The Prince and the Witch Prisoner | Prinxiety

14

TW: more arguing and exhaustion

"Roman, Roman wait please," Virgil panted as he tried to follow, but he felt like passing out the second he stood up while they were in the cave.

Roman kept moving ahead, searching for a way out of the woods. "Keep up, we need to keep moving if we don't want to get caught."

Virgil stumbled and caught himself with a branch from a tree. "Roman, please slow down. I can't... I'm tired."

"I thought you said when we were bonded that we were both instantly healed of any wounds we had."

"Yeah, physical wounds, but it doesn't replenish my energy or magic."

"You'll be fine, keep moving."

"Roman please." Virgil fell to his knees, too tired to keep standing.

Roman turned around to look at him and saw just how weak he was. He was still deathly pale and was shaking violently from exhaustion, and now he was sweating and out of breath. He was much stronger last night, is this really what happens when a witch over does it with magic?

"Fine, we can take a break," Roman relented. He really wanted to hate Virgil, he had to! Virgil's a witch! But seeing him so weak and vulnerable hurt him. He wanted to just hold Virgil and sooth his pain, but he couldn't.

Roman took out an apple from his bag and started to eat it. He glanced over at Virgil who was sitting against a tree, breathing heavily. Color was starting to return to his cheeks, but not much. Maybe his blood sugar was low?

"You should eat some fruit," Roman suggested.

Virgil nodded and pulled out his own bag. His hands were shaking but he was still able to bite into a pear he pulled out.

"Tell me more about being bonded," Roman requested.

"There's not much to it," Virgil told him, "I bonded our souls together with my magic. If one of us dies, so does the other. If we're separated, it weakens both of us."

"Like how a witch is weakened if they don't have their amulet?"

"Right, just like that. In a way, witches are bonded to our amulets, and yet our amulets amplify our magic if we wear them."

"What happened to yours?"

Virgil was silent for a moment as he ate his pear. "I lost it when I was kidnapped. It's probably somewhere in this forest, but I'll never be able to find it again. So, I'm slowly being weakened. Doesn't help that I bonded us and I used a lot of magic teleporting us last night."

"Could you die from using too much magic?"

"Unfortunately, yeah. And it's not a pleasant death."

"Oh... no wonder you look half dead."

"If I didn't know any better, I would say you're worried about me, princey."

"I-I am not! I just don't want you dying since we're bonded!"

"Right, well there are some upsides to being bonded. We can both physically heal faster now, and we have some sort of mindlink. If needed, we could communicate through our minds, though it's hard to do from what I heard. We can send each other messages, memories, or show each other what we're seeing. Oh, and I have heard that humans that are bonded to witches have been able to do some magic over time."

"What?!  You can't be serious!"

"Yeah, but that's only after we've been bonded for a while."

"Oh my father would kill me! He'd disown me for sure if I turned into a monster! Is there any way to break the bond?"

"One, it's this real difficult ritual that would take up a lot of magic that I don't have. I could die in the middle of it before the bond is broken, thus killing you, so I suggest you let me rest a little before I try it. But you don't need to worry about being a monster," Roman flinched as Virgil spat the word back at him. "I plan on breaking the bond before you start to show any signs of magic."

"Look, I know you're not a monster-"

"Oh really? You have a real funny way of showing it. You say the word 'witch' as if it's taboo. Sorry I'm different."

"Sorry I've had some bad experiences involving witches! You're all only out for yourselves!"

"Oh right! I totally forgot about that! Whoops, I meant to leave you for dead last night! Maybe next time!"

"Witches are evil creatures! My father told me that! He said that your magic is unnatural!"

"It is not! We were all born this way!"

"My father said witches were all demons!"

"I never asked to be a witch!" Virgil shouted, tears in his eyes. "You have no idea what my life has been like because I'm a witch! I should be proud of my magic, but I wish I were human because of you humans! Because if I was what you deemed 'normal' then maybe my parents would be alive! Maybe you humans wouldn't have tried to burn me! And just maybe I would be with my brother!" Virgil was full on crying at this point, tears were running down his face as he yelled. "My life has been a living hell because of you humans! You claim that we're evil! That we're all the same! But you're the evil ones! And every time I think I've met a human who might be different, I'm proved wrong! I thought you were going to be different, but you're the same as everyone else!"

"Virgil-"

"Witches are not evil, just like humans are not evil. We're not demons, we're not monsters, we're just... different. That's all."

Roman didn't know what to say, his heart ached seeing Virgil like this. And it was all his fault. He didn't know what to say.

"You said it was your father who told you we were evil?" Virgil continued. "He was wrong. You really are too loyal for your own good. Tell me, do you think I'm more evil than the man who has killed thousands just because they were different? How many witches has your father killed? How many mothers, fathers, children?"

"I-I don't..." Roman was speechless. He felt twelve again.

"You don't know, do you? That's just horrible. But yeah, I'm the evil one because I like to play with magic."