Unforgiven and Okay With It (Almost)

Originally posted on AO3. Based on a headcanon by @rta.songs.rewritten on Instagram that Hector and Adira would absolutely HATE Freddy for what he did to their nephew.

Trigger warnings: attempted murder, PTSD

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Of all the things Varian expected from a Coronan victory celebration, attempted homicide (regicide?) was not one of them.

And it wasn't even him this time.

Everything was going wonderfully up until that point. Zhan Tiri had been defeated, Cassandra was off finding her destiny, and Varian had spent the last week getting to know his extremely eccentric extended family.

Adira and Hector, while adamantly opposed to the idea of settling down, were trying to plan what they would do now that the Moonstone was gone. They had been with Varian and Quirin a week now, sharing old memories and getting into more trouble than the exasperated Quirin could keep them out of.

Varian loved every minute of it.

The first few days had been spent recovering from the attack. They sat around and swapped stories about the past, cooked, and generally ignored each and every responsibility in favor of taking a much-needed staycation.

The next few days had been spent committing what Quirin referred to as "absolute atrocities" and "minor felonies." Hector had clapped back that two of the four had already committed treason. Adira had punched him. That started a brawl that resulted in "severe property damage."

Yeah. Varian loved it.

He knew his dad loved him and was proud of him, but Adira and Hector were the only people he knew who could match his exuberant personality. He had shown them his lab the first day, and Hector had yet to cease pestering him for a concoction to change the color of Adira's face paint.

Over the course of that week, Varian questioned many times if they were sure the three weren't related by blood. Somehow, he fit perfectly into the little nook that was this family. Quirin was mature and responsible, the one who always made sure everyone ate and tended to the various injuries received after a day of shenanigans. Aunt Adira was the classic "eccentric aunt," showing Varian her meditation techniques, helping him devise shenanigans that resulted in injuries Quirin had to tend to afterwards, and teaching him the best ways to pester Hector. Uncle Hector was absolutely feral and was just as likely to be found relaxing on the rooftop with his bearcats as anywhere else. He was usually the reason their shenanigans ended in injuries. And Varian was entrenched firmly in the middle, the perfect combination of his dad's maturity (it took a while, and he was still working on it), Adira's strangeness, and Hector's childishness.

And not only did he love it, he was loved. His tiny family of three (including the ever-faithful Ruddiger) had grown to include him, his dad, Ruddiger, Aunt Adira, Uncle Hector, two bearcats, and a rhino. The two warriors had promised that no matter what they decided to do after this, they would write letters as well as come to visit as much as possible.

And when Varian woke up screaming in the middle of the night from a nightmare, he found himself wrapped up in three pairs of arms instead of one.

Everything was great.

Until the day he heard a knock on the door.

He and Hector were down in the lab. "Now, if my calculations are correct, this alchemical solution should create a phosphorescent ink that will be completely invisible until it gets dark."