Twisted Destiny

The Talk

"Thanks for helping us furnish the treehouse, guys." Rapunzel said as she helped Lance unload the cart full of boxes of things.

"Hey, anything we can do to help these girls feel more comfortable here." Andrew assured her.

Rapunzel smiled, then noticed Varian walking up to them. "Hey, Varian, you're-- Varian, why are you carrying a guitar?"

"Oh, well...I don't really have time to play it anymore, so since it's just been gathering dust in my room for...years, I figured I'd give it to them to play out here." He shifted the guitar in his arms.

"Aw, that's sweet of you." Rapunzel smiled. "But, I didn't even know you played."

"I play lots of instruments. Sing, too." Varian shrugged.

"I have never heard you sing. Remind me to drag you to the Snuggly Duckling for a nice round of singing and dancing." She grinned.

"Ah, well, will that be before the lynching?" Varian raised an eyebrow. "They don't like me, remember?"

"Oh...right." Rapunzel said, glancing away awkwardly.

"Speaking of 'doesn't like him', we should actually be going to the castle soon, Sunshine. You wanted to have them 'talk things out', remember?" Eugene said, walking past with a vase in his arms.

"Oh, was that today?" Rapunzel gasped. "Lina, Kiera, I'm sorry, I completely forgot-"

"Don't worry about it." Lance assured her. "We've got this. You three, uh, have fun with that."

"Riiiight." Varian sighed and handed his guitar to Kiera. "Do you know how to play it?"

"Uhm, no. But, I can figure it out." She assured him.

"Well, if I survive this, I'll come back and teach you." Varian assured her. She giggled.

"Good luck!" Catalina hugged him.

He smiled and rubbed her head, his gloved fingers digging into her hair a bit. She let out a contented growl in response and then blushed before shoving him back. "Just-just go!" She said, turning away.

Kiera snickered and then they went back to their work.

Varian walked over and climbed onto his horse with a sigh. "Here we go, Ruddiger." The raccoon climbed up onto his shoulders and chittered a reply.

"Are you sure you don't want Andrew with us?" Rapunzel asked as she climbed onto Fidella and Eugene onto Maximus.

"No, this is...Andrew is great, but this is about how he treated me, one of his citizens. One of the people he swore to protect when he took the crown." Varian gripped the reins. "Dad wanted to come along, but...I don't want him here for it. I think it'd be a bloodbath if he was."

"Yeah...probably." Eugene nodded and then they urged the horses into a run, heading back through the woods to the Capital.

Rapunzel wasn't going to lie, she was nervous. Two days ago, after Eugene had seen what Varian and Andrew had been trying to hide from them, she had arranged with her mother to have the two of them talk things out. Varian wasn't the only one that needed to redeem himself, and she silently wished that she had listened to him when he had said that he had been a terrible king, had been about to tell her what he'd done and she'd interrupted him and focused on the fact that Varian, her father's victim, had kidnapped her mother.

The ride back to the castle was silent, with none of them knowing what to say exactly about what would be coming soon. Rapunzel hadn't seen Varian's back herself, only been told that "it was bad", but she knew that it spoke volumes about his treatment at the hands of her father.