Trigger warnings: panic attack, mentions of scars

After the chaos of the last few days, Varian desperately needed rest. Despite the events of the night before, not a single nightmare disturbed his slumber, and the morning sunlight fell on the face of a child peacefully at sleep. Varian stirred and rolled over, burying his face in Hector's side. Adira lay on the other side, she and Hector keeping Varian safely sheltered between them, though she kept her distance. Ruddiger snored gently in Varian's arms, and the bearcats sprawled around them, one of them draped over Hector's legs and the other functioning as Varian's pillow.

"Varian," Hector grumbled sleepily, "My dear nephew whom I love and would never dream of stringing up by his toes, are you aware that you kick in your sleep?"

"He gets it from his dad." Adira rubbed Varian's hair. "There's a reason I didn't like dogpiling with you boys on missions."

"It's 'cause you're a stiff," Hector clapped back. "You'd rather be cold than admit you need warmth. The mighty Adira's too tough to get cold. Well, I'm not, and you're also a blanket hog, kiddo." He grabbed one of the blankets they'd haphazardly thrown on top of them and pulled it around his shoulders.

"Remember that time Quirin practically suffocated you when he rolled over on you?" Adira's voice was laced with mirth, and Varian grinned sleepily. He loved listening to the warriors' memories of his father from years past.

"Ugh. The man's a beast. Nearly killed me."

"It's time to get up, anyway," Adira reminded him. "Sun's up, storm's over, and the sooner we leave this house of horrors, the better." She stood and yanked the blanket off Hector, grinning smugly as he groaned and grumbled about it's too blasted cold in this blasted house and I'm blasted tired.

They stumbled to their feet, grabbing their bags and heading for the door. Off behind them, the old man was saying something about a… seashell shaped like a house? Varian didn't question it. He was too focused on getting out of here. He could pay attention to everyone else once he stepped out the…

Door?

"Umm…" He took a step back. "Okay, I know I've only got one working eye, but I'm 99.9 percent certain that there was a door here last night. Where is it?"

Hector growled and stepped forward, running his hand along the wall. Then he unsheathed his sword and sliced at it a few times, the metal screeching as it slid along the shell. "Crap. That's just great. Nothing."

"So… we're trapped?" the princess—no, the Sundrop; she wasn't his princess—asked.

Varian's breathing grew laborious. "T-trapped?" he hissed. "As in… trapped as in we can't get out? We can't leave?"

"Yeah, pretty sure that's what trapped means," Fitzherbert said.

Hector and Adira turned to Varian, and Hector put a hand on his shoulder. "Deep breaths, kid," he whispered. "We'll get out."

Varian shook his head, his heart pounding much too loud. "N… no, we can't get out, he knew this… he wanted this… He wants us stuck here and he's not going to let us go…" Hector's touch was suddenly too heavy, too constricting. Tearing himself free, he lunged at the wall and started clawing at it. His nails raked across the shell, and suddenly he didn't see pink. He saw gray stone, stained with red, stone on all three sides and above him and under him and bars in front of him, flickering torchlight from somewhere in the distance his only illumination.

"Varian!" Hector grabbed him and pulled him away from the wall, wrapping his arms around him. He sat and pulled the boy into his lap as Varian jerked and clawed for freedom. The restraining arms, once a source of comfort, were suddenly too tight and too close and too hard and he had to get out—

He reflexively bit his uncle's arm. Hector yelped in surprise but didn't let go. "Varian, calm down," he ordered, keeping his voice low and calm. "You're going to hurt yourself." Ruddiger, chittering with worry, clung to Varian's chest and pressed his nose against the boy's chin.

Varian struggled to escape. He couldn't listen, couldn't calm down, he had to get out!

"Varian? Hey, little guy, listen." Lance knelt down in front of him. "Hey, I know it's scary. Trust me, I know. I don't like being trapped either. But we'll be okay."

Varian shook his head. He couldn't know, none of them knew, how could any of them possibly know?

"I get it," Lance continued. "I was in prison, too."

That got his attention. He stopped thrashing, and Hector loosened his grip just slightly. "Y—you were?" he whispered.

His friend nodded.

"Ho-how lon—how long?"

"About five years." He smiled sadly. "So I know how you feel. And it's okay to be scared. I'm scared, you know."

"You a-are?" He didn't know Lance got scared of anything! The man always seemed so in control and calm.

"Yeah." Lance sat next to them. "But trust me, we've been in way worse situations and come out okay. This'll be nothing! Eugene and I can break into or out of anywhere."

"If you cou—if you could bre-break out of anyw-where, why didn't you esc-cape prison?"

He opened his mouth but hesitated. "Touché," he responded finally. "But we'll get out of this one, don't worry. We just have to put our minds to work!"

"H-how? There's no—there's no way out!"

"Well, Matthews isn't going to trap himself in his own house, is he? There's a way out somewhere. We've just gotta find it!" He stood and extended a hand. Varian flinched. "Oh, sorry."

"N—it's okay." Varian held out his hand, letting Lance pull him to his feet as Hector released him. "Sor—sorry I panicked."

Lance shrugged. "If you didn't panic, I was going to. And trust me, no one wants to see that." Varian laughed through his tears, and Lance grinned. "Come on. I can't think on an empty stomach. Breakfast?"

O‴O‴O‴

"Why did you do that?"

Hector rubbed the back of his neck. "I had to protect him. He was going to hurt himself.

"He was panicking," Adira whispered back. "He was panicking because he's trapped, and you held him?"

"He doesn't usually panic because he's trapped! He doesn't really get trapped often! I didn't know what to do." He looked at Varian, who was walking beside Lance ahead of them. Ruddiger sat on the boy's shoulders, as always, purring softly. "He's doing okay now, so maybe he's fine? He might fall asleep later. He gets tired when that happens." He groaned and rubbed his face. "I don't know! I'm trying, okay? I can usually handle his panic attacks okay because he just curls up in a ball. I've never seen him like that before. I didn't know what to do."

His sister shook her head. "How's your arm?"

He looked down at the appendage, a bandage wrapped around it. Poor Varian had freaked out upon finding blood on his teeth. Getting food had helped him calm down a bit. "Kid's got a good bite when he's scared. Probably got a lot of experience."

"Hey, look! I found an exit!"

Adira raised an eyebrow. "That was the soiled gnome, wasn't it?"

"I think so."

They followed the others into a large room packed to the ceiling with toys and stuffed animals and other things Hector couldn't identify. "What the crap?" he muttered. "This is most definitely not an exit."

The handmaid started fussing at the old man, who was bouncing on a trampoline. Hector groaned and started looking around. Maybe there was another door in here somewhere? "Split up," he ordered the bearcats. "Find an exit."

O‴O‴O‴

"Hey Varian, catch!"

Varian yelped as a ball whacked him in the head. "What the crap!"

"Sorry." Lance held up his hands. "I thought you were training to be a knight. You can't catch a ball?"

"With a little more advance notice, maybe. And did you forget that I CAN'T SEE OUT OF ONE EYE?!"

"Right, sorry, my bad. So do you just not have depth perception or something? Does it bother you?"

He shook his head. "Not a lot of depth perception, no. And I'm managing. I do okay for the most part."

"Right. So how did they blind you?"

Varian groaned. "I'm not having this discussion with you."

"Sorry. Do your scars hurt? I've got one on the back of my knee that makes it hard to walk sometimes."

He rolled his eyes. "Sometimes. Especially my fingers. Uncle Hector has medicine that helps. Most days, it's like normal."

"What, you don't make some little alchemical solution of your own?" Cassandra joined them. "So you can act all superior to everyone else? 'Oh, look at me, I'm a genius with no regards for anyone's safety!'"

He tensed, flexing his fingers in and out of a fist. "I don't… I don't do alchemy anymore," he hissed.

"Why not?"

"None of your business."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to find an exit."

As soon as she left, Varian relaxed. He looked over to where Ruddiger was chasing Pascal around. The raccoon blinked in confusion as his opponent disappeared, jumping a foot in the air as the chameleon reappeared by his leg. Varian's expression softened for a second. "So… prison, huh?"

"Yep."

"What for?"

"Theft. I was Flynn Rider's partner in crime." He put a hand to his chest proudly. "We were pretty good, if I do say so myself. The best of the best."

"But you got caught. And why didn't Fitzherbert get arrested?"

"Everyone gets caught eventually. The ones who don't are the ones who never take the big chances. And Eugene didn't get caught because he ran off while I stayed back to create a distraction."

"And I need to apologize for that." Fitzherbert walked over to them. "Lance I never apologized for letting you take the fall, and I'm sorry. I was a bad friend." He rubbed his arm and turned to Varian. "And I need to apologize to you, too."

"Huh?"

Fitzherbert sighed. "Look. Yesterday, I had to face my worst self. And… I recognized him. He's the part of me that's selfish and cruel. Who abandons people when it's convenient, or when… or when something else becomes more important. I used to be a thief. Treasure was my only love. And it led to me leaving Lance behind and letting him go to prison, knowing I could risk it and try to break him out. But I didn't. And then Rapunzel became my new dream, my treasure. And I'd do anything for her, but I was more worried that she felt good than that you were in danger. I put her on a pedestal and acted like nothing else existed. And I let you down. You were counting on Flynn Rider, and he didn't come. I'm sorry. Kid, I'm so sorry."

Varian stared. Eugene Fitzherbert was apologizing? For putting Rapunzel first? "I—I don't understand. I thought you hated me. Since the beginning, when I put the Sundrop in danger."

"I didn't hate you. I just thought you were dangerous and reckless. But that's no excuse. I knew Rapunzel was upset because she didn't help you, and instead of going to check on you, I just tried to make her feel better. I tried to distract her instead of fixing the reason she was upset. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I turned on you with the Sunflower thing. And I'm sorry I was a jerk when we saw you at the Tree. I knew you were hurt, but I wouldn't let myself think that maybe you'd actually been… tortured. I'm just… I'm sorry for all of it, alright? Everything I did wrong. And I mean, if anyone should've known what you were going through, it's me. I've been where you were. Alone, desperate, turning to crime because you don't see anywhere else to turn. I should've been there for you, the way I wished someone had been there for me. I'm sorry."

A small smile found its way to Varian's face. "Thanks. Me too. I'm sorry. For all of it." He shook his head. "I don't really know what to say. I—I mean, I did so many bad things, to all of you—"

"And you were right. You paid for it." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I heard what you told Rapunzel yesterday. And you're right. Maybe it's not easy to forgive immediately. But would you be willing to accept my apology?"

"Y-yeah. I accept your apology. Do—do you accept mine?"

"Yeah." He grinned. "All right! Team Awesome is back!"

"Don't push it, Fitzherbert."

"Right, right, sorry." He held up his hands. "Team Awesome is making a slow comeback. How's that."

Varian rolled his eyes. "You're so weird."

"I'll take that as a yes and also a compliment."

Behind them, Lance sniffed dramatically. "This is so touching!" he exclaimed, draping an arm over both their shoulders. Varian drove an elbow to his ribs, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back. "Ack, sorry! I yield! I yield!"

"That was beautiful."

The two men yelped as Adira spoke. She smirked from her perch atop one of the mounds of toys. Varian let go of lance and rubbed his arm. "How much did you hear?"

"All of it. I've been here the entire time." She hopped down and loomed menacingly over Fitzherbert. "Listen, Fishskin. I appreciate that you apologized to my nephew. But I still don't like you. If I think you're going to hurt him again, I will reverse your spine." She smiled brightly, ignoring the trembling man. "Well! Let's find the exit, shall we?"

Varian tilted his head as the sound of conversation drifted towards them. The Sundrop was talking to Uncle Hector, asking him to fetch something from a tall shelf for her. He grumbled back that he wasn't a ladder but relented.

Adira sighed. "I'd better get him before he destroys something. Stay with Earrings."

"Yes ma'am." He turned to Lance and Fitzherbert. "We should probably keep looking for the way out. Where did Cassandra and the Sundrop go?"

Fitzherbert gave a quick laugh. "You call her the Sundrop? I thought you only called her princess."

"I did. But she's not my princess anymore. I'm not a Coronan now."

"Then why not just call her by her name?"

"Because we're not friends. She's the Sundrop, and I'm training to be a part of the Brotherhood. All I have to worry about is whether or not she can deal with the Moonstone and if King Edmund will allow it."

"Speaking of." Varian tried not to flinch as Cassandra approached again. "What are you going to do if he says yes? Then there's no more Moonstone and you're out of a job."

He rolled his shoulders back. "I'll manage. As long as I have my family, I'll be okay. We could probably stay in the Dark Kingdom, or get hired on as soldiers in another kingdom." He shrugged. "Whatever happens, I've got a whole world in front of me now."

"You sound like Rapunzel. She's all about finding adventure."

"Yeah, well, I—" He whirled and snagged the black and gray blur out of midair as it flew at Cassandra. It wiggled and writhed, and he wrapped his arms around it. "Rudd—holy CRAP WHAT THE DICKENS!"

The thing in his arms was most definitely not Ruddiger. The raccoon in question darted over and scampered up onto Varian's shoulders, staring down at the thing in his boy's hands. Varian blinked, trying to clear his eyes. It had to be something wrong with his eyes, right? Because there was no way he was actually seeing a tiny version of his uncle, snarling and swinging a tiny sword and glaring daggers at the bodyguard.

"What happened?!" Varian demanded. Yellow eyes blinked up at him, but Hector made no answer. "Where's Aunt Adira?"

A head peeked over one of the mounds, and Adira jumped over and slid down on a wooden sled, coming to a stop at Varian's feet. Like Hector, she was a minuscule version of herself. She grinned up at her nephew.

"They're… children," Fitzherbert stated.

"Wow. Amazing. I never would have seen that." Varian inspected the two little ones. They appeared to be about three. Hector stopped squirming when he saw his sister. He tapped Varian's arm and motioned for him to set him down. Varian complied, placing him on the floor next to Adira. He promptly yanked her braid, and she turned and socked him across the face.

Varian snatched Hector back up as Fitzherbert scooped up Adira. "Okay. What happened?
the man demanded. "Where's Rapunzel?"

"Is that the blonde girl?" Little Adira asked. "She's over there." Pointing back the way they had come from, she stuck her tongue out. "She's no fun. She doesn't like to play swords."

"I'll play swords," Tiny Hector offered. He grinned ferally as he pointed his very sharp, real sword at her. Adira growled and reached for the sword at her own back, her hand closing on emptiness as Fitzherbert slipped the small blade out of its sheath.

"Ah ah ah," he chided. "Kids don't need to play with sharp objects. You want to whack each other, use a toy."

"Your skin feels weird," Adira commented. "Like fish skin."

"I'll have you know, I have an excellent skincare routine," he argued.

"Why is that man bald? Is he old?" She pointed at Lance, who put a hand to his chest dramatically. "And his earring is tacky."

"Yours don't even match. And Lance used to be younger than you. Technically, we all did." He made a face. "This is really weird."

"Is that why you're all so wrinkly?" she shot back. Fitzherbert gasped in outrage.

"Fitzherbert, you're arguing with a child," Varian reminded him. "You won't win."

He groaned and held out the girl to Cassandra. "Can you watch her? I need to go find Blondie."

"You want me to hold her?" Cassandra raised an eyebrow as if he'd asked her to wear a snake as a scarf.

"Yeah. I think we need to stick together for now, and that means someone's got to watch her while I go get Rapunzel. Varian's hands are full." He shoved Adira at Cassandra. The bodyguard struggled to catch her with one hand as Eugene set her sword on a nearby box.

"I don't need a babysitter," Adira said sweetly. "I'll behave, honest."

"I know you will," Cassandra responded. "Because you're going to stand still and do what you're told and not run off, right?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Yeah, I don't believe that for a second." She set Adira down but held her hand.

"I'll go with Eugene," Lance offered. "See if we can find what did this and get it fixed." He turned to follow his friend. Varian shifted Hector in his arms to keep him from wiggling out, painfully aware that he was now alone with Cassandra. Well, unless the old man now snoring in a pile of teddy bears counted, and he didn't. And the children didn't count, either. If Varian had dared to set Hector down, which he didn't due to the murderous looks the child was giving Cassandra, he'd be reaching for his dagger just in case.

"Well," she began. "This is weird."

"Yeah."

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Hector wants to kill me, doesn't he?"

"Yeah."

"That's normal, I suppose."

"Yeah."

Adira tugged on Cassandra's arm. "Will you play swords with me?"

"No. We are going to stand here until Eugene and Lance come back. Then we're turning you back to the way you were."

"You're scared, aren't you?"

"I'm not scared. I'm being practical."

Adira smirked conspiratorially and whispered to Varian, "She's scared I'll beat her."

Varian managed to disentangle one of his hands. "Here, give her to me."

Cassandra shook her head. "You need to keep an eye on the little psychopath. I'll watch Creepy Shadow Child."

"Don't call them names," he growled. "And I don't trust you to watch her. You don't like her. How do I know you won't do anything to her?"

"You think I'd hurt her? She's a baby."

"So what's your age limit on hurting kids, then?"

Her face turned as red as Adira's paint. "Listen here, you little twerp—"

"You hurt kids?" Adira exclaimed, scandalized.

"Just one. Me." Varian ignored the steam coming from the bodyguard's ears. "By the way, that reminds me, sorry I tried to kill you."

"You tried to kill her?!" Adira's eyes shimmered with excitement and awe.

"Just once."

"Cool."

"Can I try to kill her?" Hector asked.

"No one is killing anyone." Varian fought to keep his voice under control. "We are going to find what turned you into kids, and we are going to change you back, and we are going to get the crap out of this house."

"Why is there a stripe in your hair? Were you poisoned or something?"

Varian groaned. This was going to be a long day.

O‴O‴O‴

"They've been gone too long." Cassandra put her fist on her hip. "I don't like this. We need to go find them. Come on." She started off the way the men had disappeared, dragging Adira along. Varian rolled his eyes but relented, sliding Adira's sword into his belt and helping Hector climb up onto his back. The feral child had settled down some, no longer clawing at Varian's grip in order to take a stab at Cassandra with his miniature sword. Varian had never been more grateful for his practice wresting a hyper raccoon. Ruddiger walked next to Varian, having made the mistake of getting too close and having his fur tugged on by a three-year-old.

"Raps? Lance? Fitzherjerk?" Cassandra led their little party around the mounds and over to where the others had been. "Where did you guys go? We need to get out of—"

Her words were cut off as two tiny somethings sped into her legs, knocking her over. Adira tackled the newcomers, and Varian had to hold tightly to Hector's legs to keep him from jumping down to join the fray. Cassandra scrambled to her feet and dove at the fighters, snatching Adira up by the back of her collar. "What did I tell you?"

Adira whined and pointed to the two who were still fighting. Cassandra groaned, shoving Adira towards Varian and snatching up the other two. Varian tried to take her hand, but Hector started trying to get down again, and he had to readjust his grip. "Au—Adira, I need you to Hector's ankle, 'kay? Don't yank his ankle, no. Just hold it. Don't let go."

She pouted but took his ankle. "Why can't I fight?"

Cassandra rejoined them, holding a little hooligan—was that Fitzherbert?—by the hand. Lance followed on her heels. "Because we have things to do. Now, has anyone seen Rapunzel? Eugene, you went to find her."

Fitzherbert pointed back the way they had come from. A tiny blonde head peeked out at them. When she saw Cassandra, her eyes widened.

Cassandra let go of Fitzherbert and held out a hand. "Come here, Raps. We have things to do."

The Sundrop rushed forward, throwing her arms around Cassandra. "Mommy!"

"Wha—" Cassandra nearly jumped out of her skin. "Ugh, Calliope would be having a fit right now."

"Calliope?"

"Don't ask. Eugene, get down from there right now!" She pointed beside her, and Fitzherbert groaned and climbed down from the shelf he'd been scaling. "Seriously, I look away for two seconds."

"I think you're overreacting a little." Varian shrugged. "He won't die if you don't have him in your direct line of sight."

"Yeah? You're not letting either of them go."

"In my defense, I only have one eye, so I'll have to check on them twice as often. Besides, since when did you care about keeping an eye on kids? I thought you didn't do that."

She gave him a tight-lipped glare but didn't snap back. "Look, let's just find what did this and get it fixed."

"Sounds good to me."

They made their way through the playroom, Varian watching his two charges and Cassandra leading a little chain of slightly older children all holding hands. "Okay," she sighed. "Kids. Can you tell me what did this to you?"

"What did what to us?" Lance asked.

"Turned you young."

"Young?" Adira smirked. "What if you're just old? Explains the crow's feet."

"That's not nice," Varian chided. "We don't say mean things."

"It's Cassandra."

"Fair enough."

Cassandra huffed. "If you two are done acting like children—"

"We are children," Adira reminded her.

Varian bit back a laugh. "She's just a kid, Cassandra."

"Well, kids need to learn to behave." She gave him a knowing glare, and he found himself flinching instinctively. Her eyes widened, and she turned away from him.

"Hey, Cassandra? I meant what I said earlier. About being sorry." He didn't meet her eyes as she turned back to him. "I really am. For all of it."

"Yeah." Her voice was raspy and shaky. "I know. For what it's worth, me too. Don't expect me not to hate you, though."

"The feeling's mutual."

Lance pulled at Cassandra's hand. "I want to play with the top!"

"We don't have time to play. Don't touch anything. Where is Eugene?" She whirled in a circle, trying to find her escapee. "Rapunzel, why did you let go of his hand?"

"He said he had a bug in his other hand and he'd throw it on me!"

"Relax." Varian winced as Ruddiger sniffed at Hector skeptically from atop a giant stuffed bear and got his nose whacked in turn. "He's probably fine. Kids don't need you to stare over their shoulders all the time. I grew up independent and turned out fine."

She humphed. "Big words from the kid who went on a rampage because he got left alone." Her words didn't hold the harshness he would have expected. "You're all about not leaving kids on their own, but now it's okay because it's him?"

"'Kay, look, it being him has nothing to do with it. He won't die if he's by himself for two seconds. He's, what, seven? He'll be okay until we find him. Besides, it's not like we're planning on leaving him for a month or anything. Hector, please don't chew on my shirt; thank you. All right! Let's get moving. My guess is Fitzherbert is somewhere near something shiny." He started off, glancing behind to make sure the others were following. The sooner they changed the kids back so he didn't have to be alone around Cassandra, the better.

As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Thank you and God bless!