The Prince and the Witch Prisoner | Prinxiety

16

TW: mentions of abuse, death, betrayal, and a witch burning

Virgil splashed his face with water from a stream they had found. It had been awhile since their fight and Virgil for some reason felt guilty for making Roman upset. He shouldn't feel this way though, he was right.

But Roman had been mopping ever since their fight. Virgil wondered if he had gotten through to him and now he felt guilty for everything. Good, what he said and believed was wrong. Virgil wasn't responsible for his happiness, especially since Roman had called him a monster and demon.

Virgil sighed as he stared into the water. He was exhausted still, but he was starting to feel better.

"Did you happen to grab anything that could carry water?" Virgil asked Roman.

"No," Roman mumbled.

"Yeah, neither did I. That's fine, we just need to stay near this stream until we find the town and we should be fine. This isn't the first time I've traveled with nothing."

Roman was silent and it was killing Virgil. There had been this awkward tension between the two since their fight and it was unbearable.

"Well, it's getting late. We should find some shelter or set up camp or something."

Roman still didn't say anything and it was starting to annoy Virgil.

"Okay that's it," Virgil gave in. "No more of this crap, we both need to get over this."

Roman frowned and finally looked over to Virgil as Virgil walked closer. He sat down in front of the prince and set his bag down to the side.

"Let's do this, you tell me a story that involves witches that has happened to you and I will tell you what has happened to me because I'm a witch," Virgl compromised. "That way, we can both learn from this."

"I'm sure whatever happened to you is way worse than what has happened to me," Roman scoffed.

He was talking again, that was good. It was a start for Virgil.

"Okay then, I'll go first," Virgil volunteered. "I was... eight? Nine? I don't know. My family and I lived in this village for awhile. My parents were friends with this human couple who had a young baby. From what I had heard, my father and the human father went hunting and somehow the human was hurt badly. My father panicked and healed him with magic." Virgil laughed. "Like father, like son, right? He came home and explained what had happened to us and we were worried that the human would tell the rest of the village. We had hoped that since we were close and since my father had saved the human's life that he wouldn't tell. Our hopes were quickly shattered when there was yelling outside and we saw a mob coming to our door. We packed what we could and went to leave. My father stayed behind to slow the humans down, but they were the same villagers that we lived with for years and he didn't want to hurt them. They didn't feel the same. I didn't see what happened, and I'm glad I didn't because his screams were enough to break me. My mother rushed my brother and I into the forest and we ran as fast as we could. And that's how I lost my father. Your turn."

Roman chuckled driely, "And right off the bat that story was worse than anything I went through. Well, sort of. When I was fifteen, there was this knight I knew. He was sort of like a father figure to me. I don't know what had happened exactly, but one day we heard news that he had been killed in a fight with a witch. It was a closed casket funeral. I know it's not as bad as your own story, but I remember being so angry with any and all witches after that. I wanted revenge I guess. Sure my real father is alive but this knight had been so kind to me. He had taken me to town on little trips and had cared for me as if I was his own. He was more of a father to me than my own father had been, and he was taken away from me by a witch."