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I'd need to write it down since right now it's just a bunch of ideas floating around my head, but I love the idea of Varian finding out about Hugo at some point before the finale, and giving him a second chance. Then the finale happens, Donella says some things, and it looks like Hugo broke his promise and wasn't deserving of Varian's second chance. That would be why Varian would be upset, in my eyes. This plot hole has been bugging me for so long, you're onto something
I personally hate vat7k fics or posts that have Varian being all angsty and crying over Hugo double crossing them. One, because Varian isn’t one to cry easily, he wouldn’t cry over Hugo, and two, because Varian knows all too well that circumstances can lead people to do bad things and he quite literally comes from the kingdom of second chances. He’s a reformed criminal, his brother figure/hero is a reformed criminal, all his friends are reformed criminals, he knows the power that second chances can hold. Everyone who is a bad person has the potential and capacity to still do good and be good, he himself is a country bumpkin turned terrorist turned shadow ruler turned royal engineer.
And I’ve never seen a fic where Hugo promises he’s good only to break a promise he made, (mostly because Varian would outright deck him for seemingly no reason and tell him to not make promises) and Varian is frankly too smart to have never considered the possibility of Hugo having alternative motives (the guy steals a totem then comes back wanting to be friends??? It doesn’t make sense; obviously Varian would theorize).
Don’t get me wrong, Varian would be absolutely pissed at first and would probably storm into the eternal library out of spite. It just wouldn’t be in a “I’m crying and need to escape this situation” kind of way. More in a “I’m so pissed and I’m so stupid I need to cool off and come back to this later” kind of way. Although he doesn’t get to come back for a while after…