Chapter 2: Varian out of the Cell

Not many people knew there was a path behind the Castle, and it was seldom anyone went there. But today, Queen Arianna herself walked there. The path was a little rough, and she cursed herself for wearing wrong shoes for the occasion. A guard walking his round greeted her with a bow and "Your Majesty!" before he noticed the little basket of apples she was carrying.

"For the... animal?" he asked curious.

"The raccoon, yes." Arianna nodded. "His name is Ruddiger."

"Ah." the guard replied. "I saw him in one of the trees not far away. He never goes far from the cell, we have seen that. Shall I escort Your Majesty to the spot?"

"That's very kind of you, but I won't keep you away from your round." she said smiling. "This won't take long."

The guard bowed again and kept on walking his round, and Arianna kept on walking to her destination. The guard was right. Not far away were some trees, spread around. She spotted him as he climbed down the tree upside down, just like a cat, and ran towards her, greeting her with a croon. He must have seen her coming from above.

"Hello, Ruddiger." she bent down and scratched behind his right ear. "You look well today."

The raccoon replied with yet a croon, obviously enjoying the treatment.

"How about your master? How is he today?"

The mood of the raccoon quickly changed. He lowered his ears and looked at her with sad eyes. His mouth almost looked like a sad pout.

Arianna's smile faded and she sighed. "No improvement, huh?"

Ruddiger gave a small sound and climbed his little front paws on her knee, as if he was pleading for help. She replied by stroking his chin gently."Don't worry, we're not giving up on him like that. In fact, we're going to give it another try today. Our servants are preparing a little surprise for him right now. We're hoping it will have some effect, and then maybe... Maybe." She rose and walked towards the castle wall, where small barred windows were lined up with twelve feet's distance between eachother by the ground. By one of them, there were leftovers from eaten fruit. Arianna stopped a moment, looking at the window. It would give the morning and midday light directly into the cell, and give a good opportunity to have look inside.

But Arianna didn't look.

A part of her failed to understand why it gave her such shivers, while another part knew it but she chose to ignore it. She got a knot in her belly everytime she thought of the day on the lab. Once she realized that this was more than a youngsters' pranks, she had become rather frightened. And after witnessing what he could do, and how far he would really go... It was a long time since she had felt so small.

And yet, he was so young. Yes, a young boy had managed to kidnap her and almost... Just the thought made her shiver. A young boy managed to attack the castle and the kingdom itself. And yet... That's just what he was; a young boy.

When they arrested him, it went up for her how fragile he really was. Her husband had promised their daughter to help him, and she knew very well that help was the thing he really needed in his age. Guidance. Despite being intelligent far beyond his age, it seemed like he was just as misguided as Red and Angry, the two children Eugene and Lance had caught stealing. And that had dreadful consequences. The King once said that they couldn't send children in jail, but Varian... He was a bit older than Red and Angry, and should by now have know the difference between right and wrong. Hadn't his father taught him anything? Was he really so badly stuck in his own world?

Rapunzel had described the previous Varian as the sweetest most helpful boy one could imagine. Arianna had never seen that boy, only witnessed his attitude towards the royal family, his actions and temper... But she knew she could not doubt the words of her daughter. Then her thoughts went to his father Quirin, stuck in the amber... What that must have done to Varian. His father out of reach like that, not knowing if he was dead or not. Had the months on his own simply made him loose his mind?

And yet... there had been a moment. One moment where maybe if she had tried... If only she had managed to find the right words... if only he had let her speak. Maybe, had she managed to reach to him. I too lost someone once in the past, and it felt like my whole world died. He was feeling the same way back in the lab. Why should she blame him?

She sighed and kneeled down beside the window, still not looking inside. "I don't know how we will manage to reach him, Ruddiger..." she said as he followed her hand as she started to put out one apple after the other. "We can only hope it's worth trying."

She gave Ruddiger a final cuddle and a smile before she rose. "Bon appetite." she said before she headed off. She had business to attend to, and had to hurry.

Ruddiger stood a while looking after her before he gave his attention to the apples, and picked up the first he could find.

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In the cell beneath where he was provided a temporarily home, Varian sat in quiet thoughts.

At Rapunzel's request, the King had placed his Varian in a cell with a barred window, giving the animal could come and go as he pleased by letting a long chain hang from the window so he could climb it. The King hadn't forgotten Ruddiger's actions in the lab and wanted, like Rapunzel, to make sure he was doing well. Fresh fruit out for him, and often the Majesties themselves, like today, would do it. He would of course never be gone for long, as his master would never follow and the animal refused to leave him behind.

Besides from the daily routines with food and water being brought to him, the light would be his indicator of the time of day. In the early morning, the warm orange light from the sun would wake him up, casting it's rays at the wall, and during the day he could follow the shadow incoming as time passed.

Varian himself would seldom get the privilege of coming and going as he pleased. Even thought the new cell was physically less uncomfortable than the first one, and it had a bench to use for as a bed, even a warm blanket and a light pillow, making the circumstances more or less standing, there were still cautions to be taken. This liberty that Ruddiger had been granted forced them to put the strictest of security routines around Varian himself. He would always be under watch, with two guards keeping an eye on him now and the through the bars in the heavy door, and always with his legs in long chains tied to the same heavy iron ball, and one arm tied to a long chain that was stuck on the wall near the bench, allowing him to lay on it when sleeping. This gave his skinny body limited movement, but he didn't do much while he was down there. Normally he would sit still, either speaking to himself or shouting out threaten someone out in the air, cursing Rapunzel or anyone in the royal family. Only once in a while he would be walking around to get some circulation in his body, or out of curiosity have a short look of whom it was watching over him that day.

It was when he moved, causing the chains to cling, and the raccoon believed that his master would follow him and choose to come back. And then he always brought an apple with him. On the hard stone floor, there would always be leftovers from apples that Ruddiger would occasionally bring down to his master. Sometimes he would eat them, sometimes not, but he ate more of the apples than the food that was brought to him. Those he left laying there, Ruddiger ate for himself, but he always made sure to let his master have first.

This time, Ruddiger came down with yet another apple between his teeth, when he heard sounds, and approached his master with a croon, letting the apple carefully down near his leg, not understanding why his master was still sitting. But he soon realized that the noise came from the corridor, footsteps approaching, causing Varian to lift his lowered head a little to get a look at who was coming.

"You hear that, Ruddiger?" he raised his chained hand to give Ruddiger a short scratch behind his right ear. "It's the Captain; Cassie's precious daddy." he said in a mocking tone. "I wonder what he wants this time."

He was right indeed. The Captain of the guards soon showed his figure in front of the door of the cell, opening it himself before entering, followed by Pete and Stan, dismissing the two other guards standing there.

"Why, look Ruddiger." Varian chuckled, looking up with half closed eyes and a rather empty expression. "We're granted the honor of Mister Groutch, and Puke and Tiny." he said as he looked at Pete and Stan, that was their names for real, who exchanged looks. "What do you think he wants this time? He's brought his guards with him, so I doubt he'll murder me this time!"

The Captain frowned. "You should be glad I don't leave you here to rotten."

"Oh listen to him!" Varian said to Ruddiger again, while he sarcastically flung his chained arm out. "Pretends that he care. Just like that traitorous Cassandra." he made a face when he said her name. "Blah!"

"I don't believe a single word of what you say about my daughter. For me, you might as well let yourself be crushed to sausage for all I care." the Captain said as he found the right key on his belt. "But for your information; The King and Queen is actually... inviting you to lunch."

"Well, that sounds fine." was his sarcastic reply when he was dragged up in standing position by Stan. "Aren't you gonna salt and pepper me first?" He didn't put up any resistance as the chains were removed from his feet and right hand. "Or are you gonna make sausage out of me like you said?"

"If I were in your shoes, kid, I would be grateful the King would bother to worry about my future at all." the Captain replied, watching him with frowned eyebrows as simple handcuffs were put on Varian's skinny wrists. "You will be surprised to learn how generous King Fredric really can be."

"Really... We'll see about that." Varian mumbled as he grabbed the apple from the bench right before he was led out of the cell, with Pete and Stan beside him. The two guards were giving eachother looks as they followed the Captain through the dungeon corridors, and Ruddiger right at their heels.