Work Text:
When Arianna awoke, the first thing she noticed was the cold. As well as the presence of something heavy around her ankles.
Blearily, she pushed herself up without much trouble, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she warily took in her new surroundings. It was definitely not at all like the comfort of her own chambers, to say the least; the room was small, dark, and made of stone, and a few lanterns hanging from the ceiling in various places were the only source of faint light in the cramped area. She could make out shadows of odds and ends all about the room from her position, but only a few things were truly clear to see. In certain spots and corners, including right next to her, were the infamous, growing black spiked rocks that she had (regrettably) only very recently become aware of, and in the middle of the room and the hardest to miss was a humongous something covered in a giant black cloth, no hints of what was underneath it visible at all. Lastly, to her right, against the wall, was a long table set against it, littered with differently-shaped bottles filled with colorful liquid, piles of books, papers strewn about (and some of them hanging from the wall above, as well), and strange machines that she might have taken an interest in were it not for the current situation she was in.
The main thing she noticed, however, was the figure working at the table. A figure who, as if on cue once she noticed him, turned around to address her.
“Don’t worry, Your Majesty,” the boy in front of her whispered softly, calmly, and Arianna felt another chill, and not just from the cold of the room. “You are merely bait to lure the princess here.” He turned back to stare at something on his desk intently that she was unable to see. “Only the magic of her unbreakable hair can shatter the amber and free my father. I tried asking for help in a civil manner” – at this, he looked at her once more, his gaze steely – “but was denied by everyone in Corona.
“So unfortunately,” he continued, moving to stand next to the giant cloth-covered object in the middle of the room, putting his hand on it, “this is my only remaining recourse.” He paused for a moment, his face hesitant, as if he had to work himself up to what he was about to do, and then suddenly yanked the cloth off the secret underneath it in one, swift motion, revealing what it was hiding.
All confused and conflicted thoughts in her head immediately vanished upon seeing what was now in front of her, as Arianna let out a horrified gasp.
It was an enormous orange-golden crystal, standing in the middle of the room, smaller tendrils of it branching off in different directions, and inside… was a human being. And not just any person, she quickly figured out: the boy’s father.
Arianna turned her gaze back to the boy in question – Varian – who was still staring at the crystal, and she took in his appearance. Small and skinny, tousled and uneven black hair with a green streak, a pair of goggles sitting atop his head, plain patched shirt and pants, a brown apron, boots that looked a little too big, slightly bucked teeth, and piercing blue eyes. Eyes that were also red and bloodshot and tired, she could easily see, his jaw clenched and his hands in tight fists at his sides as he gazed at the monstrous crystal with an expression that took too many words to describe.
Angry. Frustrated. Exhausted. Determined. Wistful. Yearning. Longing. Heartbroken.
Her only knowledge of him before had been from when Rapunzel had confided in her, thoroughly upset, after the blizzard incident, that she had been forced to turn down her new friend Varian’s desperate request for help during the chaos of that day, after having promised to help him earlier. Then, later, it had reached her unbelieving ears that the flower had been stolen from the vault by a madman she had heard called Varian, and though Rapunzel had been too upset to share anything else with her after the incident, and her daughter’s relationship with Frederic becoming increasingly strained for reasons she had assumed still had to do with his overprotective nature, she had wanted to believe that the two Varians were not the same, or even barring that, that the one who had stolen the flower would not come after them again.
But upon seeing this man now in the crystal, the one that she had seen come to Frederic before the blizzard that the king had called his friend, who Varian now said was his father, and having seen in horror the black rocks covering the room that Frederic must have known about but had kept secret from her and their daughter, along with Rapunzel’s hair suddenly growing back for no explainable reason, and Varian taking the flower, and now his words about the magic of her hair breaking the amber – it all suddenly, horribly, tragically clicked into place.
They had to be in Old Corona, Arianna knew, and these rocks were probably infesting the entirety of it by now… ever since the time of the blizzard, at least, she suspected, according to when Varian had come to Rapunzel for help, and had been denied.
And right in front of her, painfully clear to see, was the reason for all of his actions up until now.
Arianna’s heart broke.
But then, she fixated on the shackles around her ankles, keeping her in place on the cold stone floor, away from her loved ones, and she frowned, her voice serious.
“…And after you’ve freed your father? What will you do then?”
Varian scoffed, leaning casually against the crystal like it was nothing. “After? Oh, well I’m afraid that Corona will pay for turning their backs on me, on us, and that’s when you should start worrying, Your Majesty.”
At this, he walked off, heading back to his table and grabbing some items and books she couldn’t see, and it was in this moment that Arianna truly, finally felt the weight of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks. This boy, this child, was more dangerous than most ordinary criminals with everything he had as his disposal, including his obvious incredible intelligence, and the thought nearly overwhelmed her as she felt the first real hint of fear coursing through her ever since she first realized she had been taken prisoner. Varian had meant every single word he had said, his tone was indicative enough of that, and it scared Arianna – not for herself, but for her daughter, her husband, her subjects, her kingdom, and anyone and anything else that the alchemist might decide to take vengeance on once his task was completed.
Of course he might hurt her as well, for sure, once she was no longer needed as leverage. But Arianna pushed aside the thought; that didn’t matter, for what truly mattered was right now, and more specifically, the actions she chose to take now, that might change everything that happened once Rapunzel and the others arrived to rescue her.
She had to get through to Varian. As angry and afraid as she was, Arianna knew, even after everything she had witnessed and learned in such a short amount of time, that his mind could be changed.
Despite how reckless and rash and drastic his actions may seem, or how much you may disagree with them, they come from a place of love.
Her own words to Rapunzel about Frederic from earlier that day echoed in her head, and she closed her eyes, pained but also resolved.
“…Varian,” Arianna called out after a few silent minutes had passed, pulling herself as far as she possibly could, which unfortunately wasn’t very far, as she felt the chains clink and pull on her legs as she winced. She leaned her upper body forward towards the floor so she could be even closer, painful as it was on her arms, and Varian ignored her by way of putting on a mask and welding something together, forcing her to say nothing else that wouldn’t be heard above the loud noise.
“Getting bored already, Your Majesty?” Varian drawled as he finally took off his mask and set his tools aside, moving onto something else. “Don’t worry, they should be here soon!”
“Varian, please listen—”
“Quiet!” he snapped, slamming his mask on the table, and it was for the first time then that Arianna noticed the third occupant of the room: a racoon, which hastily scurried away as Varian startled it with his action. It occurred to her that the animal was what had been making the strange sound she had sometimes heard since awakening, and she wondered if it was Varian’s pet. “I don’t need your lectures. I know, I know, I’m the bad guy, but guess what? That’s just fine with me!” – and she immediately noticed how his voice seemed to break at the last part, to her dismay – “Because whatever I’ve done and will do, you all have deserved it. Finally, finally, finally, justice will be served for everything I… w-we… have been put through! …And that, is all I’m going to say on the matter.”
Arianna watched him, her heart sinking, as he climbed up a ladder leaning against a giant metal object in the far corner of the lab, hammering it and fiddling with it and humming a tune to himself as if he hadn’t a care in the world. His mood changed so quickly that it was almost terrifying, she thought, but she couldn’t back down, couldn’t give up, no matter how much he tried to threaten her: her family’s safety counted on this, and she owed this to them.
She owed it to Varian too, to try to save him from the darkness he had fallen into, as his queen… and as a mother.
“……Why do you need vengeance, Varian?” Arianna finally whispered, her voice sad. “Won’t getting your father back be enough?”
A clang rang out throughout the room as Varian set down his tools on the metal object he was working on (She couldn’t let herself worry about what it could possibly be, or she would never be able to say what she needed to), and he let out a long, exasperated sigh.
“…Alright, alright then! You want to talk, hmmm? I guess I couldn’t expect you to make things easy for me and keep quiet; after all, when have any of you ever made things easy for me.” His voice grew sinister, and he moved down the ladder, putting his hands behind his back and almost prancing over to her nonchalantly, his lips pursed and his eyes innocent and wide. “Well, if you were listening to anything I said when I first brought you here, you should recall me saying that asking for help normally did nothing; not Rapunzel, nor the King, nor you, nor anyone else outside of our village with power deigned to help us. Sooooo the only way to get anyone here to help – ultimately Rapunzel, as loathe as I am to have her help when she was the one who broke her promise in the first place – was by force, as you see! And I wouldn’t have had to touch any of you at all, if that stupid sundrop flower had worked, which is what I went after first! …Well, actually, what am I saying; even if that had worked, I still would have had to get my revenge, so I would have gone after you all anyway in the end, aha—”
“And again, Varian, I ask, why is revenge so important even after your father’s return?”
“WHY SHOULDN’T IT BE IMPORTANT?!?!”
Arianna flinched at his sudden shout, and he noticed it, she realized as she cursed to herself, watching him grin briefly at the knowledge that he had managed to scare her, even if just at the loud noise. She knew he wouldn’t hurt her until the others had arrived if he did, and she knew he knew she knew that, but even so, his ability to hold power over her, both with his threats and with his chains, were a hindrance to her trying to talk him down. She had to keep the upper hand as best she could, no matter what.
Unfortunately, she seemed to have set him off, and Arianna could already tell he had much, much to say.
“Do you… Are you really asking me that?!” Varian cried, his tone breathless, hoarse, indignant, angry, and emotional all at once, his body trembling and his voice with it. “Because… Because of your daughter, Rapunzel, my father is trapped in that… t-that thing… because SHE refused to help me, help him! You weren’t there, but I came to the castle in that horrible blizzard, after my father started to become trapped… i-in the amber… I came all the way there, because I had no one else to turn to but Rapunzel, the person I thought was my friend, who had promised to help me save my village when the King… and my f-father were doing nothing themselves” – Varian’s hesitant mention of his father did not escape her notice, nor did the way he seemed so uncertain in the moment – “the person I knew had a connection to those rocks… I came to her, and I begged, I pleaded, I cried to her to help, to save my father’s life…” Varian’s voice became high-pitched with emotion, but despite that, he did not cry, putting his arms around each other and squeezing himself tight instead. “…And do you know what she said? She said no. “No, I can’t help you, Varian.” And then they carried me away while I was still desperately screaming to Rapunzel, dragged me away like a common thief or intruder, and threw me out like one, just like that! And because of that, because she abandoned me just like that, my father is this way now. T-Trapped… unable to live, unable to live with me…… and you think I should just accept that, after EVERYTHING I did for Rapunzel and her friends, just accept her leaving my father to a fate like that?!?!”
“Varian,” Arianna began, her voice pleading and her heart broken for the boy in front of her who had so clearly lost his way after being left alone for so long, which was not his fault, even if his actions were wrong. She tried to reach out, tried to reach him, but he had made sure to stand far enough away so that she couldn’t. “That was the only time Rapunzel couldn’t leave the castle to come and help you; she told me just how much she regr –“
“So what if it was the only time, Your Majesty?” Varian snapped, interrupting her, his face enraged. “If she, or anyone, actually regretted how I was treated that day, regretted having to deny my pleas for help, they would have come after that storm ended. But did Rapunzel? No! Instead she sat in her pretty, comfortable, quiet, cozy, widdle castle room, with her loved ones and herself all fine and safe and not caring enough to come see me, not even caring enough to find out why it was I so desperately needed her to help me! Instead, I spent that entire time trying everything I could think of, every chemical compound, every element, everything I could make, to break down the amber. Eventually I figured out that I needed the sundrop flower, so I thought, hey, if the castle sees me as nothing but an intruder, why not play the part?! It was perfect vengeance! And then I guess the flower not working in the end provided me this opportunity for even better vengeance!”
He breathed heavily, as if winded from his speech, and Varian’s eyes looked dead, haunted, as he turned sideways, half away from her, looking down and holding just one arm now, his voice lifeless as well as he continued.
“…It was cold in here… and lonely… as I tried things… I kept hoping that someone, anyone would care enough to come, but……”
Varian turned back to her, his voice still emotionless and his expression angry, clearly not moved by the tears now in her eyes, and all she wanted in that moment was to hold him, to hug him and heal him in any way she possibly could, so desperate as she was the longer he angrily and bitterly poured his heart out to her.
“……What you don’t seem to understand, Your Majesty, is that this goes beyond just Rapunzel breaking her promise, though that was the last straw because of what was going on when I came to her. But even before my father was in direct danger, these rocks were encroaching on all of us, and threatening to destroy our entire village, like they are if you were to look outside now… and this may come as a shock to you, but your husband knew about them all along, and I mean since months ago, or maybe even years ago, before they even first appeared… and he did nothing to help save us from them. …All he did was pretend that they didn’t even exist… like a good king would, right?”
Arianna couldn’t say anything, and she hated herself for it.
“……And you know what the worst part is?” Varian asked, brokenly, angrily, tiny tears in his own eyes now, finally. “My own father didn’t even want to do anything either. H-He kept saying he knew what to do, but he didn’t! A-And he never trusted me to try to help, even though I was the ONLY one in this ENTIRE KINGDOM trying to get rid of those rocks!!!” His breaths shuddered as he squeezed his eyes shut tight, looking away. “It’s… it’s because… no one else was doing anything… that I had to take action…… and because I had to, I turned the rocks there into what they are now, amber, and accidentally trapped my father inside them. …………And so I need him back, not just because I need my father, but so I can prove to him that… that there is more in me… than he ever knew… S-So I can make him proud."
There is more in me.
Arianna was unable to hold back a cry, covering her mouth with her hand, as Varian turned and walked away from her, satisfied that he had made his point, and letting out a small sob.
The boy had laid bare all of his emotions, his torment, his pain, his motivations, right in front of her, and the mother inside of her could not help but feel sorrow from it, despite everything. He was absolutely right about how wrong it was for Frederic to have done nothing to help them, and she cursed her own ignorance of the situation, suddenly realizing in despair that this was the reason his relationship with Rapunzel had been so strained lately, if her daughter had been indeed out investigating the rocks all this time and had asked her father for help, or had somehow known that he knew more about them than he was letting on. Arianna knew that her husband’s emotions got the better of him when it came to Rapunzel and his worry for her safety after those long, tragic, lonely and painful eighteen years of their lives without her, and that this clouded his judgement and reason of what would be best for her. …But surely he would not be so blindsided when it came to helping their kingdom?
Would he really not at least try to do anything to help… for months and months, as Varian had said?
Apparently, he hadn’t. There was no way Varian could be lying about this in particular: the rocks were clearly present, and a danger, and they should have done something about it, as the leaders of the country. And they had not.
Instead, a child who couldn’t be older than fifteen was forced to try to. And he had probably (no “probably” to it, really) accidentally killed his father as a result.
She wanted to be sick.
Rapunzel was in so much distress after what happened; she would have come to you if she’d felt well enough to.
The king must have had a reason for not offering assistance; I’m sure he would have eventually.
If you wanted our help still after the storm, you could have still come to us openly, if you’d only stopped to think about why Rapunzel couldn’t come that one day out of all days.
If you were toying with the rocks yourself which caused the accident, then the ultimate blame lies with you, and no one else.
Your father would not be proud of your actions, of you as you are now.
Your father… is no longer alive to save.
There were so many things to say whirling through Arianna’s mind; some of them harsh truths, some of them weak excuses, one of them a truth too harsh to say to such a broken child, even as wrong as he was acting now.
…Instead, she said:
“I would have made sure something was done if I had known, Varian! I would have done everything in my power to make sure every possible solution was explored, to keep this tragedy from happening! I promise I would have!”
Varian stopped walking, and turned back towards her, his expression unamused and unmoved, and Arianna couldn’t stop thinking about how dead he looked, which broke her heart more than anything else.
“……Mmmm, sorry, Your Majesty, but it’s kind of late for “what ifs”, let alone promises about them. After all, I know very well how well your family keeps promises.”
“Varian, please, we can fix this, and we can do it together, and we can make it up to you, but only if you let us. I understand your pain, I d –“
“DON’T YOU DARE ACT LIKE YOU UNDERSTAND MY PAIN!”
Varian was in her face, before she had even realized it, and his scream had happened so fast and without warning that Arianna truly did not even have a chance to express fear or shock. Instead, she simply sat there, stunned, with the boy inches from her face and his emotions having one-eightied back to infuriated, after how lifeless he had been just moments before (he was so unhinged, was all she could think, and it was a terrible way to think of a child, but it was nothing but the truth).
“…Princess Rapunzel was such an inspiration to meet!” he cried suddenly, sitting back on his legs, his face a strange mixture of disbelieving and angry. “She was amazing, and beautiful, and sweet, and that lantern festival held every year before she returned was always one of the best days of my life! – along with my birthday – and when I finally met her in person, she was everything I had always imagined her to be! I was so honored to help her solve her hair problem, and so confident that I could…! Not that that matters anymore,” he muttered, his awed voice trailing off into continued bitterness, and Arianna found herself utterly confused at this sudden change, and amazed and touched at the same time, though she didn’t let it show on her face.
“And her handmaiden Cassandra, oh Cassandra” – here, his eyes became starry, and Arianna was even more dumbfounded, and distraught at how clear it was that this boy, underneath all of the rage and obsession with vengeance, was just that – nothing but a boy – “She was perfect. She was beautiful, and amazing with the sword, and just… incredible……”
Varian’s expression darkened again, his voice deadly.
“…But she betrayed me too, at the science festival. She promised to be my assistant when I demonstrated my invention in the competition, but she ditched me at the last second for guard duty for the judge. Because of that, I had to hastily find another assistant, and was stuck with the most incompetent one imaginable, and everything went wrong, and I mean really wrong, all because of that.
“She made it up to me, in the end.” Varian almost looked content and emotional for a moment as he said this, but then his grim face returned. “…But that should have been my first clue that all of you all are traitors. Every time someone from Corona castle betrays me, disaster occurs.”
He grinned, disturbingly.
“They’ll finally get to see what it’s like when I’m the one causing the disaster for once.”
Varian stood up, glaring down at her under his hair.
“You don’t understand the pain of losing the last person dear to you; how could you, after all you’ve willingly let happen to your innocent people? You might soon, though. …All I know is, that if Rapunzel wasn’t going to help me, and if the King wasn’t going to help me, or any of Corona, then all I have to say to that is: if only that infernal flower had never existed in the first place. Then the rocks wouldn’t exist, to hurt my village and my father and me, and neither would you, or Rapunzel, to betray us.”
And it was then that Arianna felt something snap inside of her.
A moment later, she was standing up, and Varian was holding a gloved hand to his reddened cheek.
“……Wha………”
The boy’s reaction was slow to come, including the movement of his hand, and the only expression to come over his face was one of dull, numbed surprise, as if he didn’t truly understand what had just happened.
Arianna thought that perhaps he didn’t. All she knew for sure was the fire in her eyes, the boiling in her blood, and the fury that had come over her and had caused her to act within that single split-second.
She stooped down a bit, looking Varian directly in the eyes, and knowing that he would not look away.
“How dare you say those things to me.”
She then reached out and hugged him.
Varian did not resist.
“……Do you even hear what you’re saying?” Arianna finally whispered after a long silence, the sadness and hurt, and lingering anger, evident in her voice. “Varian… this hatred, this spite, this rage, this vengefulness a-and cruelty you’ve displayed to me, to us… Is this truly how you feel, how you want to feel…? …The person you want to be…?”
He said nothing. Only breathed.
“You said… you wanted your father to know that there was more in you than he knew. …That’s… that’s what I told Rapunzel, that there was more in her… and t-that’s what she’s still trying to make her father understand even after a whole year,” she said, her voice emotional. “…Varian… please try to believe me, as a parent too… your father wouldn’t want to see you this way, and acting this way will bring you no joy, in the end. This is not you… I know this, even having just met you.”
Still, Varian did not reply, except to make a small noise as she hugged him tighter, running her hands over his hair.
“V-Varian… I know your pain. When Rapunzel was taken from us, I-I… It felt like……” Arianna let out a sob, her voice cracking as lowered her head. “S-She was the happiest part of our lives, and even though I survived having her, thanks to the flower… after she was taken, it felt like both of us had… truly died.”
She thought about how she had felt, all those years. First, the denial, and then the grief, and eventually the numb sort of acceptance. But she had never stopped having nightmares of her daughter, alone and lost and scared and suffering with no one to love her, no one to guide her, no one to truly let her be Rapunzel. Or even if she was safe somewhere: never knowing who she truly was, and where she was meant to belong, and who were desperately missing her somewhere far away and yet so close at the same time.
“……You got her back, though.”
Arianna was pulled out of her reminiscing at the sound of the pained whisper.
“………You got her back. You got your happy ending. …So… where is mine? …And why is it that… your happy ending itself… is what took away any chance of mine?”
A small part of her wanted to grow angry again. To tell him to stop being selfish, to tell him to stop and think rationally, to tell him to try to understand.
……But how could she, when he sounded on the verge of crying?
“…Varian…” Arianna finally began, whispering, still stroking his head. “……I know with all of my heart and soul that Rapunzel loves you very much, as her friend. …And just as you feel hurt by her actions, she is hurting seeing what you’ve done, what you’re doing. …Her entire life before coming back to us, she was used by someone she thought loved her… and it will take a long time for her to truly recover from those feelings of hurt, of betrayal. She is no doubt feeling that again, now.”
Varian grumbled in her arms, and she squeezed him, continuing quickly, before he could protest.
“…But even so, I know that she still cares for you, and believes in you. That person, from her past, was not good, no matter how much she pretended to be. You are not that, Varian. You are not this… and I know you know this. Under this façade you’re forcing yourself to wear, you are smart, and kind, and helpful, and brave, and strong… and Rapunzel wants you back. She wants to make up for the wrong you feel she’s done to you, no matter what.” Arianna sighed, thinking about Rapunzel, about everything she had been through and what it had done to her, despite how incredibly strong her daughter still was. “…Rapunzel is only human, Varian, just like you are. She is vibrant, and creative, and smart, and strong, and brave, and kindhearted, everything that you are – but she stresses under the weight of being Princess, under the weight of her father’s worry about her safety, under the weight of her past… and that day was one of the hardest days of her life, just like it was for you… She nearly lost us, and the love of her life, just as you lost your father.”
She paused, letting her words sink in, feeling him trembling in her arms.
“…Her guilt is massive, Varian. She wanted to help, back then, and still wants to. …And so do I. The king, and I, we were wrong to not help sooner. …I’m so sorry about that, from the bottom of my heart, Varian, I…”
Her voice became emotional once again, and she leaned down to look into Varian’s half-lidded, red eyes, so he could see how serious she was.
“I’m sorry. We’re sorry. We want to help you, after all of this horrible tragedy. …So please…… let us?”
Arianna put her hand on his cheek, smiling sadly.
“…I want to see the real you.”
After a long moment, Varian looked down at the ground between them. When he finally spoke, his voice could barely be heard, and he sounded so very, very, tired.
“…………I just want my father back.”
How long she stood there holding him while he cried, Arianna didn’t know. His sobs weren’t very loud (he had probably cried out everything he had in him just in those first few days, she didn’t doubt), and he did not return the hug, but he almost sagged against her, as if all of his strength had left him; his strength to talk, his strength to cry, strength to anything.
Arianna held Varian tight, bore his burdens for him. Wept for him, comforted him, lamented her own weakness, prayed that his relationship with Rapunzel could heal, and above all, deep down, felt as if she was unconsciously trying to make up for the loss of those eighteen years, even if with another child, and not her own daughter.
At some point, she saw (and heard) the raccoon from earlier chitter its way up to them, rubbing its face against Varian’s leg sadly, and it made her smile to see. Perhaps Varian hadn’t truly been alone this entire time after all.
“………I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” Varian finally said quietly, after much time had passed and his soft sobs had long since dissolved into nothing.
“It’s alright, sweetheart,” Arianna said gently, emotionally, kissing his head in front of his goggles. “…I’m sorry too, for everything. Once the others—”
“I’m sorry… but my father is dead.”
Varian pulled out of her grasp, not painfully, but quickly all the same. Arianna felt her heart drop all the way to her stomach.
“……Why… W-What do you mean?”
“Of course I’ve known that all along. I knew that from the moment he first became t-trapped… I’m not an idiot. There’s no way anyone can survive in such an encasement, without air. Even if there was air, they would starve to death.”
She stared at Varian, her blood cold, as he stated everything she had already known but had been trying not to think about directly to her face. He was smiling at her, weakly, cynically, tear stains covering his face, his eyes even redder and more bloodshot than before, and somehow it was as if she was truly seeing all of him for the first time: his face was pale, he looked so thin, so tired, like he hadn’t eaten or slept in days, and looked as if he could collapse from weakness any second.
“…V-Varian, I-I’m—”
“I appreciate everything you’ve told me, Your Majesty. Really, I do,” and the worst part was that Arianna somehow believed him without question, believed every word, because his expression was reminiscent of the previous, bitter, and cynical ones, but also looked relieved and grateful and resigned—
“I know… you’re right…” Varian turned sideways, looking at her out of the corner of his left eye. “……But it’s too late for me to stop now. I’ve gone too far with this.”
He laughed a little, sobbing as he did, rubbing his eyes roughly, and his brokenhearted smile was one of the worst things Arianna had ever seen in her life.
“……My father is dead; my actions, and Rapunzel’s, killed him. The villagers never liked me because of everything I screwed up with my inventions to try to help us, and they’ve long since fled the village because of the rocks anyway. The castle already had labeled me a threat to Rapunzel’s life long ago, even though I did nothing to harm her that day I came to her for help, and now I’ve committed treason by stealing and mutilating the most priceless object in the entire kingdom, and using her to do it. I’ll be punished for those things, perhaps by execution.
“I have nothing left to lose. I have… no one left.”
Varian turned his head to smile directly at her, tears streaming down his face. Arianna felt like her world was ending right in front of her. The only worse times in her life she could remember were the day they almost died in the blizzard, and the night that Rapunzel had been taken.
“V-Varian, that’s not true; you won’t die, and you have all—”
“I have to finish what I started. If I stop now, my father will have died for no reason… without any consequences.”
He had grit his teeth and spoken lowly again, but then he relaxed once more, his voice so weak she could barely hear it.
“………At the very least… freeing him will allow me to give him a proper burial, like he deserves.”
The boy began to walk away.
“Varian wait—!”
Her cries, and her chasing after him, were interrupted when Arianna found herself falling, having forgotten about the prisons around her legs. She lay in a heap on the floor which had never felt harder and colder, now crying herself once more, as she watched the other casually grab tools from different places, looking unsteady as he walked. The raccoon had been chittering anxiously next to her this entire time, but eventually, it gazed at her with equally sorrowful eyes, before running ahead to its master’s side and up onto his shoulder, squeaking sadly.
“Varian, please!!”
At last he stopped by a large trapdoor in the floor that she only now noticed, staring back at her with a million different emotions on his face at once.
“……I won’t hurt you. Thank you, for… caring for me… for being sorry… for believing in me. When you hugged me… it felt like Mom.” He smiled tearfully, and Arianna felt the last remnants of her heart shatter. “…But I have to get Dad back, even if only for a moment. And justice to a degree must be served, or else I… I-I won’t be able to feel like living at all, anymore. …Not when I’m all alone… and after everything I’ve already done.”
“VARIAN, don’t do this! You’re wrong, about everything!! You’re not alone, because you have us…!”
She had never screamed so loud in her life. Varian’s voice, meanwhile, would haunt her for forever.
“…I’m sorry,” Varian whispered brokenly, holding his sad smile as he opened the giant trapdoor.
“VARIAN!!!”
He descended. The door closed above him.
Arianna lay in silence, the only faint sounds being the wind blowing through the chilly room and the rustle of papers, and the only thing her mind could think of being the song that Rapunzel had sung to her a few times before, the one from her past that brought her both painful and poignant memories.
…Heal what has been hurt… Change the fates’ design… Save what has been lost……
……Bring back what once was mine.