Betrayal and Trust Part II (different writer) - AU fanfic

Sagan.

***

Present day, evening.

Varian woke up with a start, covered in sweat and breathing rapidly. That nightmare had been far too realistic for his liking. But it was just a dream. He turned his head to see if Rapunzel was awake too, not sure whether he should tell her about it.

But he was alone.

He immediately started to panic. Normally he would have appreciated the peace and quiet of being in a room by himself, but now it freaked him out. Understandably.
Ignoring his injuries, he quickly stood up and started to make his way to the door.

He didn't get far.

Standing up so quickly caused a sudden lightheadedness as the blood pressure in his body wasn't high enough yet to support the blood flow to his brain. Everything turned black for a moment and he fell to his knees just as he reached the door, almost slamming his head against it.

He took a few seconds to steady his breathing and refocus.

The impact on his knees was painful and had certainly torn open some old wounds, but for the rest he'd be fine. This was not abnormal, and completely his own fault. Thinking of it, Varian actually felt somewhat relieved no one had seen his stupid act. Although him jumping out of bed, stumbling and falling down would definitely have been a hilarious sight.

But he shouldn't have done that. It had just been a nightmare after all. Varian knew he should just go back to bed, but now that he'd made it all the way to the door... he just didn't feel like going back. After days of staring hours and hours at a wooden ceiling, he had to admit that he was... bored? No, just tired of feeling so weak and useless. He had never been very patient. So he made his mind up.

He felt fine again. But he hesitated to get up again as he started to hear voices outside. He pressed his ear against the wood and tried to understand them.

"We need to come up with a game plan to defeat Cassandra. Who knows when she'll strike again?"

Varian's heart skipped a beat as he remembered the voices in his nightmare, but he didn't move.

"That's right. What do you think, Rapunzel?"

Varian exhaled in relief.

"Rapunzel?"

"Hmm? What? Oh, sorry Eugene, what did you say?"

"Nono, it's fine. What are you thinking about?"

Varian heard a deep sigh.

"It's Varian. I'm really happy he's recovering so quickly, and that he wants to help us... but..."

There was a short pause before she continued.

"He's not looking out for himself. I'm afraid he'll hurt himself trying to protect us."

Varian chuckled a bit. Hurting himself had sort of become his specialty nowadays.

"Oh, come on, blondie. It can't be that bad, right? He's smart, I'm sure he'll be okay."

"I hope you're right... Anyway, what were you guys talking about?"

The female voice that answered sounded familiar, but Varian couldn't recall who she was.

"How we were going to defeat Cassandra. A full-out attack probably won't work. She has the moonstone, which will give her the upper hand in any attack."

Varian pushed himself up, slowly this time, and took a deep breath before opening the door.

"No, it won't."