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Varian groaned as his eyes finally opened. The pounding in his head made him want to shut his eyes again, but he didn’t. He instead looked over his situation. It was dark, he could hardly see a thing, though he was able to make out the outline of the room, it was a square-esk room, and there was some circle or hole on the wall, but that was all he was able to make out. He tried to move, only to realize his own position. He was sitting upright, a tight binding, presumably rope, wrapped around his arms and torso, as well as his legs. He was tied to a chair.
He tried to scoot the chair, only to feel more weight behind him than he thought. He paused and attempted to turn to look, but wasn’t able to turn enough. “Hello?” He called out, “is anybody there?” He heard whatever was behind him stirr, no, it snored? He moved his restrained arms and managed to hit whoever it was in the back. They yelped, waking up.
“W-What the-” Ah, it’s Hugo. The blonde looked around and as he did he hit Varian with his now undone ponytail. “Hello? Where the hell am—”
“Great question,” Varian interrupted, making the blonde almost jump in his restraints, “what happened? I don’t remember anything after dinner yesterday?”
“I don’t know- I thought we all just went to our tents like normal.” Hugo attempted to shrug in the rope, failing. “Did you do something?”
Varian threw his head back just to hit Hugo’s. “I didn’t do anything! You’re always the one that screws everything up!”
Hugo scoffed. “You just hit me in the head for no damn reason! And you screw up more than I do!” Before long a silence fell upon the two. Hugo began trying to struggle and get himself out. Hugo even cut up his hands on the rope in the attempt.
“You’re just gonna make it tighter on you.” Varian stated, looking around the room as his eyes began to adjust more. “Nuru and Yong will probably be trying to find us soon, they’d be in here with us if they were caught too.”
“They wouldn’t only take us, Nuru has more value to anybody then we do.” Hugo retorted.
Varian rolled his eyes. “We’ve both pissed off a lot of people, though.” He cringed at the very thought of his past actions, it almost felt like a different person.
“You could hardly piss off a fly, Goggles.” Hugo chuckled, continuing to struggle against his bindings. “I’ve pissed off people a lot more than you have. I still have a bounty on my head in your little kingdom!”
Varian chose not to comment; Hugo didn’t need to know his life’s story. He just continued to observe his surroundings. With his eyes more adjusted to the lighting, he could see things a bit better. It was a dark colored room, maybe concrete, there wasn’t a door, instead there was a hatch on the ceiling. The floor looked filthy, and when he tapped his shoe, he heard a tiny splash. Judging by the high pitched sound, less than half an inch of water.
“What kind of gross cellar are we in anyway?” Hugo grumbled, tapping his foot into the water as well. “I think there’s moss in a corner over there, this place is disgusting- and I’ve seen some pretty bad places before!”
“I feel blind trying to look in the corners here.” He paused, tilting his head back before throwing it down to knock his goggles over his eyes. “There we are- oh my- oh yeah that's disgusting.”
“Told ya.” Hugo said, his smirk almost audible. “Anyway stripes, I’d love to just chit-chat and wait for Little-Miss-Perfect and Firecracker to get here, but that’s boring- how are we going to get out of this thing and up into that hatch?”
“Well, I don’t quite know how we can get out of these ropes yet, but I think I can get up to pull that hatch open if you can hold me up to it.”
“So the plan is to just get out however and then get the other out? Lame, alright.”
Varian rolled his eyes, “Pretty much.” The two were quickly taken out of their original thoughts, the familiar sound of pipes screaming filling their ears.
A synchronized ‘oh no’ was mumbled between them as the sound of water pouring came from in front of and behind them. Varian turned to look, watching the water hit the floor. “Oh my god. They’re gonna drown us!?” His eyes widened, as he did what he told Hugo not to, struggle against the ropes.
“The water’s going slow, you don’t need to freak out.” Hugo looked around before tilting his head, letting his glasses fall to the floor. He crushed them with one foot. “If we don’t get out soon, the glass should, in theory, make its way over to one of our hands in the water.”
Varian just blinked, stunned that he really just broke his glasses for a plan that may not even work. “Okay.” What else could he even say to that? Varian just attempted to reach his belt behind his back- maybe he could use the buckle to latch onto and rip the rope?
He tried that, but the buckle wouldn’t go past the first belt loop. He sighed, looking again at the water below them. It just kept going up; it was to their ankles now, and he felt his heart drop at the sight.
“Hugo-”
“I know, I feel the water.”
“How the hell are you staying so calm right now? We’re going to drown soon if we don’t get out! And that’s one of the worst ways to die!” Varian shuddered at the thought.
“Eh, I’m practically a wanted man by the grim reaper, I’ve almost died plenty o’ times.” Hugo paused, “I’ve seen a lot of things…Death isn’t so scary once you get surrounded by it. Well, not in the same way, people die pretty quickly if whoever’s after them, or even they themselves, are diligent.”
Varian fell silent for a moment. “Hugo- what- what are you talking about? You’re starting to worry me here.” Varian anxiously chuckled. “How about we just focus on getting out, It’s knee deep now, that’s, um, that’s not good.”
Hugo didn’t respond, only making the ravenette worry more. “Hugo?” After, yet again, another period of silence, Varian just continued to struggle. He’d figure out what was going on in the blonde’s head once they weren’t in imminent danger.
Varian pulled and twisted every way he could, he almost lost circulation to a few fingers after trying to twist it enough to free his hand. He hissed at the pain. The water only continued to rise, now it was at Varian’s stomach, which only made his stomach churn with anxiety. He questioned whether or not he’d be able to get himself out of this. He opened his mouth to speak, before quickly shutting it. He sighed.
“Hugo, if we don’t-” his voice hitched, “don’t make it out of this, I just want to say that I- I’m sorry for being a dickhead sometimes.” He shivered as the water rose higher. “I’m not any better than you. I might even be worse.” Flashbacks ran through his head, of him betraying the only people who loved him. His eyes filled with tears, only making the goggles he wore uncomfortable as they fell.
“I know.” Those words made Varian’s heart jump. “I know about what you’ve done, I’ve been told everything.” Hugo just took a deep breath before sighing. “I don’t know why you did it, but I…I know you and I think you had a reason. Goggles, you might be a bitch, but I know you aren’t a heartless bitch.”
Varian couldn’t help but smile, despite the situation at hand. “I think that’s the nicest thing that you’ve ever said to me. Thanks, Blondie.”
Hugo chuckled, shivering as the water hit the bottom of his neck. “Don’t press your luck. I’ll kick your teeth in if you call me that if we get out of this.”
Varian lifted his head up as far as he could, the water up to his upper neck now. His hands were opened and relaxed at this point, having given up by now. He questioned where he’d end up, but he didn’t have much time to as he felt something hit his hand. Instinctively he grabbed it, only to be cut by it. Instead of dropping it he held it tightly, taking a deep breath and putting his head under the water. It had to be the glass! He used his goggles to help him see in the murky water and quickly cut himself free, going back up for another breath of air. He looked over. Hugo was almost completely submerged, his nose and mouth both were, though.
Varian went back under, cutting him free. He didn’t know if he was conscious or not, he hoped so. He grabbed him and swam up, trying to keep him above water as it became clear that the blonde had lost consciousness. Varian pulled down the hatch’s door, practically throwing Hugo up into it. He soon joined the blonde, initially slapping the side of his face.
“Hugo! Hugo- damn it-” He pulled off his goggles, throwing them to the side. He sat on his knees above him, he was tearing up again but he shoved that down for now. He didn’t have time to cry. He tilted Hugo’s head back, pinched his nose, and breathed into his mouth. He paused for a few seconds, and with no reaction he put a second breath in. Afterwards he moved up and put the heel of his left hand in the center of his chest. He started compressions, counting up thirty of them as he did.
He then repeated the earlier process of two breaths. As he went to continue compressions, Hugo began coughing. Varian quickly pulled him upright. Hugo fell back over onto his arms and knees, puking up an abhorrent mix of vomit and water from both his mouth and nose. He coughed as he set himself back up. “G-God-” He coughed yet again. “The hell happened?”
Varian didn’t even answer him, instead he just threw himself onto him and hugged him tightly. Hugo blinked, awkwardly sitting there before patting his back. “Uhh…there there? Seriously though, what happened? Weren’t we dying like five minutes ago?”
Varian let go of the hug, wiping off his own tears, sniffling. “Yeah- we were- but the glass- the glass from your glasses! I was able to cut us both loose!” He smiled brightly at the taller boy.
Hugo couldn’t help but chuckle, he ruffled the boy’s hair. “Ya see, I’m pretty damn smart!” Varian just nodded as he stood up, holding down a hand to help Hugo stand up as well.
“Are you ready to get out of here and kick the asses of whoever put us here?” Varian pointed his head towards a wooden door at the end of the hallway.
Hugo smirked and nodded “Hell yeah, I’m gonna make sure they wish they were never born.” The two began walking towards the door, neither of them realizing the fact that they were still holding hands, or the fact that Varian had left his goggles on the ground.