Trigger warnings: threats, panic attack, kidnapping, hurt animals, hurt people, blood, more panicking, mentions of prison abuse
"Ack!" Cassandra yelped as she tripped over Rapunzel's hair. "Okay, we're braiding this now. Sit down." She motioned the child to sit on a toy chest. "This could take a while. Want to go on ahead, psyc—Varian?"
He sat down across from them, helping Hector off his back and sitting him in front of him. "Nah, I think we could all stand to do some braiding. Hector, would you get Adira's, please?" Adira sat in front of Hector, and he started working on her hair. "No, don't pull it, be gentle. That's it." He grinned as the child struggled to manipulate the strands, his once-experienced hands now unused to the braiding motion. Lance sat next to Cassandra to help with Rapunzel's, since Cassandra only had one working arm.
"I suppose there's a reason you're not jumping at the opportunity to get out of my company?" Cassandra questioned.
Varian nodded. "I think it's time we talked. Like, actually talked."
"'Talked' like you did with Rapunzel last night, where both of you apologize in tears and try to stop being all hateful and everything?"
"Technically, she was the one crying, and all we agreed to do was start over. We're not best friends suddenly; we're just… learning how to be better people. But yeah, we need to talk."
"About what? Both of us already apologized. I'd say there's nothing left to talk about." Her stone face didn't change an inch from its typical sullenness. "Neither of us are going to stop hating each other just because we apologized. In a week or two, hopefully we'll never see each other again. So what's there to talk about?"
"Careful," he whispered softly, motioning to the children. "Little ears. So… you're not planning on arresting me still?"
She sighed and hung her head, her expression breaking for the first time. "I… I don't know, okay? Everything's so messed up now. I don't know what to think! Part of me says you deserve to go back to jail, and the other part… the other part says if I sent you back, I'd—well, I'd be no better than—" she shook her head fiercely. "Than them."
"Them?"
Her face hardened again. "Forget it."
"No. You've been acting weird for days now, even since before the whole… memory thing. Seriously, what's going on?"
"Varian, I'd really rather not talk about it."
"And since when did you start calling me by my actual name? Usually you just call me psychopath or brat."
"Shut up!" she suddenly snarled, her face contorting with rage. He scrambled backwards, reflexively grabbing Hector and Adira and scooping them behind him. His heart thudded against his chest painfully, and he couldn't breathe, and she was angry, she'd hurt him, and Hector and Adira couldn't protect him now. Why had he let his guard down?
Ha! Guard. The irony. No, he'd let his guard down, and in return he was going to be hurt by a guard. Why had he tried to talk to her in the first place? Was apologizing to her worth the beating he was going to get for it? Why hadn't he just kept his stupid mouth shut?
Behind him, the two warriors fought to get free. If they did, it was likely they'd attack Cassandra, and Varian was tempted to let them; but he kept them still, flinching as he realized that left his chest exposed to an attack.
Cassandra, however, didn't seem interested in attacking; her eyes widened, and a painfully familiar guilt settled into her eyes. "Sorry," she whispered. "I'm—I'm sorry, Varian, I didn't mean—Look, I told you I didn't want to talk about it."
He didn't respond, one hand hovering over the hilt of his dagger. The children stared up at the two of them with mixed reactions of shock, fear, and in two cases, anger. In front of Cassandra, Rapunzel pulled a lock of her hair up to hide her face. Lance scootched further away from the irate bodyguard.
"Varian?" Cassandra leaned forward slightly, and he slid back further. "Are you having a panic attack? Oh, drat, I don't know how to deal with that! What do I do?"
He would have laughed at the irony of the situation—the one who caused a fair share of his attacks now trying to figure out how to stop them—but he could hardly breathe right. Cassandra moved closer, and he curled into himself, moving one of his arms up to protect his head.
That might have been a mistake. As soon as the one thing keeping Hector behind Varian was removed, the child flung himself at Cassandra with a banshee-like screech. The bodyguard yelped and fell backwards, trying futilely to dislodge the miniscule warrior as he clawed at her face.
Varian jumped to his feet, grabbing Adira's hand and yanking Hector up. He tugged them along at a brisk sprint, leaving Cassandra behind with Lance to pick herself up. Winding through the piles of junk, putting as much distance between them as possible, he sighed with relief when he saw the door.
They didn't stop moving until they reached the dining room, and Varian collapsed in one of the oversized chairs, pulling his knees up and wrapping his arms around himself. Ruddiger clambered up and took his rightful place on Varian's shoulders. Hector and Adira climbed up onto the table, and his aunt put a hand on his arm. "What's wrong, Vari?"
He shook his head, resting his forehead on his knees. Adira scootched closer. "Can you fix my hair? Heccy messed it up. Ow!"
Varian looked up just in time to see Hector yank Adira's messy braid. "Don't do that," he mumbled. "Heccy?"
"She can't say my name," Hector grumbled.
Varian helped Adira onto his lap and took the golden bands Hector still held. He sighed and tried to focus only on the motions rather than what had just happened. Why had he reacted so badly? It wasn't even that extreme! All she had done was tell him to shut up! Why couldn't he handle it?
"I don't like the mean lady," Hector growled as he reached for Ruddiger, who cowered just out of reach. "She yelled at you."
A soft laugh escaped Varian's lips. "Yeah, me neither."
"She's a stupidhead."
"Heccy!" Adira gasped. "That's a bad word!"
Varian actually did laugh at that as Hector stuck his tongue out. "You kids are gonna be the death of me. How did you get like this anyway? All young?"
They exchanged a look, and he almost bit his tongue as he recognized it as the same look they constantly shared as adults; part judgy, part skeptical, part confused, part concerned, and all sass. "Got young?" Adira asked. "What's that mean?"
"Okay." He put the last band in her hair. She and Hector had taught him how to braid it while he was recovering from his illness. "Do you remember what happened when you went to look for Hector a while ago? You left me with Lance."
"Umm… I remember Heccy was being mean. He bit me."
"Okay, what were you doing right before he bit you? And Hector, don't bite your sister."
"Sorry."
"We were playing," Adira answered. "And then Heccy bit me, and then he tried to bite the mean lady."
"Cassandra, yeah. What happened before that?"
"We were playing with a top, and then we played swords, and then the blonde girl didn't want to play with us because she doesn't play swords—"
"Wait, wait, go back. You were playing with a top. Did anything happen before that?"
"No." Cassandra appeared in the doorway. "I got the same story from Lance. You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Varian leaped to his feet and shoved the children behind him again, pressing his back to the table. Crap! He should never have run off like that; it was going to make her angry, and then she'd punish him—
"Varian, look, I'm sorry," she started, keeping her distance. "I shouldn't have yelled at you, and I'm sorry I made you panic." Lance peeked out from behind her and nodded in agreement. "Are you okay?"
He didn't answer. Behind him, Hector flicked his wrist, and Adira reached for the sword tucked into Varian's belt. He nudged them both back.
"Look, you're right. We do need to talk. But I think we need to wait until after we get everyone fixed up, okay?"
He nodded.
"I believe zhis one is with you?"
They turned to seem Matthews in the doorway, holding their missing child by the hand. Cassandra crossed her arms. "Fitzherbert, I told you not to run off! Thank you, Mr. Matthews."
"Of course, of course. I found him in my watch case. Take care of your children, please." He let go of Fitzherbert, who demurely went to stand beside Cassandra. "Now, I have work to do, so if you'll excuse me…"
He turned to go. Varian hopped into the chair, planted a foot on the table, and cut a flip directly over the man's head, diving a kick to his knee and placing his dagger to his throat when he fell. "Not so fast," he growled.
"Varian!" Cassandra exclaimed.
"Tell us what happened to them. Now." Varian leaned closer and hissed in the man's ear, "I won't hesitate to do what I have to, so I suggest you save your skin and start talking. How do we change them back?"
Matthews froze, staring down at Varian's steady hand. "I see. You wish to change zhe children back into adults. Have you considered, perhaps, allowing yourself to be turned young again? You could probably take five years from your body and fifteen from your eyes."
"I'm fine the way I am, thanks. Five seconds, or I will kill you."
"Varian," Cassandra said again, more sternly this time.
He met her eyes to see a mixture of confusion, shock, and horror on her face. Aside from the night he had no memory, this was the first time she'd seen him attack someone since the Battle of Old Corona. He wasn't the innocent child he'd been before. He wasn't even the scared, guilt-ridden boy they'd captured at the Great Tree. He had come a long way since then; and with his family in danger, he knew he was more than capable of putting the child aside and becoming a cold-hearted warrior.
Or was he?
His hand didn't waver an inch, but a sudden dread settled in his stomach. He was holding a man at knife-point. He was threatening to kill him. Did he have it in him? Was he capable of taking a life? Adira and Hector weren't in immediate danger, at least at the moment. The situation wasn't ideal, but unless something was actually threatening their lives, could he justify attacking Matthews?
Maybe not. But Matthews didn't need to know that.
"Two seconds," he whispered.
Matthews held up his hands. "Very well. Zhey have found zhe Top of Time. Zhe older one is, zhe younger zhey become."
"How do we fix it?"
"I'm afraid you cannot."
"Wrong answer." He moved the knife just a bit closer.
Matthews flinched. "Spin zhe top backwards."
"Thank you. That wasn't so hard, was it?" He stepped back and sheathed the dagger. "Come on, let's go find it."
"Not so quickly," Matthews said smugly, snapping his fingers. Three dogs—huge, lumbering beasts—ran in, knocking Varian to the ground and leaping over him. He yelped and scrambled backwards, popping up to his feet and drawing his dagger again. The dogs ignored him, leaping at the children. Hector pushed Adira out of the way only for one of the beasts to snatch him by the collar and take off out through another door. A second grabbed Rapunzel, and the third took Lance, almost knocking Cassandra down as well.
"Heccy!" Adira screeched. Nearby, Fitzherbert twisted his hair anxiously, staring off in the direction Rapunzel had been taken.
"Hey, get back here!" Varian yelled in fury, starting after the dogs.
"Varian!" He turned back to Cassandra. "Matthews disappeared. The little rat!"
Varian snarled. "What now? We can't put the kids in danger. If we go after the dogs, someone could get hurt. If we go after Matthews, he knows this place better than we do. We could split up, but that again leaves the kids in danger, and we can't leave them by themselves."
"Me and Fishskin will be fine," Adira assured him.
"Wherever the dogs go, Matthews will probably follow," Cassandra speculated. "So we follow the dogs and hope we can keep them away from the kids."
"Fine. I'll go after them. You go find that top."
"No, I'll follow them. I'm a little more experienced."
"I'm being trained by Hector, and I don't have a broken arm. You go find the top. Take Adira and Fitzherbert."
He started off in the direction their friends and family had been taken, not giving her time to argue, and she left the way they had come. Varian steeled his nerves. Matthews had gone too far this time, and he would regret it.
O‴O‴O‴
"Uncle Hector? Hey, where are you? Talk to me!" He gritted his teeth. It had only been ten minutes since he'd started tracking the brutes, but that was ten minutes too long. Matthews had taken good care of his dogs, and they didn't leave so much as a stray hair to lead the way.
Hector had taken care of that, however, as sword scratches lined the walls and floors, ripping tapestries, cutting carpets, leaving long lines along the shell. Varian followed the markings, twisting through halls and rooms that didn't have any logical order to them. Time and again he would have thought he was going in circles, crossing over on hallways that he'd been in before, only to find himself in a completely new location.
The scratches led to a thick wooden door, unlike the ornate shell-shaped ones he'd seen in the rest of the house. He carefully nudged it open, peeking his head around. The dogs lay around in the back of the room, separating their tiny prisoners from the door. Hector tried to slide past one, only for its paw to lash out and smack him back down. He grunted, picking himself back up and preparing to try again. Then he saw Varian.
The boy put a finger to his lips. The children, surprisingly, listened and didn't make a sound. Varian took a deep breath reached into his bag, pulling out a special pair of gloves. These were another gift from Hector; he didn't wear them often as he wasn't confident enough that he wouldn't accidentally stab himself. Switching his gloves carefully, he tapped his fingers together to summon the claw tips fixed to the ends. Then he opened the door all the way.
The dogs sat up, growling. He crouched low, letting his clawed hands rest on the ground. "Hector, Lance, Sundrop, I'm going to distract the dogs. When I do, I want you to run. Stick together. Don't separate. Got it?"
They nodded.
"Ready? One… two… three!" He sprang forward, rushing at the nearest dog with a feral snarl. It jumped up to meet his charge, leaping through the air to bear down on him. As its claws sliced through the air above him, he ducked and slid on his knees, letting his claws rake across the creature's hind leg. It yelped in pain and dropped to the floor behind him.
The second and third dogs attacked before he could recover, and he screamed as a set of claws raked his forearm. Two giant paws caught his shoulders, pinning him to the ground, and a slavering jaw hung open above his face as the beast growled, its rancid breath carrying the smell of death. The dog's claws dug into his skin, sending ripples of fire down his shoulders and across his chest. He drove his own claws into the dog's legs, trying to force it off.
He tipped his head backwards to see the third dog had split off and was chasing the children, who had thankfully obeyed and run for the door. Hector spun and slashed his sword at the brute's nose, eliciting a howl of pain as it slunk back. The first one picked itself up off the floor and charged at the kids.
"Shut the door!" Varian screamed. Lance, who reached it first, slammed it shut—with all of them still inside.
With a snarl, Varian clawed at the mutt on top of him until it slunk back. Then he threw his dagger at one facing the children. It glanced off its back but succeeded in getting its attention. It gave a low growl and turned to face him, its siblings gathering themselves to circle him. He readied his claws. He would likely die here, but if he could give the kids time to escape, he would be satisfied.
"Varian!" A golden lasso wrapped around his waist and yanked him across the floor, away from the dogs and to the feet of the little princess. The kids let go of her hair and helped Varian to his feet.
"Smart," he acknowledged, helping pull her hair down from the beam where she'd looped it. "Thanks, Sundrop. Get the door open."
"It's locked!"
"Wh—why is it locked? Ugh, never mind. Just stay behind me. Lance, see if you can pick the lock or something."
"I don't know how!"
The dogs growled, pacing closer. Varian moved the kids further behind him, readying his claws.
Bristling fur, nails clinking and scraping against the floor, ears laid back as they snarled and barked, too similar to the hounds the masked men used to hunt him down the one time he slipped away and tried to run…
Slow breaths, aching shoulders, metal claws shining as he flexed his fingers, a panic that started in the pit of his stomach and rose to the back of his throat, threatening to choke him, to drown him in a sea of his own terror and crush him under the weight of his guilt at not being able to protect the kids…
No! He wasn't dead yet, and he'd fight with every breath in his body. Hector had protected him for months. Now it was his turn. If he could buy them a few minutes, it might be enough.
He readied himself as the lead dog stalked forward, distantly aware of a soft click behind him. Maybe they'd gotten the door open. He'd give them time to get out then try to rejoin them.
Metal flashed in his eyes as a sword swooped between them, slashing the dog across the nose. It howled and backed up.
"Move, kid!" Cassandra shoved him backwards. The dog leaped at her, knocking her to the ground. She screamed in pain. With a quick slash of his claws, Varian struck at the brute's eyes, wincing in sympathy. It scrambled away, cowering behind its siblings.
One of the other mutts lunged forward—only to be met midair by a blur of black that soared over Varian's head. Two other creatures raced past him to join the fray.
"Varian!" A hand grabbed him by the collar and yanked him out of the room. He righted himself and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his aunt, once more towering above him. "Are you okay? Are you hurt? Let me look at you."
He hissed as her hands brushed up against his shoulders, one of which was spotted with blood. "'M fine, really." He sighed in relief as he spotted the Sundrop, Fitzherbert, and Lance also restored to their former selves. "Wait, where's Uncle Hector?"
Cassandra, rejoining them, pointed numbly back towards the doorway he'd been pulled from. "Has he always been able to do that?" She whispered.
He turned to see the brawl within, eyes widening as he saw the familiar creatures locked in bitter war with the dogs. "Pretty much."
"He could do that the whole time. We all could've died. How does he do that?"
Varian pulled her back as the three mutts tumbled out the door and took off down the hallway. The bearcats and cougar limped out after them but didn't give chase. Hector stalked over to Varian and rubbed his head against the boy's arm. Taking a moment to scratch behind his ears and listen to him purr, Varian reached over and unlatched the collar.
Hector stood and took the magic artifact, slipping it back into his bag. "I love doing that. Bet you're glad we didn't get rid of it now."
Varian rolled his eyes and petted the bearcats. "Oh, now you two show up. Couldn't get here five minutes earlier, could you?"
They nuzzled him affectionately, fully aware he was incapable of being mad at them.
"How did you turn back into adults?" he asked, nudging Kiki down from where the bearcat was trying to smother him. Hector scooped him up into a bear hug, loosening his grip when Varian winced.
Cassandra held up the top. "Found it. Got them out and told Adira to switch them back while I got you."
He blinked. Cassandra had… attempted to save him. Had she hit her head or something? "Tha-thank you."
"Yeah, whatever."
"Let's never do that again," Hector grumbled. "Yeesh, is that what normal people feel like? All small and weak? It's nasty." He stretched his arms, flexing as he did. "Oh crap, kid, you're bleeding! Let's get you patched up. What were you thinking, tackling a bunch of dogs like that?"
"I was thinking it's what you'd do. And I had to do something."
"And you haven't realized I'm a terrible role model? You can go tackling dogs when you're my age." He ruffled Varian's hair. "Nice work, though. Proud of you."
"You're proud of me for doing something stupid?"
"If it's something that would make your dad murder me for teaching you, yep."
O‴O‴O‴
Hector grimaced as he bandaged Varian's new wounds. They weren't deep, but he glared at them as if they were the end-all, be-all of Things That Didn't Need to Happen to Varian but Did. "You, kiddo, are gonna be the death of you and me both."
Varian shrugged. "Eh. What's a few more holes in my already perforated body?"
The warrior fixed him with a stern glare. "Dark humor's not your style."
Varian pulled his shirt back over his shoulder and took a sip from his canteen, glancing around at the others, who sat around in various stage of exhaustion. The old man had somehow found his way to the foyer while they were distracted and fallen asleep on the stairs. Ruddiger was nowhere to be seen, having disappeared shortly before the dogs arrived, but Hector had promised that they would find him before they left. "So what now? We still don't have an exit. We've already established that wandering around looking for one is a bad idea. Matthews is a creep and apparently also a kidnapper. Where does that leave us?"
"Back in the foyer," Hector shot back playfully. "And let me tell you, I'm getting real sick and tired of this place and all the weird stuff that goes on around here."
"Zhen per'aps yous should simply make an exit."
They whirled around to find Matthews stoking the fire. Hector summoned his sword and strode forward. "Answers, creep. Now."
Matthews straightened but didn't appear intimidated. "You know, you and your son are very much alike."
"He's not—agh, forget it! Just tell me where the stupid door is." He grabbed the man and slammed him against the wall. "Two seconds. And that's a whole second more than I usually give people, so I'm being generous."
"Your boy was kind enough to give me five. Per'aps you should follow his example."
"Perhaps you should answer the question before I knock your teeth into your stomach."
Matthews rolled his eyes. "Zhat pesky door does zhat sometimes. I am sure it will return eventually. Until zhen, you are all most welcome to stay." He smirked. "Or zhe little genius could simply make a door. It shouldn't be too hard for one of his intellect, no?"
Varian wrapped his arms around himself. "Y-you mean…" He shook his head fiercely. "No. I won't. Just tell us the truth."
"What's that supposed to mean?" the Sundrop asked. "Varian, do you know how to get out of here?"
He shook his head. "It's a giant shell. Calcium carbonate. If I had vinegar, and maybe some sort of catalyst to speed up the process, I could dissolve part of the wall."
"Awesome!" She clasped her hands together. "Why didn't you say so earlier? You can break us out!"
"Yeah, the little escape artist," Cassandra mumbled. Then she winced. "Sorry."
Varian crossed his arms. "No. I'm not doing that."
"Why not?" Fitzherbert demanded. "Look, Hairstripe, if you have the ability to get us out, you need to."
"Yeah, vinegar shouldn't be that hard to find," the Sundrop agreed. "Why won't you do it? Don't you want to leave?"
"Stop it!" Varian yelled. "I told you I'm not doing that! I don't do alchemy anymore, and you can't make me. We'll find another way."
They froze, sharing a look of concern. No one moved or spoke until Hector yelped in surprise. They turned to see him whirling around in shock, Matthews no longer in his grasp. "Where'd the psycho go?" he snarled. "He just disappeared!"
Adira rolled her eyes. "Of course you managed to lose a guy you were holding by the collar. Why am I not surprised?"
"We just turned into babies, and you're making sarcastic commentary that I couldn't keep the freak prisoner?"
She shrugged. "Whatever. Hopefully we won't be around long enough for him to try anything else."
Lance quickly got the conversation back onto its original topic. "Hector said something about you not doing alchemy a few days ago, and then you said that to Cassandra. Why don't you do it anymore?"
"Yeah, that was kind of your whole deal, wasn't it?" Cassandra asked.
"No. And I don't expect y'all to know that, since the only times you paid attention to me were the times you needed me or I offered help, but I'm more than just my alchemy." Varian held his left arm, defiantly staring them in the eyes.
"So…" Cassandra shook her head. "I'm not sure I even want to know, but why? You loved it."
He shuddered. "Don't ask. Please."
"Is it because of what happened when you turned? The guilt get to you?"
"No! I mean, I did feel guilty, but no! Just stop."
She put her fist on her hip. "Then tell us why."
"No!"
"Cassandra," Rapunzel chided. "He doesn't want to tell."
The bodyguard shook her head. "Sorry, Raps. I get the feeling this is something we need to hear."
"Drop it, Short Hair," Adira growled as she came to stand protectively beside Varian. "He said no."
Cassandra glared at them. "I have to know. He was tortured with chemicals, wasn't he?"
Varian flinched, hunching his shoulders and leaning into Adira's side.
Cassandra stepped back. "I knew it."
Adira reached for her sword. "I should kill you for that stunt. Why did you say that?"
"It's true, isn't it?"
Hector put his hand on Varian's shoulder, and the child quickly shifted to hiding in his side rather than Adira's. "Yeah, it's true. So what? Not like you care."
Varian hesitantly looked up at the others, who stared back with open mouths. The Sundrop looked to be on the verge of tears, her hands covering her lips. Eugene's mouth hung open. Lance's jaw clenched, his eyes filled with a familiar pain; out of everyone here, only he understood what Varian was saying with the knowledge that came only from experience. His look was not one of horror or sympathy; it was empathy, even if he didn't suffer the same way.
Cassandra, however, was ashen gray, her hand shaking slightly and her breathing erratic. She stared back at him as if she would attack him herself—which was a very real possibility. Her lips drew together tightly. Then she closed her eyes and sighed.
"I… don't understand," the Sundrop said. "You're saying they… they burned you with chemicals?"
Hector put his hands over Varian's ear, the one that wasn't pressed against his side, as if that could stop him from hearing his next words: "Yeah. Along with, you know, forcing him to drink some of them. I'm sure that's standard procedure for guards, though. Or is it more of an individual thing, find whatever the prisoner loves and use it as a torture method?"
Cassandra's jaw clenched. She gripped the edge of her hair and tugged at it.
"Cass?" The Sundrop put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
The bodyguard shook her hand off. "No. Just… none of this is okay," she hissed. "This… this is sick." She spun on her heel and stalked away, drawing her sword and slashing at the air furiously.
Hector pulled Varian into a hug and glared at the others until they backed away to talk amongst themselves, leaving the Brotherhood alone. "Sorry, kiddo."
"'S fine," Varian mumbled. "Suppose they had to find out eventually."
"That don't make it any easier, I know. Hey, it's almost over. We'll get out of here, and we'll be at the Dark Kingdom in a week or two."
"We've already been with these people for a week, and it's been nothing but one disaster after the next," Varian grumbled. "What's next? Flying tarantulas?"
"Did you ever get to see the Drexis?" Adira asked. "They're like giant spider bats."
"He was a kitten in the Forest of No Return," Hector reminded her.
"Oh, right."
Varian drew away from his uncle and rubbed his face. "'Kay. I suppose now's as good a time as any to talk to her."
"The crap, kid! She just outed your whole alchemy problem in front of everyone, and you want to stormin' talk to her? About what? The weather?"
He shook his head. "I've been needing to do this for a while. Something's wrong. Really wrong. And if she gets to know what happened to me, I get to know what's up with her."
"'Kay. I'll go with you."
"No. Thanks. I need to do this alone." He hesitated. "But stay close, just in case."
Hector nodded. Varian inhaled deeply, trying to imagine the oxygen infusing him with courage. A bit ridiculous and unscientific, but he'd take it if it helped him talk to her. He started over to where she still paced angrily, sword in hand, as she attempted to ignore Rapunzel trying to draw her into conversation. Still shaking, he stubbornly stepped in front of her.
She blinked, stopping for a brief second before stepping to the side to resume pacing. He sidestepped as well. "Start talking, Short Hair."
She glared daggers at him. "Don't call me that. And no." She turned to pace the other direction, but he darted around in front of her.
"I won't stop until you tell me what's going on," he insisted.
"Oh, come on! I thought you were okay with not talking about feelings."
"Yeah, and then you started acting all weird. In the spirit of self-preservation, as I explained earlier, I do feel the need to make sure you're not just being nice so you can arrest me without guilt later. Besides, you got all pushy about my feelings, so it's your turn to share what goes on in that twisted skull of yours. And by the way, don't think I'm not mad at you about that! You had no right to say that."
"Um, yeah, I think I did," she hissed. "You think I didn't need to know that? Varian, you were tortured with alchemy. By the guards. Of which I'm a proud member. Well, not so proud anymore." Her face fell. "I wondered about those burns."
He nodded, absentmindedly running a finger over a burn along his jawline. "Yeah. Not just alchemy. My alchemy. The chemicals I collected and mixed and worked with. I suppose his gracious majesty was trying to drive home a point." He shuddered and wrapped his arms around himself.
The Sundrop shook her head. "I still don't understand. I know you said my father told them to, and that he saw them do it, but it doesn't make sense. I know him! He'd never do something like that!"
"Oh, like he'd never lie to you? Or villainize an innocent kid? Or let an entire kingdom fall just to protect you?" He whirled on her. "Face it, Sundrop. Your dear old dad's a tyrant."
"Don't talk about him like that!" she snapped.
"Like what?" he snapped back, raising his voice. "Like he sent his guards in disguise to beat me when I wouldn't give them that stupid scroll? Like he didn't authorize an army to come at me?"
"You kidnapped my mom!"
"To get your attention! Yeah, I know it was wrong. And you know what? I never hurt her! You were going to let your dad physically attack me, and you're surprised he let me get tortured? How can you stand there and defend him and tell me he's not as bad as he was? I was his victim! I think I'd know!" He rubbed his eyes with his arm. Crap, why couldn't he stop bursting into tears around her? Why was he that weak? Why did it hurt so bad that she was so willing to defend his abuser after everything she'd heard and seen? He should be used to her betrayal by now! He hadn't honestly expected her to change after her tearful apology last night, had he?
Or had he? Was he still that willing to place his heart in her hands just to watch her cast it to the ground time and time again? Stupid, stupid, stupid!
"Varian," she sighed. She reached out a hand to him, but he flinched away.
"Stop it, Raps." To his surprise, it was Cassandra who jumped to his defense. "Leave him alone. He's right."
"What?"
Cassandra sheathed her sword. "He's right."
"Cass—"
"Enough, Raps!" she growled. "How blind can you be? Look at him! Maybe it's time you stop pretending that just because your dad loves you means he's good to everyone else. You weren't there when he cracked down on petty criminals. I'm all for justice, but that's not what the king's known for. There's a difference between punishing someone properly and abusing people. And while we're at it, let's face it: Varian wouldn't have needed to be punished if we had just been the kind of friends we were supposed to be. The kind of friend he tried to be to us." Her face twisted with emotions that rarely broke past her cold surface. "And Varian, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I didn't help you when you needed it. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. And I led an army against you!" She rubbed her face. "I'm selfish. I didn't learn anything from the day of the expo. And at the tree… oh, stars, I'm so sorry! I'm really no better than the guards that did this to you."
Varian listened to her tirade, no longer trying to stop his tears. He'd never expected something like this from her. She was practically crying! Cassandra didn't do that.
But she wasn't done yet. She took a deep breath and straightened her spine. "And when we get back to Corona, I'm turning in my uniform."
Don't worry, y'all, the character development is coming, I promise! People don't change overnight, and this is a learning process for everyone.
As always, constructive criticism is greatly appreciated. Thank you and God bless!