#(swords are impractical okay just trust me it's going to be a dagger)

[malachixliddell]

MALACHI LIDDELL needs no crown, no diamonds, no glitz. The way to a throne leaves a trail of blood behind, and doesn’t he enjoy the journey. The story of Romulus has him raised by a wolf, killing his own mirror-image of a twin, becoming ruler and founder of Rome, and then swept up by a storm only to become a God. Malachi may not explicitly say what he’s come as to most, but there’s no need to question a man who brings a real wolf to enter his own party.

[mycatshuman]

Dark Hood: Chapter 2

Warnings: Please let me know if you find any.

Roman sat up with a groan and ran a hand through his auburn hair. He quickly got dressed, pulling his red and gold bomber jacket over his white shirt as he exited his tent. Roman looked towards Logan's tent wearily as he realized that there were no chirping of birds. His eyes scanned the trees around him slowly as his heart jumped into his throat. Why was this forest so quiet? What could possibly cause animals to seemingly stay away from it?

Roman jumped as he heard shuffling behind him and whirled around to see his dark haired friend emerge from his tent. Roman's hand flew to his heart as he let out a sigh of relief. "Logan," he breathed out, catching his breath as his heart rate slowly returned to normal. "Maybe you could give a warning next time or something. I almost took you out!" Roman exclaimed. Logan's face said he knew otherwise.

"Roman, you are practically shaking in front of me. You were not prepared to fight. You were going to run or scream at an uncommonly high pitch," Logan said as he turned to began packing up his tent. Roman scoffed.

"Pft, no I wasn't," Roman said to no avail. Logan could always see right through his act. Roman turned to pack up his own tent as his face beat red at the stab at his bravery. Logan just didn't understand how much work went into being as awesome and epic as he was.

Once the two had finally finished packing their things they sat down to enjoy a small breakfast. Although Logan was slightly unnerved by the lack of noise in the forest, he found comfort in knowing that he was doing slightly better than Roman at hiding his fear. The brown eyed man was always on edge, he shifted every few seconds and was constantly looking around to make sure that no one was sneaking up on them. Logan also couldn't help but notice the slightly shorter man had his hand resting on the blade at his hip, ready at a moments notice to take care of any fiend that dared to attack.

"Roman," Logan started, causing the man in question to whip his head back to look at his friend. "It would appear that you are on edge. Do you think it would be wiser to start walking now that we have finished our food?" Logan suggested as he raised an eyebrow at his friend. Roman gave a half-hearted grin in an attempt to cover up his fear.

"Of course, pocket protecter. Let us be on our way," Both Roman and Logan cringed as his booming voice bounced off the trees. Roman silently prayed that no else heard him.

"Maybe we should keep the talking to a lower pitch in order to prevent any unwanted strangers from hearing," Logan suggested as Roman gave a sheepish smile.

"Yeah..." Together the two set off to finish their mission, unaware that they were not alone.

⚡⚡

Virgil frowned as he watched the two men set off in the direction of his camp. Patton stood beside him, fiddling with the sleeves of his cat hoodie as he watched the worry lines grow deeper on his friend's pale face. When he woke up that morning before they set off and before Virgil put on his eyeshadow, Patton had noticed that the bags under his eyes were almost as dark as his eyeshadow.

"Um...Virgil," Patton spoke up softly. Virgil turned to him while still keeping an eye on the trespassers.

"Yeah?" Patton gulped nervously. He really didn't want to upset Virgil. Especially after all he's been through.

"What are we going to....do with them?" He asked slowly. Virgil's frown deepened as he looked as his green eyed friend.

"Uh," Virgil thought about it for a moment as his eyebrows knitted together. Soon his deep violet irises lit up with an idea. "We could hold them until they promise to leave us alone and promise to not tell anyone where or who we are." Virgil cringed at his own idea. It definitely wasn't a very sound one. Patton grimaced.

"I don't know. That doesn't sound right. That's practicality holding them captive, Kiddo," Patton replied softly. Virgil groaned. He was not good at this sort of thing. That's why Patton normally handled the speeches he was supposed to give. If it was up to Virgil, he'd most likely just tell them to be careful and not die. Not exactly an inspiring speech.

"Well," Virgil started slowly. "What do you suggest we do?" The dirty blonde haired man furrowed his eyebrows in thought for a few moments as Virgil checked to make sure the two intruders hadn't gotten to far out of sight.

"We could try and get them to see we're not the bad guys. Earn their trust. Then they'll see were are on the right side!" Patton exclaimed in a whisper to prevent their "targets" from hearing them. Virgil pondered Patton's suggestion for a moment. It could work. They just had to make sure they didn't slip up and come up with a good reason as to why they were in the woods. Virgil let out a sigh. Patton practically squealed at the thought of possibly making new friends.

"Okay, but there are some ground rules we need to go over before we do this, okay?" Virgil paused as he waited for Patton to agree. Once Patton had nodded his head, Virgil continued. "We can not tell them our real names. They can not know that we live in the woods. We do not bring up 'Dark Hood'," Virgil cringed slightly at the nickname. "Or we con not imply that we know anything about the 'Hooded Men' and lastly, we are in the woods to find our pet that ran away, okay?" Virgil asked.

"Oh! Can it be a pet cat?" Patton asked excitedly. Virgil rolled his eyes but allowed a slight smile to crawl on his face.

"Sure, but make sure you follow the rules. We don't want to put anyone in danger if we have the chance." Patton nodded. "Okay," Virgil huffed as his heart began to hammer against his chest. "Now we just have to run into them on 'accident'," Virgil groaned. This was going to be a long day.

⚡⚡

Roman's head whipped around as he heard a branch snap and paused. Logan stopped as well, noticing his friend's tense stance as he frantically searched the trees around them to see if anyone was following them. After a few moments Logan opened his mouth.

"It was probably an anim-"

"Ssh!" Roman cut him off. "Listen, can't you hear that?" He whispered. Logan rolled his eyes but listened anyway. Soon, he heard voices as footsteps grew louder. Roman already had his hand on his dagger. Roman would have prefered a sword, but Logan had given him almost an hour lecture of how swords were impractical for being discreet. So Roman relented and brought a dagger instead, not without complaining of course.

Soon they saw two figures who couldn't be dressed more differently. One was wearing a light blue polo with a grey cat hoodie wrapped around his shoulders and khakis. His hair was a light, almost blonde, brown and brilliant green eyes behind glasses similar to Logan's. He seemed to be very energetic.

The other man was the polar opposite. He wore dark ripped up jeans and a dark purple shirt under his jacket. His jacket was mostly black with patches of black and purple plaid surrounded by white stitching. It looked mostly homemade. The man was the palest of the two with dark eyeshadow under his deep purple eyes. His eyes were hidden behind edgy purple bangs. But some of his hair was a, slightly lighter than Logan's, brown. Unlike the other man, who had a wide smile on his face, this man was scowling. Definitely polar opposites.

As they came closer, Logan and Roman caught on to their conversation.

"She really couldn't have gone far, could she?" The bubbly man asked. The darker man scoffed.

"She's a cat. She is faster than us and who knows when she got out," the darker man grumbled. A flash of concern passed over the bubbly man's face before he replaced it with a smile.

"We'll find her. Don't worry." The darker man scoffed. Suddenly, they noticed Roman and Logan and stopped, eyes wide. No one dared move for fear of startling the others. The bubbly man broke the silence first.

"Oh! Hi there! Have any of you two seen a black cat come this way?" He asked cheerfully. Roman and Logan shared a look at the mans' overly enthusiastic nature.

"No, we have not? Have you lost them?" Logan asked as he straightened his striped blue tie that hung on top of his black polo. Logan noticed that the darker man seemed to be apperhensive of them and eyed them wearliy, his shoulders hunched forward in an attempt to make himself appear smaller.

"Yeah. She was on the couch when we went to bed last night and when we woke up she wasn't. We didn't start worrying until she didn't come when we refilled her food bowl, though." The bubbly man frowned slightly. "We live pretty close to the outskirts of the woods and could only assume she ran here."

"Perhaps we could help you search for your cat in exchange for some information," Logan offered. Roman turned to Logan, his eyes wide. What was Logan doing? The bubbly man smiled brightly at them.

"That would be so nice of you!" He squealed. Before the man could agree the other man elbowed him slightly in order to get his attention. The bubbly man frowned slightly but seemed to understand what it meant. He turned back to the Roman and Logan. "Could you give us a moment, please?" He asked with a smile. Logan nodded and the two moved away slightly to keep their conversation private as Roman moved to beside Logan.

"What are you thinking?" Roman hissed at him. Logan glanced at his friend.

"I am merely trying to move this along. If they know where the Hooded Men are and we help them, they might help us find them. " Roman thought through Logan's plan.

"I guess it could work." Then he grinned. "Good thinking, Sherlock!" Logan rolled his eyes but Roman could see the slight tug of his lips at the nickname. Together they waited for the other men to come to an agreement.

⚡⚡

"What is it?" Patton asked confused. Virgil frowned.

"We can't exactly trust them. But this would be a good way of getting to know them," Virgil sighed before he bit his thumbnail. "Although, we have to be careful because we aren't actually looking for a cat and we can't exactly tell them that. Plus, they might want the information first. We can't lead them to the camp! They are still working for Deciet," Virgil pointed out. Patton frowned slightly. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

"But kidnapping is bad," Patton interjected. Virgil groaned.

"I know, but it might be the only choice we have. So what are we going to do. We can't very well lead them near the camp. And if they are to believe we are looking for a cat then it would be weird to stay away from a certain area. They might catch on." Patton pondered this for a moment. After of few minutes if nothing he sighed.

"I suppose we could lead them in the direction of camp and if they don't trust us by the time we get there than we keep them from leaving until they change their minds," Patton replied reluctantly. Virgil groaned but nodded.

"It's better than nothing." Virgil paused to glance at the other two. He clenched his fists and felt his nails bite into his palm. He really wished that they could've worn their cloaks so he could pull it tight around himself in an attempt to comfort himself. Unfortunately, that might be a red flag to the two men. He sighed and turned his head back to Patton. "Okay. What are our names? We don't want to give our real names uncase it goes bad," Virgil asked, reluctant to go through with Patton's plan. Patton shrugged. Virgil groaned into his hand. Then a thought hit him. "Okay just follow my lead." Patton followed Virgil curiously as they stood infront of the other two again.

"Deal. But first some ground rules," Virgil started. The other two stared in shock as the man who seemed so shy, spoke. "I don't trust you, but in order to find our cat faster, I am willing to team up. With that in mind, I still don't trust you enough to give you our names." The other two took this in.

"What, do you have something to hide?" The man in red joked. Panic seized Virgil's heart but he was able to keep his face passive.

"No. I just don't trust you," Virgil growled. The two men's eyes widened as they took a step back. Virgil allowed a smirk onto his face. "I'm Anxiety and this is Morality," Virgil gestured to himself and Patton as he spoke. The other two shared a look.

"I think I'd rather call you emo nightmare," the man in red snickered. Virgil sneered. The man with with the necktie adjusted his glasses.

"We shall do the same. Logic," he gestured to himself. "and Creativity," he said as he gestured to the man in red.

"Nice to meet you," Patton exclaimed as he smiled brightly at Logic.

"Let us be on our way then," Logic gestured to the forest as he tried to ignore the weird feeling in his gut.

"That's a very Logical decision," Patton joked as he winked. Logic's face held a slight tinge of pink to it as Patton giggled. Virgil cracked a smile but he was not about to laugh around these two men. Patton and Virgil started forward. Once they had passed, Logic and Creativity followed.

This was going to be a long walk.

----

(So here's chapter 2 for any who enjoyed the first part. I hope any of you "guys, gals and non-binary pals" like it. And feedback is always appreciated. Sorry if it seems dull. I wish you all a merry day!)💜💜💜💜