#fairy patton
Text
To Fly with Glass Wings
One-shot
Ao3
REBLOG>LIKE
--
Roman, a teenage fairy, was curious about the human that kept showing up in his forest. And, more importantly, he was curious about their devices. Perhaps going into their bag on an impulse wasn’t the best idea...
--
Deep in the forest, where most didn’t go, there was a magical town, filled with fairies. It was hidden from human eyes using magic, and it was usually bustling with activity
Roman walked around the small town. He was bored. He was so bored. He had done everything there was to do anywhere nearby a million times already.
He groaned, sitting on the very edge of the town border, careful not to go past the runes that protected them all from non-magical eyes. Perhaps just watching the wildlife would help?
He watched animals skitter along the tree roots and fidgeted with the cuffs of his sleeves. He heard heavier footfalls, and immediately became more alert. A human made themselves known less than a minute later, completely oblivious to the town right next to them
Roman just watched them.
Humans were... interesting, though he’d never admit as much to anyone else.
Humans were, above all else, dangerous
But this one, with their strange clothes and weird make-up and purple hair (he didn’t think humans could have purple hair; usually they only had boring colours like brown and blond) was just sitting on the forest floor, strange wires in their ears that almost sounded like they were producing a song
Roman wondered how humans worked without magic.
How did they cook, clean, keep predators away, travel- do basically anything- without magic? Like sure, they were phenomenally large, and that would probably help with predators and maybe travel, but the rest was confusing to him.
He flew upwards to sit on a branch, still within the town boundaries. He kicked his feet, and fluttered his wings, quietly watching the human scroll on one of their strange devices.
He could hear some of the music, and he danced slightly from his branch
The human came back every day for a week.
Roman concluded that they had used some sort of artificial colouring on their hair. It was starting to fade into a more brown-ish colour
He wanted to know more about the small device they always had. It seemed to show the human things, and let them communicate through it and let them read, and Roman figured that something like that would probably cure his permanent boredom.
He watched the human more and more. The human, he was gonna try figure out their name, seemed to never notice the town just to the side of them, which meant that the magic was working exactly as it was supposed to
Though, Roman was told by some elders that he needed to tell people when a human was nearby, even though the human literally just sat there and did nothing
Either way, he did alert them and then went to ‘keep watch’.
Roman had seen very few humans in his time; most didn’t come this far into the forest.
He watched as the human got ready to leave like they always did, and he couldn’t help the disappointment he felt. The strange giant was the most interesting part of his day, and now he’d have to be bored for the rest of the day
He watched them put their small device in the bag they usually carried, and he lamented his inability to try it out. Except, the human’s focus drifted elsewhere, towards where a twig snapped as a rabbit had hopped onto it, before they distractedly left.
They left without their bag.
Roman slowly left the safety of the town, making sure no one was watching him, before flying into the bag. He knew that he would need to leave before the human inevitably came back for their belongings, but this was likely the only chance he would get. Never let it be said that he didn’t evaluate risk, he just did the risky thing anyway
He tapped the screen on the device like he had seen the human do, and it lit up. Roman grinned, trying to make it go onto the other screen
All the human had to do was look at it and it would change, what was he doing wrong? Was it because he wasn’t human? Because that was discriminatory, thank you very much
He huffed, trying again and again, and, in his distracted state, he didn’t notice human footsteps until the bag was moving. He stumbled, falling over as the bag moved. He tried to move into a position where his wings would be safe, but the constant shifting of the bag and the bags contents were making it impossible
Horror slowly found it’s way into his feelings. The human was going to see him. The human was fascinating, but Roman was made of magic. The human would not be able to understand him, and what humans don’t understand, they get rid of
That had been drilled into his mind longer than he could talk.
Curse his own impulsivity and curiosity.
The human walked for a while, with Roman trying not to get hit by various objects, and feeling something hit into his back. Eventually, they must’ve arrived at their destination, because the bag was set down, and Roman tumbled out
The human stared at him, and Roman got up from sitting on the ground, and moved backwards, trying his hardest not to tremble.
He surveyed his surroundings. He was pretty sure he was in a human house.
A hand started reaching for him, and he conjured a clear magical dome around himself as protection. The human had retracted their hand, but didn’t stop staring
“... I’m Virgil. What’s your name?” Their voice was softer when talking to him than it was when they talked through their device
Roman said his name, wary of the obvious trap, and forgetting that humans couldn’t understand him.
The human (’Virgil’) stared blankly, and Roman kept as far away as possible from them.
“I’m sorry, I can’t understand you”
Roman knew that, he wasn’t dumb.
“Can you understand me?”
Roman nodded, looking at a window out of the corner of his eye. Virgil seemed to be looking at something behind him. Roman followed their gaze to his wings, which were looking different than usual. He felt the, now jagged, edges lightly and winced
Now that his panic had mostly subsided, he could feel pain. He mustn’t have noticed, because he was too busy worrying about what Virgil was gonna do to him, but it turned out Virgil wouldn’t even need to do anything to keep him there.
His wings would heal, but it would take months at best, years at worst. He couldn’t help the tears that were welling up in his eyes, and he couldn’t stop them from falling.
Great, he looked even more weak in front of a potentially bad human.
Roman messily wiped his eyes, and glared at the giant. Virgil put their hands up
“Hey, I didn’t do that to your wings! I haven’t even touched you!”
Roman sat down, bringing his knees to his chest, and half-heartedly observing the human
Virgil sighed
“Okay, I’m sorry for accidentally kidnapping you, but I didn’t know you were in my bag, and I’m sorry that you broke your wings in the process. I would have been more careful if I knew you were there. But, you can stay here with me until your wings heal, and I’ll help you with anything you need, yeah?”
‘Can’. Like Roman would want to stay in a human house for however long. Roman glared again.
Virgil looked a little lost at his reaction
“I know it probably won’t make up for breaking your wings, but I am really sorry”
Roman turned away, and noticed that his shield had fallen at some point whilst he was distracted. He got up and looked around at the house. He knew Virgil was watching him, but he understood the curiosity aspect.
That was what had gotten him into this whole predicament after all. He was curious about everything in this house as well. He wanted to explore
-----
Virgil was having a major freak out.
He had found a nice clearing in the woods, where he could just escape reality and be on his own. There was no one watching him, no one judging and no one to tell him what to do.
So of course, it only took a week for things to go to shit. He had left his bag in the clearing, and somehow a fairy had managed to find their way into it. He hadn’t even known that fairies existed previously
He didn’t know if they had willingly got in, or if they had fallen in or something, but from the way they seemed terrified of him when they fell out, the second one was more likely
Their skin was a pale reddish-pink, with large, wide eyes and red hair. They had (comparatively) large wings that almost looked like they were made of glass.
They seemed to put up some kind of forcefield to protect themselves from him, and he tried to diffuse the tension by introducing himself. The fairy seemed to introduce themselves as well, though whatever language they spoke sounded more like a melody than it did words
He noticed something was wrong with their wings after a few seconds of staring; they were an odd shape, almost reminding him of a broken window.
They followed his gaze, and stared at their own wings, and reaching a hand out to touch the edges, all but cementing in his mind that they were broken. They turned to glare at him, with glowing eyes and tears running down their cheeks
Virgil had a feeling they blamed him for the damage caused, and honestly, he didn’t blame them for thinking that. But he didn’t mean to.
They sat down, crying for a while, before doing something that he figured was probably a way to distract themselves
They started looking around, seemingly inspecting things. Virgil figured they probably didn’t have a lot of the things he had. He had no doubt they had substitutes that worked just as well, or probably better, considering they had magic and based on the exceptionally high quality of their clothes, they obviously had some sort of tools
He let them explore the countertop for a while, discreetly videoing them. He wouldn’t show the video to anyone without their permission, of course, but... just having the videos wouldn’t hurt.
They refused to go near him. They seemed to be feigning stubbornness, but Virgil could see the way they trembled when he spoke, or moved too fast or got too close. He could tell they were scared. They were scared of getting hurt again.
Virgil didn’t know how to feel about that. He understood the fear, but he would never hurt them on purpose.
They wouldn’t let him take them somewhere else to sleep, since he’d have to carry them, and just sat down when he asked, stubbornly glaring at him.
Virgil just sighed and brought them a blanket. They were still there in the morning, wrapped up in the almost comically large blanket, and still asleep. Virgil wondered what they would eat, and simply waited for them to awake (maybe snapping a few pictures here and there)
They eventually woke up, though visibly deflated when they saw him. He offered to get them some food, and they (after a while of what seemed like mental debating) nodded. They didn’t let him take the blanket away.
Virgil figured he couldn’t let anyone else know about the little guy, seeing as they seemed scared of people, and he wondered what he was going to tell his friends as for why they suddenly couldn’t come over anymore
He felt so wrong, next to the fairy. Virgil was usually short, and now... now, he was tall enough to accidentally kill someone. He could trip and crush them. And they knew it.
The next few days were tense, but the fairy had started letting him a bit closer, though they wouldn’t stop glaring. He had dubbed them Little Red, as a sort of nickname until they could communicate their actual name.
Little Red didn’t mind the nickname too much, he didn’t think so, anyway. They had been interested in his phone when they saw it, and Virgil had shown them different apps, pretending not to notice their tense, trembling posture when he moved too suddenly.
They played games on his phone every day, and they had started letting Virgil help them get to other places in the house than the countertop. They were still undoubtedly somewhat scared, and they still very obviously held a grudge of some kind against him, but they were getting somewhere.
They were very vocal, even though Virgil couldn’t understand them.
Virgil was careful every time he carried them into the living room or into the blanket nest they’d claimed as their own. He didn’t want to cause another accident at their expense
They were curious about a lot of things, he noticed.
It made him a little calmer, to know that Little Red seemed just as clueless about humans, as he was about fairies.
He noticed what they liked and disliked in terms of movies and tv shows.
They didn’t seem to like horror movies, but they were fine with things like The Addams Family. They liked animated films quite a bit, particularly disney, and would watch with rapt attention. Virgil didn’t usually watch animated movies, but he was willing if it kept Little Red a little happier
He waited for a while for them to wake up as he made food. Surprisingly, they didn’t seem to have a very big sweet tooth.
Their blanket nest was in a corner of the spare bedroom, and Little Red had decided to claim the entire room as their own, despite being far too small to need all of that space. Not to mention only being able to use part of it with their broken wings. Either way, they didn’t need an entire room, but Virgil certainly wasn’t using it, and he kind of owed it to them, after kidnapping them and breaking their wings.
Virgil’s only problem with them claiming the room, was that now he’d have no where to hang out with his friends
Virgil brought them breakfast and carefully avoided getting too close. They seemed to notice his phone in his other hand and stared at it. Virgil chuckled
“Sorry, not right now, Little Red, I have to go somewhere, maybe when I get back”
Little Red pouted at him, but ate their food. Virgil left them alone, leaving the door open in case they wanted to traverse the house, though he wasn’t too comfortable with that idea.
He didn’t want to think about how easy it would be to crush them underfoot. They knew where to and not to go, so there wasn’t that much risk, but any risk was too much, in Virgil’s eyes
Their wings hadn’t made any progress, as far as he could see, but then again, it had only been a few days.
He got ready to go out and meet his friends
Remus and Janus were already at the movie theatre before him, annoyingly.
“How’d we get here before you? You’ve never relaxed on the idea that you might be late, and yet, here you are, a whole-” Remus checked his watch gleefully “- two minutes late!”
The movie lasted a while, and Virgil almost forgot the fact that he had an injured fairy to take care of back home. He hung with his friends, talking about everything and nothing, carefully avoiding any mention of what he had been doing the last few days
He wondered what Little Red was doing.
-----
Roman wanted to go home.
Virgil wasn’t bad, per se, but he didn’t like that he needed to be carried places because everything was too big and his wings were broken. And, he missed his friends.
He looked around at the room he was in. It was too big, it was too expansive. He looked around at the blankets he had nested in. They were too thick.
He finally got to try out the strange device, however, and he had found so many things to do. The ‘phone’ had games and it played ‘videos’ and ‘movies’
The movies that Virgil had showed him were interesting, but he only liked some of them. The ones that looked not-real, they were really cool, despite their inaccurate depiction of fairies and magic in general.
They did get one key aspect of fairy culture correct, though; the blessings and gifts bestowed on children. Roman was gifted with an adventurous spirit and, like with most gifts, it came with an unfortunate downside
His sense of fear was rather dulled, whereas his impulsivity skyrocketed when there was some sort adventure to be found. Which explained why he was sat on the floor of a human house with broken wings.
His friends’ gifts were also a bit of a mixed bag.
His friend Patton for example! He was gifted with a kind and pure spirit. This also meant that he trusted far too easily and got himself hurt by people with not-so-kind intentions in the past.
His friend Logan was gifted with a logical mind. It made him great at a lot of things, including stopping Roman from getting killed due to impulsivities. But it made it harder for him to understand his own feelings, and harder to make friends when viewing it through a logical lens
Great, now Roman missed his friends even more. He sighed, looking out of the window. He knew this situation was his fault, but, he really wished it wasn’t. He wished he could completely blame it on someone else, but, Virgil hadn’t done anything really wrong other than not letting him go. Roman was the one who flew into their bag on impulse
He groaned, pushing his head into his hands, and trying not to cry. Virgil was out of the house at that moment in time, and Roman knew he should be trying to escape
But a voice in his head reminded him that he had no way home when he didn’t know which way home was. Besides, he’d probably just get found by a different human, he noted bitterly
When Virgil eventually returned, what had to be hours later, Roman had not gotten any better at dealing with boredom. It would’ve been better if he had someone to talk to
Except, no. It wouldn’t. His sense of fear might’ve been dulled enough that he felt pretty much none after only a few days, but others didn’t have that. They’d still be scared
Roman scowled at the blanket that made up half of the nest. He wanted his bed, he wanted his house, he wanted his blanket.
There was a knock on his door. His stupidly oversized door that he couldn’t even open himself. He supposed that was probably why it was almost always left ajar.
Roman sighed
“Come in” He shouted. The door opened, scraping against the carpet with a uncomfortable sound
Virgil was bringing him food, he realised. He almost didn’t want to eat. He hadn’t been outside in days. He hadn’t seen his friends in days. He hadn’t properly held a conversation in days. He just wanted to go home...
He didn’t care how boring it was, at least he had friends back there
Virgil placed the food down in front of him, seemingly watching him. Roman gave a half-hearted glare and started eating. Human food wasn’t as nice as the food back home, nor was it very flavourful.
He noticed that Virgil was staying in Roman’s room more than they usually did. Roman looked at them quizzically, wondering why they weren’t in their own, strangely decorated, room.
He verbalised his thought, and Virgil looked at him
“Hm? Oh, sorry.. Uh, I was gonna watch a movie in the living room, do you wanna come?”
They always guessed what he was trying to say.
Virgil was awkward most of the time. Perhaps that’s why they kept going into the woods for hours at a time every day, instead of partaking in social activities with other humans.
Roman knew that Virgil did have friends, having seen pictures of them, but also...
Actually, no he wasn’t going to finish that train of thought, it was rude. It didn’t matter how much he personally thought the human was strange, anyone could have friends
Roman wordlessly nodded to the offer and Virgil placed their hand on the ground next to him. Roman walked onto it, sitting on the palm, and drawing his knees up to his chest
He hated being carried. He hated feeling helpless. He was supposed to be an adventurer, he was supposed to be strong. Virgil placed him on the arm of the couch and started looking through movies on their tv
Roman wondered how the tv worked. Logan would probably be able to figure it out.
He watched the tv with full attention as it showed him a story of a princess who fell in love with a thief, and it was full of genies and tigers and magic.
It was horribly inaccurate, but with how separated human and magical societies were, it was almost a miracle that they got any of it right. He yawned, but he didn’t want to leave to sleep before the movie ended. He had to see how it would end
He carried on watching, though he could feel himself begin to lose focus as he yawned again
“Are you sure you don’t want me to turn this off for now, and you can watch it tomorrow?”
Roman shook his head, still watching the screen intently. Virgil sounded like they were supressing a laugh next to him, but Roman didn’t care. He could feel his eyes drooping, and he laid on his stomach, watching the screen still
He didn’t exactly know when he fell asleep, but Virgil wasn’t in the room anymore when he woke up. Roman groggily stood up, to peer out of the window
…Sunrise. Huh. Usually if he woke up this early, he’d go to sit somewhere high up to watch the sunrise and see the way the hills and trees would be dusted pinks, purples, oranges and reds.
What if his wings never healed? Would he be stuck with Virgil forever and not ever be able to sit on a hill or tree branch and watch the sunset, or ever fly around? Would he be cursed to forever live a life of pain and longing?
This was the part that Logan would usually tell him he was being overdramatic. But Logan wasn’t here, and Roman wasn’t even sure if he was being overdramatic anymore
He really didn’t know if he’d ever be able to go home
Virgil had told him that he could go when his wings were healed, but when would that be?
Roman just sat on the arm of the couch and thought about his friends until Virgil came into the living room, about an hour later. They looked exactly how he would expect them to look after just waking up
“Mornin’, Little Red,” They yawned “Sorry I didn’t take you to your room last night, it felt rude to pick you up when you were sleeping”
Roman considered the apology for a few moments, before giving them a thumbs up. He wouldn’t want to be picked up when he was sleeping, honestly. He was most vulnerable when he was asleep, especially since he was a deep sleeper
They watched the end of the movie together.
-----
Virgil felt bad for Little Red. He had seen them staring out of windows, and he knew they probably wanted to go home.
But...
He was so worried that they’d get hurt even more, or found by someone not as kind as him, or- or something else even worse, that he couldn’t let them go. Not until they could fly at least
He could at least be more certain of their survival chances if they could fly out of reach of predators.
He watched them with almost as much attention as they watched Aladdin. They seemed completely enamoured by the film’s story, reacting quite dramatically with every twist and turn of it.
Virgil had to admit, their dramatic tendencies reminded him of Remus, although Remus openly hated wearing red unless it was fake (or sometimes real) blood
Little Red kept yawning, still watching the movie, but very obviously starting to drift off
“Are you sure you don’t want me to turn this off for now, and you can watch it tomorrow?” He asked, trying to hide the amusement in his voice
They immediately shook their head, eyes still locked firmly on the screen. Virgil stifled a laugh, watching as they slowly succumbed to sleep.
He turned the tv off, and turned towards them.
How was he gonna get them to their room? He carefully reached a hand out, but retracted it. He would probably lose any type of trust they had in him if he grabbed them whilst they were sleeping
Besides, they looked so adorably peaceful, in a way that he hadn’t seen them be very often. They had fallen asleep in front of him before, but this was the first time they seemed completely relaxed.
He stared at them a few moments, before deciding to leave them be until morning
He left them for a while, letting them sleep, and went to his own bedroom
He laid in bed with his thoughts, as he stared up at his ceiling.
Why did he feel so guilty about this? He was protecting them!
They might’ve seemed upset, but it was better than letting them get eaten by a bird or something. As far as he knew, they had fallen into his bag. If they were clumsy enough to fall into his bag, then he didn’t trust their survival skills without their wings
After about a month and a half, he didn’t feel as guilty. He knew he was protecting them.
Their wings had started to slowly heal, the edges slightly bigger and smoother than the jagged edges they were when they had first tumbled out of his bag.
And that was because Virgil was keeping them safe. Lord knows they weren’t the best at keeping themself safe, Virgil thought, remembering the time he found them trying to fight a house spider.
He had started keeping a more careful watch over them after that, deciding not to let them out of their room without his supervision. Who knew what danger they would idiotically get themselves into without him there? Besides, they had more than enough space in there, even with the door closed
He knew that they didn’t see it that way, but Virgil was fine with playing the villain if it meant keeping Little Red safer.
They weren’t as vocal anymore, and Virgil missed the melodic tones of their voice. They ignored him a lot. They still watched movies, but they declined more often than not.
It was fine. He was fine with that. They’d thank him eventually, he told himself. They always watched his every move when he was nearby, as if they were scared he’d hurt them. But he wouldn’t. He would never.
There was a camera in their room now, so he could help them if they got hurt without him there.
He knocked on their door, though didn’t wait on a response before opening it and closing it just as fast. They had tried to run out of their room quite a few times before, hiding from him. And as much as it was amusing the first few times, it had become annoying quickly. Besides, it was dangerous for them
They stared up at him with those wide eyes, and he crouched down and gave them their food. Little Red didn’t speak, and just grabbed a few pieces of food and started eating.
Virgil stayed crouched there for a moment. What could help them see he wasn’t a bad guy?
“I’m going to go watch a movie in the living room, if you wanna come,” He asked, before adding “Aladdin, your favourite”
They thought for only a moment before shaking their head
Virgil bit back his annoyance at the refusal, and just sighed. Why were they being so difficult recently?
He left, making sure to close the door behind him. He sighed, they needed to see that he was helping. They were sure to get hurt if he let them go, what was he going to do? Let them walk straight to their death whilst doing nothing to help?
He groaned, giving the door a glare.
-----
Roman wasn’t sure what had changed. Virgil had become more paranoid, more protective. Roman was well and truly trapped now.
They wouldn’t let him out of his room now, and Roman supposed it was only a matter of time before he was in a cage for maximum security. He looked at the door, now closed and wondered when it would next open. He suppressed a sob and curled up on the blanket
Nothing he could do would ever sway Virgil's protectiveness. They wouldn’t let him out of his room, or out of their sight. Roman glared at the camera in his room. He hadn’t even known what a camera was, until Virgil. Now the knowledge of what it was just hurt him even more
He would never get a moments privacy.
The lack of anything to do was genuinely hurting him, a lot worse than back home. At least then, he could climb to the top of the tree tops and dive down, only catching himself at the last moment. The lack of adventure was hurting him worse than his wings were
Roman curled up more. He had the spirit of adventure, he needed to be doing something mildly dangerous! He wasn’t even allowed to sit on the couch when they watched a movie anymore. Virgil would just hold him the entire time, so they’d ‘know for sure where he was’.
And they wondered why he didn’t like them anymore. Sometimes they’d come into his room whilst he was sleeping, and he’d wake up in their hands. He missed when they were concerned with being rude. Now they told him how simply adorable he was
He glared at the camera again, knowing that the lens probably couldn’t get an accurate reading on his face. Roman had thought about doing some magic, to destroy the camera, but he could already picture the condescending ‘this is for your own good’ disappointed stare, and stopped.
Nothing was going right for him.
He sighed, letting the tears fall. There was a knock on his door, but he didn’t get a chance to respond before the door was opened. He supposed that was because of his escape attempts. If you could call them that, anyway
All he did was run out of his room and try to hide. Anywhere was better than being trapped in his room forever. His attempts annoyed the human. They would sigh, telling him that the ‘game’ would have to stop. But it wasn’t a game.
None of this was a game. This was Roman’s real life, this was his nightmare, this was all too serious.
Roman wondered what they wanted now. They had already given him his food, he’d already declined to watch a movie, what could they possibly want? He weakly glared at them, as they crouched down
“Hey, Little Red. I know you already said no to watching a movie, but there’s a movie you haven’t seen, that I think you’ll like”
Roman ignored that they were using the same tone people would to entice a child, or dog, to do something and thought on the offer.
There was no point disagreeing. He nodded his head.
Virgil didn’t set their hand down anymore and let him climb on. Now, they just grabbed him. He didn’t like it. He wondered what the movie was.
They took him to the living room, where the movie was already set up. Tangled, it was called.
Roman attempted to get slightly more comfortable in their grip, but the hand tightened around him just enough that he wouldn’t dare
The movie was interesting he supposed, but he kept being distracted, as Virgil kept fidgeting with him during the movie. He tried to stop them, but they didn’t notice. He didn’t even know if they realised they were fidgeting
They kept gently grabbing his arms, moving them around slightly, rolling his torso between two hands, not enough that he couldn’t see the screen, but enough that it was completely distracting. When scenes got intense, the fidgeting increased.
He could barely concentrate when the ending was happening. He quietly grumbled about Virgil’s rude behaviour, and attempted to watch the screen. He was lucky that the fidgeting didn’t hurt.
The only thing he could properly remember about the movie was that Mother Gothel was trapping Rapunzel under the guise of keeping her safe, but it was actually a ploy to use her magic for herself.
Roman looked up at Virgil’s face from where he was in their hands. He wondered where he had heard that story before. Oh wait.
He (very stupidly, may the narrator add) tapped the giant hand to get Virgil’s attention, before pointing at the picture of Mother Gothel on the title screen, and back to Virgil with a stubborn glare on his face.
They looked down at him for a few moments in which Roman had just enough time to evaluate the idiotic decision before they actually reacted
His heart stopped for a single beat as they shifted their grip on him with an annoyed expression on their face
“I am keeping you safe. You should be grateful, not comparing me to fictional villains” They grumbled.
Roman, still feeling mutinous apparently, tried to move in the grip, and muttered his counter argument
“Well, maybe if you weren’t acting so villainous..”
They didn’t justify him with a response. Though, whether it was due to the language barrier, or their annoyance, was hard to say.
Roman did notice that their grip was now uncomfortably tight, almost bruising. So much for safety, he thought, before the grip tightened even more
He let out a pained gasp, as the pressure increased on his wings for a few seconds. He could hear them breaking even more. The grip loosened, and Roman watched a few shards of wing fall onto the floor
He could hear frantic apologies from Virgil, but it was soon drowned out by the blood rushing in his ears. He stared at the shards, until Virgil touched his shoulder, dragging him out of his thoughts.
Roman flinched back, shaking, almost instinctively raising his forcefield, like he hadn’t since that first day. It hurt, and- and he was still shaking, and Virgil was still there, still holding him
His forcefield had pushed away their fingers a bit, but he was still in their hand. He ran his hands through his hair. He was crying, he realised hysterically.
He almost started laughing, no matter how much he knew this wasn’t a joke. You know, for how much danger he was in, it still wasn’t an adventure. It was just a bad situation. A really fucking bad situation, that was entirely his fault, and the reason he’d probably never see his friends again
He tried to steady his breathing for a simple moment, but nothing was helping.
Virgil was still talking, still too big. Of course they were, humans couldn’t shrink (could they?)
Eventually, though Roman didn’t realise it as it was happening, he was left back in his room, alone. He never thought that he’d be so relieved to be trapped again, but it was better than being in Virgil’s hands.
Roman gingerly touched his wings, wincing.
What were his friends doing, he wondered. Why couldn’t he go see them? Why did Virgil get to decide what Roman could and couldn’t do? Why did Roman have to be so stupid as to go into their bag? Why did any of this stupid situation have to happen?
He sobbed, pulling his knees up to his chest. Everything hurt, and- and he was still trapped and nothing he could do would ever be able to fix it.
-----
Logan had been searching for his friend for almost two months. Roman didn’t seem to be anywhere.
Logan knew that there was somewhere he could be, though he sincerely hoped not. It was the logical conclusion, however, to assume that Roman was taken by the human that he had been watching. The only reason they hadn’t already assumed so was that they wanted to make sure that Roman hadn’t just gotten lost before rushing into potential danger
The human never came back after Roman disappeared, after all. Perhaps they only came to steal a fairy and leave. Perhaps their peaceful demeanour had been a ploy to get trusted. Or perhaps Roman had done something impulsive and gotten himself captured.
No matter why the human had him, it was a very unideal situation. Especially given the nature of Roman’s wings. As much as a human could harm any type of fairy, very easily, they could harm fairies with crystal wings much, much easier.
Crystal fairies’ wings were fragile, thin, and almost glass-like. Easy to break, easy to make the fairy in question much more trapped.
It was a miracle that Roman’s wings had never been broken before, with the reckless stunts he pulled. Not that Logan could completely blame him, of course, no more than he could blame Patton for being too trusting. But it was incredibly unlucky for Roman’s gift to directly contrast his wing type
Logan was a stone fairy, so his wings were, as the name suggested, stone. The stone spread across his entire body the more he aged. At the moment, he was stone across his entire back, and down to his forearms. It was hard to fly with stone wings, so he could only keep low, and he could only really glide. It was hard to walk with the heavy weight on his back, so he, like the majority of stone fairies, used a walking stick so he would be able to balance. His own walking stick doubled as a staff to do complicated spells
There were accommodations for fairies who couldn’t fly well, but not as many as there should have been. With most buildings strung up in trees, only a few had ladders, and even less had ladders that were easy to climb with stone wings; a problem he had complained about many a time.
Roman was helping him figure out a plan of better accessibility to present to the council, before he disappeared. Roman was helping with the design and aesthetics, and the visual appeal, and Logan was helping with the accessibility, having experienced the issues first-hand, and having an idea of it should work logically.
Roman was the youngest of their little trio, about one and a half years younger than Patton, and two years younger than Logan. He was kind, he wanted everyone to be safe, he wanted to protect people, he had wanted to be a knight when he was a little older. Roman wanted everyone to be happy.
And now, for the past few months, there had been no Roman. Logan and Patton were very worried. Logan tried to figure out how to find the human that he was certain had his friend, but was coming up short. There were hundreds of human homes outside of the woods, and not to mention, humans had those devices. Logan believed they were called cars? With a car, they could go pretty much anywhere. Roman could be anywhere
He sighed, looking for a spell that could help track his friend. Patton was looking as well, and they weren’t having very much luck.
Patton was a butterfly fairy, and so was able to fly a lot easier than Roman and Logan, not having to worry about fragility, or weight. Though he was eager to help wherever he could.
Now, that eager, cheerful face with creased with worry, and tear streaks. Logan knew that Roman’s unfortunate disappearance was the cause. Logan was never the best at comforting people, usually Roman would help him.
Logan gently patted Patton’s back, and weakly tried to comfort
“There, there. We’ll find him,”
His words were clunky, he wasn’t used to comforting people, and that’s not to mention the lie he told. He had no idea if they would find him or not, and statistically, it was improbable, given how many human houses there were in the area alone. Logan attempted to remember how the particular human looked, from the few glimpses he had gotten
Purple hair, he could remember, but that wasn’t definite. Besides, there had been an increase in numbers of humans with coloured hair in recent years. Dark clothes, purple patches on them. That might have been a bigger lead. Not many humans wore patched clothing. What else could he remember?
They were pale, he remembered, and they had strange makeup under their eyes. He was pretty sure that was unusual for humans.
And now, if he could simply find a way to figure out where this human lived, he could be reunited with his his friend. Roman would’ve figured an out-of-the-box, crazy idea that would’ve worked perfectly by now.
Logan couldn’t do that.
He sighed, closing the book he had been reading for hours, and resting his head on the library table. There was nothing that could help. They could potentially track Roman, if they had an object that belonged to Roman and Roman been near recently.
And there lied the problem. They had only found the spell after a month and a half of the disappearance. He hadn’t been near anything recently enough.
He groaned, prompting Patton to gently pat his back. Logan knew that, logically, the chances of finding Roman were low, but he forced those thoughts out of his mind. He would find his friend, dead or alive (though preferably alive), whether or not it took months or years.
He carried on reading.
This routine carried on for weeks more, until they finally figured out a way of tracking. Logan looked at the glowing blue trail on the ground, and started walking, his staff in one hand, Patton’s hand in the other. Like Logan had hypothesised, it led into the human town.
Only he could see the trail, so that wouldn’t raise suspicion, however, two fairies walking into human territory probably would raise a fair bit of suspicion.
He waved his staff and casted the invisibility spell, before starting to walk. Patton let him lead him. The walk was slow, and they had to avoid several humans, so as to not get hurt. But, after several hours, they had found the human house where their friend was being kept
Logan looked at the window that the trail led up to. He couldn’t get up there, but Patton could.
“He’s in there, but so’s the human,” Patton whispered down. Logan was glad that they both still were invisible
Patton reported back to him, when the human finally left. Patton looked upset at whatever he could see, and Logan was glad that he couldn’t see the state that Roman was in.
Patton used a quick unlocking charm to help with the opening of the window. Logan used a little magic from his staff to make it lighter, and he watched Patton go in to the room
He couldn’t hear most of the conversation
-----
Roman had been right. Everything got worse. With his newly re-broken wings, he absolutely refused to let Virgil touch him, at all.
Virgil didn’t argue as much as Roman thought they would. He could see the guilt on their face when they looked at his wings, but he didn’t feel any sympathy for them.
The first time, it truly had been an accident, but this time, they had been squeezing him, as a warning. That wasn’t as much of an accident as they claimed it was. He made sure not to speak anymore, not wanting them to hurt him again. He still had the bruises from where they squeezed him.
He was starting to get ill, he thought. He was starting to grow ill from captivity, and Virgil didn’t even notice. His wings were still in the early stages of healing, and he had no chance of getting home on his own. His magic was weakening as he sat here, as he stayed in the corner, never moving
Everything that happened after the second breaking was a blur, he thought. All it was was a blur of scaredness, anger, and exhaustion. He hadn’t stood up in two days. All he did was sit down, watch the wall, and occasionally he would quietly sing to himself, though he hadn’t done that recently.
Virgil barely bothered talking to him anymore. He could hear their hesitation when they knocked on his door. They didn’t check the camera as much anymore. It was like they were trying to make it up to him. It wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough, until they let him go. And even then, it had taken months.
He was in pain every time he moved, because of them. He was away from his friends, because of them. He was unable to adventure, because of them. He was exactly in the wrong place, because of them.
They brought him some food in, and they told him that they’d be leaving the house for a while. Visiting friends, Roman thought bitterly.
Once the human had left, Roman heard the noise of a window opening, and he turned towards it in alarm. No one..?
An invisibility spell, he realised, feeling the distinct presence of Logan’s magic. Finally, he thought, seeing Patton fade into view, as he was approaching. Roman placed a hand on the wall and tried to lift himself up, but failed, falling back onto his knees. He looked up at Patton, who smiled down at him
“Hi, Pat,” He said, though his voice was raspy and unused “Did you miss me?”
Patton nodded with tears in his eyes, pulling Roman in for a hug. Roman accepted immediately, so glad to finally have someone to talk to, so glad to finally be going home, so glad that his friends were here
“What happened to your wings?” Patton asked quietly, and Roman looked away
“I... I don’t want to talk about it,” he mumbled, trying not to think about it. He shuddered, remembering how Virgil’s hand had slowly tightened until he was bruised and broken. He closed his eyes, trying to shake the phantom feeling
Patton wiped away a tear that Roman didn’t realise had fallen
“That’s okay, I’m gonna help you up to your feet, and I’m gonna carry you up to the window, is that okay, kiddo?”
Roman nodded
He was finally, finally going home. He was finally getting away from the human. He found himself back on solid ground, the grass under his feet. He stumbled slightly, but Patton steadied him. Logan was out there, looking almost the same as when Roman went missing. The only noticeable difference was that Logan’s wings had become almost overcome with moss, the way they did when he was stressed.
Logan pulled him in for a hug, and Roman complied. The hug was clumsy, Logan didn’t usually hug people. Roman cherished this moment more than any of his swords or daggers
It took a while, but soon he was home. His bed was how he left it, people welcomed him back, though the people at the medbay were not all pleased at the state he was in.
Neither was he, honestly.
It took a year and a half for his wings to completely heal. It took a lot longer for the emotional scars to heal
Sometimes, he did wonder about Virgil, though he tried everything not to.
And Virgil wondered about him. Wondered if he was still living. The human did, in fact, severely regret his actions, though knew better to try seek out the terrified fairy. He would look at the woods sometimes, wonder why they ever ended up in his bag to begin with
Life carried on, despite the events of this story.
--
Taglist: @a-chilly-pepper
#giant tiny#Giant/tiny#giant virgil#human virgil#human janus#human remus#logan sanders#roman sanders#tiny roman#TINY LOGAN#tiny patton#patton sanders#fairy roman#fairy logan#fairy patton#one-shot#fae and fairies#My writing#sanders sides fic#sanders sides#sanders sides au#sanders sides gt#sanders sides angst#sanders sides g/t
22 notes
·
View notes
Text
Fairy Virgil hiding in the rain, why? Well…
This piece has been years in the making for an au that i wrote a whole google doc on, made a playlist for, i even made a dif art piece involving Fairy Patton as Virgil’s adoptive fairy dad that i have no memory of posting, and then i’m pretty sure i never shared anything about the au on here. Yes theres context, but am I gonna gib? ….maybe.
#sanders sides#virgil sanders#fairy virgil#luka’s aus#luka draws#haha ya’ll thought the cute doodles were all i had in store tonight?#nah#i’d lowkey bee;craving some hard angst lately for venting purposes so uh be warned#if i post more in the future it will likely be extremely angsty or extremely sappy#or both#idk#but yeah no this au is so old that remus and janus werent even characters yet#and i only ever designed virgil and patton#hense why u get a blob for roman in the background w/ just a hint of his TM.Extra Wings
738 notes
·
View notes
Text
Hermitober Day 25: Wrath - Patton
#patton draws#ldshadowlady#last life#hermitober#inktober#life series#traffic series#last life lizzie#fairy fort
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
♡ Day 2 of @moceit-appreciation-week; Dancing/Touch ♡
Dancing! Dancing! Dancing's not a crime!
#just in time babeeyyyy!!!!#i was inspired by the nutcracker nd the sugar plum fairy but honestly They Just Dancinge <3#remember kids. your references are valuable#(btwthepplwhocomplimentedthelastoneMWAHikissu<3<3)#moceitweek2022#moceitappreciationweek#ts moceit#janus sanders#patton sanders#brooke's art#ballet#dance of the sugar plum fairy#the nutcracker#sanders sides#moceit#p!atd didnt inspire me here the word dancing jus made me think of it hehe#how do ppl caption
460 notes
·
View notes
Text
If anyone is planning to do some sort of fairytale/fablehaven AU, I have advice for you.
Make Patton Burgess, Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk. It practically cannon anyway.
#fairy tales#jack and the beanstalk#fhdw#dragonwatch#patton burgess#Honestly most of my post can be credited to my friend#they give me all the ideas#fablehaven
14 notes
·
View notes
Text
I'm sorry for stalling in answering all the asks! I am not dead. (yet. I'm getting there)
I forgot to post this and I finally have wifi access!!!! Wooohooo!!!!
@warcats-cat
I absolutely adooore the dtiys challange. It's so fricking cute
#Ts sides#Ts fairies#Ts janus#Ts logan#Ts patton#Ts virgil#Ts remus#Ts roman#Lamp#Ts lamp#Our au means Brains and mine#Another au that lives oy on discord xddd
204 notes
·
View notes
Text
A Witch and a Baby
Chapter 5: A Vampire in the Library
Summary: It’s been two months since Logan became a parent, and with the help of his new friends raising Janus has become a bit easier. The witch has also had plenty of fun hanging out with his friends. All of these events seem to have caused Logan to forget something though. That something is an overdue library book. That book might just lead to another friend.
Content Warnings: Brief mention of singing lullabies (which are calming due partly to magic), nothing else that I’m aware of, but please let me know if I missed anything.
Relationships: All platonic
Click below the cut to read the fic and find links to the previous and next part
———————————————————————
It’s been two months now since Janus first arrived at Logan’s cottage. The witch feels a bit more confident in his parenting skills. This confidence is probably due to all the help he receives from his new friends. Patton helps babysit Janus during days when Logan needs a break, and Roman and Remus sing lullabies for Janus whenever Logan struggles with getting the baby to fall asleep.
Logan has also had a lot of fun spending time with his new friends. He can talk to Patton about mystery novels and gardening. With Roman, Logan can talk about Greek Mythology and poetry. Then with Remus, Logan can discuss magic and whatever other random things that the merman had questions about.
Logan even introduced Patton to the twins, and while Patton seemed a bit nervous around Remus at first, the two soon grew comfortable around each other and discussed different kinds of plants. With Roman, Patton got comfortable talking to him very quickly. The two discussed fashion and romance novels. Logan was happy to see his new friends bond and after the introduction, the friend group started to meet up at a cafe regularly. Janus seemed to enjoy seeing them all get along too, as the baby had started to smile a lot whenever the friend group hung out.
———————
One night in the cottage, when he was talking with Roman in the study after putting Janus to sleep, Logan glanced down at a piece of paper he had on his desk and remembered something he’d forgotten to do. The witch quickly grabbed the paper and began looking through the books on his bookshelf.
“What are you looking for, specs?” Roman asked, surprised by how quickly Logan stopped participating in their conversation to search through the bookshelf.
“I just remembered a library book I was supposed to return a week ago. I usually never forget to return my books. I hope I don’t have to pay too much for being late returning it.” Logan says as he keeps looking through the books, eventually finding the one he borrowed and pulled it off the shelf.
Logan then turns around to face Roman and asks, “Could you possibly stay here with Janus so I can go return the book now? It’s only eight o’clock, so I have an hour before the library closes for the night.”
“Sure, Logan. I can keep an eye on your little prince for you. I hope the returning process goes well.” The merman replies with a smile and motions for Logan to go. The witch nods his head in thanks and leaves the study with the book in his hand. Logan quickly grabs a bag and his wallet before heading out the door.
———————
Once he arrives at the library, Logan quickly enters the building and heads towards the front desk. Standing behind the counter is a tall man, dressed in ripped black jeans, a purple t-shirt, and a black hoodie with patches on it. The man is looking at something on his phone but glances up once he hears Logan’s footsteps approaching.
“Hello, what can I help you with this evening?” The man says in a customer service voice.
“Salutations. I just came here to return a book. I’m a few days late returning this though.” Logan replies and hands over the book to the library worker. The man takes the book and scans it before logging into the library’s system on the computer that’s on the counter.
“Okay, so you’re Logan Sharp then?” The man asks as he looks at the computer screen.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Okay, your book is late by a week so you have to pay five dollars.” The man says as he glances up from the computer to look at Logan.
Logan nods and pulls out his wallet from his bag. He takes out a five dollar bill from the wallet and hands it over to the man. The man takes it and goes to put it in the cash register.
“I can’t help but be curious, how come I haven’t seen you working here until today? I’ve been a frequent visitor of this library.” Logan asks as the man closes the cash register and hands Logan a receipt.
“Oh, well my shift is from the afternoon to closing time, so if you don’t come to the library later in the day then you probably wouldn’t ever see me.” The man replies as he goes back on the computer, probably to mark down the book as returned and paid for.
“That makes sense then. I typically come here early in the day. Are you always the only worker left in the front here?” Logan gestures around him at the empty front section of the library besides the two of them.
“Yeah, it’s usually just me by the desk at this time. There are a few other workers around though to reorganize the shelves though. I don’t mind the quiet though.” The man says with a small smile on his face. The smile reveals that the man has small fangs.
“That’s good. I like how quiet it can be here in the library too. The late shift must also be nice when you’re a vampire.” Logan remarks. Vampires are known to be mostly nocturnal. They have more energy at night, so the morning and early afternoon is when they usually sleep. The man seems surprised by Logan’s last statement.
“How did you know I’m a vampire?” The man questions.
“I saw your fangs when you smiled before. So…is the late shift good for vampires?” The witch asks.
“Yeah, it is. I can get some sleep in the morning before coming into work. My shift’s ending time is also nice since I get time to myself back at home while I’m still energized.” The man says with a slight smile again.
Suddenly, another library worker comes toward the front desk and starts speaking to the man.
“Well I’m leaving for the night. See you tomorrow, Virgil.” The library worker says before walking away.
“See you tomorrow, Lucy.” The man, Virgil, replies back as he watches Lucy leave. Then Virgil seems to glance at the time on the computer and sees the library closes in 10 minutes.
“Well, looks like I have to start closing up the library. It was nice meeting you, Logan.” Virgil holds out a hand for Logan to shake.
Logan nods and shakes Virgil’s hand.
“Same goes for you. Maybe we can continue our conversation another time, during or outside of your work hours.” The witch suggests, wanting to continue getting to know Virgil. The man seems interesting.
“Maybe. I’d be okay with that.” The vampire replies.
“Okay then, I’ll see you around then. Goodnight, Virgil.” Logan says before turning around and leaving the library.
Logan smiles to himself, thinking about how he has an interesting story to tell Roman when he gets home now.
—————————————————————
Endnotes: Thanks for reading chapter 5 of “A Witch and a Baby.” Please consider leaving a like, comment, and/or reblog if you enjoyed it. There will be one more chapter after this to wrap everything up, and then this fic will be completed. However, I’d be open to writing a oneshot or two that continue this au’s story (probably focusing on Janus growing up more) once this fic is done if anyone would be interested. So let me know if you’d be interested in that.
-Monkey 💜
———————————————————————
Links for this fanfic
Link to the next part: To be added
Link to previous part: https://www.tumblr.com/monkeythefander/741723113949200384/a-witch-and-a-baby-chapter-4-a-chaotic-first
Link to this chapter on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52055863/chapters/138282943
#sanders sides#sanders sides fanfiction#sanders sides fantasy au#sanders sides au#a witch and a baby sanders sides fanfic#logan sanders#witch logan sanders#patton sanders#nature fairy patton sanders#janus sanders#baby janus sanders#roman sanders#remus sanders#merman remus sanders#merman roman sanders#virgil sanders#vampire virgil sanders#original character#the oc is only there briefly
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
Here Comes the Sun (pt5)
Contrary to popular belief, I do occasionally still write apparently. Can you believe it? Anyway! If you want a refresher on what’s been going on [click right here] or if you want to read from the beginning [click right here]!
Summary: After the second worst day of his life, Virgil wakes up and goes to find out where his best friend and the guy he tried to kidnap ended up. For some reason all of this feels like the calm before a storm.
Words: 15469 (ask me why its taken forever to get this one out)
Quick Taglist: @alias290 @chelsvans @coyboi300 @dwbh888 @glitchybina @faithfulcat111 @felicianoromano @holliberries @jemthebookworm @killerfangirl3 @musical-nerd18 @nonasficcollection @stricken-with-clairvoyancy @the-sunshine-dims @themagicheartmailman @thenaiads @treasureofpriam @vianadraws @iceshard1011
Read on Ao3 || My General Writing Masterlist
Chapter Five: Flood Warning
The Rules had been a mostly drunk joke between them. It had happened a few weeks into them travelling together: they had come to stupid little town in the middle of nowhere and all the people were hateful to them even after Remus had taken care of their Vulcan infestation and returned both a kidnapped teenage girl and an older guy that had gotten taken host by the creatures Take Over Magic to the village.
Remus had threatened to destroy a few of their buildings and that at least had sent most of them scurrying for cover in their own houses with the thunder warning them to not come back out. The bar owner in particular had been a nasty fellow, so Remus and Virgil unanimously agreed that they would raid his place, get drunk, and then skip town before the Magic council was called on them or an actually sanctioned guild showed.
That was the night that Remus had told him Everyone Leaves.
And Virgil had responded with What if I didn’t? Because he’d been drunk and an idiot and Remus was the safest place he had ever known.
“We need a set of rules,” Virgil had said, washing himself over the counter, nearly placing his face into the interesting patterned wood grooves.
“I like breaking rules,” Remus had said, draining the last of his barrel of wine. Virgil had laughed at his face when he tossed the empty barrel to the side, woozy at the idea of how his liver was still functioning. He had been so glad that he hadn’t taken Remus up on that drinking bet earlier.
“No,” Virgil said. “No, I mean like… our rules. Rules for us. We make them and keep them and stuff.”
“Sounds boring, Virgie.”
“Your face sounds boring.”
Remus grinned with all his teeth on display and Virgil had flicked wine-flavored water at him because his clothes had just started drying out from the fight and that was illegal or something.
“You pick the first one,” Virgil said. “I’ll make the second.”
“Hmmmmm,” Remus leaned back on the bar stool so far Virgil thought he’d fall. He thought about lunging to catch him if he did fall, but the world was pleasantly swimming and Virgil figured if he stood up he’d condense himself into a puddle and forget how to turn back to a human.
“Rule Number One!” Remus said. “No Killing Each Other!”
“You couldn’t kill me even if you tried,” Virgil said. “Fine. Rule Number Two! No Killing Anyone Else!”
Very Sensible. Killing people would get them arrested and stuff. Remus was laughing at him, but it didn’t sound mean. Remus was never really mean to Virgil.
“Rule Three! No Talking About Shit The Other Doesn’t Like!” Remus says. “No askin ‘bout my brother, no forcing you to talk about your parents, nothing about from before we met unless we wanna. And other things too, if we think of ‘em.”
Virgil nodded along with it, nearly sliding off the bar counter.
“Rule Four! Never Go Where the Other Can’t Follow!”
It had seemed like a good idea at the time.
A great one actually. He’d been so fucking proud of it; everyone leaves, but not Virgil. Everyone gets tired of the rain, but not Remus.
He wouldn’t need anyone to actually love him; if they both just followed the rules and pretended like it, one day Virgil might be able to trick himself into believing it and that stormcloud over his head would go away.
***
Virgil wakes up in cold water, his human form diluted off and the bottom of the basin covered in mud and minerals. He’s decently surprised: both him and Remus must have been in bad enough moods that Remus didn’t even attempt to come in here and unplug the drain and send him sloshing out of the pipes for shits and giggles.
It doesn't bode well. There’s a distinct difference between The Lack of Remus (curious, entertaining, possibly amusing) and The Lack of Remus (VERY FUCKING BAD). Virgil likes to think that he’s familiar enough with his best friend and their whole situation to know which one this is, not that it takes more than a few seconds of struggling to form a thought to also remember the previous… everything.
Virgil's head is still throbbing with the tell tale feeling of a headache even before he manages to convince the water that makes up his body to come back together to form his head. Honestly, he's beginning to think that Logan's "Evil Orb" attack hurt him a lot more than previously suggested-- which considering that Virgil’s pain index is on another scale entirely... well it certainly says something about that fight. Pure magic attacks always were finicky when interacting with him: whatever elements made up "evil" probably dissolved into water really well.
Virgil chose not to even consider if Logan knew or didn’t know about that. Targeted attack or not, the fact was that Virgil was feeling the aftereffects of it and wasn’t a fan and it was impeding his ability to go find Remus and….
And do something.
What a pain.
Instead he draws his form back together, careful to keep the minerals and mud off his form as he painstakingly adds drop by drop into himself. A leg, an arm, ten fingers, ten toes, mouth, eyes, nose, heart-- He focuses for a moment on the poison, prodding it to see if he might be able to convince it to drop into the mud as well, but in the end he backs off. Much better to be alive with the curse on him, than have whatever's left of his body discovered by Remus whenever he decides to come looking because the sun appeared in the sky and…. Did whatever the sun does.
It doesn’t take more than a few seconds for his clothes to form again after he has most of the standard human look back in the right order; the black material traces the edges of his preferred form, wrapping around his limbs to secure the shapes of each so he didn’t have to waste 90% of his focus on remembering to keep the heights of his kneecaps the same so he could walk. It had been a pain to get it made and it had cost a fortune, which had made the other kids at the orphanage upset-- something about it not being fair that Virgil got new clothes when they didn’t just because he was a freak-- and the orphanage leader had picked out the color herself without his input, citing that black went with everything.
It had been his one gift throughout the years.
Virgil had thought about picking up a ColorS just to change the color of it, but the devices were never programmed with a shade of purple that he liked (too dark, too red, too pink…). He’d have much better luck reaching out to the developer in Clover City and with a swatch of the color he wanted and just paying for a second suit.
But like. Money.
His head pounds. It’s too early to be thinking about money problems. Or any problems. Or just… thinking in general.
Light streams in from the windows, a hazy gray that's accompanied by a light sprinkle, that feels more like being sprayed with a squirt gun than actual rain. Virgil watches it start to get harder as his body and brain wakes back up more and more. An inverse relationship: the more Virgil is awake, the further away the mythical sun is from sight.
The good news is that it’s day again. The bad news is he’s not sure what day.
His leftover pocket materials are still where he left them on the floor, along with a tipped over bottle of soap he doesn’t remember dropping anymore than he remembers not dropping. It doesn’t seem like Remus had been in here; nothing’s too out of place from what he remembers. But that also doesn’t mean shit: Remus sometimes went whole weeks without proper hygiene because he just didn’t care enough, until Virgil physically forced him to take care of his body before he killed someone from the stench alone.
((Remus, of course, had thought that was an excellent attack ability to add to his repertoire. Virgil had strictly vetoed it by drenching him with water every three hours until he promised to take his own showers.))
Virgil shifts around slightly, testing tentatively his weight on his legs again, as he gathers up what was left of his supplies. The paper money hadn’t been touched-- still the same measly amount that he’d brought on his adventure yesterday that had come right out of his savings-- the multitool he spends a few seconds checking the springs and hinges to see if the rain or mud had gotten to it. He crumples up the map of Magnolia and specifically that nice little townhouse in the hope that maybe ruining the picture would ruin the memory too.
But then he shifts too far and the minimal lighting catches on a bit of silver on the sink counter.
Out of all the things, the spoons look the most sadly pathetic and out of place in their bathroom. Virgil’s hands hesitate before he picks one up, the pad of his thumb tracing over the simple pattern on them. He tries to imagine the faces of those Star Burst members when they realized that Virgil had made off with their spoons.
Daydream-Logan is endlessly baffled by it, theorizing on the hundreds of things that Virgil might have needed spoons for in the middle of a kidnapping, going as far as to wonder if the kidnapping was a cover up for the theft, and daydream- Roman is fuming throwing out insults that daydream- Patton tells him aren’t nice, to which there’s the snapped reply that Virgil isn’t nice. It’s amusing right up until daydream-Envy and daydream-Malice burst in through the windows and destroy the entire daydream-apartment and kill daydream-Roman and daydream- Logan and kidnap a still crying daydream-Patton.
He shoves the spoons into his pockets with a clatter; It’s too early to be thinking about that, too.
He creeps out of the bathroom, but doesn’t mean much. Remus isn't in the room and there’s no sign that he had been there for a while. His bed is untouched from where Virgil remembered him lounging yesterday when he’d come back, the hilt of that sword he’d been snacking on was still tossed carelessly by the door, Remus’s boots and his leather jacket were gone from the sad pile of dirty laundry Remus liked to keep in the corner to scare Virgil at 2am.
Virgil's stomach twists at the memory of his face last night: both his dragon force coming out and the idea that he'd rather not talk about one day escaping than risk hoping for it before finishing with the final blow of the casual, painful way he had implied that Thomas Sanders would never want him.
Normally they would pretend it never happened; Remus would make a clever insulting remark about Virgil's generally terrible deposition and Virgil would snark back something about stupid looking outfits and ride along with the conversation from there because it was as close as either of them could get to apologies without breaking into hives. If it was super bad, there would be food based bribery involved.
It's not like Remus to run away first.
Which means something bad is going on and Virgil slept through Act I of it.
His poncho is hanging over the heater, dried and cleaned from the mud that had been on it yesterday-- he checks the clock by his bed, and yep, it’s been nearly twelve hours. Remus must have really felt bad if he went ahead and washed it himself even though Virgil has other ponchos he can wear, and Remus doesn’t even know what a washing machine is.
Well. Virgil isn’t going to make a man grovel.
He grabs it off the hanger and slips it on relishing in the buzzing feeling he calls warmth, as close to a hug from Remus as he’ll get for now. It smells like Vanilla, aka Virgil’s personally preferred detergent that Remus doesn’t even like, much less keep in stock.
Oh.
Oh, he really felt bad.
Virgil feels bad for how much Remus feels bad about this. Honestly it wasn’t even like Remus was wrong. Virgil had been overreacting and acting like a brat; Remus had just revealed that his entire childhood had been wiped out by murderers who got away with it and his brother was alive and fine and apparently never really considered that Remus might have survived at all and all Virgil could think about is that he was sad that the greatest good mage in the world wouldn’t like him after he kidnapped and nearly drowned three of the man’s guild members.
It’s so stupid. He owes Remus an apology, and he’s not sure spoons are enough for it.
He wrings his hands through his poncho and promises himself that he’ll buy Remus some like rusted tire irons or something next time he’s able to. Remus liked rusted things from what Virgil remembered; it added flavor or texture or something to the metal that he liked to gnaw. Sometimes if Virgil brought him back a big enough metal item, he’d turn it into something else like mini statues that fit in the palm of Virgil’s hand with remarkable details down to the folds in the fabrics that left Virgil particularly confused about where he learned to do that and why are these so well made?
((Remus’s answer always is just a grin and him asking if Virgil wants to find out what else his tongue is good at.))
He laces his shoes, hanks up his hood, and takes a deep breath.
The door was still damaged from last night; in fact it’s in a worse shape now, considering it looked like Remus forwent trying to keep the hinges intact. There’s a solid inch gap between the wall and the door now and two noticeable boot sized prints in the poor metal door. Honestly, Virgil is a little surprised the noise of Remus leaving hadn’t woken the dead back up, much less woken up Virgil from his nice little coma-nap.
Virgil tries not to think too hard about it all. He dodges through the gap and reforms on the other side of the door, stretching out his watery form and testing his control as he walks towards the common areas.
As much as Virgil hates the idea…if Remus is answering a call from Guildmaster Clay, then Virgil should probably position himself somewhere to find out where Remus was. It wasn’t often that Clay went to the trouble of separating them: the fact that Virgil stayed instead of running that first night, the fact that Virgil had gone a one on one with Greed for Remus’s contract, the fact that Virgil and Remus had did everything together had alerted even the Guildmaster to the idea that they worked better together than apart.
((Honestly, it was really the fact that Clay separated them for this that spelled Virgil’s own loss against Roman, Patton, and Logan. If Remus had been there…. Well it wouldn’t have been quiet, but it sure as hell would have been quick and successful.
Together they could get anything done. And if Virgil was ever in the mood for a terrible, agonizing death, he’d even tell that to the Guildmaster himself.))
For most of Remus’s missions and jobs it was understood that Virgil would be right along next to him, lurking like a shadow, covering all his blindspots. It wasn’t like anyone else the Guildmaster sent to supervise Remus would do it. As such, Virgil’s place was generally beside Remus. If he wasn’t there it was because he was given orders to do something else and it was better to stay out of his way until he got it done.
But Virgil highly doubted that the Guildmaster would be even remotely pleased to see Virgil’s face. At best he’d be interrupting a plan, at worst Virgil would be inviting his own murder to happen and Remus would live on thinking forever that Virgil was upset at him. So that’s a no.
It was likely that by now Malice and Envy were back. They were always generally in decent moods if Virgil entertained their need to boast about how they won their battles, and probably wouldn’t be against sending Virgil towards Remus (most likely with a jovial threat to deliver like Virgil is Remus’s errand boy). But Virgil didn’t know if he could stomach listening politely to whatever Malice did to Logan--embellished or not-- and he definitely wouldn’t be able to keep cool with Envy started showing off her crystals of concentrated Dragon Slayer Magic she pulled out of Roman before he could even manifest a candle light. So no to both of them.
Pride wasn’t the type of person that Virgil trusted himself to be around. If Virgil moved too fast he could still feel the buzz of electricity coursing through him, boiling him inside and without someone to tell him that Virgil was necessary for whatever grand big plan, Pride wouldn’t bother stopping an attempt to kill him.
That leaves…. Greed.
Well. The bright side is at least Virgil always knows where Greed likes to lurk.
***
Virgil hears the raspy wet coughing laugh long before he actually sees Greed.
The script mage looks unextraordinary compared to other members of the guild: he has none of the flashy bejeweled outfits that Envy likes to flaunt around to make people look and remember, none of Malice’s warped scars that speak of how little he cares about keeping his enemies in one piece, and none of Pride’s pretentious, precocious aura which maintains a fifteen foot radius of personal space around him at all times. What Greed does have is a gnarled spine that causes him to slump over nearly half his height and walk with a cane, and a long overcoat riddled with age and which trails after him by nearly a whole foot, making him appear like just another old man who is still in denial that his prime had long passed. His skin is graying out, spotted in strange places, and clinging to his bones so loosely that Virgil always gets the impression that the flabs are seconds away from dripping right off him. His hair had been white and wispy since before the founding of the Magic Council and very clearly it hasn’t gotten any more flushed. He squints very hard when he first meets someone new as if he can’t see them all that well, and can hear them even less well.
He looks like a man who is desperately alone, desperately sad without grandchildren to take care of him; a man whom the gracious guildmaster had offered to take into his business to give him a bit of purpose in what remained of his sad, lonely life.
That had been Virgil’s first impression of him (back when he and Remus were eighteen and giddy with disbelief that a guild might actually want them) and he still gets furious with his younger self for having felt pity for the guy who looked like a stiff breeze might have knocked him over directly into a grave.
“Still alive, are you?” The man croaks out, part of a cough wet and raspy and Virgil finds himself wishing that it would develop into an incurable disease already. “The guildmaster is going soft in his old age. In my day, your kind wouldn’t have made it back from your first job, much less survived long enough to screw up as much as you do.”
“Do you practice these lines in the mirror?” Virgil asks, doing his best to keep his hands out of sight in his poncho lest Greed see how much he’s actually shaking. “Or does being an asshole that no one likes just something you know how to do naturally?”
The man wallows out a wet laugh again, leaning on his cane and showing off his yellowed teeth. “Careful, Boy. You better be sure this guild won’t miss you before you start throwing around challenges like that.”
Virgil’s decently sure that no one would miss Greed too terribly much either. Vastly over assuming his value to the Guildmaster is a hobby that Virgil thinks the man would enjoy. Right along with trapping teenagers in unbreakable contracts and haunting a library of tomes detailing forgotten magics he didn’t think anyone else was worthy of even looking at. Virgil managed to sneak into the library only once, searching for Remus’s contract that Greed kept behind layers and layers of traps, but in the end the thing that had fucked him the most was Guildmaster Clay putting a hand on Virgil’s collarbone and saying “You know better than to try that again now, don’t you? You can keep this as a reminder, Virgil.”
Virgil shakes off the memory, pretending like he doesn’t notice the rain rapping against the windows in a very telling way. Based on Greed’s gurgle, it doesn’t get past him either.
“Do you know where Remus is?” Virgil grinds out.
“Yes.”
Virgil waits for more and the man continues with his uneven pace right by Virgil as if he hadn’t said anything at all. For a moment Virgil considers throwing the full force of his Water Cane at his hobbling weak form and seeing if the ancient protection runes magic carved into his limbs under his cloak could protect him from being torn apart at point blank range.
((Of course if it had been that easy, Remus never would have been stuck here in the first place.))
“Where,” Virgil says, between his teeth, “can I find Remus?”
“One day you aren’t going to be able to keep mooching off that boy,” Greed spits. “Although I supposed that’s the only way your kind survives in these ages, isn’t it? Those damned Magic Counsel fools writing those laws declaring you creatures humans, making it a crime to send you back to the elements you came from! If it were up to me--”
“We don’t have to do the whole song and dance every time--”
”--You hover over that boy’s shoulder, taking credit for the good work he does for the guildmaster, siphoning off his potential, and pitifully whining at the guildmaster until he gives you another chance, just to disappoint--”
“Will you just tell me!” Virgil says.
“--mannerless, talentless--”
“Why did I even bother!” Virgil hisses out. Thunder rumbles outside the castle, and Virgil spins on his heel away from that asshole of an old man, mentally hoping that the guy drops dead in an hour or two. He supposes it's also thoughts like that, that would make him a terrible Star Burst mage.
“It’s your fault!” Greed adds. “That Malice and Envy ended up getting as hurt as they did! Those damn brats were supposed to be your problem but then you went and screwed that up and now both of them are in the infirmary--”
Virgil freezes. “What?”
Because it sounds like Greed is saying that Malice and Envy lost. He makes it sound like Roman and Patton and Logan managed to fend off two of Shadow Force with less than no warning and no real powers thanks to Envy’s magic. He makes it sound like the Star Burst’s Mages were still alive and that Virgil failing his task hadn’t signed their death warrants.
“Wipe that look off your face, Boy,” Greed says. “They still completed the mission you should have done, you useless, waste of--”
“Greed.”
The old man stops immediately in what he’s saying, but Virgil knows better than to be relieved at that. From the shadows (like an asshole with too much time on his hands), Pride strolls out, eyes narrowed and unimpressed with the situation. The air seems to tense around them, charged with electricity that triggers all of Virgil’s fight-or-flight instincts and the scent of burning flesh wafts between all three of them for a second.
“The Guildmaster requests your presence, Greed,” Pride says, with a sneer that speaks to volumes about how Pride feels about being used as a messenger, when he’s… well, Pride. Lightning flickers over his shoulder, tastefully suggesting all the terrible things he could do with it and Virgil and a dark hallway that everyone avoids.
Greed humphs, shifting his grip on his walking stick. He turns away from Virgil, cloak trailing after him like a snake and Virgil considers stepping on it and watching the man choke and fall over. Pride, however, is watching him, and Virgil knows better than to move without permission.
The rain batters the windows, distant lightning briefly illuminating the sky to the rhythm of Virgil’s heartbeat. It’s a long moment, where Virgil balances on the precipice of throwing himself through the floorboards and hoping he can make it to the room underneath them without too much trouble before Pride decides to eliminate him entirely for his own entertainment.
It wouldn’t take much. Barely a twitch of Pride’s fingers, and Virgil is fast but even he’s not faster than light. The energy would hum in his body, stiffening his limbs until he turned into a doll and then Pride could simply tilt his head and send all that racing towards that poison in Virgil’s chest. Virgil would feel the excruciating pain, maybe even get a chance to scream before he exploded into thousands of droplets of watered down poison and his consciousness had nothing to cling to at all.
Remus would know he was gone by the way that sun glittered on the dew drops, by the way that he realizes that he hasn’t heard the sound of rain in a while, by the way he turns around and there’s no annoying rain witch standing in his blind spot like a shadow he can’t get rid of--
“Remus is downstairs in the cellars,” Pride says. “Go.”
And then he turns away heading back down the halls as if the interaction had never happened and Virgil wasn’t worth his time and Virgil hadn’t been certain that his own death was about to occur.
Virgil pretends the tremble in his hands is from the rush of knowing where to find Remus.
***
Honestly, Virgil isn’t sure the cellars in Chimera Tongue’s castle-shaped Guildhall had a truly thought out purpose. They were nearly always damp and cold due to the fact that Virgil keeps the entire region decently flooded and miserable with his storm, and the fact that the stones used to build the castle and its foundations were about as good at insulation as Virgil was at turning off his storm.
Thus, guild members don’t tend to like going into them very often. The cellars hadn’t housed alcohol since before Virgil had first arrived, and he highly doubted that it would after Virgil’s mysteriously unimportant disappearance and other than having empty cavernous rooms with little light, there weren’t any upsides to going down there.
Remus and Virgil had been together a few times, looking for a place to spar when they weren’t on a job and didn’t want to deal with other people. But as their ability to read each other had grown, the need for space to utilize more moves or create new ones had also grown, and Remus had gotten a taste for kicking people out of the way when he wanted to use a space in the upstairs gym areas.
Virgil skips using the doors to check which of the cellars Remus is in. It’s far easier to borrow the pipes and slip through the unsealed cracks in the walls without having to worry about anyone else asking what he’s doing wandering around in the dark and possibly doing something about it.
And well…Virgil doesn’t believe in ghosts, but he’s also not going to tempt fate into making him a believer by just… waltzing around in a possibly haunted basement. Of all places to be haunted, Chimera Tongue’s Guildhall would surprise Virgil the least.
The first two cellars are empty, without dust even being remotely disturbed. It’s quiet as a tomb in all of them, and Virgil is about to suspect that Pride sent him on a wild goblin chase when he plops into the third and finds it surprisingly halfway full of people loitering around like it was a funeral wake.
Bewildered, Virgil shifts back into his human form, settling on a support beam over their heads encased in shadows that make the prospects of spiders clinging increase tenfold. All at once dozens of more human senses come back: the murky scent of perpetually wet earth, the faint taste of rain and a distinct lack of any type of tingling that might suggest warmth. If Virgil was a creature that actually breathed in the sense of taking in oxygen from the air and pushing it back out, he would have expected his breath to condense as he searched through the heads of guild members for Remus.
It’s not even remotely hard to find him.
Remus is wearing mostly black today, with green accents and silver chains whose ringing are the only noise this far beneath the castle. The cut of his shirt is jagged and harsh and leaves enough skin showing for his guildmark to be on full display to everyone even with his leather jacket on, which Virgil knows Remus hates people being able to see. He’s sitting on a long forgotten and abandoned table, one foot up on the flat surface, next to a brown paper bag that seems to have been untouched for a while. He’s looking bored out of his mind and angry about it as he swings his free foot back and forth and causes the slight tingtingting of his metal laced laces to make contact with one another.
At each cling the entire room seems to hold its breath, waiting to see if Remus is going to pounce on the nearest person and start giving them free dental work to solve the apparent lack of entertainment.
Nearby Remus, just out of reach, is a smaller form sitting against the side of the table curled into a ball and slightly shaking. It takes Virgil far too long to recognize him.
Patton doesn’t look good, not that Virgil expected him to. He was familiar enough with Malice and Envy’s particularly sadistic form of hospitality to be surprised that Patton has all of his fingers.
From his vantage point above, he’s able to see that Patton is covered in bumps and bruises so dense that Virgil can’t tell where one starts and others ends. There’s a shallow scrape along his cheek, something too deliberate to have been a battle accident: Virgil has a sneaking suspicion that if he got close enough he’d be able to see what freckles Malice was playing dot-to-dot with on Patton’s face.
His arms are bound at the wrists with coarse rope behind his back, tight enough to leave uncomfortable marks digging into his skin every time he twitches. He is sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest, and although his ankles weren’t tied, his head is bent in a way that suggests he realized that running wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Virgil can make out the cracks in his glasses where some not-so-gentle force had been applied in order to get him from his safe and cozy Star Burst home to their damp and dark and miserable castle.
It seems like Malice and Envy didn’t give Patton a chance to activate one of his tracking cards.
Or simply, there was no one to come for him anymore. Like a phone call that will never be answered.
Virgil wonders if Remus had realized that Roman might be dead, or if he cared at all. He isn’t sure how he himself felt other than very super awfully terribly bad.
He didn’t like Roman, and didn’t like him even more after knowing that he chose himself over Remus, chose Patton over Remus, chose and acted like Remus should have still been grateful to call him “brother”, but part of him thought about the pure grief in Remus’s body, about all the words that Remus deserved a chance to say to Roman, about how closure was a lot harder to get when you wanted it from ghosts.
Also he kinda liked Logan-- annoyance about his assumption that Virgil didn’t try to control his power aside. He was intimidating and strange in the same way that Remus was intimidating and strange, even if his intimidation came from being far smarter than Virgil, where as Remus’s was from being far stronger and a lot more insane at times.
There are a few other guys around, none that Virgil recognizes enough by name. He thinks he saw one of them use gun magic once, and another picto magic, but honestly…they're grunts. The guildmaster probably doesn't even know their faces and he probably would toss them into a losing battle as fodder for fun.
((The grunts don't know that of course. They think they're powerful, part of an elite force, something to be feared. They've never been invited to a fancy study and been handed a contract and watched their best friend try to carve off his skin after he signed his name…))
“Jeez,” Virgil says, letting his voice echo in the otherwise silent room and forcing the weakness out of his mind for now. “Remind me never to let you babysit again.”
Most of the grunts startle, which is somewhat amusing to see in the corner of his vision: sparks of light, a few curses, that break the tenuous silence, and the jerky movements of them trying to get back into their intimidating dick measuring stances while still looking around for the source of the disembodied voice. Virgil’s been making people jump at shadows since he was seven but there’s something magical about seeing grown men suddenly fear for their lives.
The only two people who look up are Remus and Patton.
Patton’s clearly been on edge for far longer than his rich heir or his Star Burst mage body knows how to manage, but also he seems to relax a bit when he recognizes that the newcomer is someone he’s met before. Virgil does not think too long about that-- he doesn’t think about it at all actually. Nope. No thinking. He doesn’t even know what he would do with the realization that maybe Patton felt a modicum of safety in Virgil’s presence, like Virgil was likely to be a wall between him and all the bad people down below and it wouldn’t end with both of them dead.
Remus tilts his head just enough to let Virgil know that he also picked up on the way that Patton’s shoulders had shifted down just a bit and his breathing had hitched and then evened out. But beyond that, in atypical-for-Remus fashion he doesn’t make a move to acknowledge it.
Virgil thinks he might be too busy trying to wipe the relief of seeing Virgil wearing the hoodie he painstakingly cleaned before any of the grunts noticed.
“Oh, hello there, Bath Water,” Remus says cheerily, dropping his foot to the ground and shooting to his feet with an excited maniac energy that definitely causes the grunts to look nervous and back up. Most of them have enough common sense to learn from past mistakes of getting caught in Remus's bad moods. The few that don’t…well they don't usually survive for round two. “I thought you were dead!”
“Unfortunately for us both, I still draw breath on this wretched plane of existence.” Virgil says, stretching as he teeters on the beam above them, watching Remus’s hands for any sign of metal expanding over them. “How long was I out for?”
“Twelve hours, give or take,” Remus waves a hand theatrically in the air as if he hasn’t been worried about him, hasn’t been counting the minutes down, hasn’t been missing Virgil at all. “I would have woken you, but I was enjoying the sunshine, shithead.”
There’s a fierceness to Remus’s grin. His tongue piercing rolls over his teeth with a clink clink clink, but Virgil can get the underlying message easily without it. Clay had called him with an order to assign him to this babysitting job, and Remus had complied.
At least there aren’t any bleeding marks on his arms from what Virgil can see. Virgil counts his blessings, if that could even be counted as a blessing. It seemed that more and more, Remus stopped fighting back and that knowledge paired with their unfinished conversation from last night doesn’t bode well for his mental state.
Virgil doesn’t know what he’ll do if Remus gives up. He doesn’t know what he can do. Hope the Magic Council arrests them both and puts them in a cell together, pretty please?
“Yeah, well, hope you enjoyed the sun while it was here,” Virgil says, boredly because he’s heard every variation of the sun is better than your company and Remus doesn’t actually mean it. Probably. “I’m here to ruin everyone’s lives now. Whoop-de-doo.”
“Aw, and you don’t even try.”
Patton makes a sharp wounded noise. Virgil tells himself that it's because Patton breathed too deep and a broken rib caused a pinch of pain, rather than entertain the idea that Patton had almost just defended Virgil against a Metal Dragon Slayer who put rebars through people on a whim sometimes.
“Got something to add, Ace?” Remus snarls at the card mage and Patton shakes his head. “That’s what I thought. Go back to pretending like you have Roman’s dick in your mouth.”
“Now that was crossing a line,” Virgil sighs, as fury so white hot crossed over Patton’s face that even some of the grunts inched backwards. Remus, however, doesn’t look even remotely intimidated: arms behind his head, each of his metal rings clink, clink, clinking together as he flexes his hands like he’s imagining gripping Virgil’s neck and squeezing.
“If he didn’t want me to say it, he wouldn’t act like the sun shines out of Roman’s ass,” Remus snaps.
“If you were jealous of your twin's ass, you could have just asked me for an affirmation,” Virgil says. “I’d let you know that yours is flatter any day.”
"If you wanted me to paint the walls with your insides, you just had to say the word, Virgin! Three more days of sunshine coming right-fucking-up.”
“It doesn’t feel like it would be enough,” Virgil comments with part of a yawn to show just how impressed by the threat he is. Virgil leans against the supporting beam, making sure that Remus can see his bored expression from down there. “I need like three more decades of straight sleep.”
“I can arrange that. I would be fucking peachy to arrange that,” Remus says, cracking his knuckles so loudly that the sound echoes in the room. His black nail polish glints in the low light. “Though I should warn you that no amount of beauty sleep is going to fix your face when I’m done with it.”
“Careful, Remus, or people are going to start assuming you have standards.”
He grins with all his pointed teeth, metal creeping over his neck, shiny and unbreakable even against Virgil’s strongest pressurized water attack. “What exactly are you doing here, other than being extremely punchable, Wastewater? Don’t you have somewhere else to be where you can disappoint your dead parents a bit more?”
“Ouch,” Virgil comments blandly. “Are we at the dead parents' jokes, already?”
He pretends he doesn’t notice how their large audience is quietly watching their back and forth with very little variety of expressions on their faces. Most of them are taking steps back, carving out an arena that Remus looks far too hungry to see, to feel, to use. The tension along Remus’s shoulders reads like a fucking book: the bumbling, brash, bubbling need to destroy something whether it be someone else or himself. Patton looks too soft, too worried, too nervous and Virgil forces himself not to glance at him and ask why do you look worried for me? Why do you care what happens to me? Why do I make you feel safer after everything I did to you?
Virgil swallows and tugs the brim of his hood higher over his head. “Came to see what you were up to, Loser. Heard there was a guest and I’ve never known you to be a good party host.”
Remus barks out a laugh that could have been confused with something gargling glass fragments. Patton jumps slightly at the sound of it, squeezing his eyes shut and letting out a shuddering breath.
“Oh! I know how to throw a great fucking party! Me, Patty, and all our friends here are playing a fun party game called no one says shit and I don’t break anyone's face again. Several people have already lost. You can join in if you want, and shut the fuck up before I put you in the ground where you belong.”
Virgil snorts. “Me? in the ground? Please. You couldn’t beat me if you actually tried.”
“I definitely could, spritz.”
“You seem to be misremembering how our last fight ended.”
“What makes you think it ended?” Remus growls out. “Come on down here, Virgie. Unless you’re too much of a coward.”
“I can take you down in forty-five seconds.”
“I’m counting.”
They stare at each other for a second, two, three… and it’s just that Remus looks so ridiculous looking up at Virgil for the first time. He’s a foot taller than him, and had so many times plopped his arm on Virgil’s head as a rest, or accidentally put a fist through Virgil’s face when telling a story because he forgot Virgil’s short. From this angle, he has to crane his neck, nearly breaking it, to get a good idea of where all of Virgil’s limbs are, and it almost looks like he’s just glaring at the sky about to fight the rain for making Virgil sad.
Virgil just can’t help it. His lips twitch upwards.
Thankfully that's all Remus needs to see for him to throw his head back and laugh his booming laughter that nearly shakes the whole castle at its foundations. Virgil’s chest hums with the warmth of the sound, the familiarness of it, the way that it can curl into a threat when it chooses but Virgil has never heard it threaten him even after Virgil got his bike destroyed.
The grunts lose their formations; a scattered mess of nameless people all laughing it off with a type of lightness that only comes from desperately trying not to show how nervous they were. Remus made sure everyone knew that Virgil and him had leveled towns in their fights when they were serious and the only people who ever knew when they were serious were the two of them.
((Patton lets out a nearly inaudible sigh of relief, his shoulders slumping forward like a puppet with his strings cut, and Virgil pretends he doesn’t see it even when Remus’s eyes flick over to their captive guest and something dark passes over his expression.))
He lets himself drop down from the rafters, tracing the metal beams like a raindrop, just to pool back into his human form at the floor level, where he bounces with his landing with ease. The Chimera Tongue mages around him all give him a healthy bit of personal space, and Virgil ignores them entirely.
Divines, it’s good to have some of his energy back. He feels like a new man-- He’s sure that if it weren’t for the crippling weight of Remus’s contract, possibly being arrested in the near future, the bomb in his chest, the dull thudding of the headache, and the fact that he participated in a kidnapping, he’d actually be enjoying himself right now.
There’s not much in the room, which Virgil can’t decide if it's a blessing or a curse. On the bright side if a fight does break out there’s less things to damage or have thrown at them, which means less things they’re going to have to pay Guildmaster Clay back for, even though the engraving on that table alone is making Virgil’s imaginary wallet weep. On the totally bad side, that means there’s less things for Remus to have been distracting himself with that wasn’t putting his knuckles through people’s teeth.
There’s a bit of blood on the ground not too far away. Virgil pretends he doesn’t see it.
"Hey," Virgil snaps his fingers at the nearest guild member, who definitely flinches back at being addressed. Virgil thinks he might have been the one that called him Window Washer yesterday; crazy how when there’s a Dragon Slayer in the vicinity people get much nicer to Virgil. "Get lost."
"Uh," the guy says nervously, glancing between Virgil and Remus, "the guildmaster said--"
"If the guildmaster has a problem with it you’re welcome to tell him to come talk to me directly. Of course, he would have to, considering that you’d be a stain on the ground for bothering him….” Virgil trails off and then shrugging. “And really, do you think that you have a better shot in a fight with the Metal Dragon Slayer than I do?”
Remus curls his fingers into a fist and all of his bones make a resounding, disturbing, horrible cracking noise that almost makes Virgil glance back at him in terror. The grunt’s eyes widen in fear and he stutters a step back and honestly? Same.
“Don't make me repeat myself,” Virgil suggests trying to recover without losing his intimidation factor. “Your body is made up of about 40 liters of water. I only need 4 milliliters to drown you where you're standing. And it wouldn’t even cause a mess!"
Probably wouldn’t make a mess. Virgil’s not sure and he doesn’t really want to find out. But you know what? There’s something satisfying about watching grown men turn tail and run.
Most of them are out the door in seconds; the rest of them are scrambling up from where they were shoved out of the way and following after. The doorway isn’t big enough for more than one of them to fit through at a time and the frantic clambering of them struggling to get through is probably the loudest that the whole room had been in a while. Part of Virgil trills at the sight of it, that sliver of power that he wouldn’t get anywhere else. If only he’d been this bold with the bullies at this orphanage instead of playing hide-and-seek until the Orphanage Leader tossed him out.
Remus laughs as the door slams closed leaving just the two of them and Patton and a room too big for just the three of them. "Ah shit, they think you would do that, still?"
Virgil lets himself sit on the table, pausing only to nod in the direction of Patton without waiting to see if he would or could nod back. "Having a brain isn't exactly a requirement for recruitment around here."
He doesn’t think about the two of them, just eighteen years old, stumbling into the guild hall, grins of nervous laughter and looking for a fight. He doesn’t think about how the guildmaster smiled at them and offered them free lodging for a week while they decided if they wanted to stay. He doesn't think about how having a brain isn't synonymous with not being an idiot, and that a smarter, better, more powerful water mage wouldn’t have just stood there in horror when the red lines of magic tore into Remus’s skin.
And mercifully, Remus doesn’t think about it either.
“Strange bag of unknown origins that hasn’t been touched….Is this for me?” Virgil says, poking at the paper bag of questionable origin on the table. Something in it is sweating, making the paper outside threaten to rip at his touch. “What is it?”
“A severed human head.” Remus waves a hand towards it, in as much of a dismissive gesture as a permissive one. He turns his back to him, stretching his arms over his head in a way that showed off his very impressive arm muscles. His metal toed boots clack-ed on the ground, with the faint jingle of his extra stash of metal bits that he’d no doubt been snacking on. "Muffins, but warning: I only take payment in the form of super sexual favors. You should get on your knees now."
Patton’s ears turn red at the statement and there's a hitch in his breathing that makes Remus grin wider and Virgil rolls his eyes. He doesn’t even want to know what Remus has convinced Patton their relationship is by now, if Remus had even been talking about him at all to Patton.
"Is that so?" Virgil says, helping himself to the bag where there are, indeed, muffins. Three, to be exact, and all blueberry with crystalized sugar on top, as per Virgil’s preferred muffin specifications. He’d gone on a rant once about it a month after they had first month and he hadn’t thought Remus had been listening or cared, but well… here they were, and Remus was doing that thing that he does where he acts like the far wall is extremely interesting.
There's also a bottle of an energy drink that Virgil likes in there, still covered in condensation from where Remus has stored it to keep it cool. Virgil does his best not to look accusingly at Remus, because those were pricey and they both agree it was frivolous expense Virgil could do without.
"Actually, fuck you,” Virgil says, making sure that Remus can hear the guilt that put a strangle hold on his lungs. “You know what? I'm really considering it this time. Where's my debt at, right now?"
"Depends," Remus says, bulldozing straight through what anyone else would call an almost-apology. “What did you grab me from Magnolia?”
((It's easier like this, Virgil thinks. Remus gets him his favorite foods, Virgil finds a new piece of metal to feed him and see what type of mineral upgrades it could give his scale armor for the next thirty minutes. They remember that they're in this together, however hopeless, however dangerous, however draining and miserable and terrible. It's them against the world: Rule One and Rule Four working in tandem so neither of them have to utter the words I'm sorry for the situation I got us both in; If I was slightly less useless, we’d be traveling the countryside without a care in the world right now instead of participating in illegal activities.))
Virgil picks up a muffin and shoves it in his mouth, uncaring for the paper wrapper before he carefully digs through his pockets until he finds the collection of spoons he swiped from Patton’s house and pulls one out to wave at him.
Remus lights up like lightning in the sky, shining so brightly Virgil almost thought he might have been that mystical sun he’s always heard about. His eyes lock onto the metal with an intensity that comes only from being distinctly more-than-human and Remus’s limbs still in a way that reads as preparing to lunge. Virgil flicks the spoon in the air and Remus dives for it like some type of animal, skidding across the cement floor away from Patton. He catches the spoon in his mouth, letting his teeth shatter the handle and gratefully swallowing it in a way that still unnerves Virgil after all these years--He’s seen snakes that don’t look so horrible eating things whole.
But it doesn’t matter much because Remus spits it out in the next breath with a dramatic whine.
“Wet Dream, how could you!” He gags. “Sterling silver?! Couldn’t you have at least bought the stainless steel kind?!”
“You’re lucky it's not plastic!” Virgil says around his bite of muffin and very deliberately does not look at Patton because oh god he thought those were normal ass spoons, he just fed a mostly silver spoon to a trash compactor, the other spoons in his pocket were probably worth more than he had saved up from all his time of working as a wizard.
Actually no, he is looking at Patton because why does he have sterling silver spoons? No one has sterling silver spoons. Those things are expensive as all fuck.
Remus reads his expression like a billboard in the middle of Hargeon Port, though. The delighted look he’d gotten on his face at the prospect of a new metal is nothing compared to the euphoria that he gets at the sight of Virgil’s distress. He theatrically gasps, grinning all the way as he languidly rolls out his shoulders. “Effluent! Did you steal these spoons? Did you steal these spoons from the guy you were hired to kidnap? How low could you get!”
“Please don’t try to talk to me about morally correct actions,” Virgil says, peeling the wrapper off the muffin while trying to catch all the crumbs before they hit the floor.
“You’ve been officially converted!” Remus continues. “Wittle Wirgil is growing up! Entering his evil phase! Next thing you know he’ll be--”
“I’ll pay you in sexual favors to shut up at this point.”
“--jaywalking! Or blasting his emo music too loud after 10pm! Or littering! Perhaps even waving a vulgar hand sign at a middle class elder woman--”
“Do you want these spoons or not?!” Virgil snaps, ignoring the blush on his cheeks that should not be there because he’s not embarrassed by Remus’s stupid impression of him that’s not even close to being accurate. Virgil hates littering, and you only get splattered across a windshield one time before you decide that jaywalking as a nearly see-through entity in a black outfit while it's raining is a hazard.
“No wait, I’ll be quiet!” Remus’s grin doesn’t completely disappear, but he does stop talking finally-- a monumental task for him-- and they say to reward even the little victories so Virgil tosses the rest over and watches Remus catch most of them with little difficulty.
Virgil stuffs the rest of his muffin in his mouth and glances towards Patton. “Uh, sorry.” He swallows, “About your spoons. I hope they weren’t an heirloom.”
Patton shifts uncomfortably glancing between Virgil and Remus, with his mouth opening and closing.
Virgil waves a dismissive hand towards Remus, who is thoroughly enthralled with his new meal. His eyes hold a faint green glow to them as he digests the metal, clocking the strength of it against his usual steel and deciding if he likes the taste more when it comes as an apology gift from Virgil’s rare side crimes. He checks the scales on his forearm in the minimal light, tapping his nails against as part of his usual new-metal-check routine or whatever.
“He doesn’t really care if you speak or not,” Virgil says by way of explanation to the Star Burst mage. “He didn’t want the others making small talk with him. They try to cozy up to him because he’s one of the strongest in the guild.”
“Oh,” Patton says in a small voice that’s nearly overshadowed by Remus crunching on metal carelessly. “Uhm… no the spoons were, uhm, they weren’t really mine.”
Virgil blinks. “I’m going to regret asking this, but whose were they? No offense but I don’t think Roman or Logan can afford silver spoons.”
Could. Oh fuck why did he open his mouth?
Patton half laughs, more like a sigh, more like he can’t believe that his kidnappers are discussing ownership of spoons which are being actively demolished. And well, in his defense, Virgil also can’t believe he’s trying to have a conversation like that. “Uhm… You know about my dad?”
“Hart enterprises,” Virgil says neutrally. “Uh trains? I think.”
Patton looks down at his scraped knees, with an expression that reads somewhere between I wish I was being run over by a train and I wish you were being run over by a train.
“Yeah, it’s trains,” Patton says. “My great grandfather started the company generations ago before Magic guilds were a thing. My grandfather made a bad investment when my dad was a kid and it nearly cost the entire company…my dad swore to never let that happen again. That silverware was one of the first things he bought my mother after they got married and he promised her she’d live like a princess.”
Virgil stares at him with muted horror. “Did you just let me feed your dead mother’s sterling silver spoons to a garbage can?”
“That’s mean,” Patton protests. “Remus isn’t a garbage can--”
“Patton!” Virgil says, tugging on his poncho wishing it could choke him. “Are those spoons your mother’s?”
The card mage shrugs as if it's that simple. “Yeah, but don’t worry about it! I’m glad they’re getting, uhm, use! I don’t even think Dad noticed they were missing and I haven’t been able to make myself use them since I unpacked them. All they’d been doing is reminding me of how life used to be before my mom died.”
Patton takes a deep breath and lets it out and Virgil considers slamming his own head against the table.
“He used to…uhm. He used to be a good person. People liked working for him and with him. He smiled a lot.” Patton glances back up at Virgil. “But after my mom died he kinda lost himself in the company and doing the most to earn profits regardless of workers rights…People started to complain and my dad didn’t want those complaints to reach “people who mattered” so he, uhm. He paid some dark mages to go visit the people who were complaining.”
Virgil isn’t a stranger to those types of jobs. Actually, Virgil had been on more than one of those for Guildmaster Clay’s business. Remus and Virgil were very effective at intimidation and since they weren’t as valued as the other members of Shadow Force it was usually them sent to do it. It always left Virgil feeling a little slimy afterwards, and put Remus in the type of mood that was only solved with copious amounts of alcohol and a good sparring match.
“It got worse after that,” Patton continues. “Ignoring safety regulations, understaffing, paying off people when lawsuits popped up or finding scapegoats to pin the blame on. All while making a fortune at the estate as if he could buy my mother back from death! He forced me to stop practicing magic around the house and forbid me from leaving without his permission and--”
“He sounds like an ass,” Remus says, causing Patton to flinch and squeak as if he had forgotten the Dragon Slayer was there. Virgil doesn’t necessarily blame him: Remus had this ability to look like he was completely absorbed in something else, and yet still be completely aware of what was going on. Remus juggles the last spoon over his knuckles, flipping it into the air one last time before catching it in his mouth and snapping it clear in half and then he lets his silver scales fade back into his skin without looking at either of them.
Patton laughs in a way that comes out as more hysterical than pleased. “Uh yep! Yeah. He’s uhm, not great. He cashed in a favor with Guildmaster Clay to get me brought back to the estate so he can, uhm, marry me off… as part of a business negotiation...”
Virgil feels his stomach drop a little further. “Marry you off? What, like you’re a piece of property?”
“Yep,” He pops the ‘p’ as he says it and offers a watery, wilting smile that makes the cracks in his glasses seem larger and Virgil’s heart hurt a bit stronger and hate himself a little more. “I, uhm, guess I was pretty stupid to think running away would actually get me away from there.”
“What about Roman,” Remus asks, very unknindly. Virgil stares at him, and Remus ignores him in favor of glowering at Patton with all the sympathy of a feral demon looking for its next meal. “You don’t think that Fire Fucker will come save you? He ditched his dead twin brother for you.”
“Remus,” Virgil says.
“I don’t… I didn’t know he would come for me!” Patton says, apologetically. Virgil almost wants to reach out and shake him for it. “I didn’t think he kept the card after I gave it to him and then when everything happened I panicked and pulled a random card--”
“Do you have any idea what the fuck he did to me?”
“No! But--” Patton cuts back, shedding the cover of the scared little card mage and morphing into the kind guy who could go toe-to-toe with Guildmaster Clay without breaking a sweat and holy shit, that’s kinda terrifying; is this what all little business children learn to do? “But the Roman I know is a good person who makes mistakes sometimes! You don’t have to give him another chance, Remus, you don’t ever have to see him again if you don’t want to! But you don’t get to tell me the man I know isn’t real because you’re hurting!”
“You are talking yourself into a fucking hopsital bed,” Remus warns.
“Guys!” Virgil says, but both of them ignore him.
“And it doesn’t matter! Roman won’t come for me again anyway!” Patton shouts, and Remus freezes. “My dad has too much magic around the house-- Roman wouldn’t be able to come even if he did find a real dragon--”
Virgil isn’t sure if it was the glowing green magic circle appearing under Remus’s feet, or the claws, or the horns twisting out of his hair, but Patton clamps his mouth shut nearly immediately. Virgil stands up, a step away, a little too far, and his insides swirl like a tidal wave trying to convince him to throw himself between Remus and his prey.
“What do you mean find a real dragon?” Remus snarls.
Patton squeaks something that is not a response, although even Virgil can’t think of a response that’s both a decent one and also doesn’t end with more blood on the floor.
"You're telling me," Remus says, eyes narrowing into slits, and teeth sharpening. “That dickwad has the audacity to call himself a dragon slayer, after the stories of the bravest heroes who were chosen for their heroic acts, from our hometown that was destroyed completely leaving us as the only ones who even remember those stories, after he left me to fucking die at the hands of cultists, and he never even met a real fucking dragon?"
Patton makes a squeak that sounds a bit like a dying chew toy, his complexion matching the toneless ashen color of the walls around them and that determined persona evaporating faster than Virgil’s insides when he starts to panic. Remus’s tail swings behind him dangerously, metal scales scraping the concrete.
"Uhm," Patton stutters, shaking, wilting so far back that Remus’s shadow completely covers him. "I don’t--We don't…talk about it!"
Remus reaches out a hand and yanks Patton up by his shirt collar, pulling him completely off the ground with barely any trouble. “You fuckers don’t talk about it--”
“Remus, Rule Three,” Virgil cuts in even though he is not part of this conversation what’s-so-ever.
Remus blinks, caught off guard, and so is Patton Hart; they both jolt out of their…positions, and it's like watching street actors slip out of the roles they’re performing. The room stings with the silence, heavy and biting and Virgil stares at the blank space between Remus and Patton as if it held some answers. It doesn’t fool Remus who for sure is listening to his heartbeat with a beady, suspicious look that borders on being offended that Virgil isn’t encouraging him pummeling Patton into the concrete floor, isn’t outraged on his behalf, isn’t showing just how loyal Virgil is to Remus because loyalty is the only thing that Virgil has that worth keeping him around for--
Remus takes a deep breath, blows it out through his nose, and then lets go of Patton’s shirt. Patton hits the floor with a soft, pathetic oof, and Remus turns his back to him completely as if manifesting the “out of sight out of mind” concept. The green circle under his boots hums for a second and fades, and at the same time his tail disappears and his claws even out back to regular fingers.
“Alright, Virgin,” he says, dragging the metal piercing of his tongue along his teeth to draw out a clinkclinkclink. Then he says, “Ratings of the tea cakes in Magnolia. Start with the worst.”
“I didn’t have any,” Virgil says. “You know I didn’t have any. I wasn’t gone long enough to try any tea cakes.”
“Four out of ten,” Remus decides, hopping up on the table next to where Virgil was eating his muffins, his ragged curls bouncing lightly. “I ate like thirty of them and I’m still hungry! They had no metal razors in them at all!”
“Normal people can’t eat razors, you freak of nature,” Virgil rolls his eyes.
“If they weren’t cowards they could,” Remus counters. “SlapPat back me up: Are Magnolia tea cakes better with razors in them or without?”
For someone who lives (lived?) with Roman and Logan, he looks utterly bewildered by Remus’s change in tone and actions. Virgil isn’t sure why: he can’t imagine that living in a house that has to have a microwave with a sign reading “No Science in this one, LOGAN” is any more quirky than watching Remus forcefully drop a subject and pretend it doesn’t weigh heavily on his mind. Roman probably does something similar, too.
Did. Probably “did” something similar.
Because Malice probably killed both Roman and Logan and then dragged Patton here by his hair. There’s a part of Virgil that doesn’t believe what Greed said about Malice being in the infirmary; there’s a part of Virgil that shakes from his knees thinking about Malice’s barrage of knives striking through Remus’s skin when his back was turned. He can’t imagine any of the Star Burst Mages managing to counter it.
But would Roman and Logan die to Malice like that? Roman broke out of Virgil’s waterlock from pure rage alone. Wouldn’t that translate to him having enough spite to defy death? But if Virgil was able to almost wipe them out by himself, what true chance did Star Burst’s Strongest Team really have against someone who actually wanted to kill them?
Knives in flesh. Screaming. Blood pouring from Logan’s back. Envy’s laugh.
He needs to stop thinking about this. He really needs to stop thinking about it.
“--them so, please don’t hit me,” Patton is saying, tensing slightly.
Remus scoffs, “It’s your opinion, dipshit. I’m not going to be offended that you’ve got awful tastes. Who do you think I am?”
Patton shifts entirely to face Virgil, lightyears beyond being distressed.
Virgil sighs. “Remus, we are currently holding him against his will, and literally seconds ago you almost put him through the wall.”
“Yes, and?”
“Divines, why am I even trying to explain this? How are you the one that got landed with this job? The guildmaster doesn't trust you as far as he can throw you." And probably further than that. There’s a reason why Remus isn’t allowed off the property unless with explicit instructions on who he can talk to and what he can do.
((Virgil is reminded for a second that if he had run after that first night, after he had patched together Remus’s bleeding forearms and stayed awake for thirty six hours straight to make sure Remus didn’t try to peel through legal binding magic in with his own claws again-- if he had run that first time and told everyone what the guildmaster had done maybe something about all this would have changed.
But Virgil hadn’t been able to take the chance that the guild wouldn’t disappear overnight and that he’d never find them again. It had been the right call, in hour thirty seven, Guildmaster Clay had come to the room to teleport Remus to their new secret guildhall, merely raising an eye, “interesting,” at how Virgil was still there, stubborn and resentful and already attempting to plan how he was going to steal that contract and tear it apart himself.))
Remus snorts. "Well he doesn’t exactly have a choice now does he? Didn’t anyone tell you Envy’s in the infirmary and Malice needed stitching on every single limb of his? Both of them are nursing grudges so large they’re liable to kill out of spite. Pride and Greed are Pride and Greed, and Clay likes fucking with us so...."
"Wait, wait, wait, seriously? Malice is actually in the infirmary? Who landed a hit on Malice?" Virgil turns to look at Patton. "Which one of them?"
Patton hesitates before offering up a soft, "uh... me?"
Virgil blinks, suddenly thinking back to their interactions previously: how Patton went limp as a doll when Virgil drowned him, how when he woke up mostly confused and leaned into Virgil's back to avoid the rain, how even when he attacked he had stopped when Virgil was down and talked kindly to him and told Roman to back down and--
Obviously Remus is also stunned for a moment at the new information. He’s quiet for a moment, disbelieving as he stares at Patton, half a scoff on his lips which dies when he zeroes in on what Virgil can only assume Patton’s unsteady heartbeat and decides that No, Patton is not lying about having nearly completely taken out a member of Shadow Force by himself.
“The kitten has claws!” He says towering over their captive hostage, so that his shadow swamps him. “I thought you were a card mage?”
“I am,” Patton says nervously, twisting his hands in their bindings like he was reaching for a card that isn’t there.
Remus is reassessing Patton again: comparing his previous assumptions of him with the new information and coming to conclusions that probably lean more towards the side of things that Virgil doesn’t actually want to know about. It was likely that Remus had been there when Malice and Envy had apparently dragged themselves back to the guildhall and had heard that version of events-- which Virgil seriously doubted involved Malice admitting he’d been bested by a handful of tarot cards and a guy in cat socks.
"No wonder he took offense to your face," Remus says. "I’m almost impressed."
Virgil leans back against the table chewing thoughtfully on his second muffin. "I wish I could have seen it."
"Uhm," Patton stutters. "Aren't you guys friends?"
The bite of muffin lodges in Virgil's throat, rock hard and sharp and Virgil doesn’t need to breathe but he finds himself doubled over hacking it back up at the same time as Remus laughs.
"I have dreams about shoving Malice's cocky ass face into a wood chipper," Remus says grandly. "I want to be there when that asshole dies just so I can kick his corpse around like a soccer ball until his limbs pop off and his brains are splattered across the whole place and his skull caves in!"
Patton jerks back at the tone and the imagery, but honestly that's pretty tame for Remus. Virgil's heard a lot of worse things spewing from Remus's mouth post a fight with Malice specifically. Virgil is kinda surprised that Patton hadn’t realized that the name wasn’t a joke; Malice didn’t exactly get his name from his benevolent acts of goodwill.
"He controls metal," Virgil explains, raspily. "And he's an asshole. So when they fight, Malice's first move is to always rip out all of Remus's piercings in one go."
Virgil had tried convincing Remus to get rid of his piercings after that first time he’d been on the floor bleeding from sixteen locations, but Remus was a glutton for danger and the second time Malice did it Remus gave him sixteen piercings on the spot and then stood over Malice’s writhing body and spat, “There now we’re matchies, Mal!” He probably would have done worse, but the guildmaster had stepped in and called Remus back like he was a misbehaving dog that had bitten a child at the playground.
"Why would anyone do that?!" Patton yelps. "That's so….horrible!"
Virgil and Remus chorus together, "It's Chimera Tongue."
"A guild is supposed to be your family. Your friends! A safe place that you can always come back to without worrying about anything! The people in your guild are supposed to be closer than anyone else--"
“Are you crying?” Remus asks, squinting at him in confusion.
Patton sniffles, looking like he would wipe his eyes if it weren’t for his wrists being held behind his back. Virgil squeezes his muffin in his hand, feeling the absurd need to make him stop because it's not even that bad! Surely Star Burst is at least a little like this, right?
“A guild is supposed to be your family,” Patton says again. “You’re supposed to be able to rely on them!”
“You rely on my brother?”
The sharpness of Remus’s tone is like putting a blade to Patton’s throat, and Remus’s grin is about as reassuring as a cliff drop into an open grave.
“Yes-- No-- Wait!” Patton curls up on himself. “That’s different! He can rely on me! But I’m not-- I am--”
“You’re not what? One of Roman’s bitchboys?”
Virgil makes a sharp noise. “Remus. Knock it off. He’s already been Rule Three-d today.”
“No, I want to know what it is that this bitch thinks makes my brother so great!” Remus swishes back around to Patton. “He can rely on you, but you can’t rely on him? That’s bullshit. That’s not a “family”. That’s not even a fucking friend! That sounds like he takes advantage of you and you let him because your dumb ass thinks that’s better than going home and letting daddy take advantage of you instead!”
“Remus!”
Remus ignores him, staring down Patton. There’s a long tense moment where neither Remus nor Patton says a thing and Virgil thinks that maybe he doesn’t need to worry about the poison in his chest because the tension in the room was going to explode him instead.
The tattoo on Remus’s neck rolls slightly as Remus swallows and Virgil wonders if he’s the only one smelling bleach all of the sudden, if he’s the only one remembering the taste of wine infused promises all of a sudden, if he’s the only one remembering “There’s nothing different about me with a collar and me without one!” all of a sudden.
“And while we’re on the topic,” Remus adds hard and biting. “You’ve gotta have some pretty big balls to go around assuming that either of us are part of this fucking guild of our own fucking free will. Family, my fucking ass-- If I ever got the chance to burn this place to the ground with everyone inside it, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
Patton’s face looks like Remus shoved a whole lemon in his mouth, the cuts on his cheek sluggishly reopening with the puckered expression. His wide blue eyes latch onto Remus’s collar bone as if he would see the same orange handprint on Remus’s chest as Virgil had inside him.
Remus offers him a light sneer when it becomes clear that Patton would not be responding. “I’m sure by the time you’re done thinking about all that, Roman will be here to save your ass anyway.”
“He’s not coming for me.”
Remus rolls his eyes. “Did Malice and Envy leave him alive?”
“...uhm. Yes, I think?”
Remus’s face does a silly little thing where he tries not to break Rule 2 before it's even been lunch time. “Then he’s coming for you. Mazel tov, asshole.”
The silence burns for a moment, making Virgil jittery from nerves and unused adrenaline and stubborn relief he should not be having. The urge to do something, say something is coursing through his limbs, but all he can manage to do is wring the empty plastic bottle of the energy drink between his hands and wish that the muffin he’d eaten had been a little less sweet.
Roman was alive. Probably. Virgil isn’t sure why that makes him… feel things. He’s not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing and Remus’s expression is so complex Virgil doesn’t think he knows how to feel about it either.
How to feel about Roman choosing Patton over him, about Roman leaving him behind twice now, about how likely it is that Roman would do it a third time if Remus doesn’t win their next fight and get the chance to walk away first.
But if Roman was able to break from Virgil’s Waterlock and Patton managed to land several devastating hits on Malice, what was that chance that they didn’t have some other trick up their sleeves that would be enough to tip the scales against Remus?
Virgil can't help but imagine how pissed off both Malice and Envy must be about all this, too. He’s doubly grateful, suddenly, that he’d gone to Greed instead of them to find Remus’s whereabouts; he doesn’t think Malice or Envy had ever been beaten by anyone other than other Shadow Force members but he gets the distinct feeling that they were sore losers and Virgil’s face would have been a great stress reliever.
The untouchables, being nearly decimated by a handful of idiots. It was one thing for Virgil to come back so dense with mud that he was practically a walking pottery attempt; it was something else entirely to make Guildmaster Clay have to trust Remus with not breaking something.
The dozens of grunts made sense now. They must have been the best assurance the Guildmaster had that Patton wouldn’t get too roughed up if Remus decided to attempt to sabotage the whole plan. They certainly wouldn’t have actually done any damage to Remus but they probably could have slowed him down enough to allow time for another member of Shadow Force, regardless of how injured, to get there.
Actually with Pride being busy with whatever the next phase of the scheme Clay's working on is, Malice in the infirmary, and Envy off cooling off, really only Greed and Remus remain of the elite tier of Shadow Force--
Oh.
"Virgil," Remus says, because even out of the corner of his eyes he can recognize certain body languages and Virgil had not been fast enough hiding it. "No."
"What?" Virgil lies. "I wasn't thinking about anything!"
"Dumbass, I can hear your heartbeat," Remus snarls. "Read my fucking lips before put a rebar in you myself: No."
"When are we gonna get another chance like this?!"
"Your death wish stopped being cute twenty seconds ago," Remus says. "Drop. It."
"Your resignation stopped being cute four months ago," Virgil shoots back. "When are you gonna be done throwing your pity party and wake the fuck up and do something about all this?" Virgil motions to Patton, "You said it yourself! We need another type of magic, and wow! Look! A card mage, the most versatile magic type that you can get--"
"Shut up.”
“--and he even took out Malice by himself! He’s plenty capable. Part of the strongest team of wizards at Star Burst!"
"Do you know what the number one killer of card mages is?" Remus asks. "Their flimsy little bodies! Look at him! It would barely take anything at all to break his scrawny little neck!"
And yeah, okay, honestly, Virgil can agree. Especially with him already so beat up from Malice, he's barely more than a cheap counterfeit version of his own pictures and certainly not something that Virgil thinks would stand a decent chance against Greed or Pride. Not to mention the semi obvious lack of magic cards in their vicinity, although if Virgil can go collect the deck of cards from wherever they ended up, Patton probably had something that could heal himself! Probably!
"He's got plot armor!" Virgil says. "Scheme armor! They can't hurt him!"
Remus stares at him. Virgil thinks that's his you're-actually-an-idiot look. "Just because Clay doesn't want him fucking dead doesn't mean that Clay can't make his life miserable. He's fucking creative like that."
Remus’s eyes flick towards Virgil's collarbone, and even though everyone in the room is aware of it, Virgil feels the urge to make sure it's not visible. He scowls and pulls on the collar of his poncho.
“And also Clay gave me the specific order to make sure he stays tied up,” Remus yawns, stretching an arm out and then thumping Virgil on his head, in the way that would probably give most other people a concussion but merely sends ripples through Virgil's body.
"Stop," Remus advises in all the sage wisdom of someone who absolutely needs to get the shit kicked out of him in order to feel something again.
"Fuck you," Virgil says.
"If you're a good boy I'll let you suck me off later."
"You are actually the worst."
"What, you'll do it for Janus Ekans but not for me?"
"Leave him out of this!" Virgil snaps, shoving Remus’s arm off his head. "I'm Rule Three-ing Janus Ekans too!"
Remus squints. "The concept of him or just his name? I can't make fun of your crush if I can't bring up the topic."
"Y-you know Janus?" Patton stutters out and then immediately looks like he wishes he hadn't when Remus and Virgil both turn towards him. He wilts back like he can steal the words right back out of the air if he looks guilty enough.
Unfortunately, Remus is already clinging to them with his iron grip, a smile so wide it's nearly threatening as he stares down at the card mage. For all his posturing about wanting it to be silent, Remus laughs pretty loudly at Patton’s question and Virgil mostly wants to turn into a puddle and seep into the foundation and never be heard from again.
With one hand he drags Patton into a standing position and sinks his arm around his neck, ignoring the way that the smaller boy pales and panics and probably thinks that Remus is about to enact some horrible physical punishment on him. Remus however points Patton in the right direction and with a nightmarish flourish he presents Virgil in all his half boiled glory.
"Virgil heard him talk once and nearly evaporated!"
"Will you let it go!" Virgil hisses tugging on the drawstrings of his hood.
Patton, despite the mortal terror he must be feeling, lets out a shaky smile, and a partial laugh. His freckles seem to shimmer when he does, as if he finds this utterly humiliating revelation to be amusing.
"It was one time!" Virgil says.
"And it wasn't enough!" Remus croons. "He dreams of golden hair glistening with raindrops, hands brushing when they both reach for the same umbrella, then he leans down and whispers--"
"Stop making it weird!"
"That's a weird thing to hope he says in your ear."
"He likes the rain," Virgil says hopelessly without looking at either of them, because they can't possibly understand what it's like to see someone who doesn’t wish for the sun that Virgil will never be able to give them.
Patton bites the inside of his lip thoughtfully. “It makes sense,” he says. “Janus’s magic is stronger in the rain. If you guys teamed up, you could probably do some really cool things.”
“Well it's not happening!” Virgil says quickly. “He doesn’t even know I exist and I’d like to keep it that way because I tend to ruin everyone’s lives when I enter them!”
“Hey!” Patton snaps out before even Remus can say anything, sway on his feet. “You can’t talk bad about my friend! I’ll fight you!”
Remus frowns, “What, Janus?”
“No! Virgil!” Patton says. “Virgil’s my friend! No one talks bad about my friends! Not even themselves!”
There’s something about the way that he says it-- the certainty and the boldness-- that makes Virgil’s insides churn hard with guilt. Remus’s face goes blank for a long moment, clear of any emotion that Virgil can read and that’s nearly more terrifying than the idea of facing off one-on-one with Guildmaster Clay.
“The same type of friend who can rely on you but whom you can’t rely on?” Remus asks. “Virgil ain’t interested in that vulcanshit.”
“I can speak for myself actually,” Virgil cuts in blandly, and then he turns to Patton before he can witness the clear skepticism on Remus’s face. Patton has this light in his eyes, soft and gentle that reminds Virgil of how Patton’s knee jerk reaction to someone breaking into his house was to offer them food. Virgil steels himself regardless and shoves the guilty feeling away.
“But he is right. Aside from the part where we are literally on the opposite sides of the law here, and if we get our way, you’re going to be married off and never see us again and that I have almost drowned you like three times--”
“--only two,” Patton says.
“--It’s still bad,” Virgil finishes lamely. “You can’t trust me, I mean. I don’t trust me. If you aren’t going to value yourself as a person worthy of self preservation enough to not try to make friends with someone who very obviously would follow through with an order to kill you, then what the fuck am I supposed to do? Constantly, be on the lookout for you? I can’t do that. I physically cannot do that. My surface tension would get so strong I would explode; It’s a wonder I haven’t already--”
“Virge,” Remus says.
“--If we are going to be friends, you have to rely on me,” Virgil sums up. “You have to trust me as much as you want me to trust you.”
“Oh isn’t that adorable!” A voice sings from the front of the room, and both Virgil and Remus freeze where they are. Neither of them have to turn to know who it is: Remus because he’s unwillingly cataloged the heartbeat, breathing pattern, and gait of every member of the Shadow Force, and Virgil because Envy when she’s really pissed off has enough power to take away his magic and if that happens he’s pretty sure he’ll lose his actual consciousness forever.
((There was a wind mage not too long ago, made completely of air, who dated Envy and broke it off after the seventh red flag got waved in the other girl’s face. She didn’t get more than three steps away before Envy was sucking the very life force out of her and vengefully watched as the mage dissipated into nothing in the middle of the mess hall for everyone to see. The only thing that had been left of her was a palm sized opal crystal, and even that Envy had smashed to the floor and stomped on the shards until the last of the magic had dissipated.
…Virgil had spent the next seven hours staring at the same spot waiting, wishing, hoping that the breeze would tighten and weave back into being, before Remus had hauled him back to their room.))
Remus, on instinct, shoves Patton into Virgil’s arms and then stands in front of them both blocking Envy’s view of them, and growling very animalistically. Patton must have recognized her voice too, because he goes extremely quiet, fingers twisting in his bonds to get a card that isn’t there and Virgil gets about a dozen internal alarms ringing in his head about this whole thing.
“Take a hike, bitch,” Remus snarls.
“Why are you always so mean to me, Gluttony?” Envy whines, with all the childish charm of a girl who practiced setting her dolls on fire at age four.
“The fuck did you just call me?!” Remus says green light flickering under his feet as a clear warning.
Virgil dares to peek around Remus’s broad form to glance at Envy. She’s always been petite; making up for her height with sheer ruthlessness and disdain for anyone with a flashy power and platform boots. She still had to look up to meet Remus’s gaze but she did it with the smugness of someone who had several tricks up their sleeve and liked to make babies cry. For someone who should have been in the infirmary she was remarkably present down here, bandages wrapped around her arms and her leg and a patch on her cheek that barely hid the discolored bruises and burns.
In her hands is a large sparkling pink crystal, like a jagged cut of rose quartz nearly the size of new lacrima and practically glowing with energy. She grins in a way that does not bode well.
“Glut-ton-y,” Envy repeats, slower. “I mean, that’s the name you’re going to have soon, right? Might as well get used to being called it now. See, it fits the theme! Pride, Envy, Greed, Malice-- Gluttony!”
“Call me it again and I will make what happened to Malice look like a fucking dream,” Remus says.
Envy sticks her tongue out at him. “You’re so lame. Is this because of Virgil? You know you can do better than him. All he does is hold you back and make you feel guilty about having fun.”
Virgil feels himself boil slightly, but it's nothing compared to how Remus’s green circle explodes from under him and metal wraps around his limbs like armor, as sleek and unbreakable as a sword. His tail curls to the side, and Virgil distantly recognizes its hooking his ankle as if to make sure he doesn’t move into danger.
“Oh,” Patton breathes shakily into Virgil’s side suddenly.
“Oh, come on,” Envy says. “You know I’m right! If it weren’t for him hovering around you wouldn’t have a problem with the contract! In a year or two once you stop making everything so difficult for yourself, Greed would even hand it over and let you rip it up yourself!”
“You’re under the mistaken understanding that my contract stops me from killing you right here,” Remus says.
“Look, just because the two of you are fucking on the weekends--”
Remus swings his arm and a rebar of galvanized steel sweeps barely to the left of her face, shaving off three inches of her hair on that side of her face. She stumbles back, hand coming up to tap her cheek and coming away with a long thin line of blood across her cheek bone.
“You’re out of warnings,” Remus growls. “Get lost Or I send you to join Malice in morphine hell.”
She snorts in disbelief, swaying on her feet and then she smiles again and zeroes in on Virgil, despite Remus very obviously stepping in front again. “Hey, Virgie! Patty! It’s been so long! Do you guys know what this is?”
She holds up the crystal, letting it shimmer in the low light, like something valuable, like something irreplaceable, like something fragile and breakable. For a moment Virgil is thinking about it; about his quick water whip slicing under Remus’s arm, clearing him entirely and knocking that gem fifteen feet beyond all of them, shattering it against the concrete floors and letting the sound ring out infinitely in all the cellars.
He could picture it: the magic housed in the crystal exploding apart wafting up into the air like colored smoke before it disappears entirely already heading back to the person it came from. Suddenly, all Virgil can remember is Logan saying “...a trap was set up by what I believe is a null-magic user” and “Thomas is okay. For now.”
Suddenly Virgil has a very bad feeling about Envy being down here.
“This is all the magic power of Thomas Sanders!” Envy says proudly, and Patton’s breath hitches. “I think this is the biggest one I’ve ever collected! Makes sense since that old man couldn’t even when I was done! I probably could have finished him off entirely if the Guildmaster hadn’t stopped me.”
She shifts it between her hands. “Mal and I were talking, and, you know, the guildmaster went to a lot of trouble to make a plan that would get Thomas out of the way like this! If it breaks, he’ll probably kill the person who’s annoyed him the most recently…Isn’t that you, Virge? He was real pissed that you messed up as bad as you did. Not only did you set his schedule off, but you made him send Mal and me, and now Mal is in recovery so he can’t do the next part of the plan and my nails have been ruined…The guildmaster will probably be mad enough to just…. Poof you out of existence without me needing to do anything!”
She smiles with absolutely no friendliness in it. “Hey, hey, Virgil! You know what would be really funny? Catch!”
And then she tosses that crystal over her own fucking shoulder towards the ground.
[Next Chapter]
#Virgil is a water mage#Fairy tail crossover#Remus is not having a good time#But then again#neither is Patton#nor Virgil#Everyone probably could do with some therapy#dragon slayer Remus#Card Mage Virgil#sanders sides#virgil sanders#remus sanders#patton sanders#Remus and Virgil are best friends
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
(click for better quality)
@warcats-cat had a very neato thing soooo..... here this is!
#this was so fun and im surprised it actually took me this long to finish#also drawing/coloring the wings was so fun ngl#but it's done#sanders sides#sandersides#logan sanders#roman sanders#virgil sanders#patton sanders#remus sanders#janus sanders#tss#dtiysart#dtiys#draw this in your style#draw this in my style#fairy au#?#my art
45 notes
·
View notes
Note
A light stutters towards the fairies; it seems nervous.
"Uh, Virgil? I made you something."
The eyes of the fairies glow and Virgil nearly drops the pastry he was enjoying.
His face going beet red.
"Oh my stars! Virgil that is stunning!" Roman gushed.
"Someone's got a fan," Remus teased, though he seemed impressed too.
"Aaaaw! They are so talented!" Patton exclaimed.
"Indeed, an artistic wish perhaps?" Logan mused.
Janus just smirks at Virgil who is not looking at anyone. "Thanks. It looks really good," he mutters, overwhelmed with many emotions at recieving something like this.
#sandes sides#ts sides#virgil sanders#logan sanders#roman sanders#remus sanders#janus sanders#patton sanders#ask the fairies#ask blog#omg#fairytower#fairy art
34 notes
·
View notes
Text
Fairies for @warcats-cat DTIYS <33
I had a lot of fun drawing them ❤️❤️❤️
42 notes
·
View notes
Text
Have Your Name (And Your Back) Chapter 12
Into The Garden
Patton finds the garden and makes a new friend in the process.
Chapter 11 | Masterlist | Chapter 13
One day I'll have a consistent upload schedule.
No new trigger warnings (except for Patton basically getting a sensory overload), so if you've read previous chapters you should be fine with this one. So sit back and enjoy!
Looking through the windows had become Patton’s new way to pass the time.
It had been a week since the incident with the vase, and he was getting anxious about the upcoming ceremony that would officially make him Prince’s godson. While he had initially been ecstatic to finally have that deeper connection with his soon-to-be-official Fairy Godfather, now he had started to doubt himself and his ability to perform the ritual correctly. Luckily for him, Prince and Logic were slowly guiding him through everything so he would know what to expect. However, it still did little to quell his own anxieties, especially during the hours between lessons. So Patton tried to find different ways to distract himself and pass the time.
His first idea was to do what he had already been doing most afternoons, which was skipping through the hallway. But after the vase incident he decided that was a bad idea, at least until he stopped growing due to potions and adjusted to his new height. His next idea was to read the books in the library, but barely any of them were written in German and his English skills weren’t good enough to read anything advanced. Besides, he already spends most of his day reading and writing, any more and he might die of boredom!
There was a point where he considered calling for Prince or Duke to hang out with him, but decided against it. While Prince did say that Patton could call on him at any time, even if he was just bored, the man/fairy seemed to have a lot on his plate at the moment. From the little snippets of conversation he’s heard between the brothers, any moment they’re not with Patton they’re either preparing for the ceremony or doing their normal fae duties. And while the two fairies never acted irritated or exhausted while around Patton, he still felt guilty for needing to take up so much of their time. They already spent most of their day taking care of him, the least he could do was entertain himself for the few hours that they were gone.
So that led Patton to his current activity: staring out the window. When he had first arrived, there didn’t seem to be anything interesting outside. While the large windows did show a clear view of the sky, there didn’t seem to be anything in the sky beyond the sun, not even a passing cloud. The ground wasn’t too exciting either, with flat green plains that stood still due to the lack of wind. While Patton could see the beginnings of a forest followed by a mountain range in the distance, they were too far away for him to make out any details. Overall, a rather boring sight after the first few minutes of staring.
However, that was before Patton had started his lessons with Logic, and one of those lessons in particular inspired this new activity: illusions. It was a simple form of physical magic that even non-fae could perform, though there was a certain species of fae that excelled in it.
(Logic hadn’t named a specific fairy when he explained this, but Patton had a feeling that he was talking about Deceit. Logic always seemed to be vague when discussing the born fairies, Deceit even more so, though Patton couldn’t tell if it was out of respect or something else.)
From what Patton had learned, these illusions affected all of your senses and could only be detected if you were good at sensing magic or you knew what the illusion was obscuring. And based on the stories Prince had told him, there should be a garden outside, which means there’s probably some sort of magic involved. And sure enough, if Patton focused hard enough the field would suddenly waver, with flashes of color flickering in and out of existence. He couldn’t fully see the garden (he probably never would until the illusion was banished), and he could only look at the flickering colors for a few moments before it got overwhelming, but he still stared out the window in hopes of seeing more.
On this particular afternoon, Patton was imagining what the garden would look like. He had seen many flickering colors, from reds and blues to oranges and yellows, and even some hints of purple. Though he knew that more colorful flowers existed, the garden that Patton tended to as a child was only filled with whites and grays along with the occasional dull pinks. He wondered if a magic garden would have the same flowers in more vibrant colors. Or maybe they would be plants that Patton had never seen before. Would they be normal plants or magic plants? How would one take care of a magical flower? Technically he could ask Prince what the garden looked like, or if he could remove the illusion altogether and let Patton see it with his own eyes, but he decided not to ask. There was probably a reason why the garden was hidden, right? And Prince was already busy enough as it was, there was no need to pester him about something that wasn’t Patton’s business.
(Also, a part of Patton secretly hoped that he would never see the garden, because if he did then he would want to go and explore it and never leave. And Patton would rather never see the garden at all than hear Prince tell him that he’s not allowed to go out and tend to it. He had already lost one garden, he didn’t want to lose another.)
Hiss.
Patton looked up from the spot he was staring at, his eyes briefly catching something yellow before the illusion covered it up again. What was that? Patton could’ve sworn he heard-
Hiss.
There! Near the edge of the illusion, something yellow flickered into existence and moved. Was there some sort of animal in the garden? Patton had to know!
With his curiosity fully peaked, Patton pressed his hand against the glass, squinting out at the flickering illusion. “What is that?” He pressed his face as close as he could to the glass, huffing when he still couldn’t make out the yellow shape. “I’m too far away. I wish I could go outside, but even if I was allowed I don’t know how I would get out there. None of the doors lead outside and these windows don’t open. Maybe I should ask Fairy Godfa-AH!” Before Patton could finish his sentence, the glass seemed to vanish as Patton went tumbling out the window! Luckily the window was low to the ground so he didn’t get injured, but he still tripped over the windowsill and landed on the dirt ground with a loud thump.
Hiss.
Patton groaned and forced himself onto his feet, stumbling toward the flickering yellow shape. He could only make it a few steps before he had to close his eyes. The illusion was already hard to look at from his window, but now that he was actually in the garden his senses were bombarded with colors and smells blinking in and out of existence. He tried to follow the hissing noise, but even that seemed to be drowned out by the sounds of rustling leaves and running water.
Click.
Patton gasped and spun around, biting back his nausea as the now violently flickering images nearly threw him off balance. But he could still clearly see that the window to his bedroom had closed itself. “No no no!” Patton rushed back to the window, running his fingers over the glass as he tried to find the place where it opened from. “Please open. I need to get back inside! I’m not supposed to be out here!” Unfortunately, it seemed that whatever compelled the window to open was only on the inside, as it refused to even budge.
Patton let out a whine and started walking backward, still unable to look at the garden behind him. He kept his eyes trained on the wall in front of him. Maybe there was a door that he could go through, or an open window that he hadn’t noticed. Eventually, his back hit something rough and hard. Maybe a tree? Patton instinctively turned around to look.
Immediately Patton was overwhelmed by a bombardment of sights, sounds and magic. Whatever was in front of him seemed to be the center of the illusion magic, as the sensations he had been feeling in small doses were pounding in his head and screaming that the thing he just touched didn’t exist and the garden didn’t exist and he didn’t exi-
Patton threw himself to the ground, gritting his teeth while ignoring the pressure behind his eyes and the taste of blood in his mouth. “Fairy Godfather!” He waited for a moment and felt his heart sink as he tried again. “Prince, please! I need you!” He held his breath before letting out a sob. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to! I promise I’ll be good! I’ll never do it again! Please forgive me-”
“Heart?” Immediately Patton was pulled into a now-familiar embrace. “It’s okay, you’re safe now.” Prince’s jacket was shielding his eyes, and all of his other senses seemed to dull. All he could smell was Prince’s smell of firewood and comfort and home. The only magic he could feel was Prince’s healing magic across his body. And all that he could hear was Prince’s worried tone. “I’m sorry it took so long, I practically searched the whole wing before realizing you were outside. How did you get here? How long have you been out here? Are you still in pain?”
Patton did his best to shake his head, his face still buried in his Fairy Godfather’s jacket. “Not anymore. I was only out for a few minutes. I don’t know what happened, the window just opened on its own and it closed before I could get back in.”
He tried to scoot back and look at his Fairy Godfather, but the fairy gently pushed his head back down. “Wait just a little longer, Child. These illusions are a lot stronger than I first assumed.” His voice was slightly strained as he spoke, likely from attempting to dispel the illusions, and Patton felt his tears return as he hiccuped.
“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave.”
Prince chuckled and ruffled Patton’s hair. “I know you didn’t. And even if you did, I wouldn’t be upset.”
“Really?”
“Yep. I knew you were going to want to see the garden eventually. I’m just relieved that you called out for help instead of staying stuck out here.” He chuckled again, but it was hollow this time. “Besides, I’d be quite the hypocrite if I got mad at you for something like this. I wasn’t exactly the best of godchildren growing up.” Patton barely had enough time to process that before the hand in his hair disappeared. “It should be safe to look now.”
Patton kept his eye closed as he pulled away from Prince and stood up. He took a deep breath before opening his eyes, only for the air to rush out as he gasped. The garden was even more beautiful than he’d imagined, with flowers of every color he could think of scattered throughout. Thin streams ran through most of the area, all leading to a small pond to his right. And directly behind him stood a massive tree, with dark oak and spindly branches. The leaves seemed to change color in the light, and when one fell it seemed to flip through every color in the rainbow before turning white as it touched the ground.
“Tada!” Patton turned to look at his Fairy Godfather, who was looking sheepish as he held his hands out. “Welcome to Pops’ old garden! Or your garden now, if you want it. I asked Deciet to put an illusion over it because I thought it would remind you of unpleasant memories. Then you talked about how much you enjoyed gardening so I worked with the others to make it a little… safer.” Patton looked around and nodded, noticing that some of the plants seemed to be encased in a soft purple glow. There were also small signs in front of the flowers with either illustrations about what the plant could do (probably from Duke if the cartoonish gore was any indication) or small yet familiar handwriting about the names and uses of each flower (definitely Logic, though some of it written over in either swoopy gold or messy black handwriting).
Patton’s head snapped over to Prince as he fully realized what the fairy had just said. “This garden is… mine?”
Prince nodded and gestured to the windows that got Patton stuck in this situation, an ornate wooden door appearing next to them. “This door leads directly to your room, and can only be locked and unlocked with this key.” A large brass key was carefully pressed into Patton’s hand, and Patton looked down at it in awe. “You can visit the garden whenever you want, I just ask for three things.” Patton nodded but froze when he saw how serious his Fairy Godfather suddenly looked. “One: You will be careful in the garden. This is one of the most dangerous areas of the wing, and many of these plants can be deadly if you don’t tend to them properly. If you encounter any issues while out here, no matter how minor, you should still call out for help just in case. Two: Your time out in the garden should not interfere with your health and studies. If you believe you don’t have enough time to go out to the garden, then we can discuss your schedule together with Logic. But you shouldn’t be skipping meals, lessons, or sleep to come out here. Three: If you look carefully you’ll notice there are walls along the perimeter of the garden. The North wall leads to Logic’s territory, the South wall leads to Duke and Deceit’s garden, and the East wall leads to the forest. You will not attempt to cross any of these walls without permission and someone accompanying you. The other Fae will take it as an insult if you sneak onto their property uninvited, and if you leave the grounds without permission I won’t be able to protect you. Do you agree to these terms?”
Patton stayed frozen for a bit but eventually he nodded. He should’ve felt a little more panicked that Prince was now presenting actual rules for Patton to follow, However, he was much calmer since Prince explained why Patton needed to follow each rule. And Patton wasn’t intending on doing anything that broke the rules, so he shouldn’t have to worry about them much. He then remembered that his Fairy Godfather preferred verbal consent and spoke up. “I promise I’ll do as you ask. I’ll be careful, I won’t let the garden interfere with my health or studies, and I won’t attempt to cross any of the walls without permission.”
There was a moment where everything seemed to crescendo; the air in his lungs seemed to expand, the wind started to pick up, and Prince’s eyes seemed to glow. Then in a blink of an eye it all vanished, and Prince was back to his gentle smile. “Great, I’m glad we could come to an agreement. Now, I need to go clean up and inform the others not to enter this garden without permission.” He dusted off his jacket as he spoke, drawing Patton’s eyes to the bloodstain on his chest.
“Prince, you’re bleeding!” Patton gasped, taking a half-step forward before pausing at Prince’s awkward chuckle.
“No Heart, I’m fine. You were the one who was bleeding. Probably a side effect of spending too much time in the illusion. Another thing that I must discuss with the others.” He waved his hand and the jacket was completely spotless, while Patton felt his face suddenly feel scrubbed clean. “Now, is there anything else you need before I go?” Patton thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “Alright then. I’ll be back to get you for dinner. If you need anything just call out.” He gave Patton one last smile before turning and disappearing in a flash of light.
Patton stared at the place where Prince had disappeared before turning back to the tree. Now that he could see the garden in its entirety. He wanted to find whatever had been making that yellow flicker. It had seemed to be pretty high up, so it should be…
There! Nestled between the branches was a snake. It was quite large, with thick scales that ranged from browns to yellows to even some gold. Its golden eyes stared down at him, and Patton got the feeling that he was being judged.
Patton raised his hand in an awkward wave. “Hello?” Patton had seen smaller snakes in his old garden, and the bites weren’t pleasant. He was trying to stay calm but he was ready to bolt away if needed. Fortunately, the snake didn’t seem to have any intentions of moving, as it just flicked its tongue once before looking away. “I… I didn’t know there were animals in the garden. Are you a magic snake?” The snake flicked its tongue out again, which Patton decided to interpret as ‘yes’. “Well you seem to be nice. Do you have a name?” No response. “Do you mind if I give you a name?” That seemed to get its attention, as the snake was no longer in its lax posture, now staring down at Patton with a tilted head. “Umm… sorry, I’ve never named anything before. I want to make sure it’s a special name that fits you.” He thought about it for a moment before humming. “What about… Dante? He’s the author of one of Duke’s favorite stories. And Duke is cool and nice but a little scary, so Dante probably was too. And you look cool and scary but you seem nice!”
By the end of his explanation Patton was beaming at his excellent naming skills, before remembering what exactly he was smiling at. He took a nervous step back before looking up at the snake. It looked… amused? Flattered? Patton didn’t really know how to read snake expressions, but he was pretty sure the snake liked the name. “Okay then… Hello Dante! It’s nice to meet you! My name is-” Patton suddenly remembered that even though it was a snake it was still a potentially magical snake, and that probably meant that giving it his name was a bad idea. “I mean… you may call me Heart. I’m Prince’s godchild, and he just gave me permission to take care of this garden. I hope you like it here! I’ll try and keep this place nice and cozy for you to live in.”
The snake stared at him for a few moments before uncoiling itself and moving along one of the branches. Patton followed at a safe distance and noticed that the branch reached over the wall into Duke and Deceit’s domain. As he approached the wall, Patton heard hissing noises on the other side. “Oh, there must be a ton of snakes over there. Is that where you’re from?” The snake didn’t respond, instead sliding off the branch and landing on top of the wall. “Well… alright then. Please come back soon! I really appreciated the company. You and your other snake friends are welcome back anytime!” The snake turned back to look at him, and for a second its eyes seemed to glow before it turned back and slithered down into the other domain.
Patton took a moment to take a deep breath, still overwhelmed by everything that had happened in the past few minutes. Then, he turned to the least dangerous looking flowers, rolled up his sleeves, and got to work.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@itawalrus @whatishappeningrightnow @idont-freaking-know @count-woe-laf @im-an-anxious-wreck @shadowylemon @stopthe-presses @the-sympathetic-villain @echo-goes-aaa @everythingisstardust
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
Change
~~~~~
A borrower's life is full of peril as it is, changing things just makes it worse. A fairy's life is much the same but for different reasons.
So maybe, they shouldn't live together.
~~~~~
Logan hated change. He was a borrower, of course he did; change was extremely dangerous.
If his humans were to change their schedule, for instance, he would have more chance of getting caught whilst borrowing. If he was to change houses, he would have to plan a whole new routine and a new human’s schedule, all the passageways and everything else.
He liked his routine as it was. His humans were loud, but they were predictable. Most of the time.
He had just finished a borrowing run when the loudest human came home, hands trapping something and running towards the bedrooms, where the second human was sat.
Logan cautiously followed from the walls, wary of what could possibly be a new pet or such he would have to avoid. He got there a few minutes after the human did and peered out of a vent. There was a cage on the bedside table and in it was a-
Well, he thought they were a borrower at first, but he had never seen a borrower with wings.
The humans were conversing, but he wasn’t listening, instead watching the fairy intently. They were stood up in the golden bird cage, glaring at the humans.
Logan felt a twang of sympathy in his chest. The prison was carried out to the living room, and set on a different table. Now, all Logan had to do was wait for the humans to sleep, and he would be able to help them.
It took longer than Logan would have wanted but, eventually the humans went to bed. Logan climbed the coffee table to where the fairy was attempting to pick the lock on the outside of the cage. From this close, he noticed some things about them, like the fact that their wings were crumpled and slightly teared, and that they had dark circles under their eyes. Logan couldn’t tell if they were painted on or not
“Salutations. I am Logan. Do you want assistance?” They nodded, before seemingly trying to speak. It sounded more like bells to him
“I apologise, I seem to be having trouble understanding you. You can understand me, correct?” They nodded “Fantastic, lets get you out of this cage and then we’ll figure out some means of communication after”
He brought out a paperclip and used that and a pin to pick the padlock. His father had taught him how to do so in case humans ever caged him or another, and it seemed to come in handy. The lock clicked open after about two and a half minutes of messing with it.
He opened the cage door and the fairy climbed out
“I noticed your wings seem injured, are you still able to fly?”
They gave the wings a small flutter and grimaced in what Logan assumed was pain, before shaking their head. Logan set up his hook and string, and looked up at the fairy
“Do you think you’d be able to climb? If not I could carry you” he offered and the fairy looked down before grabbing the string and lowering themselves to the ground. Logan followed and started leading them towards his closest entrance to the wall
They walked into the wall with minimal hesitation, their wings holding a dim glow in the dark space. Logan took them to his home, and turned on the lights he had borrowed, ironically known as fairy lights.
His home wasn’t the biggest, not by a long shot, but it was his. He had a blanket curled in the corner that he used as a sort of nest, and a group of outfits in a corner, and as well, a place to store all his tools.
The fairy looked around a little and Logan sat down for a moment
“You can stay here if you wish, but if not, I could lead you to the outside of this house. It is entirely your own decision, simply nod if you want to stay and shake your head if you’d prefer getting far away from here”
The fairy nodded, and sat down next to him, not making eye contact. Their wings looked in absolutely horrendous shape and Logan realised how bad that must be for them.
“Would you allow me to take a look at your wings, I have a few first aid supplies in my supply corner” The fairy nodded again and Logan gathered some bandages.
He started to smooth out their wings, murmuring soft encouragements to his new acquaintance as it evidently caused them pain. He bandaged them up as well as he could with scraps of humans bandages
They gave a strained smile once it was done and gave them a tentative flutter, wincing only slightly. Logan still didn’t think they could fly with them in that shape, but that was simply an observation. They said something to him and, though he did not understand the words themselves, he interpreted it as an expression of gratitude
“Ah, if you are thanking me, then you are welcome, if not, then we should probably find a better way to communicate. You know how to write, correct?”
They nodded and Logan brought out some scraps of paper and a piece of pencil led that he had borrowed a while before, and handed them to the fairy
“Would you mind giving me your name? I feel that should be the first course of action here” They wrote their name on one of the scraps and handed it to him
“Hm. Virgil... You have a very nice name, if I do say so myself. I believe to have already introduced myself, but in case I am mistaken, my name is Logan. Shall we get some sleep? I can set up somewhere for you if you wish”
They nodded to both and Logan widened his nest slightly, and they both crawled in. Neither of them were too disruptive whilst sleeping and the morning came quickly, as indicated by a loud shout from one of the humans, presumably Patton
“Janus! The little guy’s gone! It’s not in the cage, and I don’t know how, or-or where it went. Poor thing probably can’t survive on it’s own, not with those injured wings” Logan peeked out through a tiny hole in the wallpaper to see a distressed human looking at the cage
Janus walked in to inspect the prison.
“Were the door and windows closed when you came in?” After Patton gave a nod, he continued “Well, it has to be somewhere in here then” and they searched
Logan looked over to Virgil and saw a look of panic overtake their features as they looked at the humans. They started muttering to themselves, pacing around the walls. The gradually got louder, but Logan doubted they knew that.
The humans froze when they heard it, and Logan quickly put his hand over their mouth and motioned to the humans before removing his hand
“Did you hear that?” Everyone froze at that and Virgil backed away from the wall, holding his own hands to his face with wide eyes. Janus nodded at Patton’s question
“Yeah, it’s definitely still in the house at least... Let’s keep looking” The humans were getting closer to the wall and Virgil grabbed a piece of paper and the pencil again
‘How do I get outside???’
Logan motioned for them to follow him through a tunnel, grabbing pencil and paper on the way out. Logan knew the way well, as he paced it every day, stopping spiders and rats from nesting there, as he would never know when he would need to make a quick escape.
They followed, occasionally attempting to flutter their wings and hissing in pain. After a few minutes of walking, the only light coming from Virgil’s wings, they saw a small crack of light. Logan pushed it open and stepped to the side to let Virgil through
They walked closer and simply stared at the mass of identical houses surrounding them, and backed into the house again, shaking their head. Logan looked back at them
“Are you not going outside, after all?” Virgil shook their head, tears in their eyes
Logan handed them the pencil and paper and they scribbled down an answer
‘I don’t know where we are, I don’t know how to get home, especially without my wings’
Logan hummed in thought, reading over the note
“I do wish I could help, but I have only ever lived on this street, I don’t know anything beyond it. If you wish, however, my home is open to you for however long it takes you to completely heal and then some. You can stay in the walls if you want, and I shall be the one to get food and supplies to avoid you getting spotted. You can stay here as long as you see fit, and if that happens to be longer than it takes for your wings to heal, then so be it” He stated, holding his hand for them to take
The differences in the hands was noticeable immediately, with theirs being slightly smaller, matching their shorter stature, and softer, in contrast to his own large, callused hands formed from years of climbing and borrowing. He lead them back to his home, which was technically their home as well now.
He looked at his nest in thought. Perhaps Virgil would want a separate nest? For borrowers, it was common to share nests, as it took up less supplies, but perhaps that wasn’t a thing with fairies.
He knew that, with humans, sharing a sleeping space was mainly a thing only if the humans were romantically or sexually involved, and that was certainly not a message he would wish to convey to Virgil, as he had only met them the previous night
He elected to keep it as it was unless Virgil brought up a problem themselves, and instead looked at his food supplies, trying to determine when next he would have to borrow. It seemed he was set for the next few days or so, with the addition of Virgil.
He started getting out some portions of food for them both; giving Virgil a few berries he had borrowed, and himself half of a cracker. They ate in relative silence, the only noise coming from the outside of the walls.
The humans were still looking for the fairy, though they seemed to be giving up, quite luckily for the fairy themselves.
They lived together for a month before any problems arose. The humans had heard Virgil’s voice a few times, but they had stopped actively trying to look for him. They always glanced in the direction, however.
Logan was on his routine borrowing run whilst the humans were working outside of the house, as he was every three days
He knew Virgil was watching him from their shared home, as that is what he always did, to make sure Logan stayed safe. Logan didn’t mind, as long as he stayed out of sight
As it was, the humans believed that Virgil escaped by himself, so if he was caught once again, the humans might put him in something more secure, that Logan wouldn’t be able to help with.
He had just got half of the supplies, when he heard the front door open. Realising that he was on a table in the middle of the room, with no chance of having enough time to climb down, he ran to the edge of the table and looked down
It wasn’t too high, there was a chance to jump without injury; a slim chance, but a chance nonetheless. He couldn’t spend any more time thinking on that as the human started opening the door to the kitchen
Logan jumped and he landed with a sickening crack of the arm and a scream, before everything went black.
--
Virgil was flying in the forest. He was doing his morning patrols, and he got distracted: by the time he had seen the human, it was too late. He was grabbed and his wings had gotten caught in the fingers
He cussed to himself as the human put their other hand over top of him, effectively trapping him in between their hands. Their hand jostled as they started walking and he felt his wing tear with white hot, searing pain.
He cried out and the human stopped, tentatively opening their hands to worriedly peer at him
“Oh no, little guy... I didn’t hurt you did I?” The hand he wasn’t sitting on came closer to him and he tried to hit it away, vaguely aware of the tears streaming down his face
“Oh my- Your wing... I’m sorry, little guy” They reached out to touch the wing and Virgil flinched, instinctively trying to fly away, only to feel some of the worst pain he had felt in his lifetime
He tried to scramble back from the hand, trying to stop the large appendage getting closer to his injury. He attempted to beg with the giant
“Please, stop... It hurts- it hurts so much” He mumbled, looking up at the human, who’s hand was now hanging in mid air, just inches from his body. They brought him closer with metaphorical stars in their eyes
“Aww, the little noises you make are so adorable! Don’t worry lil’ guy, I’ll take good care of you” This was how he figured out that humans couldn’t understand him. Their hand went back to covering him, this time without trapping his wings.
He guessed they were running, based on how much he was thrown around. He cried out in pain a few times, but he didn’t know if the human heard him.
Now with one teared wing, and both of them crumpled, there was no way he’d be able to get away from his captor
He wondered if that was their plan from the beginning, hurting him to lower the chances of him getting away. Before they entered the beast’s home, they opened their hands and noticed how bad his wings were looking
“Oh, kiddo... I’ll just straighten these out okay, I don’t think that would be too comfortable to have them all crumpled like that” They reached out, and Virgil didn’t verbally respond, only trying to hit the hand away. Talking wouldn’t do anything anyway
“Shh, it’s okay, I won’t hurt you, you’re okay, you’re okay”
They touched his untorn wing, gently pinching it between forefinger and thumb and starting to smooth it out. It was slightly painful, but they were surprisingly gentle with it. Virgil was too scared to move, knowing that what happened to his first wing could happen to this one
Until a dog barked across the street. Virgil flinched and immediately cried out in pain once again as his wing tore
“Oh my stars, I am so so sorry, little guy... I’ll just- uh- Oh stars, this is- I am so sorry” They stammered, before unlocking their door and going inside, hand not completely over him, but still covering him.
The human wasn’t exactly running this time, he didn’t think so anyway, but they were still fast
He barely had time to comprehend as he was all but shoved in front of another human’s face, who leant closer to him
Virgil couldn’t help but stare at the scars on their left side, but got over that quickly as they looked up to the other human
“What happened to its wings, Patton?” They asked, eyes flickering down to him for a moment
“It was an accident, its wing got caught in my fingers and then when I was trying to smooth out the other, it moved and-” The first human, Patton, sounded upset at the retelling of what had happened
Virgil didn’t like that they were calling him an ‘it’, nor the fact that Patton was claiming his injuries an accident. Virgil wasn’t too convinced of that.
The second human sighed “Of course. You find a mythical creature and you injure it almost immediately. Where are we even gonna keep it?”
“Well, I was wondering if you still had that decorative cage?” Patton asked and Virgil mentally connected the dots- decorative, not practical. He could probably escape from that
“I know it doesn’t have a lock, but I have a padlock that we could use” Patton continued, shattering Virgil’s hopes as quickly as they were built up.
He was put into the cage very soon, and he stood at the far side, glaring at the humans as they fastened the lock onto the bars. He eventually sat down, trying to ignore the burning pain in his wings and started humming to himself
The humans barely left him out of their sight, except for when they needed to do something. He was given food, but he didn’t eat. It could be poisoned for all he knew. He was still awake when the humans went to bed and he lamented his situation in silence
After about an hour of (rightfully) sulking and trying to pick the lock, he saw a borrower climbing up to him
He had met a few borrowers in his life, many of them people who were moving house, or those who were perpetually moving and never settled down. Most were nice, but there were a few who were more distrustful. He couldn’t blame them, he didn’t trust very many people either
This borrower introduced themselves as Logan, and helped get him out of the cage and into the walls, letting him stay the night and gently fixing up his wings with medical supplies.
They shared their food supplies, and Virgil didn’t miss that he got given the bigger portion of three blueberries, while they got half of a cracker. He hummed, not bringing it up.
When it was time to sleep, Logan pointed him to his side of the nest, in which Virgil had to sleep on his stomach to avoid further injury to his wings
Due to... complications with his ability to get back to the forest, he stayed with Logan longer than originally planned. Neither minded too much at the arrangement
He could almost confidently say that he trusted Logan. Logan would go out to get supplies every few days, and Virgil would watch, out of both worry and interest. The humans were out of the house, and, if all went according to plan, would be for another few hours.
Logan was on the table in the kitchen, counting supplies as he always did during a supply collecting. Virgil leant against the wall and fluttered his wings, glad that at least now it didn’t hurt as much as it used to.
Both of the people in the house froze at the sound of the front door, and Virgil could practically feel the fear radiating off of the borrower. He could see Logan’s thought process as he ran to the edge of the table, looked over the edge, up to the kitchen door, and back to the floor again
Virgil could hardly watch as he jumped. He knew that Logan wanted to escape as quickly as possible, and he knew that jumping was much quicker than climbing, and he knew that Logan wouldn’t jump if he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t die, but at the sound of the agonizing scream as the kitchen door opened, he couldn’t help but fear the worst.
The human (now identified as Janus) stared down at the floor that Logan fell onto, and Virgil wished he could see that far down
“Oh... oh dear” The human leant down to see his best friend and Virgil could barely keep from hyperventilating. What had caused the ‘oh dear’ reaction?
What was wrong with Logan?! Was he okay?! Was- was Logan... he couldn’t even finish the thought. The human stood back up holding a limp form whose arm was covered in blood. Virgil’s heart stopped.
He looked at Logan, maybe he was just unconscious? Hopefully, just unconscious. Virgil no longer cared that the human was right there and started shouting, trying to wake his friend up
“Logan! Logan please! Wake up...” He banged his fist on the wall in desperation. Logan, unfortunately, didn’t respond. However, the human looked towards the wall, scrutinising it as if he would be able to see Virgil if he was suspicious enough
He soon turned his attention onto the unconscious borrower, placing his thumb down on Logan’s chest, one of his vulnerable points. Virgil didn’t like that. He knew first-hand how easy it was for a human to ‘mess up’
“Still alive at least...” Janus mumbled “Now about that arm” Logan was set on the table and Virgil wasted no time in collecting the first-aid bag and running out into the open
He couldn’t let the humans hurt Logan more. The human had spotted him, but Virgil ignored that, blood rushing in his ears and making it hard to focus on anything but Logan.
He threw the hook and string that Logan had lent to him and climbed to Logan. The borrower didn’t look too good, but Virgil knew how to fix broken arms. He had been paranoid a few summers previously and had studied medical advice up until his own wings were broken
He hadn’t studied everything yet, but he knew how to fix this at least. He could see the human approaching in his peripheral vision and he hissed, holding Logan’s limp body closer as Janus hesitantly stepped backwards.
The good news with being a fairy, wings or no, meant that he had some magic. Not in the same way as witches, definitely not. No, the fairy type of magic meant he was much more valuable in a witches potion than anything like a witch themselves
No, Virgil’s magic was the type that he couldn’t channel or control, the type that meant he, specifically, was magic. His blood had some healing properties in it to every creature but fairies themselves, and was a common ingredient in healing potions. His tears could be used in any number of potions and concoctions
This wasn’t the most fun of facts, given it lead to the capture and illegal selling of fairies in the magical world, but in this instance, him being literally made of magic came useful
He sliced open his palm on the edge of his hook and let a few drops drip into the wound, before bandaging his own hand. The bones were setting together again, and the wound closed slightly. Virgil had to do the rest the normal way; fairy blood was dangerous in concentrated amounts, and he didn’t want to hurt his best (and only) friend
The human was watching him, definitely, but he was focused on the fact that Logan was waking up
“Virgil...?” He mumbled trying to reach up to where the fairy was kneeling next to him, only to quickly lower that arm and raise the uninjured one.
Virgil nodded and brushed the hair out of Logan’s eyes. He was still... out of sorts and not very coherent, so it was almost a miracle that he even recognised Virgil. The human eventually left the room as Logan sat up, became more aware and realised what had happened
“Virgil... did- did the human see me?” Virgil had never heard Logan sound so worried, so scared. He nodded and Logan sharply inhaled
“Did he see you?” Logan asked, eyes desperate to see a no.
Virgil nodded again.
--
Janus... Janus was having an alright life, until his roommate brought home an injured fairy
It couldn’t speak, and Janus wasn’t sure it could understand them, or if it was even sapient, but he kept it. It disappeared that night, but he didn’t think it had found a way outside, he had been hearing it a lot for the past month
He and Patton had looked for hours, only to come up fruitless, so he didn’t know exactly where it was, but he knew it hadn’t left completely
He had walked into his house after his work had closed early due to a problem with the machines, only to hear a blood-curdling scream when he went to walk into the kitchen
He looked to the floor where a small pool of blood was around a tiny person’s limp body
“Oh... oh dear” He said, too shocked to say much else. He leant down to look at it.
He wasn’t too sure whether it was still living or not but he picked it up and looked it over. He was ninety percent certain that the source of the bleeding was a nasty break on their arm, but he still wanted to check the entire body to be sure
Before he could do anything, a loud ruckus from the other side of the room drew his attention. It was obviously the fairy, but he still couldn’t figure out where it was. On the topic of fairies, he looked down at the tiny being in his hand, placing his thumb on its chest
He could feel a shallow heartbeat and some laboured breathing. He placed them on the table and heaved a sigh of relief, muttering to himself as he looked around for medical supplies. Before he was able to find them however, some movement caught his eye. There was *his* fairy, sprinting across the floor like its life depended on it.
He wondered, at first, why it wasn’t flying, and was instead climbing up to the table, but then he noticed the fact that its wings were in bandages and were still slightly crumpled. He couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty for that
It wasn’t really his fault, but it was his roommates fault. It pulled the unconscious body closer and Janus stepped forward, not sure what it was doing.
It hissed at him, and Janus backed away. It sliced open its hand, revealing black blood, which then dripped into the other one’s wound, before it bandaged itself up. The Maybe-Fairy’s wound started closing, not all the way, but it was healing. Janus couldn’t help but stare
The Possibly-A-Fairy started waking up, and Janus stared still. It looked up at the fairy at its side and blinked
“Virgil...?” It said and Janus left the room. It could speak
Well, the Probably-Not-A-Fairy was definitely sapient and so was the fairy, it seemed. He wondered if the fairy’s (Virgil’s?) wings were being taken care of by the Not-Fairy or not. They appeared to be friends or something of the sort. And Virgil seemed to want to help their injury
He dialled Patton and waited for him to pick up
“Hello?”
“Patton, I have a problem. The fairy’s back”
Patton gasped and stayed silent for a few moments before speaking
“But... that’s great news, what’s wrong? Janus, what’s going on?”
Janus explained, starting from the tiny person falling from the table, and ending with that they started speaking. Patton inhaled
“Okay, I’m coming home from work soon, just hang on and check on the little guys whilst I’m on my way?” Janus nodded, and hung up, going to peak into the kitchen
The tiny people had not noticed his presence just yet, and the fairy seemed to be comforting the other, rubbing their back and muttering things. Janus wondered if the second tiny person understood Virgil or not
He pushed the door open all the way and walked in, causing both of them to stare at him. It seemed that whilst he was talking to Patton, the injured arm had been bandaged and put in a makeshift splint
The unnamed tiny started scrambling away as he got closer and Janus frowned down at them
“Well, is that any way to treat your host, who, might I add, so graciously helped you?” They stared at him, but looked down, and Virgil crossed their arms and glared, saying something up at him
Janus may not have been able to understand but he could figure out the main point; it was something like ‘what do you mean you helped? I did all the work’ Janus rolled his eyes
The unnamed tiny still didn’t look at him
“I doubt you actually helped. I don’t think you would help me without a catch”
Okay, ouch. It wasn’t the words that stung the most, it was the way it was said, as if it was a proven fact. He didn’t even think it was personal, he had a feeling that they just mistrusted humans in general
“Um, rude. I wouldn’t hurt you, why would you think I would?”
Both tinies looked at the broken wings and Janus understood a little more. The one with the injured arm took a shaky breath
“Virgil has informed me how his wings got injured, and how it was claimed accidental. Neither of us really believe that, of course, perhaps it was a ploy to weaken him to lower chances of an escape attempt, but nonetheless, accident or not, you could so easily hurt us, I don’t logically see a reason to trust you” Virgil nodded in agreement
Janus stared a moment, thinking over what was said. Did they really believe that he and Patton purposely hurt Virgil in order to trap him? That was ridiculous... except, it wasn’t.
He thought about it from Virgil’s point of view and realised how terrifying that would be, to be grabbed by a giant that couldn’t understand you and earning large injuries from the whole ordeal, then being thrown into a cage as well. He could kind of see why he thought it was intentional, regardless of how much Patton had apologised about the wings
Janus looked away
“Just- just do what you’re doing. And, not that you’d believe us, but we are really sorry about the wings, by the way. I hope they heal soon” He left the room and went to his own, thinking about how things had been going
He took a sharp breath when he heard something outside, and ran to the window. Once he was sure that it was just Patton getting out of his car, he went downstairs to greet the other human
“Good evening, my dear friend. Our, um, guests are in the kitchen, but I wouldn’t recommend going in. They don’t really trust us” He blocked Patton from entering, much to his displeasure
“Why can’t we talk it out with them?”
“Pat, you don’t understand, they think it was on purpose. They think you injured his wings on purpose to hurt him and trap him easier, they won’t be open to talking, they’ll just be terrified”
“...fine. But why do they think it’s on purpose?” he asked, looking concerned for their wellbeing. Janus looked
--
Logan realised that he had forgotten to add injuries to his list of dangerous changes.
He really hated change. He groaned in pain, as he sat up. Virgil was next to him with a bandage on his own hand. Hm... Wait. He was on top of the table.
Virgil couldn’t lift him up there, he certainly couldn’t climb whilst knocked out and with a broken arm. That meant... He felt a sudden overwhelmed sense of fear build up in him
“Virgil... did- did the human see me?” He asked, desperate to be answered with a no. Virgil seemed reluctant to answer, but still did, and Logan breathed in.
“Did he see you?” He asked quietly, trying not to hyperventilate. Virgil nodded.
The human walked in after a few minutes, they said a few words to each other but Logan struggled to remember what happened. Janus left after some time, and Logan looked at Virgil, who was shaking almost more than Logan
“We will have to move, it appears” He offered weakly. Virgil shot him a look as if to say ‘no, duh’
Whilst the humans were otherwise preoccupied, they both climbed down. It was slow and shaky, and Logan kept having to bite his cheek to keep from screaming at the pain in his arm, but they got down with no problems for the most part.
They got into the walls and started packing for the trek to the next house, only the essentials: food and water storage, tools, climbing materials, bandages, medicine, and such others
Once they were done packing, Logan gave one last look at what had been his home for five years past, and turned the light off with a sigh. Both the people in the walls slowly walked towards where they walked every day, to the exit.
It was sunny outside, if a little cold, but it was ideal weather for moving house.
They traversed hours to the next street over, and found an extremely old entrance to an ageing, red house. The walls had been lived in before, certainly, if the nail stairs and small section that seemed to once be a home were any indication. He and Virgil set up their own home and looked around the walls
Virgil froze, staring into one of the human’s rooms, wings twitching anxiously. He turned around to Logan with a look of pure panic. Logan rushed forward and looked into the room
“Oh, oh no” He whispered, slightly horrified at the sight. On the shelves were dozens of potion ingredients, including fairy blood, fairy wings and fairy tears. Virgil ran back to where they had set up, hurriedly starting to pack again
Logan grabbed his wrist. As much as he knew it was dangerous to stay, it was also dangerous to leave for that night; it was getting dark and it was starting to rain. He explained his point to his friend in a hushed tone, weary of the witch in the next room. Virgil turned to face him, face red and tears streaming freely.
He shouted something back at Logan in a moment of defensive anger, before slapping his hands onto his mouth and his face drained of all colour.
The human was walking towards the wall now, and both inhabitants started backing away. The wall in front of them disappeared, and instead, they saw a human’s face, grinning from ear to ear
“Well, how convenient.. I was looking for somewhere to find more fresh ingredients and a fairy just wanders in,” They turned their attention onto Logan with an excited glint in their eyes “And you! I’ve never seen anything like you, you’re not a fairy, are you?”
Instead of waiting for an answer, they grabbed Logan and a wave of cold flooded over the borrower, except for a red hot burning in his arm.
“You don’t have any magic in you at all, except for a little fairy blood in that tiny arm of yours. How very interesting...” They all but stuffed him in the pocket of their red robe as they looked at Virgil.
Everything was a bit muffled, but he could make out the witch looking over Virgil’s body
They tutted “Oh dear, the last person to have handled you obviously didn’t know how to keep your wings in one piece, or maybe it was a punishment for something you did wrong?”
Logan wriggled, trying to escape from the pocket desperately. The human started walking and Logan was thrown around, crying out in pain when he hit his arm. He was taken out a minute later, and saw Virgil in a cage, like those meant for hamsters. He squirmed to try to get to him, but the witch gave a warning squeeze to his torso.
“I have a special job for you, little one. I think you’d make a fine familiar, don’t you?” Logan didn’t justify the question with a response, he knew that a witch's familiar was basically a glorified pet
“Hm, no matter, I don’t need your approval to do the spell, anyway” They started chanting and Logan could feel his insides warming up. He must’ve passed out, because the next thing he knew, he was laying on the table, with the witch staring down at him
“Now, let’s test if it worked. Tell me your name little guy~” They reached down to poke him
Logan couldn’t disobey, the name slipped out of his mouth as if he was not in control of his body. Their grin got even wider
“Well, Logan, I’m Roman. Y’know, I think this form is a little too... not subtle, even for me. How about I make you look more like an animal to avoid suspicion?” They didn’t wait for an answer before casting their spell
Logan changed and grew and his arms turned into something new. When the transformation was done, Logan showed no trace of ever being anything but a raven. His injury had translated into a broken wing, and his glasses had translated into slightly darker feathers around the eyes
Roman whistled condescendingly, like one would do to a pet bird “Come here, Logan” Logan hopped over unwillingly, trying not to look at his friend, who was shaking at the bars of the cage
“Good boy, Logan” Roman praised.
After a few weeks as a familiar, Logan still hated it.
Roman was condescending, and would always tell him how pointless complaining would be, as the only person to understand a witch’s familiar is the witch themselves. Virgil’s wings had healed, and both captives of the witch knew what that meant.
Logan had not yet drank a healing potion for his wing, nor did he want to. He knew what the key ingredient was, and he wouldn’t use that potion.
Roman woke up early in the morning on a Monday, and said good morning to the bird, before doing his weekly checks on Virgil’s wings. This time, instead of a disappointing hum, he lit up and scooped the fairy into a fist, careful of the wings and started walking into the potions room
Logan watched helplessly
“Please! Don’t hurt him, I don’t want you to hurt him!” He pleaded as his friend struggled. Roman stopped for a moment to look back at him
“Don’t worry, bird-brain, it’ll be quick and painless for him. Isn’t that great? You’ll get healed, and your friend won’t suffer!” Roman was stubborn, he refused to see the error of his ways, only seeing how it would benefit. Roman refused to see that he didn’t need to kill anyone, that Logan’s wing was healing fine on its own; slow, but fine.
Roman got into his potion-making robes, and left with Virgil in hand.
He came back a few hours later with a vial of something dark, not exactly the colour of Virgil’s blood, but close, with a purple shimmer around it. The witch presented it to him proudly
Logan did not want to drink the product of his friend’s demise, but if he didn’t, would Virgil’s death be in vain? He had no time to contemplate as Roman whistled and commanded him to drink up, and Logan couldn't disobey
Now that he was healed and could think without pain, the only thought he had was how Virgil was gone
Logan hated change
~~~~~
Taglist: @a-chilly-pepper
#tiny virgil#giant tiny#fairy virgil#borrower logan#tiny logan#human roman#witch roman#human janus#human patton#giant roman#giant janus#giant patton#bird logan#sanders sides#sanders sides gt#sanders sides fic#sanders sides au#thomas sanders sides#logan sanders#patton sanders#janus sanders#virgil sanders#roman sanders#sanders sides g/t
16 notes
·
View notes
Text
Tia my beloved. My favorite Skyblock NPC. Oughhh the fairy lore. - Patton
9 notes
·
View notes
Note
Maybe our boys could ask if there's anything dangerous in the area? - Moth Fairy
They chatted while they ate. Or, at least Roman chatted. Patton didn't speak of course, though he seemed happy enough. Logan was preoccupied staring at The Curator rather rudely to the point that Roman wanted to slap him upside the head. However, Roman was too aware of social cues to do that in polite company.
"So where did you boys come from?" she asked.
"We came from up north near the mountains," Roman answered. "We've mostly just been trying to keep moving and avoiding any places that look like there are more zombies... uh, that's what the government was calling them when we had a run in with them."
"Yes, I've heard that term from a couple of travelers who have stopped by," The Curator said.
"What about this area, have you seen many?"
"A few," she said.
"I'm surprised you've been able to keep this place up and running," Logan said. "It doesn't seem very defensible."
"It wouldn't seem that way, no," she said with a smile.
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
Well ladies, gentlemen, and assorted unspecified nobility, i have fallen down the rabbit hole
aka i have joined the ”made a sanders sides fairy au” club
it all started with a moth janus i doodled in class
long post cause im not tech savvy and dont feel like putting in the work to learn to do a read more
basic info ig: janus is a moth fairy who had an incident with one of those bug zappy lights. if it hadnt been for virgil he probably wouldnt be around rn.
virgil is a grasshopper guy who can grant wishes. He ran away from the family tradition of wish granting cause frankly people can be a bit much.
roman and roman are mockingbirds. they like shiny things and have accidentally tackled literally everyone they know at least once because they get excited to see their friends (yellow lab vibes lol)
patton is a bumblebee fairy. the queen bee is his version of a sheep dog
logan is a bat and i love him. i couldnt figure out how to do fairy glasses for him or patton so hes a bit farsighted. doesnt stop him from reading whatever ginormous human books he can find
ok thats all folks um have a nice day and go drink some water
#sanders sides#e’s art#e’s fairy sides#janus sanders#patton sanders#roman sanders#remus sanders#virgil sanders#logan sanders#fairy au
4 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
kykuliner
Konsultan Bisnis Kuliner
patrizio-ag
Crapbook
princip1914
This quintessence of dust
maddycline
BRE
ask-psychiccat
if you dont think, then you shouldnt talk!