laminae | Tangled AU

Tangled AU

Fern's first memories are painful ones. The first thing he feels is like he's dying, which might sound like a contradiction but makes sense within the context of his creation. Rapunzel's voice echoes throughout the Great Tree, the Decaying Incantation killing the once great being, and in a last ditch attempt to avoid death, either by the Tree itself or Zhan Tiri's influence, the slowly fading embers of its life force are pumped into whatever plant life it can reach. Of course, the Incantation still hits most of it, and every single one of those plants wither away into nothingness all the same.

Everything, that is, except for a small patch of grass. It fades like the rest, but one last spark of life enters as the Incantation is abruptly cut off by the impulsive actions of one Handmaiden, and it remains. As the group moves on towards the Dark Kingdom, and Adira drags Hector off to bandage his injuries, that patch of grass comes to life.

It's painful, suddenly wrenched into sentient consciousness thanks to a spell designed to kill. Like an explosion of death and decay all around him, threatening to smother him the very second he started existing. With no eyes and ears he can't tell what's going on around him, and with no mouth and lungs he can't cry out, so he can do nothing but fight back and push through the agony until it subsides into a dull ache.

He's weak at first, and the remains of the Tree overhead block out any sunlight he could have used to grow stronger. Still, the grass twitches and curls and gradually bundles itself together into a ball, and then after more time something more person-shaped. It's a rough approximation of the body the Great Tree had possessed shortly before its death, and since those memories are strongest in his mind that's what he goes with: two arms, two legs, a head, a body, two eyes and two ears, a nose, a mouth. Something vaguely human and at the same time distinctly not, something that allows him to more freely move around, find a patch of sunlight, and regain some strength. Human senses follow, again based on vague memories that aren't really his, and over the next few months he finds his footing in the complete and total disaster that is Being Alive. He doesn't start living, though, until the man the Tree had possessed finally returns to his long-destroyed home.

~

Beyond the Tree a whirlwind of events happen, not limited to the near total destruction of a kingdom, the rise of an ancient demon, and the reuniting of two cosmic powers. To say a lot has happened is a total understatement, and frankly, Hector is just glad to get out of there, away from people. He always did better with animals, and he has some literal and metaphorical wounds to lick. Turns out getting mind controlled twice is a horrifying experience, who knew.

He is, technically, back at the site of the Tree per Edmund's orders. Before he and Edmund and Adira had left Corona there was talk of building up a proper road of some sort to better connect the two kingdoms, and that would obviously involve clearing out the Tree's remains to make the area more amenable to horses and wagons. Unlike the rest of them, though, he doesn't particularly care about any of that. This was his home for many, many years, and he isn't so eager to raze what's left of it in the name of friendship and progress. So he goes, but he goes because being around the epitome of sunshine is a lot to deal with, and he needs to get away from all of that. All of those people. He needs a metaphorical dark hole where he can be alone with his rhino and his binturongs and all he has to worry about is survival of the fittest.

So it's a big downer to find someone else has taken up residence in his home. It goes without saying that as soon as his binturongs catch the scent that something is off Hector is on the hunt, and then it's only a matter of time before he's ambushing one residual plant monster he assumes is being controlled by Zhan Tiri. Or is Zhan Tiri, whichever. He doesn't care, he's just happy to get a good fight in. The creature is bizarre and learns quickly, mimicking him in the span of only a few minutes and creating a hardened blade out of vine, similar to his own retractable gauntlet sword. The thing fights fiercely, but mimicry isn't a replacement for actual skill and experience, and it isn't long before Hector gets the upper hand. And once he does, the creature starts falling apart, fighting more and more like a cornered animal. As it tires out he gradually finds himself comparing the creature more to his animals than the cunning and deliberate Zhan Tiri. Still, he doesn't hesitate in chopping its head off, ending the battle.

.... Except that doesn't take at all, and while the creature finally backs off it doesn't actually die. It regrows and reattaches its head, then scrambles up some old vines out of his reach to hiss at him. Sort of like an upset cat that's been dunked in a river instead of some demonic monster. It's hardly the most threatening thing... in fact, it's actually a little funny.

Thus began the strange, feral relationship between Hector and a small grass creature. A few more fights occur, though nothing quite as serious as the first one, and each time the creature retreats before he can chop another body part off. It becomes increasingly clear that this thing, while obviously magical, doesn't seem to be an agent of Zhan Tiri. He even learns the damn thing can talk and eat food, after one unfortunate night when he let his guard down while cooking a rabbit he had caught. It was roasting on a spit over a fire, and he had dozed off for all of two minutes, and the creature had snuck past the animals to steal it. He had gone after it, cursing up a storm, and it had responded with some equally vociferous curses. After that night, it had apparently decided that speaking to him was safe enough, and it started doing so.

Though they were less conversations, and more it demanding to know what Hector was doing on any given day. The demands start out simple enough, wanting to know more about eating (makes sense, it's obviously a plant), but grow more complicated over time - how did you build that trap for dinner, what's that thing on your arm, why is it called a sword, how did you get the sword.

There are a lot of sword questions, and one day the creature reappears holding Demanitus's enchanted spear. Hector had thought that thing had gotten buried in the rubble of the Great Tree when it collapsed, but apparently this thing had been doing some digging.

It's gradual, but Hector even starts answering some of them. Mostly the questions about weaponry, and when he does his answers are usually bitingly sharp or mocking, but they're still answers, and the creature accepts them with the kind of curiosity you normally only see in kids. It's a tenuous foundation, but it's there and over time it becomes more solid, to the point where Hector finds he doesn't even mind having the grass.... kid.... thing around. He stays out of his way when he's in a bad mood, and he's aggressive and won't hesitate to fight, and the kid is clearly growing more attached to him (though, that might be because there isn't anyone else around). It's still strange, but it isn't the worst thing ever, and it's certainly preferable to being surrounded by actual people.

When the weather starts to cool down Hector leaves him some proper clothes (patched together, with more animal furs than necessary), and at some point their occasional fights shift from impulsive bursts of violence to actual training and sparring. Hector can't even remember when he started giving the kid a nickname, but he did at some point, if only because he needed something short when telling him off, and 'grass monster' was too much of a mouthful.

~

It doesn't last.

Hector had been keeping in contact with Edmund and Adira via letters sent and received by Hamuel during his time at the Tree. He hadn't mentioned Fern - there didn't seem to be much of a point, if he wasn't connected to Zhan Tiri - though he did offhandedly say the spear had been recovered. Unfortunately, he one day receives word from a very tired Hamuel that Edmund is ordering him back to the Dark Kingdom proper to assist with rebuilding efforts, and to leave the spear in Corona with Quirin's son, apparently some kind of genius alchemist similar to Demanitus himself. He has absolutely no desire to take the kid with him, though efforts to simply leave don't come so easily when Fern starts following him, so he does the first thing that comes to mind.

He tries to ditch him. Several times. But it turns out it isn't so easy to ditch a kid made out of grass in forests, so as soon as he meets up with Adira he tries to pawn him off onto her. That doesn't go so well, either. That leaves him with two options: take him to the Dark Kingdom, or dump him with Quirin.

He chooses the latter, and does it in the most spectacularly low effort way possible. Taking Fern with him, he makes a rapid trip to Old Corona, showing up late one night on Quirin's doorstep with absolutely no notice. He tells Fern a few simple lies to make him stay put long enough to get away, then knocks on Quirin's door. Quirin is, understandably, not thrilled with this arrangement, but Hector doesn't give him any options. After a very quick (and lacking) explanation of what's going on the guy books it out of there on his rhino, leaving Fern standing there on his doorstep, spear in hand. As exasperated as Quirin is, he can't very leave just leave... whatever this thing is... like Hector just did, so he sends word to Varian that the spear is currently in his possession and lets Fern stay. It takes Fern a few days to feel comfortable enough to even go inside the house, and while that isn't the best situation (his presence has a tendency to terrify the Old Corona citizens), Quirin figures he can get this sorted out before Varian arrives.

He's being far too optimistic, though in the meantime he does manage to persuade Fern indoors during a particularly heavy and cold rain, even letting him use Varian's bed for the moment. Just until he can get ahold of literally anyone else in the Brotherhood.

So that's where Fern is tonight. He isn't used to sleeping on a bed but it's a lot softer and more comfortable than the ground, so he doesn't mind. The faint aroma of chemicals bothers him more, honestly, and he tries to ignore it as he burrows further until the blankets.

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So good of him, to keep an eye on him in case his weedy-ass falls. He grins, brushing fake dust off his arms in a very smug way.

"I told you so, now you can see how great science is."

Fern was very right about the I told you so. Varian wishes he'd bet something cool on this now. Alas, a lost opportunity there. But now they're just chilling on top of the wall. And that's... fine, he guesses. Feels okay to be up here out of the way.

There it is. Fern expected to hear that, though he still rolls his eyes. "Yeah, sure," he replies, trying not to sound too impressed. He wouldn't want to encourage Varian's ego any more than he already has, and besides, he supposes this means the other boy wasn't talking out of his ass when he said science could probably figure him out.

"Guess this means you aren't a coward, too," he adds, just to get in a little dig while he can, before he turns to look out at the view. They're high enough up that they can see the land beyond the kingdom and, well, it's rather picturesque. He hums, resting a hand on his hip. "Too bad you can't see where the Great Tree used to be from here, but it's still pretty nice."

Varian was definitely not talking out of his ass. And this was something fresh to focus on. Something he could get his teeth into and really work out. He's been feeling a little adrift since finally getting the hot water systems running. He needed a new project- he just didn't expect to find one literally in his bed.

"I wasn't aware that was even in question, but thanks."

He turns to look out at a land he's never visited. He's heard plenty, from Rapunzel and the others, other other Kingdoms and enchanted islands. But this is as far as he's ever got.

"Oh yeah, the Great Tree is a long, long way away from here. Dark Kingdom's even further," his smile softens. "I guess it is pretty. I've never stepped foot outside this wall, so this is about as much of it as I've seen."

"It totally was," he shoots back, though it's a little more good-natured than his usual demeanor. Even if he was wrong it was fun doing some climbing, and the view gives him some nice warm feelings. Maybe because it isn't a human settlement? He isn't sure.

He glances down at Varian, blinking. "Seriously? How come you've never left? There's a whole world out there! Just walking from the Great Tree to here was wild."

"Maybe to you, but to literally no one else," he shoots back, the edge is definitely gone from his tone, it's more...obnoxiously smug and joking than anything else.

At Fern's question, he glances back out to the scenery, his smile fading.

"...I had a lot to make up for here in Corona. I didn't deserve to go out into the world. Not until I'd done what I needed to do here."

He snorts. Wow, that smugness is very rude. His attention is fully pulled away from that though, as he sees Varian's smile fade. Oh, his curiosity is piqued.

"What are you talking about?" He says, confused. There's apparently a lot here to unpack, and Fern isn't even sure where to begin. "People can go where they want, why wouldn't you deserve to be able to do that too?"

Any happiness Varian was carrying has dissipated. Like it never existed at all. He pulls a leg up, resting his chin on his knee as he stares out into the rolling hills.

"Not everyone can."

It's quiet, remorseful. Honestly, he's a little surprised Fern doesn't know. All the Kingdom knows who he is, and beyond it too. He guesses Hector decided not to fill him in on this and he's not sure if he should be angry or grateful at his uncle for that particular move.

"I caused a lot of damage to the Kingdom. I...wasn't a very good person. I'm amazed no one's told you, yet."

Thaaat's hard to believe. "Seriously? You?" He says, baffled.

No offense, but he doesn't seem like the kind of person who could do that to a whole kingdom. He's... kind of a noodle. A dorky noodle. Nowhere near as intimidating as someone like Hector. Fern watches him for several moments, brows knitted together, before moving to sit down next to him. "What would people tell me? What did you do?"

"Seriously, me."

He doesn't sound proud about it. There's no jest to his tone. He kind of looks like he wants to curl in on himself and stop existing. It's been well over three years now and he still feels the spectre of what he did looming over him. He's starting to wonder if it ever will truly go. If he even deserves it to go.

"I attacked the Kingdom. Corona. Twice. I got arrested for high treason...I've... I was in the dungeon for a year."

He doesn't sound like he's joking or lying, which keeps throwing Fern off. Worse than that, it sounds like this is something important that Hector never bothered to fill him in on, and he isn't sure how to feel about that. He doesn't like being in the dark, but he isn't totally sure if this was any of his business. Maybe Hector had a good reason for not telling him? That must be it.

His jaw drops when Varian explains in more detail, and even then it feels like he has a million questions. So, unfortunately for Varian, he doesn't hold back. "You did?? Why? What the heck's high treason? You were seriously dangerous enough to get locked up for a whole year? And you're just - fine now?"

Varian catches the surprise in Fern's expression and isn't sure what to do about that. He hasn't had to deal with this before. Talking to someone who didn't know. His crimes were open knowledge and even if he'd gained respect as the Royal Engineer and no one talked about it to his face anymore- he knew they still did. Behind closed doors. Wondering how someone who did so much damage to the crown and kingdom could get such a high level in the princess' royal court. A member of her innermost circle. Trusted beyond measure. They felt he didn't deserve it and Varian could not argue that fact.

"It's when you try to kill a member of the royal family. And... I don't want to do that anymore, no. I..." he hesitates. "It's a really long story. Did Hector tell you much about the black rocks? About the sundrop?"

Try to kill a member of the royal family. Well, that clears things up.

Except now Fern now has a million more questions in his mind, and he's now sitting here with the knowledge that the person next to him is an attempted murderer. Which... he can't really judge, not with what he's done. Remembered doing.

He looks down at his hands pensively, brows knitted together. An attempted murder, and the black rocks and the sundrop. The latter two provide a burst of memories in his mind, spiky black objects and pure sunlight, and decay seeping into the very fibers of his being -

He pauses, and shakes his head. "I... remember things about it. Them. Not a lot, but... a little," he says softly. "What do they have to do with it?"

The weight of his guilt is starting to settle on Varian like a shroud. His shoulders sag as he keeps staring out into a world he's never had the chance to see. A world he doesn't feel like he has the right to see.

"The princess... Rapunzel. She held the Sundrop. The Moonstone was still in the Dark Kingdom. She... there were these black rocks everywhere, trying to lead her to the Dark Kingdom. None of us knew that at the time. I was trying to find a way to stop them," he waves an arm vaguely behind them. "They were growing over everything. Our farmlands were being destroyed and the King and my dad were just...covering it all up."

Fern can see the shift in Varian's demeanour as they discuss this, and in one of those rare bursts of compassion he wonders if it would be a better idea to just drop the subject. It's obviously causing Varian a lot of pain, and for once he didn't mean that. This is just... really interesting, and he can't help his curiosity, not when what they're talking about is jogging some memories.

He chews on his lower lip, deciding to continue. Black rocks, that's familiar. Same with the Sundrop and the Moonstone, and a princess holding the former -

In fact, that causes another wave of memories, bad ones that inadvertently make him clutch at his torso. Something about decaying, though he tries to shake the feeling off and focus on the other boy's story. "Covering it up? They were just leaving the rocks alone?" He asks, frowning.

Now he's talking about it, Varian knows he needs to finish. As much as he would like to shut down and stop this entire conversation, he knows now Fern is within Corona's walls he'll hear the story eventually. Especially if they go to the capital together as planned. It's probably best he hears it from the source.

"Even if they were hurting people. Yeah. To hide the fact they were connected, and they were connected to the princess," just layers of lies. "I tested a chemical compound on them to try and figure out if I could stop them...but it went wrong. My dad saved me from it while it was growing into this unbreakable amber. He pushed me away but he got stuck in it himself."

He hugs his arms a little tighter around himself. Years on and the image is still horrifying in his head. He can't make it stop hurting.

Fern has no clue how many people know about it, and chances are he would learn eventually given he’s staying with Varian and Quirin, but he likes hearing it from the source. It’s better than hearing this story secondhand and getting wrong or incomplete information.

Of course, learning all of this puts Quirin in a whole new light. Fern didn’t know him well at all but it was nice that he hadn’t just thrown him out after Hector left. The guy had seemed nice, if quiet. That he was hiding so much is… wow, it’s a lot. His eyes widen a little as he listens. Quirin screwed up, Varian screwed up, and Quirin paid the price.

He can’t imagine how messed up that must have Ben, he really can’t. He and Hector fought, sure, but after that initial meeting he never wanted to kill the guy. He liked him, he wanted him around.

He fidgets a little bit, shifts closer, and after an awkward moment raises a hand to settle it on Varian’s shoulder. “That… that must have been really hard for you.”

Quirin paid the price for so long and Varian still has lingering guilt over it all. If his father had told him more about the rocks, maybe he wouldn't have gone as far as he had- but maybe he should have just listened to his dad in the first place.

He starts at the hand on his shoulder, not expecting comfort. He was expecting disdain, or an argument or...anything but this. Maybe he misjudged Fern's ability for empathy...or maybe he just doesn't think he deserves it anyway.

"...I...it was so hard. But I went to the Princess for help, travelled through a blizzard than Zhan Tiri made," another chess piece in her nasty little game. "But she couldn't help me. Not with the blizzard. And I just... I felt so alone and scared and I- I decided I needed to do this on my own- save my dad. And used the Princess to do it. I lied to her, used her to steal what was left of the Sundrop Flower. To see if it could save him. "

At this point that lingering guilt is practically palpable in the air. Fern nearly jerks his hand away when Varian starts, but his stubbornness to do something forces him to keep it there. It's a bit of a surprise even to him, honestly, he's never had much room for empathy in his short life. The thought of losing Hector, though, he can imagine how much losing Quirin must have been. On top of that, he knows he isn't even as close to the man as a son would be to his father.

The name Zhan Tiri makes him pause, and a tangle of memories starts to float up in his mind, but he shoves them away as he continues to keep his attention on Varian's story. His expression hardens. "So? If lying and stealing would've gotten him back, anyone else would've done the same. His life is more important than a stupid flower."

If Varian were honest with himself, he's glad Fern didn't take his hand away. Having people provide sympathy for his actions isn't something he's used to- Rapunzel aside. He's not quite sure how to handle it, but he knows he doesn't want it to stop.

"It's worse than that...so much worse. It was an act of treason to steal the flower- and I made her do it anyway," he grimaces. "It didn't work anyway, after all that. The power of the Sundrop was in her, and only her. I knew she wouldn't help me after what I did to her, so I needed to find a way to force her to help me. So I kidnapped her mom."

You know. The Queen.

That... a scary amount of sense to Fern, honestly. Of course the power wouldn't be in the flower anymore, if this princess is the same person he's thinking of them she's just full of Sundrop power. It couldn't be anywhere else.

And it rankles him that despite all her power she didn't help Varian. He had to force her to do it, which doesn't seem like that bad of an idea to him. If you have to force someone with a lot of power to help you save someone you care about, then so be it.

He doesn't really care that it was the queen Varian kidnapped. A person's a person. "So? Did that make her help?"

Varian should have seen it sooner, he doesn't know what difference it would have made if he had worked it out beforehand. Would he have just conned Rapunzel into his lab and still used her hair and failed? Would he have at least not kidnapped the queen? He doesn't know. All he knows is that what's done is done.

"Yes. She wanted to save her mother, but it was wrong. I... that wasn't the way to do it."

Rapunzel could have been killed and he just didn't care. It's a feeling he remembers having, but it disgusts him to his core. Rapunzel is the most important person in his existence after his father, and he... he didn't care if she was gone. He curls in on himself a little more.

"It didn't work. So I snapped. I... I used one of my robots to try and crush the queen and her best friend to death. Rapunzel... she managed to stop me in time, figured out how to use the rocks and no one died. I was sent to prison after that, where I was there for a year before I...found people to help me out."

Fern is remaining stubbornly unmoving on this. He hasn't known Varian for very long, and they got off on the wrong foot, but he never hurt him like the princess did, and his growing sense of empathy has him wanting to take his side. It's a lot easier to understand the mindset of a scared kid desperate to save his father figure, then some powerful and distant person who kind-of-sort-of killed him.

"You did what you thought you had to do," he says with a huff. He listens to the rest, not really surprised that Varian wound up snapping so badly. If anything, that emotional volatility only makes him better get Varian. The other boy hadn't exactly come off as overly emotional to him before, this is new, but it's exactly the kind of thing he would've done in his position. Snapped. Who knew they had so much in common?

"Prison?" He asks slowly. "That's like - being locked up, right?" The concept is floating up in his memory, in the form of knowledge he had sucked out of Hector's mind when he had taken over his body. "Who helped you?"

They're going to be an unstoppable force that meets an immovable object for a while here. Varian knows he went too far. That his excuse for his actions is just that. An excuse. It doesn't lessen his crimes, doesn't mean he was justified in what he did. He was a monster, plain and simple.

"I shouldn't have, though. I should have known better. I got... I was so lost and angry and scared that I lashed out and people could have died. Innocent people."

He exhales softly. This means talking about Andrew, who's still lurking with the rest of the Separatists in the castle dungeons. He's always going to be a threat, lingering in the back of Varian's mind.

"A group of people who wanted to destroy Corona. I... I didn't know that at the time, not really. I helped them take over the kingdom and when Rapunzel returned home, they told me they were going to use one of my inventions to reduce the kingdom to ashes. I... I couldn't go that far. I didn't want any more people to be hurt."

They don't exactly sound innocent, in Fern's mind. They sounds like they ignored someone who needed help. He chews on his lower lip, wanting to argue some more, but realizing that it's probably a bad idea. Getting the rest of the story is more important, anyways.

His eyes widen a little when he gets it. Because wow, wanting to destroy a whole kingdom. That's - very ambitious. And more impressive than that is that Varian was able to take over the kingdom with these people. Sort of like him being able to climb the wall - he's a noodle-y nerd, he wouldn't expect him to be able to do something big like that.

"So you did something, right?" He asks, his hand still on the other boy's shoulder. "You don't seem like the type to just sit back and not let something like that happen, especially when you had a hand in it."

Varian would fight everyone's side in this but his own until the end of time. His self-loathing was deeply, deeply ingrained by this point. He'd been a monster, plain and simple. And he'd helped even worse monsters carry out their awful plans. Noodle-y as he is.

His shoulders sag a little, weighed down by an uneasy truth. He's never really had to...speak this out loud before- aside from to his father. Everyone else already knew- there were there. They didn't need to hear it. He wishes telling the story lessened the weight a little but it really didn't. A part of him bitterly wants to snap that Fern has no idea what sort of type he was- but he knows that's just self-destructive. Lashing out at the other boy for no reason.

"I couldn't let them do that, no. I helped the Princess stop them," trying to sacrifice his own life in the process, but he doesn't speak that part out loud- he told his dad that and the look on his father's face had been enough to stop him from doing that forever. "We saved the kingdom and I spent a long time helping make things better again. To make up for what I did."

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