#logicaliciet

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 1

When Roman had pulled his brother aside after dinner, asking him to keep the resident lovebirds out of the way - Logan, Patton, and Janus in layman's terms- out of the way the next morning so he could have some alone time with Virgil, he’d been expecting Remus to act relatively normal about it. Invite them to play a particularly weapon-themed board game, or force them to make slime with him, potentially even bounce around ideas together. Something simple.

What Roman does not anticipate–but in hindsight, really should have, considering “simple” is a word that Remus typically tries to keep out of his vocabulary–is for Remus to kidnap Janus and leave them a cryptic note sending them on a winding quest through the imagination to find him. Roman isn’t seeing a chance to talk to Virgil alone as planned, everyone’s got tension they’re not quite ready to address, and Janus is missing. Oh, and Thomas comes on the quest too.

Bonds are re-found, re-forged, and re-evaluated, and Janus has a fun time at the Mindscape’s best-worst mind palace tea party.

Table of Contents | Chapter Two

See ronithesnail's absolutely wonderful art for this story!

The clouds overhead open up For the wicked and just all the same And lay low the hills, so to fill Every valley and vale to the brim

-Oh Sleeper, The Oh Hellos

In hindsight, Roman should have seen this coming.

The six sides had met up for dinner, Patton’s original spaghetti (and garlic bread!) recipe simmering on the stove when they all showed up in the mindscape’s common area. As they all took their seats at the table, Roman sat himself between Remus and Virgil. Dinner in recent times had been tense–Logan and Patton had entered a relationship, which had Roman and Virgil hoping that things would improve between their group–but soon they invited Janus into their relationship too, and the division between the sides widened even further. Roman and Virgil, sore from what Janus had done to them, began to separate themselves from Logan and Patton, and they seemed to drift away in return, yearning for their friends back but not wanting to force themselves back into their space before they were ready. Janus, too, cloaked in his secrets and hidden away from them, was not ready yet to try to build any sort of positive bond with them again. 

Remus, caught in the middle of it all, didn’t seem to mind his role as the new mindscape mediator–mostly because he did not mediate at all besides smashing things and talking about organs and generally doing things that would allow the other sides to agree on something, which was that he needed to calm down a little bit.

Dinner passed mostly in awkward silence, Patton and Logan trying to initiate friendly conversation and being met with curt answers from Virgil, and Remus occasionally interjecting with topics that were not appropriate for the dinner table and being politely reprimanded by one of the others. 

Roman, however, had tuned mostly out of the conversation. Inside his head, he was fighting a struggle of his own. In his distancing from Logan and Patton, he had grown closer to Virgil than ever, and realized something that had shaken his world. He loved Virgil. The swell in his chest was bigger than it had ever been before, his face warm from smiling after the time they spent together. The adoration in his heart was becoming ignorable, and he couldn’t be around Virgil without thinking of love, love, love.

There was something about it, though, that seemed so uncertain. He loved Virgil, no doubt about it, but saying he was in love with Virgil seemed–wrong, somehow.

He had decided, though, that he wanted to tell Virgil. Maybe when he confessed, it would make sense, and he and Virgil would be in love with each other and kiss and live happily ever after and ride off to the sunset on a horse while an orchestra swelled in the background.

Okay, maybe the horse thing was a little bit overzealous. But the rest of it was a foolproof idea. He wanted Virgil to know. Even if Virgil didn’t reciprocate–which Roman really hoped he did–maybe hearing it aloud would help him untie the strange knot of feelings in his stomach.

How to go about it, though? He could show up at his door with flowers–No, Virgil got too anxious about the flowers dying. Writing him a letter? No–letters could be misinterpreted so easily, and he didn’t want Virgil to think it was some sort of prank, or misunderstand the letter’s intention. Maybe a picnic?

A picnic sounded wonderful, honestly.

Roman smiled to himself. It was a great plan! He would throw a picnic for Virgil to tell him his feelings, and-

“Roman? Roman, you there?”

-they would get to spend some time alone, finally. Away from a certain trio.

Roman looked up to Patton as he called his name. Patton looked at him, head tilted in concern and a considering expression on his face. “Are you okay? You’ve barely eaten.”

Roman flinched. What business of it was Patton’s what Roman was getting up to in his head? 

None, that’s what.

“I’m just fine,” Roman said, sharpness like swords laced in his tongue, and a hurt look crossed Patton’s features. Roman only felt a little bit bad.

Janus looked at Roman, who only scowled more as he shoved a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth. Patton’s cooking was one of his favorite things, normally, but now something sat so bitter on his tongue. 

What good was it being made with love, if none of it was meant for him?

Roman slumped in his chair, fighting back the tears that stung in the corners of his eyes. There was a weight on his lap, suddenly, and his eyes flickered to the source of it, tears becoming harder to hold when he recognized Virgil’s hand, palm up for Roman to hold if he wanted.

Roman took it, squeezing it gently, and Virgil turned to look at him in his peripheral vision, something so soft in his expression that it made Roman feel, for a moment, that everything would be okay. He ran his thumb over Virgil’s nails, painted black that shone purple in the light, rather a lot like him.

Managing to bring himself away from the tears with Virgil’s (kind, kind and brave Virgil) hand touching his own, Roman looked down at his plate and stabbed another mouthful of spaghetti with his fork as the table fell quiet for the remainder of the meal and the gears in Roman’s head started turning again. By the time he had finished his spaghetti and (admittedly, delicious, not that he was ready to say that to Patton) garlic bread, Roman had a very simple four-techinally-five-step plan.

Step one: 

Get Remus to distract the other sides for the morning so Roman and Virgil would be uninterrupted.

Step two:

Set up a nice picnic for the both of them.

Step three:

Invite Virgil to breakfast in the living room.

Step four:

Confess. 

Step five (optional):

Kiss Virgil, or invite him on another date maybe.

It was foolproof! Right?

Right.

As the sides stood up from the table, collecting their dishes and returning them to the sink, Roman followed a little ways behind Remus. As the other sides headed to their rooms for the night, Roman caught Remus’s arm, and did something very dumb. “I need your help,” Roman asked.

Remus grinned.

“Tomorrow,” Roman started, “I want to invite Virgil to a picnic, here in the mind palace. I don't want Logan, Patton and Janus to see and interrupt. Can you maybe keep them out of the way?” He paused. “Preferably non-violently?”

Remus’s eyebrows raised and he snickered a little bit. “Finally getting your act together, are ya, Ramen?” He inspected his nails overdramatically in an act to be nonchalant, carefully looking at the edges of the chewed black paint and acrylic plastic. 

“Roman,” Roman said indignantly. “Close enough,” said Remus, rolling his eyes and waving a hand at Roman flippantly. “Alright, I’ll bite.” He smiled, showing off a beam of sharper-than-average teeth. “Literally if they let me!” He closed his mouth, smirking and squinting, looking rather a lot like a shark, or a piranha inspecting its prey. “But what’s in it for me?”

Roman sighed.

“Here,” he mumbled, pulling a crumpled dollar bill out of his pocket. “The one and only mindscape dollar. Do with it what you please, but please don’t destroy it or do anything weird to it, Patton will cry.”

Remus grabbed it out of his hand with a hunger, inspecting it like a bloodhound for a moment and then holding it up to the light and cackling. “Oh, that’s the real thing alright! You’ve got yourself a deal.” He brought his hand up to his mouth, about to spit in it, but Roman very quickly snatched it away to shake it. “We can make an agreement just fine without any…unsanitary substances,” Roman said, grimacing, giving Remus’s hand another firm shake before quickly pulling it away before he could try anything else. 

“But it’s so much more fun,” Remus groaned, flopping onto Roman’s shoulder, who quickly shoved him off. “If you say so,” Roman replied, dusting off his costume.

“I do!” Remus grinned. “And speaking of fun, I’m gonna go snort some crushed-up Warheads with your precious dollar bill!” Remus waved it around, sniffing it and wafting the air around it like it was a particularly fancy glass of wine. He laughed again, rubbing the dollar on his face. Roman cringed, but let out a breath and started towards his room. “Have fun with that,” he sighed, taking the first step onto the stairs. “But don’t forget, I’m not giving that to you for free.”

“Oh, I won’t forget it,” Remus laughed, and then he winked at Roman, and before Roman could question what his brother might mean by that he had disappeared from the kitchen and sunk out to his room.

“Weirdo,” Roman said, rolling his eyes, but smiling to himself as he went to his room and got ready for bed. Staring at his ceiling with his head on his pillow, he tried, bouncing around the excitement in his chest, to get himself to sleep.

Remus couldn’t phase him from this. He had big plans tomorrow, after all.

[uh-e-rinnie]

I saw the last drawing you did and my brain went 'oh yes, the dad's (sleeping on the couch) and Thier kids'

maybe

maybe that was the intention /j

[astronomical-bagel]

Hi I would like to hear about one of your wips (also I'm the op of the Virgin Jay and Chad Jay post but that's not really important)

There’s this one I’ve been thinking about where Virgil’s in a zombie apocalypse, living alone in the mountains bc he is a Capable Gay and can take care of himself, until two cute twins come along and they are utterly incompetent in everything and think they can actually fight zombies, smh. And to top it off, they think he is the one who needs saving, can you believe it?? Anyways, he (begrudgingly) agrees to be ‘escorted’ to the nearest stronghold. (He’s actually the one doing the escorting. These twins can’t fight or hunt or do anything for shit), but when they get there, Lo and behold, it is completely overrun by zombies, save for three others. Thankfully, two of these have at least some semblance to braincells. He wants to ditch Roman and Remus there, but damn if he didn’t get attached to them. Fuck, now he has feelings.

[logarhythm-bees]

I trust you.

You're enough.

Are you willing to change?

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again - ⛅- Table of Contents

Pairings: Lomoceit, Queerplatonic Prinxiety

Warnings: Fantasy violence featuring minor amounts of blood

Characters: All of the Sides and Thomas, Her Royal Majesty Highness Queen Garbage Can

Fic Summary: When Roman had pulled his brother aside after dinner, asking him to keep the resident lovebirds out of the way - Logan, Patton, and Janus in layman's terms- out of the way the next morning so he could have some alone time with Virgil, he’d been expecting Remus to act relatively normal about it. Invite them to play a particularly weapon-themed board game, or force them to make slime with him, potentially even bounce around ideas together. Something simple.

What Roman does not anticipate–but in hindsight, really should have, considering “simple” is a word that Remus typically tries to keep out of his vocabulary–is for Remus to kidnap Janus and leave them a cryptic note sending them on a winding quest through the imagination to find him. Roman isn’t seeing a chance to talk to Virgil alone as planned, everyone’s got tension they’re not quite ready to address, and Janus is missing. Oh, and Thomas comes on the quest too.

Bonds are re-found, re-forged, and re-evaluated, and Janus has a fun time at the Mindscape’s best-worst mind palace tea party.

Chapter 1 / Oh, Sleeper Chapter 2 / Go The Distance Chapter 3 / King and Lionheart Chapter 4 / Where'd It Go Chapter 5 / We Just Got A Letter/Open Chapter 6 / Hey, Runner! Chapter 7 / Somebody's Watching Me Chapter 8 / Sugar, We're Going Down Chapter 9 / The Unbirthday Song Chapter 10 / You Matter To Me Chapter 11 / For One And All Chapter 12 / While the Moment's Good Chapter 13 / Wild I Am Chapter 14 / The Inventor's Daughter Chapter 15 / I See The Light Chapter 16 / Turnaround Chapter 17 / Grow Chapter 18 / Lost In The Woods Chapter 19 / Reflection Chapter 20 / Liar Chapter 21 / Diamonds Chapter 22 / I Have Made Mistakes Chapter 23 / Light In The Hallway Chapter 24 / Theseus Chapter 25 / Thus Always To Tyrants Chapter 26 / Hallelujah Chapter 27 / Queendom Chapter 28 / Stella

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Seven | Table of Contents

See ronithesnail's absolutely wonderful art for this story!

Didn't know how I could tell you But you could already tell - I don't need anybody, I'm fine here on my own But if I needed somebody, It'd be you I'd call my own.

-Stella, Cereus Bright

They all joined together on Remus’s tea party, Thomas especially lighting up when he realized that Remus’s green tea biscuits were actually really good, and Roman only spilling a little bit of tea on his brother in compensation for this mess they’d been in. He’d probably still fight him later, but for now, he was satisfied to be around his family again. Growing, and new.

Janus gave him the beginnings of a quiet but earnest apology that did make Roman cry a little bit, and he was quickly surrounded on all sides by his family comforting him, Janus patting his hand tentatively and telling him they’d get to a more thorough apology later.

Later, later. So many things to do later, and yet he felt so unafraid in the face of them now with all he’d been through. He blinked a few happy tears out of his eyes, a warmth flowing through him that he hadn’t felt in a long time. 

The biscuits made several rounds around the table, the final one being split between Roman and Virgil. Virgil had taken Roman’s hand under the table again, like he’d done yesterday (and wasn’t it strange, how long ago yesterday felt?) and Roman ran his thumb over the nail polish, chipped in spots now from their adventuring and efforts, but still that deep black color that shone purple when it caught the light. A perfect allegory for Virgil, and maybe for their family as a whole–a little messy, a little bit broken, but more than anything it was beautiful, and it was strong–and it was worth it, to heal with it, Roman smiled to himself.

The sun was reaching its evening position in the sky as the last of the tea was being poured into Janus’s mug, and Thomas got up from the table and stretched, drawing the attention of the room. “I’ve gotta go,” Thomas laughed. “It’s been fun going on this quest with you guys, but I miss my bed. And my phone. And a lot of other things too, but you get the jist, right?”

“I think we do,” Roman said, smiling. 

“See ya’ later, yeah?” Thomas grinned, and Roman mirrored it. “See you later.”

Thomas disappeared with a thumbs-up, popping back into his apartment.

Janus was sipping his tea, seeming content to slowly finish drinking it, but the party’s other attendees seemed to have other ideas.

“Well, you two have something you’ve got to get to,” Remus interrupted abruptly, hooking an arm around Logan’s neck and tugging at Patton’s hood with his other hand as he winked unsubtly at Roman. “And we’ve got some dinner to cook! Right? Right? Right!” Remus laughed. “We didn’t have any dinner plans,” Janus started, trying still to finish the rest of his hot tea, but Remus grabbed his capelet over Logan’s back and sank the four of them out.

“Good luck!” Remus yelled, grinning as he disappeared into the floor in a puff of green smoke that flooded the room.

Roman and Virgil coughed as the smoke billowed around the tower, covering the harsh stone walls and pointy turrets out the window. Roman grabbed onto Virgil, holding him close and waving the smoke away, fanning frantically with his hand. Roman was just about to sink them out to go after his brother again when the smoke abruptly cleared, bricks of granite giving way to rolling grass covered in flora, sharp edges turning to soft clouds, and most importantly, the little plastic table fading into a red-and-purple picnic blanket, complete with a picnic basket and wine glasses where the tea biscuits and and mismatched cups and mugs had been. The only hint at all that this had been Remus’s doing were the Venus fly-traps dotted in among the vibrant lilacs and geraniums. 

A picnic, for him and Virgil. It had sounded wonderful, at the start of this. 

Virgil tucked his arm around Roman, smiling up at him cautiously, and Roman laughed.

Now, it sounded perfect.

Roman was about to bow, wave Virgil to the blanket with an “after you!” and open the basket for them, but he remembered fighting back-to-back with Virgil, sword by sword, side by side, as equals, and stopped. Together, then.

He stood up from where he’d already half-bent, instead offering Virgil his arm awkwardly and shooting him a gentle smile. Virgil took his arm, cocking an eyebrow at him, and Roman swallowed the nerves in his throat. This was Virgil, his fighter, his equal, his love. Together, they would be alright.

Roman linked their hands together on top of his own.

“Shall we?” He said, starting towards the blanket, and Virgil came with him.

The blanket was surprisingly soft. Virgil sat on one corner, facing the sun, in the same moment that Roman sat next to him and placed the basket in between.

“Sorry.” Roman said as Virgil opened the basket. Virgil stilled in confusion. “Sorry?” he repeated.

“About…everything that happened.” Roman continued. “I–the day before yesterday, after dinner, I was just thinking, I really wanted to have a picnic with you.” Roman blushed, picking at the threads of the picnic blanket. “So I asked Remus to keep the other three out of the way for yesterday morning. I didn’t realize he’d take that to mean ‘treat us like your personal dnd campaign,’ but in retrospect, I really don’t know what I expected out of my brother.”

Virgil laughed, open and unguarded, and Roman smiled wide, cheeks sore from all the smiling he’d been doing today.

“I dunno what you expected from your brother either, dude.” Virgil snorted, lifting a mug and spoon out of the basket, white ceramic dipped in purple and gold marbling. He handed both of the items to Roman, and Roman removed the fabric wrapped around the top to reveal a double-chocolate mug cake with purple and red sprinkles. “It certainly didn’t turn out so bad though, did it?”

Virgil lifted out of the basket one of his own, the same cake but in a red-white-gold splattered mug this time. Tentative, but not shy, Virgil shifted closer to Roman on the blanket, asking silently for Roman to meet him in the middle–which he did, leaning against Virgil’s shoulder.

“It did turn out rather good,” Roman said, shoving a spoonful of cake into his mouth.

Virgil hummed, poking at the cake as he thought to himself. “Why’d you want a picnic with me?”, Virgil asked after a second, sounding to Roman like he already knew the answer. Roman didn’t mind affirming it either way.

“I like you.” Roman said, blunt as a blade in a brick. “I knew before, but going on this adventure with you has been…really cool.” Roman felt his cheeks go pink, playing absentmindedly with his spoon and twirling it between his fingers. “I just like being with you, like this. I thought it might be like the other three are, before, like…romantically, but I don’t think that’s what it is, really.” Roman shifted closer to Virgil, who did the same. “I just like- I love being by your side, Virgil. I love you, even if I’m not sure exactly how.” Roman fidgeted at his cloak, nervously wondering if it was a good idea to spill his feelings to Virgil like this after all.

“Is that okay?” Roman asked.

“‘Course it is, Princey.” Virgil said. Virgil laced their fingers together, arms intertwined. “We don’t need to know how we’re feeling for it to be valid, look at how I’ve been before.” A quiet clink of metal against ceramic as Virgil sat there fiddling with the spoon and leaning into Roman, who wasn’t sure how to prompt a continuation.

“I love you too, by the way.” Virgil said, sensing his worry. “I thought you might have figured that out already, though.”

“I did,” Roman said, letting out a sigh of relief, “but it’s nice to hear it confirmed, yeah?”

“Yeah.” Virgil agreed. Roman knocked their spoons together, his right hand against Virgil’s left, making Virgil smile as Roman took note of his soft light purple eyeshadow.

“In that case,” Roman asked, rubbing his thumb over Virgil’s in their joined hands, “do you want to be partners? We don’t have to know exactly what that means, but–I think it would be nice, to be. Partners, that is. Maybe we could have a proper day together when we get back.” Roman lifted up their joined hands to swing them back and forth sweetly. “Paint our nails together, or something!”

Leaning closer to Roman, Virgil settled their joined hands between them where their shoulders pressed together. “That sounds great, Roman.”

Roman pulled away to look Virgil in the eyes. “The start may have been kind of a mess, but I’m glad I got to go on this adventure with you.”

Virgil smiled back at him, touching their foreheads with a grin as the glow of the sky and fantasy flowerbeds reflected off of their skin and their mugs and the blades still tucked in their hilts, symbols now of the bond they had forged together as partners.

“Me too, Princey. Me too.”

To unearth, and back again.

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty Three | Table of Contents | Chapter Twenty Five

See ronithesnail's absolutely wonderful art for this story!

Ain’t nothing comes easy No, nothing comes quick But I want for you this: that you are well I want for us this, oh: That we are well

-Theseus, The Oh Hellos

After the fight, the group all stumbled from the cave into a sparse, cozy woods, and as soon as Thomas had suggested they rest, the party unanimously agreed.

Roman pushed some logs around in a semi-circle as Logan got to work setting up a little fire in the center, the others bringing him leaves and sticks which Patton surrounded in a small circle of rocks. 

Virgil and Thomas seemed to be talking with their eyes, as they kept glancing between each other with Virgil wincing and Thomas shrugging as they picked up twigs for the campfire. Virgil turned away at one point though, and didn’t meet Thomas’s gaze even as Thomas tried to look meet his. Thomas sighed and took his findings to Logan, who added them to the pile, and Virgil followed after some minutes, but he wouldn’t look either of them in the eyes.

A few moments later they were all sitting around the little pile of sticks and timber, Roman and Virgil on one log, Patton and Thomas on the other. Logan hummed frustratedly as he squatted next to the fire, rubbing a flint rock and a piece of metal from his cloak pin together. 

“I don’t understand why this isn’t working,” Logan grimaced.

“You’re doing great, hon,” Patton said. Logan smiled back at him.

“I’m not sure ‘great’ is how I’d put it,” Virgil snapped, but he clearly hadn’t meant to, because he winced harshly and drew his knees up to his chest.

Logan flinched, the flint in his hands hitting the metal at a more jagged angle than intended, and to the surprise of all their little group, a spark jumped from the rock into the small pile of dry branches and its light began to grow. Logan snapped out of his momentary startled state, both from Virgil’s remark and the sudden, glowing ember, tossing the metal pin and the flint rock aside to blow carefully on the amber spark and tuck some of the dryer foliage around it. 

The spark grew, slow but sturdy, into a small campfire, and Logan sighed. He snatched the pin and flint off of the rocky ground, blowing some dirt off of them as he shoved them, aggravated, into his pocket. He sat down on the log next to Patton, grumbling as Patton pat him gently on the shoulder. Patton leaned against him ever gently, and Logan fixed his stare firmly on the woods, away from Virgil, whose shoulders were slumped, Roman watching him as a stinging began to creep into the corners of Virgil’s eyes.

Roman coughed. Patton hummed.

The campsite fell quiet for a minute.

And then two minutes, and three.

And four. 

They were bordering on five agonizingly silent minutes when Thomas cleared his throat and stood up very suddenly and quickly from the log.

“I’m going to find some more sticks,” he said as the group turned to him. “I’ll try to be quick guys, okay?” Thomas looked quickly around the circle, making fast but clearly intentional eye contact with each of the sides. “I think this, um. Campfire- needs some more, uh. Sticks,” he wrung his hands together, almost as if grappling for the words as he spoke.

“I’ll be right back. Please, um. Keep the campfire tended for me, alright?”

Then he grabbed a satchel, turning away, and Thomas had vanished from view, off into the woods.  

Virgil was the first to speak.

“Sorry,” he said. 

He didn’t make eye contact, but he leaned forward to the two on the other log from where he had been flinched into himself.

“I-” Virgil started again. “I’m sorry. I-you- you guys should be happy.” 

He rocked a little bit on the log, still not looking up, fiddling with the fabric of his trousers. 

“You- you guys are… good.”

At last he looked up and briefly met their eyes, before he shied away again, faltering and fidgeting with his hands.

“I miss you,” he eventually settled on. 

“Oh, Virgil,” Patton started, careful like cushion to glass.

“I miss you too.”

Patton wasn’t sure what to do or how to proceed, the moment seemed so frail- but almost on instinct, he lifted his arms just slightly, heavy with the urge to comfort, to pull close, to be a whole and a home in one again. 

That seemed to be the right course of action to take, because the second Virgil’s eyes met him, he crumpled, clearing the distance between them to throw himself into Patton’s arms and cry.

Patton met in the middle ground, catching him and lowering both of them to the ground as he wrapped his arms around him. Virgil felt almost strange in his arms, so changed, and yet so, so familiar, curled into him and around him and everything new but so old and so everything that meant coming home. 

“I’m sorry,” Virgil started again, and Patton held his trembling head against his own, drawing Virgil up and closer until their foreheads were side by side and Patton could gently knock them together, not so broken and frail,, as Patton suddenly realized, but broken and strong, like bones that had fractured only to repair themselves better than before, like stoneware glued with gold.

Like covalent bonds, strung into the very core of yourself, that were finally, finally, finally coming together again.

“It’s not your fault, Virgil, oh I’m so sorry too-” Patton said, pressing himself close. “I never meant to hurt you, kiddo,” he said, Virgil holding him fast and slotting the sides of their heads against each other like he could fix all that was broken between them if he pressed hard enough.

“I just- don’t understand,” Virgil sniffled. “Why did you choose him over us?”

Patton felt his heart crack, and he cooed at Virgil, running a hand through his hair. “I would never choose between you, Virgil,” he said against Virgil’s cheek. “Just because I love you all differently doesn’t mean I love any of you more or less.” Patton sniffled, wiping at his eyes with the heel of his hand so he could keep his arms around Virgil. “You’re my family, okay? All of you.”

Virgil sniffed, hand rubbing harshly at his cheek. 

He looked at Logan from his spot on the ground, almost calling him over with his eyes. “I’m sorry I snapped at you, Teac— Logan.” He amended. “You were so kind to me, I had no right to do that.” Virgil sniffled, reaching out towards Logan. “I just didn’t know how to respond to it, I guess. But that’s not an excuse. I’m really sorry.”

Logan took his hand, squeezing it. “We all have things we don’t know. Perhaps we can figure them out together.

I can’t deny that you hurt me. But I suppose that we all have to blame to share in that,” he continued, looking comfortingly at Virgil, “that is to say, I forgive you.”

Virgil smiled. “Me too.”

He turned at last to Roman, opening his free arm wide to invite him into the group hug. Roman stepped forward cautious, unsure if he was welcome, but all three of his companions grabbed him and pulled him into their arms.

“I’m sorry, too,” Roman said, smiling from where his face was tucked into Patton’s arm, “just so you guys know.”

“We know.” Logan told him, genuine, and Patton smiled into his hair, and Virgil beamed up at him loving, and Roman knew that everything was going to be okay. 

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty Two | Table of Contents | Chapter Twenty Four

See ronithesnail's absolutely wonderful art for this story!

This chapter contains fantasy violence and blood!

So count your blessings every day It makes the monsters go away And everything will be okay You are not alone You are right at home

-Light In The Hallway, Pentatonix

He should’ve been used it now, but somehow it still took him off guard.

One second he was standing there in the empty cavern, anticipating an attack, and the next there was a little stuffed otter hitting him in the face and glowing as soon as it made contact.

“Not this again,” Roman groaned, backing away as the otter was consumed by the glow and grew much, much bigger, towering over them on its two hind legs. “Haven’t we had enough?”

Something at the back of his mind edged at him, telling him maybe he hadn’t learned his lesson. 

Unfortunately, Roman wouldn’t be surprised.

He didn’t have much time to dwell on that though, because as the glow cleared, the otter took a swing at him. He jumped away, sending a few pebbles tumbling with his weight.

“Roman!” Logan called, and the otter turned towards him, slashing at him with open claws. Logan strategically dodged the blow, leaping out of the way. Patton made a frustrated grunt and ran up ahead to where the otter’s paw had settled. He started kicking it angrily.

“Don’t! You! Hurt! My! Friends!” Patton said, punctuating every word with a kick. The otter ignored him.

Virgil looked at the daggers in his hands, debating throwing them, but seemed to decide that was a bad idea, tucking one back into his belt and holding the other in his dominant hand. Thomas jumped into a fighting stance, putting his fists up.

Roman took his sword out of the hilt, ready to swing. Logan beat him to it, though, shooting a blast of magic towards the otter’s head. It missed, knocking aside some rocks to allow sunlight through the cavern’s roof instead, but the otter followed the rocks as they tumbled down, swinging at them instead of the group.

“Oh, look,” Patton whispered, pointing up towards the otter’s face. “They can’t see.”

Gazing up, finally seeing the otter in the full light, Roman finally realized that it was wearing a blindfold, a pale blue scarf keeping the light out of its eyes.

“It must be listening for movement. That’s why it went after the rocks,” Logan realized.

“Then we know how to stop it!” Roman exclaimed, swinging his sword and taking Virgil’s non-daggered hand in his. “Come on!”

He might have been a little overzealous, he had to admit as Thomas called after him, but heaven forgive him, he was tired of fighting and running and plushies hitting him in the face out of nowhere and he wanted to get this over with.

“Alright!” Virgil said, egging him on. “What’s the plan?”

“If it’s listening for noise, we’ve got to draw its attention to somewhere we can swing at it,” Roman told him. “We can— there!” 

Roman tugged Virgil to a pile of rocks on the side of the cave, helping him up. The otter was facing away from them, still inspecting the rock—and wow, was it this big a second ago?—but Roman steeled himself, looking towards Virgil. Virgil nodded back to him.

“Cone HERE!” Roman taunted, yelling at the otter, who turned towards him immediately with a roar. He stamped his feet for good measure, and the otter swung, Roman and Virgil both taking the opportunity to slash at it. 

The otter roared again, this time in discomfort at the new cuts on its paw. It reared back to draw again, and Roman felt Virgil get ready to jump out of the way with him, but the pain in its paw through it off-course and it swung through the rocks under their feet instead.

Roman couldn’t help the shout at the back of his throat as he tumbled to the floor, and neither could Virgil, it seemed, yelping after him. He tried to lift himself back on his feet with a groan, helping Virgil up too, but his body hurt and he was too slow.

The otter followed the noise, steadying itself, and aimed.

“WATCH OUT!” Patton shouted, sprinting ahead to them, Logan right on his heels. Roman felt frozen in place, ice in his bones even with Virgil’s hand in his, staring up at sharp claws and fangs and feeling to helpless to do anything but stare.

That was until a sharp tug startled him into a yelp, and suddenly the world was spinning far too fast as he was pulled out of the way, feet off their balance, hand yanked out of Virgil’s. He didn’t even have a second to think before he was laying dizzily on chilly shale, and even less time to process the two blurs of blue before Virgil was lying next to him and a resounding thump and then explosion sounded throughout the cavern.

“Ugh,” Roman said, ears ringing. “What did-”

He cut himself off as he fully saw the scene in front of him, and the ringing in his ears became deafening silence before it returned even louder than before.

“PATTON! LOGAN!” He shouted, stumbling waveringly to his feet and rushing over. Thomas had already reached their spot on the ground before Roman was there, fussing anxiously with him. Logan groaned, rolling onto his back, Patton huffing and struggling for breath as he clutched at his tunic. Logan’s hand was still sparkling from the spell he’d cast, stunning the beast towards the end of the cavern, but the glitter was fading, and Logan’s breaths were coming in shallower and shallower. 

“Why did you do that, you idiots–” Roman choked out, dragging Logan to a sitting position and helping Patton roll onto his side as he coughed. “Can you hear me?”

“‘M here,” Logan said, voice strained. “Fine.”

“You are not ‘fine’, Captain Book!” Roman yelled, half through his teeth. Virgil, forcing himself up with a limp, came over as fast as he could, hands hovering around the two in uncertainty. “Why would you jump in the way like that? Are you insane?”

“Had to keep you safe,” Patton croaked, starting himself into a coughing fit. Logan nodded, shaking himself out, slowly coming back to.

Roman stared. “You– did that for us?” he breathed. 

“Why?”

“‘Course we did, kiddo,” Patton said, and oh, how had Roman realized only now how long it had been since he’d called him that? “You’re family.”

Roman couldn’t help the wounded noise at the back of his throat. 

“I’m okay,” Patton mumbled, pushing himself into a seating position. He was betrayed a second later by his lungs forcing another round of coughs from his chest, and he curled around himself, knees drawn in close. 

“You are not,” Roman insisted, and Patton opened his mouth to retort, but a roar sounded from the other end of the cave, sending all of them quiet. 

“I’ll handle it,” Virgil said, stepping away and rushing down the slope before anyone could stop him. He used his daggers almost like piolets, dashing towards the other side of the cave and digging the blades into the soft calcite to pull himself up.

“OVER HERE!” he shouted, getting the otter’s attention away from the injured pair. Roman and Thomas took the opportunity to get Patton and Logan to safety, Roman scooping Patton into his arms and Thomas helping Logan lean on his shoulder as they stumbled back to the mouth of the cave. 

“Oh, Patton…” Roman crooned, looking at the side in his arms. His breathing had evened, and he was clinging to Roman with more strength than he’d shown a few moments ago, but there was a gash across his chest from the otter’s claws, not deep enough to bleed too heavily though certainly deep enough to hurt. 

Roman sat Patton down against the cavern’s wall, careful as not to jostle him. Thomas slid down next to them with Logan on his side, weight against his arm.

Roman got to work looking through Patton’s satchels, hoping he wouldn’t mind. He fumbled through various supplies until he found the antiseptic and some clean cloths.

“Can I touch you, Patton?” Roman asked, and Patton nodded, exhaustion obvious as he leaned his head against the wall.

“This might sting, I’m sorry.” Roman started, dabbing some of the antiseptic onto the cloth, like Patton had done for him before. It felt so long ago now, as Roman carefully cleaned the wound. It had only been a little time since then, but they’d been through so much since then, it already seemed to be ages ago.

Virgil’s clatter of rocks in the background kept him alert, listening for any call from an injury–or worse, prolonged silence if Virgil had gotten swiped at particularly badly– but Virgil was quick on his feet, dodging and weaving with newfound adrenaline as he poked verbally at the otter to come after him. 

Keeping an ear out for a change in the commotion behind him, Roman wiped the blood away from the wound, being cautious not to press too hard. The wound didn’t look like it had gotten any dirt in it, thankfully, so he laid a couple bandages over it width-wise, and then one along the length of the cut, covering it.

“That thing hit pretty hard, didn’t it?” Roman noted, trying to make conversation. “I wish I knew why.”

“People struggle because of what they can’t see.” Patton said, softly. “Sometimes they hurt others.” Then, after a moment, added, “Sometimes they just hurt.”

Roman glanced swiftly over to the otter. The blindfold was still on, but it had been knocked loose when Logan had hit it with the magic blast. 

Light from the cavern roof bounced off of its fur, and Roman’s head spun for a moment, whirling with a realization. 

“These creatures,” he said, “They’re just reflections of our own insecurities. They hurt us because they show us how we don’t want to be seen.” He breathed out, looking at Patton. “And sometimes those are the visions of us we think are the truth.

But they’re not,” Roman continued. “I-”

Looking down at the bandages in his hand, Roman got an idea.

“I’ll be back.” He finished, and jumped down the slope of the cave.

Virgil was still deftly jumping around, using his daggers to climb from rock to rock and evade the otter’s claws. He didn’t slow down, but Roman could see that his breathing was becoming heavier and he was growing tired.

Luckily, Roman had a plan.

“HEY!” He called as soon as Virgil was on stable ground, not wanting to startle him while he was mid-parkour. “OTTER DUDE! OVER HERE!”

The otter turned to him with a roar, slipping on the rocks with its sharp spin and coming barreling after Roman. 

Roman had to act quickly; Tying one end of the bandage around a stalagmite, he ran as fast as he could to one on the other side, fastening it tightly, just like one of those traps in cartoons. 

He just hoped it worked quite as well. 

Rumbling forwards, the otter ran towards where Roman had been, the side waiting anxiously, with baited breath. It drew closer and closer, Roman biting his tongue. Each step matched with the pounding of his heart as he clasped his hands, praying that this would work. Come on, Come on,

Thump!

Thump!

THUMP!

The otter fell forwards, back paws caught in the bandage, and Roman cheered. He dashed over to the mouth of the cave again, helping Patton to his feet and supporting him towards the creature’s head.

“Roman?” Patton squeaked. “What are you-”

“You’ve got to be the one to defeat it, Patton.” Roman said. “It’s–it’s linked to you, you can help.”

Patton blinked at him, un-protesting but concerned. He stumbled forwards alongside Roman, who shifted most of Patton’s weight onto his own feet. Reaching the creature, he took one end of the ribbon and placed it in Patton’s hand, nodding.

‘Oh.” Patton said in a whisper. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure.” Roman told him.

Patton took the ribbon from him, chest rising in nervousness. Taking it in both his hands, he began to pull. The blindfold had seemed heavy to Roman when he’d lifted it up a moment ago, but it was almost as if it weighed nothing to Patton, gently tugging at the silk until it fell away, tender as he carefully removed it from where it had snagged on some fur. So careful even with something he’d hurt.

Even with something that had hurt him.

Roman made an oath to do something about those uncomfortable feelings that kept coming up.

The blindfold came off all the way, leaving the cavern residents waiting in anticipation as the otter stood with its eyes still closed. It smiled then, and opened its eyes, which were glowing bright white. It turned towards Virgil, who froze under its gaze, before it turned back to Patton, looked into the sunlight, and disappeared, leaving nothing but the ordinary old plush toy in its wake.

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty One | Table of Contents | Chapter Twenty Three

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And we have made mistakes But we've learned from them And the sun, it does not cause us to grow It is the rain that will strengthen your soul And it will make you whole

-I Have Made Mistakes, The Oh Hellos

Janus swirled the tea in his cup. 

“Let’s start with Roman,” Remus prodded. Janus flinched.

“He was the best avenue I could see to being listened to, after everything.” Janus spoke. “He was so easy to sway to my points. And Thomas so wholly admires him.” He clicked his tongue.

“The ease with which I could get him to agree with me was such a thin layer above his pride, though. And I think I egged at him too hard. I forget how susceptible Thomas’s ego is to bruising.

I pushed too far, made the wounds too sore. And yet, I was still surprised when he lashed out at me. I didn’t know, in my frustration, how much damage it would do to lash at him right back.”

Remus hummed affirmatively. “Are you going to apologize?”

Janus froze, looking out the window. “I’m sorry I called you the evil twin, that-”

“Not to me, you idiot.” Remus said. “Evil twin is a compliment in my book. But you know it’s far from that for Roman, don’t ‘cha?”

“...I do.” Janus winced, brokenly.

“I’ll try.” 

“And?” Remus said, rolling his hand and prompting Janus to continue. Janus picked up his tea again, grounding himself with the feeling of the mug. He thought hard, words wavering on his tongue, each rise and fall of his chest coming out a shaky breath and he wondered, trying to figure out what to say.

“Do you remember,” he asked in a whisper, “when Virgil was a part of us?”

“”Course I do,” Remus responded nonchalantly. “What’s your point?”

“I think it was easier, then.” Janus said, taking a sip of his drink and then setting it down on the table. “When we were younger.

I don’t know if I’d say the world was easy, because it was so blindingly black and white then. But it seemed, almost, like the boxes didn’t matter when we were young. We did what we wanted and tried to keep ourselves out of trouble. Now it’s so complicated. Self-sacrifice in the name of honesty, guilt in the name of self defense.”

“Perhaps,” Janus sighed, “I asked too much of what they had, but didn’t want to give. Virgil could make Thomas listen. Where we differed was to listen to what.” 

Remus was still staring at him, watching. “I guess I thought he would get him to listen to me. That is where I was wrong.”

Janus bit his tongue harshly, almost enough to bleed. “I don’t know if I can blame him.”

The wind blew outside the window, gently rustling the trees and carrying the quiet through the world.

“I suppose, when it comes down to it,” He continued, “it all comes down to self-preservation. 

I would’ve rather had Thomas do the wrong thing for the right reasons, but Virgil would prefer to have Thomas do nothing at all. Wanting the same thing, but never being able to agree how.”

Janus sighed, taking a sip of his tea.

“It’s ironic, isn’t it?” Janus laughed, sadly. “We both wanted to keep Thomas safe, but all we ended up doing was hurting each other.”

“I remember,” Remus said.

Janus paused, gazing out the window. “I think we’re still hurting.” He looked over his tea, letting the steam coax away the stinging in his eyes. “Perhaps some of us more than others.”

Remus managed to sit quietly—he very well might have been making some silent but obscene gestures, but Janus wouldn’t know, peripheral vision gone fuzzy as he stared aimlessly at the plastic table as the warmth of the still-hot tea seeped from the porcelain into his hands.

“Do you think they’ll ever forgive me?” Janus asked. 

Remus sighed.

“You know that’s not up to me, Jan,” Remus said, staring straight through him and more earnest than Janus had ever heard him be. “But I think an apology might be a good place to start.”

Janus smiled softly over his tea, handle cool against his skin.

“I think that’s a good idea.” Janus said, and not even a hint of it was a lie.

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty | Table of Contents | Chapter Twenty Two

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Find light in the beautiful sea, I choose to be happy You and I, you and I, we're like diamonds in the sky You're a shooting star I see, a vision of ecstasy When you hold me, I'm alive, we're like diamonds in the sky

-Diamonds, Rihanna

The cave mouth was big, even bigger up close. The river ran through it at one side, with another waterfall flowing into it from above the cave,  creating a beautiful scene almost out of a magazine. The cave walls were striped with different layers of sedimentary rock. As they walked through the cave, the river ran off through a cave they could not follow it through, a small crack in the wall, impossible for any of them to fit in.

No matter, the cave kept leaning them forward, so they followed it, the area becoming littered with stalagmites and stalactites as they progressed. 

Though the cave became darker, there being a lack of holes in the ceiling to let the sunlight in,  it never became impossible to navigate. As they got further into the cave, gemstones appeared more and more in the rocks, shining and making the caves look impeccably fantastical.

It’s beautiful, magical even.

That is, until the cave splits.

“Not again,” Virgil groans, flopping to the ground and rolling over. “I thought we were done with the whole fork-in-the-road thing. It’s going to be way harder to find out who has the right path is a cave than in a forest, too.”

“I think I might have a solution that can allow us to remain together. Do you remember what we learned in the forest, Patton?” Logan asks

“That staying together and listening is an important part of not getting lost?” Patton smiled.

Logan chucked. “Yes, I suppose. But what else?”

“That water that flows downhill is flowing from somewhere uphill, and you can follow it to get unlost!” Patton supplied, though his face fell a moment later. “But…I don’t hear any water in here. How do we get out?”

“We can employ a similar strategy.” Logan gestured to one of the gemstones embedded in the walls of the cave. “We can see down here, yes? Even though we don’t have any sort of night vision abilities?”

“Sure, but…” Patton started. Logan pointed to the gemstone again. Patton’s eyes widened and he made a little ‘oh!’ sound.

“The gemstones are reflecting the sunlight to us!” Patton realized. “We can follow the path of the light to find our way out!”

“Yes!” Logan replied. “Much like the water, we can use the reflection of the sunlight as a guide.”

“That’s great!” Thomas smiled. 

Almost on cue, a beam of light bounced off of a gemstone in one of the cave. “It’s warm,” Patton commented, putting his hand in the light. “This must be the way out!”

He kept his hand in the light as he guided them forward. The gemstones sparkled when he got closer, making Patton laugh. 

They came upon more splits in the cave, but Patton hardly slowed, following the path of the light. With every gemstone he approached, he pressed his hand to it, seeing if it resonated with any warmth. He treated each of them like treasure, though they were stuck in the walls and they had no means of collecting them, he came away from every one of the gems more joyous. 

“Isn’t it lovely?” He asked.

“It is indeed, Patton,” Logan said, following right behind him. “You’re very clever, you know that?”

Patton blushed and smiled at him. “Aaw! You know you’re the cleverest though, right Lo?”

“It is not a competition,” Logan replied. “We are all clever in our own ways.”

Patton nodded, eyes flitting to Roman and Virgil for just a second. “We certainly are.”

The light became brighter and brighter as they came further into the cave–or perhaps, out at this point. 

“Shine bright like a diamond,” Patton hummed as the cave became almost fully illuminated. In the outcut in the rock in front of them, Roman could see a bright circle at the other edge, almost blinding after the din of the cave.

“There’s the way out!” Roman cheered. He rushed ahead, almost tripping over his feet, and then he actually did trip on a pebble in front of him. He stumbled, kicking the rock before realizing it was a blessing in disguise. He hadn’t seen it before, but now there was in front of him a steep slope, leading down to a deep curve in the cave. It was almost like a bowl, surrounded by a ledge. Roman had a sneaking suspicion that whatever was going to happen in this cavern, it was not going to be fun.

The exit sat in front of them, taunting from the many meters away it was at the end of the cavern. It beamed a bright light at them, almost directed right into the cave they’d come from, but the bottom and ceiling of the cave were dark, very hard to see anything in besides the long stalactites hanging from it and the stalagmites reaching up towards them.

“Let’s go for the exit. Quickly,” Roman ushered, already bolting around the ledge for the exit. 

Of course, the adventure couldn’t be that easy and the cavern rumbled with a shake and a roar.

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty Six | Table of Contents | Chapter Twenty Eight

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I hunt the grounds for empathy And hate the way it hides from me Of care and thirst I have become You have a home in my queendom You have a home in my queendom You have a place in my queendom You have a home, 'Till queendom come

-Queendom, Aurora

It wasn’t too hard of a trek, the last part of the way to the castle, an almost-normal hike up the mountain, quotes of encouragement passed between them in earnest as they walked the rest of the way. After a little walking in the cool breeze, the winds carrying their laughter, they stood at the entrance to the castle, a little wooden door decorated with a rock doormat, and a familiar phrase around the door’s border.

“Imagination is the key,” Roman read aloud.

He tried just turning the knob—no luck—and then turning the knob while imagining the door opening— still nothing from the door.

“Worth a shot,” he sighed.

“It was a good idea,” Logan agreed. Patton nodded.

“Maybe we all have to try it?” Thomas suggested, stepping up beside Roman. 

Roman nodded, and they all grouped together, all a hand on the golden doorknob.

“Think about it opening,” Roman instructed, and they all turned the knob together.

The door did not budge.

Virgil blew a raspberry at it, untangling himself from where his arm had been looped over Roman’s head. “What if we just bash it in?”

Thomas kicked at the door experimentally and flinched. “It’s pretty solid. I don’t know if that’s the greatest idea.”

“Well, what other options do we have?” Virgil kept a handle on his tone, but he was obviously creeping into ’pretty annoyed’ territory. “Climbing the castle?”

Roman looked up at the stone walls consideringly—it was a relatively small castle, aiering closer in size to a particularly fancy bouncy castle than a proper palace. It wouldn’t be too difficult to climb, but it would still be difficult, and they didn’t have any sort of climbing measures besides the stone bricks jutting unevenly out of the turrets, easy to grab onto but rough against any of their hands.

He heard Logan mumbling to himself, trying to think of an alternative way in while Virgil sized up the castle wall and how much of it he might be able to scale unassisted.

Roman was lost in thoughts of his own, re-considering the ‘kicking the door down’ option when the ground moved underneath him.

He yelped and stuck out his arms for balance, but the ground didn’t move by much, only raising about an inch or two off the ground. The flat rock that had been sitting in front of the door like a doormat had become elevated, and so a few of the smaller scattered rocks around it, each jutting out of the ground by a few inches more than they had initially. It looked like a video game puzzle mixed with an Indiana Jones mission, the rocks looking almost like they were asking for some sort of rare artifact to be placed on top of them. He touched the nearest one with his palm, marble cool against his skin.

Patton “oo!”ed at it, hopping onto one of the stones, doing a little twirl on top of it. “Maybe we stand on them?”

Roman shrugged, though his facial expression was encouraging. He stepped from the larger main rock onto one of the five smaller ones. Virgil stepped up on the one next to his, smiling carefully, and Logan and Thomas took the other two. Roman took a deep breath breah, looking at the door.

It did not open yet, but the inscription above the door began to glow faintly, barely even visible in the daylight. When Roman hopped off the rock to try to the door handle, the glow faded, going back to the ordinary inscription it was before.

“I don’t think that’s quite it,” Roman noted, “but we’re close. Is there something we’re holding that we could put on them, maybe? Like our cloaks, or my sword, or-“

As he reached for his sword for emphasis, his hand brushed against the plush dragon he’d stowed there, and he beamed in realization. “Of course! The plushies!”

He took the plush out of its hold and placed it on the rock where he had been standing a moment before, positioning it so it was sitting neatly in the center of it. Virgil followed suit first, arranging Muffet on his own rock.

Logan and Thomas were already working on their own when Roman looked up at them, but Patton responded in hesitance, slow and afraid in removing the little plush otter from where he’d stowed it on his belt. His fingers were trembling slightly even as he brushed gently at its fur, smoothing out the places where it had become messy in the travels. 

“Patton?” Roman prompted, quiet, but Patton startled nonetheless, nearly dropping the plush. He seemed to snap out of whatever daze he was in, fumbling for it and making a strangled noise as he placed it hurriedly on the rock.

“Sorry!” Patton squeaked, shoving his hands together in a stance that emanated nervousness, fingers drumming against each other and feet rocking him back and forth. He tried to hum too, provide any sort of nonchalance to his appearance, but he was clearly concerned by something, no matter how much he tried to hide it. 

“Are you okay?” Roman asked, coming to stand next to him. “You look like you did when Thomas tried going into a haunted house.”

“I’m fine!” Patton answered quickly, and then stilled and slumped, ceasing the rocking of his feet. “Ok, no, I’m not, but it’s okay. I just, uh-” He fidgeted with his hands, searching for the words. “It was pretty scary back there,” he whispered, biting his tongue. “Mr. Dottie has been one of my closest cuddlin’ pals, and I know it wasn’t really him that attacked us back there, but it is, still. Scary, I mean. I feel like–it’s the one that was tied to me, and it’s the one that hurt us.” He clutched his hands to his chest, blinking wetness out of his eyes. “What does that say about me?”

“Hey, hey,” Roman said, placing a hand on Patton’s back as Patton started to swipe at his tears. “You defeated it, remember? You saved us.”

“That doesn’t–” Patton sniffled, wiping tears on his cloak, “I still think– it hurt us, and it was mine–”

“Roman is right, Patton,” Logan said, taking Patton’s hands in his own to keep him from rubbing his eyes too much. “You are the one that saved us from it—and either way, you are not responsible for its actions. These creatures came to be animated as representations of our insecurities, and I would be remiss to believe that you were not afraid of hurting us.” Logan knocked their foreheads together, shifting one hand to hold both of Patton’s and using his free one to lift his cloak to Patton’s eyes, drying the wetness. Patton sniffled, and Logan leaned closer. “What happened back there was not your fault.”

“It’s the truth, Pat,” Virgil said, crowding closer to Patton too. He breathed out forcefully through his nose, air coming through in a rush. “Maybe– you might have hurt us before, yeah, but never like–like that, and we’re trying to get better, right?” Virgil was holding Patton and them all in a sort of half-hug, uncertain but wanting to provide comfort. “We forgive you. We uh, love you, y’know?” 

Patton’s breath hitched, and he leaned abruptly into Virgil, who made an “oof!” sound as he caught an armful of clinging Patton. Patton clung to his neck like a koala, and Virgil patted his back a bit awkwardly but with care nonetheless. 

“Sorry.” Patton said after a little, pulling away. “I missed hearing you say that.”

“I’ll say it a lot more,” Virgil replied instantly, flinching but not taking his words back as he heard them aloud. Patton smiled at him like the sun, and Virgil faltered for something to say that wouldn’t replace his words but would uphold his increasingly fragile emo image.

“Thank you, Virgil.” Patton said, recognizing the struggle and offering him some reprieve. Virgil gave him a fumble of a smile back, but it made Patton laugh either way.

“Aww,” Thomas said, and Roman had to echo the sentiment. “Yeah, right?”

“Shush,” Virgil said as Logan smirked at him, embarrassed but with no bite in his voice. He looked around for something to draw the attention away from himself. “Wait, look, the door opened!” 

Roman spun his head towards the castle to see that the door was, indeed, open–the words above the door were lit in a bright rainbow, and inside the castle he could see a spiral staircase, heading up towards where the stone turret was. 

“Let’s go!” Roman yelled, bolting for the stairs, the others right on his tail.

Each step up the winding staircase set his heart lighter in his chest, his journey so close to being done. One of the sides was calling behind him– “Slow down, Roman, we don’t all go on adventures like this regularly–!” Probably Logan, based on the deep breathing of someone who did not do a lot of exercise. Roman just yelled back to “Hurry up, Captain Book!”, jumping up the last couple sets of stairs as he heard voices at the top. 

He threw the door open, panting, Remus already looking at him over his shoulder with a manic smile. Janus was sitting at the other side of a little circular table, eyes going wide as he met Roman’s, and a stir of conflicting feelings came up in Roman’s chest. He opened his mouth, but the exhaustion of running up a set of stairs overthrew the adrenaline of an adventure near completion, and he gasped loudly, taking in air and slumping in the doorframe.

Thomas came in behind him, which Janus seemed even more surprised about than Roman’s appearance for a second, before Logan and Patton entered the room. Janus’s demeanor melted upon seeing them, sitting forward in his chair. Patton bounced across the room to him, throwing his arms around his neck and kissing all over his face as Janus spluttered in embarrassment and relief. Logan came over to him too, pace sedate but emotionwise just as ecstatic as Patton had been, though he was better at hiding it. He placed a kiss to Janus’s forehead as soon as he was in kissing-distance and placed a longer one to Janus’s lips as soon as Patton leaned back to allow him to.

“You both look gorgeous,” Janus said as Logan pulled away, the former flicking his cloak pin teasingly. “High fantasy is a good fit for you.”

“I would abstain from the notion that anything fantasy is a ‘good fit’ for me, dearest.” Logan leaned forward to kiss his head again, Patton returning to pressing overdramatic kisses with a little “muah!” each time to Janus’s cheeks. “But this has not been an… objectionable experience.” Janus raised an eyebrow at him. “Aside from your being kidnapped, of course,” Logan clarified. 

Thomas ruffled Janus’s hair, and Remus continued starting at Roman, still leaning in the door frame and breathing deeply in and out. Seemingly deciding that the amount of air introduced was enough, despite the fact that he was still sort of gasping, Roman stood straight up and pointed pointedly at his brother.

“I beat your challenge!” Roman declared, staring at Remus and his entertained grin. “I’ve conquered the land, and I am its ruler now! Move aside and let us free!”

“Fool!” Remus cackled, toppling backwards out of his chair in a coordinated move that only Remus and Olympically trained gymnasts could manage to pull off. “Hey Royal Majesty Highness Queen Garbage Can is already the ruler, and it’s up to her whether you stay or go!”

“What—” Roman started, putting his weight on the frame of the door again. “No she’s not!”

“Is too!”

“Is not!”

“Is too!” 

Most of the room was too engrossed in the debate of who was the true ruler of the land to notice that Virgil walked in– which was probably what he intended, considering the way his head was locked on Janus, wondering whether or not Janus had seen him when he had walked into the room.

Janus saw.

Janus quietly pushed Patton and Logan away, who looked at him in concern, but he squeezed their hands and pressed a kiss to each of their noses to relieve their nerves before he stood and walked over to Virgil.

He tried his best not to crowd, approaching Virgil in what he hoped was a normal invitation to talk and not an impression of a lion tamer coming at his animal to punish it. Or worse, to pity it. Nothing would send Virgil running faster than Janus pitying him.

Virgil didn’t back down, meeting Janus’s eyes the whole time in a challenge, daring him to try anything that he could. Janus did not dare. He dropped before Virgil in a bow, flourishing his bare hands at him as he did, because he was extra like that, even when he was as nervous as a middle schooler being forced to take the SATs.

“I’m sorry,” Janus said, looking up at Virgil.

The unshielded honesty must have thrown him off, because Virgil just gaped at him, opening his mouth and closing it a few times like a fish.

“Uh.” He said, ever-eloquent. 

“I was wrong to you.” Janus continued, because he wasn’t going to get anything out of Virgil for a while besides helpless astonishment, “I hurt you. I hurt Roman, too, and I’ll apologize to him as well, but I know I did a lot of damage to you when you were a dark side and even more when you left, and I want you to know that I regret it. There’s certainly more to talk about, more details I need to rectify, but not here,” he looked around at the room, still focused on what was quickly evolving into a sparring match between Remus and Roman, “not now. But I want you to know now. I’m sorry, Virgil, honest and true.”

Virgil let out a startled laugh, and Janus felt anger run through his bones for a moment that Virgil would laugh at him like this, but Virgil seemed just as embarrassed by the sound, biting down harshly on his own tongue.

“Ah–uh, wow.” Virgil replied articulately, still opening and closing his mouth in a good impression of a lost koi. “What did–what’d Remus do to you, Janus?”

“What he needed to do,” Janus said, moving to stand and dust himself off, but Virgil offered a hand to him, leaving Janus in surprise. He took the hand carefully, and Virgil pulled him up. Janus tugged gently to take his hand back, and Virgil let him go, watching him dust off the front of his outfit.

“I–appreciate it.” Virgil said. “You caught me off-guard with that one, but, uhh–”

Virgil clicked his tongue, shoving his hands into his pockets and visibly thinking as he bit his lip in contemplation.

“I don’t know if I'm ready to forgive you yet,” Virgil said, meeting Janus in the eyes, the latter resisting the urge to flinch. “But–I think I will be; and I want to be. Soon.” Virgil said, gently kicking his tall boot against Janus’s own platforms. “Thanks.”

“Thank you.” Janus replied, smiling questioningly, and Virgil flashed a hesitant smile right back, and immediately nearly jumped out of his skin as a crash came from the other side of the room.

"Get out of the way!" Roman yelled, trying to peek around Remus who was actively blocking his way. "At least let me talk to The Royal Buckethead if she's going to be the queen, I want to ask her about her policies!"

“Her Royal Grand Majesty Queen Miss Garbage Can will talk to you when she is good and ready!" Remus exclaimed indignantly, lifting Her Highness, holding the bucket in the air and standing on top of the table so Roman couldn’t reach it, despite his waving arms and frantic hops and almost resorting to biting Remus’s arm to drop it.

Patton blinked up at Her Royal Grand Majesty Queen Miss Garbage Can in awe, realization dawning like sunshine on his face. “Oh, so that’s where my giant googly eyes went!”

It made Logan snort, which spread to Thomas, then even Virgil and Janus, returning from the conversation they'd had at the side of the room. Roman flinched a little bit to see Janus looking at him so genuinely, but Virgil made a motion and a thumbs up to Roman that indicated, "he's changed, we'll talk later." Roman blinked, and then something metallic was dropped on his head, Her Grand Royal Majesty Queen Miss Garbage Can falling unceremoniously over his eyes.

In the face of everything, Roman laughed.

They were all going to be okay. He was sure of it.

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty Five | Table of Contents | Chapter Twenty Seven

See ronithesnail's absolutely wonderful art for this story!

This chapter contains fantasy violence!

'Cause there's a crown Covered in glitter and gold I'm gonna wear it Whether you like it or not

-Hallelujah, Oh Wonder

Roman swung first, sword making contact with the dragon’s leg. Instead of blood, what came from the wound was more like magic, wisps of gold and shimmer coming off it like steam.

“Whoa,” Roman said, stunned for a moment, before the dragon swung back at him and he snapped back to himself really quick.

He dodged the blow, but either way, Virgil was there at his side to swipe his own daggers at the dragon’s claws, the creature roaring loudly and nicking Virgil’s cloak before jumping away, golden clouds following it. 

Roman reached up for a cloud to find that it was surprisingly solid, and he climbed onto it experimentally, finding that it supported his weight and followed his motions, almost like a floating cloud-themed hoverboard.

He made a sound that was rather equivalent to a smiley face followed by an exclamation point, grinning astonishedly at Virgil, who laughed in two parts nervousness and one part excitement. He let Roman help him up onto the cloud, eyeing the surface warily but still smiling. Virgil found his footing on the cloud in the same moment that Logan and Patton rushed by on another cloud, Logan shooting blasts of light at the dragon. Patton was sorting through his pockets, trying to find some sort of offensive weapon, before pulling out the empty vial of apple juice and deciding to throw it at the dragon’s head.

The dragon flinched, snapping at the glass and missing, distracted by the blasts of light that had become golden wisps on its skin. Roman could tell that was growing weaker, but it was still  a dragon, weak or not, so nonetheless it bared its jaws and made to lunge at Roman again. 

Roman, seeing this, put his back to Virgil’s, readying his sword. Virgil smiled at him and leaned back, holding his own daggers.

As the dragon jumped, Virgil and Roman swung their blades at it, and the dragon angled up to try to fly out of the way. Both of the sides managed to get a hit to it, golden steam spilling into the air. As the dragon made to dive at them again, Logan shot at it with a giant burst of light, making it twist out of the way and away from their party, half dragon now to half loose magic energy.

“Can I try?” Thomas called, and Roman pushed a stray cloud over towards him. “Go for it!”

Thomas climbed aboard, stumbling for a second and whirling his arms around to catch himself. “Whoo!” he yelled, half exhilaration, half exhaustion, stabilizing himself in a squat. “Oh, this is weird.”

“Tell me about it!” Virgil shouted back, standing more or less on his own but leaning not entirely subtly on his partner in cloud. “I thought being on a skateboard was scary, dude!”

Thomas laughed, leaning tentatively forward, the cloud moving in the direction of his weight. The dragon took the opportunity to have a go at Roman again, aiming for his cloud, and Thomas squeaked in surprise, looking around for a moment before throwing a stick at it from its bag. It hit the dragon on the nose, not dealing any wounds, but stopping the dragon from charging as it slowed in indignance and shook the stick away.

Patton gave Thomas an enthusiastic thumbs up. Logan rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his face that was nothing but amused. 

Roman swung out at the dragon one more time as it reared back from Thomas’s projectile attack, drawing more golden shimmer from one of its wings and sending it hissing. It landed back on its original mountaintop with a spin, gazing menacingly again at Roman through streams of aether.

“I think if we all hit it one more time, we can defeat it,” Roman suggested, a brave expression decorating his features. “Even if we’re just, ah, throwing things at it, that still seems to be doing something!”

Virgil raised an eyebrow at him, as if asking “really?” but he was still smirking encouragingly at Roman. Roman shrugged back at him, as if saying “it makes them happy.”

The dragon blew gray smoke from its nostrils, still dragon-y and not the gold wisps it was becoming increasingly made of. It sunk its claws into the rock and got ready to pounce, looking right at Roman. 

“Ready?” Roman shouted, seeing the dragon ready to attack. “On three!”

“One!” Roman yelled, separating his and Virgil’s cloud into two separate clouds, allowing the both of them to move around the space independently. The dragon still had its stare fixed on Roman.

“Two!” Virgil brandished his daggers, Roman waving them all close around him but not too close as to be in the line of attack. Logan flexed his hands, Patton took another empty vial from his pockets, and Thomas grabbed another stick from his bag. 

The dragon crouched. Wings spread out behind it. Claws left the rock. Roman did not lose eye contact with black pupils and silvery irises.

“Three!” He shouted, the dragon right between them all, and everyone attacked. Patton tossed the vial with all his might, Logan shot out the brightest burst of magic he’d managed their whole adventure, Thomas forcefully threw the stick, Virgil slashed at it with his daggers, and Roman struck it with his sword.

The dragon made a sound that morphed into white noise, its body becoming fully gold. It swirled in a whirlwind of magic, body changing back into the creative energy it was made of, dissipating into the air and casting it shimmery, silvery metallic that drizzled down on the group like glittering rain.

Like all the fights before, the magic left behind an ordinary plush, fangs and claws becoming fabric and cloth again, sharp corners becoming soft curves of the little fuzzy dragon toy. It shimmered in the air for a moment, sparkles on red-purple-gold fabric. Roman caught it, tucking it against his chest. The clouds, beginning to dissipate as well, floated to the ground before exploding into sparkles and drifting gently over the grass.

Roman placed his sword back in its hilt with a flourish, tucking the plushie between himself and the handle so it was carefully wedged into place and wouldn’t fall. 

Hands now free again, he gathered all of his companions in yet another hug–he’d missed their hugs, dangit—squeezing gently and then stepping away with a smile. 

“I missed this,” Roman noted softly. “But should we get going again? We’re almost there.”

All of their little group linked hands, bright like a candle, and continued on the mountain together for the last leg of their adventure.

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Four | Table of Contents | Chapter Twenty Six

See ronithesnail's absolutely wonderful art for this story!

Let me die, let me drown, lay my bones in the ground I will still come around when the time for sleep is through Over hill, over dale, through the valley and vale Do not weep, do not wail, I am coming home to you

-Thus Always To Tyrants, The Oh Hellos

They’d fallen asleep like that, a pile of hugs and forgiveness, and when Thomas had come back from gathering sticks in the woods he couldn’t help the coo that came out of the back of his throat. Roman had heard from him later that he’d watched them for a while, something so happy and satisfied finally swirling in his stomach, and he’d lay there with them until they were all happily dozing.

The sun had fallen and risen again by the time they came to, gentle gold-gilded rays reflecting through the morning dew. Roman was the first to awake, stretching and blinking the bleariness out of his eyes. He squinted around the clearing for a moment, wondering where he was, before his brain caught up to his waking and sent him flooded with the memories of what had happened yesterday.

He must have jolted with the realization, because Virgil groaned from where he was tucked into his shoulder, shifting and smushing his face back into Roman. Roman nudged him gently, trying to rouse him from his sleep. “Wake up, Virgil,” he whispered.

Virgil made a point of shoving his face even closer to Roman’s shoulder. “It’s too early for this,” he mumbled.

“Wake up, Virgil, look around,” Roman tried again. “We’re on an adventure, remember?”

“‘Course I remember,” came the reply, rough against the fabric of Roman’s cloak. “Still too early for this.”

“Considering the position of the sun, I’d say it’s about seven-thirty as of now,” Logan said through a yawn. “A reasonable time to wake up, I would say.”

“Lame.” Virgil responded. “You’re a nerd, and seven-thirty is still too early.” 

Roman laughed against Virgil’s crown.

“Ordinarily I’d agree with you,Temper-pedic, but as much of an introspective adventure as this has been, I’d rather get out of this land sooner than later.” He ruffled Virgil’s hair, and Virgil groaned, though he leaned into the touch.

“Fine.” He said, blinking sleep-weary eyes. “But I’m not going to be the one to tell Patton it’s time to wake up, one of you is dealing with his puppy-eyes.”

“Ah.” Logan said. “I suppose that is fair.” 

“I’ll do it.” Roman interjected. “You’re a sap, and he’s going to turn his puppy-dog eyes on you, and you’re not going to be able to tell him no, and he’s going to go back to sleep.”

As he said it, he mussed Patton’s hair, trying to roust him. Patton didn’t wake, in fact, let out a small snore, and Roman sighed in endearment. 

“C’mon, Patton.” Roman gave it another attempt, shaking Patton’s shoulder, still carefullym but with a little more force. “Wake-up time.”

Patton still floated in sleep for a few more moments, but his eyes blinked slowly open, snuggling into Logan much like Virgil had with Roman. It made something extremely warm and soft swirl in Roman’s chest, like a cozy blanket from the dryer and cocoa being handed to you. Logan carefully patted Patton on the head. 

“Time to get up, Patton.” Roman said. Patton stuck his tongue out and turned away, making all three of his awake companions laugh.

“C’mon.” A shake to Patton’s shoulder again, Roman still gentle but firm in his efforts.

“Aww,” Patton said, turning back to Roman as Roman closed his eyes. “Please? Five more minutes?” He was doing his puppy-dog eyes, Roman could tell, the sweet tone seeping into his voice so Roman knew even without seeing the fluttering eyelashes and the big pupils.

“Sorry Pat, we’re all up, so let’s get all of us. Now it the time to seize the day, as they say in Newsies.”

“Meanie, avoiding my best negotiation tactic like this,” Patton said, but begrudgingly rubbing his eyes and moving to stand.

“I did what I must,” Roman hummed, opening his eyes. “Been going over your vocabulary words with Logan?”

“Linguistics are important, Roman,” Logan said, blushing inexplicably. Roman raised an eyebrow at him smugly.

“He’s trying to avoid telling you he likes to read the dictionary out loud for fun,” Patton smiled, nudging Logan in the shoulder and offering him a hand to help him up.  

Logan blushed more, muttering about how he “liked the dictionary, Patton.” Roman couldn’t help barking out a laugh, wiping a tear out of his eyes at the casual, unleaded conversation.

Oh, how he’d missed this.

The feelings overflowed him, love and pride in equal measure, and he found he couldn’t stop laughing, almost toppling over and stabilizing himself on Virgil’s shoulder.

The laughter first spread to Patton, who started giggling, taking his hand out of Logan’s to fidget at his own face, hands against his chin to disguise his smile. “What’s so funny?”

Roman didn’t reply, still laughing, and Logan huffed a confused laugh of his own, hand coming up to cover his own mouth. Seeing him, it caught to Virgil, who snorted and laughed along with them. 

“Why are we laughing?” He giggled himself, leaning in equal measures on Roman as Roman was on him. “Nothing happened.”

Roman inhaled deeply, trying to get a handle on himself as he patted Virgil’s shoulder, “I just-” Roman said, still speaking through laughter. “I’m really happy. I love you guys so much.”

It came so easy despite all the struggles they’d been through, and for just a second the giddiness was replaced with cold nervousness as he heard what he’d said.

Patton was quickly in front of him, beaming with tears in his eyes, and he threw his arms around Roman, quickly replacing the feeling with even more warmth, so much that Roman didn’t even know if he could hold it in anymore.

“I love you too,” Patton said, tucking his face into Roman’s shoulder. Roman didn’t mention the wetness on his cloak, only holding Patton tighter.

Virgil tucked an arm around of each ot them questioningly, and they both nodded, prompting Virgil to lean closer and hug them both. Casting a glance at Logan, Roman tilted his head towards the group, and Logan smiled softly as he joined them.

Roman leaned into the embrace, enjoying his second group hug in as many minutes. Something knocked against his foot, startling him, but then Thomas laughed from where he’d been sleeping, awake now that all of his sides were as well. He quickly jumped into the hug, rubbing his face between Roman and Patton’s own and sighing in satisfaction. He leaned his head against Virgil’s, then Logan’s, and leaned back to look at them all.

“I’m really proud of you all,” Thomas said.

“Me too,” Roman agreed.

The other three hummed in agreement, and Thomas leaned into the hug again, soft smile resting on a tangle of shoulders.

They stayed there for a while, just holding each other and swaying side to side. The peaceful moment was broken, however, by Roman’s stomach grumbling, having not eaten much the day before and deciding it was about the best time to complain. 

The sound startled Virgil back, which startled Logan and Patton, which tripped Thomas, tripping Roman himself, the group all fumbling for balance and helping each other up after their little game of dominos. 

“I think we should eat, and then get on our adventure.” Roman suggested. The group nodded, making various noises of agreement, and tore into the trail mix Patton had given them yesterday- Patton and Virgil shared, since Virgil had given most of his to Muffet in their dramatic fight.

Roman stood when they were all done, dusting his hands off and scouting out the path out of the woods- it was a short path, scattered trees leading up the side of a mountain into a scoping range of white and gray stone peaks.

“This way!” Roman called, waving his hand towards them, and they all followed, Virgil taking up the lead alongside Roman and Patton hurrying behind, frantically shoving the fabric scraps from the trail mix into his pocket. Logan and Thomas were in the middle, Thomas asking questions about the landscape and Logan answering excitedly. Roman smiled, charting their path up the mountain out of the trees. The wind was cool in his hair, chilly breeze against his grin, almost guiding him to look up, admiring the beautiful world and the family around him.

As he was looking up and around, something caught his eye–a tall, stone spire reminiscent of Rapunzel’s tower, just visible as a gray stripe on the top of the mountain, just inside his field of view. 

“I see it!” Roman cheered, pointing, and Patton made a cheer behind him, meeting them where they were a little farther up the hill as he finished rearranging his pockets. Virgil whooped too, and Logan let out a sigh of relief, Thomas patting him on the back.

Just as he pointed it out, however, a small green envelope materialized in the air and dropped into his hand. He fumbled to catch it, tearing it open with a grimace at green and paper, things that had not given him fun vibes in the previous two days. 

“Congratulations! You’re almost at the end of your journey. You’ve done a lot of fighting that’s become more Life Lessons About Insecurities, so this one’s just for fun. Fight away!

See U soon,

Remus.”

Roman read it aloud, and as he finished, a small plush fell on his face, glowing with the same bright energy as every plush before the prior day. It bounced of of him and into the air, glowing as it expanded into a giant dragon- the same one Roman had confided to at the start of his journey, Roman realized- and landed on one of the nearby mountain peaks, roaring.

“A real fight, huh?” Roman asked, tucking the paper in his pocket. He glanced over his shoulder at his friends as he placed a hand on his sword, beaming his best knight-smile.

“Well, I can’t turn down an opportunity quite like this, can I?” Roman smirked, feeling confidence growing inside of his bones. He drew the sword out, pointing it at the dragon with a challenge in his eyes.

“Let’s do this, dragon!” he yelled, and then he jumped, smiling bright.

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 20

Chapter Nineteen | Table of Contents | Chapter Twenty One

See ronithesnail's absolutely wonderful art for this story!

I need you to see through my act, to tell me I’m wrong, to take off the mask, or else I’ll be left in the lie. I’ll deceive my way straight to demise.

-Liar, The Arcadian Wild

“Is that what you wanted?” Janus asked. “For me to swoon about my partners so you could make fun of us for it when they come?” 

“It’s certainly a perk.” Remus replied. “Anyways, you like law. Why don’t you chat with Her Majesty about some declarations for her land?”

Janus eyed the bucket. “Her Royal Majesty, I-”

Remus coughed. “Her Royal Majesty Highness,” he eyed at Janus.

“Her Royal Majesty Highness;” Janus said, looking towards Remus.

“Queen Garbage Can,” Remus responded through a smirk.

“Her Royal Majesty Highness, Queen Garbage Can.” Janus repeated, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. “What are you looking for in the laws of your kingdom?”

The bucket did not respond. Remus, apparently, decided to ignore this, because he slammed his hand on the table, cackling.

“Oh, Your Highness!” He snorted through his laughter, “That is a good one!”

Janus sighed, shuffling his mug of tea around on the table. He debated if a family reunion was really more important than dealing with this.

“Am I missing something?” He asked Remus.

“You didn’t hear Her Majesty’s joke?” Remus said in disbelief. “Man, pay better attention to Her Highness next time, you missed something hilarious.”

“Right.” Janus watched the tea sloshing in his mug. “Is there anything else you wanted to talk about, Your Highness?”

Remus crouched and leaned close to the bucket, cupping his ear to listen. “M-hm. Yeah? Oh, fair enough. Yeah, I’ll tell him.”

“Her Majesty says no.” Remus said as he stood, turning to face Janus. “But she wants you to come back when I’m not here and talk to her about your opinion on tax evasion, ‘cause I’ll just talk about eating the rich the whole time and it won’t be a productive discussion.”

“I see,” Janus hummed. “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Remus plopped back down in his seat with a thunk and started messing around with his saucer, spinning it around on his finger. All the while so far, he’d been staring right at Janus, watching him like a sparkly green hawk, so it was obvious now that Remus was avoiding his gaze. He just watched the saucer going in dizzying spins, his eyes darting back and forth as he made what he thought was a subtle but was actually very obvious attempt to not look at Janus.

“Was there anything else, you wanted to talk about, Remus?”

“Nah.” Remus replied quickly, the word coming out bubbly as he still had his face in his fourth cup of tea. “Man, this stuff really is good.”

Janus saw the attempt at redirecting the conversation for what it was.

“You lied.” Janus started bluntly, picking up a biscuit. “When you said you made these for The Queen. Why did you really make them?”

“To get you to stay, duh,” Remus said, finally dropping the saucer and facing Janus with an eye roll,  like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Look, maybe your emotional constipation problems are none of my business, but you should know I can’t resist sticking my nose into the stink other people are making.” Janus scrunched up his face in disgust. 

“And it worked, didn’t it?” Remus laughed, turning the plate of biscuits away from Janus. “I got you to listen.”

Janus pouted. It had worked. He thought he had bested every scheme Remus could pull, but he’d missed the most obvious one: Remus pretending to be cordial.

He plopped himself down on the back of his chair and brandished a biscuit at Janus. “I could care less.” Remus told him. “But you’re Thomas’s self care, and you refuse to try to care better for nearly half of him. Then you mope about how Thomas isn’t doing well, and about how you’re not doing well because Thomas isn’t doing well, and I’m gonna be real with you. It was fun at first but now it’s really ruining my vibe.

Plus,” Remus added, pulling out Janus’s binder from behind his back, “If you don’t talk I’m going to eat this. You won’t be able to make any more yummy meals with your dumb sappy boyfriends, because this is going to be the meal and I’m going to eat it.”

“You wouldn’t.” Janus said.

“Oh, I would.” Remus retorted, looking him sharply in the eyes.

Janus leaned back, deferring. Remus cackled.

“So tell me.” Remus said, pouring himself another cup of tea, “What’s going on?”

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 19

Chapter Eighteen | Table of Contents | Chapter Twenty

See ronithesnail's absolutely wonderful art for this story!

Why must we all conceal What we think, how we feel? Must there be a secret me I'm forced to hide?

-Reflection, Christina Augilera

Before the mouth of the cave by a few meters was a small plush bookworm, a tiny book sewn to its chest and a little bowtie and monocle around its neck. 

“Oh no.” Roman said. “I am not falling for this again.”

“Ah. That would be mine.” Logan said. “It’s more a caterpillar than a worm really, but a book-caterpillar doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as well, does it?”

Roman looked at him with a raised eyebrow while Patton cooed.

“His name is Sherlock,” Logan added, coughing into his hand. 

“Aw!” Patton said, leaning into Logan’s side. “That’s so cute!”

“Cute or not, I’m not touching it.” Roman said. The world immediately decided to throw hands with him by blowing a gust of wind– and the plushie– into his face.

Roman groaned, reaching for his sword and standing back as another plush was taken over by light and grew gigantic and animate.

Something was different about this creature, though. Muffet and Benjamin had remained relatively similar to their plush-like state in appearance, but the bookworm grew darker and longer, becoming a stripe of black. Its little caterpillar legs, though they remained short relative to the body, became pointy and sharp. 

The monocle became alight with a white glow, emitting a beam like a flashlight, and the bowtie unfurled and shifted into two small wings on the creature’s back. 

“It can never be that easy, can it?!” Roman yelled, brandishing his sword at it. 

The creature completely ignored him and flew into a tree.

“That’s…new,” Virgil commented.

The creature shook itself out, stabilizing its body, and turned back towards the group. 

“Ayo?” Roman yelled at again, trying to draw its attention. “Monster dude, you there?”

The creature titled towards him like it heard him, but continued flying through the air aimlessly, bonking into trees and the mountain ahead of them. It barely even minded when it bumped into the walls, just shaking its head and moving in another direction.

“Okay, this is just weird.” Virgil commented. “Any suggestions, Logan?”

“Perhaps we can just go past it,” Logan commented. He sighed put. “Maybe the key to defeating this one is simply to…ignore it.”

He sounded sad when he said it, but he kept his face stable, motioning for the others to follow him at a distance, as he began creeping under the creature.

Logan walked slowly but surely under the beast, and for a moment it seemed like he would indeed make it to the other edge, but then it turned to him abruptly, catching him in the light of its beam. Logan barely had a second before it roared, tilting its head back and then charging ahead at him.

Logan yelped and ran as fast as he could, leading it away from the group. The creature pursued him, and Roman watched and worried, wondering if he should jump in, but Logan ran behind a tree and the creature froze.

It looked around for a second, seeming to question where Logan had gone, before rearing back in an imitation of shrugging its strange pointy shoulders and going back to flying around slowly without a care in the world.

Logan crept back over to the group, which had now backed away and was watching the creature from a distance. “Strange,” he said. “It seems to only be able to recognize what is right in front of it, and when it sees something it may perceive as an enemy, it attacks without hesitation.” Logan paused, watching the creature bump into another tree. “It is strange to see a creature with front-facing eyes have no peripheral vision. Typically, predators have eyes on the front of the head to help them better pursue their prey.”

“Cool.” Virgil retorted flatly. “So what do we do?”

“I’m not sure,” Logan mumbled, hand to his chin in a ‘thinking hard’ position. “It seems to know when we get near, and it charges if we get in front of its beam of light.” He clicked his tongue, spinning an imaginary pencil in his hand.

“I could try just…shooting at it?” Logan wondered aloud.

“Worth a shot,” Thomas replied, “do you think we should stand back?”

“I’d advise it, Thomas.” Logan said. “I do not want any of you to be hurt.” His eyes floated over Roman and Virgil for a moment longer than necessary, and then darted off towards the creature.

He raised his hand and sent a blast to the creature, who screeched as soon as it was hit and turned quickly towards Logan. Learning from the first time, Logan ducked behind a tree, and the creature seemed to forget he was there, turning and flying away.

Logan returned to the group. “So that didn’t work.”

“You don’t say,” Roman retorted with a raised eyebrow.

Logan looked down at his hands, biting his lip. “Maybe it’s me?” He questioned. “Perhaps it can sense the magic, and that’s why it attacks me so fast.”

“I can give it a shot!” Roman volunteered, perhaps too eagerly, as Virgil set a hand on his shoulder and tugged him back. “This is dangerous, Roman,” Virgil hissed, and Roman pouted. He wanted to fight!

Virgil let out a sigh of exasperation, but the nerves began to take him over, and the noise came out shaky. “Alright. At least let me come with you.”

They crept together towards the creature, staying close to the trees in case they needed to hide. Roman lead and Virgil followed, slowly coming closer and closer to it, nerves running increasingly high in response.

“This is about as far as Logan got,” Roman said, pressing heavily against a tree trunk. “Let’s hope we’re different.”

Virgil had a hand on his arm, ready to tug him out of the way. This turned out to be an extremely good plan, because as soon as Roman took another step forward, the creature shone the light directly and him and prepared to attack.

“Not different! Not different!” Roman panicked as Virgil grabbed him and pulled him behind the tree, both of their backs flat against it as they tried to catch their breath. “Not a good plan,” Roman coughed. “I’d rate it a two out of ten.”

They made their way back to the group, and Patton raised his arms like he wanted to hug them and then thought better of it. Roman was really getting tired of the feeling of his chest every time Patton did that.

“I could try?” Patton offered meekly. Logan shook his head, and Thomas also shook his head, except he shook it far harder than Logan did and set himself into a dizzy spell.

“No, no. I think I have a plan. It’s based on evidence this time.” Logan said, hitting a flat palm with his fist in a signal of confidence. “We do not seem to be able to approach the creature without it attacking, but perhaps we can trick it into attacking itself!”

“That’s smart, Logan!” Patton encouraged. “But…how do we do that?”

“Perhaps I can use the magic this world has given me to create a mirror,” Logan said. “I’m not sure how it works, but the magic seems to be light-based, and mirrors are simply a reflection of light.”

“It’s a good plan,” Thomas said. “But be safe.”

Patton kissed Logan on the cheek, and he smiled nervously back. Stepping back towards the creature, Logan held up his hand, trying to create something akin to a mirror.

The magic in his hands seemed to lead him towards a shield, and he followed it, forming a thin curved layer of enchantment in front of him. It was not particularly strong admittedly, but staring through it to the other side, there was light bouncing off of its surface, aiming the sunlight onto the ground and trees instead of onto Logan.

“Here goes nothing,” Logan said, inching closer to the creature. It was still floating like a balloon and bumping harmlessly into trees and rocks, but Logan knew well now that it could do plenty harm, and he was cautious as he crept closer and held his breath.

Moments of waiting passed in what felt like years, heartbeat pounding in Logan’s chest Roman swore he could hear it even from this far away.

The creature at last turned towards Logan, its beam of light drifting along the ground, and the whole group of adventurers held their breath as the floodlight landed on Logan and the creature roared in its terrifying guttural sound.

Logan held the shield up through fearful breaths and closed eyes, reflecting the light back at the creature. It screeched, turning immediately around. 

The whole forest seemed to let out a relieved sigh.

The creature circled one spin more before looking back into the mirror, almost as if it was studying itself, and the roar bubbling in its throat became dulled, drifting off into a whine as it seemed to resolve something within itself, and drifted forward until it touched the surface of the mirror and its beam was being reflected back into its face.

As it touched its face to the shield, the light of the monocle changed from a blinding beam into a soft book-light glow. In a flash, the light encompassed the creature, and then it burst into a cloud of butterflies. A little wisp of blue appeared from the wall of white wings, and then Sherlock came tumbling out. He was back in his normal form, little bowtie and all, and Logan darted forward, catching him in his arms. 

“Hi, Sherlock,” Logan said softly, cradling the plush. “It’s good to have you back to normal.” He hugged it close, as if hiding his relief, and Roman pretended not to hear as he smiled.

[logarhythm-bees]

To Unearth and Back Again; ⛅Chapter 18

Chapter Seventeen | Table of Contents | Chapter Nineteen

See ronithesnail's absolutely wonderful art for this story!

I'm the one who sees you home But now I'm lost in the woods And I don't know what path you are on I'm lost in the woods

-Lost In The Woods, Frozen

Logan kept walking with the party in tow, careful not to trip over any plants. The woods they’d just left had been tame, with short trees casting shade over their heads as they’d run through dirt paths and flora. This new forest, in contrast, rang closer to a rainforest. The trees totally gulfed the ones they’d seen before, towering over the group. Where the woods had given them shade from the sun, these trees nearly blocked it out, letting patches of light through the canopy.

If this were a tournament between the two biomes, Roman would choose the first by a landslide. He found himself almost wishing he were still lost in the woods with Virgil. It was a struggle to find their way out, sure, but it barely compared to nearly crawling through the giant plants on the forest floor and struggling through the overwhelming smell of moss and water.

Something squelched uncomfortably beneath his feet, and Roman coughed out a “blegh” sound as he struggled to pull his boot out of the mud. That was another thing about this forest in comparison to the other that he preferred significantly less. The woods had damp soil, sure, but here the ground was soaked with water, like a sponge that had been left out in a hurricane. Every step made a wet sound as they walked, and it was really starting to bother Roman with overstimulation as they had to keep clambering through this forest.

Logan seemed to know where they were going, pushing ahead with enthusiasm; he hadn’t bothered to actually tell them where they were going though, and Roman was getting a little frustrated with the tumbling through the forest and blindly following behind him.

“Hey, Brainforest.” He called up to Logan, who turned to him inquisitively. “Where exactly are we going?”

“The bird said to head straight this way until we reached a body of water, from what I understood,” Logan explained. “Judging by the increasing saturation of water in the ground, I would say we are close.”

Roman grimaced at the implication that they would be in this mess of a rainforest for any longer and took to trying to slide his way forwards by shuffling his feet along the ground. This unfortunately just created some more, comparably worse squelching noises in the mud, so Roman returned to just walking normally. Or as normal as one can, when one is gay and also in an obstacle course that’s trying to pass itself off as a forest to evade zoning laws or something. Did this place have laws? It was being run by Remus, so probably not.

“We’re here,” Logan said. Roman looked up to see a small lake in front of them, water rushing into it from a small waterfall at its side. 

“So your bird told us to go to this lake. We’re at the lake. Now what?”

“I’m glad you asked, Virgil.” Logan replied. “The waterfall is bringing water here from somewhere, and as water follows the path of least resistance, we should be able to find our way out by going in the opposite direction of its flow.”

“So we just…follow the river?” Thomas asked.

“Precisely.” Logan smiled. “That should lead us out of the forest, or at the very least to higher ground, where we will have a better vantage point to find a way out.”

“Let’s go, then,” Virgil muttered, clambering around the lake and up to the waterfall. He helped Roman climb up with him, and the others followed.

Virgil started off up the stream. The ground here was certainly still wet, but it was rocky too, so it didn’t make as much noise. Roman was thankful for the break on his ears and brain.

After some more walking, though the river did lead them uphill, it led them to a small cutout in the hillside that the water was flowing out of.

“How do we follow it now?” Thomas worried. “We can’t see it anymore.”

“We have to listen,” Logan emphasized. “We can still hear the water underground. It will be harder to hear now, though, so we have to be quiet.”

The group fell into a hush, climbing quietly up the hill with the distant sound of running water under their feet. The muddy terrain slowly became solid rock and grass as they climbed in quiet.

Roman was rather glad for the change in texture. The mud had been becoming far too much on his senses.

As the grass returned in full to the ground beneath them, the sounds of the water flowing became louder again. The uphill climb began to flatten out. The river reappeared next to them, a trickle flowing in a curved path on the hill, which made Logan smirk.

“As easy as that,” Logan hummed, pushing back a curtain of vines to reveal a clearing before them, and at the end of it a cavern with a river opening straight down the middle for them to continue forth.