Things had been going well for a while. Varian and his crew had managed to get the fourth totem from the Earth Kingdom and were now on their way to the Dark Kingdom. While passage to the Dark Kingdom would be tricky, once they were close enough to the Great Tree Hector and Adira volunteered to give them a lift. Well, Adira volunteered herself and Hector in the letter she sent. Just his luck, as soon as they had a moment to breathe and a plan in place, a wrench was thrown into it.
It happened to be in the form of an unassuming piece of paper hanging from a village notice board. It was about four years old and forgotten, partially covered by a help wanted ad, and it had Varian's face on it. His wanted poster.
His blood froze at the sight. An awful caricature of him scowling (so this is what Eugene felt like) and the phrase 'Varian the Alchemist: Wanted for Treason and Other Crimes Against Corona' across the bottom.
Varian whipped his head over his shoulder, seeing Hugo, Nuru, and Yong bartering for a room at a local inn. Okay Varian, they didn't see it. You can fix this. Shame crept up the back back of his throat. He could imagine their reactions. Sure, Hugo was a criminal and he was warily accepted into their group, but he was a petty thief at most, and he still didn't have Nuru's full trust. How could they trust Varian after this?
Varian grabbed the poster, crumpled it up, and threw it into his bag. He would burn it later when he had a moment alone. In the meantime, he would just have to keep his eyes peeled for any others that might be around.
A hand appeared on his shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts.
"Woah! You okay there, haristripe?" Hugo grinned at him.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just lost in thought." Varian shrugged Hugo's hand off. "Did you figure out how long we'd be staying here?"
Hugo furrowed his eyebrows, not believing Varian for a second, but thankfully dropped it. "Good news and bad news. We got rooms for two nights here, but they were almost full so we only have three rooms. So, roommates!" Hugo did jazz hands.
"Ugh, at least when we're camping, I don't have to deal with your snoring." Varian found it in himself to joke. He managed to calm his breathing and mind.
"Nuru says that this is the last town for a little while, so to take the extra day to stock up and rest," Hugo explained. "How far away does your Uncle live again?"
"It will take at least a month to get there, probably more depending on how long we stop for."
"What's this Uncle of your's like anyway? You said he'd give us a ride the rest of the way to the Dark Kingdom, but that's about it. Are you," Hugo gave him a look. "hiding something?" Hugo gasped dramatically.
Varian rolled his eyes. "Oh shut it. You'll see." Varian withheld the information about being the son of a Knight of the Brotherhood. It would be more amusing to see the look on Hugo's face after realizing the boy he'd been teasing for growing up on a farm was close to the monarchy of two separate kingdoms. Oh, the reaction from Hugo when he found out Varian was the Royal Engineer was priceless. It would certainly be hard to top.
Yong came running towards the two young men, Nuru not far behind him. "Come on! It's dinner time, and we don't have to cook the food ourselves!"
"The innkeeper felt bad about the room situation and gave us a small discount," Nuru explained. "Between that and only paying for three, we can treat ourselves to a diner."
"Sounds good to me," Varian said, already working out a plan in his mind.
"If it helps, I can make that discount significantly larger."
"Hugo!"
Later, at dinner, Varian was unable to relax. With a rigid spine, the alchemist was on high alert, eyes darting for anyone who might recognize him. He was barely able to eat what he ordered, and didn't participate in conversation.
It worried the rest of the crew. He was normally spouting off some alchemy related or arguing with Hugo. They had seen him nervous before, but this was way beyond. The worst part was that they had no idea what was making him act this way.
Yong, not one for awkward silence, spoke first. "Varian, are you okay?"
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Nothing to worry about." He pulled at his goggles and started messing with the dials.
Nuru raised an eyebrow.
"Great! So it's cool if I order a coffee!" Yong bounced up and down. "I've always wanted to try one!"
All of them let out a string of 'no's at the same time.
"Bad idea, very bad idea." Nuru shook her head.
"Don't give the squirt any caffeine," Hugo said.
"How about we stick to some hot chocolate?" Varian, sufficiently distracted, finally calmed down.
Ruddiger chittered in agreement.
The next day, Varian was very uninspired to crawl out of bed. It took him hours to calm his nerves and fall asleep, and even then he woke up several times from nightmares. Hugo had woken up with him and Varian gave him half-hearted reassurances. Reluctant, Hugo left him alone.
"Come on, Nuru expects us to go shopping with her today." Hugo dragged Varian out of bed by his legs.
"Why? Haven't I suffered enough?" Varian groaned.
"The universe says no."
The four of them had to shop together to keep each other in check. Yong was often distracted by literally anything. They usually had to drag Varian away from chemicals and mechanical parts. Nuru, as amazing as she is, tended to forget about restocking on solutions. Hugo, of course, stole if not properly watched.
Varian kept his head down and eyes peeled for any more posters of himself. He hugged his bag closer to him, he hadn't been able to burn the paper yet, not with Hugo in the same room.
"Hey, check out this wanted poster!" Hugo alerted the group.
Varian felt sick. How did I miss it?
"It's me in my younger days!" Hugo posed by his likeness, both making the same stupid grin. "Wow, they really messed up my hair."
"Hugo! What did you do?" Nuru scolded him.
"What?" Hugo held his hands out defensively. "I only stole a couple things. I didn't even think I would make it onto a poster for that."
"We have to fix this," Nuru said.
"Why?" Hugo asked. "It was years ago."
"You are going to go to the sheriff and pay back what you stole."
"You can't make me!"
Nuru could make him. A couple hours later, Hugo was officially pardoned in the town and his cash bag was lighter.
Somehow, throughout all of this, not a single one of the townsfolk recognized Varian. He did look different from when he was 14, but not by much, sadly. Oh well, he wasn't going to question his good luck.
Having spent the entire day shopping, Hugo fell into his bed.
"Repenting is the worst," Hugo groaned.
"Tell me about it," Varian said offhandedly.
"What would you know, goody two shoes?" Hugo teased, but it fell flat when he noticed how tense Varian had gone.
"Oh, you know, nothing. Goodnight."
Hugo knew something was up, and it had to do with why Varian was acting so weird all of the sudden.
Hugo broke concentration with a yawn.
But that mystery can wait until tomorrow.
They slept in that day since it would probably be the last chance to sleep in an actual bed for a while. Varian and Hugo took their sweet time getting ready, not quite willing to leave the land of slumber.
They met Yong and Nuru outside.
"How do you have so much energy?" Varian groaned.
"I'm 12, I'm hyper!" Yong was ready to start their day.
"It's not fair," Hugo wined, "he has that much energy and he gets to ride the old donkey."
Prometheus flicked his tail.
"Prometheus is a valuable member of our team, and we would be lost without him." Varian immediately came to the donkey's defense.
Despite their arguing, Yong took his regular position on Prometheus and the adventure crew set out.
After several hours, they set down for lunch. It was Varian's turn to cook, and he had left all of his quickstart fires in his bag.
Varian groaned. "And I just sat down too." He complained to no one in particular.
"I'll grab it!" Yong reached for the alchemists bag.
Varian panicked. "No!" He hadn't been able to burn the poster yet.
Startled from the sudden yell, Yong tripped and the contents of the bag flew everywhere.
Frantically, Varian sifted through paper and vials trying to find his wanted poster before anyone else.
"It's okay Varian, we can help," Nuru offered.
"Yeah, goggles. I suppose I can help out some."
"I've got this, I've got this," Varian mumbled, not breaking concentration.
If he had looked up, then he would have noticed an old piece of crumpled up paper float to Nuru's feet.
Bending down, Nuru picked up the paper. She started to open it, but realized that whatever it may be was Varian's business. Then she noticed the word 'Wanted' across the top. Unable to stem her own curiosity, she opened it.
"Varian, what is this?" Her voice trembled.
Varian looked up and his stomach bottomed out. In her hands was a wanted poster featuring 14-year-old him.
Hello, Hetafan here! I'm new to the TTS fandom, so I haven't written any of the characters before. I figured what better way to get into their minds than a classic past revealed fanfic. This will be a couple chapters long, its already written out and will be updated once a week. Let me know what your favorite V&T7K fics are and any comments/concerns/criticism. Please review!