No time skip for this one, we begin directly at the end of the previous chapter! ^^
Answer to review!
Naturefox64 : It took me four chapters before it gets to my head that I can't send you a reply to your review! xD Still, I want to thank you for your support! ^^
Rock Mint Swirl : Yep, I wanted to 'justify' some of Varian's character traits! ^^ Thank you for your review by the way! ^^
oOoOoOo
« Wait a second… You never told me that your birthday was the day just after mine! »
Varian gave a sheepish grin to the girl, rubbing his arm « Ha, ha… Sorry about that… »
Well, as expected, a few minutes after falling asleep, the younger had been rejoined in his dreams by the other girl and he had the chance to wish her 'Happy Birthday' before the clock strike its twelves bells. But the alchemist would have never thought that his father would have wait until the exact minute to wish him Happy Birthday… Neither that the girl in front of him would have been able to hear it too.
« Well, It's not really a big deal so-
« Not a big deal ?! » cut the blond-haired, sounding outraged, « Your birthday, not a big deal? Are you kidding me? A birthday is always a big deal! »
Taken a little aback by his counterpart's outburst, Varian found himself mumbling, « Well, y-you know… W-we… I've never c-considerate that… And then, t-the lanterns coincide with y-yours and… »
The older girl let an exasperated sigh out and grab Varian by the arm to enfolded him in one of her bear-hug trademarks.
« Happy ten-years-old Birthday, silly! » She said with a smile in her voice « Don't you dare think that it is not a big deal! It's important to me! You are important to me, so don't ever tried to denigrate yourself again! »
Varian blinked several times, a little surprised by the older's words, before hugging her back, « Thank you… » he murmured in her shoulder, feeling oddly at ease with the rare gesture which was kind of foreign to him but also achingly familiar…
They stay this way a few moments longer before the girl pushed him back with a loud gasp.
« Oh, my! I don't have any gift for you! »
Varian recoiled a little, «N-no! it's okay! Really! Also, I didn't give you anything for your own birthday so don't worry about… That… » His voice trailed off at the end of his sentence as a faint light caught the corner his eyes. He frowned a little and moved toward the gleam.
« What is it… ? » asked the girl as she followed him, seeing the strange gleaming thing too. Varian said nothing and suddenly, their surroundings began to change a little and the two could see the blurry shape of what seem to be furniture…
Varian gasped, recognizing the form of his nightstand.
« What's happening… ?
« I don't know but… For whatever reason, we could see a little of my room, of the reality… »
Knitting his brows together, Varian extended his arms toward the light. His hands seemed to pass through a sort of wall made of blurry-water and he felt something between his palms as he reached for the glowing object.
He retracted back his hand when he was sure he had a good hold on the gleaming thing and, as he repassed the water-like-wall, he had the feeling that the thing was, in a way, melting in his hands before solidifying once again.
His puzzled expression changed into a surprise one as he saw, a lantern, -the Royal Lantern !- in his hands. Next, to him, he heard the little girl let out a marveled gasp.
« Is that…? » Looking back at her, and even if he was a little stunned by the strange event, the younger smiled at the fourteen-years-old girl and hand her the glowing object.
« Huh…?
« Take it, » he said, « As your birthday gift. You wanted to see the lanterns, right? Maybe it's not the real deal with the hundreds of them but… It's a beginning… »
Ever so slowly, her hands found their way toward the glowing object that the just-happened-ten-years-old held up to her. Gently, she took it between her two hands, her fingers brushing slightly with his ones, and her eyes began to shine with unshed tears, a gleam enlightening their deep-green-color as a huge smile slowly made its way across her face.
Varian watched her with soft eyes, a warm feeling spreading across his chest. When she looked back at him, the only thing that he could read in her eyes was gratitude.
« I… I don't know how you manage to do this but… Thank you…! I wished I could offer you something too but…
« It's okay, » he said while rubbing his neck, « I don't know how this is possible too and, really, you don't need to-»
Once again, he was cut in his sentence by another bear-hug, but he really didn't mind. He hugged her back and then she was once again to the lantern, marveled by the simple, and yet very important object.
And seeing the girl smile like this, Varian decided that he really didn't need a birthday gift.
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When Rapunzel woke up several hours later, she had a peaceful smile on her lips.
She remembered her surprise to know that the Dream Boy (as she like to call him)'s birthday was just after hers and even if she was upset he never told her about it, or maybe by the fact that after six years visiting each other's dreams, she had never thought to ask him when his birthday was ! What an awful friend she was!
Friend… For long, she thought that the only friend she'll ever have would be Pascal but now, she has this Boy in her dream and… She was happy to have a someone to talk with who was not her mother…
Because he gave her another view of the outside world, and even if she was still scared of it, she wondered more often why her Mother had to darken the picture. And even if the world still appeared full of rogues, plagues, cannibals or poisons, she knew that not everything was bad either, look at the boy with who her relationship is the closer of what a friendship looked like with real people!
More like a little brother, she second-thought, laughing a little as she snuggled under her sheets, hugging closer a soft fabric against her cheek-
Whut… ?
Slowly, she opened one eye, then two as they grew bigger than saucers, looking at the object she hugged between her arms. Schoked, she jerked away from the once-glowing object, making it flew a little before it landed softly on her cushion. Pascal, startled by the sudden motion, climbed on her shoulder and made little noise of concern.
« It's okay, Pascal, it's just… This shouldn't be here… It's impossible… » She pinched her arm, not quite sure she was awake.
Dumbfounded, she looked down to the object and, very slowly, delicately took the lantern between her two hands, afraid it dissolved into dust at the simple touch. Pascal, still on her shoulder, looked at the strange object before glancing up at Rapunzel face, a question in his eyes.
« I… I can't explain how this come here but… It's a lantern, Pascal, like all the ones which are launch every year on my birthday… »
Like the very one, he gave me last night… But how…?
Still, the fourteen-years-old girl gazed fondly at the lantern, tracing with her fingers the sun-pattern drew on it, lost in thought and stayed like this for a few moments longer, warm spreading into her chest.
I'll have to ask how he did this little trick… Still, it's the best birthday gift I ever had until now…
When Pascal almost shouted into her ear, she realized that her Mother was at the foot of the tower and was calling out for her.
She can't see it! She'll destroy it if she ever found it… ! Thought Rapunzel, a little panicked before tossing the object under her bed and heading straight to her waiting-mother at the window.
With a wide grin on her face, Rapunzel launched her already long hair to Gothel.
oOoOoOo
«Varian? Are you awake, son?
« Barely… ! » shouted tiredly back the ten-years-old boy at his father, rubbing his eyes. He heard him chuckle a little.
« My, my… You should be very tired last night…! It's almost noon… ! »
If Varian wasn't struggling against the strings of sleep that tried to take him back into slumber, he would have gasped in shock. Maybe he wasn't an early person, but he certainly wasn't the kind who stay in bed this far in the morning… !
But gosh… I'm so tired…
For a few seconds, Varian wondered what could have happened for him to be so exhausted, but he couldn't find a reason.
With a yawn, he stood up on his bed, took his boots, not very surprising to see that he was still wearing the clothes of the past day, and headed downstairs, smelling delightfully the sweet scent in the air as he entered the kitchen. His father turned on his heels to face him and, with a smile, embraced him, « Happy Birthday, son… », then, with a deep chuckle, added « again ».
Varian hugged him back, « Thanks Dad ». Then he turned to the sink and began to wash his hands, yawning once again. He didn't see the strange look his dad gave him as he stayed silent for a few seconds.
« Varian…? », the younger turned his head to him, « Yes, dad? » « Don't you… See something on your nightstand when you woke up this morning… ? »
Varian frowned a little « … No, I saw nothing… Should I…? » Now, it was Quirin who frown deeper, « Really, Varian? But last night, I left a lantern on your bedside… »
The younger one eye widened a little « A lantern…? »
« Yes, I don't know how, but a lantern found his way to your room- The Royal Lantern! Nothing less ! But I'm surprised that you didn't see it while I left it on... » but his sentence died on his lips as Quirin heard his son mumbling to himself, his gaze lost in the nothingness in front of him,
« So I really give her a lantern last night… »
Every single drop of blood frozen in his veins earing those words, and before he knew it, he had to take Varian by the shoulders, locking his eyes with Varian's, his voice low, cold and utterly laced with fear.
« What… Did you… Say…? », Varian looked at him with shock, not understanding what was happening and stay silent, looking at his father with frightening, questioning eyes.
« Varian », repeated his father, « What. Did. You. Say? »
The younger voice was trembling now, shaken by Quirin's strange behavior, as he answered to his father.
« T-The girl! In my dreams! I kno-know that I never talk to you about h-her, but she's nice! It seems that we share dreams! I tried to understand them, but I can't, a-and I didn't tell you about this because I-I don't have any a-answers! A-and i-it was her birth-birthday yesterday, and then she discovered my birthday was after hers, just after midnight, you know? As you always told, and because she heard you wishing me it, and then we saw my room in the dream, and we saw a light, and then there was the strange curtain, and I took the lantern from the water-like curtain, and then I gave it to her, and- »
« How long ? » Quirin's voice was cold, sharp and cut the rambling boy mid-sentence
Varian knew instantly what his father meant and said « S-Six years… Six years that I see her in my dreams sometimes, not a-all the night! B-But I can't rem-remember her face, but she's kind and she tried to understand t-too what th-those dreams are-» But Varian didn't finish this sentence too as he felt his father's grasp on his shoulder tensed and, ever so slightly, shacked.
With a low, sharp voice, Quirin said between his teeth,
« Listen carefully, Varian… I don't ever want to hear about those dreams anymore … I don't want you to even try to understand what they are- What am I saying ? Those dreams are nothing but an invention from your mind to fill your nights… ! » he paused, « The girl that you meet in your so-called 'dreams'… she doesn't exist…
« But Dad! You don't understand! They exist! She exists! Somewhere! I know it's not an invention of my mind! Even if I can find a logical reason for their existence, they are…! I know they are true! And I can't shake the feeling that is something related to some kind of mag- »
« Enough, Varian ! » cut sharply his father « I don't want to hear you talk about those dreams, or even mention 'magic' in this house, ever! »
Varian closed his mouth at the outburst, swallowing a lump in his throat, scared by his father and feeling his hands shaking a little. Nodding numbly, the younger only said in a weak voice « Y-yes dad… »
Quirin sighed tiredly as he drew away from his son and rushed a hand through his own dark locks, looking down at the ground
« …I'm sorry son, I didn't want to raise my voice to you, but it's really important for me that you forget about those 'dreams'… Please, don't talk about them to anyone anymore… And tried to avoi- to forget them…» he paused, « Don't forget, son; we are men of science, nonsense like magic, or « share dreams experiences», as you said, didn't, don't and will never exist.»
Varian nodded silently, looking at his boots. His father gazed at him sadly and then, after a few moments of tensed silence, open his arms a little, unsure, not knowing if it was the right thing to do.
When Varian canon-balled into his arms, Quirin let out a relieved sigh out of his lungs. He was aware that his son was crying silently, and that he wouldn't listen to him about the dreams, but he had made his point clear, and he was sure that Varian wouldn't talk about them to anyone. And even if lying to his son made him sick as hell inside, he knew he had to do it.
Somehow, Quirin felt that this simple incident dug a little pit between Varian and him and that it would only grow larger and larger as the years will pass, because Quirin couldn't tell him the truth, not yet.
All those secrets will be what will tear them apart, and Quirin held his son closer to the simple idea of losing him one day.
But if it was the price to pay to ensure Varian safety, he would take the shovel and dig himself if he had to.
But as it was still a small pit that he still could easily cross, Quirin just soaked in his son warmth, holding delicately his small moonbeam between his arms.
And in the back of his mind resonated a faint plea,
I'm so sorry son… for all the pain I had already caused you and will… Please, forgive me…
One day, you'll understand why I had to do this, and I can only hope that when this day will come, you would not fell apart.
In a way, it makes sense here that Rapunzel know that the light of her birthday is lanterns because of Varian, right? What do you think? Leave a comment/ review!