Chapter Text
“See you on the other side.” Varian said, smiling at them.
“So, how is the raccoon gonna—okay.” Hugo watched as Ruddiger went to his door and tugged on the handle to open it before going inside, the door closing behind him.
To be honest, he wanted to get it over with. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he gingerly moved forward, going towards a doorway at the end of the path. He stepped through and shivered, feeling a biting cold, and then looked up as he saw he was in Varian's lab, with a large, amber structure in plain view.
The door slammed open and he flinched as a younger Varian ran in. “Dad! Dad, the Princess refused to help, but I...” he stopped short, looking with horror upon the structure, against his encased father. Ruddiger moved over to nuzzle him, and he passed right through. Right...memory. He looked over at his younger self watching the scene, completely unaware of what would be happening to him in the coming weeks.
“Dad?” A small, shaking voice said, and he looked back at Varian, who was starting to realize what he was looking at. “Oh no.” The poor boy ran over and stopped in front of the amber structure. “No, no. No. No!” He banged his fists on the amber fruitlessly. “No!” He cried again, hyperventilating as he did. He looked up at him desperately. “Dad! Daddy, no!”
This was just as painful to watch the second time. Ruddiger wished he could tell him that it would be okay, that his father would be saved, but this was only a memory.
“No, no, no, no.” Varian started to sob as he reached for his father and then dropped to his knees, sobbing. “No...”
Ruddiger walked over and curled up against the boy, wanting to offer him comfort. He had once been a heartbroken, desperate boy like this. A long, long time ago, he had once been human, and had been desperate to save his sickly brother. He had gone to the great Lord Demanitus for his help and became his apprentice, but nothing they found would save his brother. That is, until he found out about the Sundrop Flower. It was perfect, just what he needed. But, Lord Demanitus expressly forbid him from taking the flower to save his brother, and it was protected by Saporian magic. Feeling betrayed, he had left his teacher and gone to join the demon Zhan Tiri, who promised him that, once she took the Sundrop for herself and harnessed its power, she would save his brother.
But by the time they got the Sundrop, following the Fall of Saporia, it was far too late and his brother was gone. He had completely lost his motivation to keep going, and he decided he was done, leaving the group. Zhan Tiri had refused to let him go, though, and turned him into a raccoon to punish him before she was sealed away by Lord Demanitus. Thanks to selling his soul to her before, he was immortal even as a raccoon.
He was grateful that he was able to be here for Varian, even if it hurt to see him go through the same darkness he had.
He couldn't do anything to help the sobbing child, and his younger self wasn't able to get any form of response. Grief had completely devoured his boy, locked him into a cocoon, and he was completely dead to the world, as if the blizzard had frozen him over.
Finally, after the blizzard ebbed, he finally saw movement from his boy. “Don't worry, dad.” Varian said, uncurling slightly. “I will get to the bottom of this.” He clenched his fists. “I promise.”
Ruddiger sighed, knowing what was coming, as the young Varian started to sing.
“I will make you proud,” he looked up at his father, unaware of his silent observer, “get the answers and set you free. Don't you worry, whatever it might take, I'm finding a way.” He slowly rose to his feet, pushing his cape back as he stepped forward. “And I swear, right now, that no matter what comes of me,” he placed his shaking hands over his father, “anybody who stands or has stood in my path, they're going to paaaay!”
Ruddiger watched as his younger self realized what he was looking at, shrinking back from a child that was consumed by rage and hate as Varian stood in the moonlight from a hole in the ceiling with an expression of cold resolve on his face, his eyes closed. “They...will...” he clenched his fist tightly, “pay.” He finished, and Ruddiger sighed as he watched Varian leave his father's side and go to push things off his desk to let him have a clean area to work on the first of several, agonizingly several, solutions to save his father.
'Oh, Varian...' He thought, feeling glum at the sight. It was painful enough the first time he watched this happen, and seeing how it all started again...horrible.
He heard a burst of fire and turned to see the Salamander looking impassively at the image. “This is your most traumatic, life-changing moment?”
Ruddiger nodded. The Salamander just hummed vaguely and then turned to them. “And what have you learned?”
Ruddiger sighed. 'I learned to never leave his side, to be there for him, always.'
The Salamander nodded, then gestured to the door, which opened. Ruddiger looked back at Varian, then went through the door. He looked around the fire-lit cavern and let out a yelp before running right for Varian, climbing up his body to curl around his shoulders.
“Hey, buddy.” Varian smiled, supportive and gentle as always. “Good job.”
Ruddiger nuzzled him, grateful that they both made it through Varian's trip through the darkness.
He was probably not sleeping tonight, though.