Blood of my Brother

Like Cats and Dogs

Thanks to @K0ekienut for beta reading this chapter for me!

Trigger warnings: threats, panic attack, kidnapping, hurt animals, hurt people, blood, more panicking, mentions of prison abuse

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"Ack!" Cassandra yelped as she tripped over Rapunzel's hair. "Okay, we're braiding this now. Sit down." She motioned the child to sit on a toy chest. "This could take a while. Want to go on ahead, psyc—Varian?"

He sat down across from them, helping Hector off his back and sitting him in front of him. "Nah, I think we could all stand to do some braiding. Hector, would you get Adira's, please?" Adira sat in front of Hector, and he started working on her hair. "No, don't pull it, be gentle. That's it." He grinned as the child struggled to manipulate the strands, his once-experienced hands now unused to the braiding motion. Lance sat next to Cassandra to help with Rapunzel's, since Cassandra only had one working arm.

"I suppose there's a reason you're not jumping at the opportunity to get out of my company?" Cassandra questioned.

Varian nodded. "I think it's time we talked. Like, actually talked."

"'Talked' like you did with Rapunzel last night, where both of you apologize in tears and try to stop being all hateful and everything?"

"Technically, she was the one crying, and all we agreed to do was start over. We're not best friends suddenly; we're just... learning how to be better people. But yeah, we need to talk."

"About what? Both of us already apologized. I'd say there's nothing left to talk about." Her stone face didn't change an inch from its typical sullenness. "Neither of us are going to stop hating each other just because we apologized. In a week or two, hopefully we'll never see each other again. So what's there to talk about?"

"Careful," he whispered softly, motioning to the children. "Little ears. So... you're not planning on arresting me still?"

She sighed and hung her head, her expression breaking for the first time. "I... I don't know, okay? Everything's so messed up now. I don't know what to think! Part of me says you deserve to go back to jail, and the other part... the other part says if I sent you back, I'd—well, I'd be no better than—" she shook her head fiercely. "Than them."

"Them?"

Her face hardened again. "Forget it."

"No. You've been acting weird for days now, even since before the whole... memory thing. Seriously, what's going on?"

"Varian, I'd really rather not talk about it."

"And since when did you start calling me by my actual name? Usually you just call me psychopath or brat."

"Shut up!" she suddenly snarled, her face contorting with rage. He scrambled backwards, reflexively grabbing Hector and Adira and scooping them behind him. His heart thudded against his chest painfully, and he couldn't breathe, and she was angry, she'd hurt him, and Hector and Adira couldn't protect him now. Why had he let his guard down?

Ha! Guard. The irony. No, he'd let his guard down, and in return he was going to be hurt by a guard. Why had he tried to talk to her in the first place? Was apologizing to her worth the beating he was going to get for it? Why hadn't he just kept his stupid mouth shut?

Behind him, the two warriors fought to get free. If they did, it was likely they'd attack Cassandra, and Varian was tempted to let them; but he kept them still, flinching as he realized that left his chest exposed to an attack.