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"Why is it so freaking cold," Hugo complains, rubbing his arms in an attempt to warm up.
"Maybe if you had swallowed your pride you could be wearing a warm coat right now. But no. You said you can handle a little cold. You said you'd be fine," Varian retorts as he rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, but I didn't think it would be this cold. Water literally freezes in midair!" To prove his point he gathers a bunch of saliva from his mouth and spits it into the snowy void. True to his word, it does indeed freeze midair.
"That is disgusting Hugo," Varian exclaims in horror. "Why would you do that? Oh, wait I know! It's because you're Hugo! And if you're so cold then you can go inside.
"Come with me, Stripes. You're so fluffy." The thief snuggles against Varian's fur-lined cloak. "So warm."
Varian snorts. "Sorry but not happing. I have to keep Prometheus on track, isn't that right buddy?"
Prometheus brays in agreement, turning to look at the bickering pair.
"Nuru can do that. I want to be warm with you. We can cuddle and you can read me more of those Flynn Rider stories," Hugo whines.
"I already said no!"
"I know you want to. Your cheeks are redder than Yong's favorite explosives," Hugo says, now going for a more charming approach.
"That is not the reason. They are red because it's cold out here."
"Ha! You admitted that it's cold. Now you have to come inside with me," Hugo cries triumphantly.
"Wha- ugh fine. NURU!"
The star-obsessed princess pops her head out the window over the driver's seat, forcing Hugo to remove himself from Varian's person. Her fluffy black hair is wilder than normal, most likely the victim of the giant hood she's wearing.
"What do you need alchemy boy?" She grins and pushes her hood off her eyes.
"We are not making that a thing! Whatever. Can you and Yong get out here and take a turn driving? Somebody wants my undivided attention." Varian shoots an annoyed glance at Hugo, who just smirks.
"Guilty as charged."
"Yep, but it's so cold out here. My kingdom never got this far below freezing. Well, we actually never got below freezing." She pulls herself back into the caravan and closes the door with a small click.
"I am not just doing this because you want me to, I have my own reasons," Varian claims.
"Sure you do. Like I bet you want to-"
Whatever Hugo was about to say is interrupted by Nuru and Yong coming out of the Caravan, at which point they also immediately start complaining.
"Why is it so gosh darn cold? I can't light anything on fire when it's this freezing," Yong laments.
"Maybe that's for the best," Varian remarks as he jumps off the driving bench. "Be careful it's slippery," he tries to warn his companion.
Hugo clambers down and almost as soon as his feet hit the ground they fly out from under him. He falls flat on his face with a fleshy squelching sound.
"Ooo that sounded painful," Nuru winces.
"Ah shit, are you ok Hue?" Varian kneels down to check on the thief.
"Ow I don't know," Hugo moans, rolling onto his back, which prompts a few gasps. "What? Why is my face wet and cold?" He sticks his tongue out, catching a stream of the liquid flowing down his face. "Mmm blood."
"We should get you inside." Varian slings Hugo's arm around his shoulders and hauls him up. The pair stumble towards the door, which Nuru mercifully left open.
As soon as they get inside, Hugo breaks away from Varian and collapses in the chair that rests at the desk. A trail of blood droplets is left in his wake, but he doesn't seem to notice.
"Ugh. My face fewls wike it's on fir," Hugo complains, though most of the words are muffled from the fact that he's pinching his nostrils closed.
"What are you doing?" Varian demands, storming over to him. "You can't tilt your head back and you're holding your nose closed wrong. you just squeeze the soft fleshy part, not the entire thing! And are you trying to still breathe through your nose? The same nose that is pinched close." He corrects the thief, a bit forcefully if you ask Hugo, but why would anyone ask the person who the bloody nose belongs to?
"You've done this before?" Hugo inquires as Varian is poking and prodding him.
"Mhm. I would get a lot of bloody noses when I was younger, a hazard of being in close proximity to explosive chemicals I suppose. And I have, well they're not exactly cousins I guess. Siblings? Nieces? It doesn't really matter. Anyway, I have two younger girls who I help to babysit sometimes and they're a bit accident-prone."
"Cool," Hugo remarks in a voice that does not suggest he thinks it's cool. "So what's your diagnosis Doc?"
Varian huffs in annoyance. "Your nose doesn't seem broken, so that's good. And you're not bleeding from the back of your nose so-"
"I can bleed from different parts of my nose?" Hugo interrupts.
"Yes. As I was saying, I think you'll live. Just keep holding it closed for a few more minutes."
"Bleh."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Ugh, when are we going to stop for the day?" Hugo hangs over the side of his bunk and stares at Varian.
"I don't know ok?" Varian snaps, slamming his book closed. "This is the tenth time you've asked."
"Well, I just want to know- Woah!"
Hugo's reply is cut off by the caravan coming to a sudden stop, causing him to fly off his bed and onto the floor a few meters below.
"Well, there's your answer." Varian stands over Hugo, who's laying on the floor groaning. "Let's go see what's happening." He grabs Hugo's hand, hauls him up, and drags him outside, despite the former thief's very verbal protests.
The wind howls and sprays snow around them. Not dramatically or anything, just cold and annoying.
"Why do I have to be out here? Why can't you see why we stopped?" Hugo yanks his hand out of Varian's.
"I am seeing what's happening and you are seeing it with me. Besides, what if it's a snowy-tailed ferret or an arctic hellbender? Those were thought to be extinct until a few years ago. It would be amazing to see one in its natural habitat." Varian's eyes light up at the prospect of seeing something most people can only dream about.
"That would be pretty cool," Hugo admits as they round the side of the caravan and come into view of Nuru and Yong.
"Oh hey, guys. We found something super exciting," Yong exclaims.
Nuru rolls her eyes. "It's not that exciting. We just found a cave that doesn't seem to be occupied by anything, so we might be able to start a fire and take a break."
"That's cool I guess," Hugo says casually, stretching his arms above his head.
"I know you're excited about this you salamander head," Varian hisses in Hugo's ear. He turns to address the rest of the group. "Who wants to help me scout out the cave?"
His question is met with an uncomfortable silence as the group exchanges awkward glances.
"I will Bluebird." Hugo throws an arm around Varian's shoulder and squeezes him into his side.
"Thank you, Blondie. I appreciate that you're putting yourself out there."
"Nah, he just wants to get me alone." Hugo winks at Nuru and Yong and blows a kiss to Varian.
"That is very inappropriate," Varian scolds, scrubbing at his face in an unsuccessful attempt to make his vibrant blushing go away.
"Whatever you say cutie."
"Ugh, you stupid dumbass. Just follow me."He grabs two vials of a murky and hands one to Hugo. He shakes his, causing the chemicals in it to combine and produce a luminous glow.
Hugo repeats the action and the two enter the cave.
The ceiling stretches high above them, just barely illuminated by their glowing vials. the walls however are quite close together, perhaps eight feet if Hugo was to guess. The floor of the cave is smooth and bare, the snowstorm from outside has not made it inside.
"It seems fine," Hugo remarks as they reach the back of the cave, only about ten yards from the entrance.
"Yep."
The pair begin to return to their friends when and loud scream pierces the air. Hugo and Varian glance at each other, only one thought in their heads. Get to Nuru and Yong.
They sprint out of the cave. Hugo's foot catches in a snowdrift but he scrambles up again and keeps running.
"Wha- What happened?" Varian pants, skidding to a stop.
"Are you in trouble?" Hugo asks, glancing around for any possible threats.
"Huh? No, we're fine. The fog just cleared. Isn't it beautiful?" Nuru gestures at the cliff edge which true to her word are now clearly visible along with about five miles of open air and mountains.
"Wow, that is kinda amazing," Hugo marvels, stepping closer to the edge of the cliff.
"Mhm," Varian agrees.
What happens next no one is quite sure of. What everyone agrees on is that Hugo takes another step forward, resulting in a cracking noise emitting from under his feet.
Hugo glances down at the cracks spreading from his boots to the treeline behind him. "Ah shit," He mutters just before he falls into empty air.
The cliff-face falls away and Hugo falls with it. A resounding roar begins as more snow and ice slide down the slope. Hugo has triggered an avalanche.
Varian reaches out desperately to grab hold of the thief, knowing that it's pointless. He has already been swept away.
"What are you doing?" Varian cries, spinning to face Nuru and Yong who are staring open-mouthed in horror. "We need to help him."
He rushes inside, franticly rummaging through the cabinets, throwings things to the side until he finds the thing he needs. Varian skids outside, nearly falling into a wall of snow, but he recovers before he gets a face of snow.
He throws a length of rope around a tree and ties a simple knot he uses when he helps his dad to haul baskets, a pully knot. He ties the other end around his waist.
"Don't let me die!"
"Huh?" Nuru barely has time to grab the rope before Varian throws himself off the cliff. She grabs the slack before it can slip away.
Varian hits the snow, well at this point it's more ice than snow, and slides down the slope, wildly trying to get a grip. Broken tree stumps rush past him, broken off by the avalanche. Varian's fingers slide off the ice until they find a hole in the ice. He comes to such a sudden stop that it feels like his arm is about to be ripped out of its socket.
From his position, he can see the avalanche stopped about a hundred feet down, but there is no sign of Hugo from up here, only the broken aftereffects of the avalanche. He lets go of his hold and slides down maybe thirty more feet before he runs out of rope.
On one hand, if he cuts the rope, he has no thought-out plan to get back to his friends. On the other hand, Hugo needs him. He pulls a small hunting knife Hugo had bought him from his jacket and slices the rope.
He skids the rest of the way before he hits the avalanche, now a giant mass of tightly packed snow. Getting to his feet he clambers on top of the icy mound and begins searching for any sign of Hugo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hugo barely has time to curse before the cliff that isn't a cliff but is actually frozen snow crumbling beneath his feet and taking him with it.
He slams painfully onto the ground as all the air is knocked out of his lungs. He doesn't get a chance to take a breath as the snow cracks and dislodges around him and he's swept down the slop at neck-breaking speeds.
It envelopes him, crawling into his mouth and stinging his eyes. His body is lifted up and thrown around as the snow pushes him deeper. Hugo tries to move, but the avalanche is too strong. He can hardly think. Everything is so bright and white and cold.
The wave of snow pounds through a grove of pine trees, snapping them from their roots and trunks.
Hugo has the fortune of colliding with one of these jagged stumps. His arm catches on a particularly sharp piece sticking up and it catches on his arm, tearing into his skin and Hugo swears he can feel it scrape his bones before the avalanche sweeps him away again.
The storm of rocks and debris continues to sweep Hugo across the mountain. He can barely keep track of where the sky is compared to the ground. He feels dizzy and confused, unable to breathe. He has never felt such fear in his life, not when he was a child on the streets and Donella's goons kidnapped him, nor when the orphanage he lived in burned down. His stomach flips and his heart races against his ribs.
Just when Hugo starts to hope that this might be over soon, the avalanche carries him over a small cliff, nothing large, but full of rocks at the bottom.
By some miracle, Hugo manages to not snap his spine on impact, though that victory is slightly dampened by an uncomfortable sensation in his leg. Not painful, just weird. But of course, he can't check to see what it is, since he is currently in the middle of an avalanche.
He gets maybe a quarter minute to rest before the icy snow mass picks him up again, and seems to take joy in smashing him against every single boulder sticking out of the ground.
The scariest thing is that he can't feel any of it. Hugo feels the immense pressure of being slammed against the rocks but not the pain that should result from it.
The best explanation is that he's just hyped up on adrenaline. Hugo has read books about humans' reactions to extreme situations. The body releases a large amount of adrenaline, causing the person experiencing the situation to not feel pain and feel excited or nervous. But Hugo doesn't feel excited or nervous, he just feels normal, maybe a bit detached from the world, but that's normal when you could crack your skull open of snowy debris at any second right?
Something tugs at the back of Hugo's brain, something important, something he's forgetting but he dismisses it. How important can it be if he forgot about it? Besides, he should be aware of his surroundings.
Hugo looks downslope just in time to smack into an unearthed boulder headfirst.
------------------
When Hugo slips back into conciseness the first thing he realizes is how still everything is. He's not being violently swept around anymore. Well that's good, isn't it?
The second thing he notices is how claustrophobic it is. Heavy tight-packed snow presses down on his body, but the snow isn't pristine white. It's dark pink, nearly red.
Hugo tries to lift his arms to push the snow away but they don't move.
Hugo's chest aches. How much air is down here? Oh, gods, he could easily suffocate down here and no one would find him until it was too late, couldn't he?
'No, we don't think like that,' Hugo chides himself. Someone will find him. His friends wouldn't abandon him.
'But wouldn't they?' A small voice in the back of Hugo's brain whispers, the voice he's been pushing down ever since he joined Varian and Co. 'Why should they care about you? This is the chance they've been waiting for, now they can ditch him. Will anyone miss him?
No. This thought train is unproductive. And besides, his friends care about him. Varian cares about him. Right? Right.
'Ha, they only like you because they don't know how much of a faker you are. Your life is fake. Face it, You're just a petty thief who got lucky. You should be dead. We both know what they do to thieves.'
'No. I'm not a thief anymore...'
Hugo's mental comeback to himself is interrupted by tremors that shake and dislodge the red snow around him, causing it to fall. Some lands on his face and he licks it experimentally. Yuck, it tastes like really cold watered-down water with a hint of copper.
Wait, the tremors mean someone, or thing, is wandering around above him. This could be his only chance at being rescued so he has to make it count.
Hugo takes a deep breath. He lifts his hands, using whatever strength he still has, and thankfully one of his arms moves. As soon as he glances down at it he regrets it immensely.
The skin of his right forearm is nothing more than a flap, revealing bone and muscle when it flaps over itself. Hugo swallows hot bile as he stares at his heavily damaged arm. If he doesn't get out soon...
'No. We are going to get out of this alive, no matter what it takes.'
Hugo begins punching at the icy ceiling above him, not caring when blood drips across his face and into his eyes. His knuckles begin to ache faintly, a welcome sign that he's not completely numb anymore. He beats his hand against the packed snow above him until his muscles give out.
He lays there, gasping for breath. Maybe the snow is too thick for anyone to find him. Maybe the tremors are from a hungry predator. He's going to run out of safe air soon.
Just as he's about to give up his last shred of hope, a hissing noise comes from above him and water drips down his body. actually water, not tiny chunks of ice.
Soon, sunlight glimmers through a small hole melted in the snow.
"Hugo? Are you down there? Are you alright?" A voice, Varian's voice calls down to him.
He tries to respond with a dignified "Yes Stripes, I am down here and I need some help like yesterday" but it comes out more as a "Yehrgg."
"Ok, just hold on. I'll get you out of there."
After a moment, the small hole above him widens, dumping a large load of snow over Hugo, leaving him sputtering.
"Ack! sorry." Varian brushes the snow off Hugo's face, his hand lingering over Hugo's temple. "How did you get this?"
"Get what?" Hugo asks, blinking groggily at the sudden bright light.
"You have a giant cut on the side of your head. Ok, well not giant, but it's a few inches at least." Varian holds his hand up, showing that it's covered in blood.
"Oh cool. Can we fix that?"
"Not here. I need to get you back to the caravan. let's clear the rest of the snow off. Do you think you can climb back up there?
"Yeah, my legs feel fine. Well not that I can feel my legs, I can't really feel anything at this time, but they're probably ok," Hugo rambles as Varin uncovers the rest of his body.
"You can't feel anything?" Varian asks, tendrils of agitation creeping into his voice.
"Yeah, well I can feel a little bit, but it's basically nothing. Is there something wrong?" Hugo inquires.
Varian grimaces and slides his arm behind Hugo's back, helping him sit up.
"Ugh my head," He complains before his eyes focus and see the problem at hand.
"Is- Is that my leg? No that's- It's all wrong!"
"I'm afraid so. It's a miracle that you didn't bleed out, between that and your arm..." Varian trails off.
They both stare at the leg, which is a disgusting bloody mess. Bone is indistinguishable from anything else, with the amount of watery gore flowing from it.
"So we just need to get back up the mountain and you can fix it, right?" Hugo looks hopefully at the alchemist.
"So no. I might be able to stitch up your arm and head, but I know I'm not qualified to set your leg. The best I can do is immobilize it until we can find someone who is qualified." Varian turns away, searching for debris that he might be able to use.
It takes Hugo's brain a moment to process this. He lies there, in the cold snow, slowly bleeding out while his friend, Yes, it's best if they just stay friends, even if that's not what his heart thinks is best, could leave him to die and he would be powerless to do anything.
"Ok, so there's a qualified professional at our next stop. Where is that anyway?"
Varian returns with an armload of broken sticks and branches he collected from the avalanche. He kneels at Hugo's side, testing different lengths and sizes against his leg. At the former thief's question, he smiles in a weird not sad but not exactly happy way. He's normally good at reading people, you learn quickly when you live on the streets, but Varian's a blank slate.
"Home. We're going home"
"Which is? Stop being all dramatic and just answer my question."
Varian scowls and punches Hugo in his shoulder "Just be patient. Also, why does your arm feel unsolid and floppy?"
"Eh, how should I know? Might be dislocated I suppose." Hugo glances down at it, but it's difficult to see anything through his shirt sleeve.
Varian finishes tying a rope he produced from gods know where around two roughly even-sized branches, finishing the makeshift splint.
"Ok, we need to get back now. I don't know if you have any spinal or neck injuries but if we don't move soon, something big and hungry is going to smell all the blood and come looking for an easy meal, soon I'm going to risk it." He pulls his cloak off and wraps it around Hugo's shoulders. He then ties Hugo to his back with the remaining rope that Hugo still doesn't know the origin of.
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah, I guess. I think the pain-blocking stuff is wearing off so this should be fun." Varian can't see Hugo but he can hear the pain in the blond boy's voice.
"Let's just get moving. The sooner we get up this cliff, the sooner I can fix you up."
Varian removes a small vial of scarlet liquid from his belt and pours a bit on the snow. It melts as the liquid toches it, making a perfect handhold.
Varian hauls himself up, dripping a bit more liquid to make a new handhold. It continues like this for a while, pour, step, climb, pour, step, climb.
Hugo wishes he could have the mercy of sleep, but the growing pain across his body decides otherwise. His head feels like somebody tried to crack it open with a hammer and his injured leg swings freely, sending hot bolts of pain through his body whenever it moves, which is every time Varian climbs higher.
"You doing ok back there?" Varian asks after a particularly bumpy stretch of mountain that hadn't been too pleasant for Hugo if an audible groan was anything to go by.
"Ye-yeah. I'm- I'll be fine. Let's just get to the top, k?" Hugo responds, his voice shaking with pain.
"We should be able to go faster soon. The rope I came down on is maybe fifteen feet above us." Varian climbs a few more feet, dripping more solution on the ice but nothing comes out.
Varian presses his body against the snow so he can check the vial. Sure enough, nothing remains. He silently curses himself. Why did he only bring one vial? There's more in his workstation, which is unhelpfully back at the caravan.
Glancing up, he glimpses the frayed end of the rope, a few arms lengths away. Jumping for it would be suicide, but they're aren't many other options.
Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Varian climbs onto his last handhold, his fingers scrambling for something to hold onto.
"Goggles, what are you doing?" Hugo asks uncertainly, gripping his shoulder tightly.
"I'm getting us out of here. Now let go of my arm so I can accomplish that."
Hugo reluctantly removes his hand, wincing at the trail of blood he left on Varian's neck.
Varian stretches his arm out but the ropes' ends barely brush his fingertips. He sighs and shuffles his feet, making sure they won't get caught.
Then, without warning he jumps, prompting a surprised yelp from Hugo. His fingers reach the rope and close around it, causing him to slam into the icy snow.
His cheek scrapes painfully against the ice and he hisses, grabbing the rope and wrapping it around his fist. Varian braces his feet against the mountain, slowly climbing up, hand over hand, foot over foot.
Hugo's arms are tightly wrapped around Varian's chest, his nails digging into his flesh.
"Hey, we're almost to the top," Varian reassures. A lie, but the injured man doesn't need to know that.
Hugo nods and takes a deep breath. He trusts Varian. They'll be at the top soon and then everything will be fine.
As they go higher, Varian's arms start to hurt. He ignores it at first, but the closer they get to the top, the worse it gets until it feels like tiny red-hot needles are being stuck into his muscles.
'Just a bit farther'.
Varian spots the handhold he used when he was coming down and stops on it for a quick break. He shakes out each arm, careful to keep the other on the rope.
Once the burning sensation subsides to a dull ache he starts climbing again
"You still alive back there?" Varian questions as he notes a familiar rock that looks like a frog.
"Uhhh," Hugo groans weakly, his body limp against Varian's back.
A jolt of panic flashes through Varian and he picks up the pace. Hugo is getting worse.
"Please hang in there," he murmurs, climbing higher.
Soon, but not soon enough, they reach the cliff face and Varian collapses onto his hands and knees, still clutching the rope as if his life depends on it, which he supposes it kinda does.
He starts tearing the rope that binds Hugo to him, his fingers struggling with the knots that are great at stopping Hugo from plummeting back to the bottom, but not so great at freeing him once they were safe.
Finally, Varian undoes the last knot and carefully lowers Hugo to the ground.
His eyes are unfocused, making Varian wonder how aware he even is. His arm is bleeding with renewed vigor, done soaking through his shirt and now dripping onto the pristine white snow. Hugo's chest rises and falls rapidly, like all the air is being sucked from around him and he needs to catch the last whisps.
Varian glances up the cliff, hoping that their companions are still waiting for them.
"NURU! YONG!" he calls up the cliff.
A scuffling noise and a small sprinkle of snow precede the astronomer princess's head peeking over the edge.
"You're alive? You're alive! How are you going to get back up here?"
A second, smaller head appears next to her. "Explosives!"
"Thanks for the suggestion Yong, but no. Can you pull us up?" Varian pulls a few arm lengths of rope up before cutting and watching it slither down.
"Sure. But only one of you at a time." Nuru disappears from the edge.
"Hugo first." Varian ties the salvaged rope around Hugo, this time making sure that the knot isn't impossible to undo.
The slack tightens and Hugo lets out a small grunt as he's hoisted into the air.
Varian's heart clenches and he reaches to steady Hugo but he's already out of reach. He watches Hugo disappear over the lip of the cliff, followed by some quiet cursing before the rope drops back down, now empty.
He grasps it and wraps it around his hand for extra security. As soon as he calls up a "Ready!" the rope begins to move, pulling him skyward
Soon, he's high enough to scramble over the cliff edge and roll onto solid land.
When he regains his wits he realizes that Nuru and Yong's faces are staring down at him.
"You're surprisingly light," Yong remarks.
"Huh, oh uh I guess." Varian feels his cheeks heating up. 'Not much of an appetite since prison. Ha, totally fine, let's stop talking about it ok?"
He scrambles to his feet, glancing around for Hugo, who he finally sees lying under a nearby pine tree, the same one the rope is tied to.
He stumbles over, checking him for any worsing in his condition, which there unfortunitly is.
Hugo's skin is cold and clammy and when Varian presses his fingers to Hugo's neck, his pulse beats violently, fast as a stampeeding horse.
"How's he doing?" Nuru asks, her hand on Varian's shoulder.
"Not good," he replies grimly. "We need to get going." He scoops Hugo over his shoulder, careful to not press against any of his injuries.
"Where?" Yong asks, trailing the rest of the group to the caravan.
"Dark kingdom." Varian pushes the door open and lays Hugo on his bunk, then he gathers the tools he'll need. Sewing kit, check. Bandages...
"Where's that? I don't see it only any of my maps." Nuru
"Probably not on there if they're older than a year." Varian huffs in annoyance as the alchemical solution he needs isn't in the drawer it should be in. "It was kinda lost for a while but my aunt and uncles are rebuilding. They should be able to help us." Clean clothes, check.
He finishes gathering everything and dumps it next to the bed. First task is to get Hugo out of these ruined clothes so he can get a proper look at any hidden injuries.
Varian fingers the buttons on Hugo's shirt, cold and hard beneath his fingers. Iron or copper he guesses, something relatively high-end from a capital city. Also most likely stolen.
He undoes them, carefully and hastily, trying to avoid hurting Hugo even further. Once he has the shirt off, he drops it to the floor and surveys the damage.
Not too bad considering what it could be. His left shoulder appears to be dislocated, which shouldn't be too difficult to fix. Varian's popped his own limbs back into place a few times after some particular violent unplanned chemical reactions. The problem lies on his other arm, specifically the bloody flap of skin that was most of Hugo's forearm a few hours ago but now doesn't resemble anything close to a proper arm. His ribs are developing some nasty bruising that hopefully does go deep than the dermis, but with their luck most definitely does.
Varian fixes the first problem relatively quickly.
After feeling around and confirming that he did indeed know where the socket was, he grabs Hugo's upper arm and wrenches it back into place with a satisfying pop.
He's just threading the needle when Nuru suddenly appears behind him.
"Found it!"
"Great," Varian grumbles, rubbing his hand. "Made me prick my finger."
"Oops, sorry. It's just that this map has an entirely new country that hasn't been seen for decades," Nuru gushes.
"Can you and Yong start navigating us out of here please, while I attempt to keep Glasses here alive? Thanks," he snaps, turning back to the task at hand.
"Wha- You can't speak to me like that. I-"
Yong grabs her free hand. "Come on, let's get out of this frozen mounting range."
He drags her out the door, saving Varian from an earful about how she's a princess and this group's only navigator so they shouldn't be rude. Then she would add a part about how everyone deserves kindness.
Varian manages to get the thread through the eye after what feels like hundreds of attempts. He pours a disinfectant into the wound, then gets to sewing.
The flap of skin is still warm and bloody by some unfortunate miracle. The needle passes through easily and the once white now red thread holds strong.
After he finishes stitching the wound closed, he wraps it in a clean bandage to help to prevent infection.
He moves on to disinfecting Hugo's leg and readjusting the splint as best he can.
"What are you doing?" Hugo slurs, staring at Varian through half-lidded eyes.
Varian's head jerks up then slowly turns to look at Hugo. "You- You're awake!"
"Ugh. Wish I wasn't. Everything hurts and can you maybe knock me out now?"
"Yeah, that would probably be for the best." Varian dumps a few black berries into a cup before mashing them and filling the cup with water from his canteen.
He helps Hugo to drink the mixture, which tastes extremely bitter with hints of smoke and dirt.
After empties the cup, Hugo falls back and stares up at the ceiling. "You care."
"Huh?"
"You actually care about me."
"What? Of course, I care about you. You nearly and still could die," Varian exclaims, his voice twinged with sympathy.
"Nuh. Y-you like me." Hugo can feel his eyelids growing heavy and he has to fight the urge to close them.
"Sure I do Blondie. But if it took you this long to notice..." Varian trails off when he notices that Hugo's eyes have drifted close and his breathing has slowed.
Varian smiles. "Idiot."