There was a strange feeling like missing a step as Hugo entered the portal. His heart felt as though it had fallen into his stomach then all of a sudden, he was in the library. It was different than how he imagined it, but it was definitely unlimited knowledge if he'd ever seen it. Bookcases shifted and moved before him.
The blonde wasted no time in looking for Varian. He walked down each aisle, his walk becoming a run before long.
"Varian!?" He called out into the endless chamber. He turned corner after corner until he spotted a short, dark-haired boy facing away from him up ahead.
"Varian!" He yelled, reaching the boy and pulling him around to face him. He was shocked to see the boy's eyes were glowing green.
Hugo backed away, unsure what sort of magic he was dealing with.
Varian wore an unsettling smile and the streak in his hair glowed the same green as his eyes.
"You must be Hugo." An unfamiliar voice spoke from Varian's mouth, "I've heard about you." It said, bitterly.
"Ulla..." Hugo assumed, his eyes darting from Varian's glowing hair to his eyes, "What've you done?"
She laughed,
"I'm going to leave the library and finish what I started with Donella so many years ago!" Varian swiped a hand through the air and green energy pulsed from his fingers, sending Hugo flying across the aisle, crashing into a bookshelf with a grunt.
Varian made a turn, moving towards the gateway, so Hugo pulled himself from the ground and ran after him.
"Ulla, you don't have to do this!"
Varian stopped and slowly turned to Hugo, "Oh, I've heard that before. I suppose the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. After all, Donella betrayed me; just like you betrayed Varian."
"You don't know what you're taking about!" Hugo yelled, "I care about Varian- and whatever magical possession you've got him under- it's not right- you need to let him go!"
"Varian wants to help me leave the library! You're standing in his way!" Varian swung his hand through the air again and Hugo rolled out of the way of the blow. When he stood, he aimed his wrist bracer at the boy, hesitating as his finger hovered over the trigger.
Ulla laughed,
"You won't do it. If you try to harm me, you only hurt him."
Hugo took a heavy breath then forced a smirk,
"Who said anything about hurting you?" He turned a dial on his wrist bracer then shot a purple bomb at Varian. He moved to dodge so Hugo shot another. Varian dodged it once again and Ulla's voice growled,
"Enough!" She yelled and to Hugo's surprise, Varian's body rose into the air, "I've had enough of your games! If you know what's good for you, you'll stand down!"
Hugo clenched his jaw and aimed his wrist bracer at Varian again,
"Y'know, I've never really been too good at knowin' what's good for me." He joked, shooting at Varian. The orbs weren't picking up enough momentum to reach him in the air, so Hugo looked around and, thinking quickly, began climbing a nearby bookshelf.
All while avoiding persistent attacks from Ulla, Hugo climbed half way up one of the moving bookcases and when it moved behind Varian, he shot a bomb his way.
It hit the boy and his body collapsed to the ground. Hugo's eyes widened and he climbed down, jumping to the floor and running to Varian's side.
"V- are you ok?" He knelt by the boy and placed his hands on his shoulders.
Ulla's voice laughed from somewhere within the boy,
"You think you'll beat me so easily?"
"Get out of him!" Hugo growled and Ulla continued to laugh.
"Varian...please..." Hugo held the boy's cheek in his hand and brushed his thumb across it,
"I know you're still in there and...if you can hear me, you have to fight. I- I know you're mad and I don't blame you." His eyes began watering, "I don't need you to forgive me- I just...I want you to know it wasn't all a lie and I need you to get through this- you can't give up...I know I haven't been a good friend and- and..." He pressed his forehead to Varian's, "I'm sorry..." The blonde choked back tears, Ulla's laughter ringing in his ears, "I love you...Varian."
The green light from the boy's eyes opening made Hugo move away, and he watched as Varian's body rose into the air again.
"How touching." Ulla said from the boy, "It's a shame he can't hear-"
At that moment, Varian's body froze up in midair.
Hugo watched intently,
"Varian?" He asked, cautiously.
The boy's body began emitting a bright green light as it bobbed in the air.
Hugo shielded his eyes and when the light faded, Varian's eyes were back to their normal blue but the streak in his hair still glowed green in colour. To Hugo's surprise, the stripe split into two, one the original teal colour, and the other bright green. Varian's body fell and Hugo ran forwards to catch him.
Breathing heavily, Hugo knelt on the ground with Varian in his arms and gently patted his cheek to wake him,
"Varian?"
Varian began to stir then opened his eyes slowly. Hugo's own eyes widened and Varian gave a weak smirk,
"I think I prefer Goggles." He joked and the blonde couldn't help but smile, pulling Varian into a tight hug.
"Thought I lost y'there."
"Hah." Varian grunted from the aching pain in his body, "Can't get rid of me that easily."
Hugo moved away, smiling with tears still in his eyes,
"Varian, I-"
Before he could continue, the floor started to rumble. Ulla appeared from behind them, her eyes glowing green as Varian's had. Hugo held the boy close to him and helped him to stand. They both gazed up at Ulla's floating body, radiating green light.
"You've made a mistake challenging me, Varian." The woman's voice echoed throughout the library and Hugo felt Varian clench his hand tightly."I didn't want to hurt you...but I'm afraid you leave me no choice." Ulla's voice was harsh, "Whether I possess your body, or your friend's, I will leave this library alive." The woman pulled books from their places on the shelves with her magic and sent them flying at the boys. Varian pulled Hugo aside to dodge the attack.
"Any ideas on how we fight her?" Hugo asked desperately and Varian clenched his jaw, thinking hard. Taking notice of this, Hugo took a deep breath, "I'll distract her while you think of something, ok?"
"Don't hurt her..." Varian looked Hugo in the eyes, a sad look in his own. Hugo nodded and Varian watched anxiously as he ran off towards Ulla. The blonde dodged each attack she threw at him and shot chemical bombs until he was all out.
Nothing seemed to work against her; she was just too strong. Varian could tell Hugo was becoming tired as his moves were slower and he was dodging more sloppily.
The boy wanted to help but couldn't clear his head enough to think up a plan. It was still filled with thoughts of Hugo's betrayal, his confession, Ulla's true intentions; her possession of him.
Varian shook his head and cursed himself, wishing he could think of something; anything.
Then Ulla overpowered Hugo. With her magic, she lifted him from the ground and threw him into a bookcase, causing books to fall from their places around him.
"Hugo!" Varian yelled, running to the boy. Ulla laughed and aimed more of her magic in Varian's direction. He dove out of the way and skidded across the ground, his body aching more.
His mother lowered to the floor and walked towards the boy. Each footstep shook the ground.
Varian rose from the floor, his legs shaking. When Ulla was close enough, he threw a blue smoke bomb and pink trap bomb at her then ran towards Hugo.
Ulla coughed, and when the smoke cleared, she growled in anger at the pink goo encasing her feet."Hugo!" Varian called, running as fast as he could, almost tripping over his own feet. He fell to his knees beside the boy and looked him over,
"I'm...I'm so sorry- I should've listened to you..." He gritted his teeth, his eyes gleaming with tears, "This is all my fault."
Hugo sat up slowly with a grunt.
"But I'm gonna fix this..." Varian nodded to himself, "Hide- and first chance you have, get out of here." He told him, and before he could move away, Hugo grabbed his arm.
"I don't think so, Stripes. I'm not goin' anywhere." He mumbled, weakly.
"Hugo-"
"I'm not leavin' you. We're doing this together."
They looked into each other's eyes for a moment while Ulla freed herself of the pink goo then Varian nodded, pulling Hugo to his feet.
They both turned to Ulla and watched her approach them.
Varian handed Hugo a pink orb from his belt and took the last smoke bomb for himself.
"We don't have to fight, Varian." Ulla said, her eyes returning to their normal colour, "We can figure this out..."
Varian almost considered this option before he noticed a collection of glowing green books rise into the air out of the corner of his eyes. The boy swung his staff at the books, hitting them away from him and Hugo.
He readied his smoke bomb and Ulla stared at him almost sadly.
"Fine. But know you're forcing my hand." The woman swept a hand through the air towards Hugo and the boy threw his bomb at her. It trapped her feet, but didn't stop her from sending him flying into yet another bookcase.
"Mom, stop!" Varian yelled, desperately, his voice breaking. When she turned her attention to him, Varian lowered his smoke bomb, tears streaming down his face.
"This isn't right." He pleaded with her, "You don't have to do this. I know you're- you're angry and you want to leave this place but this isn't the way."
Ulla freed her feet; smashing a beaker of yellow liquid onto the pink goo, then she moved towards Varian, who backed away.
"Please...this path you're on is a hard one to come back from. It- It corrupts you, and turns you into something you're not- I understand! You- You feel powerless, like everyone's failed you and this is the only way to fix things...I know what it's like to live with that anger. It's hard."
Ulla stopped, seemingly to listen to her son.
"You were right about- missing a lot in my life...in a way I'm glad you weren't there to see it. I made...some really bad choices, Mom.
I hurt people who were supposed to be my friends- I was stupid a- and I almost lost dad. It...destroyed me.
I felt like I'd failed him and when I needed help the most, it's like everyone had abandoned me. That...powerlessness- not being able to save him...it made me so mad- madder than I've ever been before.
I know that's how you must feel...You don't have to feel like that, Mom...You're not alone- I'm here."
Ulla's eyes stopped glowing and now they were glossy. Varian was shaking as he spoke, barely able to get the words out.
"Mom...the only way to get you out of this library..." The boy struggled, "I don't like it either- if I could save you I would- you know I would. I only just met you, and I don't wanna have to lose you again..." Varian sniffled and moved towards his mother, cautiously. She was crying now too.
"But it- it's time to let go." He sniffled, taking his mother's hands into his own.
The woman shook her head and Varian cried harder, forcing back the tears as best he could and trying to compose himself, for his mother's sake,
"I promise I'll continue your work- I'll share the knowledge here with everyone...and it'll all be because of you. You found the library- you protected it..." Varian explained and his mother smiled through her tears. The green light seemingly left her, now spiralling around the two instead. Ulla cupped the boy's face in her hands,
"I'm so proud of you, Varian...I could never imagine you would have grown into such a kind and caring person...It sounds as though you've been through so much- and still...you've come out of it stronger than ever...I know you have so much more good to give to the world. I- I wish I could stay- to see you grow...to be a family..."
"I- I know, Mom." He tried to smile, "I...don't wanna have to let you go...but it's time."
Ulla nodded and Varian wrapped his arms around her tightly. They stayed that way for a long time, both shaking and crying. It was difficult; not only having to let his mother go after only having known her a short time, but having to be the one to convince her that it was ok.
"I love you, Mom." Varian whispered and Ulla squeezed him tightly.
"I love you too, Varian."