Note: Takes place during events of VAT7K!!

The last thing he remembered was Varian's faint voice calling out to him.

Now, Hugo had no idea where he was. He had woken up on his back in the middle of the woods. His head pounded, and his limbs felt like Jello. Another realization suddenly struck him.

Where was everyone else? Varian, Yong, Nuru?

As soon as Hugo could manage it with his weak state, he sat up and leaned up against a tree. "Varian?!" He waited a moment. There was no response. Just the eerie silence of the forest and the sound of the wind blowing against the grass. "Yong?... I'll even take Nuru?"

Nothing.

Hugo let out a groan of frustration and tilted his head up, leaning it against the rough bark of the tree. The sunlight seeped through the thick bunches of leaves, casting shadows on his face. The boy racked his mind to try and remember the events before he had ended up here, but came up blank every time. The only thing Hugo could remember was that he...had something in his hands. Probably something he had stolen. Varian tried to tell Hugo that it was a dumb idea...

"It'll be fine, Goggles. It's just an old antique." The blond tossed the strange item between his hands. "At best, we'll be able to get a crap ton of money from selling it to some old lady. Worst case scenario, it's worth nothing and we'll just get rid of it."

Varian shook his head, a clear worried look in his eyes. He glanced over at Nuru and Yong, who were still distracted by the other items the antique stand had to offer. Still, Varian pulled Hugo closer and dropped his tone down to a sharp whisper. "It might not be just an old time-glass, Hugo. Simple looking things can possess... weird magic abilities." Varian seemed to ponder for a second, then wince at the memory he had brought up. "Did I ever tell you about the time I got stuck in a trinket?"

Hugo raised an eyebrow and smirked. "You what?"

"I'm gonna regret telling you this," Varian muttered. He narrowed his eyes at Hugo, who only met his stern gaze with big eyes, bottom lip sticking out.

"C'mon, Goggles. I'm curious now." Varian suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder and looked up to see Hugo smirking down at him, arm resting on his shoulder. Varian pushed him away with a grunt but nodded.

"Fine, fine. Just- keep your snarky comments to yourself. And stop tossing that thing around." He pointed with his chin to the hourglass that Hugo was still passing between his hands. "You're gonna break it."

Hugo held his hands up in surrender, though his smug smirk remained plastered on his face. He made a show of holding up the hourglass and tucking it into his satchel. "You got it, Freckles."

Varian rubbed his neck, making sure not to make eye-contact even as he began his story. "I was traveling with Rapunzel and two others of my friends... I don't think you know them. Catalina and Kiera, or as we call them, Red and Angry."

Hugo's eyes narrowed. "Black haired girl and her red-haired sister, both extremely annoying?"

Varian's eyes widened, but he nodded, nonetheless. "Well, not extremely annoying, but yeah. Do you know them?"

Hugo almost seemed to cringe slightly before returning to his usual smug façade. He shrugged nonchalantly. "Nope. Continue." 

"Okaaay..." Varian said, clearly still confused. He continued anyways. "We were helping them return some of their stolen loot to this market. There was this... weird shell necklace along with the other riches. Long story short, we kind of- got stuck inside. We got carried around by Dwayne-"

"Hol' up. Dwayne? Man, I hate that dude. Almost screwed us both in."

Varian tilted his head slightly. "What?"

"Long story." Hugo shuddered and motioned for the other boy to continue. Varian rolled his eyes but did so.

"-We kind of had to be saved by the animals..."

"Seriously?" Hugo smirked.

Varian scowled. "Cut us some slack! We couldn't get out ourselves." Varian groaned and ran a hand through his hair, before letting out a sigh. His expression calmed slightly. "Point is, something that looks harmless could cause some serious problems."

His eyes suddenly widened, as if remembering something. Varian rubbed his chin with his thumb and pointer finger, lost in thought. "I'm pretty sure Rapunzel once told me how she traveled to the past with an hourglass before. She kept going on and on about how 'cute' I was." Hugo bit back a laugh and opened his mouth, but Varian shot him a warning glare. Hugo quickly shut up.

"That hourglass could cause a similar thing to happen, Hugo. It might be a duplicate. Just give it back." Varian took a step forward and tried to reach Hugo's satchel. Hugo moved it out of reach.

"No way. If it is magic, it could be worth even more." Hugo grinned, but it slipped away when he saw Varian's look of disapproval. He groaned but reluctantly nodded. "Look, I'll bring it back, okay?"

Varian glanced over to see Yong and Nuru making their way back over, Yong excitedly showing Nuru what he had purchased. Varian looked back at Hugo and smiled. "Thanks, Hugo."

Hugo blushed slightly at Varian's smile and praise. He smirked and tried to play it off. "Yeah, yeah," He murmured absent-mindedly.

Then he felt something slip from his hand.

The sound of glass shattering made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

Varian called out for him.

Then a bright light blinded his vision. Now he was here. In these woods.

He really hated it when Varian was right.

Using the tree behind him, Hugo struggled to his feet and looked around. "What did Varian say? This is... the past?" Forests surrounded him on all sides. However, in the distance, there seemed to be a silhouette of a kingdom, and thankfully it wasn't the industrial kingdom. He didn't need to relive that past anytime soon. But if this wasn't his past...whose was it? The kingdom in the distance didn't look like a kingdom he had ever been to. The boy didn't really feel like wandering to a random kingdom, but what else was he supposed to do? "S'pose that's my best option, huh, L-" Hugo's voice faltered when he realized that Olivia, his mechanical mouse, hadn't been teleported with him. He cursed softly under his breath. "I've got to find my way back."

Hugo pushed himself off the tree, now able to stand without support. After a moment's hesitation, he slowly made his way to the kingdom in the distance. The woods were quiet, though now it seemed more comforting than creepy. He still walked with a slight limp, nothing really hurting, but everything still feeling weak. The kingdom crept closer and closer, the woods around him thinning out. He began to hear the faint voices from the kingdom being carried by the wind. But that's not the only thing that the wind blew his way.

A piece of paper did somersaults along the ground, eventually crashing into Hugo's ankle and wrapping around it. With a startled yelp, Hugo glanced down and raised an eyebrow at the paper blowing in the wind. He bent down and picked it up, uncrumpling it to see what was on it. Rather than written words, there was a painted picture of a sun on it, the rays twisting and weaving on the page. "Eh, trash," Hugo muttered, crumbling it back up.

He prepared to throw it, when his eyes widened with thought. He quickly smoothed out the paper once more and studied the artwork more carefully. He recognized that symbol. He traced the dried, lumpy paint with his thumb. "Varian's desk," he decided. "He has this same sun on display. What did he say? That it was from his kingdom...?"

Hugo's voice trailed off when he made the connection between the kingdom in the distance the paper in his hands. "If this is Varian's past, maybe he got teleported here too." The boy sighed and this time carefully folded the parchment up and placed it into his satchel. "Hang on, Goggles. I'm coming."

 Hugo picked up his pace, now jogging toward the kingdom as it drew ever closer. It wasn't long before he got a glance of the first few houses, though the main kingdom of Corona was still a distance away. Something he found peculiar, however, it that the ground was littered with black rocks sprouting from the ground. Some were only small, spiked rocks. Others were large, seemingly just as big as Hugo. He paused a moment, running a hand through his hair as he pushed himself to remember what Varian had told him about his home.

My town is kind of on the outskirts of the main kingdom. Varian's voice rang through his head, the memory of the two of them talking at night in their bunks that night when neither of them could sleep suddenly rushing back. 

It's called Old Corona, so not necessarily a part of Corona...

So, this must've been Old Corona. If Varian got zapped back in the past too, this is probably where he was. With a new-found determination, Hugo kept his head down and made his way through the slightly crowded streets, making sure to look around for that all too familiar blue hair stripe and dodging the common strange black rock.

He whistled casually, hands behind his back as he walked, and the other townspeople didn't seem to look twice. The boy's tune would stop momentarily whenever he thought he saw a flash of blue, or someone that looked like Varian, only turning out to be a false alarm. He finally groaned when he had accidentally mistaken a stranger for his friend, overwhelmed. Hugo stopped in place and pushed his hair back, still looking around. "Goggles, where are y-"

His eyes landed on something, and it immediately caused a lump in his throat, his expression darkening slightly. He had found Varian's face. Now what was it doing plastered on the wall, framed by the words Wanted?

Hugo sprinted over to the wall and practically tore the poster off the wall, ripping the worn paper. Varian's scowling expression took him by surprise. "Looks like Goody two shoes isn't such a saint after all," he muttered, completely dumbfounded. He leaned against the wall and could only stare at Varian's face looking back at him, still not processing it. A woman walked by at that exact moment and raised an eyebrow, turning toward Hugo. "You must be new around here."

Hugo's eyes darted from side-to-side before realizing she was talking to him. "What... do you mean?"

The woman tilted her head, shooting him a cautious looking before walking away. Hugo watched her go, disoriented by everything. "I've got to find Hairstripe," he decided. The blond took one look at the wanted poster in his hands before folding it up in a careful way, similar to how he had folded up the painting of the sun. Placing it in his satchel, Hugo let out an overwhelmed sigh and got going again. Though, it wasn't helpful considering he had no idea where he was going.

A sudden flash of fur caught his gaze. Then it rammed into his ankles at full speed, letting out a hiss and it scurried backwards. The impact made Hugo take a step back, but he recovered quickly. The creature arched its back and hissed, making a low growling noise as it crouched in front of Hugo. Rather than feeling threatened, however, Hugo just knelt and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? Goggles got to keep his pet when we teleported? Or wait... are you past Ruddiger or present Ruddiger?" He held out his hand for the raccoon to sniff, and Ruddiger batted at it with his paw and backed away. Hugo rolled his eyes and exhaled. "Either way, you hate me."

Ruddiger hissed again before his eyes widened. His eyes darted around frantically as if looking for something. Hugo glanced around as well, before seeing an apple rolling across the stone floor. He smirked at Ruddiger before striding over and picking it up. Ruddiger, upon seeing that the stranger had stolen his food, he arched his back again and ran after Hugo. The boy yelped and spread his legs just in time, so Ruddiger ran right through them. "Calm down, buddy," Hugo said.

The raccoon was obviously very confused for a moment, wondering where the thief had gone. When Ruddiger heard his voice call out from behind him, he scurried to turn around and face Hugo.

"Lead me to Varian, and I'll give you your apple back." Hugo bent down next to Ruddiger and held the apple in front of him. His smirk was gone. He was just determined to find Varian now. "You're smart. I know you understand what I want."

Ruddiger chittered nervously, taking cautious steps back. The raccoon was obviously conflicted between the safety of his owner, and the apple that Hugo was holding. He locked eyes on the red apple in the stranger's hand and licked his raccoon lips. The boy chuckled. "Listen, Ruddiger. I'm not gonna hurt you. Goggles would kill me. I just need to find him. Bring me to him, and this apple is all yours."

The raccoon chittered again, finally nodding and turning around. Then he took off in the other direction.

"I-uh... what?" Hugo stuttered. He shot up, glancing down at the apple in his hands, then where Ruddiger was running. Then his chin raised slightly as his mouth slightly parted, then he took off following Ruddiger. "Wait up, bud!"

The boy swiftly followed the raccoon, dodging the rocks as they ran. Once he caught up with him, he never lost sight of him once. Soon enough, the two found themselves in front of a nice house, though the black rocks Hugo had seen earlier were protruding everywhere. Ruddiger stopped in front of the house, heaving heavily. He turned around to face Hugo and presented the house with his paws, as if to say, happy now? Where's my apple?

Hugo laughed and tossed the apple to Ruddiger, who proceeded to catch it and snarf it down, apple pieces flying everywhere. Hugo watched in slight disgust before shaking his head and pushing past Ruddiger, to the front door. The boy waited a moment before taking a shaky breath inwards, then knocking on the door.

No one answered, but there did seem to be noises coming from inside. Hushed whispers and the sound of footsteps. Hugo knocked again, but this time only silence came from the house. Still with his mind set on finding Varian, he tried the doorknob. It was unlocked, so he pushed the door open. Ruddiger was still too bothered by his apple to care.

The house was eerily silent. Cobwebs were starting to form everywhere, dust and rubble scattered across the floor. The rocks had started to emerge from the ground as well, poking through the hard floors. "Jeez, Goggles," Hugo muttered, stepping toward the door in front of him as he looked all around the room. "I was expecting something nicer."

As soon as he took the first step into the second room, the boy found himself bombarded by colorful explosions, shrouding him in mist. As it cleared, Hugo tried to walk again only to find himself stuck, glued to the ground with an orange substance. His hands were bonded to the wall with the same chemical compound. "Goggles?!" He cried out, panic starting to set in.

Then another blast from across the room caught his eye, this time a bright explosion of pink. Hugo's eyes narrowed. There was something in the mist. A light.

Hues of pink, green, and blue shown through the smoke, creating a glare on Hugo's glasses. His eyes started to water, but he pushed himself to keep his eyes on the oncoming figure. "Who are you?" a distorted voice asked, obviously coming from the shadows.

"Hairstripe? S'at you? What is all this?" The figure was becoming clearer now, the smoke fading away. That voice wasn't Varian. Whoever this was... this wasn't someone he knew.

As the silhouette approached, Hugo winced and looked to the side.

"Who are you?" The voice asked again, now sounding much more high-pitched and just plain terrified. Hugo could feel the presence of someone in front of him. The three different colored lights he had seen through the mist now seemed a lot closer. Hugo brought himself to look up, and immediately paled, letting out a soft gasp.

-*-

This one is a longer one, so I split it into two parts! 

Pt. 1- 2787 words!

Expect pt.2 soon! (Once I get motivation😭)