I wrote this one shot with StormyGogglesboy

They wrote Varian's part, and I did Hugo's. They'll be publishing this on their own account, too. Go check it out over there and give them a follow!

And here's the cover that they made for it :3

TW: Death by hanging

( Varian )

The air was cold, the sky dark and gray. Clothed feet dragged against the cobblestones. The dull light of day blinded the bright blue eyes of the teen. He squinted as the guards escorted him out into the courtyard.

People. Crowds and crowds of people. As far as his cold eyes could see. He felt his heart skip a beat at the thought of the blonde man somehow amongst them.

He spotted the king and queen, sitting in a box seated for a perfect view. The unmistakable gold hair of the princess was next to them. Her face sad, eyes red as if she had done all her mourning for him already.

"Maybe, maybe if she had helped me in the first place, none of this would have happened," he thought bitterly.

He was right, they should've tried to break out. They'd still be together if he had only listened.

The guard behind him shoved him forward roughly, Varian snarling under his breath.
His feet shuffled, the chains on his wrists and ankles clanking in the cold winter air.

"So we're really gonna do this, huh, guys?" Varian chuckled, trying to light his own mood.

The guard behind him shoved him forward again, his harsh "Silence," stopping the words in the boy's throat. He started to panic, the pain blossoming in his chest as he stopped infront of the wooden stage.

"After a year of imprisonment," the kings voice sounded over the quiet crowd of people, "we shall finally take action against this- sadist."

Varian looked around, trying to find a kind face anywhere amongst the crowd, but to no avail. He was greeted with cold glares and harsh sneers. But even though the crowd hated him, he would rather have them enjoy his death, then see Hugo watch him die.

"We deserve this," his mind screamed at him.

He felt his breathing quicken as the king stood, his unforgiving scowl staring Varian down.

"Varian! Son of Quirin," he said, his voice echoing off the cold cobblestones. "is hereby sentenced to death."

Varian stared up at the rope, his hopeless eyes filling with tears.

"He who has committed the highest of treason-"

Varian felt someone staring at him, and he turned around slowly. "D-dad?" He said in disbelief. There stood Quirin, in the doorframe Varian had previously been escorted through. "DAD! Y-your ok!?" he cried, pulling against the chains the guards held in place.

Quirin stared at the boy, his face streaked in salty tears. His son was skinny and pale, small cuts and bruises literally his freckled skin. Varian met his eyes, pleading, begging his father to take him home. To hold him close, keep him safe, just like when he was young.

But Quirin turned his head away, and Varian felt his world fall apart.

"D-Dad? No- " he cried, "Please don't go, I'm sorry."

He tried moving towards him, but the chains on his hands and the grip of the guards restrained him.

"Don't- don't leave me!" he cried, tears running down his face. He choked over his words, breathing heavily. "PLEASE- Don't go!"

He felt as if everything he had done was wasted.

"I did it all for you! EVERYTHING WAS FOR YOU!!" he screamed, thrashing, eyes straining to keep the retreating figure of his father in sight.

Then he was gone, swallowed in the darkness around him.

"I-I'm sorry," he sobbed.

The guards turned him back towards the wooden stage, and Varian's eyes looked down at the wet cobblestones beneath his bloodied and bruised feet.

"D-don't leave me alone again," he managed to whisper.

The sudden memories of the gold amber, pain and snow filled him head. He looked up, eyes staring at the loop of rope above him.

"Crimes include," the kings voice continued, "treason, damage of property-"

Varian was escorted up the wooden steps, the chains scrapping against the rough wood.

"-kidnapping the Queen, assault, veterinary malpractice-"

The man on the platform looked at him with pity in his eyes. The young man didn't meet the guards gaze.

"-attempted murder, attempted assassination, attempted genocide, reckless endangerment-"

The man moved Varian into the center of the platform, the boy's eyes noticing the trap door he now stood on.

"-conspiracy, scientific misconduct, robbery, domestic terrorism, mass drug abuse-"

"I'm sorry that things have to be this way," the guard whispered, slipping the noose around the boy's neck.

"I don't need your pity," he snapped, his voice wavering as he held back the wave of tears that threatened to spill over.

The guard looked at him, the king's muffled voice reading off his charges in front of them.

Varian didn't even hear the rest, his eyes were on the sky.

Gray, cold and wet.

Suddenly, he felt a drop of rain hit his face.
Maybe someone was mourning for him after all. He closed his eyes briefly, the sudden flash of forest green eyes in his mind. He let his own tears fall as he cried with the sky.

The next thing he knew the floor dropped. He didn't fight it. He didn't look at the cheering crowd. He didn't search for that familiar face.

He kept his gaze to the crying sky. Until he couldn't see anymore. He felt the tears of rain against his face as his lungs gave out.

"I- I'm sorry Hug-" He didn't fight the small choked sob he let escape with his dying breath.

Last thing he felt was the rain.

Cold, and unforgiving.

And then it was finished.

He was finally free.

( Hugo )

I hadn't cried in weeks.

Even when I woke up this morning, my eyes were dry. My heart was still, my breathing deep and slow as it was naturally supposed to be, the thoughts in my head settled and quiet. I suppose it was the calm before the storm.

As most things were when it came to anything I loved.

I was glaring up at the sky, trying my best to form even a figment of genuine anger at the world. But maybe I was just numb. I knew I should be destroyed by what was about to happen. And maybe I would be. I knew I should be screaming and sobbing and fighting every guard that I saw, hurling insultes and death threats at the king, breaking something, tearing at my skin, mourning, anything.

But my mind stayed quiet. And deep inside, I stayed miserable.

There were people surrounding me. The entire kingdom must've showed up. I couldn't decide if that was insulting or meant to be some sort of honor. People rarely came to executions, much less hangings. There were always a few messed up folks that came to every one of them, not just the ones involving blood. I was sad to admit that once I had been that kind of person myself.

But he had changed that. He had changed me.

And now I was just going to watch him die.

I let myself laugh, a small amount of emotion finally slipping through. Self hatred. What a joy.

The crowd suddenly quieted before picking back up in volume, getting even louder than before. I startled at this, realize that he must be being lead out of the restraints he had been held in until now. I glanced around, finally spotting a head a wavy black hair, a stripe of electrifying blue going through it. The owner was slouched over, dragging his feat, his bedraggled form dirty and beaten. His spirit was gone.

Varian.

A hot tear slipped from my eye, burning my skin as it went down. The calm wrapped around my heart cracked slightly. I wanted to call his name, run to him, pick him up and take him away and save him and kiss him and love him.

But I only stood there, watching. Not even trying to move. Not even trying all at.

He was glancing around as he was pulled closer and closer to his death. I could see his eyes clearly. I remembered how blue they were. Like the deepest oceans, struck with the beauty of lightning. But now they were... like storm clouds. Cold. Gray. Empty.

The cracks in my heart spread a bit more.

My breath caught as the guard holding the chains around Varian's hands suddenly shoved him forward, a small whimpered snarl leaving the boy's mouth. I felt my blood start to boil, the world fading as I focused in on him.

"So we're really gonna do this, huh, guys?" His voice suddenly pierced the world, a forced chuckle filled with sorrow. My eyes widened. I felt my mouth begin to quiver.

He was treated with another shove, and an order of silence.

My fingers twitched.

"After a year of imprisonment, we shall finally take action against this- sadist." The king's voice suddenly boomed over the heads of his subjects, quieting them all as Varian reached his current destination and stopped in front of the wooden stage. His words had me curling my lips to bare my teeth.

I would kill that man. I would tear him apart.

Varian's head was whipping around, panicked, hollow eyes darting from face to face before going back to look at the king, who's own gaze was scalding as he stared at the boy. I could hear his breathing catch, his chest heaving with terror.

"Varian, son of Quirin," the king said, his voice echoing off the cold cobblestones, "is hereby sentenced to death."

Varian stared up at the rope, tears filling his eyes. I bit my lip, finally feeling my own eyes burn, the pain and grief starting to set in.

Oh, Freckles. I'm so sorry.

"He who has committed the highest of treason-"

My focus snapped from the king back to Varian as he suddenly turned around, seeming to have seen something- or someone.

"D-dad?"

My jaw dropped slightly, the disbelief in my heart echoing in Varian's voice. I stood on my tiptoes, craning my neck in attempts to see where Varian was looking, to see Quirin.

"Dad! You- you're okay?!" Varian cried, tugging at the shackles that bound him to the wood before him. My eyes darted around desperately, begging that if Quirin was really there, if he was truly alive, he would help his son. His son. His own flesh and blood.

Varian's face suddenly fell, tears streaking through the dirt and blood on his cheeks. I felt my heart continue to break for him.

"D-Dad? No-" he cried, "please don't go, I'm sorry." He tried to move forward in the direction he was looking, but the chains on his hands and the grip of the guards retrained him. "Don't- don't leave me!" he screamed, his face wet.

"Please! Don't leave me!"

I felt sobs building in my chest as his sorrowful wails went seemingly ignored, the cold on my heart officially shattered. I sucked in a deep breath, my teeth digging into my cheek.

"I did it all for you! EVERYTHING WAS FOR YOU!"

There was a moment of stunned silence at his screaming.

"I-I'm sorry. D-don't leave me alone again."

My chest shook. I could barely stand. Salt dripped into my mouth and down my chin.

I couldn't hear the king as he listed Varian's crimes. I could only focus on my lover as he was escorted up the wooden steps and placed in the middle of the platform, the loop of rope going around his neck as he snarled at the guard beside him.

I could only see Varian as he stood there. Ready to die. Welcoming it. He looked up, focusing on the sky, the clouds, the sun. He was crying, but his body didn't move. He was broken, but he didn't break.

It began to rain. It was fitting. The droplets mixed into my own tears, waking something inside of me. I suddenly gasped, surging forward. How could I just stand here and let this happen? How could I just watch?

I pushed my way past people, shoving and kicking where I had to, ignoring them as they yelled at me. My eyes were on Varian. His mouth almost looked turned up at the corners. Like maybe he was smiling.

The floor under his feet dropped away.

I felt myself screaming, my throat shaking at the force. I was scrambling to him, shouting and begging that someone would save him, that he would live, that someone would do something.

He wasn't fighting it. He was limp, eyes up to the sky, tears dripping down. There was a moment where his chest move, and he opened his mouth.

"I-I'm sorry, Hug-"

And he went utterly and deathly still.

I stopped. My jaw went slack. I stared at him, at Varian, at my sunshine. He had said my name.

I didn't feel myself fall to the wet stones in shock. I didn't feel the rough hands picking me up, or hear the angry voices shouting that they had found the other escaped prisoner. I didn't feel them wrap another loop of rope around my own neck. I didn't feel the floor drop away.

I wanted to fight. I wanted to fight because he hadn't been able to. But I was already gone.

I just thought of Varian.

I just thought of my boy.