Chapter 3: Varian and Rapunzel

This is gonna be great! Cassandra taught me the court version of this one," Rapunzel said, looking over her shoulder as she lead the way to a quieter part of the open green space, Varian's arm in the crook of hers. "But to be honest, it's nowhere near as fun as the regular one."

"Ha, whatever you say, princess," Varian said, good-natured.

Rapunzel almost missed a step but quickly caught herself. "I already told you," she said, her smile tight. "Just Rapunzel."

"Heh, sorry, old habit."

She could feel her smile fade as she turned away, and tried not to think about how tired she felt. "It's fine. I just… could use a bit of a break from being a princess."

Or, rather, she could use a break, period. It had been a long, anxious, terrifying ordeal of a day.

"So, uh… how do you do this one?" Varian asked, after some moments of her staring into the distance, where half of a shop and home had been crushed into rubble, the stone and clay now an ugly mass of broken things.

"O-oh, right!" The smile returned. "Okay, so, take my hand, and follow my lead."

Holding hands, they began a quick light-hearted bourrée with toe touches in and out, normally in a large circle but they could make do with just the two of them. It didn't last long, however, before being interrupted.

"Ow!"

"Sorry!"

"Oof. Should have expected that," Rapunzel said, hopping on one foot and rubbing her toes.

Varian gingerly lifted one heavy boot, and then the other, giving a sheepish laugh. "I'll, uh, try not to do that again."

They tried, again. The music picked up and they roughly kept pace, standing at arms length and both kicking up their feet and stamping down with great determination, with Varian's leather apron and Rapunzel's purple dress fluttering about their legs. It 's wasn't long before Varian's boot came down hard on her foot once more.

"Ohhhh, that one smarted," Rapunzel muttered under her breath, leaning heavily on Varian's shoulder and massaging the top of her foot, feeling the tendons ache as she flexed it.

"Sorry," Varian said, softer.

Rapunzel was almost tempted to make a joke about it: like, that after all the trauma and pain of the day, it would be dancing that would send her to the infirmary. She was still collecting the words until she caught his expression.

"Hey, Varian? You okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" he said, far too quickly, his smile too wide. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm good. You know, everything's fine. Great, even!"

Rapunzel raised an eyebrow. "Okay… so really, what's wrong? Is it about your dad?"

"No… or not right now." He hesitated before sighing, rubbing the back of his neck with a glance downward. "Just… talking with Cass earlier reminded of all the trouble I've caused. How many people I hurt…"

"Varian, that's all in the past. You know that."

"Yeah, I know," he said, still not meeting her eyes. It wasn't something they often talked about, and frankly Rapunzel preferred that way, leaving the past in the past where she didn't have to think about it.

"She's planning to leave, did you know?" Varian said abruptly. Rapunzel looked over her shoulder as if Cassandra might be running away that moment. But Cassandra and Eugene where as they had left them, talking rather than dancing in the dark night. "At least, assuming you don't throw her in jail—"

"I wouldn't do that!"

Varian have her a look so flat, it might have been road kill.

"Oh, uh… heh, right." She tucked her hair behind her ear. The short strand slipped free again. "Sorry."

He shrugged it off. "It's fine. I deserved it. I mean, you kinda had to or I would have kept trying to destroy everything. But after what happened with the Saporians and what I did, I'd sometimes wonder if I should do the same. Just… leave. I'd wonder if anyone would care that I was gone, or if they'd just be glad to see the back of me."

If the music still played, Rapunzel couldn't hear it. Perhaps it was only the falling night that suddenly felt so cold. She had never imagined he might feel that way. Perhaps, if she had thought about it at all, she would have.

"Sometimes," he said, almost too soft to hear, "sometimes, sitting in that cell, I wondered far worse. If I just… disappeared."

She stood there, unmoving. What must it have been like, alone in a prison cell, not even knowing the fate of his father? His only family? She could almost see it lingering about him, an unspeakable darkness. Something cold and dangerous and lonely. Cassandra was not the only friend she had hurt and abandoned.

And then Rapunzel imagined if he had never returned. If he had disappeared and she never saw him again.

"Oh, Varian…"

"Huh?" The darkness slipped away. Varian blinked, startled by the sudden sound of tears in her voice. "Wha—it's fine though! Hey, it's like you said, it's all in the past. Sorry, I didn't mean—"

"No, I'm fine," Rapunzel muttered, swiping at her eye. "There's just been so much going on, and I'm just… tired. That's all."

"Come on, we should be celebrating! Weren't you going to teach me this dance?"

Rapunzel had forgotten the music, and dancing suddenly felt unbearable. The dregs of energy she had been running on were no longer enough, and now she was exhausted and heartsick, and for no good reason.

The kingdom was safe. Eugene was safe. Cassandra had returned to them. Varian was still there, they all were. But the pain still clenched tight, and she felt overly sensitive, like overripe fruit soft to the touch.

"Raps?" Varian laid a hand on her shoulder, gentle despite the heavy leather glove.

"I'm glad you're here," she said, her voice ugly and thick. Rapunzel laid her hand over his before he could pull away. "I honestly… if you were gone—"

"Hey, don't think like that," he said gently. "Everything worked out. You saved Corona. We're all okay."

"Yeah." She nodded again, more to herself. Rapunzel again swiped at her eye and nodded. She was fine.

They were all fine.

After the worst of the feelings had settled, she looked up. Before she could doubt herself, she took one step forward and fell against Varian.

Varian let out a breath and rested his chin on her shoulder. He had grown taller, she realized.

"I'm sorry," Rapunzel said, scrunching her face as she said it.

For a moment she thought he would wave off the apology, a little hitch of breath as if about to argue, and instead he went quiet and held on tighter. "Thanks, Rapunzel," he murmured instead. "I'm sorry too."

She smiled. It was a little like being forgiven, like a wall of ice that was continuing to thaw between them.

"And you'd better not think of leaving either," Rapunzel said before backing off just enough to look him in the eyes, trying to sound admonishing.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," he said, leaning forward to match Rapunzel's own bowed head, their bangs brushing together. "Promise."

"Good. And besides! I think we might need your help rebuilding," Rapunzel said, falsely cheerful as she looked over to where a small building was gutted and bleak from the black rocks. They simultaneously winced. "If you're… up to it."

"You maybe could have used your magic to heal the kingdom and save us the effort."

"I tried!" she said. "It helped a little."

"I heard the bridge is unstable. That's going to be bad if that collapses."

Rapunzel let her head fall forward with a long, low groan, gripping his shoulders as if for support.

"We'll get it fixed," he said.

"It's not the only thing that needs to be fixed," Rapunzel said, glancing over. Cassandra and Eugene were apparently dancing together, strangely. Or possibly trying to maim each other's feet with their boots. "Think she'll let me talk to her?"

"I think you should try," he said. "You know, back then you would have been insane not to lock me up. It took me a long time to get my head straight, but Cass? I think she's already there. Or, well… she's at least on the right path again."

"Even if that path is away from me," Rapunzel said softly.

"It might be what she needs right now. Maybe what you both need. Some time apart to clear your heads."

"I'm just… afraid to lose her again," she muttered, and wasn't sure if Varian even heard. He was probably right, though.

Rapunzel took a deep breath and slowly let it out, steeling herself before quietly walking over. Her fiancé and former bodyguard and arch-enemy were still focused on trying to stomp on each others toes, apparently enjoying themselves. She coughed once, and that was enough for them to break apart with no small shock.

"Oh, Blondie! We were just… dancing."

"Sure," Cassandra said, squinting at him. Both were rubbing their hands as if they'd also been trying to crush each other's grip.

"I uh, was wondering… Cass, can we…" A musical flourish caught her attention: a new song.

Rapunzel held out a hand towards her old friend. "May I have this dance?" she said, quickly flashing an apologetic look to Eugene—they would have other chances, other nights.

Cassandra looked as if she was being offered poisoned fruit. Eugene patted her on the back—they were apparently getting along again, which was nice—before she took Rapunzel's hand and begrudgingly allowed herself to be pulled away.

This left the two boys standing awkwardly beside each other as the music played on. Neither was quite in the mood for more talking or emotional gut-punches.

"Now those two have the right idea," Eugene said loudly, pointing towards the center of the square where Kiera and Catalina were skipping between the dancing pairs, hand in hand and going very fast.

Eugene looked to Varian. Varian met his questioning look.

Both shrugged, and clapped a hand to each other's back—Varian stretching to reach—grasped their other hands tight, and began to violently two-step towards the innocent, unsuspecting crowd of dancers.

Author Notes:

Thank you for reading! Especially after a bit of this delay (can I blame Covid? It didn't really impact me but I'm gonna blame it anyway).

Next chapter is the last, and you can imagine which characters it'll focus on.

Comments always appreciated!

Take care!