#mage!roman

[madcat-world]

Random and Course Sketches (3 of 11) - Roman Kupriianov

[dragonjanusisthebestjanus]

The Two Princes, Part 1

Pairing: Janus x Logan x Remus (Intruloceit)

Twin princes Roman and Remus meet The Dragonlord

Trigger warnings: Fire, depictions of violence, Remus being Remus.

Read it on ao3 here!

Taglist: @prince-rowan-of-the-forest @sleepy-nova-tea

“Bet your horse can’t trot as fast as mine!”

Roman chuckled as his brother took off. 

“When will he learn, Desponia? You’re much faster than your brother,” Roman snapped at the horse's regions. “And so am I!” 

He took off after his brother with a hyah! Desponia trotted as fast as she could, easily following Remus and Airon’s tracks. He soon caught up with his brother, who smirked at him.

“Bet your horse can’t jump as high as mine!” 

“What? The only thing to jump around here is- Remus!”  

Remus smiled and took off for the ravine.

“By the gods. He’s going to kill himself one day.” Roman muttered. 

He cantered after his brother, trying to conserve Desponia’s energy. They were on a three day hunting trip after all. By the time he made it to the ravine, Remus was already on the other side. 

“Come on Ro-bro! I’ve got something to show you!”

Roman chuckled. “Ready, Desponia?”

The horse whinnied in response. Roman backtracked a few steps, and with a bounding leap he and Desponia cleared the ravine. 

“Ha! Remus, you should really know by now, anything you can do, I can do better!” 

“Even hunting a dragon?” 

“Of course! Of course! One would have to leave The Dragonlands, though. And that hasn’t happened in over a thousand years!” 

Remus smirked and dismounted his horse, Airon. Roman followed suit, and followed Remus a few steps into the forest. 

“Explain that, then.” 

Roman couldn’t believe what Remus was pointing to. It was indeed a large footprint, with three toes and three claws protruding from it. Could it be? Could a dragon be in Roman and Remus’s kingdom? 

“It can’t be.”

Remus smiled and shrugged. “Only one way to find out.” 

Roman nodded in agreement. The two princes returned to their horses, gathered their weapons, and slowly followed the tracks. The pair moved in sync, as they had so many times before. The Princes were experienced hunters, having trained since they were young. 

Their Aunt Patty demanded it be so. 

Roman and Remus’s parents were killed when they were very young. A group of assassins snuck into the castle on the eve of their fifth birthday. Their parents had thrown them a grand ball. Remus was sneaking around the castle, trying to avoid a punishment from their governess. Roman had been dancing with his mother in the ballroom. 

His mother must’ve heard the pistol cock. He remembered her messing up the dance, putting herself in front of the assassin. The coward shot her in the back, causing her to fall on to Roman. 

“Messalina!” Their father attempted to run to her aid, when another shot rang out, killing him as well. 

Roman had clung to his mother as the ballroom erupted into chaos. He kept his eyes closed as people ran into him as they tried to escape. 

“Mother? Mother, please wake up,” he begged. He knew she would know what to do. “Mother?” 

Remus was wandering the halls, laughing as ‘Nanny Red’ chased him. 

“Remus Capet! Your parents are waiting for you! You come put on your formal wear this instant!” 

“No! I won’t and you can’t make me!”

Remus wishes he had. Then maybe he could’ve said goodbye. 

He rapidly turned a corner and ran into a mage wearing a dark robe.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going Mister!” 

The Mage chuckled. “Prince Remus, I presume?” 

“What’s it to ya?” 

The Mage started an incantation, and threw a blue glow in Remus's direction. Remus jumped out of the way, laughing.

“Ha ha ha! Can’t catch me! Can’t catch me!” The Prince avoided every spell the mage threw at him, before finally running off and hiding in a cupboard. 

That’s where ‘Nanny Red’ found him hours later, after the entire staff had searched the castle high and low for him. And with the assassins in the wind, they had all feared the worst. 

“What? What could I possibly have done this time?” Remus asked.

‘Nanny Red’ dragged him into his room, where he was met with a crying Roman.

“Ro-bro?” 

“Re-Re!” 

Roman had enveloped him in the tightest hug. They were locked in their room until the next night, when their Aunt Patty came to be their guardian and regent until they came of age. 

A day that was quickly approaching. 

“The tracks end a few feet away,” Remus whispered. 

Roman nodded in response. He started to walk towards the end of the trail until he heard a CRACK! 

The Princes stopped. 

CRACK! 

Roman pointed to their right, and Remus nodded. They slowly headed towards the noise, readying their weapons, when a loud roar echoed throughout the forest.

“WHO DARES ATTACK A DRAGON'S MATE!?!?” 

Roman had enough foresight to grab his shield before the fire began. He and Remus hid behind it until the fire stopped.

“Well, guess we found the dragon!” Remus cackled. 

“Janus! You should not have come this far from the cave!” 

A mage with broken glasses, disheveled hair, and torn clothes appeared from the bushes. 

A large, golden dragon landed next to him and nuzzled into his arms.

“I’m sorry my love, but I heard them following you and worried you might’ve been in danger.” 

The mage chuckled. “Who, these two? Please! I could take them in my sleep.” 

Roman made a noise of offense. “Excuse me? I am the crown Prince, Roman Capetian of Reston. I have training in all forms of combat. There is no way a scrawny mage like you could ever defeat me.”  

The mage scoffs. “Scrawny? Please. A few months in this wilderness may have affected my body, but my mind is still brilliantly inact, your highness.” The mage whispered an incantation, which sent Remus flying into the air. He landed back next to Roman, laughing and clapping his hands.

“Again! Again!” 

The mage rolled his eyes. “Come, Janus, you should not be this far from the cave.” 

“Not so fast,” Roman pointed his sword at the mage. “Who are you, and why have you brought a dragon into my kingdom?” 

The dragon growled and stepped between the mage and the sword. 

“Janus,”

“Drop the sword, highness.” The dragon spat. 

“Not until you leave.” 

The dragon growled, and Roman drew back his sword.

“Janus!”

The dragon and the prince lunged for each other. The mage quickly cast a spell, causing the two to freeze.

“Whoah, how’d you do that ?” Remus asks.

“M-magic! Now, could you please, please get your brother away from Janus? I can’t hold this spell forever!” 

Remus nodded and pulled the sword from his brother's hands. He took hold of Roman’s chest, and nodded to the mage. He released the spell, causing Roman to thrash in Remus’s arms, and the dragon flew into the trees. 

“Remus! Unhand me this instant!” 

“Sorry Ro-bro, no can do! I wanna find out more about these two hot tamales.” Remus winked at the mage as the dragon flew back to them.

“Logan, what was that for?” He growled. 

The Mage, Logan, scoffed and crossed his arms. “I’d prefer it if we didn’t cause an all out war between Reston and the Dragonlands. Especially in the state we’re in.” 

The dragon huffed and sat down next to Logan. “I suppose.” 

Roman continued to struggle in Remus’s arms. “See? They’re giving up! Let me go!” 

Remus rolled his eyes. “Roman, stop it. They’re clearly not here to cause us harm. Will you please stop?” 

“Never! A true warrior never gives up!” 

Remus gave a slow whistle, and soon their horses came galloping through the woods. The dragon snarled at them, but they remained unphased.

“Logan, would you be so kind as to get into the left saddlebag? There should be some rope in there we can-“

“Remus! How dare you! This is high treason! I’ll have you arrested!” 

Remus rolled his eyes again. “Oh please. You and I both know I commit way more treasonous things than this daily, and you have yet to have me arrested.” 

Logan graciously got the rope and tied an intricate knot around Roman’s wrists. Remus had the horses kneel and sat Roman atop of Desponia. 

“Allow me to introduce us more properly. I am Remus Capet, Prince of Reston. This asshole is Crowned Prince Roman the Idiot. And you two,” Remus took Logan’s hand and kissed it. “Are two of the most beautiful creatures I’ve ever seen.” He offered his hand to Janus, but the dragon either didn’t know what it meant, or had no intention of giving him his hand. Or… claw? Remus wasn’t sure what the proper terminology was. 

The mage and the dragon shared a look. A long look. Finally the mage turned back to Remus. 

“Greetings, your highness. I am Logan Crofter, student at the Le Fey School of Magic. And this is Janus, The Dragonlord.” 

Remus’s eyes widened. “The Dragonlord? As in, ruler of all dragons?” 

The Dragon nods.

“No offense, but what the hell are you doing here? I mean, we’re very happy to have you, but, what the hell are you doing here?”

The dragon looked away from them. Logan sighed. 

“We were attacked. Other dragons got… jealous of Janus and I’s relationship. We were driven out and Janus… Janus was wounded.” 

The dragon growled. 

“Well I’m sorry Janus! But it’s true! You’re injured and there isn’t a damn thing we can do about it because we lost The Fire Ruby!”

Janus growled even louder, then took flight. Logan sat on the ground and put his head in his hands. 

“You ok Lolo?” Remus sat down next to the mage. 

“Please, please don’t call me that.”

Remus nodded. “You alright, Logan?” 

“Janus has been… difficult since his injury. Dragons are proud creatures. He doesn’t want to admit he needs help. I admit it… can be rather difficult. It took me almost failing a class to understand that…”

Remus chuckled. “Well, what if you’re the one who asks for help?” 

“Wh-what?” 

“Well, if Janus is as attached to you as I think he is, if you were to say, come back to the palace with me, wouldn’t he follow you?”

“Perhaps, but,”

“Well then,” Remus stood and offered Logan his hand. “I would like to officially invite you and the dragonlord to the palace. So we can help you, of course.” 

“I…I accept.” 

“Wonderful.” Remus winked as Logan accepted his hand. He helped the mage to his feet and led him over to the kneeling horses. 

“No! Remus! I refuse to have them in my castle! Remus, are you even listening to me? Remus. Remus!” 

…

Janus had begrudgingly come back to the palace with them. He refused Remus’s generous offer to allow Logan to ride with him, and instead insisted on flying the whole way there. 

“Janus, this is ridiculous! You’re wasting an unnecessary amount of energy! Energy you could be preserving to help yourself heal.” 

“You know that that’s impossible.” The Dragonlord growled. 

“Since you refuse to let me try, I refuse to believe it.” 

They made it back to the palace two days later. 

“Your highnesses! Is everything alright? You weren’t expected back for- holy heracles! Is that a dragon?” 

Several guards raised their weapons towards Janus, causing him to become startled. He hurried to stretch out his body, allowing himself to look bigger than he was. 

“Ah! Janus!”

In his haste, Janus threw Logan off of his back. Remus leapt off of his horse, somersaulted, and managed to catch Logan in his arms. 

“Oh, um, thank you, Remus.” Logan said. “You ah, you can put me down now.” 

“Ugh, if I have to.” 

“Let me GO!” 

The guards managed to get some nets around Janus’s muzzle, and one began stabbing at his injured leg. 

“No! Don’t hurt him! Please!” Logan tried grabbing at one of the guards, who easily shook him off. 

“Enough! Guards, stop this!” Remus demanded. 

The guards immediately stopped. Logan pushed past them and started pulling the nets off of Janus. 

“Your highness,”

“As long as they’re here, no harm is to come to the mage OR the dragon! They are my official guests. Understood?”

“Yes, your highness.” 

“Good. Do me a favor, deposit his royal asshole-iness to his chambers will you?” Remus handed the horse's reins to a guard, then ushered Logan and Janus past them all. 

“Remus! They cannot stay here! Remus, Remus!!” 

…

Remus opened the doors to an old barn. 

“Nobody uses this place anymore. Not since…”

Not since his parents died. 

“Anyways, you can stay here. Unless you’d prefer a small cramped room in the castle?”

Logan and Janus looked around. 

“No. This will be just fine. Thank you, Remus.” 

…

Remus didn’t hate to admit: Logan cleaned up very nicely. The Mage had been in and out of the castle over the past few days, haggling various things off of servants. Soap, hot water, food, and books just to name a few.

“You know, I can assign a servant to you. Might save you the trouble of having to haggle with everyone.”

The Mage looked up from a book he had been reading. “Oh, um, that would be nice, I suppose. Thank you, Remus.”

Remus’s heart fluttered every time Logan said his name.

Well, his heart and his dick. 

It didn’t bother Remus that The Dragonlord already had a claim on Logan. If anything, that made him even more alluring. I mean, the literal ruler of dragons being your lover and protectorate? Where could Remus sign up for that?

“You know, I think that’s the third time this week I’ve seen you read that book.” Remus says. 

Logan tucked his hair behind his ears and blushed. 

“Yes, well, it’s, it’s the only one I’ve managed to get. I suppose I should return it-”

“Nonsense! If you like it, it’s yours! In fact, follow me! There’s something I should show you!” 

Remus grabbed Logan’s hand and raced through the castle. 

“Remus! How many times have I told you- no running in the castle!” 

“Sorry Aunt Patty!” Remus hollered back. 

“You-you have an Aunt Patty too?” Logan asked. 

“Of course! I think everyone has an Aunt Patty, don’t they?”

Logan didn’t know how to respond. Remus continued running, cutting corners quickly and throwing open doors. Finally, he reached a large set of double doors, where he stopped. 

“Oof. Well, ok, Logan. We’re here.” Remus turned the knob on one of the doors, and let Logan inside. 

“Oh. My. Gods.”

After Remus caught his breath, he followed Logan into the castle library. 

“I-I can’t believe it. I’ve never seen so many books in all of my life!” Logan looked around the room with wonder. 

“Do you like it?” Remus asked.

“It’s…it’s wonderful!” Logan replied. 

“Then it’s yours.” 

“Wh-what?” 

“It’s yours. Nobody ever comes in here. There’s honestly probably more cobwebs than books,”

Logan interrupted him with a kiss. 

“I-I’m sorry. That was inappropriate. I just…no one has ever done something this nice for me. Well, except for Janus, I suppose. But, I mean, he hasn’t done anything like this!”

Remus grinned from ear to ear. “Logan,”

“I…I should go.”

“Logan,”

But the mage turned away, and left his book behind. 

…

That night, Remus woke up with claws against his throat. He opened his eyes, to see bright green ones glaring back at him. 

“How dare you.” 

Remus made a small choking sound, despite Janus’s light grip. He supposed he could scream for the guards, or even grab his morningstar he stashed under the bed. But honestly? Remus wanted to see where this was going. 

“How dare you corrupt my darling Logan? With your… flirtatious jokes and -and your books?” Janus hissed. 

“I’m sorry. I-I didn’t mean to cause you-”

“Well you did! I mean, inviting him here? Giving him that library? Are you trying to steal him away from me?” 

“What? No!”

Remus sat up, causing Janus to let go of his throat. He took in the dragon’s halfling form. He maintained his golden wings and tail, as well as some golden scales across his face. His nails were actually claws, and his bright green eyes were reminiscent of his dragon form. 

He was gorgeous. 

“Then… Are you using him to get to me? Lord some sort of power over me? I’ll have you know it won’t work. I’ll burn this entire castle to the ground before you can harm a single hair on his head!” 

“No! Where the hell are you getting all of these ideas?”

Janus slid back a bit, giving Remus more space to sit up.

“I… I don’t understand. What is your game then, Prince?”

Remus laughed. “Game? There’s no game! I just think Logan’s hot as hell! I wanna blow his back out! And you,” Remus leaned forward and closed the space between them. “You could blow out mine.” 

The dragon blushed. The dragon blushed! It was so cute! Remus couldn’t help but run his fingers over the now pink-tinted scales on Janus’s face. The dragon once again met his eyes, then quickly darted out of Remus’s bed and out the window. Remus huffed and laid back down. 

“Damn it.” 

…

Remus knocked on the barn doors the next morning. 

“Hey can we, can we talk?”

Janus was still in his halfling form. He and Logan were sitting on a large pile of hay, bodies entangled as Logan read a book. 

A new book. From the library. 

“Yes of course, Remus. Come in.” Janus said. 

“I just uh, I just want to apologize for yesterday. I’m sorry if I overstepped. With the library and the uh…” 

He didn’t know what to call what transpired between him and Janus. 

“Anyways, I uh, I wanted to know if there’s some way I can make it up to you? Not in a weird way, I mean. I uh, I should just leave you two alone. I’m sorry. I’ll go,”

Janus shot out of the hay, toppling over Logan. He grabbed Remus’s hand and whispered “don’t”. 

“A little warning next time?” Logan stood up and brushed the hay off of him. 

“I’m sorry darling. I just didn’t want him to walk away.” Janus took Remus’s face in his hands. “While your methods were… questionable, your intentions were… romantic?”

Logan scoffed. “The same could be said of you, Janus.” 

“Yes yes, I suppose. The point is, Logan and I have discussed it. You’re a very powerful ally to have, Remus.” Janus pulled Remus in for a kiss. “And we want you to be with us.” 

Remus didn’t know what to say. 

“Remus? Are you alright?”

Remus pulled Logan into a kiss. 

“I’m wonderful.” 

…

Remus spent the next several days with his new lovers. For once, Roman was happy with them, as they somehow managed to keep Remus away from his usual hijinks. 

“Come on come on come on come on! You have to see the vault! There’s some jewelry down there I cannot wait to-”

“Please, Remus, spare me the details.” Roman sighed. “Besides, this is NOT a pleasure visit, in any sense of the word. It’s our annual budget discussion with Aunt Patty. To section out how we’re going to spend all this gold to better the kingdom? You do realize this, right Remus?” 

Remus didn’t seem to be listening. He was now entranced by Janus’s fully human green eyes. His wings had been too wide to fit down the stars. He held Remus’s hand as they descended down the stairs, pretending his right leg didn’t ache with every step. 

Eventually, they reached the bottom of the long, winding staircase. Roman entered the code to the vault, and they all stepped inside. 

“Oh, oh my.” Janus literally licked his lips at the sight of all the gold. 

“Don’t worry, we don’t keep much of it. We re-distribute it as equally as we can back to every town in the kingdom, so they can spend it on what they need.” Remus said. “We find that the more improvements we make for our people, the more we get in return!”

Janus seemed to be unable to contain himself. “Remus,”

“ I don’t know what you’re thinking, but go for it Jannie!

Janus shifted into a smaller version of his dragon form, then literally dove into the large pile of gold. 

“Ah yes. I suppose this is quite like your horde back home.” Logan says.

The dragon nods and dives back into the gold. 

“Oh! Lolo! There’s a beautiful sapphire necklace around here somewhere. It’s going to look so good on you while you-”

“La la la la! No details Remus!” Roman called. 

“Remus, what, what’s this?”

Logan held up a red gem. Janus stopped and stared at it.

“That? I think it’s a ruby from Frogtown. Hey! Frogtown borders the dragonlands doesn’t it? You can totally have it if you want it, Lolo.” 

Logan nodded and turned to Janus. “Is it-”

Janus nods. “It’s lost its power, but it’s a-”

“Fire Ruby.” The two say in unison. 

“Huh? What’s that?” Remus asks.

“I thought, I thought you had the last one?” 

Janus shook his head. “Apparently not. Give it here.”

Logan tossed Janus the ruby. Janus dove back into the pile of gold, and re-emerged a moment later. He had attached the fire ruby to a golden chain, and was handing it to Remus. 

“This is a Fire Ruby. It is the only thing powerful enough to heal a dragon. I reactivated it with my fire breath, and melted this chain to it.” 

Logan helped Remus fasten the necklace around his neck. 

“I want you to have it, Remus. To keep it safe. Can… Can you do this for me?”

Remus wiped away a few tears and held the necklace in his hands. 

“Yeah, yeah I can do that, Jannie.”

[vampiremommyinquisition]

Gift for @thefirehimself

I put up with it for a long time, but! But I couldn't stand it and painted it, it's too beautiful. I'm a little confused about his scars, your artwork has them on and off. But I hope I haven't forgotten anything!

[velnat004]

nearly a day passed and i think im content with his current looks now

[thefirehimself]

[FAKE BODY]

Mistress Anais, the deceased mother of Roman Trevelyan. "Some speculate that Anais mauled her sister-in-law [Pauletta Trevelyan] because of the treatment she faced for a decade, but most brush it off to the barbaric nature of the Qunari."

[eastgaysian]

the main plot of succession dragon age au would obviously be that logan sends kendall to the conclave and kendall ends up becoming the inquisitor and has to close the portal, but don't ask me about any of that because what i really want to talk about is roman being a templar dropout

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Mage by Roman Kupriianov

[takethistoyourstardust]

i have no idea when seth rollins went from “the architect” to “guy who wears extremely flamboyant shit to the ring” but i kinda love it.

[the-punforgiven]

Redline-esque movie about going very very fucking fast but instead of a wacky intergalactic raceway it's set in a psuedo-medieval fantasy setting so instead of cars and engines the main character is gathering up all the potions and spells they can in order to supercharge their fucking horse

[svampira]

bad cramps i just want to have breakfast anyways dndfying my vtm ocs

Elias > human blackguard always carrying some sort of ring that lets him charm people, can cast decent divine spells. His patron hatesss him and the fact that he doesnt age is an explicit part of his deal. Only really made the pact because he was scared of getting ugly. Chaotic evil

Diamila - drow priestess who was exhiled from the underdark for some incredibly stupid reason, still worships lolth but the fact surface spiders keep attacking her for no reason is making her faith waver. Lawful evil

Brooklyn (Aurora) - half elf zhentarim wild mage. Incredibly powerful but with a tendency to accidentally blow things (and people) up that she still greatly enjoys. She goes by her real name in the dungeons and dragons. Chaotic evil, probably has some sort of hidden agenda.

Eden: human warrior mage diviner, son of a blacksmith, decided to leave his home to go on adventures and find someone who would properly mentor him in magic, much to his father's disappointment ^^ instead he ends up travelling with the worst people in ze world for plot reasons. I have no idea why these 4 would ever travel together. Neutral good ^^

[doggonewhumper]

"Seriously, I'm Fine"

made using @whumpprentice 's sickfic wheel

Reyna knew she wasn't supposed to be here.

She was walking down the stairs to the dungeons, a cloak wrapped around her shoulders to ward off the chilly air. She knew a mage had been captured, and she wanted to see them. Why? She didn't know. She just felt some sort of... connection to the poor mage. She would never know what the feeling was unless she sought it out, so there she was, disobeying the biggest rule she was given - don't go into the dungeons. She knew that her brother was just trying to protect her; she was always sick and weak, and there were dangerous criminals held underneath the castle. Despite this, she still wandered the cell-lined halls, peaking into each one. She didn't know what she would do when she found the mage, but that didn't matter to her. Not yet.

"What's a little girl doing in a place like this?" one prisoner jeered. She made a face and ignored him. Yes, she was small, but she was no child!

She continued searching until she found a cell with an injured person. They were wrapped in bloody bandages, lying on the floor facing away from the door. They had long hair that was spread out on the floor. Somehow, she knew this was the mage.

"Hello? Um, hello?" Reyna whispered. The mage stirred, turning to face her. Their eyes widened when they saw her, but they didn't say anything.

"Hi! Um, are you... or rather, do you want something to eat?" she asked softly. The mage sat up slowly, wincing, and nodded, still not speaking. Reyna pulled an apple out of the pouch on her belt and held it out. Her slim wrist easily fit in between the bars of the cell. The mage crawled over hesitantly. "It's okay, I promise," she soothed. The mage reached out slowly. About an inch from the apple, their hand quickly latched on to her wrist, making her drop the apple. They pulled so that her body and head slammed into the bars. Her cry echoed against the stone walls of the dungeon.

"I'm not stupid. You won't poison me!" the mage yelled. They let go of her arm, and she cradled her wrist to her chest. They took the apple and threw it at her. It hit the cell bars, but she still flinched away as it hit close to her face.

"No, no! It's not poisoned!" Reyna cried out, teary-eyed. Before she could say more, footsteps and the clanking of armor echoed down the hall. Her brother, Roman, and a couple other guards ran up to her, weapons drawn.

"Reyna!" Roman called. He grabbed her and held her close, glaring at the mage.

"I'm fine!" Reyna said. She struggled against her brother as he held her head to his chest, trying to see the mage again. "Seriously, I'm fine!"

Roman didn't respond, scooping her up in his arms and carrying her out of the dungeons. She struggled at first, but she quickly resigned herself to being carried, shaking like a leaf. The last thing she heard was a cell door opening, a snap, and a scream.

[dragonjanusisthebestjanus]

The Dragon Lord

Pairing: Janus x Logan (Loceit)

Logan becomes the first ever mage to study in the dragon lands.

Trigger warnings: Fire, depictions of violence, attempted drowning.

Read it on ao3 here!

Taglist: @prince-rowan-of-the-forest @sleepy-nova-tea

Logan quickly tucked the mail into his messenger bag. He raced back up the stairs to his dormitory, attempting to avoid any students in his way.

“Excuse me, Pardon me, coming through!”

He finally reached his room and threw open the door.

“Patton,”

His roommate looked up from where he was studying his potions textbook.

“It’s here!” Logan gleefully plopped down next to Patton and dumped his bag all over his bed. Quills, ink, scrolls, binders, papers, and multiple letters fall from the bag. Logan quickly snatched the one sealed with a green stamp, and quickly opened it with a letter opener that had also come from his bag.

“What’s it say what’s it say?”

“They… I… I…” Logan put the letter in his lap, eyes wide and jaw agape.

Patton slipped the letter out of Logan’s hands. He read it and then wrapped his friend in a hug.

“Oh my gosh Logan! They said you can go! You get to be the first wizard to study in the dragon lands in a thousand years!”

“I get to, I’m; I’m,”

Logan’s smile widens. He returns his friend's hug; then stands and spins them around their room.

“I GET TO GO STUDY IN THE DRAGON LANDS!”

…

Logan hugged his roommate again as Headmistress LeFay opened the portal to the Swamplands.

“You’re gonna do great, Lo. I know it.”

“You are too! You get to study potions with Matilda the Swamp Hag!”

“I know! And it’s a dream come true for me! But it’s nothing like what you get to do, Logan. You have to tell me all about it next semester!”

“I will Pat, I promise.”

The roommates let go and Patton waved goodbye as he stepped through the portal.

“Alright, Crofter. You’re the last one. Are you ready?” Logan nodded at Headmistress Le Fay. She opened a new portal, and Logan took a deep breath as he stepped through.

“Good luck.” Headmistress Le Fay said.

“Thank you, Headmistress.”

The portal closed behind him. A few moments later a large, golden dragon descended in front of him. Logan stood in awe as the dragon transformed in front of his very eyes. A bright, golden glow appeared, then a man about a foot shorter than Logan appeared.

“Logan Crofter, I presume?”

“Um, yes, yes sir.”

The dragon chuckled. “No need to worry, Dragon’s don’t bite.”

Logan continued to stare in awe.

“I’m… I’m sorry. I tried to engage in what you humans call ‘humor’. Was that, was that not humorous?”

Logan shook his head. “I’m sorry. Yes, I suppose it was, humerus. I apologize, this is, this place is, amazing!”

The dragon around and took stock of his land.

“Yes, yes I suppose it is.” He turned back around. “So, you are Logan Crofter, correct?”

“Oh! Yes. Yes. I apologize again. I am Logan Crofter. Do you have a name? There isn’t much information on dragons in our realm,”

The man held out his hand, stopping him. “Yes, something I am trying to rectify. Beginning with allowing you to study here.” The man took a deep bow. “I am Janus, the New Dragon Lord. It is my pleasure to welcome you here, Mr. Crofter.”

…

Logan had the best time of his life.

He had learned Janus had recently won the title of Dragon Lord in The Gauntlet of Fire, after the previous Dragon Lord died of old age.

“So, you’re Dragon Lord for life? The old Dragon Lord’s child won’t try and usurp the title from you?”

“Of course not. I won the title fair and square. Is this not how it works in the human world?”

Logan shook his head.

As it turned out, The Previous Dragon Lord had been the one who kept the dragons isolated from the rest of civilization. Janus was now determined to reunite them with the rest of the world.

“It can only make us stronger. Why wouldn’t we want to be the best we can be?”

Logan had learned dragons were extremely vain. It made sense, from all the legends about them collecting gold.

Or other pretty objects.

Logan didn’t miss the ever-revolving rotation of pretty boys who left Janus’s chambers every evening.

“Janus, do dragons usually partake in…”

Janus had laughed from his throne. “As many sexual escapades as I? No. But being Dragon Lord certainly has its perks. And honestly Logan? I don’t even have as many as you think. Most come to me for this.”

Janus pulled down his shirt collar and showed Logan a bright red gemstone.

“Whoa…”

“Whoa indeed, my little mage. This is the last remaining Fire Ruby. It is the only thing that can heal any ailment any dragon may suffer. It is my duty as Dragon Lord to protect it.”

Logan sat on the armrest of Janus’s throne. “May I?”

The Dragon Lord nodded. Logan unbuttoned his shirt, fully exposing the Fire Ruby.

“It’s gorgeous.” He said.

“So are you.”

The mage allowed The Dragon Lord to connect their lips. Janus pulled him into his lap, and ran his hands under Logan’s shirt.

“Wait- wait.” Logan pulled away.

“Is everything alright, Logan?”

Logan stood up and took several steps away. “No, no, I just-“ he shook his head and sighed. “I don’t want to be another notch in your bedpost, Janus.”

Janus rose from his throne and took the human’s hand.

“Have you learned anything about how dragons court, Logan?”

“N-No.”

“You know dragons are jealous, possessive creatures Logan. If a dragon wishes to court another dragon,” he pulled the human back towards him. “They attempt to make the other dragon jealous by…bedding others.” He pressed kisses to Logan’s neck. “I understand now humans don’t see it that way, but,”

Logan’s eyes widened. “You’ve… you’ve been courting me?”

Janus nodded. Logan turned and pressed their lips together again.

…

Logan’s going away party was supposed to be magnificent.

Janus had mandated every dragon in the land show up. He spared no expense to make sure it had the best food, decor, and entertainment in all the lands.

“You promise you’re coming back?” Janus was in his halfling form, with his wings covering them both, his tail wrapped around Logan’s waist, and claws tangled in his hair.

Logan chuckled and pressed a kiss to his lover's ear. “Yes Jan, I’m coming back I promise. But I have to return to school and present my findings. Then I have to see my family for a little while.”

“Hmmm. I don’t see why I can’t write to the Headmistress. Insist you need to stay here. Then your family could come stay here! You can all be under my protection.”

“A tempting offer. However I doubt my Aunt Patty could make the trip. And before you offer to fly her here! I doubt she could manage the rocky terrain either.”

Janus grumbled and nuzzled back into his lover’s neck.

“I promise Janus. I will come back to you.”

The day was supposed to be perfect.

Logan happily watched the party from beside Janus.

“Why does that weak human get to sit by the Dragon Lord?”

Janus had gripped Logan’s hand.

“Yeah, like this whole party is already for him. Let someone else have a turn!”

Logan placed his other hand atop of Janus’s.

“You know, I could probably eat him in two bites! If we were allowed to be dragons, that is.”

“You know, the human probably knew we could! The human probably convinced the Dragon Lord to make the ‘halflings or humans only’ rule for the night.”

Janus had started to growl.

“You know they won’t try to do anything. Not with you around.”

One thing Logan knew: as self absorbed as most dragons were, nobody challenged The Dragon Lord.

The thought seemed to calm Janus. He slithered his tail around Logan’s waist again, although it was much more possessive than it had been that morning.

The two dragons that had been gossiping soon moved on, allowing Janus and Logan to resume enjoying the party.

After it was over, Janus and Logan indulged themselves by taking a long walk along the river outside Janus’s castle.

“You promise you’re coming back?”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Yes, love. I promise I am-“

A fireball appeared in the air. Janus quickly shifted into his dragon form and tackled Logan to the side.

“What the-“

Another fireball headed towards them. Logan quickly cast a spell, reducing it to nothing.

“Hold on,”

Logan hugged Janus’s neck as he took to the air.

“WHO DARE FIRES UPON THE DRAGON LORD?”

Another fireball came, specifically aiming for Logan. Janus spun in the air, allowing the flames to breeze past them.

Logan closed his eyes as he felt fire literally form in Janus’s throat. He let out a blaze all around the cavern, reducing several rocks into ash.

“SHOW YOURSELVES!” Janus roared.

Another fireball was launched. It would have hit Janus’s wing, had the dragon from earlier not came and swallowed it.

“You?”

“I’m, I’m sorry my lord! I was… I was aiming for the human.”

Janus snarled at the dragon.

“How dare you,”

The other dragon from earlier flew out and knocked Logan off of Janus. Logan watched the two dragons struggle for a moment before he cast a floating spell.

“Janus, look out!”

The second dragon came flying back around. He bared his teeth and bit Janus’s right hind leg. He kept it between his teeth as he dove towards the river, only releasing The Dragon Lord when his wings were in the water.

“Janus!”

Janus was struggling to keep himself above the water. Logan flew down near him, but ended up having to dive into the river when the dragon came back.

“Gostir, what the hell are you doing?”

The dragon didn’t reply to his friend.

“Logan! Logan!” The Dragon lord started thrashing violently, creating large waves in the river.

“Janus, Janus calm down-“

Logan was swept under by one of the waves. He tried to cast another spell, but his head hit the side of some rocks, knocking him out.

…

When Logan awoke, he was laying in a plush field beside a forest.

“Logan, Logan thank the gods! I thought I’d lost you!”

Logan coughed and tried to sit up, but Janus pushed him back down.

“You’re, you’re bleeding.” Logan pointed to Janus’s leg, which had bright red patches all down it.

“I don’t care.” Janus pulled his lover into a hug. “I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you.”

Logan returned the hug, but noticed something.

“Janus, the Fire Ruby?”

Janus shook his head. “It’s… it’s gone. I-I lost it going after you.”

“What? Janus! You-you should not have done that! The Fire Ruby is much more important!”

“Not to me.”

The two managed to somewhat pull themselves together. They tried to travel into the woods, back towards the Dragonlands. However, it soon became apparent that Janus’s leg was going to be a problem.

“Love, you’re, you’re limping. Here, let me make you a walking stick,”

“NO!”

Logan was taken aback. Janus had never yelled at him before.

“I’m, I'm sorry my love. But I am the mighty Dragon Lord. I have a reputation to protect.” Janus looked around, and eventually spotted a small cave. “Why don’t we stop there and rest for a while?”

Logan nodded. He took Janus’s hand and led him into the cave.

He worried about when they would be able to come out.

[greenninjagal-blog]

Here Comes the Sun pt2

Whats this? An updating schedule? Who knew that was possible! If you missed Part One, you can find it [here]!

Summary: All Virgil has to do is get his kidnappee, Patton Hart, back to Chimera Tongue’s guildhall and then he wipe his hands clean of this whole unsavory mess. If Virgil wasn’t staring at Remus’s bike being engulfed in flames, he thinks he might laugh.

Word Count: 9184

QuickTaglist: @alias290 @chelsvans @coyboi300 @dwbh888 @glitchybina @faithfulcat111 @felicianoromano @holliberries @jemthebookworm @killerfangirl3 @musical-nerd18 @nonasficcollection @stricken-with-clairvoyancy @the-sunshine-dims @themagicheartmailman @thenaiads @treasureofpriam @vianadraws 

Read on Ao3 || My General Writing Masterlist

Chapter 2: Rainy

Patton wakes up when they get about an hour out of the city. Virgil’s decently surprised; usually nearly drowning puts people out for the rest of the day, rather than just a couple hours, but he can feel Patton’s breathing pick up and his struggling against the bonds and Virgil lets out a so very tired sigh.

“Could you not?” He asks, before Patton manages a movement that gets both of them to fall off the cycle when he’s driving at too-fast miles per hour on an already muddy road. “I really don’t want to be doing this anymore than you want to.”

“Where…?” Patton croaks sluggishly and tinglingly warm against Virgil’s chest. “Where are you taking me? Please, I don’t...”

Virgil sighs again. The road he was taking had water runoff ditches on the side of it to avoid flooding but the rain had flooded them anyway and was slowly yet alarmingly working on turning the dirt path into a mudslide. It was taking most of his concentration to make sure the mud doesn’t jam something in the inner workings of Remus’s bike and send both of them flying from their seats or that the tires don’t lose what little traction they have on the questionable ground and take them for a spin out neither of them wake up from. As such, he’s paying the price of this already with the speckles of mud being all the way up to his knees. 

He had spent the past thirty minutes daydreaming about the bath he was going to take once he handed off Patton to Guildmaster Clay. 

He hates having contaminants in his body. It made him feel like he was too solid, and solid things had a much harder time escaping danger than his liquid form. It was better with mud at least; a simple bath would help him separate the components of the dirt from his water and the minerals he needed to survive and then he’d be done.

Another rain sheet hit them-- well Virgil actually, considering that it came directly in his face and he was being careful to assure that any water that hit Patton and didn’t roll off immediately was being plucked away to keep him dry and comfortable and not sick because really Virgil was already ruining this guy’s life; No need to add pneumonia to that.

“Seriously?” Virgil mutters, shaking his bangs to the side so that he could still see where he’s going. He should have taken the goggles Remus waved at him, but he’d been in too much of a rush getting away from Remus teasing him about his crush to think about practicality. Per usual.

((And seriously that feels like it happened years ago instead of just three hours. What wouldn’t he give to be back in their room, trying not to turn into a puddle when Remus asks him if he’s dressing up nicely for a special someone with a voice like windchimes in a thunderstorm--))

“Who are you?” Patton asks and he sounds so very small, so tiny and scared and young. Despite knowing that the guy’s got at least three good years on Virgil, Virgil still contemplates dropping him right then and there and going off to the wilderness to die alone. Remus would never forgive him for that though, and Virgil would never forgive himself for it either. Not to mention Chimera Tongue doesn’t really do well with deserters, and the giant raincloud over his head was an ever present marker of where he was.

“Virgil,” he says, because he feels like he owes him that at least. A name for the person who’s ruining his life. Another rain sheet hits them both and Virgil sighs in slight irritation. “Sorry.”

Patton takes a shuddering breath that makes it sound like he’s just on the edge of sobbing. “It’s okay.” 

It's not. It’s really, really not. But Virgil bits on his tongue, and does his best to ignore the twisting ache in his neck from a touch that’s not there. He wishes that he could have taken a magicmobile, because that would have made his journey so much quicker and warmer and dryer-- or as dry as Virgil gets when he’s made of water-- but the combination of emotion based rainstorms and any type of vehicle is never a good one. Especially not when carrying precious cargo like Patton Hart, son of a multimillionaire. 

He was lucky enough to have well over a hundred hours of practice with driving magic cycles in the rain and that Remus was a decent enough friend to lend him his favorite bike for the job, which means a lot to Virgil because Remus has broken all the bones in someone else’s body for even looking at his bike. He was reasonably sure that as long as nothing unexpected happened, he and Patton would arrive safe and sound and Virgil could continue to feel guilty for everything from the comfort of his bathtub.

It’s only another hour to their destination. Just one hour. 

Unfortunately, that’s another hour for Virgil to continue to agonize over which part exactly of what he was doing he was going to hell for. 

“I’m Patton,” Patton says, his forehead pressing against Virgil’s collarbone, just enough that Virgil gets flashes of the guy biting into his neck right where the thing was, pleasanton’tPattonI’msorry-- “It’s...it’s very nice to meet you.”

“Please stop,” Virgil begs. “I am literally kidnapping you.”

“But you don’t want to be,” Patton points out and Virgil can’t say anything to that because it’s true. “And… and I think that means that we could be friends.”

Yeah, if they were in a literally other world and this was not happening and even then Virgil thinks the chances of them being successful friends would be slim. No one enjoys being in the rain all the time-- not even Remus, who gets overwhelmed by the sound and sensation of the rain hitting his metal scales for too long. Virgil, himself, wonders often how he doesn’t go insane from the constant noise in the background. The longest anyone has ever gone in his presence was the orphanage leader who very kindly kicked him out at fifteen and most likely reported to the police that he ran away of his own regard, if the police even bothered to ask. 

So the idea of being friends with a Star Burst member? Of being friends with the guy he’s kidnapping? Of being friends with Patton?

“Are all you Star Burst members like this?” Virgil mutters.

“Like what?”

Virgil does not say friendly, but it’s on the tip of his tongue. Instead he huffs and ignores the question, like a perfectly unfriendly person that Chimera Tongue mages were known for being. Lightning flickers in the distance again, lighting up a whole section of the sky with its dangerous arcs. Thunder rumbles low and loud and Patton lets out a squeak as he actually curls into Virgil.

“Are you….” Virgil says, startled and just barely avoiding turning himself into a puddle at the unexpectedness, which definitely would have killed his passenger and then him by extension from what Guildmaster Clay would do to him. “Afraid of storms?”

Patton makes another noise and Virgil feels his insides twist around because he really is the worst person in the world, isn’t he? Thunder rumbles again, startlingly close.

“Ah shit, sorry,” he says. “Really, I… fuck. Sorry. If I could stop it I would, I swear. I’m sorry.”

There’s a noise that sounds a bit like Patton is sniffling at him, half a watery, partially drowned laugh. “You’re the most considerate kidnapper ever, kiddo.”

“Yeah well,” Virgil sighs in defeat. He avoids a larger mud puddle on the path, and shifts around so that Patton is better suited in his arms. If it were up to him he’d make sure the guy ate a sandwich or something soon, because there’s no way it’s healthy for a guy his age to be so light.

It’s a boon, and also Virgil wishes that Patton would be maybe a little harder to kidnap. Maybe if he had put up even a little bit more of a fight, Virgil could say that he had slipped away and that Virgil shouldn’t have been sent to do something so important by himself. 

“It’s Virgil, right?” Patton says softly, almost to the point where it gets lost in the rain around them. “Why are you doing this? You don’t want to--”

“Rule three,” Virgil says on instinct, tasting the words before he remembers Oh yeah, this isn’t Remus. It just pops out and he can feel the confusion that ripples through his strangely compliant captive and Virgil mentally backpedals so hard he’s surprised they don’t end up back in Magnolia. “I just-- No, I’m not talking about this. Just shut up, please. Go back to sleep or something.”

Literally anything other than continuing to talk to Virgil. Please and thanks.

“You’re from Chimera Tongue, aren’t you?” Patton says which is the opposite of both shutting up and going back to sleep.

“What gave it away?” Virgil says in a deadpan, thunder rumbling at the guild name. He’d never been so upset about being identified by his guild before; like that being a mage from a guild that’s less than one job away from being an officially declared dark guild is all that Virgil is, all that he’s ever going to be, despite how hard he’s tried to be anything else.

He’d managed to get rid of the guild tattoo that he had originally gotten on his hand after endless hours of a feverish haze of anything please anything get rid of it I don’t want it after what they did to Remus-- until Remus had finally silently appeared behind him and dragged his arms out of the bucket of bleach he’d made. 

(None of it had mattered in the end. Remus still had his imprinted on his neck like a noose and Virgil had traded his for something far worse.)

“I thought so,” Patton says, softly, distantly, and Virgil feels him shift to get a better look over Virgil’s shoulder. “I feel a lot less bad about this now.”

“Wh--”

Before Virgil can make sense of what he’s saying, a flaming crater slams into the ground just yards in front of them. Virgil reflectively hits the break, jerking his wheels to the side far too hard to avoid the collision. Something catches-- Virgil’s not sure what it is-- but the next thing he knows is they’re skidding on the foot rests, with Virgil desperately trying to make sure that he’s not shredding Patton’s leg apart, and they both go flying wildly off the road.

Something else explodes behind them, right before they get to a safe stop and Virgil lets out a curse as both him and Patton are tossed from the bike: Patton going up into the air, and Virgil’s SE plug snapping and sending him tunneling face first directly into the closest mud puddle.

His head rings with the recollection of the noise and the dizziness that comes from his head dissociating suddenly. Mud sinks into his body, rain pelts into his body, but he forces himself to get up and make sure that Patton isn’t fucking dead after that bullshit--

And it’s only by the grace of Remus’s many, many, many surprise attacks that he manages to dodge the fist full of fire coming for his head. 

“Fuck!” He stumbles back, slipping on the unstable ground and landing on the ground several paces away from where the fire wielder lands himself, having fallen from the sky itself, spraying mud around them without a care. He instinctively pulls the water in the ground up and throws it at his attacker, dousing those flames and gaining a few feet between them for the time being, but when the man shakes off the attack, Virgil freezes.

His brain buzzes, pausing for a second too long, a second that he knows better than to take but he knows that form in the rain standing so boldly against the onslaught of water, that hairstyle that survived every downpour with determination that outmatched Virgil’s love for sleep, and that face shape that was just quirky enough to be unmistakable. He knows that build: how those muscles stretch and bunch and maintain themselves from a rigorous training regime that is demanded for the type of magic that deals death blows. Virgil knows that stance, that movement that’s so extra and unnecessary but hides how his weight shifts around.

Virgil has spent enough time around Remus to be able to recognize him even if he were blind.

Except that Remus has beady blood red eyes that always looked to be picking a fight for his amusement. Whoever this is, they have a bright emerald green, like something just on the right side of being poisonous. 

The person in front of Virgil looks like a shapeshifter who picked a version of Remus from years ago, before his piercing and his chains and his mustache, and aged him up. A clean shaven face, an unblemished tanned skin, a cream colored outfit that the rain had plastered to his skin; it looked all wrong on Remus’s body. Flames flicker along his arms, battling the rain as he stares down at Virgil with a self righteous glare that Remus never would have been caught dead wearing.

And, of course, the bright red falling star symbol on his chest declares him a proud Star Burst member. Which is… is not something Remus could be. Virgil hands curl into fists to keep them from shaking. 

There’s a whisper of something… a memory made hazy from wine… “Everyone leaves,” Remus had said once upon a time, and Virgil thinks he just found out who “everyone” is.

“That was not the plan!” Another voice yells from above them.

To Virgil’s other side, a figure swoops down from the sky, landing with Patton carefully caught in their arms and a certain grace in their movements that has Virgil’s breath being stolen from him: the large bat-like navy blue wings flick off the water, as the figure gently lets Patton down, kneels next to him, and cuts through the rope with claws of some demon creature, ignoring the way the edges of his already torn lab coat soak in the muddy puddles. On his waist are Patton’s hip packs filled with his cards, probably ready for battle. Patton throws his arms around him in a hug the moment he can.

“Do you have a single brain cell between your ears?!” The demon snarls at them. “I have met demonic slimes with more thought out plans than you!” 

“Sorry for the delay, Padre!” the Remus lookalike says ignoring the other while holding up a card that looks suspiciously like it’s from Patton’s deck. It’s crumbling in his hand though and Virgil feels something on his hip tingle-- a matching card that had somehow been stuffed in his waistband, and Virgil can’t help but curse his own stupidity. 

A calling card. He doesn’t know much about card magic-- practically nothing at all beyond the “throw cards and they do things”-- but as he plucks the card he hadn’t noticed tucked into his own waist band and watches both the cards dissolve simultaneously, he can imagine that Patton probably had activated it right before he passed out in Virgil’s arms and sent a distress signal right to the Star Burst members that should have been preoccupied with the fight at the guild hall, with Remus, with not them. 

Quick and Quiet.

Virgil has no clue how much that fucked up the guildmaster’s plans. He gets the feeling he’ll find out when he gets back to the guild hall. Painfully. 

“Good call on the card, Pat,” The lookalike says, “I can’t smell this guy with all the rain dampening his scent. Almost missed him entirely.”

“It’s okay,” Patton says, rubbing his wrists and reaching for his cards. “I knew you guys would come for me!”

That’s sweet. Virgil thinks he’s getting cavities from this exchange, which by the way he doesn’t get dental in his guild membership. He’s kidnapping a guy and he isn’t even getting dental insurance from it! And whatever mystic entities are out there know that Remus needs dental.

If Virgil wasn’t staring at Remus’s bike being engulfed in flames, he thinks he might laugh. 

((He doesn’t get auto insurance either.))

“That wasn’t mine,” he says. “Remus is going to fucking kill me. And then Clay will kill me. And then Remus again.”

“You! Fiend!” The Remus lookalike yells as if he wasn’t responsible for actually signing Virgil’s death warrant or he was just oblivious to it. “Just what did you want with our courageous card-carrying compatriot?! Answer me!” 

Virgil staggers to his feet again, feeling so tired and a decent amount of rage. The rain feels a bit like magic bullets stopping just short of tearing through the surface tension of his skin, which seems completely unfair because he's the one making them.

“That wasn’t my bike, you asshole!”

“You were kidnapping our friend,” the other one says, so matter-of-fact that Virgil wants to punch him too. “I’m sure you understand it was collateral.”

Virgil motions to the flames that were persisting through his rain. “You could have killed both of us!”

“You are more durable than I thought you were,” the lookalike admits. “Not even a scratch on you? A bruise?”

“Roman!” Patton yells, scandalized.

Virgil’s fingers curl so tightly in his gloves that he feels the material creak. Roman. Remus mentioned him one time exactly; a brother, although Virgil had assumed he was way older or way younger and absolutely not 100% sharing his same fucking face. Somehow that makes him angrier. 

“I really didn't want to fight before--” He starts.

“I wouldn’t suspect you’d want to either,” the guy with the wings cuts in, flexing his jet black claws, and showing off hints of his guild mark on his tongue of all things. “You’d be going against three Star Burst’s most powerful Mages who have been training as a team since last year. Statistically, your chances of winning, much less winning without injury are close to zero. I’d suggest you come peacefully and answer our questions.”

“Oh the most powerful, huh?” Virgil echoes unimpressed, thunder booming behind him. “You couldn’t find one of those powerful ways to stop us without destroying our bike?!” 

The rain pours down on the fire but between the mud and the snapped SE cord and probably a host of other problems, he does not think that it's going to get back up again, much less drive them the rest of the way to the guild hall. His stomach churns thinking of all the hours that he spent watching Remus work on it, practically building it from scrap even though he could have bought one. If he hadn’t mentioned once that he got motion sick on regular bikes, Virgil would have assumed he was acting more insane than normal.

“Hey, Kidnapping Kyle--” 

“His name is Virgil,” Patton offers, interrupting his friend. “He’s a member of Chimera’s Tongue.”

Virgil is skilled enough at reading Remus’s expressions to see the way that fury breaks out across Roman’s face. 

“You!” He says which is a lot more upset than it was when he first found Virgil kidnapping his friend. Virgil is not being paid enough for this; he’s not being paid at all, actually, and that’s the bad part. 

He literally kidnapped someone not even for profit which is basically kidnapping for fun and he ruined Remus’s most prized possession in one go and holy shit, he’s going to hell.

“First our guild hall!” Roman growls, “Then Thomas! And somehow you roped Remus into all--”

"Remus?" Virgil cuts in, nine tenths furious and one tenth amazed at his audacity to bring up the name of his apparently twin sibling like he himself isn’t one of Remus most painful things to talk about. Lighting strikes a mountain in the distance, and the thunder rumbles loud enough for Patton to yelp again and step close to his winged friend.

"First of all, Remus doesn't need my help to do shit,” Virgil says. "He got me into this mess."

((If closes his eyes he’ll see the red lines twisting around Remus’s forearms, the way the ink floods between his scales mapping out Remus’s body like Remus wasn’t screaming and cursing the whole time, the way the magic in the room turned dark and ominous and Virgil had been too scared and frozen and horrified to do anything but watch as Greed and Guildmaster Clay laughed--))

Virgil brushes the memory aside. “And second of all, don't fucking talk like you know him!"

Roman shifts on his feet, his expression so simply un-Remuslike; there's anger where Remus merely would have laughed, fury where Remus would have been delighted for a verbal spar. Virgil isn't used to the twisting in his guts at the idea of Remus hating him as openly as this clone seems to and his own body thrumms with the urge to bash his face in until he no longer looks like Virgil's best friend.

“He’s my brother!” The guy hisses, like that is supposed to prove some mystical point to Virgil and instead Virgil feels his magic twist and warp and bubble in his soul threatening to burst out and drown him for daring to say that. 

Brother? Brother? Where was he when Remus was wandering around the country alone and miserable? Where was he when Remus was being run out of towns even after he helped them? Where was he when Remus was clawing his arms screaming so hard he activated his dragon force for the first time and--

“What happened to Thomas?” Patton asks, derailing Virgil’s anger for the second.

“Janus is looking after him,” the winged guy says. “It appears that the attack on our guild hall was a provocation to get us to attack their guild hall where a trap was set up by what I believe is a null-magic user--”

It’s worse hearing someone else talk about them, Virgil decides. Even as furious as he is, he barely resists the urge to flinch at the mention of one of Shadow Force, Guildmaster Clay’s handpicked personal minions, each disgustingly more immoral than the last with only one notable exception. Individually each of them could probably obliterate three cities without breaking a sweat; when they were united together they were an army fit to take over the country. It was just a matter of time before the Guildmaster got bored enough that he gave the order to do so.

Virgil’s own throat and lungs still ache from his last meeting with them present, where his limbs were tingling, where there was a hand on his collar bone, where there was painpainpain and orange flooding his vision. Even now the rains were still just a tad more acidic than this region was known for, though Virgil didn’t think anyone other than Remus and his sensitive nose would ever notice. 

He knew that the guildmaster was doing shit-- but to nullify Thomas? Another guildmaster? One of the other Top Ten? Granted Guildmaster Clay is only the Ninth, compared to Thomas’s Tenth, but the sheer gall…. The other things he can blame on Remus and Virgil, saying that they were acting out and were going to be punished accordingly, but attacking Thomas and physically pushing him off the Ranking List….That’s a declaration of War. Virgil can’t quite get the courage to imagine how the face he’s grown up idealizing in the magazines would look dying from a magic stealing sickness that Envy liked to flaunt. It’s bad, he knows that much. Very bad.

The Magic Council was going to be all over this, if they weren’t already. Virgil doesn’t know if that’s a good thing or not.

“--Thomas is okay. Janus is looking over him,” the Star Burst member continues, rolling back the sleeves on his rain soaked lab coat. “Just weak. But should his condition change…” 

He turns his gaze on Virgil and his eyes are black with yellow irises that scream something inhuman. He takes a step forward and his body morphs along with him, running white streaks through his raven hair and transforming his legs into scaled onyx hind legs with thick, sharpened claws to match his hands. A tail sprouts from his backside, pitched at the end like a sharpened dagger and his bat-like wings fan out like an impressively terrifying vision from every nightmare Virgil is going to have from now on.

“Logan,” Patton says, sounding slightly chiding as he shifts in his too big rain jacket. “Virgil already said he doesn’t want to fight, right? There’s no need for that, if he just comes willingly.”

Virgil takes a step back, watching them closely, and feeling rather claustrophobic for someone outside in the middle of nowhere with the rain pouring down on them. With Remus’s brother on one side and Patton and the winged guy on another he can’t get them all in one quick attack, which means likely it will break into a fight.

Virgil finds himself wishing Remus was there with him, because Remus always has his back when it comes to defense. He’s good at one-on-one fights, nearly undefeatable when it comes to him and one other, but team battles are a whole other story. 

“Look,” Virgil says, because he’s cold, and tired, and wants a bath and if this drags out for too long he’s not going to have the energy to get Patton to the guild hall, much less survive whatever shitstorm Remus will cook up in response to Virgil coming back without his bike and whatever punishment Clay will mandate for failing the quick and quiet order. “It’s just a job--”

“It doesn’t matter!” Roman says. “Whatever dastardly plans you have for him cease this instant! We won’t let you get away with this mockery on the good Sta--”

“Wow, I wonder if you had that protectiveness over Remus. How long does that last exactly?” Virgil asks, because he just can’t help himself. 

“What?”

“I mean,” Virgil asks deceptively innocently, “Do your friends know you like to abandon people when they need you?”

Oranges and reds explode over the guy’s hair and shoulders. “How dare--!”

“It’s not my fault you have a record. So are you going to get out of my way and let me do my job?”

The flames on the guy’s arms splutter, “NO! That was kidnapping! It’s illegal! I don’t--!!”

Virgil yawns and stretches back. “Fine, fine, fine.” He holds up his hands.

“Really? You’re giving up? Just….like that…?” Remus’s brother says, dropping out of his fighting stance. “Well I guess we are rather intimidating together. That’s why you had to go after our dearest Pat when he was alone, wasn’t it, you scoundrel--!”

He takes a triumphant step forward, completely ignoring the way that both his companions are telling him to wait hold on Roman he’s not... and really in Virgil’s honest opinion if someone is that stupid, they deserve it.

“Water Slicer!” Virgil yells, throwing his arms at the guy.

“ROMAN!” Patton and the other guy, Logan, yell at the same time as Virgil’s magic circles appear at his palms sending the familiar pressurized disks of water through the air. Roman meets them both with his own flames, barely-- which is impressive Virgil will give him that-- but even then Virgil has practiced breaking through Remus metal scales enough times for them to sweep through the flames like they’re nothing. Roman lets out a string of swears as the disks carve up his arm and the other catches his side. The next second Virgil is slamming his foot into Roman’s abdomen and stealing whatever breath he has for the moment as he hits the ground. 

The rain pelts down from the grumbling sky. Virgil has just enough time to twist his body before Logan comes careening through him, letting out a surprised yelp when Virgil’s liquid form doesn’t provide any hold for him. Virgil reforms himself a few feet behind where Logan lands claws first in the mud and slams his palms together.

 “Water Nebula!” 

The indigo glow from under Logan’s claws is the only warning he gets before two jet streams explode from the ground and warp around him in a helix design that hits him with the force of an oncoming bullet train. Logan goes flying into the air in a move that probably would have killed a lesser guy. At the very least he’d be nursing some broken ribs and wouldn’t be in any shape to retaliate on Virgil, demon form or not.

“Tower!” Patton yells, slamming one of his cards to the mud and Virgil doesn’t even have a second to process what that means before the ground under him bursts upwards and Virgil finds himself weightless in the worst way.

Patton holds another two cards in his hands, both of them glowing with a bright blue mystical light and he launches them at Virgil with a speed and accuracy that absolutely is surprising for a rich kid like him. Virgil flips in the air, avoiding both of them by mere inches and landing in a back handspring that sends jolts of pain all the way up his arms and he thinks for a second he’s lucky he didn’t splatter apart like a raindrop into the muddy ground.

“Water Ca--” 

“Fire Dragon Claw!” Roman snarls, appearing out of the blindside to Virgil’s left with a fancy flaming roundhouse kick. Virgil just barely manages to roll out of the way, hissing as he feels the sizzling along his skin where his body evaporates. He jumps back, feeling the lightning crackle overhead with his panic.

Dragon Slayer, his brain whispers, because how many times he had heard similar calls from Remus? How many times had he’d seen those familiar red magic circles written in green right before Remus put a metal rod through his chest? 

Who the hell did this guy think he was?

“Water Cane!” Virgil sneers, transforming his arm into a whip that Roman barely dives out of the way of, landing on his cut side and hissing in pain. Mud paints the sides of his white costume. Virgil knows that he shouldn’t feel vindicated by it-- by any of this-- but the lost look in Remus’s eyes comes back to his mind and he feels a smile etch into his face and sets his feet again. 

Logan flutters overhead, his wings apparently not enjoying the rain anymore than his ribs enjoyed Virgil’s last attack if the way he’s holding his side says anything. “His body is made of water. Fascinating. Can you retain any shape like that?”  

“What?” Virgil says because who just stops to chat in the middle of a fight? What tactic is this supposed to be? “I mean--”

A wave of rain hits all of them, pelting through the air with a vengeance that leaves even Virgil hissing out curses at when part of his arm de-solidifies against the sudden ambush. Logan seems to find it fascinating. 

“Do you not have control over the storm?” Logan asks. “The structural pattern suggests that--”

“Teach!” Roman says, stressing the name as if this is a problem they have constantly in battles and Virgil doesn’t know what the fuck to make of that. “Less science, more fighting!” 

“The amount of power that he has at his disposal is unheard of!” Logan says, rather excitedly in a way that makes Virgil's insides twist with an emotion somewhere between utter terror and unbridled fury. “And it appears that he is not expressly attempting to manifest it! Imagine! In a few more years he could be well on his way to the Top Ten Most Powerful Mages, providing he practices a little harder--"

Lightning snaps through the air and it’s only by the luck of Logan’s own magic--whatever that is--that he manages to redirect it towards the ground, away from all of them, but the force of the impact sends chucks of the earth in the air twice Patton’s own height. Thunder booms and the rains howl in a twisted way that has Logan struggling to not be torn apart.

“Logan!” Roman and Patton yell at the same time.

“Real brave words for the guy pretending to be a kite in the middle of a thunderstorm,” Virgil says between gritted teeth, watching him plummet several feet and recover --barely-- as the air fronts fight against him.

“Ah,” Logan says, swiping his hair from in front of his eyes, hovering just above the ground to Roman’s left, “I appeared to have angered him. Although I don’t see how...”

“Yeah, brilliant deduction, Doctor Don’t-Know,” Virgil sneers. Thunder booms again, and the rain sweeps through the area as a force all by itself, flooding over Roman and his pitiful next wave of flames. Behind him the remains of Remus’s bike sizzle and cool and the last sparks of its fiery end are put out. “It’s all about practice, right? A little focus, and I could be great, huh? That’s all it takes to control the giant fucking thunderstorm over my head and no one else has ever pointed it out to me before! What a revolutionary concept! Water Nebula!” 

Roman and Logan dive away from each other, letting the attack erupt between them with a viciousness that Virgil doesn’t think he’s ever had. He can feel his own body bubbling, not to the point of self evaporation, but enough that it makes him feel lighter, slipperier, harder to catch and even harder to beat. The sky crackles dangerously and Virgil thinks his smile is reminiscent of Remus’s.

“The World!” Patton yells, surprising Virgil-- how did he forget Patton was there-- as matching blue magic circles appear under both Roman and Logan and matching blue lights appear in halos around all three of their heads. “Two of Cups!” A second ring in a deeper blue forms around Logan and Roman’s heads, and Virgil wonders if damaging merchandise just a little bit will win him points with Guildmaster Clay or get him killed.

“Oh yeah,” Roman says in response to something Virgil can’t hear, grinning, and shifting his stance. “I like that plan, Card King of my Heart.”

Virgil hisses, “Water Slicer!” 

“Fire Dragon Roar!” Roman bellows, like he’s been waiting to do it. The magic circle bursts forward from his mouth, the bright red symbols exploding with wicked flames in a wide berth undaunted by the flood, and paying no mind to Virgil’s attack. Virgil calls up the water on the ground to block it and the resulting steam is a dense cloud that fogs up his vision completely. Virgil flings an attack towards where Roman had been, but there’s nothing there anymore and Virgil feels his heart jump up to his throat again as he swings around trying to figure out where they went with nothing more than the sound of the thunderstorm and his beating heart in his ears.

The next second finds two pale blue cards cutting straight through the haze and sailing straight through Virgil’s left shoulder and his right knee. Virgil gasps, even though it doesn’t technically hurt; his water based body reforms almost as quickly as Patton cut it apart, but it keeps him in place and--

“Now Logan!” 

“Evil Orb!” 

Virgil looks up in time to see airborne Logan sending some sphere looking condensation of magic at him; a sphere of blues and purples and reds that twist and intertwine and look like some type of planet exploding right in his hands. Reflectively, Virgil hits the ground and forms his one defensive circle under his feet. The water from the puddles shoots upwards and around him as a shield. “Water Dome!”

The orb hits his shield with an explosion that breaks it and the force that knocks him straight into the mud with ringing ears. For a second he thinks that he’s back in the training hall at the guild and that Remus is standing over him laughing about having finally gotten a good hit in when Virgil wasn’t expecting him to. Virgil shakes his head, feeling the mud cake over his face.

“Reversed Nine of Wands!” Patton’s voice calls and Virgil braces for an attack that’s sure to follow the bright blue light, but all that he feels is tired. The world spins around him, growing hazy all of a sudden and his eyelids strain to keep themselves open. Virgil’s thoughts blitz off in dizzying directions and oh, it wasn’t a physical attack. 

In so many ways this is definitely worse. Virgil can handle the physical attacks, he can weather as many of them as he needs too, but his stamina… Virgil’s never been good at staying awake for long periods of time for any reason. The orphanage workers thought he was sick with the amount that he slept, but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with him, the same way they couldn’t explain why it wouldn’t stop raining around him. 

He knows it’s a bad idea to fall asleep here, to let the Star Burst members win, to fail his mission so badly, but, god, does he really want to.

Really, really want to.

It was so cold, and he’s been tired since he woke up this morning and Guildmaster Glay called him into his study and sent him on this stupid mission. He’s been tired since before that too-- when he came back from his last job and had to hand over the portion he owed the guild, when he bumped into Envy and she had threatened to turn off his magic officially and forever, when he’d first stumbled into Chimera Tongue, half a step behind Remus and realizing that the stone castle Guild Hall will just make the chill of his rain perminate through the building.

He’s been exhausted since the start of this fight. He didn’t even want to do this in the first place. He just…

“Wow, look, a plan that actually worked,” Roman’s voice says somewhere beyond the daze Virgil feels that he’s floating in. “Where was that back at Chimera Tongue?”

“Apologies, remind me, which of us jumped into battle with another dragon slayer without warning and refused to listen to reason the entire time even as said other dragon slayer kicked your ass?” Logan retorts back.

Virgil let out a rather pathetic huff of laughter. He tries to roll over, to sit up, but even twitching his fingers makes darkness creep over his vision. The rain pours over him, each drop feeling like it’s plucking apart his skin, rippling deep through his organs until Virgil forgets that he’s human at all.

“Language, guys,” Patton says warningly. “My suit cards aren’t as powerful as my Major Arcana. They only last a few minutes. I’m… actually not sure why it’s affecting him this much… Oh kiddo, you must have really not wanted to fight us!”

There’s a softness in his tone that makes Virgil kinda want to throttle him. For being nice, for being kind, for being stupid enough that he still had that soft edge when he looked at Virgil seeing far more than Virgil wants anyone to know about him. 

“It’s far more likely that he’s been expending a gratuitous amount of energy to keep the storm going,” Logan comments. 

“Alright, Wet Blanket,” Roman says and Virgil thinks that’s his boot in the corner of his vision. “Had enough yet? We can keep this up if you want, though you’re looking a little less than your turbulent, tap water self.”

“Fu...ck...off,” Virgil slurs. He kicks his legs towards him in a move that would have swept his feet away, but all it really does is flick mud pathetically on his already muddied boots.

“I’ve got another Fire Dragon Roar in me, Stormy Weather!” Roman says. “Don’t test me.”

“Roman!” Patton says. There's mud in his cheek, water droplets on his glasses that look like tears. “Virgil, I know you’re tired. It’s okay if you go to sleep. You fought really well, kiddo.” 

There’s a tingly feeling in Virgil’s chest, the same feeling he gets when Remus pulls him into hugs. The rain plays a nice rhythm on his head, a lovely little melody and it takes Virgil a moment to realize Patton is still speaking to him. “--you think you could tell us why you needed to kidnap me?”

“I was just…. told to get the heir,” Virgil mumbles, and his eyelids feel so heavy. He thinks that if he closes them he’ll wake up in his bed anyway, and this will have been all a shitty dream that Remus can laugh at him for.

Thunder rumbles in the distance causing Patton to freeze up.

“Heir?” Roman says. “What heir? Heir to what?”

Virgil squints at them through his rain soaked bangs, “The Hart Family...Patton Hart…?” 

Logan lands nearby wincing as his ribs complain, but by the time he walks over to the rest of them, his demonic form has shifted back to a human one, and he carefully holds his middle, ignoring the dribbles of blood from his nose. He pulls a pair of glasses from his wrecked lab coat and cleans them on the soaked fabric before putting them on for whatever good he thinks that will do.

“What’s this about the Hart Family?” He asks. 

Virgil lulls his head to the side so he’s staring right at Patton. “They don’t know?”

Roman and Logan turn to face Patton who wilts under their gaze, guiltily. The rain pours down on him, dancing on the waterproof coating of his coat that makes him appear smaller and more pathetic than he has any right to be. They’re talking, Virgil thinks, the buzz of the words twisting so far over his head he can’t possibly keep up.

He thinks about his bed, about a shower, about Remus, who was waiting for him to return so they can figure out their next step. He thinks about the safety of their room, the way it feels to be back to back with Remus and be invincible, about how Remus’s throat had gone raw from his own screaming to the point where he’d been quiet for a whole day, with shaking hands that kept scratching at his skin as if he could peel away the magic binding.

He thinks about that magazine that showed pictures of the inside of the Star Burst guild, warm and vibrant and welcoming. He thinks about how much Remus wanted to see it one day. He thinks about how he’s going to see it now if he doesn’t wake back up.

“Rule Four,” Virgil mumbles. “Rule Four, Rule fucking Four.”

He forces his eyes open and suddenly all he can see is how all three of those stupid Star Burst members are lined up in a triangle like bowling ball pins.

“Water Lock,” Virgil says and the magic circle appears under all three of their feet.

His own vision floods with black at the use of his magic, but it’s so, so worth it at the surprised gasps and the curse from the three of them before they’re trapped in his bubble. The rain pours down from the sky as Virgil finally manages to drag himself up a standing position, laughing the whole time and wondering how much longer that stupid card magic is going to effect him.

His entire body is covered in mud, making him sluggish and uncomfortable and solid. He’s never really understood how other mages worked with their entirely normal bodies, but he’s sure that this sucks and he hates it. His balance is strange, too, and standing up nearly causes his feet to slide from under him and it’s only the will power and the chant of Rule Four that keeps him upright. He groans, spitting out the taste of clay from his mouth and looking up at the large sphere of water trapping the three of them. 

“I’m…. slightly less sorry about it this time,” He tells them.

Which is probably a sign that he’s too far down this dark path and redemption is not going to be an option ever, but he thinks of Remus’s drunken empty eyes and he kinda accepts his fate now. He’d followed their dumb drunken rules for so long… and… and he wasn’t going to stop now. He wasn’t going to let these idiots be the ones to make him break them. Rule Four, Rule Four, Rule Four.

And if it makes him a terrible person….well no one ever expected anything else from the dreary rain witch, did they?

Roman seemed to be trying to call on his flames again, which seriously? Virgil had to give him props for trying; he thinks he sees a spark but the water puts it out immediately because-- surprise, surprise-- fire doesn’t beat water. Logan morphed into some type of water creature thing, but he was more concerned with the way that Patton had gone limp and was drowning than trying to get out. Not that it matters much; if the acidity of the water doesn’t start getting to him, Virgil knows he can take the guy with the broken ribs in a one-on-one battle afterwards. Roman let out another surge of power that was consumed by the water around him.

“Word of advice for the three of you,” Virgil says, sluggishly wiping the mud from his arms. “Don’t turn your back to an opponent. Remus is a particular fan of literal backstabbing, which you would know if you actually knew him.”

Thunder breaks through the sky.

“I’m sure he’s gonna be thrilled to hear all about how I’m going to leave your ass here in the mud, just like you left him behind however many years ago it is now. Jeez, and I thought I had a rough childhood. For someone who called me a fiend, I’ve gotta wonder what that makes you.” Virgil watches as Roman’s face contort with fury, pain, distress and he soaks it in because he might not know the exact details of anything but he knows that this Roman guy hurt Remus. And any chance to get back at him for it was worth it in Virgil’s book.

“In a roundabout way, you could even say it’s your damn fault for all of this, Roman,” Virgil says but the name sounds strange on his tongue. Like one of those times when Remus switched their mugs without him noticing and he downed straight beer instead of cider he was expecting. “If you had just managed to not fuck off by yourself then Remus wouldn’t have been so desperate to befriend anyone, not even the depressing little rain witch passing through town. Then he wouldn’t have done any of that stupid shit trying to make sure neither of us got thrown out on our asses again. Then I wouldn’t be kidnapping people for exactly none of the profit. So yeah, it's your fault for all of this.

“And you know what? Remus deserves better than you. I’m sure he’s figured it out by now, but you seem to be under the impression that you get to be everyone’s hero. Here’s your one warning Roman: get the hell out of Remus’s life. He doesn’t need or want you…..Are you still trying to fight it? Let it go, dude.” Virgil says, stretching slightly. “No one’s ever broken out of my--”

Roman’s eyes flash bright green and suddenly there’s an explosion of flames that engulfs his entire body and thrusts outwards in all directions. Virgil’s spell shatters like it’s nothing more than an inconvenience. 

Virgil stumbles back, cursing the flickers of pain inside of him and the shock of having his magic connection shot so easily and suddenly. Not even Remus had ever managed to break out of that move; only playing unconscious and attacking Virgil once he dropped it because there wasn’t supposed to be a way to stop it.

Roman stands up with flames burning in his hair, licking his arms and dancing between his legs with a passion. Along his back, stretching seven feet into the air were wings, bright red and humming with heat. He’s burning so brightly, so hotly, so dangerously that the raindrops can’t touch him at all, and his gaze is filled with bloodlust as he stares at Virgil, the faint etchings of red scales on his cheekbones where Remus’s metallic ones normally stood. 

“Logan,” Roman growls hoarsely as lightning crashes overhead striking the field not too far from their left and dousing them in a nightmarish lighting.

“He’s okay,” Logan calls as Patton coughs up water in his arms. “As am I. Although we both are...I believe the term is extremely pissed off.” 

Roman lets out another growl that is just barely human and lightning strikes again, thunder following so boomingly that Virgil swears it strikes them all deaf. It doesn’t matter because Roman is charging forward at him before it finishes and Virgil panics.

He throws out a water cane attack but most of it misses. The parts that hit sizzle and become gas before they even do any damage. Roman claws through his side which would have taken out all of his guts if it weren’t for that Virgil was made entirely from water.

The heat, though; Virgil lets out a scream as he feels the section of his liquid body tingle and evaporate. He stumbles back, barely avoiding the next swing from the Fire Dragon Slayer. The air fills with a mist that makes Virgil sick to think of. His hood falls off as he dives away from another punch and the rain feels a bit like hail coming down on him. His lungs scream for him to breathe, but he’s afraid if he stops long enough to inhale, Roman will evaporate him entirely. 

He doesn’t know what it’s like to be a gas and Virgil very much doesn’t want to find out.

“Water Cyclone!” He calls, shoving the attack at the other just to push him away before Roman manages to get a grip on his hair. The force knocks him back several feet, the mud preventing him from getting a solid stance against it at first, but somehow he breaks the new attack as well like some type of monster. 

“You look a little scared there, Raindrop,” Roman snarls.

“What the fuck are you made of?” Virgil asks. “Water Slicer!”

Roman throws a punch at the disks of water, and any other time Virgil would have laughed but the heat from his movements manages to deflect the water to the side where it carves into the nearby hill. Virgil backs up again hoping the downpour hides the way his hands are shaking. 

“Evil Explosion!” Logan yells and Virgil feels the attack slam into his other side, splattering his body apart like he’d thrown a whole cannonball at him. Virgil hits the ground gasping for air and choking on mud. It’s not hot, but it sure as hell hurts. It’s more out of desperation than conscious thought that he manages to roll over with his head pounding and his heart thrumping in his throat until he can’t breathe around it.

He feels solid. He feels heavy. His vision is teetering between blurry and too focused and his atoms feel like they’re being pulled apart.

“Tell me again about how all of this is my fault,” Roman growls. 

A boot slams onto his chest, knocking him back to the ground and pinning him in place. Roman radiates heat and Virgil lets out a pained gasp as his abdomen begins to boil. 

“Wait, please! I’m sorry,” he gasps, “I’m sorry! Please, don’t!”

Roman puts more weight on his chest, sneering down at him. “Give me one reason, you dishonorable downpour!”

“Please!” Virgil begs. “I didn’t want to, I don’t-- I can’t--!”

I don’t wanna die. He thinks hysterically. I don’t wanna die and leave Remus all alone again, please I’m sorry, please don’t make me leave him, not like this, Rule Four, Rule Four, Rule--

“Roman, wait,” Logan says, “His neck.”

Virgil whimpers as the heat flares again, sending painful tingles through his chest like lightning crackling through him, ohgodpleasenonotagain. His body bubbles and boils and the ringing in his head is too loud for him to focus long enough to cool his internal temperature against it.

“Hey, Shameless Showers,” Roman demands. “What’s up with the orange tattoo? That’s not your Guildmark.”

Virgil’s breath catches in his throat, feeling the phantom hand clamping down on his neck, his own hand frantically reaching up to the area that’s normally covered by his hood like he can make them pretend like they’d never seen it at all. The orange mark-- the bubble under his watery skin that looks like absolutely nothing until Virgil’s trying to hide it and someone realizes that it looks like a handprint-- He thinks that a laugh bubbles up through his lips, hysterical and half-crazed and absolutely terrified.

“It’s not a tattoo,” Logan says. “It appears to be something suspended in the solution of his body--”

“Oh, kiddo!” Patton rasps, looking worried despite the fact that Virgil has tried to drown him twice. “That looks like it hurts!”

Virgil wants to scream. Lightning crackles in the sky, a bolt striking down not ten feet from them and Patton squeaks and clings to Logan’s arm. The rain itself pummels the ground like it has a grudge against it. But Roman presses down on his chest flaring with heat to keep him from trying anything.

“That can’t be healthy,” Logan says. “I imagine that someone with your form would be extremely susceptible to--”

And Virgil can’t take that. Absolutely not. He knows, okay? He knows. And the reason why he hasn’t told anyone is because if someone else tells him that something like this will kill him, that will make it real. It will make it a ticking time bomb in his body, a death sentence, a proof that Virgil is living on borrowed time already and that at any moment he’s going to--

Virgil can’t leave Remus. He can’t-- He--

His body disassociates without him even telling it to, slipping out from under Roman’s startled boot and throwing itself a good distance down the road, before reforming the best it can with the rain feeling like spears going straight through him. Even now, putting himself back together, that orange blob sits in his body, as much part of him as the water and he can’t get rid of it. 

He stumbles back another several steps as the Star Burst members whip around. Roman’s flames crackle along his biceps in mini explosions that turn the droplets in the air to steam and Virgil sprints. 

Job be damned. 

He pulls up the hood of his poncho to hide the orange contaminant the best he can and hopes desperately that the three don’t bother coming after him while the rain hits his face until he can’t tell them from his tears.

[Next Chapter]

[velnat004]

roman trevelyan wip trying my hand on photobashing for the first time :D

[mozzawind]

My Trevelyan Siblings!

Roman Trevelyan- Class: Rogue, Age: 42, Sexuality: Bisexual - Eldest of the siblings, Roman is a scholar amongst the Inquisitions Ranks, He is currently involved in a very whirlwind romance with the Author Varric Tethras <3 Eleanor Trevelyan- Class: Mage, Age: 30, Sexuality: Bisexual - Youngest of the siblings, Eleanor is a healer in the Inquisition and is married to the Inquisitors commander, Cullen Rutherford

Some added context for the two of them <33 Ellie & Roman are half-siblings, their father being Lord Trevelyan, After the death of Roman's Mother, Lord Trev remarried Lady MacTavish, Ellie's mother. the two of them rarely interact due to Ellie being sent to the Circle at a relatively young age,

[eastgaysian]

dragon age inquisition succession au still lives within my mind. kendall roy finally gains the power to close the portal. but at what cost