Rapunzel closed her eyes, sighing deeply. She was relaxing in her room, laying down with her feet dangling off the edge of her bed. Pascal was on top of her chest, and Cassandra was trying to make herself useful and get Rapunzel's outfits ready. She was still the lady in waiting after all, and this was just a part of her duties. Rapunzel thought it was quite silly that she needed somebody to literally dress her, but there they were.

It was about eight o'clock in the morning. Varian had already been long awake, sketching in his notebook everything from invention ideas to alchemy compounds. Eugene and Lance had opted to stay with him while the girls got ready, and they were both a bit apprehensive about that, since things didn't usually end well when the three boys hung out together.

But they still somewhat trusted that the balcony wouldn't end up on fire again, and so they were just sitting there in the quiet calmness of the morning as they waited to go down and get breakfast.

Cassandra busied herself with braiding Rapunzel's hair, keeping her hands busy to calm her mind. She was trying her hardest not to think about the guards, who were so close...just sitting there in the dungeons at the bottom of the castle. She was trying not to think about how good it would feel to sink her fists into their guts and to wrap her hands around their throats, squeezing until the life faded from their eyes and their bodies went limp in her hands.

Her hatred for them pierced her to her very core. It burned something awful inside of her. She put that pent up anger into giving Rapunzel the finest damn braid anybody had ever seen. Her hands shook with a rage that she'd never felt before. She forced her thoughts from her mind when a knock sounded on Rapunzel's balcony window, going completely still.

Cassandra raised a brow and Rapunzel immediately shot up. They exchanged a look and readied themselves, slowly inching towards the door, because who came in through a balcony?! And how'd they even get up there?! Cassandra nodded towards Rapunzel, who flung the door open. She raised her hair and Cassandra raised a sword. Just as they were about to attack, they stopped in their tracks when they saw who it was.

"Adira!" Rapunzel gasped, staring at the large woman who was leaning casually against the railing, eating a brownie off of her sword.

The woman folded her arms cooly as she swallowed, "I got your letter" she said, "and brought...him" she jabbed a thumb over to her left, "Against my will, I might add. I convinced him to leave all of his animals behind."

Hector scoffed, "oh please. The animals are always watching. Always waiting" he said ominously, and Cassandra was convinced that she should be stabbing him. Hector made no further comments about the animals, "where's the kid? By the way, I didn't know Quirin had a son. You'd think he would write to us every now and again."

"Well, maybe if you would've came out of that tree every once in a while you would have. At least I kidnapped him when he was a baby" Adira said, as if that was normal, "and hey wait, you did know! Remember? I kidnapped him again a year after the first time and brought him to you so you could see him."

"Oh yeah. I thought you just got him off the streets at first" Hector said, shrugging.

"What?!" Rapunzel asked.

"Are you crazy?! Hector could have killed him!" Cassandra cried.

"I almost did, but Adira calmed me down and explained" he smirked, "I thought he was an assassin baby."

"I was just borrowing him! Some aunt/nephew bonding time was needed and Quirin was...apprehensive about Varian knowing of the brotherhood" Cassandra gave her a you get crazier everytime I meet you look, and Adira held a hand up, "don't worry. I returned him a week later the first time. He was just an infant anyways, he doesn't even remember."

"That does not console me!" Cassandra exclaimed, "and the first time?!"

"Well, the second time it took much longer. I brought him all the way to the great tree to see Hector. It certainly took some time to get there and back" Adira said.

"Wait, you kidnapped him for a whole year?!" Cassandra cried.

"Oh! No. I had an...alternate mode of transportation" she smirked, "though judging by the look on your face, I don't think you want to hear what it was."

"I don't" Cassandra said, "I really, really don't."

"I held onto him really tight—"

"Adira, you can't just kidnap children and then put them in that kind of danger!" Rapunzel exclaimed.

"Quirin said that too when he figured out it was me. I was going to make it an annual thing but I was told that he would get a restraining order against me if I took the kid five kingdoms away again. Though, i've never particularly cared for your silly laws" she shrugged, "his mother turned the kingdom upside down looking for him. It's a real shame what ended up happening to her."

"You..I...no wonder he turned out the way he did!" Cassandra yelled.

Hector scoffed, "he can't be that bad. Let's see him."

"Okay, just—follow me. Oh, and thank you guys so much for coming. Really" Rapunzel smiled, "though I think we'd all prefer it if you didn't kidnap him a third time."

"Oh, alright" she said, sharing a look with Hector. They were definitely kidnapping him a third time, "And coming here was no problem at all. We were stalking you anyways" Adira said.

"I KNEW IT!" Cassandra exclaimed.

"I snuck in and got a brownie, but decided we needed to make a much more dramatic entrance, so Hector and I climbed up here" she said, "by the way, the breakfast is ready for you to pick up and bring to him. I'm going to go back in and take another brownie. And the chef is unconscious on the floor, don't think anything of it, he'll be okay."

"What?!" Cassandra asked.

"He started screaming when I appeared, I couldn't just let him blow my cover—"

"Adira."

————————————————————————

"What the hell is happening in here?!" Cassandra exclaimed as she opened the door, just to have a raccoon fly over her head, and for Adira to thankfully catch it.

"We were playing toss the Ruddiger!" Eugene exclaimed, all three of the boys straightening their backs as if they were toddlers being caught writing on the walls.

"Yeah, they were giving me a heart attack in the process!" Varian exclaimed, "never leave me alone with these two again!"

"Knowing them, I have no idea why they were even trusted in the first place" Adira commented as she revealed herself, walking into the room with Ruddiger in hand. She returned the raccoon to the boy, who squeaked out a thanks and hugged the pet tightly to his chest. He pulled Eugene onto the bed so that he could hide behind him.

"Who's that?" Varian whispered nervously.

"That's Adira!" Rapunzel exclaimed, making no effort to hide the fact that Varian was being shy.

"Oh..." he said, staring up at the large woman. He didn't expect her to be so massive.

The woman held out a hand, and Varian shook it and meekly, his hand barely even fitting in hers. He squeaked out, "N—Nice to meet you. Uh..you're..tall."

She smirked, "charmed" she looked over the boy's small, skinny frame and frowned, "you haven't been treated right" she noted.

"Yeah...jail will do that to you" Varian chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Jail?!" Hector exclaimed, entering the room, "what did someone who looks like you do to land themselves in jail? I'm impressed. Look at you! I can't even believe you're Quirin's son!"

"Oh boy" Varian chuckled sheepishly, "let's start from the beginning."

—————————————————————————-

Varian briefly recapped all that had happened. What he did with his dad, the amber situation, kidnapping the queen, terrorizing Corona, his prison experience, and how he was saved. He left out a lot of the nitty gritty details, but the two were able to read between the lines.

"You probably hate me for what i've done—but I just want to make things right. Rapunzel told me how your sword could cut through anything—even the black rocks. So we were wondering if it could cut through the amber too maybe?" He asked meekly, "I know it won't make up for it—"

"Varian" Adira said calmly, effectively silencing him. She offered a small smile, "you're rambling. And you don't have to worry, because we do not hate you. We may not completely understand your actions, but we can see why these things happened...I can tell there's much more to this story."

"There is a lot" Lance sighed, "and I didn't even know him before all this happened, so I had no idea what was even going on."

"Lance, you have no idea what's going on about anything" Cassandra smirked.

"Awe, leave the guy alone, short hair" Adira said, laying an affectionate elbow on top of Lance's head and leaning against him, causing the man to gasp and nearly faint.

"Don't take this as an invitation" she said calmly, "I still don't like to be touched."

"Yes ma'am" Lance said seriously.

Varian paid attention, intently searching for anymore clues on Adira's character. He made a few mental notes: She was calm. Like, really calm. Understanding, and level headed. She didn't seem too quick to assume or judge others. She definitely didn't like to be touched, and Varian guessed that she liked to be addressed as ma'am. Lance didn't seem to be joking, and Adira's face gave nothing away.

Hector was...strange. He'd barely spoken a word, but Varian was already afraid. He'd been told how insane the guy was, though to give credit where credit's due, he was acting pretty normal.

"So, about my sword" Adira said, watching with amusement as Cassandra and Lance stuck their tongues out at each other, "yes, it can penetrate and shatter everything. At least, everything i've ever tried to cut it with. Cutting the rocks is like cutting cheese. Cutting cheese is like cutting cheese."

Varian snorted, before covering his mouth and blushing.

"Ha!" Adira laughed, "this one's adorable. And so easy to entertain."

"Well all he's been doing is sitting around, so it's understandable" Cassandra shrugged, turning to the boy, "was there anything that was strong enough to even get a crack in the amber?"

"Nothing was strong enough to even get a dent in the amber" Varian said, quickly growing more nervous, "I've tried everything. I tried—tried drills and knives and hammers, and even more alchemy compounds—at one point I thought that maybe it was like a diamond—the only thing strong enough to shatter it was itself. So I made more amber and tried that too..." He looked down glumly, "but that didn't work either. And—a-and I'm scared that this won't work either, and if it doesn't, what am I going to do? My dad could be suffering in there" he curled in on himself tighter, leaning against Eugene, "I need him. I just want him back."

"Oh, hairstripe" Eugene mumbled. His heart broke every time Varian looked sad. He wished he could just make the boy forget everything bad that had ever happened to him.

"I don't even care what he says when I tell him about all i've done. I just want to see him, to hug him just one last time and tell him how incredibly sorry I am before he realizes that i'm even more of a disappointment than he already thought I was. You know, if he's not..not..." Varian trailed off, not wanting to finish his thought.

"There's a very likely chance that Quirin has perished" Hector said bluntly. Everyone in the room tensed up, and Adira looked ready to take his head off, "but" he continued, "there's also a very high chance that he didn't. Amber is known for its preserving elements. And an artificial amber made by a pro alchemist? Almost guaranteed to be able to store and preserve anything for thousands of years. Don't give up hope, buddy."

Varian relaxed, "Thank you, sir. That was reassuring."

"Please, sir?" Hector scoffed. "The last time someone called me sir—well, it isn't kid friendly. Call me Hector. Better yet, call me uncle Hector. Why, when you're better why don't we go do some bonding activities like hunt and tame animals or even people, and—"

"Woah woah woah" Adira chuckled, "these aren't normal people activities, brother."

"Nothing about this situation is even remotely normal" Cassandra pointed out.

"True...though Varian doesn't look...like the type" Adira said carefully.

"I'm not" he said quickly, not even offended by her assumption.

"But you've already got one tamed!" Hector exclaimed, "i've never seen such a well behaved raccoon! You're a natural, kid! You know, your father had a knack for it too!"

"Have you guys known my father his whole life?" Varian asked, perking up with wide eyes.

"Yes. We've known Quirin since birth. We grew up in the castle together and trained in the brotherhood our entire lives. King Edmund's father took us under his wing, and once Edmund became the King, we became guards under him. I'm sure you'd love to hear some stories. Your father was a riot" Adira smirked lightly.

Varian sat criss cross, nodding frantically, "please!"

"Oh, and your mother, kid. What a woman. I wouldn't say that we knew her personally, but we did stalk your father for a while after he left" Hector said.

"Did your father ever tell you how he met her?" Adira questioned.

Varian shook his head, "he...he never really talked about her. I guess it hurt too much."

Hector sighed, "of course. He's never been the most emotionally vulnerable. Well, your mother was on some crazy journey with this other woman. They were on a quest to find some sort of library. I dunno, boring stuff. She came into the castle asking if she could search around for her totem. Your father bumped into her while she was walking."

"It was the corniest thing i've ever seen" Adira chimed in, "it's like a flash went off in his eyes. Ulla began to fall, but Quirin caught her by the waist, and I swear they stared into each other's eyes for five minutes. I had to go over and thump him. He dropped her in shock and I started laughing."

"I wish I could've seen this" Hector sighed, "I would've bullied him so hard."

Adira rolled her eyes, "He ran away from her without a word and later confessed that she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever laid his eyes on. So, he offered to help her find her totem."

"Yeah. Quirin abandoned us and Ulla abandoned her research partner. They ran off to Old Corona together and settled down" Adira said, "and that's all we know."

"She left out a few details, like the massive screaming matches we had when Quirin said he was leaving, but you get the jist of it" Hector said.

Rapunzel smiled, "that's so cute..."

Varian smiled a little, "I wish he would've talked about her a little more" he looked down to his lap, "I...i've always imagined things about her. I have a few memories from when I was really small, but they're fuzzy. I wonder if he can see her in me. I wonder what she would think, if she were here now."

Cassandra clapped a hand on his back, trying not to roll her eyes as Rapunzel began to tear up, "Varian, don't worry, you were cute enough for Adira to kidnap you, I bet your mom was all over you. I can only imagine that she turned the entirety of Corona over looking for you."

"The royal guard was after me" Adira said, "They didn't take too kindly to kidnapped children after what happened to their precious lost princess. They actually thought that I was the same person who took Rapunzel. I probably would've played into their games, but I decided that day, to be a little less cruel."

"And she regrets that decision every day of her life" Hector muttered.

"Wait, you kidnapped me?!" Varian exclaimed.

—————————————————————————-

When all was said and done, the mood in the room became less tense and more relaxed as Varian began to get to know his...family? He'd never really had any family aside from his father, so it felt kind of weird to randomly have a semi aunt and uncle fall into his lap.

"So, Varian. You've been here for a couple weeks, right?" Adira questioned.

Varian nodded curiously, unsure where this was about to lead.

"Have you attempted walking yet?" She inquired.

"Oh, um, no" he chuckled, "I haven't actually walked in a long time. I kind of just laid on the floor in puke and blood and waited for the next beating" he shrugged.

Adira and Hector shared a look of shock, "You say that like it's normal."

"Well it certainly felt normal, it happened like, every day—"

"Okay!" Eugene cut in, "let's stop this before Hector goes down to the dungeons and murders the guards! What was that you were saying about walking now?"

  "I think he should try to. It would do him good to start now rather than later" she said, "healing takes a long time."

Varian sighed, "tell me about it."

"Okay! So how would you feel about it, then?" Rapunzel asked, smiling brightly.

Varian slowly pushed himself up and carefully dangled his legs off of the edge of the bed, "sure, i'm going stir crazy."

"Great!" She exclaimed, watching intently, "you can do it!" She whisper-yelled encouragingly.

"Don't tear your stitches" Cassandra said bluntly, "it hurts the worst the fourth time."

"Is that actually true?" Lance questioned.

"Maybe I could run an experiment and figure it out—"

"Varian, if you tear your stitches on purpose i'm going to throw my sword at you" Cassandra said dryly.

"Okay! That's enough!" Rapunzel laughed, "there will be no more child violence, thank you very much! And that goes for violence against yourself too, so no tearing stitches."

He nodded, and stood up, immediately hissing. He cried out and fell forward. Eugene caught him at the last second, and allowed him to lean against him, "s-sorry! Sorry, I might need help for a while" he chuckled sheepishly"

Cassandra let out a sigh of relief, "oh my sun, don't scare me like that! You could've given us some warning that you were going to stand up!"

"Here, come on kid. Slow steps, come on..." Eugene said gently, ignoring Cassandra.

Varian gritted his teeth, forcing his legs to stop giving out as they trembled beneath him. He took a step but his knees buckled underneath him and he hissed, almost falling again, "b-bruises still hurt to walk on..mmm...I dunno if I can support my own body weight..."

"Kid, an ant could support your body weight!" Lance cried.

"W-why is everything spinning?" Varian asked, swaying as his eyes became unfocused and he began to blink rapidly.

"O—okay, back to bed! You clearly aren't ready to walk yet!" Rapunzel chuckled nervously, walking over and reaching a hand out towards him.

"N-n-no! No I canndoit" he slurred, sticking a leg out with great difficulty and trembling as he put his weight on it to take a step forward. He needed to continue. He couldn't stop, Rapunzel would be disappointed.

He lurched again, sliding down to the floor, Eugene keeping a steady hand behind his head. Varian closed his eyes.

Adira let out a sigh, "he can't even walk" she mumbled. She was itching to go kill the king for allowing this to happen.

"Yeah, we noticed" Cassandra snapped, going to help pick up Varian, when the boys' eyes shot open and he shoved his head into a nearby puke bucket and lurched, all of the contents from his breakfast violently spewing out from behind his lips.

"Oh no" Rapunzel said, quickly falling to the ground to rub soothing circles onto his back.

Completely out of it, Varian screamed, causing him to start hacking violently into the bucket, before his eyes slipped shut and he went limp, falling forward and almost knocking over the puke bucket.

Eugene caught him and placed him onto the bed, "that was a rollercoaster."

"Yeah. His back must be a...sensitive area" Rapunzel said carefully.

"His back has a lot of scars and bruises on it. Understandable" Cassandra said, "and...well, I just took his cast off the other day, so it was a little unwise on my part to allow him to walk."

"Was his leg broken?" Adira questioned.

"No, it's just wrapped up because it's sprained really bad. They must've twisted the kid into a pretzel or something for it to get like that. Plus, there are multiple scars and heavy bruisings in that area that are very sensitive at the moment. It's easier to keep it wrapped so that they don't get irritated. He also has some stitches."

Hector stayed silent, staring at the boy. His thoughts were dark, morbidly swimming around his head as he wondered which animal would cause the slowest, most painful death.

—————————————————

"No" Varian said, glaring at the bowl in front of him, disgust evident on his face.

"Varian, you're a growing boy, you need to eat" Cassandra said plainly.

"I don't think he's going to grow anymore" Eugene smirked.

"Well if he doesn't eat he's certainly not" Cassandra quipped.

"I'm not hungry" Varian mumbled, "I—i'm not trying to be a brat, I just still feel full from breakfast."

"This is quite literally only broth" Cassandra said, "and you puked up the entirety of your breakfast. Please just eat it."

"You know, when you've been starved for so long and went through so much malnourishment, it actually can be unhealthy to overeat" Adira said, "he could get even sicker, believe it or not."

"Really? You want us to just not feed him?" Cassandra asked, glaring.

"That isn't what I said, short hair" Adira scoffed, "what i'm saying is that freckles here needs to really listen to his body. And when he actually is hungry, he needs to be able to recognize that. To eat slow, and not have huge portions—at least not yet. He could develop something serious if the recovery process goes by too quickly."

"Is that why he's always full after so little?" Lance asked.

"Yes. This part of the recovery process can be dangerous, especially if it causes him to puke so much and burn away the lining around his throat and stomach with all that acid that's coming up" Adira explained.

"Huh" Rapunzel said, "I did...not know that."

"Well, i'm sure you never had to deal with something quite like this before. You're learning" Adira assured.

"And you have?"

Adira deflected the question, "So Varian, are you sure you aren't hungry?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"I—I don't even know what not hungry feels like anymore" he admitted, "I always feel like—like there's nothing inside of me. But at the same time I always feel like i'm going to burst open? It's weird, like, constant cramping and hurting. I just associate that with being full I guess."

"His body is still being starved" Adira observed, "yes, he may be eating some things now. Though the food he's having isn't even what a normal prisoner would get. He's being fed like a rabbit, like a hungry kid off the streets getting scraps. He is still technically being starved, as the broth has no real substance or nutrients."

"Woah" Varian said, "actually—that makes sense! My stomach's been feeling burning cramps, kinda. Just like I felt in prison. Like—like it's trying to eat away at my fat even though I don't have any."

"Why didn't you tell us this?!" Cassandra asked, "this is serious! This isn't something you can just hide from us. If you feel anything unusual, you have to tell us!"

"But it's not unusual...I feel it every day" Varian mumbled.

"We have to feed him something more than broth" Adira said, "even if it's just bread. Do you like sandwiches?"

Varian gasped, "yes! Ham sandwiches are my favorite!"

Adira and Hector shared a look, both of them smirking.

"Those were your dad's favorite too" Hector chuckled, "we'd be given the finest meals the king could offer and we'd still find him with a simple ham sandwich."

"Sounds like dad" Varian chuckled, sighing fondly.

————————————————————————-

Adira sat in thought for a moment, wondering what her next move should be.

She and Hector had been shown to their rooms, which were on either side of Varian's. Adira laid in the bed, closing her eyes to listen. She heard small cries, little whimpers coming from the child in the room next to her. She had half a mind to go in there and see what the problem was, though she wasn't very tactful, or good at comforting. Like, at all. Besides, she'd heard Rapunzel's footsteps, and the door open, so she knew he was being taken care of.

A soft knock came to her door, and she just called out for them to come in. To her surprise, it was Hector. That was weird, considering how he would usually make a scene and come through the window, even for the simplest of conversations.

"Brother" she greeted, "can't sleep?"

"Haven't you noticed?" Hector asked, showing off his flawlessly dreadful eye bags, "I never sleep."

Adira hummed, patting the spot next to her on the bed, "is this about Varian?"

"Yes" Hector said, "of course it's about the boy! I still can't believe it, that's Quirin's kid!"

"It's quite a shock, yes, to see our brother's child in such a state" Adira sighed.

"If Quirin were here he'd be absolutely livid" Hector said, "he would probably march right in there and murder those guards, let me tell you."

"No. Quirin isn't like that" Adira countered, "he would make their suffering slow and painful. He would put them through agony, pull out the torture device book and see which one is best suited for them."

"Hmm. You're right. Quirin always loved to cause torture to those who harmed us" Hector thought fondly.

Adira smiled, placing a hand on Hector's shoulder, "we are going to get our brother back, Hector. Trust me."

"Do you think we should kidnap him?" Hector questioned, "not Quirin, the boy, I mean."

"Kidnap him?" Adira asked.

"Well he certainly hasn't been treated well here! Besides, we need some bonding time!" Hector cried, a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Well—while I certainly agree about the bonding, i'm sure our ideas of fun don't match up with his. And short hair made it very clear to me that kidnapping children apparently isn't okay" she said.

"Pfft, the kid likes to—uh—blow stuff up! Yeah, he likes dangerous stuff, i'm sure we'd all get along just fine! Ooh, and we could teach him how to sword fight! Do you think he'd like that?" He rambled.

"I don't think so...but he is Quirin's boy. And Quirin was one of the most skilled knights in the entire dark kingdom, i'm sure he'd pick it up quickly. Aside from that, there's the fact that, y'know...he literally can't walk right now. Or pick up a glass, how would he pick up a sword?" Adira asked.

"You got me there, sister" he thought for a moment, "maybe we could teach him some simple stances? Or like, demonstrate how we hold the swords—oh, we could fight each other for him!" He exclaimed, clapping his hands like a little kid in a candy shop.

Adira smirked, "oh, i'm sure he'd put all of his faith in his dear aunt winning" she said with a mischievous glint her eyes, "the sun drop wanted to get him outside for some sunlight anyways."

"Ha! As if he would betray me like that! He knows that i'm way better than you!" Hector scoffed.

"Keep dreaming, Hector" Adira shrugged, "we all know the truth."

"Yeah, that I could take you with my eyes closed" he shrugged.

"You couldn't even take me if I didn't use my hands" she countered, "you were up in that tree for a long time, brother. I don't believe that you are up to my skill level anymore" she teased.

"Oh please! We'll find out soon enough" he glared.