Hugo showed them around the 'best' parts of the kingdom. He took them to the train station and they spent a long time there so Yong and Varian could watch as steam engines pulled in. Every time a train showed up, they cheered.
Hugo and Nuru watched them from a bench close by.
"I wonder if they're ever going to get tired of this." Nuru sighed.
"I just wanna complete the trial and get outta here." Hugo responded.
"For once we agree on something."
There was a short silence.
"Sorry for what I said on the boat." Hugo said, finally and Nuru looked to him, surprised.
"Really?" She crossed her arms and smirked slightly.
"Really. I don't exactly...like you, but you're not terrible to be around." Hugo replied with a grin.
"And you're not...completely unbearable." She looked back to Varian and Yong, "Which doesn't mean I'm not still suspicious of you; I am."
"If I wanted to do anything to hurt anyone, I'd already've done it." Hugo told her, "I know how it must've sounded...but I've never had people I could trust before." The boy hated that he was falling back on the 'opening up about your feelings' schtick, but he couldn't risk the Princess finding out about his deal with Donella. Nuru looked as though she couldn't think how to respond. She sat up slightly and turned to Hugo,
"Will you show us where you live?" She asked, softly. The blonde stared, searching the girl's eyes, "Why?"
"I feel like I've been so quick to judge you because you put on this...smug, 'don't care' attitude. And you're quick to judge me because I didn't grow up with the same struggles you did. You've seen where I live, I want to see where you live...so, will you take us there?" Nuru asked, and Hugo watched as another train pulled in and Yong cheered.
"Sure." The blonde responded.
"I thought we 'wouldn't wanna see' where you live?" Varian joked as Hugo led them through the streets again.
"Well, as the Princess asked so nicely, I decided; why not." Hugo responded.
"I'm so excited!" Yong said, joyfully.
"Don't get your hopes up, kid." Hugo sighed.
"But you're so cool- so your house must be super cool too!" Yong exclaimed and Hugo looked slightly embarrassed. When Hugo turned into an alleyway which went unnoticed by the others, they were hesitant to follow, especially Nuru. The alleyway led them deeper into the heart of the city, behind all of the flashy buildings and impressive vehicles.
It was like walking through a portal to a whole new kingdom. The buildings and technology wasn't nearly as impressive. There was a cart of what the group assumed was mud until they passed it; the smell was awful.
They moved quicker to keep up with Hugo. Most of the buildings they passed looked rundown, and there were no vehicles passing through. When they were about to pass two men having an argument, Hugo whispered to the group, "Just keep your heads down."
They all followed his command and walked past, seemingly unnoticed. When they reached the end of the street, Hugo moved between two three story buildings.
They reached a ladder on the side of one and Hugo stood beside it, "Ladies first." He looked to Nuru, and she nervously climbed the ladder. Yong followed, then Varian. Hugo stared off in the direction they'd come from, before he too climbed the ladder.
When Nuru reached the top, she climbed in through an open window on the top floor, helping Yong inside. The other two boys followed. There was a large hole in the ground of the room they stood in and when Yong got too close to the edge, Nuru pulled him back. Hugo walked over to one of the building's supporting pillars and pulled on a rope that was tied around it. He carried the slack of the rope to the hole and threw it down.
"You do this every time you come here?" Nuru asked, cautiously.
"Pretty much. Wanna go back?" He asked, almost hopefully.
Nuru looked between Varian and Yong and they all smiled, determined. Hugo attempted a smile too then took the rope in his hands, dropping down into the open floor and climbing until he reached the floor below.
Varian, then Nuru and Yong followed. Once they reached this new floor, Hugo led the way to a door, which he lock-picked. They waited patiently and there was a click. Hugo held the handle for a moment then turned it and swung the door open.
"Well, this is it." He told them, and stepped aside. Varian was the first to walk in.
It was a fairly large room with all the windows boarded up but one.
Though the space itself wasn't very pleasant, the furniture was surprisingly nice. There was a mattress with comfortable-looking bedsheets and cushions on it in one corner.
Next to it was a table with a few of ornaments and a stack of decorative dishes. Varian walked further into the room.
There was a large oak desk in another corner; by the window. On the desk were sheets upon sheets of paper filled with familiar scrawled handwriting. There was a selection of equipment and apparatus spread around messily. Next to the desk was a cabinet with mis-match cutlery atop it.
"What was that?" Nuru asked, anxiously when she heard something move from beside the desk. Suddenly a rat scurried out from under it and Olivia ran down Hugo's arm to chase it.
"You have rats?" Yong asked, beaming.
"I...guess I do." Hugo sighed.
"What're their names?"
"Wha- they're..." Hugo partially obscured his face in his hand, going very slightly pink.
"They're not his pets, Yong." Nuru whispered.
"Oh...so can I name them?" Yong asked with a smile.
"Be my guest." Hugo crossed his arms and watched as Yong ran off after Olivia and the rat.
"So...this is where you live?" Nuru asked, holding her hands together in front of her.
"Yup. It's a dump, I know. I could lie and say I wasn't expecting guests, and it's usually nicer but..." He looked around at the place, "you wouldn't believe me anyway." He chuckled.
"I'm so sorry...I didn't realise you were living this rough." Nuru frowned.
"Hey, at least I got a roof over my head." He grinned.
"Your...furniture is nice. It definitely makes the place more...homey."
"You don't have to try and be nice." Hugo laughed, "I hate it here as much as you do. I try to stay...anywhere else, whenever I can."
"I don't hate it." Nuru tried to smile.
"Yeah, and I didn't steal a candle holder from your castle."
"What?" She raised a brow.
"What?" Hugo grinned. The Princess furrowed her brows, and opened her mouth to speak.
"Hey, Nuru, look!" Yong yelled over to the Princess, "I caught 'im!" Yong held up the rat and it squirmed in his hands. Even Varian looked around to stare at the young boy.
"Yong- put that down, you don't know where it's been!" Nuru ran over.
Hugo looked over to the desk and met eyes with Varian. He put on a smirk and walked over, "Stealing my notes?" He laughed.
"Committed them to memory." Varian joked then he looked up to Hugo with a more sincere expression, "Hey, this place isn't as bad as you made out."
"Seriously? Goggles, it's a storage room in a decrepit building. I'm not gonna lose sleep if you tell me you hate it and wanna leave immediately." Hugo grinned.
"I'm being honest." Varian laughed, "It's no grand castle with golden decor," He joked, "but you've really made it home, you know?"
Hugo stared at him, before going slightly red.
The blonde cleared his throat then smirked widely, "Prison really lowered your standards, huh?"
Varian nudged the blonde, which only made him chuckle.
"Gimme a tour?" Varian smirked and Hugo rolled his eyes.
"What d'you want me t'say? Bed, table, workspace, storage." Hugo chuckled, "That's it."
"And what might one find you doing on an average day?" Varian rubbed his chin with his forefinger and thumb.
"You're an idiot." Hugo nudged him, feeling the heat in his face rise.
"Are you sure you don't wanna keep Flynnigan?" Yong asked Hugo sadly, holding up the rat, which was munching on a piece of bread.
"Good name." Varian nodded in approval.
"Let's- not name the rats living here." Hugo looked disgusted by the creature.
"But he's a good rat." Yong patted his head and Nuru shook hers.
"What if we took him back to the-" Yong started.
"No way." Varian responded.
"But you and Hugo have rodents as pets." Yong pouted and both Hugo and Varian stared in disbelief. The dark-haired boy scoffed, "Ruddiger is not a rodent."
"Well, he is kinda like an oversized rat." Hugo responded.
"Oh, alright- and what about you? You have a pet mouse but you'll turn your nose up at a few rats?" Varian questioned.
"Rats are dirty and they carry disease. Olivia's mechanical and can't get diseased- and she's good company." Hugo crossed his arms.
"So's Ruddiger."
"Yeah, if you enjoy the company of bad smelling vermin." Hugo protested.
"I guess I must do since I put up with you." Varian smirked and Hugo couldn't contain his own grin.
"You got me, Sweetcheeks."
Nuru sighed just listening to the two of them. Yong looked between them and spoke up quietly, "So can we keep him?"
"No." Hugo replied.
They didn't spend much longer there, at Hugo's request. He was going to take them out what he called 'the back way'. They left the room and Yong let the rat go while Hugo locked the door behind them. He then led them to a staircase which took them down to the bottom floor.
There was some obvious water-damage to the furniture lying around, and the wooden beams on the ceiling were rotting, and patched up with scrap-metal. Varian assumed this was Hugo's doing; in an attempt to keep the building from collapsing.
"What happened down here?" Nuru asked.
"Flooded." Hugo replied and continued through the room to another door, "This part of the kingdom's so close to the coast that if there's a particularly bad storm, this part of the city floods pretty bad." Hugo picked the lock.
"How'd you find this place?" Varian questioned.
"Well, I'd been livin' on the streets most of my life, and whenever the weather was harsh, it was a fight with other people to find somewhere to take shelter for the night." Hugo explained, opening the door to the next room, "I found this place. Trust me when I say I had to fend off a lot of other people. I ended up blocking the main entrance so no one could just waltz in."
The next room was a very large space, which must have been a storage unit for vehicles that had been long forgotten.
There was another worktable against one of the walls and three rundown steam cars which were little more than scrap metal.
"So, this is where the magic happens?" Varian chuckled.
"Sure is. I made my bike from pieces of abandoned steam cars I found out in the streets. Brought 'em back here and used what I could from 'em." Hugo told them.
"You stole cars?" Nuru raised a brow.
"I've stolen a lot of things, Princess. It's the way you survive here." He crossed his arms.
"Are you wanted too?" Yong asked and Varian cleared his throat awkwardly.
"A- Actually not wanted anymore, so..." He added, quietly.
"Nope. Never been caught." Hugo smirked, smugly, "Made some enemies, but nothing I can't handle."
"Of course." Varian rolled his eyes.
"Well, let's get outta here." Hugo walked to the opposite wall and put his arm out towards it. When he did, Olivia hopped from the boy's arm, and crawled up into a little hole to the left of the door. The rest of the group looked between each other, curiously. There was a click and the door opened, Hugo letting the others through and then following.
Olivia emerged from a hole to the left of the door on the outside of the building, and returned to Hugo's shoulder.
"Awesome! Mouse activated door!" Yong smiled widely.
"I'm sorry you used to live on the streets." Varian said once they were walking from Hugo's home, "That must've been really hard."
"Yeah..."
"Hey, back in Aardeterre you mentioned your mom? Where's she?" Varian asked.
"Oh...yeah, she lives in a different part of town."
"You don't...live with her?"
"Used to for a while. But, I am nineteen." Hugo reminded Varian with a smirk.
"No, yeah- I know, but does she know you're living here?"
"Yeah." Hugo replied, "She took me in when I was...about seven? Before that I...don't remember anything before five years old. But, anyway- I lived with her till I was twelve, and roughed it on the streets a little longer till I found my own place...She only invites me to stay with her when she wants something."
"Right..." Varian frowned slightly.
"Oo- look at that place!" Yong pointed at a shop with steam-machines on display in the window as they passed.
"Wow..." Varian ran up to the window too. Hugo smiled at the boy then someone caught his eye in the distance. Donella disappeared around a corner. The blonde's eyes widened a little and he walked over to the others,
"Hey, I need to run a quick errand...I'll be right back." He told Varian, who raised a brow. Hugo walked off briskly and turned a corner before anyone could say anything.
He walked to the end of the alley and Donella walked out from the shadows. Hugo jumped a little then sighed,
"What d'you want?" He asked and the woman glared.
"Is that any way to speak to me, Hugo?"
"Look, I've had enough of your...emotional blackmail." Hugo growled, "I'm not doing this anymore."
"What?" Donella's eyes locked to Hugo's.
"I'm out. I've finally found people who care about me- y'think I'm gonna give that up for a woman who hasn't shown me an ounce of affection my entire life?" Hugo's voice shook.
"You're telling me this is about your feelings? Hugo, I really thought we were past this. You're nineteen years-"
"That doesn't matter!" He interrupted, "I've looked up to you as a mother my whole life, and all you've ever done is used me."
Donella stared, unable to find the right response.
"Donnie, I needed you. Not just for work, for food- a place to stay..." He took a shaky breath, "When you took me in, I thought I had a family." Hugo explained, his eyes tearing up. The woman's cold gaze softened ever-so-slightly. She sighed and walked up to the boy. He backed away, but she grabbed him and pulled him close, embracing him.
Hugo froze up, shocked by the gesture. He didn't hug the woman back, but nuzzled his face into her shoulder.
"You do. I know I might be...stern with you at times, but you know I care about you." She stroked the boy's hair. He really didn't get that impression with the way she sometimes spoke to him. The woman moved away and held the boy's shoulders. He tried to smile at her, his eyes wet with tears.
"And that's why I need you to complete this mission for me. I can't do it alone." She held his face in her hand and he moved away, forcing a laugh.
"You're doing it again- you can't just...feel something for me when you wanna control me." Hugo looked aside, "The deal's off. Find someone else to do your dirty work." He walked off, never once looking back at the woman.
When he arrived back at the shop, Varian and Yong were still in awe of the machines.
"All done?" Nuru smiled.
"Uh, yeah..." Hugo responded with a a smile. The Princess didn't seem to suspect him the way she usually did. She seemed genuine; perhaps she was finally opening up to the idea he was good.
"Alright...so, how do we go about finding this trial?" She asked the group as a whole.
"Any ideas?" Varian looked to Hugo.
"I've got one..."
Hugo had taken them to a large windmill by the coast. The blonde knocked on the door then turned to the others, "Let me do the talking, ok?"
The door opened to reveal a big man with blonde hair, and Hugo grinned,
"Franz- it's great to see you."
The man at the door stared then growled and grabbed Hugo by the collar. Varian grabbed a bomb from his belt defensively, Yong held firecrackers between his fingers and Nuru pointed the tip of her rapier at the man's wide nose.
"It's ok." Hugo told the others and they reluctantly lowered their weapons.
"What're you doing here?" The large man glared at Hugo.
"I'm on a mission." Hugo's eyes flicked to the others slightly and Franz gave a knowing look before lowering the green-eyed boy to the ground.
"Is that so? And the boss got anything she want you to tell me?"
"She is...very sorry about the way she left things."
"Hm...you should come in, then." The man told him and let the group inside. Varian felt uncomfortable with the way the man examined him as he entered, and hurried to catch up with Hugo.
"Who is this guy?" Varian whispered.
"Doesn't matter. He can help us." Hugo explained quietly.
"What can I do for you?" Franz asked.
"We're looking for a trial," Hugo was very particular about his wording. He didn't want to say anything that may blow his cover, "I've heard this place could have something to do with it."
"Have you?" The tall man crossed his arms and Hugo gazed into his eyes intently, begging him not to mention Donella's name.
"Word gets round." Hugo added, causally.
"You're in luck." The man said, gruffly and took them into the main room of the windmill. There were wooden support beams all over, and a large window high up on the wall which let in a lot of light.
As well as support beams, there was also a lot of copper piping along the walls, and in the middle of the room was a capstan wheel.
"Turn that wheel and it'll reveal the door to you. You're on your own from there, kid." Franz placed a heavy hand on Hugo's shoulder, making him flinch.
"Got it." Hugo nodded.
"I gotta run an errand. Good luck." The man left the room.
"He was...nice?" Nuru smiled.
"If you say so." Hugo chuckled and walked over to the wheel.
"How do you know him?" Varian questioned.
"Old friend of my mom's- he works for her, actually." Hugo responded. The others joined him at the wheel and they each held onto one of the handles.
"Ready?" Hugo looked to the others.
Nuru and Varian nodded but before they could start pushing, Yong spoke up, "We should sing a song!" He smiled, "So we stay in time."
Nuru and Varian looked to each other, unsure.
"Great idea, Sparkles." Hugo smirked.
And so they did. The group turned the wheel, singing as they went. It was heavy and barely moved at first, but once they got it moving, it started to turn all of the other cogs and wheels over their heads with ease. The pipes on the walls began dripping with condensation. Hugo was first to stop pushing and the others followed his lead. The windmill was suddenly very loud as all the mechanisms began working. The gang looked around the room, waiting for something. Then, the wheel began to turn on its own, nudging everyone and forcing them to grab hold of a handle and continue pushing.
To their surprise, the wheel started to sink into the ground more and more with each turn; like a screw. Eventually it had lowered into a chamber under the windmill. There was a door on each of the three walls surrounding them, and there were torches on either side of each door.
Varian moved off of the wheel once it had stopped moving and walked towards one of the three doors.
When Yong stepped off of the wheel, he let out a deep breath, "What a workout."
"Looks like we need to find two keys." Varian ran his fingers over two key holes in the door.
Once they had all stepped off the wheel, it turned again in the opposite direction and rose back into the ceiling, leaving a pillar in its place. The torch flames turned white.
"Fascinating..." Varian murmured under his breath.
Unphased by this sort of thing after the previous trials, Nuru looked to the other two remaining doors, "So there's a key in each room? Theoretically."
"She can count." Hugo joked.
"Yeah, I guess so." Varian turned to the others.
"I could pick the locks." Hugo suggested, "Instead of us wasting time looking for keys."
"I...don't think that's how this works." Varian chuckled.
"Whatever you say." Hugo shrugged.
Varian put his hands on his hips and looked between everyone, "So we split up?" He suggested.
"Dibs on Stripes."
"You can't claim Varian." Nuru scoffed.
"Really? Cause I just did." The blonde smirked.
"But I wanted to go with Varian." Yong pouted.
"You can." Nuru told the boy.
"But Hugo got first dibs." Yong crossed his arms.
"Like I said- you can't claim a person."
"The kid respects the rules of dibs." Hugo grinned widely and looked over at Yong, "Better luck next time, Sparkles."
"I have dibs on Varian for next time!" Yong yelled and Nuru stared.
"Well- Well, then I have dibs on him after that!" The Princess added.
"Thought you couldn't claim a person?" Hugo asked.
"If we're all doing it, I may as well throw my name in the hat." Nuru rolled her eyes.
"Maybe we should make a schedule- Varian likes making those." Yong smiled.
"Ok- how about we don't split up?" Varian smiled patiently, "We'll all go to each room together."
"There goes your alone time with Varian." Nuru teased.
"At least I'm not at the bottom of the list." Hugo taunted.
"Really? Since we're all going together now, I think-" Nuru started and Varian shushed her.
"No more dibs. If we need to split up we'll flip a coin or something." Varian told them as he walked to the first door.
"As long as Hugo's not the one flipping it." Nuru smirked.
"Hey- I'll have you know, weighted coins are a colossal waste of money." Hugo scoffed, "It's way easier to just bribe someone then take the money back while they're not looking."
"Remind me to never take a bribe from you." Nuru laughed.
They entered the first room and Varian pulled his staff from his bag, extending it. The room was full of dozens of shelves and cabinets of expensive-looking ornaments and random objects. Hugo's eyes widened when they walked into the room.
"Woah...it's like a maze of junk." Yong gazed upon the cramped room.
"This room's gotta be worth thousands." Hugo commented.
"C'mon, let's get going before you start foaming at the mouth." Varian nudged Hugo and walked off ahead. The blonde watched him go with a wide smile.
"How are we going to find a key in this place? There's so much here..." Nuru scanned the room, hopelessly.
"We should split up so we find the key quicker- dibs on Varian!" Yong yelled.
"I already have dibs on Goggles- you can't claim him now." Hugo crossed his arms.
"But we decided to go together so the dibs don't count- so I'm re-dibbing." Yong crossed his arms too.
"I think Varian should choose who he wants to be paired with." Nuru crossed her arms. The three looked between each other and Varian face-palmed.
"I don't know if I can stand walking around this place with any of you. How about we all search separately?"
"I don't think that's a good idea- what if I get lost?" Yong frowned.
"You won't get lost- the room isn't so big." Varian laughed, "And if you do, just call out to one of us."
"And who's going to make sure Hugo doesn't steal anything?" Nuru asked.
"Pfft...He's not gonna steal anything." Varian chuckled.
"I might steal something." Hugo smirked.
"I told you- he needs supervision." Nuru glanced at the blonde.
"Not it!" Yong yelled.
"We're wasting time! J- Just do whatever you want. I'm going this way." Varian walked off.
Nuru, Yong and Hugo looked between each other and the blonde wandered off in another direction. Nuru sighed and looked to Yong with a smile, "Do you want to go with Varian?"
"Well, I do have dibs on him." Yong pouted.
"Ok, I'll go with Hugo." Nuru told the boy.
"Thanks, Nuru!" Yong exclaimed then ran after Varian. The Princess watched the blonde distantly slip something into his satchel.
"Hugo!" Nuru yelled to him and he grinned at her as she ran over.
"What? It's just a statuette."
"Put it back- We're looking for a key."
"Doesn't mean I can't take a souvenir."
"You don't know what effect that could have on the trial. We shouldn't take anything we don't need." Nuru furrowed her brows.
"If you don't wanna take anything, Princess, that's up to you." Hugo walked off and Nuru followed with a sigh.