The Prince, The Gangster, The Teacher, And The Poet (Sander Sides Fanfic)

Chapter Forty Three-The Fight (Part Two)

TW: Uh... woof. So fighting, a little bit of getting hurt, Roman gets really exhausted (Have you learned nothing, my boi) and a lot of guilt. Like, a lot of guilt. So much guilt. Only some of it vocalized. Just be prepared for some ANGST.

"We split up. Attack her from all sides." Logan was planning as they made their way down the stairs. "She can't defend from all of us if we all go in at once. Can you-" Before he even asked the question to Patton, Patton was changing. A long howl could be heard that made everyone shiver.

"If any of us start to feel like we can't handle this, we need to run. She could really hurt us." Roman didn't state the obvious, that this was the most danger they had ever been in, but it didn't seem like it needed to be said. They made it to the courtyard, skidding a little bit as they stopped their running. In front of them was a sight that wasn't there when they had entered.

An extensive maze folded out before them. Four paths, each leading to various portions of the garden. They each looked at each other.

"Everyone takes a different path. If all else fails, I can teleport to someone else." Virgil kept his voice soft as the other three nodded, each of them taking off in different directions.

Roman ran into what looked to be a clearing with three other ways out. He didn't stop moving for a second, his heart pounding with the thud of his shoes on the gravel.

"Oh, little royal!" A sing-song voice called from above, and Roman swore under his breath. He felt the flames before he could see them, and jumped out of the way as a bolt of fire hit where he was just standing. He turned to her, manifesting the sword. Esseray was grinning malevolently down at him, making his skin crawl. Her wings were out in full force, giant dragon wings flapping to keep her in the air above him.

She wanted to hurt his beloveds. She didn't care about their well-being. All the hero books that he read said that real hero's never killed their adversaries, but in all those books, the villain was always redeemable. There was nothing redeemable about Esseray. He yelled as he swung at her when she got a little too close, but she just laughed, flying out of reach.

"Nice try, sweetling." Another bolt of fire was lobbed at him, but he deflected it with his sword. This went on for a while, him swinging at her when she got too close, and her shooting globs of fire at him that he blocked with his sword. Eventually, Esseray seemed to either get tired or bored, because she gave him one last push of fire before flying to a different area. Roman felt disappointed in himself with how relieved he was watching her move to a different part of the maze.

But then he remembered that, if she was flying away, that meant one of his boyfriends was going to be in trouble.

Roman ran.

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Patton wasn't even on a path anymore. He was using his head like a wolf battering ram, charging headfirst into the bushes as far as he could go. Eventually, he found his way to a gate made of iron. There were people crowded around it, watching. One of the people was Thomas, and Patton nearly changed back. The people all spotted Patton, but none of them seemed to know what he was. Cries of "Wolf!" And "Witch creature!" Were hurled at him, but he didn't actually care much.

He looked at Thomas with big earnest eyes and howled. Thomas blinked a few times at the wolf before his eyes went wide with realization. Patton gave his best thumbs-up, which, in that form, was little more than him batting the air sideways, before charging back in. He needed to help his boyfriends.

It wasn't too much longer before he saw one of Esseray's feet, just within biting distance. He didn't even think about it, he lept at her ankle, sinking his teeth into it. She growled as she turned, flinging him off of her with a flick of her leg, sending him sprawling into the bushes. He got up quickly, growling.