Work Text:
First Eugene thought it was just a habit.
He had only known Varian a couple of years after all, and half of that time the kid had either tried to kill them or they had been away. So when Eugene first walked to the laboratory to see the alchemist passed out in front of his desk he chuckled, covered him with a blanket and didn’t think too much of it.
But the sight grew more common, and soon Eugene started to see other signs as well. Black circles under the boy’s eyes, paleness in skin that didn’t get enough sunlight. Fingers tapping nervously against his desk when he gave Eugene his reports, giant pieces of metal in the laboratory one day and perfectly molded parts for the hot water system the next.
Varian started to skip meals and when they forced him to come he always ate quickly, like he was afraid the food was going to be taken away if he didn’t wolf it down. Pete reported that he never showed up for the breakfast offered for castle staff either. In fact, he never saw him in the mess hall.
The signs were small, but they were there, and eventually they painted a picture they couldn’t ignore.
“Varian works too hard.”
Rapunzel’s words weren’t loud but they still seemed to echo in the small kitchen. The other adults gathered around the table nodded glumly.
“I bet he’s working right now”, Eugene said, accepting the mug of tea Rapunzel offered him. “I went to check up on him earlier and there he was, elbows deep in his nerd stuff. I told him to go to bed but he probably forgot it the second I left.”
“I just wish I could tell why he does that”, Rapunzel said, a frown appearing in her usually serene face. “He knows he’s not in a hurry, right? I don’t give him deadlines.”
“You don’t, princess”, Lance said, opening his mouth for the first time during the conversation. “But maybe somebody else did.”
The kitchen fell into silence.
“Andrew”, Eugene said finally. If words could kill, they could clear one cell in the dungeons tonight.
Lance nodded. “I could bet my beard the man bun guy didn’t let the kid take his time. Now, this could all be just nonsense, but my bet is that Varian's brain has not really caught wind that the situation has changed. He might be serving you, but in his mind he’s still serving Andrew.”
“He doesn’t serve me, I put him to a work release program”, Rapunzel corrected, still frowning. “But you might be right, Lance. But how do we make him stop? I’ve told him to take it easy several times and he always nods and smiles and then he goes back to work.”
“Does he have regular working hours?”
“I tried that”, Eugene sighed. “I even forbade him from going to the lab during the night but then he just started to do research in his room.”
Lance raised his mug and watched the brown liquid intently like it could give him all the answers. Eugene and Rapunzel glanced at each other. They hadn’t even realized it, but both believed Lance could come up with some sort of solution. He was good with kids, after all.
“I think”, Lance said finally, “that it would be good for Varian to get out of the castle for a while. He’s been staying here almost all the time since he started to serve his sentence, hasn’t he?”
Eugene nodded. “He goes to Old Corona on most weekends, but otherwise he’s here.”
Speaking of Old Corona, Eugene had hoped it would offer some sort of solution. But Varian came back to the castle with even bigger eyebags than he left with. Maybe the amber had weakened Quirin’s hearing so Varian could sneak around undetected and work in his old lab at nights.
“Maybe you should take him somewhere for a couple of days”, Lance suggested. “You know, let him relax a little, give him a chance to reset his brain. In here and Old Corona he’s too trapped to the past to do that.”
Eugene thought about it. It was actually a good idea. “It’s worth a shot, I guess. But where?”
“I know”, Rapunzel said. “Eugene, you remember the letter Lorbs sent?”
The plan was soon put into action.
It was decided that both Eugene and Lance would accompany Varian to Terapi Island, which apparently suffered from flea plague. The fleas did not try to bite the Lorbs, but got attached to them which apparently itched horribly, or so one of them told Rapunzel in the letter they had somehow managed to send (the writing was so small Rapunzel needed to borrow Varian’s magnifying glass).
Quirin gave his blessing readily: he too had been worried of Varian’s disastrous working habits which confirmed Eugene that the change had happened recently and the boy had not suddenly lost his sense of time and ability to feel hunger. Quirin only demanded they keep his boy safe from Debrix, and was much relieved when he heard they were planning to use a hot air balloon and not cross the Forest of No Return by foot.
The only one who didn’t like the plan was Varian.
“You will have a great time”, Rapunzel assured him. Varian scrunched his nose.
“I have a great time here. Why do I need to go, anyway? You could just take the bug spray I made for you and-”
“No can do, Hairstripe”, Eugene said and reached his hand to take Varian’s bag. “You are essential in this trip. And besides, it will be fun. The sun will do wonders for your complexion.”
Varian sighed grumpily but let Rapunzel kiss his cheek goodbye before stepping to the basket. Eugene had already set the balloon ready for takeoff and warned Lance not to touch anything.
Rapunzel smiled and reached to kiss Eugene one last time. “Have fun. Don’t eat blood melons.”
“What’s a blood melon?” Varian asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice. Rapunzel wondered whe she had last heard that.
“You’ll see”, she smirked. “Off you go, now!”
This was a good idea, Eugene thought before they even crossed Corona's border.
Varian watched the tiny houses woods and roads with a fascinated look, like a child who had just got himself a giant birthday present. Even the smallest villages got his attention.
"You've never been outside of Corona, have you?" Eugene asked, coming to lean against the railing with the boy. Varian shook his head mutely.
"We never got to Neserdnia with Rapunzel, remember?" His eyes fixed on a mountain looming in the distance. "It's so… big. "
Eugene chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair. "That's the world, Hairstripe."
Thanks to the Varian's hot air balloon, the journey passed relatively smoothly.
They stopped only once to get some supplies from a small village where they ran to somebody Eugene had neither expected nor wanted to see.
He had just paid the baker who ran a stand in the market and turned around, when he found himself face to face with a very familiar sword.
“Fishkin”, Adira said, grinning.
Eugene scoffed, unfaced. “It’s actually Your Highness to you”, he said and shoved the bread to Varian. “I’m your prince, remember?”
Adira looked irritated but then shrugged, defeated. “Fair enough. Tell me, Prince Horace, what are you doing there?
“Still better than Fishkin!” Eugene said with a wide smile. “And we’re just passing, we’ll be leaving soon for Terapi Island. What are you doing here?”
For a second it looked like Adira wasn’t going to answer but then she shrugged. “I’m heading to the Spire. The king sent me to retrieve some of our belongings that were sent there for safekeeping when the kingdom was evacuated.”
“Well, I truly hope there won’t be another mindtrap," Eugene muttered. “Say hi from me to the old man, will you?”
“As you wish”, Adira said, rolling her eyes. “Decades of ruling, dozens of kings from the same bloodline, and all their descendant can say to his father is ‘hi’”.
“I could also tell him I quit this prince thing”, Eugene said. “Happy now? And by the way, you haven’t said hi to your nephew. Varian, have you met the crazy sword lady?”
“We met after the mess with the Zhan Tiri”, Adira said. “Hello, nephew.”
“Hi”, Varian muttered. He looked a bit wary around Adira. Eugene put his arm around the boy and drew him close, getting a relieved huff in response.
Adira was still looking at Varian and now there was something odd in her eyes. If Eugene didn’t know better he would say it was worry.
“I’ll walk you to your balloon”, she said briskly and started to walk towards the place where they had left Lance with the balloon. Eugene blinked.
“How did you know we came by balloon?”
“Do you think I’m blind, Fishkin?”
To Eugene’s relief the balloon was still where they had left it and Lance stood there, munching an apple. He smiled at Adira when he saw her but didn’t blush like a school boy. Lately he had been seeing one of his neighbors in Old Corona and maybe that had finally cured him of his crush.
“Go start the balloon, nephew”, Adira said to Varian and pushed him gently towards Lance. The boy glanced at her confusedly but obeyed.
The second the boy was out of earshot Adira started to speak.
“He’s way too thin, Fishkin. And tired, too. Those bags under his eyes must have cost a fortune!”
Eugene sighed. “That is why we are on this trip, so he could have a little break. He works himself to the bone in Corona, never knowing when to stop.” He glanced at Adira. “Any tips?”
She looked thoughtful. “Well, when me and Quirin thought Hector had trained long enough we threw him into the river-”
“Okay, you’re not helping.”
They said goodbye to Adira and continued their journey well into the night.
It was around midnight when they finally landed on the soft sand in Terapi Island. Lance had wanted to stop for the night but after the rundown with Adira Eugene decided to keep going. He did not want to meet Hector as well. The man would probably nail him to the wall for overworking his nephew.
It was a marvel how much the climate could change in such a day-long journey. It was spring in Corona but here it was eternal summer. The air was humid and warm in a way that clung to clothes. Eugene could hear some Lorbs sighing in their sleep and insects singing their songs.
“I say we sleep on the ground tonight”, he said and glanced at the huts they had built the last time they were there. They had collapsed and were now sadly leaning against each other. "Let's take turns to watch-"
Snoring interrupted his words. He turned around to see Varian and Lance curled up together, both fast asleep.
Eugene sighed and grabbed his sword, residing himself for a long night.
When the sky turned pale blue and pink, Eugene heard cautious footsteps behind him.
He did not turn around until Varian sat next to him. There was enough space for a military regiment but the boy sat close, so close Eugene took the hint and wrapped his arm around the boy's shoulders. "How did you sleep?"
Varian shrugged. "Fine, I guess." He was quiet for a while, his eyes fixed on the horizon. "Gene, why are we here?"
Eugene sighed. There was no fooling this boy, was there? "We're here so you could have a little break. Rest a little."
"I can rest at home", Varian said unhappily. Eugen glanced at him.
"Can you? Because lately you haven't, Hairstripe. Not since your trial."
Varian's trial was somewhere in Eugene's five least favorite memories list. Cass' has been easy because she willingly agreed to get exiled, but Varian's case was more complicated, so it took time, effort and horrible memories dragged to the daylight for all of them. It had helped that Quirin was there and Rapunzel had made clear which punishments were acceptable and which weren't, but it had still been a horrible day for everyone.
In the end it was decided that Varian was to serve the rest of his sentence in a work release program, one he would be released the day he turned seventeen. Quirin remained his primary guardian but he spent most of his time in the castle where Eugene looked after him and listened to any concerns he or Quirin might have.
He liked to think he had done a fairly good job, but at some point Varian's working habits had gotten out of hand. Worst of all, it looked like the boy had stopped enjoying it: every time Eugene came to his lab he looked stressed, not like he was doing what he enjoyed the most in the world.
Varian sighed and leaned against Eugene. At least this he let himself have. Eugene had lost count how many times the boy had fallen asleep against him in the lab, at the dinner table, sometimes even during breakfast.
"Andrew didn't want me to take breaks."
Eugene did his best to sound calm even though his blood started to boil. "Didn't he?"
"No." Varian shuddered even though his eyes were closed. "He….didn't like them."
Eugene had million questions flying frantically in his mind like butterflies, but decided now was neither time nor place. Ever since they had come back and Varian had turned against Saporians he had barely mentioned Andrew, but it was clear how the man had affected him: not once nor twice had Eugene found the boy curled up in a cell in the dungeons, trying to protect himself from being thrown there.
Eugene sighed. The journey to healing was going to be a long one for both of them.
The rest of the day passed relatively well. Varian was eager to explore the island and help Lance with cooking. After a rocky start, he even got along with the Lorbs.
The little leaf humanoids stared at the boy warily when Eugene introduced them, but soon accepted him. They seemed to think of him as some sort of strange flower.
After the lunch consisting of eggs brought from home and local fruits, Varian fell asleep in one of the hammocks they had hung between palm trees. Eugene grinned when he saw the boy's eyelashes flutter shut. He rescued the book hanging on his fingertips and went back to the card game he was playing with Lance.
Eugene had won three rounds when Varian started to whimper.
"Hey, Hairstripe." In three quick steps Eugene was crouching over the boy, gentle hand on his back. "Wake up. You're having a bad dream."
Varian curled up on himself, away from Eugene's touch, so he let it be. "Varian?"
"I'm sorry", the boy said, his eyes fluttering open. "I'm up, I'm sorry. I'll be good, I promise."
Eugene's heart ached. "It's okay, Var. You have done nothing wrong. You don't have to be sorry."
"I'm sorry."
"What the heck are we going to do?"
Lance sighed heavily. "I don't think there's a magical fix, Eugene. We just have to wait and let time do its course."
"Do you think strangling Andrew would make me feel better?"
Lance chuckled. "Maybe."
"It's worth a shot." Eugene let out a sigh of his own and turned to look at the starry sky.
It felt weird -wrong, even- to think that the last time they were here, Varian was suffering in that man's hands.
“Eugene?”
Eugene turned around when he heard the cautious voice call for him. “Hey, Goggles. Can’t sleep?”
Varian shook his head and sat down between them. Eugene put his hand on his back automatically, without much thought behind the gesture. “You okay?”
Varian buried his feet in the sand. “Do you think I’m broken?”
“No”, Eugene said at the same time Lance said “yes.”
Eugene glared his friend over Varian’s head but Lance’s gaze didn’t waver. “We think you might be a bit broken, kiddo. Nothing bad about that. You’re not the first, nor will you be the last who has been hurt by bad people.”
“But I deserved that”, Varian said in a small voice. Eugene wrapped his arm around his shoulders and pulled him close.
“Don’t say that”, he said quietly. “You did not deserve to be hurt, Varian. No matter what you did, you should not be hurt.”
“But Andrew said”, Varian insisted, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Andrew said that I should be hurt if I didn’t work because that’s -that’s all I’m good for!”
“Oh, Varian.” Eugene pulled the boy even closer so he could wrap his both arms around him, his chin resting on the top of his head. “That’s not all you’re good for. You’re good for so much more! You’re smart, and talented, and overall nice to be around. You are more than just a tool.”
Eugene did not say anything else. He didn’t think he needed to.
It took a while, but eventually Varian’s sobs calmed down and he stopped shaking. He turned around in Eugene's hold to bury his face into his shoulder like he was trying to disappear there.
"You believe me, right?" Eugene whispered.
He got a hesitant nod in reply and suddenly his heart was much lighter. Not everything was fixed, he knew, and the journey to healing was just about to start but they had finally taken the first step.
The next morning Eugene woke up to the sound of hammering.
He groaned and turned on his side, rubbing his eyes. It was way too early to wake up and it was definitely too early to hammer anything.
He sat up in his hammock and peered around on the beach, trying to see where the voice was coming from. It took two tries and lots of blinking to see the giant looming figure in the distance and even more to finally see what it was.
Varian was sitting on top of a giant hut, hammering final pieces together. Lorbs offered him nails and kept up endless discussion about the best way to hammer things, something they most likely had never done before.
For a second Eugene felt disappointment. It seemed like Varian had slipped straight back to his old habits after all.
Then he squinted harder and saw something in Varian's face he had not seen for a long time.
Smile. Real, happy smile.
"Eugene!" Varian called, not stopping the hammering even for a second. "Come help us!"
Eugene laughed. Then he turned to wake up Lance.
Yep. They were healing.
"Rapunzel, I want vacation days", was the first thing Varian said when they were back on Coronan soil.
She blinked at him, both confused and happy. "You have vacation days. Two days a week, three if you go visit your dad."
"But I want a vacation ", Varian insisted. "Like, at least a week."
Rapunzel put her hand on the boy's shoulder and turned to look at Lance and Eugene, a huge grin on her face. "I hope that the trip was successful?"
"You could say so, Sunshine", Eugene said and shook some sand out of his clothes. "Be careful or he will ask for a raise."
"I want a raise", Varian said immediately.
All three adults groaned, but Varian smiled and damn if that smile wasn't worth a fortune.
He did end up getting a raise though. And vacation days