried to stop the rocks. And you know what I got for my trouble? Weeks of imprisonment and abuse before I even did the first crime. And when I finally got desperate, when I finally decided to become what everyone already thought I was… well, I learned my lesson. So no. I tried to save Corona, and I paid for it."
"But we have options now!" the princess argued. "Now that we know what we're doing, now that we have part of the scroll, we can stop the rocks! We can save Corona, your f—we can save everyone."
"You couldn't even fix the amber. What makes you think you're good enough to stop an unstoppable rock?"
She smiled brightly. "If you help us—"
"No!" He jumped to his feet and threw the paper to the ground, the cloak falling from his shoulders. His muscles screamed from the exertion. "No, last time I helped you, you recruited me and then left me to take the fall for something you asked me to do. I spent months regretting the fact that I said yes. I'm not going through that again. I won't let you use me like a tool and throw me away when you're done. Not again."
Expecting a rebuttal to his argument, he was surprised to hear only silence. He turned back to see looks of horror and pain across their faces. He tilted his head, trying to understand why they were staring at him like that. Even the chameleon had turned a sickly shade of yellow. He drew back under their gaze, wrapping his arms around his bruised chest nervously. That was when he noticed.
His shirt was missing.
His wounds—the older, unbandaged ones—were exposed.
They saw him.
Hector, thankfully, picked up the cloak and draped it back over Varian. He pulled the cloth around him and turned away from their fixed gazes. His cheeks flamed with humiliation, and his eyes burned with tears. No. He would not compound his shame by crying in front of them. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear the tears away.
"Varian…" Lance stepped closer. Varian backed up in fear, bumping into Hector. He jumped away, his nerves standing on end. He hung his head and tugged the cloak tighter around him.
The man graciously stepped back. "They did that to you?" he asked quietly, his voice thin over a stormcloud of rage. Varian could only nod, not trusting his voice.
He had come to despise his scars. The months of abuse had left him covered in a patchwork of cuts, burns, and holes that laced up his back, across his abdomen, over his shoulders, tracing up his neck and onto his face. They ran down his legs and onto his feet, which were thankfully covered at the moment, and lined both arms. The marks on his hands were covered by thin fighter's gloves rather than the thick leather he was used to. His face wasn't as damaged as the rest of him, just a few scars across his cheeks, chin, and forehead, but he'd still considered wearing a mask if he ever had to leave the Tree.
This was the first time he'd had his brokenness exposed to anyone but Hector. This was the first time an enemy saw the results of months of suffering.
Hector, seeing his distress, put himself between Varian and the others. "Look, you guys have caused enough damage. Leave. I'll hunt you later, but right now, I have to deal with the situation you've created."
They drew back, giving the two space. Varian slid down against the base of the tree and curled up again. Hector sat near him.
"You okay, kiddo?"
"No." His body was shaking, but he couldn't move, couldn't seek refuge in Hector's embrace, couldn't even bring himself to allow the tears to break free and streak down his scarred face. Not safe. Danger. Don't be vulnerable. They wouldn't touch him, but he couldn't accept the feeling of safety yet. Not while they were near.
Hector handed him his shirt, which he quickly slipped on. "Sorry," the warrior muttered. "Should've given that back sooner."
"It's fine." He glanced over to where the others were talking. Occasionally one would glance his direction and either glare (Cassandra) or give a sympathetic look (everyone else). "What do you think they'll do now?"
"They'll keep going. I'll have to follow them."
"How do we stop them?"
"'We'?" Hector shook his head. "No, this is my job. I can't let you be around them, even if it's just to fight them. I'll take care of it, and you and Ruddiger will go with one of the bearcats and hide somewhere until I get back."
Varian drew himself up and crossed his arms. "What? No, I'm supposed to be protecting the Moonstone, too!"
"Kid, it's not safe. This is more serious than a couple bandits or something. You've already had half a dozen panic attacks since they showed up, and that was yesterday. And they're threatening you."
"I'm fine," he growled. "These people took everything from me. I'm not letting them take my mission. I'm not part of the Brotherhood, but I made a commitment to protect the stone. I don't want to back down just because it's them. Especially because it's them."
"You won't have to," Adira said, coming over to them. "I've spoken with the princess, and we may have a compromise."
"No," Hector stated bluntly.
"You didn't even listen."
"Don't need to. 'Compromise' means I give up a part of my plan."
She sat next to them. "Look. Come to the Dark Kingdom with us. We'll speak to the king. I believe the Sundrop could be the answer to our problem. If the king says we can try, we try. If not, I'll back down. The princess can do what she wants, but I won't be a part of it. If what I'm doing is treason, let's take this to King Edmund. I'll respect his decision. Just give us a chance to talk to him."
The princess walked over. "If you come with us, we can work together. We'll follow your lead when it comes to the stone." She extended a hand, at which Varian jerked away. She drew back. "For the first time, we might have a permanent solution. A way to fix all the bad things that have happened over the last few years. Well, longer, I suppose, since the Dark Kingdom's suffered for a while. Shouldn't we at least try? It couldn't hurt to ask."
Hector stared up in apparent disbelief. "Let me get this right. You want us to come with you and ask the king if he was wrong all those years ago and maybe we should do something potentially deadly on the off-chance it actually works? And if he says yes, we give it a shot; and if he says no, you stop trying to reunite the Sundrop and Moonstone? I'm still seeing a lot of room for error. And error can get people killed."
"It's a chance," Adira responded. "It's more than we've had in a long time. I'm sick of watching people's lives be ruined by the Moonstone. Protecting it has done nothing to stop its power. We have to take action while we can. All I'm asking is that you give us a chance to try. To talk to the king and get his advice."
The siblings held their gaze for a moment. Varian tried to read the messages in their eyes unsuccessfully.
"It's not treason if I'm asking permission," Adira added. "And I'll help keep Short Hair and the others away from Varian." Her eyes flashed with a cold fury. Varian realized with a shock she was angry about his scars. He'd told her about being abused, but this was the first time she'd seen them.
Hector continued to glare at her. Then he shrugged. "Well, we don't exactly have a home anymore, so I suppose we'd either be going with you or following you. And if the king says no, I can still try to kill the Sundrop if she won't go back. I don't like it, but I'll respect whatever decision he makes."
"Wait, what?" Varian gasped. "You said we weren't going to let them—"
"I know what I said. Fact is, this is a better option than trying to stop them now. Remember what I told you about strategic withdraws?"
"'Sometimes it's better to wait and live to fight later'," he quoted from one of their lessons.
"Exactly. We can't take them right now, but if the king gives us permission, we'll be on better footing to fight them later." He shrugged. "Besides, we'll have the king to help us fight as well. And I know the Dark Kingdom's terrain. And Adira probably won't fight against us, though I may be wrong. She's disobeyed the king in the past."
"Not this time," she assured them. "If the king says we can't use the Sundrop, and the princess tries anyway, I won't stop you."
"Adira!" the princess exclaimed.
"It's a compromise," Adira reminded her. "I'll follow my king's orders."
She nodded understandingly. Then she held out the papers to Varian. "You can translate it if you want. Then if the king says we can try, you can tell us what it says. I won't ask before. Fair?"
Varian watched her the way an injured animal watched a predator. Slowly, he reached out and took the papers. "S-so do we have to tr-travel with you?" He inwardly berated the stutter that crept into his voice. He was fed up with these people. Did he really have to stick with them until the Dark Kingdom? He didn't know if he could take that.
She gasped. "That would be brilliant! We could make room in the caravan. It'd be like a sleepover!"
His shoulders hunched as he glowered at her.
"Okay. Not a sleepover. Sorry."
"And you're okay with me coming?" he asked Hector.
The warrior shrugged. "If they promise to behave, and if you think you can come without getting a panic attack. Me and Adira can keep you safe."
He put his head in his hands. Part of him wanted to scream. Were they really going to go with them? To take the chance of destroying the Moonstone, of betraying the oath? Technically, Varian hadn't taken said oath, but he was training to be a knight and protect the stone.
On the other hand, he'd suffered enough from the black rocks to make him want to keep anyone else from going through what he went through. Thoughts of his village, ripped and gutted by the rocks, barren and ruined, crowded his brain. The people whose lives had been ruined, who had lost everything, all because of a stupid rock seeking out its counterpart. And now there was a chance to stop it. To give it what it wanted rather than fighting against it.
But attempts to stop the rocks had only led to pain and destruction. The Dark Kingdom had been destroyed when the king tried to take the stone. Varian himself had found himself pitted against an enemy who showed no mercy. No one who tried to fight the problem ever succeeded.
Was this their answer, then? Use a power of equal strength to counteract it?
If they failed, they might die.
If they won, no one else would feel the loss and heartbreak the stone caused.
He groaned. He really didn't have a choice, did he? "I'm going to regret this. But fine."
As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Thank you and God bless!