I'm back with pt. 2!! Hopefully no one was waiting for too long!

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It was Varian. But it also wasn't. Dark, sunken circles laid under his eyes. He was practically wearing rags, a teal shirt with a dirty, brown apron. His eyes weren't filled with the usual enthusiasm, but rather bitterness and fear. It was clear the boy hadn't slept for days.

"Who are you?!" Varian asked again, more frantic.

It was clear that he was trying to put on a brave cover. Varian's lower lip trembled just as much as his voice. He held the tip of his staff underneath Hugo's chin. The blond flinched away from it. "Goggles... what's going on?" Hugo tried to pull his hands free from the solution, but Varian just dug the tip further into his neck.

"Why did you call me that?" Varian bared his teeth and grabbed a round glass bottle filled with a yellow liquid from his pocket. Hugo noticed how dirty his face looked; his usual neat black hair messy and unkept. Varian's other hand was still holding the blond's chin with his staff. "Answer me."

Hugo's eyes widened at the anger and fear in Varian's face. This kid looked like Varian. He even had the signature goggles around his neck. The blond knew in his heart that this was his friend. Yet, he seemed almost like a stranger. 

Varian genuinely didn't know who he was. Another quiet gasp escaped Hugo's pursed lips at the realization. He didn't teleport to his own past.

He teleported back in time to Varian's.

"I-" Hugo's throat choked with emotion. He slunk further away from Varian's staff, which still pressed into his neck. Taking into consideration that Varian was probably terrified out of his mind and had no idea who he was, Hugo tried a different approach. He softened his tone, now speaking in a much gentler voice. "I'm Hugo. I'm- I'm your friend. Oh god... that's just going to confuse you, huh?"

"What are you talking about?" Varian hissed out. Hugo found the glowing round vial closer to his face, and the staff's tip pressed further into his neck. He let out a choking noise and struggled in his goopy restraints. "Varian." Using the boy's actual name felt strange on Hugo's tongue. "I'll explain, okay? Can you let me out of here?" He motioned to the mixture sticking his hands to the wall behind him and his feet to the floor. Varian let out an almost cruel laugh, sending chills down Hugo's spine.

"No! I'm not stupid. Did the guards send you?" Varian shook his head and sneered. "That's it, isn't it? You're a spy?"

Hugo groaned and leaned away from the wall, extending his arms. "The- guards? I don't even know what you're talking about!" The blond sighed and let his head fall, knowing that getting angry with the boy wasn't going to help. He was already scared enough. After a moment, he glanced back up. Varian's eyebrows were still knit together in a scowl. "How old are you?" Hugo asked suddenly.

Varian tilted his head, obviously taken aback by the question. The boy took a step back in caution. He held the yellow ball above his head, ready to smash it down at any second. "Why do you want to know?"

"Goggles, listen, I'm not gonna hurt you." Hugo put all his weight forward, testing the limits of Varian's alchemical solution binding him to the wall. "I just wanna know."

To Hugo's surprise, Varian lowered the hand that held the yellow vial along with his staff. Hugo's chin fell, and he let out a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding. Varian's eyes darted back and forth, searching Hugo's expression. Then he too let out a sigh.

"I'm fourteen. And anyone on the royal guard would've probably known that... so I guess you're okay." Varian let his guard down, relaxing slightly. Or at least he didn't seem as on-edge. Now, he just seemed even more terrified, without the brave front he tried to put on at first. "But what are you doing here...Hugo?"

The blond ignored the question, not even sure where to begin. "You're fourteen?" He asked, trying to change the subject. Varian gave him a wary look as he made his way over to a counter on the side of the room, but he nodded before bending down to rummage through a drawer.

Hugo's eyes quite literally gleamed with adoration from behind the lenses of his glasses. "Baby Goggles," he whispered. Varian shot up at the whispered words, only to hit his head on the edge of the cabinet. "OW! Dang it..." He held the side of his head and stood up straight, face pink from embarrassment. "What- what did you say?" Varian asked, rubbing the side of his head.

"Er...nothing."

 Hugo noticed the small vial Varian had pulled out from the drawer. "What's that?" He motioned toward the black-haired boy's hand, grasped tightly around the vial. Varian dropped his gaze down to where Hugo had pointed to, then seemed to grimace slightly. He tightened his grip around it and walked over to the blond, standing right in front of him. Varian glared up at Hugo. "Do you swear you're not here to hurt me?"
Once again, Hugo was taken aback slightly by the genuine fear in the other boy's voice. His head rapidly moved back and forth. "No!" He responded almost immediately. "I would never. Promise." Hugo tried for a reassuring smile, but his lips stuck to his teeth, and he ended up just looking creepy. Still, Varian sighed and bent down, uncorking the strange solution in the vial and sprinkling it over the orange goop. Within seconds, it dissolved, freeing Hugo's feet from their prison. Varian repeated the process for his hands, and soon he was completely free. Hugo let out a breathless laugh and went in for a side hug, but both of them flinched away. Hugo awkwardly coughed into his hand instead. "Um...thanks."

"No problem."

A silence filled the room. Varian seemed to find it uncomfortable, shifting the weight between his feet and glancing around. However, Hugo almost... didn't find it that awkward. Sure, Varian was a lot- younger than what he was used to... but it was still Varian.

"Are...you good?"

Hugo snapped out of the daze he was in. He hadn't even noticed he was staring at Varian until he caught a glance of the confused look on Varian's face. Thankfully, the other boy seemed to ignore Hugo's staring, looking at him one last time before turning on his heel to another part of the room. The blond blushed slightly before following him. "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Whatcha doing?"

Varian, still finding Hugo's presence a bit off putting, waited a second before inhaling sharply and replying, "Your glasses are broken, Hugo. I'm finding something to fix them." He looked away from the drawer he was scavenging in and looked up, where he was almost jump-scared by how close Hugo was now. Varian quickly shook off the initial panic with another sigh and went back to searching.

Hugo's gloved hand moved up to take the glasses propped on his nose off. He carefully examined them, and despite being blind as a bat, his finger ran over a small crack in the bridge. Any wrong move, and the wire of his glasses would've snapped in two. A brief, surprised look flickered across his features and his cheeks blushed pink before he tried to play off his flustered state. "Oh- thanks... I didn't even notice." Hugo wasn't used to expressing gratitude. He wasn't the best at expressing his feelings in general. With Varian, however, he didn't find it difficult to seem genuine at all.

Varian nodded in response and sprung up a few seconds later with a piece of cloth and a jar filled with a strange substance. He didn't say anything to the blond, but held out his hand expectantly. Hugo, taking the hint, took his busted glasses off his nose and placed them in Varian's hands. He prepared to go to work, snapping the goggles around his neck over his blue eyes. The young alchemist immediately went to work, snapping the wire frame of the glasses in two.

"Hey!" Hugo cried.

Varian shot him a side glance but said nothing more. He set one half of the glasses down and dipped the bridge of the other one into the substance-filled jar. Clear goo dripped from the wire as he extracted it, and the boy connected the two halves. He then wrapped the thin, white, and slightly tattered piece of cloth around the thin wire. The glasses stayed together, held together by the alchemic solution and cloth. He lifted his goggles, and with a prideful smile faint as mist, Varian held up the finished product. Hugo couldn't help but smile and chuckle at the boy's pleased expression, and the blond winked as he put them back on.

Varian's smile got slightly wider. Hugo's heart did a somersault at that. "It works great Gog-... er- Varian. Thanks. Really." 

He held his hand out for Varian, who took it with a shy smile. "Heh... thanks. And it's no problem, really."

Hugo smirked and took his hand from Varian's to straighten his newly fixed glasses. The young boy took the opportunity to learn more about the stranger in his house. "So... what were you talking about earlier? You're my friend?" Varian raised an eyebrow.

Hugo, who had been cross-eyed trying to glimpse at the cloth between his eyes, turned his attention back to Varian. He opened his mouth to speak, but for one of the first times in the thief's life, he had no idea what to say. "I... um- ignore what I said earlier," Hugo said with a laugh that had a nervous edge to it. He casually leaned against the table and ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't know what I was saying. I was still a little anxious from our first introductions. The trap and whatnot." He perked up slightly, a sudden thought coming to mind. "What was all that for anyways?"

Varian's already small smile disappeared completely. He looked away, and his tone was guarded and short. "Nothing. Security measures." The alchemist didn't say anything after that.

Hugo raised an eyebrow but said nothing more. His thoughts drifted back to the streets; Varian's face hung on the wall on a wanted poster and his mention of the royal guard earlier. There was something he wasn't letting on, but Varian seemed so unstable right now that pressing the matter would cause an outburst and emotions to boil over. Hugo couldn't deal with that right now, not when he had his own problems to deal with. He didn't know how to get back to the present, for starters.

I've been in tougher situations. Hugo thought to himself. Assess the situation. Maybe Varian could somehow help, even if he was a few years younger.

Speaking of Varian...

It was as if Hugo wasn't even there. His goggles were laid back over his eyes, and the alchemist was already back to work mixing various chemicals and filling vials. Almost as if preparing for something. Eighteen-year-old Varian had terrible social skills as is. Looks like fourteen-year-old Varian had even worse. Hugo considered asking him what he was up to, but if he knew anything from working with present Varian, it was to not interrupt him. Especially when he was working with alchemy. Hugo's ponytail was still slightly burnt at the edges from that explosion.

It was a risky move, considering Varian was still highly wary of the blond, but he decided to explore a little more. There was a large almost tower-like object in the center of the room. Hugo had tried to ignore it at first, but the tarp-covered, jagged spire was all too big to not pay any mind too. But he didn't need Varian going off on him again either, not when he was seeming to warm up to him. Er, if ignoring him was considering "warming up". At least Hugo didn't have a deadly solution to his face anymore. Hugo rubbed his neck where the staff had left a mark and made his way over. He had been in enough situations like this to know, if you want to know something; don't ask right off the bat, that would be risky. It would cause trust to be lost, and that's one of the biggest things you don't want to happen.

Lead up to it by asking smaller, relating questions.

"So! Varian." Hugo spread his arms out in a wide, inviting gesture and smirked. Varian shot him a side glare and went back to work. 

Well, good to know Varian's opinion of Hugo hadn't changed with the times. 

He quickly recovered from the attack on his ego and kept his smile unwavering. "What're all the vials for? Going to war, or something?" Hugo joked, leaning his hand on the counter.

Varian finished filling the glass flask with a blue solution. He tossed it up once and caught it in his gloved hand before setting it down and facing Hugo. "No," he said plainly. Then he went back to ignoring Hugo, once again measuring chemicals and other solutions.

Hugo rolled his eyes. Past Varian was strikingly similar to present Varian, excepting the raggy clothes and the fact that he didn't look like he had slept a wink for a week or two.

 Scratch that. Varian hadn't changed at all since he was fourteen.

He shifted his attention away from the young alchemist and towards the mess on his desk. With Varian, there was usually some sort of categorization. On the caravan, Varian would call his workspace an "organized disaster". That was actually proven to be true. Hugo could never find anything at the shorter boy's desk, but Varian seemed to know where everything was. Even when it was dark, Varian would be able to glide along with his projects with ease. Maybe that was done by him on purpose, so Hugo couldn't use any of his materials. Hugo decided not to dwell on that.

No amount of convincing could persuade Hugo that this mess was the same "organized mess" that Varian had on the caravan. Papers and blueprints seemed to be scattered everywhere, there was broken glass along with spilled chemicals. A drawing of Rapunzel was there too, but Hugo didn't find it as concerning as the rest of the mess. They were friends, after all. 

A strange, yellow dust was also sprinkled across the table, but once again, Hugo assumed nothing of it. It was the blueprints that eventually caught the blond's attention.

They looked hand-written. Hugo knew Varian's handwriting well enough to determine that this was his. The drawing on the battered piece of paper seemed to be one of a humanoid machine, with bulky parts. There was a metal part on top of the paper as well, in the shape of a cylinder. Little studs stood out from the sides. It almost reminded Hugo of a music box. Anxious to get Varian talking again, Hugo saw this as an opportunity. He grinned once more and picked up the cylinder, tossing it from hand to hand. "What's this for, Goggles?"

"Don't call me that," Varian responded without even looking up from his work. When he finally did so, his eyes widened, and he instantly snatched the peculiar part from Hugo's fingerless gloves. "Don't touch that!"

Hugo took a step back from the boy's sudden outburst. Varian telling Hugo not to touch his things gave the thief a sense of Déjà vu, but this almost seemed more violent than normal. It might have to do with the fact that Varian was younger and scared, but still. The Goggles he knew wouldn't have been so harsh.

He held his hands up in surrender and let out a small huff. With an eyebrow raised, Hugo tried again. "Sorry, sorry. I'll ask next time before grabbing. But what's the deal with the robot dude?"

Varian sighed. "Okay, A, it's called an automaton. And B..." He subtly moved the automaton sketches out of the sight of Hugo. "It's none of your business. I don't know you." He lifted his goggles off and laid them on the counter, running a hair through his matted, black hair as he did so. Hugo silently groaned at Varian's unwillingness to tell him anything. Building trust was all about conversation. What was he supposed to do if the person he wanted to build trust with was stubborn as a mule? 

Wow. The more time he spent with the fourteen-year-old, it was getting more and more painfully obvious. Varian really hadn't changed at all in four years.

"Did you make the design yourself?" Hugo asked. He had learned people are more willing to talk if it's about themselves.

Once again, Varian proved himself different than any other.

He simply shrugged.

Hugo had to muster all the patience he could as to not go off on the boy. He brought up again and again in his thoughts how similar present Varian was to his past... but maybe Varian had changed more than Hugo realized. The alchemist he knew loved to go on and on about his projects, especially if it was something he had accomplished all on his own. Often times, Hugo would have to beg to get him to stop talking, and most of the time, that wasn't even enough.

Did this have something to do with the wanted posters? The guards? The large tower in the middle of the room?

Build up to it he reminded himself.

"It's impressive if you did," Hugo said, breaking the silence. "These mechanics are complicated, especially for someone of your age-"

"I copied it."

A thin smirk made its way onto Hugo's face. Progress. "Pardon?"

Varian exhaled and delicately picked up the paper with the automaton plans scrawled out on it. He shuffled next to Hugo, so now both of them were leaning against the short counter. Their sides were practically touching. Only now did Hugo realize how short the teal-stripped hair boy was. 

He was used to Varian obviously being shorter than him, but oh boy. He did a poor job at restraining a snort of laughter. Varian didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he didn't show any sign of it.

Ruddiger made his way back into the room at that moment. Apple pieces all over his face, he had a pleased smile as he made his way over to his owner. Varian smiled softly at the side of him and bent down, offering a hand for the raccoon to crawl up. He did so, purring as he wrapped around Varian's shoulders like a trash panda scarf. Varian scratched him behind the ears, then faced toward Hugo.

"Ra-" his voice faltered. "The princess and I," Varian corrected, "ran into one of them, once. I always found them fascinating, so the opportunity to meet one in person was just..." He shook his head and smiled, letting out a breathless laugh. "The science and engineering that must've gone into it, to make it work!"

There he is Hugo thought. He smiled and paid full attention to the boy's seemingly endless yammering. He hadn't realized how much he missed it; how sweet the sound was. There was a shift in the alchemist's behavior. Varian didn't seem to notice the change, but Hugo did. He was more at ease.

"We eventually defeated it, and it left something behind." Varian's smile only got wider as he presented the metal piece he had taken back from Hugo earlier. The blond reached out tentatively, but to both of their surprise, Varian let him take it from his gloved hands. Hugo carefully examined it. He continued. "I decided to try to replicate it. It was hard at first, considering I had only seen the thing, but I got it."

Hugo couldn't help the sense of surprise that came with Varian's words. He stared at the strange metal part with wide eyes behind his glasses. "That's...impressive," he repeated with slight awe. Varian's smile only got smugger. 

Whoops. He forgot how easy it was to inflate Goggle's ego.

"Heh, thanks. I've started to build it; it's going good so far." Varian took the piece back from Hugo along with the blueprints and set it with his goggles on the table. "Even better, I'm making multiple. Mass producing it, so to say. It's actually quite simple once you get it down!" The boy's blue eyes were bright with enthusiasm. Hugo missed that buck tooth smile. This is the Varian he knew, excitedly ranting