He heard it again.

The boots.

Those heavy, god forsaken boots that always meant trouble. Always meant pain. He curled in on himself as the sound drew nearer, screwing his eyes shut as tight as he could. Maybe he could will himself away? Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could just fade out into nothing.

But how could he do that when he already was nothing?

His body trembled in fear as he heard a click. The cell had been unlocked. The prison cell's bars squeaked as they opened, and the boots drew nearer.

Nearer, nearer, nearer.

His breath hitched, and his shoulders tensed. Maybe if he stayed perfectly still, he would become invisible. He found that to be untrue as a rough hand gripped his scalp, grabbing a fist full of his hair and yanking him up to his feet.

He whimpered, his arms being weighted down by the heavy chains around his wrists. The only reason he hadn't fallen was because the man was still holding him up by his hair.

"Look at me, brat" The guard growled. Varian whimpered, opening his eyes, only to come face to face with Frank, the faint glow of a lantern illuminating his face.

Varian cast his eyes away and averted the guard's gaze. It fell on that stupid crest on his chest, and he closed his eyes again. He hated that symbol. The symbol he had to see every time the guards came down.

"Give me a kiss, pretty boy..."Jefferey mumbled, slamming Varian against the wall.

The boy had mere seconds to react, to make his decision. He had just a few moments to decide what he wanted. He could lean away, he could decline. Or, he could press his lips against Jefferey's, and satisfy him. He weighed his options. If he leaned away, he'd probably be in for a beating. But...but if he kissed him, that would probably make him want more. And if Varian could keep himself from throwing up, keep his eyes from crying tears of pain and disgust...

Well.

Well, then he would feel warmed. He would feel...like he wasn't alone.

But he hated it—sun, did he hate it. But he could pretend, he could pretend that it—that it wasn't them, that he wasn't there, he could focus on the warmth and pretend it didn't hurt, that he didn't hate it, it would be fine, and he—

He didn't want to go through that. So he leaned away.

He began to close his eyes and slump, only to be yanked back up by his hair and shoved into the wall, held up by an arm pushed harshly into his chest. His head pounded, and he felt the back of his eyes trying to push out of his skull.

He declined. And now the guards were angry.

"Mmmm..." he groaned, his eyes slipping shut again. He slumped down to the floor, toppling over and landing on his stomach.

A foot stomped down into his back and he felt something rise in his throat. He hacked it up and found it to be blood.

"Pathetic"

STOMP

"Useless"

STOMP

Varian would learn that night, to never decline a kiss ever again.

He hissed in pain, trying to tune out the words and just power through the beating. His breathing became jagged as Jefferey came into his view, and his whip was raised—

Varian woke up with a start, screaming as loud as he possibly could. He gasped for air, his eyes blown wide. He screamed again, a high pitched, loud sound that rung in his ears, and he screamed until his throat was raw, and until the door had been slammed open by four panicked adults that came barreling in to try and calm him down, all of them with varying levels of panic on their faces, Rapunzel shouting about someone keeping watch over the door.

Oh yeah. His little tantrum had the potential to get him caught.

His face was beet red from all the yelling, and there were tears streaming down his face. Cassandra was the first to rush forward, "Varian!"

He opened his eyes, his vision blurred from the tears and he only screamed again when he saw what Cassandra was wearing.

A guard uniform.

"Stop! Stop!" He exclaimed, jumping away and letting out a choked sob, "i'm sorry! Don't hur—hurt me!"

  Rapunzel was quick to move forward as well, coming right beside him, "Varian, what's wrong?!"

Varian's fingers intertwined in his hair and he gripped it hard enough to pull it out. He whimpered, his lip quivering in fear as he fought to toss the blanket off of him, "it was just a dream, it's just Cassandra, it was just a dream, it's not a guard, it was just a dream. I'll be good, I swear!"

He repeated it over, and over again, his mantra as he let out a choked sob. He leaned over the side of the bed, puking violently into the bucket nearby, before wiping his mouth and continuing to cry.

"Hair stripe, buddy" Eugene and Lance shared a look of concern, as they watched the boy get so worked up as to puke his guts out. Eugene cautiously made his way over and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, "Varian, are you okay-oof—"

Varian launched himself onto Eugene's chest, squeezing his arms around him and sobbing into him. Eugene stared at his friends in shock, before slowly wrapping his arms around the trembling boy, "E-Eugene?" Varian whispered, "I'm scared" his voice was hoarse from all the screaming, and he had dark tear tracks running down his cheeks.

"Varian, buddy, why?" Eugene whispered.

"The-they're going to get me" he held him tighter, "it-they-they" his breath hitched, "it was a dream...but it was real. Please don't let them get me" he mumbled.

"What was it about?" Eugene murmured, "the nightmare?"

"The guards" he whispered, "they..." he trailed off, glancing up at Cassandra's cold, metal chest-plate before screwing his eyes shut again, "i'm sorry. D-don't be mad. Please don't be mad."

Eugene gestured at Rapunzel, who looked absolutely heartbroken. She walked further into the room, a familiar friend of Varian's in her arms. The raccoon chittered and jumped excitedly from her arms, crawling up the bed to see Varian.

The little animal couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was real! Just like Rapunzel had promised! His boy was safe! Safe safe safe!

He chittered and nudged Varian, and the boy looked up. He gasped, "Ruddiger!" He scooped up his raccoon and held him close, crying all over again, "thank you! Oh—Rud, I thought i'd never see you again!" He sobbed into Ruddiger's fur as he held him close, sighing in relief as the raccoon's tiny paws hugged his face, peering into his eyes as if to ask if what he was seeing was real.

The boy leaned against Eugene again, breathing heavily. He closed his eyes and fell asleep in his arms. Eugene readjusted their position and moved to get up, but Varian whimpered, "don't leave me.."

Eugene smiled gently, "okay, okay..i'm right here...shhh, everything's going to be okay, hairstripe..."

Varian whimpered, letting his eyes fall shut again.

"Awe! That's adorable!" Lance squealed.

"Awe, you're almost fatherly" Cassandra teased.

"Is this really the best time for jokes? That kid was screaming like he was getting burned by lava!" Eugene hissed, "i'm worried about this!"

"Those screams" Rapunzel whispered, looking almost haunted as she leaned on Cassandra's shoulder, "I don't have any words."

"You're right. Sorry" Cassandra sighed, "sounds like what those guards did to him goes deeper than just physical damage. Hey! The guards who did this to him are being kept in the dungeons. Maybe I should go...rough them up."

"Cassandra, we are not roughing anybody up...not yet at least" Rapunzel said, "gosh, poor kid..."

"So, this medicine is definitely out" Cassandra sighed, "it made him high, and gave him heightened nightmares. He looked like a soldier from war, having a flashback" she frowned.

"Yep. He was an absolute nightmare yesterday, with how high he was" Lance sighed, "he was insane."

"I could get used to this" Eugene commented, smiling gently as the boy cuddled further into him.

"I will admit...That's so cute" Rapunzel giggled, trying to distract herself, "maybe a little inventing will cheer him up?" She questioned, "s-something that'll take his mind off of everything?"

"Yeah. Maybe that would be a good idea" Cassandra said, wrapping an arm over Rapunzel's shoulder. She could tell the princess was clearly shaken up by what had just occurred. Rapunzel rested her head against Cassandra, a silent thanks.

Ruddiger chittered happily, curling up into a ball on top of Varian, and falling asleep.

"So this medicine is a definite no go then" Cassandra sighed, "while seeing him doped up was extremely amusing, and seemed to numb a lot of the pain...nightmares aren't worth it."

Rapunzel frowned, "yeah. I'm sure he'll have plenty of nightmares all on his own, he doesn't need medicine making them more graphic."

Eugene shifted on the bed, and froze when he felt something warm and damp against his knee, "uh, girls would you mind giving us some privacy for a moment?"

Rapunzel furrowed her brows, "wh—"

"Let's just say, it was a good idea to put him in another diaper before bed yesterday" Eugene cringed.

Rapunzel frowned. The nightmare must've made him have an accident. She nodded, and left with Cassandra, who said that Varian would need some water for when he woke back up.

—————————————————————————

Varian hummed to himself as he drew up some alchemy ideas and chemical equations. Day five since he's been saved from those awful dungeons. It had been a while since Varian's little...breakdown, and he apologized profusely, though had been assured that it was okay. He knew that it wasn't though. He knew it had the potential to get them caught. Not to mention how sad Rapunzel's eyes were.

They talked a little more in depth about his dream, and how it was basically an exact memory of what had happened one day, and he took note of Cassandra writing down most of what he said. Most likely to show her father.

The day had calmed down some more, the sun was setting, according to Rapunzel—his eyes were still too sensitive to be able to take the sun's light, so the curtains stayed closed—and now it was just him and Lance together in the room. Lance didn't exactly know him very well, but was making an effort.

Varian liked Lance. He was nice and funny and had a soothing voice. He had a calm, easygoing attitude and he was just generally fun to be around.

His thoughts drifted elsewhere though. He was trying to distract himself from the way his stomach churned with hunger. He'd actually been given water somewhat consistently the past two days since he woke up, drinking what his stomach would allow him to, though puking up most of it.

But he hadn't been given food since that first night there.

His stomach was starting to get used to the routine of having water, and it was starting to crave more. He didn't even realize that he wasn't getting meals at first. He'd been sleeping almost the entire time, and when he wasn't he was occupied with nightmares or being too busy about to wet himself to notice.

But it was totally fine! He's gone way longer than a few days without food before, he would last until they decided to feed him!

...But what if they didn't decide to feed him? What if they decided that he wasn't worth it, that he was a waste of resources? That was probably why they hadn't fed him yet that day. Maybe they really were going to treat him the same?

He didn't really remember eating the past day either, or really interacting with anyone aside from his little nightmare and tantrum as he liked to call it. Though he was told that there were moments he would wake up, eyes unfocused and bleary, and they'd give him some water, making sure he didn't choke.

But he'd been awake all day, despite having felt the same levels of sickness. Most moments he was aware—though just kept his eyes closed and his body relaxed, his thoughts jumbled together.

Though now—he found some strength. And he used it to practice his handwriting, having abandoned the alchemy equations. His hands were far too shaky.

He bit his lip and glanced over to Lance. He hated the feeling in his gut. The twisting and turning pangs of hunger that made him curl in on himself and whimper.

Back in prison it was okay. Eventually, he got so used to it, so much so that sometimes he didn't even feel the hunger anymore. Though now, his stomach had gotten a taste of food, had its fill of water, and wanted more.

His thoughts were interrupted when he realized a tear had slid down his face and fallen onto the page he was writing on. He furiously wiped his face, bottling up his emotions. No. He was not going to be weak. He would show them that he was strong enough to wait.

But what if they'd just simply forgotten? It made sense, he was very forgettable—no, no. They'd assured him that they cared. Maybe they just got busy? Yeah, between all the crazy stuff that happened it could be easy to forget something like feeding someone. Heck, even before prison Varian had a bad habit of getting lost in his work and not eating for days on end. Sometimes he'd only remember because he'd get dizzy or pass out, or his dad—

At the thought of his dad, he almost broke his quill. He shook his head and dipped the quill in its ink, trying to distract himself. He would find a way to free his father. And he had help this time around.

He wrapped an arm around his middle as his stomach growled. He attempted to suck his stomach in to stop it, but there was literally no stomach to suck in.

He felt like his body was eating him from the inside out, not liking the way he was physically shaking with hunger, and swallowed down the bile he felt rising in his throat. He felt so sick.

...Hey, Lance was nice. Maybe if he asked, he'd get him something? ..No. Nope. What if they really were intentionally not feeding him? Lance would laugh at him and that would be embarrassing.

He was overthinking. After all they've done for him there was no possible chance they would do that! He knew they cared, he could just tell. And Eugene had cuddled with him, and even taken a nap with him. A nap. He was beyond humiliated when he woke up, but he was assured several times that none of them had any problems staying with him if he didn't want to be alone.

And Varian was really craving that comfort again. It was bad. Like, he felt like he needed that positive, physical touch almost as bad as he needed food. He just hadn't been hugged in so long, and it felt so good to be in Eugene's arms. His embrace was just warm and comforting and reminded him so much of his father, it was perfect.

At least he had Ruddiger. It wasn't the same as human touch, but it was still very comforting.

He continued to pet Ruddiger and abandoned practicing his handwriting in favor of writing in his diary. That would probably distract him.

Dear Diary,

So uh. It's been a weird few days. I've already told you about my whole three day sleep and breaking out of jail and all that, but I don't think it's ever not going to be weird again.

I think you can tell why.

Oh yeah. I haven't had food since I woke up from the three day nap. And I know that logically, I should probably be asking for food. But mentally, there is just so much going through my head right now, because what if they're doing it on purpose? How embarrassing would that be?

Anyway, that reminds me, the most humiliating thing ever happened to me yesterday, you won't believe it. Actually, anybody who's known me for even half a day would believe it, but I guess i'll just tell you.

He began to write down all about his little pee incident from the other day as he contemplated asking for food, when the other three adults came in to wish him goodnight. He slammed his diary shut, not too keen on having them knowing what he was writing about.

He set his diary in the bed stands drawer, and set down his writing supplies.

He was told that it was quite late, and he should be getting off to bed. Eugene quipped about him getting off to Cassandra instead, which made the woman choke on air and Rapunzel to gasp and yell his name. Lance was crying laughing.

"What—what's that mean?" Varian asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"W-what?!" Lance cackled, "even Rapunzel knows what it is! How old are you?!"

"Uhhh I think I had a birthday or two while in prison? I should be like...sixteen?" he mumbled. He really wasn't even sure what year it was, to be honest.

"Sixteen?!" Eugene exclaimed, "no way! You look twelve! And sound twelve too!"

Rapunzel frowned, mind drifting to darker places. Everything was so real. That was a teenager, sitting in that bed, in a hospital gown, who had been traumatized beyond what she could even fathom.

"Well, who's going to give him the talk?" Eugene joked, "because if you can't get a joke as simple as that-"

"Don't ruin his innocence! Or..what he has left of it!" Lance exclaimed.

"How can someone who hasn't even gone through puberty and doesn't know what sex is possibly have terrorized a kingdom?" Eugene exclaimed.

Varian shrugged, "i'm just that good, I guess."

"Eugene!" Rapunzel hissed.

"Right, right! Sorry, sorry sorry..." Eugene chuckled, "kid, it's hard for me to affectionately ruffle your hair when you've got it in those braids! But I wouldn't want to be the one to ruin my perfect work!"

"Rapunzel said that if I leave the braids in for a few days then my hair will be really wavy" Varian smiled, "Like Cassie's!"

Lance smirked, "awe, you want to look like Cassandra?"

Varian nodded, "don't tell her I said this, but she's really cool."

"I'm flattered, kid" Cassandra chuckled.

Varian jumped, "oh! I forgot you were here!"

Cassandra glanced at Rapunzel, worry in her eyes. He knelt down and felt the kid's forehead, "oooooh yeah, fever's kicking in again" she said.

Rapunzel felt it too and immediately retracted her hand, "you're burning up!"

"Yeah, he's going to be out of it" Lance said.

"I'm not out of anything!" Varian exclaimed.

Cassandra gave him a dry look, "yeah, you need sleep. Which is surprising, considering you've slept eighty percent of the time. As soon as this sickness stops, I think it would do you some good to start trying to do things like try to sit up on your own. Small steps to rebuilding your strength."

  Varian nodded, and with that they all bid him a goodnight. And it was then he realized that they really weren't going to feed him. He was going to bed hungry. Just as he always did. It got easier to ignore the feeling overtime, so he tried to push it away. He begged Eugene to leave the lantern on, not wanting to be alone in the dark again. Eugene agreed to keep it on, and they all left him to fall asleep.

And Varian just stared up at the ceiling after a while, listening to his stomach churning and growling all night until he eventually fell asleep, back into nightmare realm.

————————————————————————

  The next morning, Rapunzel hummed a little tune to herself, Pascal on her shoulder as she painted. Eugene had nothing better to do so decided he'd be the one to watch over Varian for a while.

Lance had immediately cancelled all of his plans and proclaimed it a 'men's day.' Which terrified Cassandra and Rapunzel, but how bad could it be? The last time the three boys were together all they did was braid hair and talk.

Nothing bad could possibly happen.

—————————————————————————

Varian glanced between Lance and Eugene tentatively, trying to decide if he should ask them for something to eat or not. The pain of hunger tearing through his stomach was only getting worse as time went on, and he was starting to wonder if this was just one of Rapunzel's elaborate misguided pranks.

The day seemed to be calm, with Eugene and Lance recounting stories from their travels to Varian, who was listening with intent. It was a good distraction from his hunger.

"Yeah, Adira was something else.." Lance sighed, "I really hope she gets Rapunzel's letter..what a woman" Lance sighed.

Eugene rolled his eyes and elbowed him.

"Hey—you know I love a woman with tattoos" Lance shrugged.

"She had one tattoo on her hand, and some wacky face paint" Eugene pointed out, "and it was for some weird cult thing. A symbol of brother hood or something! Knowing her she's probably been stalking—or as she calls it, 'observing' us! I bet she's in Corona somewhere right now, just being creepy! Stealing cupcakes from kids!"

"Can you draw it for me?" Varian questioned, excitement in his face, "The symbol, I mean—I really like studying that kind of thing, you can learn so much about groups of people from their unique little markings!"

"Sure, kid" Eugene shrugged, "though Rapunzel's more of an artist than I am"  he chuckled, taking the Quill and notebook and drawing the little brother hood symbol, "there."

Varian looked at it for a moment, before the cogs in his head turned. His eyes went wide, his face glazing over with confusion, "what..?"

"Hector and King Edmund had the symbol too. There are very few people in the brotherhood" Lance explained.

Varian squinted at the symbol, before taking off his glove, noticing out of the corner of his eye how Eugene and Lance cringed at how rough his wrists and hands looked from the handcuff bruising, and he replicated the symbol on his hand.

"Like this..?" He whispered, memories flashing through his mind. Seeing his father with his gloves off when he cooked or ate, questioning him about the strange tattoo and being told it was just a silly thing he did with some friends when he was younger.

"Yeah" Eugene said slowly, noticing the kid's shock, "what—"

"My dad had the exact same symbol on his hand! Under his gloves. And he was always so secretive about it" Varian said.

Eugene's eyes widened, "wait..now that you mention it, Rapunzel did say something to me about Adira. Apparently she made an offhand comment about your father being in it...how could I forget!"

"My dad...was in the dark kingdom's brother hood?" Varian questioned. Which meant...his dad had some super secret past? "What's the—the brotherhood?"

"It's a small team of people who took an oath to protect the moonstone. They all knew about its danger and power, and swore to keep anyone and anything away from it and the black rocks" Eugene explained, "apparently your dad left the dark kingdom and stopped being a knight at sometime. Perhaps to settle down into the life of a farmer."

"That-that's why he didn't want me messing with the rocks!" Varian exclaimed, "he knew they were dangerous, he knew so much more than-than any of us could have ever known!"

Eugene nodded, "I'm sure he knew about the moonstone and rocks—but Adira and Quirin must go way back. She would be happy to help!"

"I hope so" Varian mumbled, "but what..what kind of first impression would that give off of me? Like, the first time I ever meet her it's because I need her to help me unincase my father from a chemical variation of rocks of my own design?"

"I'm sure she'll understand. She's really chill. Like, really chill" Eugene said, "unless you touch her."

Lance sighed dreamily, "oh...just another reason I'm hopelessly in love with her.."

  "Yeah, hopelessly. Because—now let me stress this— it's never going to happen" Eugene stressed, "Adira doesn't seem like the type to settle down. She's very...what's the word..well, I could think of a lot of words for her, but for the kid's sake, i'm going to go with nomadic."

"So, I know a lot about Adira, but what about this Hector guy? What's he like?" Varian questioned.

"Absolutely insane" Lance shivered.

"Oh yeah, he's crazy" Eugene agreed, "and scary. I feel like he could kill you with a flick of his pinky."

Varian shrunk in on himself, "wow..that's..something."

"Yeah, and they're both really skilled fighters. Like, Adira didn't even have to use her hands to take Cassandra out" Eugene said.

"Wow..." Varian whispered.

There was a knock on the door, and Lance went to unlock it. Rapunzel and Cassandra came in, "we got bored!" Rapunzel exclaimed.

"Rapunzel got bored. I didn't, I'm always bored" Cassandra shrugged, "but I suppose I did miss this little stinker. How about we take those braids out?"

Varian nodded rapidly, cringing as he felt a pang of hunger in his stomach as he was helped up. Cassandra got behind him in the large bed, and allowed him to lean against her as she worked on undoing the braids, "you guys have been good for Varian, right?" Cassandra joked.

Lance scoffed, "we only set half the balcony on fire—" Eugene practically attacked him as he tried to cover his mouth.

"WHAT?!" Rapunzel exclaimed.

"Wow, only half? I'm impressed" Cassandra scoffed.

"We were trying to cheer the kid up!" Eugene exclaimed.

"With fire?!" Cassandra hissed.

"Well, no—we opened the doors that lead to the connected balcony, seriously this room has everything, and the kid screamed because of how bright it was—"

"Duh, he's been in a dungeon the past year!" Cassandra exclaimed, "no light, remember? That's why we need to keep the lanterns in here dimmed!"

"Hey I wasn't finished—so, Lance got startled and knocked one of the outside lanterns over and set the balcony on fire!" Eugene said.

Cassandra sighed, brushing her fingers through Varian's hair to loosen the braids, "maybe we shouldn't leave you alone with those two idiots" Cassandra scoffed.

"Oh Your hair is just so beautiful" Rapunzel interrupted, unable to contain herself, "it's so soft and fluffy!"

Varian giggled, "I get it from my mom, apparently. My dad always compared mine to hers. She had some really good hair."

"I'll bet" she smiled, watching as Varian relaxed into Cassandra's touch.

"It really is some fine hair" Cassandra said as he fluffed it up after she finished unbraiding it, allowing the small waves to spill over his shoulders, "and that blue streak is...really unique."

"Yeah, it's weird. Just an entire random blue streak" he shrugged, "some other kids were bullying me for it so I shaved it off but it only grew back brighter. So, yeah."

"Awe, kids can be so mean" Rapunzel frowned, "I think it's adorable. Maybe it's magical?" She joked.

Eugene laughed, "I certainly hope not...though I'm jealous. Your hair is just naturally that good?" Eugene asked, "Even my hair needs some product!"

"At least you have hair" Lance grumbled.

"At least you don't have seventy feet of of it to wash, dry and lug around everywhere" Rapunzel joked.

"Yeah, I don't know how you do it" Lance said, "I retract my earlier statement and count myself as lucky."

The banter continued for a while before Varian was really beginning to get uncomfortable with the pained feeling in his gut. He hissed a little and curled in on himself, before trying to smooth the topic of food into the conversation. Just rip it off like a bandaid. Just ask.

He turned around to face Cassandra, who was still on his bed.

"Hey..." he mumbled, twiddling his thumbs a little, "what, uh—do you know what time it is?"

"If this is a pickup line i'm throwing you out of the window" she deadpanned.

"W-what?! It's not!" He blushed as Eugene and Lance started cackling.

Rapunzel giggled, answering his question before the bullying could continue, "it's about three pm i'd say, why?"

"Oh, um, nothing really, I was just..wondering.." he felt anxiety creep up in his chest and he gulped. Should he really be asking this, what if they said no?

"Yeah?" Rapunzel asked as the tone shifted to more serious. There was always something happening with this kid, she swears.

"Uhhh, it's silly, I know i'm probably just being spoiled and selfish or something, but I just wanted to ask you..um.." he trailed off, "I just, was wondering..." he shut his eyes tightly, deciding to just say it, "if I could have something to eat?"

He was met with silence and slowly opened his eyes, quick to stumble over his words in an attempt to explain himself, "I-I know i'm just a waste of resources but um—you guys didn't give me anything yesterday, or—or since I woke up from being asleep for three days, really. I know that I don't necessarily deserve it—"

"Varian" Rapunzel began quietly, her voice quiet and serious.

Varian tensed up. That voice couldn't be good, he needed to make up for his mistake, "And I shouldn't have even asked i'm so sorry, just forget I said anything—"

"Varian!" Rapunzel exclaimed.

He flinched and scooted a little closer to Cassandra, shutting his mouth, "y-yes?" He finally looked up at her and noticed how guilty she actually looked.

"Varian, oh my goodness—i'm so sorry! I completely—it just slipped my mind, i'm so, so sorry! You must be starving, how could I forget something like that? I'm going to go and get you something right now!" She said seriously.

"Hey Raps, don't blame yourself, I mean, Eugene and Lance have been mostly watching him the past two days...and it's kind of expected that if you watch him, you get him food too!" Cassandra hissed, "but then again, I guess we shouldn't have relied on those two idiots to remember something like that."

"Hey—to be fair, he never said anything about being hungry!" Lance defended.

"Of course he isn't going to say anything, do you have any idea what he's been through?!" Cassandra hissed.

Varian whimpered, "i'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause a problem."

"No! No, Varian you didn't cause any problem" Rapunzel assured, "it's just easier to point fingers and argue with one another than to admit that we're wrong..Varian, please don't be afraid to ask us for things you need—or heck, even want, okay?This is on us. We didn't communicate about this—I think all of us just expected the others to feed you."

Varian sniffled, nodding, "okay...okay..." he took a deep breath to calm himself, and a loud stomach growl interrupted him. His face paled and he leaned over the bed shoved his face into a bucket, and gagged up some stomach acid, "Ugh..." he moaned in pain.

"We'll take care of him Raps, why don't you go and get him some soup? I'll get him some medicine to help settle his stomach" Cassandra said.

Rapunzel nodded, slipping out of the room and going to go get the food.

"Why didn't you just...tell us you were hungry?" Lance asked, rubbing Varian's back as he swished water into his mouth to get the taste of bile out.

Varian spat the water into the bucket and gagged, though nothing more came out, "I was just—scared" he began, "that it was all intentional. That, if I asked i'd get in trouble, or—or something like that. I mean, I figured you weren't feeding me a for a reason. Why else wouldn't you? I didn't think that it was as simple as you forgot."

"Geez, kid, we really screwed up, huh?" Eugene asked.

"No..I was just being dumb. I was afraid for no reason..." he mumbled. It wasn't their fault, it was his fault, it was always his fault, he needed to take the blame—

"Hey, no, it's not no reason. You've..you've been through a lot, and we really do understand, okay?" Cassandra asked, "but if you want to get better, you have to tell us these things. When we make mistakes like this, you have to speak up."

Varian nodded, biting his lip, "I wish I wasn't afraid. I don't know why i'm afraid, it's just...well, I don't know! I shouldn't be, you guys are nice, and have helped me so much, but—"

"But it's going to be hard to trust people after what's happened to you" Cassandra finished, "after so many people have broken that trust you had in them."

Varian nodded, "I..I guess you guys can understand to some extent, I mean I have betrayed all of you" he smiled shakily.

"But the difference is, that you want to change and be better, while those guards don't" Cassandra said coldly, "they took pleasure in your pain, and they don't regret a second of it."

"I'm back" Rapunzel said, balancing a tray on one hand as she opened the door, quickly setting it on the night stand, "again, I am so sorry! This should have been the first thing I did when you woke up! How could I forget something as simple as this?"

"It's okay, princess" Varian smiled, "you're trying your best. I can assume that it's not easy to take care of someone like me" he chuckled.

"Varian, no! You've been a dear!" Rapunzel insisted, "you're so polite and well behaved!"

"And a really good patient" Cassandra said, "seriously, you don't even complain when we change your bandages or give you medicine, you're so good, really."

Varian blushed, covering his face, "noooo stop it! I'm a brat! I'm a bad boy, see?" He threw up a peace sign and Eugene almost threw up from how hard he was lauginhg.

"Varian, you are a riot!" Lance exclaimed.

"A riot who needs to eat his damn soup" Cassandra muttered with a look of amusement on her face.

Varian gasped, "Cass! You said a no no word!"

"A-A what?!" She exclaimed in shock, tears forming in her eyes as she tried to stifle her laughter, because this kid was serious. He wasn't even joking.

"I—" he blushed again, "I meant—nothing! Just forget it!"

"You really are a kid!" She exclaimed, laughter bubbling up in her chest.

"Wow Varian, you made the ice witch laugh! And it wasn't even out of malice, good work kiddo!" Eugene applauded.

"That was adorable, can we keep him?" Lance asked, cooing at Varian.

"Stop it! I'm not a child!" He whined.

"Then stop acting like one" Lance smirked.

"Okay!" Rapunzel giggled, "leave him alone, it's time to eat!" She grabbed a spoon and ladled it into the soup, "here comes the airplane~!"

Before Varian could even process what was happening he opened his mouth and allowed Rapunzel to feed him. Another chorus of laughter sounded, and Lance actually had to leave the room and head into the bathroom to take a breather.

"What, Wait—I—That wasn't my fault, I didn't even realize!" Varian defended weakly, snatching the soup from Rapunzel, "you're all jerks!"

By the time Lance came back, things had settled down and Varian had the bowl up to his face, completely abandoning the spoon, and slowly took some sips from it, "oh my goodness" Varian moaned into the soup, "this is so good.." he murmured.

"Well someone was certainly hungry" Lance snickered as Varian finished the soup in record time.

"Starving, actually" Varian corrected, smirking.

Rapunzel guiltily handed Varian the small tray of crackers, "here, try to eat some of these, Cass thinks they'll settle your stomach acid so you won't puke as much."

Varian nodded and started to eat the crackers, satisfied when his stomach was finally full, "this is weird..I haven't felt like—full in a long time."

Cassandra raised a brow, "that little bit made you full?"

He nodded, "Yes. I mean, it's kind of expected. And thank you for the meal, Rapunzel."

"Meal? That can hardly even be called a snack! I'm going to show you a real meal when your stomach gets stronger" Eugene said, ruffling Varian's hair.

"Awe, Varian you shouldn't thank me for the bare minimum" she offered a sad smile.

"It would be rude to not thank you, princess, you've shown me so much kindness" he said seriously.

"Awe, well aren't you a little cutie" Lance said, pinching his cheeks.

"I'm not cute, i'm mean" Varian defended, baring his teeth, "fear me!"

"How intimidating" Cassandra said sarcastically, "especially since you just let Rapunzel spoon feed you and said 'no no word.'"

"Stop!" He exclaimed, flailing his arm and accidentally hitting Eugene, who was on the edge of his bed, on the back of his head.

"My hair!" Eugene exclaimed.

"Oh my gosh, i'm so sorry, did I hurt you, how's your head?!" Varian asked automatically.

"Well, it's never had any complaints" Eugene joked.

Everyone in the room gave him a look of shock, aside from Varian who just watched as Rapunzel's look quickly contorted into a glare as the joke settled in and she gasped, "Eugene!"

"I'm sorry it just slipped out!" Eugene exclaimed, letting out a laugh.

"You just insinuated that you're a little fruity in the booty" Lance commented.

Varian cocked(ha) his head to the side, "what's going on?"

"I'll tell you when you're older" Cassandra said quickly, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye.

Varian pouted, "fine...hey, i'm thirsty—"

"Of course you are, Cassandra's fingers have been in your—"

"Wait—have we not given you any water either?!" Rapunzel exclaimed before the dirty jokes could escalate any further.

"No, no you have, actually" Varian said quickly, before the princess could beat herself up any further.

—————————————————————————

After the alchemist had been fed and watered, the gang settled down to play a little card game together. Surprisingly, Varian was winning a bunch of rounds despite having not played any of the games in literally an entire year.

At first, he thought they were letting him win to cheer him up, but no.

Cassandra got very competitive, and eventually Eugene did too, and it turned into a bunch of quipping and name calling as Rapunzel tried to peacefully salvage the game.

It was really fun for a while, Varian found himself giggling at the antics. It was just like old times.

"I win" Rapunzel said smugly as she set her last card in the deck.

"What?!" Cassandra exclaimed, enraged, "how?! You didn't even care about winning!"

"I want a rematch!" Eugene said, "how did you do that?"

"Subtlety is an art" she said simply, "also, you guys were too busy calling each other names that made me have to cover Varian's ears, that you didn't realize what was actually happening."

Cassandra groaned, "this is bull—" she cut herself off mid sentence at Rapunzel's icy glare, "horns. Bull horns! Yeah!"

Varian smiled and crossed his legs, kicking a foot between his thighs as he realized that he had to pee. He glanced to the side where Lance was, on the floor asleep, and decided that Eugene was his only option. Well—his only comfortable option.

The last time he waited, it didn't bode well for him, so when the next card game ended, he tapped Eugene on the shoulder and shifted, looking at him desperately, hoping to convey what he needed without having to actually say it.

Eugene just looked at him in confusion, and Varian had never been more embarrassed in his life as he leaned up a little bit, whispering in the man's ear what he needed and bouncing up and down for emphasis.

Eugene made an 'o' shape with his mouth, before he nodded with understanding, coming up with a quick way to get the girls out for a minute, "hey blondie! I just remembered something!" He shouted charismatically.

Lance startled awake at that, "huh? What—what happened?" He drawled.

"Oh nothing much, Eugene is trying to blow our cover and let the entire castle know what's happening!" Cassandra hissed.

Varian sighed. This was going to be a long argument.

"Yeah, it's rude to interrupt people when they're saying something Cass-and-ra! I can see that the captain of the guard didn't teach you any manners growing up—"

"Eugene!" Rapunzel hissed.

Cassandra scoffed, "manners? Manners?! I grew up with the strictest father known to man, and you want to talk to me about manners and discipline? Where are your manners, Mr. Street Rat?"

"Cassandra!" Rapunzel shouted.

"No, no. I had that coming. Okay yeah. Sure, that was a really bad call for me to make, sorry—" Eugene began.

Lance rubbed the tiredness from his eyes, "You woke me up from my wonderful dream—" he interrupted himself with a yawn, "only for me to find out that you're fighting?"

Eugene shrugged, sitting down in his spot on the bed again, "yes yes, sure, but hey now you're awake! Come, join us and play the card game!" He flashed a smile to throw the room's attention off of him.

Varian's face developed into one of shock, before he face palmed, because how could he forget so quickly?

There wasn't really anything he could do, because now he was squished between Rapunzel and Cassandra, with Eugene across from him on the bed. So he decided to just sit there and suffer. He didn't want to interrupt everything. Surely, he could wait a while?

—————————————————————————

Just ten minutes later he found that no, he couldn't wait a while. Curse his weak overwhelmed bladder. He was going to have to speak up again or else he was going to end up with a full on accident this time.

He was wondering how he was going to get Eugene's attention, but if he didn't the girls were going to get suspicious of all his shifting around.

At this point Varian wasn't sure if he would be able to wait another five minutes, but Eugene was talking to Lance about something. Ruddiger chittered on Varian's lap, and the boy pet him with a shaky arm.

He stared at Eugene, deciding that it was the only way to get him to notice him.

Eventually Eugene looked up to see the boy staring, unblinking at him with tears welling up in his eyes.

He stared at Eugene expectantly, and the older man looked up, clearly realizing he had forgotten something, if his face was anything to go off of.

"Oh, Blondie!" Eugene said suddenly, "those-those blueprints, for your hair drying invention? Yeah, yeah—you should go and get them, if Varian had the basic prints he could start looking over them and sketching up a smaller scale design idea! Like you guys wanted!"

Rapunzel gasped, "you're right! We do need to draw up designs before we even start building! Ooh, and if he wakes up before us tomorrow he'll have something to do while he waits for one of us! Okay, okay i'll go and get them!"

Varian bit his lip and shook his knee a little as Rapunzel left, glancing at Cassandra and Eugene nodded, "Cass could you go get Ruddiger an apple?" He checked his pocket watch, "Six thirty! Wow! Dinner time for the little rodent already!"

Cassandra flipped through the deck of cards she was cleaning up and placed the stack down, getting off the bed, "yeah alright, my feet are falling asleep anyway. Even they can tell how boring you are, cya in a minute."

Eugene scoffed before he sighed in relief when she left with no argument, and he quickly turned to Varian, "Buddy, i'm so sorry I forgot you had to go like that!"

Lance quickly caught onto the situation and grabbed the tub.

"It-it-it's okay!" Varian said, and got up desperately with the help of Lance, staring at the tub with wide wyes, "can I go now?"

Eugene hurriedly said yes, the second hand anxiety getting to him, and so Varian took the tub from Lance and motioned for them to turn around, and he pulled up his hospital gown and pulled himself out to finally let go.

He let out a sigh as he began to relax, but a quick knock on the door followed by Rapunzel's voice scared him into locking up. Eugene and Lance shared concerned glances as Varian quickly covered himself back up and He looked up with panicked eyes, "get rid of her!" He hissed.

"Okay, i'll just tell her the problem and—"

"No!" Varian exclaimed, "no, then they'll know that it was all just a diversion so I could pee!" He covered his face and groaned, "how was she so quick?!" Varian put his hands between his legs and pressed them together, gritting his teeth and clutching the tub to his chest, "c-can we please hurry this up?"

"O-oh, right!" Lance exclaimed, hating seeing the boy so uncomfortable, "i'll go talk to her, Eugene you help Varian."

Eugene nodded and Lance slipped out of the room to lead the princess away.

"Okay okay okay, let's go, kid hurry up!" Eugene said quickly, his anxiety spiking.

Varian nodded and quickly positioned again, not wasting a moment. He released heavily, sighing in relief as his body sagged forward slightly. Finally, he was able to let go. The uncomfortable weight in his bladder and throbbing in his kidney slowly melted away, being replaced with a soreness, and pangs of discomfort. Still, all he could focus on was the relief, "that feels so good" He whimpered and Eugene didn't know whether to laugh or feel bad for the kid.

"I've got the—" Cassandra's voice cut off, the door half open, and her next words died on her tongue. Two shocked faces looked up at her and she continued, "...apple..." 

Well, that answered his question. He should definitely feel bad for the kid.

"C-Cassandra!" Eugene exclaimed, whipping around and glancing between Varian's expression of horror as his stream abruptly cut off and he threw the hospital gown over himself, and Cassandra's wide eyed red face and frantic apologies when she realized what exactly she had just seen.

"Oh—Oh! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, covering her eyes with an arm, "I didn't see anything, I swear!" She rushed out of the room and slammed the door shut, almost running into the wall in the process.

"Wow kid, you made Cassandra laugh, and you made her flustered! All in the same day!" Eugene exclaimed, trying to lighten the mood, "i'd say your chances are a little less slim now—"

Varian whimpered, hiding his face and turning away from Eugene as he began to sob, "oh my sun" he whispered, "oh my sun!"

"Varian, it's okay!" Eugene said quickly, "here, give me the tub—"

"Wai-Wait, i'm not done!" He exclaimed, "she made it go back inside!" He wailed, "It hurts!"

"Kid, Varian, buddy, just relax. Relax" Eugene said calmly.

"Relax?! How am I supposed to relax when Cassandra just saw my thingy?!" Varian hissed, his heart beat speeding up significantly, "oh my sun I'm never going to live this down..."

Eugene wondered what Rapunzel would do in this situation so he just shushed him and rubbed his back, whispering sweet nothings to him in an attempt to get him to calm down. Eventually, he pulled himself back out, and once Eugene's eyes closed, he was able to get a slow, trickling stream out of him and into the tub, before he relaxed some more and let it out full force as the stream hissed against the tub.

When Varian had finally finished, he put everything back into place, plopped his face into a pillow and screamed. His voice was muffled but Eugene was able to make out him saying "I wish I hadn't dodged that guard when he tried to slit my throat" which was very concerning.

  "Here, buddy, we'll talk about that little bit of info later..but for now, i'm going to go and clean this, okay?" Eugene asked, "Guys you can come in!" He called.

Rapunzel and Lance walked in, followed by Cassandra, who had obviously told the others what had happened, if their looks of sympathy were anything to go by. He averted her gaze as she awkwardly walked in, "Kid, i'm so sorry."

Varian nodded, biting his bottom lip as tears began to spill down his face, "I'm humiliated."

"Oh—hey, Varian, it's okay, really. I barely even saw anything, you were basically all covered up anyways!" She exclaimed.

He sniffled, "r-really?"

She nodded, even though it was a lie. He had been completely exposed. She'd already filled Rapunzel and Lance in on what had happened while they were waiting in the hallway. When Eugene returned, he immediately launched an attack on Cassandra.

"You know, there's this thing called knocking, yeah, ever heard of it? You should try it sometime" he crossed his arms and glared at her.

"Well maybe next time instead of sending me off to get an apple tell me the real problem? I would have stepped out for a minute to give him some privacy!" She argued, "Raps would've done the same!"

Varian continued to cry silently into his pillow, and Rapunzel just came over and cuddled into his back. He flinched away at first, before sinking into her touch, peeking his head out from underneath the pillow as the two continued to argue.

Everything was going wrong.

"Guys, can we stop arguing?" Rapunzel asked, "how about this—we need to just be honest when there's a problem of any kind okay? Even if it's embarrassing—or seems small. Okay?"

Varian nodded, wiping away the tears that glistened in his eyes.

"And if you need privacy, me and Cassandra will always step out, alright?" Rapunzel asked. He nodded. "Yeah! And eventually, when you get enough strength to walk around, you'll be able to use the actual bathroom. Won't that be nice?"

He nodded again, not looking at Cassandra, who frowned. Ugh, she wasn't good at these kind of things.. "Varian..." she sat on the edge of the bed next to him, and he blushed deeply. She got closer and he stared at a spot on the bed as tears burned in his eyes.

She wrapped an arm around the kids shoulder and opened her arms. He allowed her to wrap her arms around his small frame, and she rested her chin on his head, brushing the hair from his face, "hey, no need to cry. Seriously, it was a split second. And please don't be awkward. And please don't be embarrassed around me. Please."

Varian mumbled incoherently and leaned his head against her, "...but you're a lady" he stressed.

They stayed there for a moment, Cassandra sending Eugene death glares every time he opened his mouth because she knew he'd have a smart comment to make. But he couldn't hold it in.

He laughed out loud, "Cassandra? A lady? Please!"

"Fitzherbert, I will destroy you" she hissed.

Varian giggled a little, before cringing and hissing "ow" he mumbled.

"What's wrong now?" Cassandra asked.

"It hurts" Varian mumbled.

"It..hurts?" She repeated slowly.

"Yeah....it's like, I dunno, burning? Like, throbbing too. And It feels like I still need to go but I know I don't" he explained.

"Uh oh" Lance said, "sounds like bladder infection."

Varian groaned, "of course! I just can't catch a break! This must be karma for everything I've done."

"Yeah, after everything that's happened to you, this is definitely the worst" Eugene scoffed, sarcasm dripping off of his every word.

"Of course it's the worst! Cassandra saw my-my—my you know!" He gestured wildly.

Rapunzel watched the scene unfold with amusement, saving him before they could tease about how flustered he was, "alright, so. What do you wanna do now?" She asked, running her fingers through his hair.

"...I dunno, kinda wish I was dead."

"Hey! Watch it!" Cassandra said seriously, raising a hand as if to smack the side of his head.

Varian shrunk in on himself, screwing his eyes shut and flinching away, "sorry, sorry.."

She faltered for a moment before finally setting her hand down on the boy's head affectionately and patting him, "no, no..that was insensitive of me. But you also shouldn't make jokes like that either."

"Oh. Oh, okay, yeah sorry..." Varian mumbled, "but it wasn't a jok—" he saw the death glares and shrunk in in himself, "I—I mean it was a joke. A bad joke."

"It's like you're asking to be put on a suicide watch" Cassandra said, "is this a cry for help?"

Varian shrugged, "I mean now that you mention it, if I died I wouldn't have to deal with the crushing weight of my guilt, followed by the burden i'll put on my father's shoulders once we free him, oh yeah and there's the disappointment he'll have too—and the King's wrath. You know what, life sounds less appealing now that i'm saying this out loud. I have a really long list but since you're all looking at me like that i'll shut up now" he said, his voice trailing off into a squeak at the end.

"Kid, you're digging yourself a grave" Lance pointed out.

"Why would I dig the grave myself if someone's going to dig one for me before the funeral anyway? We'll split the work 50/50, I commit the murder of myself and then they can dig the grave" Varian joked.

"You know, I'm all for dark humor, but you're too young to want to die" Eugene said.

"I mean, if that's the case then maybe I should've been too young to be expected to regulate my emotions and problems by myself and then go to prison for it" he blinked innocently.

"How do you switch up so fast?" Twenty minutes ago you were crying because you were too scared to let Cassandra know you had to go potty" Eugene said.

"Don't call it that!" Varian whined.

"Then don't threaten to kill yourself" Eugene said.

"I didn't—You know, i'm trying to be open with you guys about my feelings but you're kind of shutting me down, isn't that kind of destructiv—"

He trailed off when Cassandra suddenly walked over to the balcony, reaching into her pocket for a key.

"What are you doing?" Varian asked.

She grabbed a padlock from the closet and locked it on the Balcony's door, setting a combination on it. She did the same for the two windows in the room.  "Locking you in" she replied, "i'm not taking any chances. Even if it is all jokes, what you're saying is coming from somewhere."

"Doesn't this seem a little excessive?" Rapunzel questioned.

"Well, it's not really like I can move much anyways" Varian shrugged, "i'd make it two steps before collapsing. Also, i'd like the think that I wouldn't do something like that. I know I was kind of begging for you to let me die the other day—and I guess I used to think about it back in prison a lot..." he trailed off. "And even...I guess...tried a few times but I always just woke up with a knot on my head. Note to self: don't bang your skull against metal walls. But now I have hope that i'll be able to free my dad, and make amends with you guys, and hopefully the king and all of Corona...I hurt a lot of people.."

"Varian every time you try to say something reassuring, you end up making us more concerned" Rapunzel frowned, "Varian, please know how much we care about you..as far as i'm concerned, we're friends. I know there's..a lot to do, and say, but you're strangely like..a brother to me. I know it's weird, but I just can't stop thinking about everything that's lead us up to now, and I just want to protect you."

Varian sucked his bottom lip between his buck teeth and nodded. He didn't trust his voice right that second.

Rapunzel opened her arms, offering a hug with a smile, and Varian nodded, allowing her to wrap him up in a comforting embrace.

He smiled. Everything would be okay.