Chapter 14
Reprise
When Varian woke up, he couldn't believe his eyes...
The streets he had originally walked on were now white.
There was snow coating it and everything.
Ah, yes, snow... But wait...
It was Autumn?
Varian rubbed his eyes, but then winced because he had completely forgotten about his black eye from the fight. "Ruddiger, hey buddy, wake up. It's snowing!" Varian looked at his raccoon friend.
Ruddiger yawned and stretched, then ran over to the window to look outside. It was beautiful. He chirped excitedly and began crawling out of the window. "Wait for me, silly raccoon!" He laughed and attempted to crawl down without falling due to his injuries.
Ruddiger jumped around in the snow happily, even if it was cold to his feet.
Varian smiled, he liked to see Ruddiger happy. He had occasionally woken up in the middle of the night, and Ruddiger looked really upset, asleep or not, so he was definitely happy to see Ruddiger smiling and cheerful again. But what Varian found odd...
It's snowing in Autumn.
Rapunzel came out of the doors with her pink winter coat and exclaimed; "It's a snow day! Weehoo!" She clapped and twirled around. "It's woohoo, Blondie." Eugene affectionately corrected her. "I like Weehoo better!" Rapunzel giggled. "I like Weehoo better than Snow." Eugene shivered and tried to smile, he was cold though, he didn't like snow.
Cassandra wasn't at the castle, she had left early to attend to ordering the guards around, and she was heading to the building where Varian lived to keep an eye on him.
"Varian?" Cassandra looked around, calling his name.
When Varian heard Cassandra's voice, his eyes lit up with excitement.
Just soon as Cassandra rounded the corner, she was surprised with Varian giving her a hug. "Whoa, hello! I see you're happy to see me?" Cassandra laughed awkwardly and slowly got Varian to stop hugging her. "Sorry, Cassie... I just..." Varian rubbed his neck nervously, which was a bit itchy due to the bandages wrapped around his hand. "Cassie, Cassie, How did you come up with that little nickname, hm?" Cassandra raised a brow, crossing her arms with a smirk on her face.
"Oh, uh I-" Varian was caught off-guard, and his face flushed a bright red. "It's just...a nickname... Nothing much about it, really..." Varian looked away, trying not to look Cassandra in the eyes.
Cassandra smiled, "Ah, okay, well thanks Varian. Glad I'm good enough to have a nickname. Raps calls me Cass, and her boyfriend Eugene just mocks me and calls me CaSsAnDrA; I hate him."
Cassandra explained, though her voice was actually friendly the whole time.
(Even when saying she hated Eugene Fitzherbert, and that was actually saying something.)
That did get a giggle from Varian. "CaSsAnDrA?" He mocked Eugene's mocking of Cassandra's nickname. "He could learn something from you." Cassandra ruffled his hair.
Cassandra didn't want to point out that his hair still had a bunch of blood in it, so she kept quiet and would let him deal with that himself. "Say, since the weather's changed so quickly, would you like to go get some hot chocolate? I'll pay for you." Cassandra suggested.
Varian's eyes gleamed and glowed, "Of course, thank you..." He shyly smiled, his bucktooth showing. Cassandra walked off and Varian followed, grabbing Ruddiger and putting him on his shoulder. "So, I meant to ask you... What's up with the raccoon? 'He your pet, or?" She asked.
"He's my friend, his name's Ruddiger. I saved him from a critter trap, and we made a deal to stick together since then. He's friendly, he likes to try and steal your food though." Varian warmly glanced at her. "Steal your food? Little no-good thief, is he? Silly little thing." She snickered.
Varian's smile was still there, but it kind of went crooked with doubt and guilt when she mentioned the word thief... "Yeah... Silly little thing..." Varian pet Ruddiger's head gently.
Cassandra and Varian walked through the streets, people in their warm clothes walking around; greeting each other and shopping; Varian liked to see people, he didn't see many people except for those who wanted to rob him or abuse him. Except for Angry and Red, they were nice, especially Red. He wondered about them, he hoped they were okay after that fight last night.
Varian then realized he was shivering, "It's cold today..." He muttered without thinking. "Want my scarf?" Cassandra asked, making Varian squeak slightly. "Wha...whaa?" He shook his head confused. "My scarf, idiot. Do you want it or not?" Cassandra snarked, though it was friendly.
"S...Sure... But you don't have to if-" Varian was interrupted by Cassandra taking off the scarf and wrapping around his neck. Varian felt his face heat up; his face was about as red as his vest at this time. Cassandra continued walking alongside Varian; even if Varian was pretty much out-of-order due to the fact that Cassandra just gave him a scarf because he was cold.
Varian finally snapped out of it to speak, "Wait. I want to know why it's snowing in Autumn." He looked at Cassandra. "I wish I knew. It just started snowing last night and; here you are, winter." She shrugged, "I heard some kingdoms have different weather, so maybe it's just coming from up north?" She added.
"Maybe." Varian put his hands in his vest pockets and nuzzled his chin into his new scarf.
"You can keep that scarf by the way." Cassandra spoke.
"Thank you..." Varian looked away again, breaking any eye contact and blushing...
Cassandra pushed open the doors of the bakery and let Varian go first, then came in after him, closing the door. The fireplace was going inside, and between that and the ovens; it was warm.
"Go take a seat, I'll meet up with you there." Cassandra glanced at Varian.
Varian nodded and headed over to the same table as last time and sat down, waiting for her.
After waiting, Cassandra brought back two cups of hot chocolate and a bag of sweets. She sat down, slid one mug over to Varian, put her mug down and opened the bag to pull out two freshly made cupcakes. She handed on to Varian with a napkin.
"Oh, thank...thank you-" Varian went to thank her, but Cassandra shook her head; "There's no need to thank me, just take it." Cassandra resisted a laugh, even if the smirk on her face showed.
Ruddiger looked a little disappointed that he didn't get anything.
"Don't worry, I got something for you too." Cassandra handed him a small brownie.
Ruddiger's eyes lit up with excitement and he grabbed it and chattered as a thank you, then proceeded to eat it messily on Varian's shoulder.
"I meant to ask, what happened with Lady- uh, with the lady from last night?" Varian took a sip of his hot chocolate and looked at Cassandra. "Oh, she's in the Corona Castle dungeons now. Her wounds have been tended to, she can't see since she was blinded by the attack to her eyes." Cassandra stirred the hot chocolate with a spoon and told him.
"Wow... And what about everyone else? Did you get them or no?" Varian said.
"Nah, we didn't. We're going to keep a good eye out for them though." Cassandra replied.
"Hm." Varian took a bite out of the cupcake. He was used to sweets because he would often take the sweets from houses' he broke into. Hot chocolate was much better, in his opinion.
"There's still many thieves we've got to catch. Y'see, our guards are morons and I usually have to do everything myself, or my dad does." Cassandra yawned. He laughed a bit, "Morons, huh? That's kind of rude." Varian smiled. "It's not rude. It's true." Cassandra raised her brow.
Varian giggled, which made Cassandra laugh as well.
"Aside from the thieves that Lady Caine, the lady we caught yesterday, is allies with; we're still looking for the Silent Strikers and the Stress-Streak Thief." Cassandra leaned back in her chair a little ways before taking a sip of her warm hot chocolate. Varian choked on the hot chocolate briefly when he had heard the last one; that was him!
"Stress-Streak Thief?" He squeaked out.
"Yeah, he's this kid with poofy hair that has a blue...teal-looking streak of hair." She told him.
Varian hid his face behind the hot chocolate cup.
"The Silent Strikers, if you're wondering, are two girls. The guards haven't been able to get close, since they are so fast." Cassandra added. Varian hid his face behind the hot chocolate cup even more before he finally set the cup down, hiding his concern look behind a shy smile.
"Children? Really? All three of them?" Varian asked.
"Yeah. They need to be put in the dungeons early on or else they'll never learn their lessons."
Cassandra nodded and took a bite out of her cupcake. "Wait, but what if these thieves are just out trying to survive and they don't have parents or family or even friends to rely on? Should you really punish them? Shouldn't you try to help them?!" Varian got a little upset.
"You're really into this, huh? I mean, I get it... But me, my dad and the rest of the Royal Guards... That's not our job. If His Highness, King Frederic, decides to help them, then we can. But he hasn't said a word and we must do our job until he says that word. If he ever says that word." Cassandra explained; Varian only stared with a frown while Ruddiger ate the rest of the small cupcake.
"I see..." Varian continued to eat his own cupcake.
Cassandra raised a brow and frowned, she didn't mean to upset Varian. Cassandra sighed and they both continued to drink their hot chocolate quietly.
