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Hugo had well and truly messed up.
He had been trying to do a job the closest thing he had to a mother asked, found some friends, grown attached, and then ultimately betrayed all of them especially the one he he had grown the most attached to who then got possessed by his own mum who had been dead for several years after being betrayed- or betraying? -Hugo’s not-mother-boss-mum.
Honestly Hugo didn’t really understand or care about Donella and Ulla’s personal problems.
He just wanted to get Ulla out of Varian’s body.
~~~
It had been two days since Varian had gotten possessed and disappeared into the woods. Hugo had run after him as quickly as he could, ignoring the agonizing pain in his leg and shoulder. He could faintly hear footsteps behind him, but that didn’t matter, the only thing that did was finding Varian.
But the boy had vanished.
Hugo searched with all his might, but he couldn’t find any trace that Varian had ever even been in the area. There were no footprints, no scraps, no spilled chemicals, nothing! Hugo thought he saw something but tripped over a log and whatever it was vanished.
“Hugo, I don’t like you.” Nuru’s voice rang out from behind him. “Never really trusted you for the record.”
“Gee, thanks,” the blonde grumbled, pushing himself to his feet. “Your point was proven, you were right, congratulations. Now please, your majesty, feel free to leave.”
“But, still,” she continued, ignoring Hugo’s complaints. “Yong decided to trust you, he is a very trusting kid. I started thinking that maybe you’d prove yourself. Didn’t really think you could, but still you had a chance. But then Varian-”
“Do not talk to me about Varian.” Hugo snapped, whirling on the girl. “I know what I did wrong, and I know I can’t make it up to him, but if you think I’m just going to abandon him to be possessed forever.”
“Then Varian told me you could be trusted.” Nuru spoke calmly, watching as Hugo’s movements completely froze. “He told me that at the end of the day you could be trusted.”
Hugo shut his eyes tight, waiting for the jab, for the usual ‘you’re a monster’ he had gotten used to over the years.
“You said back there you tried to back out of the job, that you didn’t want to betray us.” Nuru cocked her head studying his responses. “I have a feeling that it was actually him you didn’t want to betray, but hey,” she shrugged, smirking at Hugo’s confusion. “Not the point, look I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt one last time because you seem just as determined to help find and save Varian as Yong and I.”
“It’s no use,” Hugo mumbled, drawing his arms in on himself. “I can’t find any trace of him. We’d better split up so we can search more territory.”
“Or maybe it’s just that you’re tracking the wrong thing!” YOng appeared out of the bushes panting hard. “Man you guys are fast! Hugo, he’s floating! He doesn’t have any tracks.”
“I- oh.” Hugo blinked slowly, mulling over their willingness to work with him and their points. “Then how do we find him?”
“You might not be able to track magic,” Nuru smiled triumphantly. “But I can.”
They followed a trail only Nuru could see for what felt like hours. The entire time Yong kept shooting Hugo wary and questioning glances. The kid was fidgeting with a firework, probably the last one he had.
Hugo was just about to snap and ask them why the hell they were letting him join if they were so convinced he would stab him in the back when he saw it. There was a faint blue glow, the same color that Varian’s eyes had been, the colour of the power that levitated books and threw him into a wall. It was the colour of Ulla’s magic.
It took everything in Hugo to not launch himself forward to Varian. Well, everything in Hugo and an extremely alarmed look from Nuru.
"Something's wrong,” she kept her voice hushed, clearly anxious about something. “Ulla’s still in control of Varian’s body. If she keeps that up it could end very badly.”
“Like how?” Yong wondered aloud. “Like he’d go into a coma? Like we’ll need a magic artifact to get him back? Like he’ll split in two!?”
“Worse.” Nuru shook her head grimly, staring at the body of their friend. “He could die.”
“What!?” Hugo snarled. He tried to stay quiet, but failed, fear and anger consuming him. “What do you mean he could die?”
“Now what do we have here?” The voice sounded like an overlay, Ulla’s only slightly louder than Varians. “Spies, no doubt.”
“We aren’t spies, we're Varian’s friends!” Yong shot back, his grip on the small rocket whitening. “Give him back!”
“Friends?” He? -she scoffed, “My son has no use for friends. All you do is hurt my poor boy.” She turned his head to glare at Hugo. “All you do is betray him. But I suppose I couldn’t expect any less from Donella’s son.”
“I don’t care whose son I am, just give m- us back Varian.” Hugo’s voice came out like a growl, eyes locked unflinchingly into the bright blue voids where the boy's eyes should have been. “He’s not your puppet.”
“Oh, now you must know a lot about being a puppet!” The cackling falling from Varian's mouth barely even had a hint of his real voice. “How is my ex research partner treating you? She never seemed all that big on children, she always preferred pets.”
“I’m no one's pet,” Hugo shifted, knowing that if Ulla was as perceptive as Varian she’d notice the turmoil that barely shone through his face. “I don’t care about your and Don’s past, or history, or whatever. I care about Varian. Give. Him. Back.”
“Hah!” There was a small flicker of something underneath Ulla’s smug expression, she faltered for just a moment, but it was enough. “You don’t- he doesn’t -you don’t care about my son. He was just a job to you. Congratulations, you have access to the eternal library! Job complete! You don’t need to burden yourself with my son.”
“Varian is not a burden!” Hugo snapped, stepping forward despite the rising stones getting in his way. “He is amazing, and smart, and talented, and everything good in this world!”
“You don’t believe that!” Her voice turned sharp and quiet “He doesn’t care, he doesn’t trust, he’s just a no good thief! My son, he would trade you for a mere trinket. Only I can protect you. He is no good liar, just like his mother! ” It was like she was talking to herself or- she was talking to-
“Varian!” Nuru seemed to make it to the same conclusion, hope flooding her face. “Varian, he’s not lying to you! He’s right! You are an amazing person and we need you!”
“Yes, please!” Yong chimed in, tears pricking the corner of his eyes. “Please we need you! I don’t wanna blow something up without you! Please!”
“Liars, they’re all liars!” She screeched, but Varian’s voice was hearable now and his tone was confused. “They don’t-do-not care!”
“We do care, Varian.” Hugo’s tone was pleading, watching the conflict shake the boy’s features. “I care. And I’m sorry, I am so, so sorry. You’re too valuable to m-”
“Valuable!?” Ulla’s voice spat as it regained priority. “See my son? You truly are just a job to this boy.”
“No, that’s not what I- !”
“You aren’t important to him. To any of them!”
“Yes you are!”
“We swear, please!”
“Varian, I-” Hugo swallowed down his next words, not sure what they were even going to be. “We really do nee-”
“Need, need, need.” Ulla sighed condescendingly, “they never want you, do they my son? I do. I want you safe, with me. I will keep you safe.”
“Varian-”
“Only I can protect you.”
“He doesn’t need-”
“Only I love you.”
“That’s not true!”
“Oh? Then who else.” Ulla’s face was cruel, but Varians was just confused. “No one. Because I am all that there is. You could never compare.”
“But-”
“My boy you cannot trust this one!” Varian’s voice was fading, but his body began flying. “He wants to use you! I will keep you safe. We will be safe.”
“No, Varian!”
“Varian please!”
“We need you!”
Varian’s body continued to float higher, blue light swirling tighter. Hugo could feel a tear or two trickle free as he watched.
If he had been watching somehow closer, he might have seen Varian’s face mirror his own.
~~~
“Okay, where could they have gone?” Hugo was pacing back and forth, furiously wiping his eyes to rid them of even a trace of sadness. “I’m pretty sure the only reason they stuck around was so Ulla could prove he can’t trust us.”
“Hugo it-”
“She’s trying to convince him that she’s the only one who cares, that only she… loves him.” He could feel the others' eyes glancing between him and each other. “Who else, who else, who elssseeee…”
“Hugo.”
“His dad!” Hugo snapped his fingers, looking up wide eyed at his friends. “Don’t. Don’t say what you’re gonna say, just think about it! If she proves we aren’t worth fighting for what’s left? His dad!”
“Hugo, tha-aaaaat actually makes a lot of sense.” Nuru frowned, tapping her chin lightly. “If she wants to take over him completely she needs to destroy his will. And making him think we don’t need or want him? That could break him.”
“But we do!” Hugo turned and mumbled softly to himself, “I do.”
“How do we prove that?” Yong's voice was small, like he didn’t think they could actually do it. “We tried, he didn’t believe us.”
“No, he believed you guys,” Hugo sighed, slumping down next to the others. “It was me he didn’t believe. How could he? That would require trust, and I ruined any sliver of that I had left when I said the word ‘valuable’.”
“Yeah I gotta admit that was a horrible choice of words,” Nuru’s tone was teasing, but her eyes held a glimmer of hope. “He knows that you didn’t mean it like that.”
“Does he?”
“Did you?”
“Well, no,” Hugo frowned, slightly confused. “Of course not, I’d never-“
“Then that’s good enough for me,” Nuru stood, determination flaring across her. “Now let’s go get our friend back.”
~~~
Hugo had only just made it a few meters before Nuru stopped him with a disappointed look. He just stared at her confused until she pointed at his shoulder and leg, which to Hugo’s surprise had stained a dark red.
Nuru made him stop long enough so they could patch it, to Hugo’s displeasure, saying he’d be no use to Varian dead.
~~~
They weren’t entirely sure where exactly Varian would be, so they first checked out his house. Finding nothing they moved to his workshop.
Everything seemed perfectly in place for Varian, if anything too perfectly. Sure things were scattered but if you looked carefully at how it was spread you would almost think everything had been made to look like usual, rather than it coming naturally.
Hugo was shifting through some documents on Varian's desk when Yong jumped with a yelp.
“What was that!?” The boy scrambled back, nearly bowling Hugo over in his retreat. “I heard something! Something’s here!”
“Like what?” Hugo grabbed his shoulders, trying to steady him. “Yong, what did you hea-” bang! “-rr nevermind!”
Hugo snuck forward, an arm outstretched to keep Yong behind him. As he crept forward Hugo saw that the noise was coming from some kind of cloth covered box. But there was something off about it, a skittering noise he could have sworn was familiar.
He lunged forward, tearing the cloth off and backing up in an instant. The creature in the box- no cage -slammed into the back in an attempt to flee. After a moment of deep breathing something clicked in Hugo’s brain.
“Ruddiger?” He lowered his voice to a whisper in an attempt to calm the poor raccoon. “Ruddiger is that you?”
The pet's eyes widened, he darted forward and wrapped his fists around the cage bars. He let out a chorus of distressed squeaks, rattling the metal hard.
“Relax, relax!” Hugo waved his hands in an effort to calm him. Yong tapped on his shoulder, but he shrugged the kid off. “Hold on, Yong, I’ll be there in a second. Ruddiger, I’m getting you out of there. How did you even… ?”
Ruddiger made a throwing, then door slamming motion. Then he let out a noise that made Hugo freeze.
“Varian did this to you?” The raccoon matched his weak volume, nodding as Hugo let him free. “I can’t believe he’d do something like this.”
Hugo pulled the raccoon close, letting him clamber onto his shoulder and get situated.
“You probably have some good stories about him, huh?”
The raccoon nodded profusely, but it was clear how upset he was.
“Hey, those wanted posters around, the ones he claims aren’t him? Are they?”
Ruddiger gave a cheeky grin nodding, once more.
“Really?” Hugo let out a laugh, real joy flickering in his eyes for a second. “What else don’t I know about him?”
It was nice, talking to the raccoon. Even if Hugo felt slightly insane and didn’t fully understand everything. He learnt a fair bit about Varian, sure it took time, but the stories Ruddiger told varied from funny to barely believable to worrying, even if the small creature tried to assure him Varian was fine.
They both knew he wasn’t.
He didn’t know how long he and Ruddiger sat there, but at some point the sounds of shouts, of cries, reached his ears. Hugo shot up, the raccoon on his shoulder’s fur had bristled, both of them immediately on edge.
He peeked out of the workshop, wanting to get an understanding of the situation before he leaped into it. Nuru and Yong were looking upwards slightly, over the workshop. Hugo tilted his head, already knowing what he’d find.
“-ple will never be good enough for my son.” It was Ulla’s voice, louder than ever. “You never cared for him. You never will. He deserves so much better than you.”
Hugo froze in place, his eyes were locked onto the glowing bright blue lines cracking out from Varian's eyes. He felt Ruddiger shrink back on his shoulder, shaking slightly.
“You people are pathetic,” Ulla spat, floating Varian's body closer. “You claim to be his friend, but you use him for his powers, you know nothing about him.”
“And what do you know!” Nuru shouted, clearly furious. “You don’t know anything about him! He’s our friend!”
“Please give him back,” Yong’s voice quivered, his hands clasped together. “We want Varian back!”
“Now why would I ever do that? You can’t even face me.” Ulla tilted Varian’s head down, empty voids of blazing blue glaring directly into Hugo’s hiding spot. “Donella’s boy, hiding in the shadows. Fitting.”
“Give Varian back.” Hugo steeled his voice, stepping into the light despite Ruddiger’s squeak of alarm. “He might be your son, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be able to live his life. He’s his own person, an amazing, brilliant and inspiring person. He doesn’t deserve to be- be held hostage by the one person he’d been searching for his whole life, the person he expected to love him unconditionally."
“I do love him unconditionally, he is my so-”
“You’s and Quirin's," he reminded, standing up straighter. “Quirin who would give his life to save his son, unlike you.”
“He- I- silence you wretched creature!” Ulla’s voice snarled, but Hugo could hear Varain’s sneaking in. “You know nothing! Only I know who my son is! I know what he’s like!”
“You can play the piano,” Hugo’s voice turned soft, looking deep into the body's eyes, wanting to reach Varain past Ulla. “Ruddiger told me you can play the piano. I’m not gonna believe it till I see it, though.”
“What?” Both voices were confused, but Varian’s was louder, yet somehow softer. “What are you talking about?”
“And you can sing.” Hugo’s voice cracked slightly as he stepped forward, tracking how Varian was slowly dropping. “Really sing. You like hot cocoa, with exactly one large marshmallow. And I have to admit I hate the fact that you tend to drink out of a beaker, Ruddiger does too.”
“What are you… ?” Their voices shook, “no, stop! Stop it now!”
“You know he and I are both waiting for you to slip up and go to drink some chemical experiment. I’m just hoping I can stop you in time, I’d rather not lose you.”
“It’s just a dumb boy, and a stupid forest critter! A pest!”
“That you took in and befriended after you realized he was only sneaking in because he was hungry. That you gave a matching set of gloves and goggles. That’s cute by the way.”
“Scilence!” Ulla screeched, but Varian’s voice sounded painfully like he wanted to laugh. “My son, do not listen- he’s right -would he know this if the rodent didn’t tell him? He knows none of this himself!”
“You’re right,” Hugo’s confession made Varian freeze. “As much as I wish I knew those things from experience, some of it I suspected and Ruddiger confirmed, but the rest? I wish I found out from you. There’s so much more I want to know about you. If you give me a chance, I swear you won’t regret it. I…”
“Lies! All lies!” The woman's voice fought for dominance, but her son's voice was steady. “I might need you to prove it to me.”
“I will,” Hugo promised, “no matter what.”
Suddenly Varian’s body shook violently, the blue lines sliced further across his face. Hugo lunged forward to try catch him as he plummeted downwards, but Varian’s body never hit the ground.
“Nice try,” Ulla’s voice growled, but it was shaky. “But you’ll have to try harder than that to make me lose my son. He is too young, and too precious to be left alone.”
“Do you even know how old he is?” Hugo’s frown deepened as he thought over everything Ulla had said. “He’s nineteen! He’s not some little kid!”
“What? No, no,” the face flickered and for a split second Hugo saw the brilliant blue of Varian’s eyes. “That doesn’t… that doesn’t matter! My son is-”
“Do you even know his name!” Hugo snapped, looking up at Varian. “You claim to love him, you claim to only want the best for him, but you’re ignoring who he is!”
“I know who he is-”
“Then prove it.” His voice was cool and firm. “Prove to him you know he’s more than just your son. That he’s his own person whose carved a path in the world. Prove you love him.”
“How?” Both voices were small, confused.
“Say his name,” Hugo sighed softly watching as it looked like Varian was gaining more and more control over himself. “If you love him you can say his name.”
“But I… my son.”
Varian’s body shook once. Twice. Then dropped like a rock, landing directly in Hugo’s arms. THe eyes that focused weakly on his face held no trace of Ulla.
“Varain,” his voice was small and soft. “Varian.”
“You…” Varain let out a shuddering cough. “You said-”
“I know what I said.” Hugo’s voice was soft as he cradled Varian ever closer. Something had finally clicked in the back of his mind. Something deep. “I love you, Varian.”
Shaking wracked Varian’s body. His mouth opened wide and a brilliant blue burst from it, flying up high into the sky. Hugo heard the faint whisper of something he couldn’t quite make out, but it brought a beautiful smile to Varian’s face.
“Varian?” Hugo let out a breath as those eyes- Varian’s eyes -locked back onto him. “You okay?”
“Hugo…” Varian blinked long and slow before letting out a giant yawn. “Did Ruddiger tell you I tend to name things after people I have a crush on?”
“Huh?”
“The last two things I made were Hugoreum and Hughzanite Gonium.” Varian snuggled closer into Hugo’s chest. "You're really warm.”
“Thanks- um.” Hugo blinked, wrapping his arms tighter around Varian. “I’m confused.”
“I love you too dumbass.”