#AUGH drawing people is so scary and UNCOMFORTABLE

[enhanced-operatives-division]

Phoenixposting..... they're shaped

[delimeful]

the shapes in the silence (6)

warnings: panic, violence, blood

Chapter 6

Virgil took a step forward without even meaning to, and then jerked to a stop as Roman skittered back like a frightened deer. He wilted slightly, but tried not to take it personally. He knew better than anyone how scary being suddenly small could be. 

“Puff? Don’t- Don’t let them control you!” Roman’s sword faltered back and forth, face contorted with an odd mixture of anguish and fear. 

Virgil narrowed his eyes, casting a glance at the Dragon Witch. Control him? As if. Roman was tiny, in danger, and afraid. There was virtually nothing that could stop him from doing his damn job, and absolutely nothing that would make him actually attack Roman. 

Meters away, the Dragon Witch shifted impatiently. “I said, give the prince a taste of what dragons are really like, runt.”

Once again, the compulsion to move, to rend and tear, filled his mind for a heartbeat before being shunted away at the speed of light. He’d have to be a jackass to make this work, but he’d already proved himself capable of that in the name of protecting his people. 

A beat late, he started forward again, his gait now distinctly menacing. He thought of what could have happened if the Dragon Witch had used this spell on Roman when he was alone, and a low growl started up in his throat. Roman’s face crumpled as he started taking careful steps back, sword raised in a barely-steady hand.

“Puff, please. Don’t make me fight you.” He pleaded, raising his other hand defensively. Virgil continued to move, matching the prince’s retreat step for step. 

Until Roman stumbled over a stray branch, his sword dipping slightly for a moment, and Virgil lunged. 

That sword wasn’t all for show, of course, and Roman lashed it at him as he knocked the small side over, but with all the adrenaline flooding his system he had no idea whether the blow had landed. Didn’t really matter. He ducked his head down, and carefully latched his teeth onto the back of that cheesy outfit, lifting him up like a scruffed kitten with ease. 

The moment he was sure Roman was secure in his grip, he bolted, sprinting away for all he was worth. Behind them, a startled and then enraged shriek came from the Dragon Witch, but if there was one thing he knew, it was how to hide. 

He ducked between the long shadows cast by the late afternoon sun, mind set on finding a secure place to hide and nothing else. It could have been minutes or hours before he found the small cave carved into the wall of a cliff face, but all that really mattered was that he had found it. 

Clawing up the small jump to get into it, he made sure it was deep enough to hide them from view before finally releasing the death grip he had on Roman. He immediately switched gears to sniff at him instead, searching out any possible injuries.

The tiny side shoved him back, eyes a little wild with panic, and Virgil retreated. Right. He’d forgotten that he’d been fake-threatening Roman before. 

“Puff?” He asked, searching his eyes intently.

Virgil scooted back to give him some space, before carefully lowering his head to settle onto the floor, trying to be as non threatening as possible. It made him feel uncomfortably vulnerable, but he probably deserved any retaliation after the scare he’d given Roman, and he probably wouldn’t kill him, right? 

Before he could get himself worked up about the possibility, Roman sat down, letting out a deep breath. “You’re… still you, right? For realsies?” 

Virgil huffed impatiently at his hesitance, and more of the tension leaked from Roman’s frame. 

“Okay… okay. I believe you. Are you alright?” 

Virgil blinked. Was he? He stood up, turning in a circle to inspect himself, and then froze at Roman’s gasp. What, did he move too fast and scare him again?

“Puff, your side!” A delicate touch pressed against his left ribcage, and his ears flattened at the sudden sting. 

Huh. Guess the sword had gotten him after all. 

He laid back down, feeling too crowded in the small enclave otherwise, and rumbled at Roman reassuringly. It felt pretty shallow, it would be fine. Probably.

Roman looked at him with a stricken expression. “I… hurt you. You were only trying to protect me and I… I could have seriously injured you!” 

Virgil grumbled a disagreement. Roman was like half his size. He had scales and stuff, he was fine.

“Don’t you try and say otherwise!” Roman demanded, despite the fact that Virgil wasn’t really saying anything. He inhaled sharply, as though about to go on a self recriminatory tangent, and Virgil decided that no, he’d had enough of those. 

Without another sound, he padded over and curled his non-injured side around Roman, finding that at this size, he could comfortably curl up into a ball with the creative side tucked against him. Roman spluttered at being interrupted, and Virgil draped a wing over him, teasingly muting his protest.

“Fine, fine! But we’re going home, and getting you treated.” 

A loud crack echoed from outside, and they turned to see it had begun to storm while Roman was preoccupied by being a dunce. 

“When… that clears up, I guess.” Roman frowned, drawing closer to Virgil seemingly without realizing. He chirped in agreement, and settled his head back down to wait. After the earlier panic, he was happy to be a shield between Roman and the rest of the world for as long as needed. 

For a few minutes, there was only the sound of heavy rain and rolling thunder.

“They can control dragons, y’know.” Roman said, drawing Virgil out of his sleepiness. “The Dragon Witch. That’s why I… when they ordered you…” He trailed off. 

Virgil remembered the compulsion magic, but it hadn’t gripped all of him. It was almost reassuring; despite his appearance, he was still him, not a dragon. He turned his nose up dramatically for Roman’s sake, as if to dismiss the magic as insignificant. Roman chuckled softly.

“You’re really something else, Puff. Sometimes I think you’re not even really a dragon.”

Virgil froze, despite having just thought the same thing. If Roman figured it out… He felt his stomach sink. It wasn’t even really about the fact that he was a monster to be slayed anymore. There was something new he had with Roman, with all three of the Light Sides, and he desperately didn’t want to lose it. 

The moment of silence stretched on agonizingly, before Roman laughed again, a bit more genuine this time. 

“It’s okay, Puff. You’re special, you don’t have to tell me why.” A pause, as Virgil tried to process that. “I… apologize for being unable to protect you. For making you protect me.”

Virgil couldn’t tell him that if this were a fairytale, he’d be cast as the villain anyways, so there was no reason to apologize. He couldn’t tell him that he was supposed to protect Roman, couldn’t harangue him for being so insistent on taking everything on alone.

All he could do was curl himself tighter around Roman, and let himself purr loud enough to drown out the thunder. 

When the sky finally cleared, Roman was drooling from his position sprawled out against Virgil’s side. He snorted. Prince Charming, to be sure. The guy was out cold.

He ever so carefully lifted the wing he had left laid over the side like a blanket, and then slapped it back down on him, jolting him awake. 

“Hwagh?!” Roman said, jerking upright.

Virgil smacked him again for good measure. Rise and shine, Sir Sings-A-Lot. 

“Augh, stop your assault on my person, you fiend!” Roman rolled out from under his wing, sending him a petulant glare. He chirruped smugly, and proceeded to stretch obnoxiously as Roman moved to gather his belongings. 

The sky outside was grey, but the only sign of the storm was the lingering petrichor. Roman looked at his hand, minuscule against the backdrop, and sighed. 

“At this size, it will take ages to return to our entry portal. Normally, I could shift it closer, but… this form seems to have more disadvantages than mere size reduction.” 

Virgil looked at Roman consideringly. It should be doable at this size, and there was a soft blanket of leaves and other forest mulch in case he fucked up, so… 

“What? What are you looking aaaAAAAAHHH PUFF NO!” 

Roman hollered in protest as Virgil pushed him forwards towards the opening of the cave, grabbing Roman’s shoulders and then launching them both out into the open air. 

He almost lost at the beginning, the difference in weight making them plunge for a moment- and making Roman screech at an ear-splitting pitch- before he flapped hard, managing to regain his balance in the air.

There. Easy as pie. 

It was a bit difficult for him to trace their path backwards from such a different perspective, but luckily after Roman had finished yelling, he begrudgingly helped guide Virgil back to their doorway. 

He stumbled a bit on the landing, but managed to drop Roman only half an inch off the ground, so he counted it as a win. From there, they walked through to the familiar halls of their home in the Mindscape. 

Roman craned his head back, trying to take in how large everything was. “I… have no idea where we are. Everything looks so different!”

It was a little funny, that Virgil was used to this perspective by now. Hell, sometimes he got a little disoriented waking up big. 

“Wait.” Roman seemed to realize something. “Why hasn’t the spell worn off yet? Enchantments are usually limited to the realm they’re cast in.” 

That sounded like a problem Virgil had no idea how to solve. Good thing he had other people to depend on in this form! He grabbed Roman’s sash, lifting him up yet again, and began trotting down the hall towards the lounge. 

“Hey! Puff? Where are we going?” Roman called, nervously. 

Virgil purred lightly to reassure him, and then began carefully making his way down the stairs. Luckily, the others were already in the lounge area, Logan undoubtedly lured out by the smell of whatever pastry Patton had been baking.  

“Puff, wait- I don’t want them to see- !”

“Did you say something, Lo?” 

Roman went silent and still, and Virgil realized that he was probably hearing their voices from this size for the first time. He slowed, still mostly hidden by the bannister of the stairs, and set the creative side down, watching as he leaned against a stair for support, breathing hard. He motioned towards the others with his head, flicking his ears back and forth. They’ll help. 

“They… they shouldn’t see me like this. We should go back, I’m certain it will wear off eventually.” Roman said, voice layered with false confidence. 

Virgil stared at him, unimpressed, and Roman opened his mouth again before abruptly paling. 

“Puff? Kiddo, that you?” 

Virgil twisted around, seeing that Patton was now standing at the foot of the stairs, only a couple of feet away. He evidently hadn’t been as well hidden as he’d thought. Whoops. 

He shifted slightly, flaring his wings a bit to hide Roman’s crouched form from view, and then chirruped a greeting. Patton smiled. 

“Hey, little guy! What are you doing all the way over here? I made some cinnamon rolls for my son-namon rolls!” 

“Not your best.” Logan called out from his chair. 

“But you still ate them!” Patton responded cheerily, ignoring Logan’s displeased silence. 

Virgil shifted uneasily, but before he could really formulate a plan of action, he felt a tiny form duck under his wing. Patton’s eyes went wide as saucers, and Virgil looked down at Roman with his own surprise, resisting the urge to shift his wing and re-conceal him.  

The three-inch figure was standing up, stiff-backed, right in front of Patton. He summoned up a strained smile, tilting his head back to meet Patton’s gaze as though nothing was wrong. 

“Hey, Padre.”