Chapter Text
Hugo sat in the corner of The Snuggly Duckling, up on top of the makeshift bed they had fashioned. Varian sat in front of him, leaning back against his chest with Hugo’s arms wrapped around his waist, entangling them with each other. Varian was idly playing with his fingers, fidgeting with their entwined hands as they watched Rapunzel pace around the room.
She had woken up a bit ago and Eugene had filled her in on what she had missed after Cassandra had put her to sleep. She had been understandably distressed to learn her kingdom had been taken and her city overrun with black rocks, though she had been thankful to Varian for at least having been able to prevent any serious injuries.
(Unlike some people, Hugo couldn’t help but think bitterly.)
Since then, she had been pacing the floor, quietly panicking while the room watched.
Hugo had hoped that Rapunzel waking would be the start of something changing, of coming up with a plan to beat Cassandra and take back the kingdom. That’s what Rapunzel was good at after all, coming up with some insane, stupid plan that somehow manages to work out in the end.
But instead, she seemed quite content to do nothing but fret, spiraling deeper and deeper.
Eugene must notice the judgement on Hugo’s face as he glares at him, “Give her time. This is a lot for her to take in.” He reminds, just as he has been for the last hour.
“It’s a lot for all of us.” Hugo snaps back. They’ve just been sitting here, doing nothing but feeling the stares of the townspeople weighing on their backs, and his patience is wearing thin, “But right now, we need our princess at the top of her game.”
Arianna sighs, casting Rapunzel a worried look, “...I’ll go talk to her.”
She walks over to her daughter, exchanging a short conversation before pulling her out the door, gesturing for Maximus to follow them. She gives Eugene a reassuring look before they are both gone, and the pub once again falls into silence.
Varian shifts against Hugo’s chest, pressing further into him as, without the princess, the townspeople's full attention once again turns to them, wary and distrustful despite how Hugo shut them down last night.
Still, no one seems willing to say anything. Hugo would like to think it’s because he intimated them so well, but he knows it likely has more to do with the hulking form of Auto-Mason hovering next to them.
Quirin had arrived with him shortly after Eugene had come back, following the trail of people bringing emergency supplies from the house. They had missed the actual battle, which Hugo was incredibly grateful for, and didn’t really know what was going on.
Auto-Mason had freaked out when he’d seen Varian, covered in scars and still so weak, rushing over to him and scoping him up to fuss, whirring and beeping in panic. Hugo had giggled, quick to assure Auto-Mason that Varian was fine and just needed some rest, definitely not laughing at the image of his boyfriend being cradled by their robot son, hair all messed up and looking completely unprepared for this to have happened.
Auto-Mason had eventually released him, after more encouragement from Hugo, but had refused to leave his side, constantly checking to make sure that Varian was still okay.
Quirin had panicked in a similar way, but calmed down once he saw that Varian actually was alright, only to freak out again when he was told about the Mind Trap stone. Since then, he’d been sitting quietly at one of the tables, Edmund next to him trying to calm him down.
Hugo wouldn’t consider Edmund a very calming presence, but it seemed to be working for Quirin, Edmund managing to pull himself into some semblance of saneness in order to focus on the other man, one of his oldest and only friends.
His knight. The boy he had watched grow up more than even his own son.
Eugene looks around the room, the people tense and fearful, a simmering energy underneath the surface. He was the captain of the guard, these were the people he was supposed to protect, and he was doing a shitty job of it.
But he couldn’t just sit by and do nothing either.
“Alright, people!” He calls out, standing up and clapping his hands to get the room's attention, “Rapunzel and Arianna are currently figuring out a plan for us, but that doesn’t mean we should just sit idle. So come on, what are some ideas of things we can do to help?”
The crowd murmurs quietly, shooting each other sideways glances as they wait for someone else to be the first to speak up.
“I mean… me and Hugo still have a lot of bombs over at the house? We could probably teach some people how to use them so we have some better artillery defenses?” Varian calls out and Eugene beams at him.
“Ooh! Me first!” Lance shoots his hand up into the air eagerly.
Hugo smirks back, “Absolutely not.”
“Still, that’s a great idea!” Eugene distracts from the brewing argument as Lance pouts, “Anyone else want to do that?”
“How do we know you’re not just trying to get us somewhere to blow us all up?!” A shrill voice shrieks out, “Maybe that’s your master plan!”
The crowd titters, any hands that had been raised hesitantly lowering again.
Auto-Mason rumbles, creaking in a vaguely threatening way and the people nearest flinch back. He can read the temperature in the room rising, the people's sweating increasing, and understands that means the crowd is upset. It’s distressing to him, especially with his people currently so vulnerable.
“This shit again?!” Keira shouts out, ignoring Lance’s half-scolding, “Lanugage!” She glares at the crowd, disgusted and angry in the way only a pre-teen girl could be, “Varian and Hugo have done more for this kingdom then all of you combined. If they wanted you dead, you’d be dead. Not like any of you useless fucks could stop them.” She spits, Catalina nodding furiously beside her.
“Why I never!” The woman nearest her gasps, and Lance gives her an apologetic look as he drags his girls away.
“What?” Keira demands at Lance's look, “They can’t talk about Varian and Hugo like that!”
“I know.” Lance murmurs back, “But you also can’t yell at everybody like that.”
Keira huffed. Varian and Hugo were her friends, hers, and that meant that anyone who wanted to mess with them had to go through her first.
Eugene desperately tried to calm the crowd down again, “Come on guys, we can’t fight with each other right now-”
“Eugene is right.” Frederick stands up, raising his hands and then lowering them again, and the crowd goes quiet. He might not be considered quite their ‘king’ anymore, he hasn’t done enough ruling for that, but he is still respected, “We have to work together. Things may look bad right now, but we have to do something.”
“Oh, so now you want to do something.” Quirin’s voice is bitter as he raises his head to glare at Frederick, “My siblings have been brainwashed and now you want to do something.”
Frederick flinches back, “Quirin… you know I never meant for anything of this to happen-”
Quirin laughs humorously, “Of course you didn’t. My siblings are gone, my home has been ransacked to help your people, the same people who can’t even muster up a simple thank you to my son who is injured from saving them and you never ‘meant’ for any of it to happen!”
A long silence follows his words as Quirin sits back down, breathing heavily and resting his head in his hands. Varian slips away from Hugo’s side, walking over to comfort his father. Hugo purses his lips, watching them with worry. He wants to go over as well, but holds himself in place.
This is a moment for Varian and Quirin. The ones whose actual family is in danger.
Eugene watches the interaction as well, worry churning in his gut. It worsens, though for an entirely different reason as he catches sight of a familiar symbol on Quirin’s hand.
It’s so easy to forget sometimes that Quirin was a member of the brotherhood as well, but moments like those, where the power of a knight almost seems to radiate from him, it suddenly feels impossible to imagine that he’s anything but.
“Quirin…” Frederick opens his mouth to try and talk to him again only to be shut up by a harsh look from Edmund.
“I think it would be best if you just stayed quiet.” The other king tells him coldly, a hand resting on Quirin’s shoulder. Fredericks mouth snaps back shut as he sits back down as well.
“Hey! You can’t talk to him like that!” Someone shouts from the crowd, glaring at Edmund.
The man next to them shoves them, one of the ones that Hugo recognizes who used to live in Old Corona, “So it’s alright that he was talking to Quirin like that then?”
“So you’ll defend Quirin but not Varian!?” Keira demands, marching over to the arguing two angrily. The crowd dissolves into chaos, fighting with each other in loud tones, emotions rising.
Hugo sidles up next to Eugene, hands in his pockets, “Well, Captain. Shouldn’t you do something about that?”
Eugene groans, tilting his head back and running a stressed hand through his hair, “How do you expect me to stop this? I don’t know what I’m doing.” It’s more emotion then Hugo was expecting from him, genuine stress marring the face he takes so much pride in.
Hugo’s face softens, “I don’t think anyone knows what they’re doing.”
Eugene looks over at him, surprised by the serious tone and Hugo is quick to amend himself, “I mean, anyone in a leadership position. Obviously, I always know what’s going on because I’m perfect.”
Eugene snorts, relaxing slightly, “Obviously.” He sighs, “They’re all arguing and scared and I don’t even have the first idea on how to help, let alone a plan against Cassandra.” He laughs, a little self-deprecatingly, “I should have never been made Captain of the Guard.”
“Hey,” Hugo nudges him, “Don’t think like that. Everyone’s alive, aren’t they? That’s pretty damn good captain of the guarding.”
“Only because of Varian. I couldn’t do anything against Cassandra.” Eugene protests.
“Then you’ll work to make sure that doesn't happen again.” Hugo points out with a roll of his eyes. He knows Eugene, knows that no matter what he will fight with all he has to make sure he will be more helpful next time.
“Come on,” Hugo reaches out and punches him in the chest, “You’re Flynn fucking Rider. If anyone can whip these dumbasses back into order, it’s you.”
Eugene blinks at him, touched, before smiling, “Thanks, Hugo.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Hugo waves him off, looking away, “I actually came over just to warn you that if you keep scowling like that you’re gonna get wrinkles.”
Eugene gasps, “Don’t even joke about that!”
By the time Rapunzel comes back, The Snuggly Duckling has been almost completely transformed, people gathered together around tables, grouped by their skill level and helpfulness in the coming fight, coming up with plans and things they can do in the battle that is almost certainly coming.
Varian and Hugo sit with Keira and Catalina, teaching them how to use their alchemy bombs while fending off Lance's attempts to get his hands on one. On the other side of the room, Feldspar and Old Lady Crowley are building a makeshift battering ram out of chairs while Quirin and Edmund discuss the layout of the castle, Quirin already looking a lot better simply from doing something to help his siblings as they use Auto-Mason’s ability to project a hologram to examine the castle, Frederic trying to join in their conversation and getting shut down every time.
Eugene walks between the groups, offering advice and keeping them all in order, every inch the captain of the guard that he is.
“The troops await your orders, Sunshine.” Eugene greets as she walks in, walking over to take her hand with a cheeky grin. He whistles sharply and the chatter shuts off, everyone turning to face Rapunzel attentively.
The princess stares around with awe, amazed and proud to see everyone working together like this, face breaking out into a wide smile. Eugene gives her hand a squeeze before shoving her out to address the room, Rapunzel clambering up on top of a table to get a better vantage point.
“Okay.” She begins, determination shining in her face as the crowd stares back, ready for instruction, “I’m not going to sugarcoat this, this is the biggest challenge this kingdom has ever faced.”
“No offense, Varian.” Lance laughs, nudging him.
Varian grins back at him, “There’s still time.”
Lance pales, only to relax as Varian giggles, “Maybe that joke will be funnier when you’re not welding the power of an ancient destruction god.” He mutters.
“It’s not going to be easy,” Rapunzel continues, “But I have faith in us. As long as we work together, nothing can keep down our Corona spirit! Now let’s go take back our home!” The crowd cheers, standing from their seats and parading out the pub, their energy and determination infectious.
Rapunzel watches them with a smile. She could not be prouder of her people, of her friends.
Even after everything, they refuse to give up.
Hugo hangs back, watching the townspeople stream out of the building holding their makeshift weapons with a bemused and slightly exasperated expression, “Amazing how everyone can be so riled up, and yet no actual plan was made.”
Varian snorts, leaning into his side as Hugo immediately raises an arm to wrap around him, pressing a kiss into the shorter boy’s hair, “What did you expect? They’re Coronian.”
“You’re Coronian, too.” Hugo reminds, raising an eyebrow. Varian turns in his hold so he could lean up and press a kiss to his lips.
“We’re Coronian.” He corrects, raising a hand to cup Hugo’s cheek.
Hugo leans into it, lifting his eyes to watch the enthusiastic parade of people going on outside through a window, “Yeah.” He sighs, resigned, “We’re Coronian.”
He supposes it's not a terrible thing to be, despite everything.
“I’m impressed, Eugene.” Rapunzel comments, standing beside her boyfriend in the doorway as they watch their people, “True captain of the guard, aren’t you? Getting the people organized like that.”
“I just did what I thought you would do.” Eugene admits, raising Rapunzel’s hand to his mouth so he could kiss it before his smile falls, “Do you really think we stand a chance? I mean, Cass has the Moonstone, the brotherhood, not to mention Zhan Tiri. I don’t think any of us are up to fighting an ancient demon lord.”
There’s silence for a moment, as both their gazes drift over to watch Varian and Hugo, wrapped up in each other’s arms, the scars from channeling the Moonstone still spiderwebbing across Varian’s skin.
He probably could, Rapunzel’s expression seems to say, and Eugene can’t help but think the same thing.
But they won’t. He promised himself that no matter what, that burden would never fall to those two, to those kids.
For even after everything, they were still just kids.
“We’ll figure something out.” Rapunzel assures him, and Eugene can’t help but smile back. Of course they will. They always do.
A moment later, Varian appears at Rapunzel’s shoulder, “So, what’s the plan? The actual one, not that ‘if we work together we can achieve anything’ bullshit.”
Rapunzel hesitates, “Actually, about that…”
“There isn’t a plan, is there?” Hugo asks bluntly and Rapunzel winces, looking guilty.
Her expression shifts to confusion as Hugo begins to laugh, “Don’t worry, we were expecting that none of you dumbass motherfuckers would actually be smart enough to figure something out. Which is why we came up with a plan for you.”
“Hugo, that’s great!” Rapunzel gushes, ignoring everything about that comment aside from the end, eyes sparkling. Eugene crosses his arms over his chest.
“So what is it?”
Varian only looks at him expectantly and Eugene sighs. “Wow. You truly are the best and smartest among us. What would we do without you?” He deadpans, “Now, what’s the plan?”
Varian grins, “While we were researching the scroll, I found out that Demanitus banished Zhan Tiri to some kind of netherworld. The machine he used to do it was dismantled centuries ago, but…”
“You think you could rebuild it.” Rapunzel finishes for him. The boys nod back at her.
“The problem is, Demanitus took his only blueprints to his tomb. We could probably make do without them, but it would take a lot longer.” Hugo explains.
Eugene rolls his eyes, “Let me guess, the tomb is thousands of years old, and no one knows where it is.”
Rapunzel rubs the back of her neck sheepishly, “Well, I wouldn’t say no one knows…”
Hugo cranes his neck back to look up at the towering cliff face in front of them, suddenly feeling very tired. They had already hiked up the whole mountain, and it didn’t feel like they were any closer to the top.
“Almost there you guys!” Rapunzel calls back encouragingly, “And by almost, I mean, not really at all.”
Auto-Mason beeps happily, reaching down to pull Eugene out of a snowbank he had fallen into and places the grumpy man back onto his feet. He had never been up into the mountains before, and Hugo had found it absolutely adorable when he held out his hands the catch the snowflakes when it first started to snow lightly, wonder clear in the gentle light pulsing from his eyes.
He, at least, was greatly enjoying this hike.
“Come on you old timers!” Keira shouted, already clambering up the cliff face with her sister hot on her heels, “Last one up is a Saporian slug!”
“She’s talking about you, Eugene.” Hugo informs the man, elbowing him in the side and laughing as he’s shoved in retaliation.
“Princess, how did you even know Demanitus' tomb was up here?” Lance asks, standing next to Rapunzel.
“I was wondering that as well, actually.” Varian pipes up from beside him.
“Well, as the acting queen, I got to learn a lot of Corona’s secrets.” Rapunzel explains.
Hugo gapes at her, “Woah, woah, woah. I must have heard that wrong. Because that makes it sound like you’ve known where Demanitus’s tomb was for a while now and never told us.” He laughs, “But, you’d never do that, right?”
Rapunzel quickly averts her gaze, looking guilty.
Hugo gasps as dramatically and betrayed as he can, “How could you!? The scientific discoveries you’ve been denying us this whole time! Auto-Mason could have a sibling by now! Or like, an update with lasers, if not for you! Look at how you’re breaking his heart!” He flings his arm out to gesture to his son.
For his credit, Auto-Mason immediately droops, looking as pitiful and sad as he can, just like Hugo had taught him for maximum guilt-tripping. Rapunzel makes a wounded sound and Hugo knows it’s working.
“For shame.” Varian shakes his head disappointedly, “What a terrible aunt you are.”
Rapunzel suddenly freezes, whipping around to face him with wide eyes, “Aunt? I’m… Auto-Mason’s aunt?”
Varian blinks at her, suddenly unsure, “I mean, unless you don’t want to be? We just thought, I mean, who else would it be?”
Rapunzel’s eyes sparkle, “I’d be honored!” She grabs Auto-Mason and begins to drag him up the cliff face with her, “Oh, we’re going to bond so much!”
Auto-Mason flounders for a moment, beeping with panic as this exuberant person tugs him along, looking to Hugo for support. Hugo only laughs, pushing him slightly to encourage him to follow.
Eugene grabs Varian before he can move to follow them up as well, “Can we… talk for a second?”
Varian turns to him, Hugo pausing as well to see what he wants.
Eugene hesitates for a moment, “Err, don’t take this the wrong way, but… you know how your dad is part of the Brotherhood?”
Varian nods, eyes narrowing. He has a feeling he knows where this is going, and he doesn’t like it.
“Well, with the Mind Trap stone and everything, how can we be sure…?” Eugene trails off, unable to finish his thought under the heat of Varian’s glare.
“What are you implying?” Varian demands, and Eugene stumbles back as he takes a step forward, “Listen Eugene, my father is just fine.”
Eugene nods frantically, holding his hands up in surrender. Varian’s eyes are glowing slightly, and he can’t help the fear gripping his spine.
He should have never started this conversation.
“Hey,” Suddenly Varian is being pulled back, once again giving Eugene space to breathe as Hugo grabs onto him, “Maybe you should hear him out here.”
Varian turns to glare at him as well but Hugo doesn’t waver, meeting his stare cooly.
The idea that Quirin could get brainwashed by the mind trap stone is not a new one, the idea of the danger he could pose if they allowed him to help something Hugo had brought up last night.
They had… differing opinions on how the matter should be handled, and in the end the argument had gone nowhere.
“So, what? We should just leave him behind? Tell him that he is too much of a risk and can’t help rescue Adira and Hector?” Varian demands, shaking his head, “He’ll never agree to that.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. We can’t risk the entire kingdom on the chance that Quirin having left his life as a knight behind being enough to make him immune!”
Eugene’s eyes flit between the two of them as they argue. He’s never seen them disagree on something like this, they always seem so… in sync.
And yet now, they’re fighting.
He really shouldn’t have brought this up.
“Well then you can be the one to tell him that! Tell him that he’s a danger because of his past, that he can be trusted because of something he can’t control! Hasn’t he been through enough?!”
Hugo’s jaw clenches, but he refuses to back down, “He will feel worse if he ends up hurting someone because of the mind trap. Don’t let your emotions blind you on this.”
Varian stares at him for a long moment, a silent battle of wills. Eugene feels very out of place. Finally Varian clicks his tongue, spinning on his heel and beginning to climb up the cliff, “We’ll talk about this later.”
Hugo sighs deeply, shoulders slumping as he watches him go. “Sooo…” Eugene drawls awkwardly.
Hugo shoots him a pointed glare, “Look. You worry about the kingdom, and we’ll worry about Quirin. Don’t go poking around in things you're not involved in.” Eugene gulps, but nods, and finally they begin to ascend the cliff as well.
Eventually, the group makes their way inside of Demanitus’s tomb, a large cavern carved out of the mountain, warm and overgrown inside like a jungle.
They split up, searching through the room for Demanitus’s plans, avoiding the monkeys filling the space.
Lance and Varian end up near the machine Demanitus used to switch his body with a monkey’s, and apparently Hugo did not teach Lance his lesson about not touching machinery he didn’t understand, and he ended up switching Varian’s body with that of a monkey.
Hugo was, naturally, pissed, and had promptly switched Lance with a monkey to see how he liked it.
“Hey!” Lance shrieked, hopping around rather comedically, “What was that for?”
“You turned my boyfriend into a monkey!” Hugo shouted back, Varian the monkey grinning down at Lance smugly for his safe perch atop Auto-Mason, his son utterly confused by the events around him but happy to help nonetheless.
“Ooh! Me next!” Catalina giggled, stepping eagerly in front of the laser and Hugo shrugged, taking aim. The point of a machine like this was to be used after all.
It’s what Demanitus would have wanted.
“Can you put me inside of Lance’s body?” Keira asked and Hugo beamed down at her, reaching down to ruffle her hair proudly.
“Genius ideas like that, Keira, is how I know you’re going places.”
“Absolutely not!” Lance complained trying to tug Hugo away from the machine, “Keira, young lady, you leave my body alone!” Sadly for Lance, as a monkey he was rather weak, and quickly brushed off by Hugo.
The entertainment of watching his friends be turned into monkeys quickly turned to panic as the monkey in Varian’s body figured out the Moonstone and began growing black rocks throughout the space.
It was a lot less funny to watch Varian's body do monkey things, when those monkey things were sending laser sharp rocks shooting up towards your feet.
After much chaos and wrestling and general nonsense, everyone managed to get switched back into their proper bodies and Rapunzel was able to grab the book containing Demanitus’s blueprints.
“Well…” Hugo drawled, lying flat on his back and significantly winded, “At least we can all agree that we were very lucky Maximus wasn’t the one switched into Varian’s body, because then the world would have been taken over within the day.”
Maximus snorted, agreement clear in the toss of his head.
Eugene groaned, marching over to the monkey laser machine and breaking off the part containing the button, “I think we should all agree that we should never talk about this again.”
Eventually, Rapunzel pulled herself back to her feet, walking over to Varian and plopping the book down in front of him, “Well, Varian, is this something we can build?”
Hugo peered over his shoulder at the blueprints sketched out on the page, “Please. You’re speaking to the best engineer in the seven kingdoms.”
Varian nudges him, rolling his eyes before turning back to the princess, “What he means is, yeah, building it would be a snap. It’s where we have to set it up that gets a little… um, tricky.”
“What do you mean?” Eugene asks, looking down at the page. To him, it just looks like scribbles, shapes and lines smashed together at random.
“Well, it needs to be close enough to Zhan Tiri to suck her back in,” Hugo explains, “and because she’s with Cass in the castle-”
“-We’re going to need to storm the castle.” Varian finished.
“And… there! Just pull that lever, and we’ve got ourselves a trans-dimensional portal.” Varian declares, securing the last bolt on the portal.
“Oh, you weren’t kidding. That was fast!” Eugene exclaims, leaning over his shoulder to see what he’s doing.
Hugo laughs, tossing his hammer up in the air and then catching it again, “Told you. We’re the best you could ask for.”
Varian smiles at his boyfriend's bragging, shifting his attention back to Eugene, “Now we’ve got to make sure everyone just stays clear of the portal, or else, you know, they’ll end up in Limbo, right along with Zhan Tiri.”
“Which might be kinda cool,” Hugo interjects, elbow propped up to lean against Varian’s shoulder, “I heard Limbo’s nice this time of year.”
“You know, I think your inability to take this seriously might be adding to people’s distrust of us.” Varian points out dryly.
Hugo only winks back, “Perhaps, but it’s part of my charm.”
They’re interrupted by a sudden shout, Quirin lunging forward towards the lever to turn the portal on, eyes glowing blue.
“Quirin!” Hugo shouts, rushing forward to try and pull the giant man back. Varian doesn’t move, frozen in place.
His father looks so unnatural like this, face twisted in fury and rage. Despite everything, Quirin is a gentle man, and Varian has never seen him look like that.
It's like a hole has opened up in his stomach, the realization, slow and sudden all at once, that he really is alone now. All of his family has been taken by the Mind Trap.
Before Quirin can make contact with the machine, electricity arcs around him and he falls to the ground, unconscious.
“Quirin?” Hugo hesitates, kneeling beside him and reaching down to check for his pulse. His heart stops as he notices a familiar glint of wire, coming loose from the inside of Quirin’s helmet. His head raises, looking at Varian with a horrified expression.
Varian gives him a sad smile back, “You were right.” His eyes are shiny, and his face is awash with guilt, “It… was too much of a risk to do nothing.”
“What did you do?” Hugo murmurs, standing up to drift closer to him.
“I… thought about what you said so… I took precautions. I rigged his helmet with a temporary stun mechanism. He’ll be fine, but he’ll be out for a while.”
“Oh, Varian.” Hugo's voice is barely more than a breath, tender and terribly sad for what his boyfriend had to do, arms wrapping around Varian and hugging him close like he is the most precious treasure in the world, “I’m so sorry.”
“About what? I was the one who chose to do it.” Varian barely processes the fact that he is speaking, his words hollow and lacking even to himself.
“But you should have never had to do it alone.” Hugo should have been there, should have noticed sooner, should have done it himself just to spare Varian from having to hurt his own father like this.
That is his job, his purpose. To support Varian.
He should have noticed.
Varian’s eyes remain stuck on Quirin’s form. He feels vaguely emotionless, empty in a way he hasn’t since that first terrible week after the amber.
A monster, the people had called him, a demon.
He must be, really, to have tricked his father in this way, to have chosen the kingdom over him.
Once, he had sworn he never would.
Turns out he was a liar as well.
Feldspar’s head felt foggy.
It had started shortly after Rapunzel had left to find Cassandra, after the room had been shaken by that mysterious force. His thoughts feel slow and heavy, like they were made of molasses.
It’s unusual for him, and yet, for some reason he couldn’t find it in himself to mind, any worries instantly soothed away by some mysterious force.
It was strangely nice, pleasant, to just drift in his own mind, his body moving almost on its own. He wanted to stay there forever.
And then, he saw Quirin fall, his body lurching unnaturally with the force of the electricity, and panic shot through him, so sudden and jarring it felt almost foreign.
A thought came to the forefront of his mind, all-consuming and inescapable, leaving no room for anything else.
They can’t be trusted.
If they were willing to do that to Quirin, to their own father, what would they do to the rest of them?
Feldspar's eyes raised, heart pounding as he watched Varian and Hugo, and in his mind's eye their faces twisted, becoming demonic and cruel. He shifted his gaze behind him, latching onto the machine, the portal they had built, the lever that operated it.
The next thought came faster, unbidden and desperate.
A weapon. A weapon, a weapon, a weapon.
They were planning to attack them all.
He had to stop them.
A plan sprung into place inside his head, a path, a course of action, the logical conclusion, like all the truths of the universe had been arranged just for him.
He instantly felt calmer, certainty settling over him like a blanket and leaving no room for anything else, a balm over his foggy mind. He felt powerful, like nothing in the world could stop him.
(There was a foreign presence in his head and it was so soothing.)
Yes. This was his destiny.
Feldspar stepped forward towards the lever.