Destined Couple

Mission

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Varian asked as he got ready for bed.

"Well, I don't know if your father would approve, but you said you wanted a fair fight. Why not give him a bit of help?" Adira shrugged as she put his dirty clothes to the side to be washed by a maid later. "Besides, if Earrings is up to no good, I can stop him better than Fish Skin can and make sure your rival suitor isn't hurt."

Varian nodded. "Okay. I trust you to be able to handle it, then. I look forward to hearing how it went." He climbed into bed and under the covers.

She smiled and walked over to tuck him in. "You know I can." Shegently stroked his hair.

"Adira?" He looked up at her. "Uhm...dad's not here, so..."

She hesitated, then kissed his forehead. "There. Now, go to sleep." She got up and went to the door. "I'll be back soon."

He nodded, closing his eyes. "Be safe."

She smiled and slipped out, closing the door behind her.

She made her way back to where they'd talked before and found the two of them waiting for her. "Alright." She grinned. "Let's go retrieve some stolen treasure."

"Kid's asleep?" Eugene asked.

"Great." Lance said, but he looked a bit nervous now.

"Before we go, though?" Adira said sweetly, then moved behind Lance before he could blink, taking a bag out of his hands from where he'd been hiding it behind back. "The first step to starting a life after crime is to not do more crime. Come on!" She put the stolen items on a shelf and grabbed his shirt, yanking him along with Eugene following.

--

The longer they were traveling through the woods, the more nervously excited Lance seemed. Adira wondered if she was the cause, like he thought she'd figure something out about him. He was looking like Varian when he was trying to sneak past after bedtime to go to his lab, and that usually meant trouble was coming.

"Right...through here." He stopped at a building in a glade and pushed a barricade out of the way before opening the door. "Come on." He led the way through.

Adira looked at Eugene. "...You realize that he's lying to you?"

Eugene sighed. "I can't let my buddy get hurt."

She smiled. "Good. That's what I wanted to hear. Let's go on."

"What you wanted to hear?" Eugene asked.

"The past few times I've seen you, you've been either arguing with someone or trying to prove you're a changed man. But I've been observing you, and I know you're a good, kind person that is willing to climb towers and go into tunnels to help the people you care for, even though you know it might be risky." She smiled at him knowingly. "Varian showing up sent your whole world for a loop and you were losing yourself. We've been trying to help you find that part of you that Princess Rapunzel fell for."

Eugene blinked again, looking at her in awe. "...Oh. I...I didn't even think about...is that why he was doing all the encouragement before? Because he could see I was losing myself in the...the jealousy?" He looked forward. "All my life, I've thought that all I wanted was a stable home, a family. Then I met Rapunzel and thought that she was my whole world and nothing else mattered and life wasn't worth living without her by my side. Hell, I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for her. But..." He looked at his hands. "Rapunzel asked me if we would still be friends if she chose Varian. And I was so...so focused on my...jealousy, my own feelings...oh god, that's what he's been saying this whole time! I've been so focused on my own happiness that I lost the part of me, the selfless part, that Rapunzel fell for!" He looked at her. "What am I thinking?! Of course we'll still be friends if she chooses him, because I care for her either way!" He looked ahead. "Just like I care for Lance."