The Raccoon and His Boy - A Varian x Reader story

XX

The next nine days were ridiculously mundane. It was like everything went back in time to before you met Varian and anything happened, except for your feelings, of course. It was honestly a bit heart-wrenching how normal everything was, like your relationship with Varian hadn't even impacted your life in any way.

You were a bit of a wreck, trying to balance your emotions while moving on with your life and functioning. Dad gave you plenty of space at the library, letting you accept or decline any help the customers needed based on how you were feeling at the moment. Overall, the circumstances should have made the adjustment back to normal easy, but for some reason your struggle continued on for the entire week and a half.

At least Star stood by you through it all. Sure, there wasn't much she could do aside from cuddle with you and give you a responsibility to take your mind off the worries, but even that made a big difference. You were especially glad she was there with you when I got home on Saturday – probably best described as the single Saturday that turned your life upside-down.

You first knew something was wrong when you got home and noticed the door was slightly ajar. You clearly remembered Dad locking it before you'd headed out that morning, since Mom and Lewis had left early to go into the city for errands. Your heartbeat quickened noticeably, and you subconsciously held Star closer to your chest for comfort as you stepped into the house.

The next clue was the kitchen drawers, which were all open and messed up. You continued carefully, making your way upstairs one small step at a time. Something was incredibly wrong – it felt as if you weren't alone, and the more time you spent looking around the more likely that seemed. You weren't sure if to be happy or upset when you didn't find anyone in the entire house, and you didn't know what was going on.

Reluctantly, you allowed yourself to relax a bit until your family got home. Still, the moment you saw Dad your anxiety spiked up again, and you rushed him upstairs to his room, which was the last place you'd seen something off. Clearly your father was a better detective than you'd ever be; he found the issue in almost two minutes flat.

"What did you say that compass you had could do, hon?" he asked you, turning around after rummaging through his drawers. You weren't sure why he was asking until you took a moment to think about it, and felt your face go extremely pale when the pieces started falling into place.

"We have to tell the royal family," you said, already on your way to the door. You had no way of knowing who had stolen the compass, but most chances were that their intentions with it weren't the purest.

Dad followed quickly behind you. You didn't even realize that you were still clutching Star to your chest, or that your hair was a wind-swept mess; all you cared about was getting to the palace, and you didn't even mind breaking into a run until you got to the square to catch a carriage.

Needless to say, there was a lot of confusion when you pulled up unannounced at the royal palace. Dad handled it all amazingly, calmly explaining to the guards that something important was stolen and the king and queen needed to be notified.

Within a few minutes you were being guided through the sparkling halls to the throne room. King Frederic, Queen Arianna, and Princess Rapunzel were all seated on their thrones at the front of the hall, and it was a little frustrating that despite the urgency of the situation bowing was still protocol.

"Your majesties," Dad said, straightening when he got the permission. "I'm afraid we have some bad news. Something of extreme value has been stolen, and we fear its power might be abused against the kingdom."

The king furrowed his brow in confusion. "What are you talking about, Charles? Surely anything with such power would have been locked safely away, no?"

"Well..." Dad's gaze fell on you. "Perhaps my daughter should be the one to explain, my liege."