Hurtful memories (Varian story)

Reactions (part 16)

3rd person pov

Varian sighed and looked at the floor. He knew what was next and he knew no one would have a good reaction. Eugene looked at Varian and was about to say something when Rapunzel cut him off. "Varian. I just want you to know I'm glad you joined us again." She smiled at him which he looked up to see and smiled back. "I'm glad I did too." With that the next memory faded in.

Varian hadn't left his house in about a week as he wanted to spend time with his dad and avoid other people. However, today he didn't really have a choice as him and his dad both needed things and Quirin was a little busy that day. Needless to say Varian really didn't want to make to the trip into town but had to. He needed to be on his best behaviour as well though as his reputation was already horrendously bad. He also was worried about his dad finding out about his actions. He didn't know or want to know how his dad would react to that news so he had hidden it from him.

The memory then skipped forward to Varian buying some pure metals and certain chemicals from a shop. He had been getting mean looks from other people and the shopkeeper seemed afraid of him as he bought his things. Varian knew why but that didn't make it any better. Varian walked out of the shop and walked into an alleyway as a short cut to his next store. When he suddenly was hit in the back of the head with something. He turned around to see a few people blocking the entrance to the alley and a slightly bloody rock on the floor. He looked at the exit of the alley and immediately went to run out but was grabbed by one of the people and slammed against the wall. His head hit the wall hard and they people just laughed at him. "Serves you right. You don't even deserve to still be alive after what you did." Before Varian could even process what this guy had said, he was punched in the face. Varian wanted to defend himself but what if it confirmed what everyone already thought of him. What if it made things worse. Varian's expression want blank and he just let these people hurt him. It wasn't like it was the first time. They punched and kicked Varian but he never reacted and eventually after Varian was bloody and bruised they left.

Once they left, Varian wiped his now bloody nose and shakily got to his feet. He then picked up his shopping and decided to go home for the day. As He slowly limped back home, he tried to think of an excuse for his injuries but nothing was coming to mind that made sense. So he was extremely lucky that Quirin was still working in the farm so he could sort out his injuries without his dad knowing. He went upstairs after putting the shopping away in the appropriate places.

Once upstairs, he went to his bedroom where he kept a first aid kit. He shakily wiped the blood off his face and hands then bandaged up his cuts. However he couldn't really do much about injuries like his nose that had been pretty badly bruised and his lip that he had cut open by biting into it. Varian sighed. "I should have done something." He looked at his bruised hands. "Then again it's not like hurts that bad. It's nothing compared to-" he paused Varian couldn't even say the word. It hung in his head, the scars were bad enough but now he was being reminded that time by people who had nothing to do with it. But despite his anger about this situation, Varian knew they had every right to hate him so he had no complaints. Varian looked over at Ruddiger who was sleeping in the corner and hadn't been taken to shop with Varian. Varian smiled then left his room and went downstairs to his alchemy room. He worked on stuff until his dad called him for diner.

He took a deep breath and went join his dad at the table. Varian sat down across from Quirin and waited for him to start eating but he didn't. He had the same unreadable expression that he had back then. "What happened Varian?" When Quirin asked that it sounded a lot more like a demand than a question. He wanted to know and Varian was scared of what would happen if he didn't answer. He looked down and tried to stop his hands from shaking. "I just-It was-" he stopped talking when Quirin stood up and walked over to him. Varian was petrified. He wanted to answer but the words wouldn't come out. Varian turned to look at his dad. Quirin knelt down in front of Varian and carefully put a hand on his shoulder. Varian looked at his dad kinda shocked. Quirin looked at his son with a sympathetic expression. He pulled Varian into a careful hug and sighed. "Varian, you don't have to tell until your ready but I don't want you to be in pain so if someone hurts you I won't let it happen again." Quirin sounded sort of guilty. He was furious but not with Varian and he knew Varian was still slightly scared of him which hurt but he knew why and accepted that it would take awhile to fix. Varian on the other hand, he started tearing up after hearing those words. He realised that Quirin was also saying he won't never hurt him again and that made all the emotion he had held back spill out. Varian just cried as his dad held him. Varian in that moment decided to tell the truth. Well, most of it. Varian knew if he told his dad about his time in prison it would not end well and he didn't want to ruin Quirin's friendship with the king.

The memory then skipped forward to the next morning. When Varian got out of bed in quite a lot of pain as his back still hurt from it being kicked repeatedly yesterday. Ruddiger looked at Varian and followed him around the room as he got ready to go out again. This time though Quirin was coming with as he wanted to be able to prevent anything bad happening again. Varian walked downstairs with Ruddiger trailing behind him and then walked into the kitchen where Quirin was making breakfast. "Hi dad." Varian said as he grabbed the plates from the cupboard. "Good morning Varian. Did you sleep alright?" Varian gave his dad the plates and went to sit down. "I slept alright to be honest. It's nice to sleep in an actual bed again." Varian smiled as his dad brought over the plates that now had pancakes on them. Varian found that eating with a cut lip is pretty painful and eating was even worse cause one of the men had tried to choke him so his throat hurt as well. However, he managed to eat all his food and wash the dashes despite his pain.

Quirin and Varian (who had Ruddiger on his shoulders) then set out on the path to the mainland. Once they were there, Varian got the typical mean or scared looks but no one said anything as Quirin was there. Varian just tried to stay near his dad and avoid the people around him which worked for a while. However he couldn't hide forever and people can be pretty persistent when it comes to someone they hate. Varian had stones thrown at him a few times and could never figure out who it was. Varian hated this. He felt like he was being hunted and he just wanted to go home but they had one more store they needed to visit. Unfortunately, the shopkeeper hadn't allowed Varian in so he had to wait outside for a few minutes.

Varian almost immediately got hit in the face with a rock which actually kinda shocked him. A guy then walked over to him and grabbed him by the shirt. "Why'd the princess even pity you? You're a pathetic criminal and traitor who deserves to rot in prison." Varian wanted to punch this guy in the face but decided it wasn't worth it. "Honestly I think it's a lot more pathetic to corner a teenager and then insult them. Also, I'm pretty sure that I was also never pathetic. I mean I was the most dangerous person in Corona for quite a while-" Varian was suddenly cut off by this guy hitting him the face which didn't hurt but was surprising. Also Ruddiger had finally gotten Quirin who grabbed the guy and pulled him away from his son. Quirin looked at the guy with the unreadable yet obviously angry expression he had. "Don't ever come near my son again." The guy was smart enough to leave after that. The memory then faded away and left everyone other than Varian quite upset.

A.N: Hi umm it's been a while since I updated this story and I'm sorry. Also quick thing I won't be writing a chapter about the black rocks episode cause I would just take so long and I'm not doing that sorry. But yeah I hope u enjoyed this chapter and I hope to see u soon