When things got naughty, you're always there-Tangled the Musical

Not sure where this is going, but had fun writing it. Warnings for disciplinary spankings.

Varian had promised himself that he was on the path to being a model citizen. The now-healing welts on his backside and the bars on his widows reminded him that he really needed to behave.

That lasted exactly two days before everything exploded. Literally. After two days of confinement, he had finally been allowed out and assigned to help clean the dishes. After a boring hour of scrubbing, he realized that if he combined a few common materials properly, he could heat up the water a lot faster.

Unfortunately, the pewter pots couldn't handle that level of heat and promptly exploded. While everyone else had to begin cleaning up all the water, Varian had been told to stand in a corner and wait. Cook dragged him there by the ear. "Just…don't move."

A few moments later, Dad arrived, looking like he could steam the vegetables from the rage boiling off him. "I warned you," he snapped.

"I thought…" Varian pleaded when he saw the look in his father's eyes. "I was just trying to help."

He wasn't surprised to find himself dragged to a chair and face-down over his father's knees. He had already predicted the chemical reaction of angry dad multiplied by explosions meant a sore bottom. He was just surprised as always by how much it hurt. His father smacked him thoroughly, each swat feeling like his father's hand was made of steel. Maybe platinum.

An idle thought of which would be more painful ended when he heard a voice.

"Master Quirian, perhaps you might find this fine wooden spoon helpful?" Cook suggested. "I always found it an excellent educational aid."

"Thank you," Dad said and proceeded to use it to pummel Varian's sit spots until he was a sobbing mess. As always, he was fruitlessly begging for mercy and promising to do better. By now, he was aware neither side clearly expected the words to mean anything. Begging for reprieve just happened when one was getting spanked. The worst was hearing the cheering and words of approval for his punishment. When Dad finally finished, he got a round of applause.

"Now, that's a proper rump roast,' Cook approved. "I'd say it was quite well done." Varian wished he could invent a way for the floor to swallow him.

Instead, he was forced to his feet to babble out an apology, and a promise to do additional chores to make up for it. "Come on, back to our room. I have a new punishment for you," Dad whispered, leading him out.

The punishment was worse than Varian imagined. A hard chair was placed in the corner of the room and Varian was told to put his very sore behind on it, and just stare at the wall, doing nothing. "I can't do anything? I could do sewing, I could copy books," Varian pleaded.

"Nothing. You will sit and think about your actions. Of course, if you need additional motivation," Dad warned, giving Varian a painful smack on the behind to remind him. "I'll be back at any point to relieve you. If I catch you doing anything else, you won't be sitting for a day."

Varian sat down miserably, wincing at the way it made his burning behind feel worse. He sat and stared at the wall.

To distract himself, he began reciting the periodic table of elements. He then recited the combinations created by those elements. He was still bored.

A knock finally interrupted him. The door opened. "Hi Dad," Varian said, without looking around.

"No, it's me." Princess Rapunzel appeared in the room, her thick golden mane of hair bouncing behind her. She had a large basket with her. Eugene was behind her, looking nervous. "I baked you cookies," she said, although she offered it to him one would offer a dangerous animal.

"Thank you, Your Highness," Varian said, getting up from the chair, and falling to his knees. The movement had him squirming uncomfortably. "I'll give them to my father."

"I made some for him too," Princess Rapunzel said showing him the basket. "Don't worry, you can always have more."

Varian nodded. "As your Highness commands," he said, keeping his eyes low.

"Please get up,' Princess Rapunzel urged, her voice still kind and sunny and all too cheerful. "And her highness, me, commands you speak to me normally. It's hard to have a conversation like this."

Varian got to his feet but made sure to bow first. "I…" he mumbled. "Thank you for the cookies."

"I wanted to talk to you about everything. Are you ready to listen?"

Varian looked at her with tears. "There's nothing to say, nothing explains what I've done. Please, forget me," he pleaded.

"You need help, Varian. "

"I'm beyond help," Varian said dully. "Please, Your Highness, I appreciate your kindness but I'm a lost cause. What if I have another tragedy and go mad again? I'm dangerous."

"Varian, please, don't shut me out again." Rapunzel pleaded. "I care about you. I promise…"

Those words triggered him into madness. "Your promises mean nothing! You shut me out, you had me dragged out and thrown into a snowstorm as I begged you for help and then you abandoned me. You let everyone believe I was a monster and then acted shocked when I became one. You don't care about me, you are a spoiled princess who thinks she knows everything. Had I not kidnapped the queen, my father would still be stone," Varian snapped, before remembering his place.

Rapunzel looked stricken. His words had hit deep and he'd be lucky if he didn't find himself in the dungeons.

"Blondie, this is going nowhere," Eugene said, holding up.

" I can't give up on people," Rapunzel said, but she looked wilted.

"Just let me speak to him first, man to…future man. Then he'll be ready," Eugene said before she could continue. "Please give me a few minutes."

"All right. Varian, I'll be right outside," she said, padding out with cheery sunshine as ever.

As soon as the door closed, Varian looked at him. "Please, go."

"No. You know you can't speak to royalty like that."

"I don't think I can make things worse. "

"You are not going to act like this, drown in self-pity and bitterness and isolate yourself."

Varian shrugged. "I only told the truth. Now, please, go away.'

Eugene glared at him. "You can talk to me or I can use your father's methods of convincing you. It seems to work well."

"You wouldn't! You can't!" Varian snapped, feeling quite scandalized. Bad enough for his father to drape him over a knee but now everyone felt entitled to treat him like a child?

Eugene fingered his sword belt meaningfully. "Don't test me, kid. If I had gotten more of this growing up, I might have not grown up to be a thief."

"But then you would have never met the Princess," Varian pointed out. "And technically, you're an ex-criminal like me, and have no rank, so assaulting me is still technically illegal. Therefore, I don't have to obey you."

Eugene glared at him for a long moment before smiling. It was a very scary smile of a grown-up who had once been a mischievous child and had not forgotten the tricks. "You're right, Varian. You truly are so smart."

"Well…yes," Varian said, trying to figure out where this was going.

"You're right. I can't spank you for disobeying me. But if I were to find Master Quirian and tell him I caught you trying to sneak out, what would he do?"

"But that would be lying!" Varian gulped. He didn't even want to know what his father would do to him, but he had seen his father point out birch trees from the window and had a feeling that would be the answer.

"As a reformed criminal, I guess I need to still work on my manners. All right, if you don't want me lying, isn't finding out about you sassing the princess enough for Dear Old Dad to fry your backside?" Eugene asked.

Varian wheezed nervously. "There's no need to tell him," he pleaded.

"I'll be the judge of that," Eugene said, before pointing to the chair. "Turn it. Sit. Talk."

Varian trembled and followed obediently.

Eugene stood over him. "You screwed up. You screwed up so badly, I'm sure there is still no word for it. You committed treason! You should be in the dungeons, waiting for the gallows."

Varian nodded. "I know."

"Well, technically, so should I. I was sentenced to death too. So, I guess we get each other."

Varian's jaw dropped. "You only stole. I…was a lot worse."

"Yeah, we can't dwell on the past. Just the future. I got help and I turned my life around, and now, I want to give that chance to you."

"Why? Why do you care?"

"Because we're Team Awesome." Eugene put his hand on Varian's shaking shoulders. "I know what it's like to be all alone and how it can take you to some very dark places. You needed your friends and we weren't there. Everything you said was true. We should have been there."

"I needed you." He sighed. "It's still no excuse. I don't deserve forgiveness."

"You can still earn it. We're passed that self-pity now. You need to face your problems because you are smart. You can do better. You owe it to everyone you hurt to use your talents to help people. The first step is to hear out Princess Sunshine and let her dote on you. I get that it feels terrible when you feel that guilt, but that's your punishment," he said.

"Why?"

"Because you isolate yourself when you're in a bad place and that tends to you building killing machines. Now, can I call her back in?"

"Will you get me into trouble with my dad if I say no?"

"Kid, sass or disobey me and you'll be out cutting bitch twigs within the hour," Eugene said, but the tone was kinder. "Come on, kiddo. Take your punishment."

It was hard listening to Rapunzel be kind to him, but surprisingly, her words did help. "I thought a lot about what you said. That we left you. We should have checked on you. We let people believe the worst of you. We should have been there for you. Had I just visited, this all could have been prevented," she said, giving him a sad smile. But you had friends who you relied on, and being let down…" she spontaneously hugged him. "We're going to help you."

Varian didn't believe her, but he definitely believed Eugene's threats. So he allowed the hug. "Thank you," he said.

"I know what it's like to be all alone. At least I didn't expect anyone but…my jailer to care. I want you to know that you don't have to go down a bad path again next time things get hard. If you make friends and find your place, you'll feel a lot better, even when you feel sad. You and I are going to be spending lots of time together."

"Joy," said a dark voice, as Varian looked up. "Can we at least keep the rabid puppy on a leash?"

The beautiful and furious Cassandra was glaring at him from the door. Varian both wanted to kiss her hand in apology and to flee in utter terror.

"Cass!"

"Just asking." Cassandra was not asking. She was clearly planning.

Eugene, standing next to Rapunzel, gave him a sympathetic look. "As I said, kid. Take your punishment."

Varian really hoped his father would return soon. Suddenly, those birch trees seemed so much more reasonable.

Cassandra wants revenge.