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

Storytime.

[Uhm... yeah... this chapter is super long, I have no idea what happened here. I had help from my siblings with brainstorming: xkionax14, ManuelaKruk and my brother. Have some heavy nostalgia :).]

The sun had already risen, and had made fair progress in the distance she had to cover to get from the east to her final goodbye for the day in the west. If not hindered by the clouds, the sun could oversee the earth from every angle on her daily journey. One ray of light shone through a small, square window in a wooden frame. It fell on the face of a boy, still asleep. Not for long anymore though. As time passed and the sun rose even higher, he started to stir and eventually opened his eyes. Yawning, the boy carefully sat upright and rubbed his eyes, shielding them from the bright light.

Varian felt more well-rested than he had for a long time. Strange, considering the fact that he had been up almost all night. But food, cheer and company had worked wonders on his energy level. He would be lying if he said that he hadn't experienced that in a long time. In fact, he had never known anything like it. Sure, he had been friends with Rapunzel, Cassandra and Eugene, but they lived on the other side of the country and were always busy. And they were the only friends he had. So sitting around a campfire with so many people, friends, was new. For the first time, it had made him feel normal, if only for a brief time. But he wasn't normal. He couldn't fall for that illusion again. Nevertheless, he had enjoyed it.

So there was no way he was staying in bed now.

This time, however, he'd be a bit more responsible and try not to overexert himself like yesterday. Varian assumed it had been due to the moonstone's power that he had so little energy. That final blast had drained him completely. He raised one hand to his hair, taking hold of the blue streak and then holding it in front of his eyes. He gently rubbed it between his thumb and index finger, half expecting it to start glowing or something. His hair hadn't been cut in ages, so it was long enough to do that now. The streak looked just like before, light, teal blue matching his eyes. He remembered how it had glowed, he remembered the power coursing through his veins, he remembered passing out when it became too much for him. Strange. He couldn't explain it, and it bothered him. Why was he connected to the moonstone? How did that work? Why couldn't he control it?

He sighed and swung out his legs from underneath the blanket. He remained seated on the edge of the bed for a moment. Then he decided that he needed to know how bad his injuries still were. He'd heal faster if he knew which movements he should avoid. Taking a deep breath, he looked down.

He didn't pass out. Thanks to Adira's drink, the cuts were healing properly and scar tissue had already begun forming in various places. His wounds were clean, and the bruises were starting to change colour and disappear. He couldn't see his knees, but they felt like they were bruised. Sore, and stiff. Of course the bandages around his chest and wrist had some blood stains on them, but Varian discovered that dried blood didn't trigger his hemophobia that much. Okay, that looked fine. But what about his internal injuries? He knew he had some bruised and cracked ribs, he could still feel them aching with every breath he took. His back also hurt when he made specific movements, so he guessed some of his vertebrae might have taken some damage as well. It would heal, but it would take some time.

Overall, not that bad, he thought. It would leave a lot of scars, but... those weren't the scars he was worried about.

He reached over to his bag and took some clothes out of it. Now that he had assessed the damage, he avoided looking at himself when putting them on. The fact that he hadn't fainted didn't mean he hadn't gotten very lightheaded. If he wasn't careful he could still pass out.
The clothes were simple. Black pants which were a bit too big, so he had to roll up the legs, and a black blouse, also too big for him. It had been Eugene's after all. He recalled how embarrassed he'd been when he told Eugene he'd borrowed his clothes. But the man had assured him it was fine, adding a playful comment on how Varian finally had a stylish outfit.