Work Text:
For as long as Varian can remember, everyone around him described the aftermath of finding their soulmate the same way. Like the world didn't make sense until they met them and they didn't even realize, or how they never could have imagined how beautiful every color appeared when they were with them. Most of the lovey dovey stories were from Eugene and Rapunzel, but even his father, as serious as he seemed at times said that he'll be forever grateful that he got the chance to find his soulmate, even if it didn't last forever.
Varian's never been big on hopeless romances or anything of that sort. Sure, he'd been on a handful of dates in the past, but none of them meant anything, and he was perfectly fine with that. He didn't need to know what was so magical about finding that person that's supposed to have the same building blocks of their being as him. Frankly, he doesn't even believe there's someone out there like that for him. Not in a depressing way, but he's content where he is. The chances of that hypothetical person waltzing into his life are low.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
The trip across the kingdoms was supposed to be about finding knowledge, and learning more about his mother, maybe a little self discovery if all went according to plan. But of course, nothing in his life ever goes to plan. He went from trying to take back a totem from an aggravatingly annoying blond, to mildly appreciating his skill set and the way he showed such thoughtful kindness to the people he genuinely cared for, to considering him one of his his best friends.
God knows how that happened.
After all of the group's hard work, they were finally reaching the end of the journey, the last step was unlocking the Eternal Library in Corona, right back where he started. The place where he thought he would never feel the need to leave.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
He slams the lever forward with all the strength he has, despite the desperate protests being shouted at him. He turns towards the gateway, holding his arm in front of his eyes. The powerful vibration and blinding light is making it difficult to see or hear, but he vaguely processes Nuru yelling for him to go. He forces his foot to step forward. The first step towards the end.
He stumbles forward, the momentum causes him to fall onto his knees, scraping the palms of his hands when he hits the ground. He holds them to his chest as he flips over and scooches himself backward frantically. Almost immediately, the gate closes, giving no indication it was ever opened to begin with.
The weight of the situation hits him like a tidal wave. He curls into himself, clutching his hair like he's on the brink of crumbling a part. A pretty accurate description of how he's feeling right now. The action makes his hands sting.
He hears his mother quickly walking towards him before dropping onto her knees in front of him. A worried expression on her face. He explains everything that happened. The web of lies that Hugo had created over the course of ten months that he was now tangled in. Ulla pulls him into a hug.
"Why would he do this to me? I don't understand, everything was fine yesterday."
"It's hard to say why those people do anything." She huffs, rubbing circles on his back. After a few minutes sitting in silence aside from his hitching breath, Ulla gently leaves the hug, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"Varian, I think I figured out a way to leave this library, but I'm gonna need your help."
He rubs the tears from his eyes, look up to her somberly.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
Hugo slams his fists against the gateway, like he has any shot at breaking titanium. They begin to hurt from the momentum, but he can't make himself give up.
"You're not getting in, Hugo." Nuru says, voice sounding tired. She and Yong are seated against a nearby wall.
"She's right Hugo. Trust me, I know." Donella puffs in annoyance where she's tied back to back with Cyrus.
"I don't care what you think you know Don, I'm getting in there." He spits.
"Why are you doing this? Haven't you done enough harm?" Nuru hisses. "You are the last person that needs to be going in there right now." Hugo winces at the comment.
"That might not be entirely true." Donella says.
"Oh yeah, I'm definitely taking advice from you." Nuru scoffs not bothering to look at her.
"Hate me all you want, it's your friend who's in danger in there."
"What do you mean?" Yong asks hesitantly, voice quiet. It's the first time he's spoken since everything went down. Nuru looks down at him with a frown before turning her attention back to Donella.
"What are you talking about?"
"Ulla isn't well, she hasn't been for a long time, and I'm sure being trapped in that godforsaken library hasn't help at all." Donella says.
"Okay, what is your point?"
"My point is that she was desperate enough to keep that library to herself back then to throw away everything we had and lock herself in for eternity. What do you think 17 years of anguish and mourning has done to her? She's been studying magic, and that boy is a free human vessel."
"She wouldn't do that, would she?" He's her son." Nuru asks, crossing her arms anxiously as she looks back towards the gate.
"I wouldn't put it past her." She says. "You still have one totem left. One of you can enter the library. But know that if you don't succeed in getting Ulla to move on, you won't be able to leave again."
Nuru looks to Hugo, who looks just as perplexed as she feels.
"Is she telling the truth?" She asks against her better judgement.
"Honestly, I don't know." Hugo admits, switching his view from Donella to her. "But I know that I never wanted to hurt you guys. I should have told you a long time ago, I just didn't know how. Not a good enough excuse at all, I know, but you guys are like my family, I'm sorry I never said it before. I love Varian. If there's any chance that he's in danger, I need to help him. I don't wanna take the risk of you or Yong not being able to leave. Please let me be the one to do this, I owe you that much."
Nuru studies his face for a few moments before she rolls her shoulders back.
"I know what it feels like to find that person. I'm trusting you Hugo, don't mess this up." She says pointedly, tossing the last remaining totem to him. He catches it more clumsily than he normally would've, but smiles gratefully.
"Thank you." He says softly. Nuru nods in response, a ghost of a smile on her face. "Don, what do I gotta do?"
"You have to put in on the lever." She nods her head towards it. "Be careful Hugo."
"Always am." He rolls his eyes before rushing towards the lever. He places the totem over it. The gem engraved in it begins to glow. He pushes it forward, once again reopening the gateway. He spends no time hesitating before darting into the entrance for the first time.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
The library isn't like anything he could've imagined. In all honesty, he was expecting a regular looking library, but larger and slightly more magical, whatever that means. Those two descriptions do not do it justice. The shelves tower well over 15 feet into the air, some twisting around each other, almost resembling trees. The ground is earth and rubble, while the sky resembles the universe, stars glowing impossibly bright.
He quickly stops taking in the scenery, instead running forward. He tries his best to keep track of where he's been, but he doubts he'll be able to remember the exact way back. His search abruptly stops when he sees Varian faced the other way, looking at a shelf. He comes to a skidding halt a few feet away from him, somehow going unheard.
"Goggles, thank god you're okay." He huffs out a relieved breath. Varian turns to look at him, a cold expression on his face.
"Oh. It's you."
"V, I'm so sorry. I know you're pissed, you have every right to be, but we really need to get out of here."
"Hm, is that so? Pray tell, who told you that? Donella?" Varian asks. There's an unfamiliar tone to his voice. Hugo hesitates for a moment. He takes notice of the way his eyes almost seem to glow, and his hair seems to be a slightly lighter tone than before.
Probably not the lighting.
"Ulla?" He asks, even though he's pretty sure he already knows the answer.
"Wow, that was fast. Donnie was always quick witted, I'll give her that." She chuckles in amusement.
"Ulla, this isn't right, you need to let him go." Hugo says as calmly as he can manage, slowly reaching for a chemical orb in his back pocket.
"Oh and lying to him for months was?" Ulla sneers. "For your information, Varian agreed to this. You hurt him, I'm just doing my part to fix him."
"It doesn't matter if he agreed. This should've never been an option to begin with!" Hugo replies exasperatedly. "You took advantage of him being hurt and alone, does that feel okay to you?"
"I've waited 17 years to see my baby again. He's helping me leave this library and return home because he wants to." Ulla snaps, voice raising. "Get out of our way before you get hurt."
"Y'know, I don't think I will. You're not leaving this place until I get him back." He quickly pulls out the orb, chucking it at Ulla. She yelps in surprise before attempting to move. The pink goo trapping her legs to the ground is making the task slightly more difficult. She looks back to him with a glare.
"Just let him go and we can be done." Hugo says. Ulla titters.
"Adorable party trick. I've got a few up my sleeves too." She swipes her hand out, sending Hugo flying backward into another bookshelf. His head hits the wood with a loud crack before he falls onto the ground, causing his vision to go black for a few seconds. When the darkness disperses, he sees his glasses have fallen onto the ground in front of him. He picks them up and quickly shoves them back onto his face, a large scratch over one of the lenses obstructing his view. He pulls himself up by grasping onto the shelf, cringing as his dizziness becomes more noticeable.
The few semi peaceful seconds he has to compose himself are very short lived. A hand suddenly clutches his neck and hoists him into the air. He fruitlessly attempts to pry it off of him, but Ulla won't let up.
"Gog- Varian, I know you're in there, I just need to tell you how sorry I am." He grits through his teeth. He tries to suck in a breath before continuing. "What I did is unforgivable, 'm sorry I hurt you, that was the last thing I ever wanted to do. I need you to know whatever happens isn't your fault. I love you." He has to practically choke out the last sentence. His vision begins to cloud, and his eyes burn like nothing he's ever felt before. He can feel his thoughts becoming less and less coherent with every moment that passes.
Suddenly, he drops to the ground. He loudly gasps for air, his lungs burning with every inhale. He forces himself to sit up, against his bodies protests. His vision still hasn't returned completely, but he can make out Varian's figure slumped over on the ground a few feet away. He cautiously makes his way over.
"Varian?.." He asks, gently tapping his cheek. The few moments of zero movement make him want to rip his own hair out. Eventually, Varian's eyes slowly flutter open. The glow is gone.
"Hi Hugh." He says with a soft smile. Hugo practically cries in relief, pulling him into a hug. Varian wraps his arms around him.
"I'm pretty sure she's gone." Varian pulls away for a moment, taking notice of the red marks around Hugos neck. "Shit are you okay?? I'm so sorry I tried to stop her-"
"Nothing I haven't seen before, 'm perfectly fine. You do not need to be apologising right now." He chuckles halfheartedly, wiping his eyes. "Varian, I am so sorry for hurting you, and for getting you into this situation, and, everything, really. You deserve so much better, I should've told you the truth from the start. I'm sorry I ruined everything."
After a few moments, Varian speaks up.
"Did you mean what you said earlier? That you love me?"
"Of course I did." Hugo huffs out a surprised breath of air. "V, you are the most incredible person I've ever met. You're kind just for the sake of being kind, you're patient and understanding even when people probably don't deserve it. You're intelligent in so many ways. I don't think I've loved anyone as much as I love you." Varian pulls their foreheads together softly. Hugo closes his eyes.
"I love you too. I didn't know I could care about someone the way I care about you."
Hugo slowly opens his eyes. The shock of the sudden color causes him to stumble back a bit. Varian immediately opens his eyes in concern before he also has a look of surprise.
"Damn, they weren't kidding." Hugo puffs a disbelieving breath, looking around. The book shelves are a mahogany red, with books ranging in every color imaginable. The moss on the ground is a similar deep green to his clothing. He looks back to Varian, who's staring at him in what seems to be amusement.
"Holy shit you're eyes are insanely blue." Hugo says in fascination, observing them closely. Varian flushes in embarrassment.
"Thanks." He deadpans. "I always assumed your eyes were brown or something."
"They're not??" Hugo gapes sarcastically. Varian rolls his eyes, switching his attention to his hair.
"Your hair looks like gold." He says thoughtfully.
"Jeez, you have a crush on me or something?" Hugo smirks.
"Something like that." Varian snorts, leaning in for a kiss. Hugo meets him half way.
Maybe there is someone for him.