Twisted Destiny

Restoration

There was a lot to be done. The next morning, Rapunzel and Eugene rode out to Old Corona to get Varian, where they found him and his father sitting at the table with an old helmet between them, the emblem of the Brotherhood on it. "Heeey, sorry to interrupt." Rapunzel said awkwardly, guessing that they just intruded on a family discussion. "The door was unlocked. Uhm, we can wait, if you want."

"No, we're...we're done." Varian said, looking a bit shaken. "Wow..."

"You gonna be okay?" Eugene asked.

"I'll...uhm...adjust. It's a lot to take in. I didn't even know my father could fight; much less be part of some...warrior cult." Varian looked at his father, who laughed a bit.

"Yeah, well, imagine finding out you're the son of the leader of that warrior cult." Eugene walked over to him. "Apparently, I'm a prince!"

Varian chuckled. "Seriously? A prince?"

"Yeah. And my dad is a little bit nuts." He looked at Quirin. "Don't blame you for taking off and leaving him."

"The whole Kingdom was 'a little bit nuts'." Quirin nodded.

"Right, well, we have some stuff that we need Varian's help with, so if we could take him with us that would be great?" Rapunzel said, walking over to place her hand on Varian's shoulder.

Varian sighed and got up. "Yep, I gotta undo my mistakes. See you later, dad."

Quirin took his hand in his, and Rapunzel noticed that he had gotten a new pair of gloves to cover his hands with. "Take care of yourself, son. I'll get started on assessing the damage here and seeing what needs to be done to repair everything."

Varian nodded, then looked at Rapunzel. "You still haven't told me what happened to Cassandra."

Rapunzel chuckled a bit nervously. "Uhhhh, one stressful thing at a time, please. First things first, we need to shut down the mines, fix my parents' memories, and...get you some new clothes, those don't fit anymore. What happened to your other ones?"

"You mean my Saporian clothes?" Varian raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, okay, we'll get you some new clothes." Rapunzel nodded. "THEN we can take care of my parents and shut down the mines."

"Lots to do today, hope you had breakfast!" Eugene grinned.

"Breakfast? Hah, I haven't even slept." Varian admitted.

"...We're gonna grab you a muffin or five. And then, when we're done, you're taking a nap. A long nap. All night." Eugene pulled Varian to the door.

"See you later, Quirin!" Rapunzel said as she followed them out, Ruddiger running by her to hop into Varian's arms as he sat on Maximus with Eugene. Rapunzel walked over and climbed onto Fidella. "Right...off we go!"

--

Varian didn't see getting new clothes as a priority, but Rapunzel wouldn't let him take no for an answer and soon he was in fancy clothes that definitely were more than he could afford, with a matching belt and backpack for his alchemy, new gloves, new boots and an apron that tied around his waist over the fancy shirt, vest and pants combo that felt much too stuffy for his liking. Against the tailor's suggestion, he not only unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt but removed them completely to let his neck breathe. The tailor grumbled and sealed up the button-holes, shooting him a dirty look as he worked.

"There." Rapunzel smiled. "Much better!"

Varian looked at the fancy accessories and shrugged. "If you say so, Princess." He adjusted his new goggles, then looked at his old ones thoughtfully before putting them in his bag.