Tangled: The Series AU (Part 2)

"NO!" Varian woke up with a start. He shook his head as the scene came into focus, and spotted his pet racoon Ruddiger on the foot of his bed, staring at him. Something about the way Ruddiger looked at him made Varian uncomfortable, as if his own pet could see through his soul. 

Varian crawled over to Rudigger and reached out to pet his head, but Rudigger hissed and ran away out the open door. 

That's weird,  Varian thought. Ruddiger usually doesn't run away like that. 

Varian stood up, expecting the blood to rush to his head, but nothing happened. Even his heart wasn't pounding from that nightmare. This was too strange. Something had to be up. Varian started to walk towards the door to confront his father, but his legs felt weak and he stumbled to the floor, just as Quirin entered the room. 

"Varian!" Quirin rushed to greet his son and gave him a tight embrace. Tears started to flow from Quirin's eyes, and that only made Varian even more confused. 

"Dad," Varian started, "what's going on? Why am I feeling so... weird? And... are you crying?"

Quirin wiped his eyes. "No, I'm not crying," he told Varian. "I'm fine. Are you okay?"

Varian shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "I just feel so... awkward, you know?"

Quirin raised an eyebrow, and a hint of worry hit his face. "Awkward?" he repeated.

Varian nodded. "Yeah. Like, I had this really weird nightmare last night. I dreamed that there was this huge fire in my lab, and everything burnt down to the ground, and... I died. But when I woke up, I didn't feel any sweat on my face or feel my heart pounding like a normal person would feel after a nightmare. It's just kinda strange."

Quirin looked like he wanted to run. But he stood still, and shuffled his feet. "Varian..." he began. "I-"

"Something happened, didn't it?" Varian asked. "The look on your face explains everything, dad. Just tell me. I can take it. Does it have to do with the way Rudigger reacted to me this morning, or...?"

Quirin hesitated. "Rudigger? What did he do?"

"Well, when I wanted to pet him like I usually do in the mornings, he hissed at me and ran away, as if I was an enemy or something."

Quirin looked down and gave Rudigger a look, and the racoon who was at Quirin's feet hesitated and backed away. "Nothing happened," he told Varian. You don't have to worry. I'll make sure that nothing ever happens again."

Quirin reached for another embrace, but as Varian hugged him back, he couldn't help but doubt his father. Something had happened, but he just wasn't telling him. If Varian wanted to find out, then he would have to find out on his own.