Clouded Memories - Tangled the Series

chapter 2

Varian wasn't sure how much time had passed since his visitors, as he had consistently been falling in and out of sleep, but he was sure it had been a while as Rapunzel had been gone for quite some time now, and he heard no other noises. The silence was almost deafening to him, it was lonely. Not just because he was alone in this room, because he was alone in this world. He didn't know anyone, yet they all shared memories with him that he had no recollection of. Since the princess hadn't explained to him how he ended up here, Varian decided it would help take his mind off the quiet if he decoded it himself.

First of all, he remembered his head pounding when he had first woken up, and his brain had clearly been affected in some way seeing as all his memories were lost, so this had to be some sort of head injury. His mind trailed back to the wet bed he had made note of earlier, the towel was gone now, and his bed was dry. He couldn't remember anybody removing the towel, so he must of been asleep. He must of been out for a while if the bed was completely dried off. But the current state of the bed didn't matter right now, what did matter was it had been wet. Some type of incident by a lake, or some other body of water? He couldn't think of any other explanations, so that had to be it.

The boy's thoughts were cut off as Rapunzel suddenly entered the room, her eyes lighting up as she saw him awake. "Oh, Varian! You're awake again. I was so worried" she let out a breath of relief as she ran towards him. "Worried?" Varian raised a brow, how could she be worried? He was only sleeping. The blonde princess hesitated for a moment, but nodded. "You were out for four days, there were times you woke up but.. you were completely out of it," she explained. Four days?? How could it have been four days? Varian could have sworn it was only a few hours he'd met Rapunzel, Quirin and Ruddiger! He decided not to dwell on it too much, it already happened, nothing could change that fact now. Unless he could time travel, but that was basically impossible. Varian didn't have much memories of the world, but somehow, he just knew the idea of magic was ridiculous, there was no way it was real. "Hey, Rapunzel?' Varian asked, causing her to perk up and give him a look, saying 'go for it.' "Erm, what happened to me? I mean- how did I get here and lose my memories?"

Rapunzel's eyes widened as he asked her, she said nothing for a while, but she eventually opened her mouth once more. "We're.. not very sure, but we think it was an accident. I'm not really sure what you were doing there but well, you were on a cliff near the river, and you fell in. Nigel- he's the king's advisor- happened to be in the area. He told us you hit your head on a rock and begun to drown. Luckily, me and Eugene- my boyfriend- were in the area. Nigel ran into us and told us what happened, so we rescued you." So Varian was correct in his assumption, he did have a water related incident. But who was this Nigel? Varian found it very odd how the man bumped into Rapunzel, and this Eugene guy but didn't rescue him himself.

Varian didn't voice his concerns out loud. She looked like she had enough going on anyways, she was royalty after all. He was sure the life of a princess was busy and stressful. He had many questions on his mind right now about his accident, but he thought it would be best if he only asked simple questions for now, or none at all. He decided for now he'd go with the latter, any inquiries would be saved for later. "I do have some good news though" Rapuznel spoke up, noticing Varian's silence. "The nurses said once you wake up, they'd need to do a few check ups and keep an eye on you for a day or two, but afterwards you'll be allowed to leave. Oh!" a spark of realization shone in her eyes. "I should alert the nurses that you're up so they can start on the evaluations right away!" The princess ran out of the room, leaving Varian alone with just his thoughts once again.

Without the princess distracting him, he could suddenly feel all the pain from his wounds. He winced and clenched his teeth and balled his hands into a fist at the sudden burst of soreness, but just as quickly as it had come, it was gone. He could faintly feel the wound on his head stinging and some aching from his bruises, but otherwise the agony had gone away, much to his relief. He let out a shaky sigh and squeezed his eyes, bracing for another rush of pain, which never came. Instead, two slim females he'd never seen walked into the room. "Good afternoon, sir. It appears you're awake" the taller one spoke up. "It's nice to see you actually awake! We've only met you while you were out" the shorter one chuckled in a teasing manner, only to be greeted by an angered glare from the other.

These were the nurses Rapunzel told him about. "We're just here to run a few tests recommended by the medic, then we'll get out of your hair. Normally, we wouldn't let a patient with amnesia out of our care for quite some time, but we're under royal order to discharge you as soon as possible." the tall nurse explained dryly. Varian forced a smile and forced out a chuckle, "riight, erm- thanks for that.." he could tell this nurse would rather be anywhere than in this room right now. They seemed almost uncomfortable just being in the room with him. It made Varian feel uncomfortable too, but he brushed it off as them just having a long hard day with other patients, and being exhausted.

The tests had gone smoothly, Varian cooperated with each of them, despite some of them causing him pain or uncomfortability. A couple more nights had passed, Rapunzel had stopped by a few times, but not as often. Finally, the nurses walked into his room, and told him he would finally be leaving. "Keep the bandages on for another week or two, and stay off your feet. Her highness is waiting for you outside." The tall nurse finished off, a slight hint of impatience in her tone.

"Riiight, erm.. Thanks for everything.." Varian forced a smile, before exiting the building. He looked around the town, all of the surroundings were unfamiliar, yet at the same time, he felt like he'd known this place his whole life. "Hey, Varian!' Rapunzel called, waving at him. Beside her stood a male, not that muscular, but he still looked like he could stand up for himself. His hair was a dark brown colour, and so was his goatee. Before Varian had the chance to even open his mouth to ask, Rapunzel seemed to read his mind and answered the question for him. "This is my boyfriend, Eugene Fitzherbet, but you liked to call him Flynn, as in Flynn Rider," she chuckled, recalling Varian's behaviour when the two had met for the first time. He had been so enthusiastic meeting Eugene, thinking he was the actual Flynn Rider from his stories. Varian wouldn't even give him a chance to explain he wasn't really Flynn Rider!

"Oh." Varian said dryly, causing Rapunzel's smile to drop fast. That's right, Varian didn't even remember his favourite book series! Suddenly, an idea sparked in Rapunzel's head. She had read stories of people with amnesia regaining their memories by experiencing things that they had cared about and loved. It was like a puzzle, each piece being a memory, and once the puzzle was completed, they remembered everything. "Do you like books? Of course you do! How about I read you one?" she suggested. Rapunzel turned to Eugene, who just looked at her confused, and said "I think I know how to get our Varian back!"