Drabble 101
Switching Sides
Ruddiger knew this was wrong, just as he had known the automatons were wrong. Varian shouldn’t be talking with the Saporians! They were hardened criminals and Varian… well, at his heart, he was just a lost boy. But Andrew had a way of getting what he wanted. He’d been charming Varian for months now with promises of how Varian could start over, if only he helped the Saporians out first. Varian at least had been insistent that no one be hurt by this plan. He was too blinded by despair to see the smirking looks Kai, Clementine, and Andrew exchanged.
But Ruddiger saw, and Ruddiger didn’t like it. He didn’t know if Varian could synthesize the wand’s power, but the Wand of Oblivium wasn’t something that should be used against the Royal Family (even though they hadn’t made any progress in restoring Quirin, despite claims that they would look into that. Varian hadn’t forgotten how they had turned their backs on him, and apparently he wanted to make sure no one else forgot either. It was a little complicated, this leap of logic, and Ruddiger wasn’t quite sure it tracked, but that was the logic Varian was operating by now.)
Ruddiger stuck around though, even as the wand was used and the people told to mine crystals Varian needed to complete his memory-erasing gas. He didn’t like what was going on, and he tried to nudge Varian along a different path, but the Saporians were always around, blocking Ruddiger and egging Varian on. They were there whenever Varian worked on the quirineon, always telling him he was making good progress, even as quirineon never seemed to do anything other than explode.
“How’s it coming, friend?” asked Andrew.
“Yeah.” echoed Clementine.
“If my calculations are correct, when the quirineon is heated, it will convert to a gaseous state and be easily dispersed throughout the entire city, wiping the memories of everyone in Corona.” Varian explained as he worked. There was a crack as the quirineon heated, then exploded, spraying green goop everywhere and plastering Varian to the wall.
“Evidently my calculations were not correct.” Varian rasped.
“Oh, if it won’t erase people’s memories, the boy’s chemical may have other uses.” Clementine said gleefully. Andrew looked at her and smiled.
Ruddiger hissed as part of the ceiling fell down, distracting Varian. He wanted to clean up the area, then run more tests on his quirineon. He wasn’t aware of the Saporian’s scheming around him, too focused on his plan. He ran to get more crystals and Ruddiger hissed again, and this time someone noticed him.
“Get out of here, you filthy trash possum.” Andrew snarled. If Varian had heard, he would have stopped listening to Andrew right away! No one treated his little buddy like that. But Varian was just out of sight, and possibly out of reach, and there was nothing Ruddiger could do to get through to him, not with Andrew hovering over him like a dark cloud. “Beat it!” Andrew ordered. And Ruddiger left.
But Ruddiger didn’t go far. He plodded along the alleys near the castle, nose to the ground, always hoping to catch scent or sight of Varian, hopefully in a better frame of mind and willing to see reason. And now at last Ruddiger had found him, alone and scared on a rooftop in town.
“Ruddiger!” Varian cried and grabbed the small raccoon, pulling him into a tight hug. Tears were streaming from his eyes. “Where were you, buddy? I- I’ve messed up, really bad. They were gonna use the quirineon and-- and blow up the city. I tried to stop it, but Rapunzel, she’s up there now and-- and she...” Varian gulped, unable to finish his thought.
There was an explosion in the skies above. But from out of the ashes there appeared Rapunzel, surrounded by her magical hair and perfectly intact, as she swung her hair around and used it to slow her fall.
“Oh thank God.” Varian murmured, clearly relieved. Ruddiger was relieved too, his human wasn’t too far lost after all.
The End
I like Ruddiger, always looking out for Varian’s best interests. He is Loyal with a capital L.