Reunion at Sea

Suspicious

"Shorty, don't go wandering off alone." Varian said as the old man walked out after Matthews came by to inform them dinner was ready.

"He's Shorty, he'll be fine." Eugene assured him, then walked over to him. "So, uh..." he cleared his throat, "you seem to have...you know, really warmed up to us. I mean, threats of...sleeping dust aside."

"I suppose." Varian shrugged.

Eugene sighed and looked over where Hector was napping. He was pretty sure he'd wake up as soon as Varian decided to leave the room. "We haven't talked about...those weeks." He said, looking back at Varian. "Do you...Do you want to?"

Varian blinked in surprise. "Uhm...sure."

"Want me to step out? Give you some privacy?" Lance asked.

"No, it...it's okay." Eugene nodded to him, then motioned for Varian to come over with him. Varian got up and walked over to him, then took a seat in a chair Eugene gestured to before the man knelt in front of it. "Varian, from the start, I wasn't fair to you. I saw your crazy-looking invention with all the blades and the straps and thought you were going to hurt Rapunzel. I know, from her explaining it, that you didn't intend to, but that was what I thought. Just like the boilers, which you were so convinced were safe and they weren't, I thought...well...accidents happen." He pursed his lips. "And so, I had looked into you and...heard some worrying things. And then there was what happened at the science expo which, while it wasn't your fault, it only...well...reinforced what I'd been hearing, that chaos and danger always followed you." He took Varian's gloved hands in his own.

"The night of the blizzard, I wasn't there to see what really happened. I only heard the rumors...and what Nigel told the King. And I...I believed them." He hung his head. "A man of my reputation, and I didn't think to look beyond the rumors and get to know the brilliant kid who...who just wanted a friend. To be noticed, to be...loved. I didn't look into why you would've run into the castle calling for help in the middle of a blizzard, because I was so convinced that you had hurt her that I didn't want to leave her side." He chuckled bitterly. "I was so worried about keeping her from you that I didn't recognize that she was getting involved with a Disciple until she started wearing shoes..."

He looked up at him. "And then...then the truth serum cookies. When I realized that you had sent in truth serum cookies, something that shouldn't even exist, I knew that it couldn't be good. And then I open the vault door and there you are, with Rapunzel, having just stolen the Sundrop Flower. You left so quickly...and then..." He sighed and looked down. "Rapunzel said that she didn't know what you were, anymore. And, I know, that's harsh. And we should have gone to check on you before you sent that note, and we should have gone back to look for you." He chuckled bitterly. "But, I was so caught up in trying to be 'the perfect son-in-law' that I never questioned the King. Even after I saw proof that he'd lied about the rocks, so what else could he have been lying about?" He squeezed his hand gently. "I don't know why you weren't in your lab at that time--"

"Lucas." Varian said softly. "You had come when I was still outside getting food, and Lucas caught me before I could let you know I was there, shoved me behind a building and threatened me to keep silent. If you'd just...turned around when you were going in, you...might've seen me." He looked down. "I wonder what you would've done if you did. If you would've attacked me, or saved me. I had lost hope of the latter by then. All I wanted was for you to get the graphtych, maybe draw them away long enough that I could escape, but some part of me hoped...hoped that you'd look for me. That you'd save me that day."

"I'm sorry we didn't." Eugene bit his lip, then looked up at him. "And then...then, the...the battle. I mean, hell, speaking as a former criminal, you get points for presentation. I mean, that speech, drawing out the entire Royal Guard so the queen was alone, sending in Ruddiger to attack, it was pure genius. How did you manage to carry her, though?"