The Broken Sides(sequel to the Cursed Light)

Role Reversal

The dragon witch had enough. Too long had they scorned her. Too long had they shown each other the love and affection they never cared to give her. Far too long.
    Her anger had boiled over the moment she saw Roman grinning and pressing a kiss to Virgil hair. At that, she stormed off to her hut, coming up with a hundred different plots for her revenge.
    And then it dawned on her. The idea held her with such force that she began pulling vials off of the shelves, crushing herbs between her fingertips as she muttered the incantation.
    “Take the memories of those they love. Switch the love to hate. Only once more truly seeing the ones they hold in their heart and will never let go will they remember who they are. So take from those in the dark. Switch the love for the light to hate.”
    She felt the curse work its way through the mindscape and satisfaction settled in her gut.
    The next morning would bring their happy little setup crashing down around them.
-⍟-
    Roman blinked awake, distantly noting that Virgil wasn’t next to him as he woke up. He figured Virgil had one of his sleepless nights again. The only thing that really worried him was how Virgil didn’t leave a note like he usually did.
    Well, no use dwelling on that now. He had a busy day ahead of him as creativity, after all! Besides, Virgil always needed a hug and some cuddles after nights like these, and he was never one to disappoint.
    But when he got to the living room, he didn’t just find Virgil.
    No, Janus and Remus were there too. And none of them looked entirely happy to see him.
    Before he had time to ask them what had happened, Patton came bouncing in with Logan in tow, his sunshine smile ever-present on his features. He locked eyes with Janus and, either not noticing the sheer rage in the deceitful side’s expression or not caring, ran towards him, before being knocked back by Janus’ cane.
    Ice crawled up Roman’s spine. Janus would never raise his voice at Patton, much less hit him. 
The overwhelming sense of wrong finally forced him to ask, “Virgil, what’s going on. What did we do?”
The only response he got was a cold glare.
“Virgil please, we can fix this just-”
“Shut up!” Virgil screamed. The distortion that creeped into his voice made Roman flinch.
Patton had a hand clamped over his mouth as he cried. Logan looked between Remus, Virgil, and Patton, trying to gauge if this was another one of Remus’ pranks that he so loved to pull on the other sides. But even Remus’ pranks had limits.
“Remus, cephy, please just tell us what’s going on?” Logan asked, and Roman didn’t miss how his voice shook.
“What’s going on is that we’ve decided to leave. To our own side of the mindscape,” Janus replied.
“But why?!” Patton cried.
“That’s none of your concern, Patton.” Janus spat out the name like it tasted bitter on his tongue when he spoke it. None of the reverence he held for the name before was present.
And before Roman could beg for Virgil’s forgiveness for whatever he had done to hurt him, before Patton could hug Janus and plead with him to stay, before Logan could take Remus in his arms and tell him that he loved him, the three dark sides sunk out.
Needless to say, Roman burst into tears only seconds later.
-⍟-
    Patton took it the hardest. He hadn’t stopped crying for four days since Janus left, hugging the frog plushie he’d got on his birthday to his chest. The biggest heartbreak came when he found a ring box, discarded near the divide between the dark and light sides.
    But life goes on, something Logan reminded him of daily. Patton didn’t say it, but he found the statement pointless coming from him, who hadn’t stopped looking for answers as to what could have caused such a sudden shift in their boyfriends. He didn’t say anything because he knew Logan would stop searching after that.
    And he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to know what had happened too.
    And lying wasn’t something he could bear to do without thinking of a particular person.
    He didn’t sleep much either, always keenly aware of the empty spot next to him. He didn’t even stay in his room during the nighttime, just wandered around the mindscape and checked up on the other two (he let Roman think that he didn’t know the dummy he’d shoved under the covers while he spent his hours in the Imagination wasn’t really him. He made sure that Logan always had a blanket around him while he slept at his desk).
    It was one of these nights of wandering around that he found Logan in the living room, clutching something tightly in his fist, his eyes glassy.
    “Logan?” he asked, not missing the way the other side flinched at being addressed.
    “Hello Patton. It isn’t ideal for your health to be awake this late.” His voice was hoarse.
    He was crying.
    Patton plastered on a small smile, and sat next to him, unease clinging to him like second skin.
    “I could say the same for you too, kiddo,” he sighed. “What’s that you got in your hand.”
    Logan’s fist tightened at that. He looked down and Patton didn’t miss the unmistakable anger in his eyes. Anger wasn’t new for Logan. But his anger was never this quiet.
    That should have terrified him.
    All it did was make him more worried.
    “Lo?”
    “I found out what happened to them. I know who caused it,” Logan whispered.
    Who. This wasn’t some strange occurrence. Someone changed their hearts.
    And Patton felt rage sear through him too. He was never one for violence, but he swore he would tear them limb from limb.
    He shot up and stomped over to the hallway, ignoring Logan’s concerned voice following close behind. Roman’s white and gold door got closer and closer until he was right in front of it. He knocked louder than he ever had, not caring Roman was in the imagination at that second. He needed to come out, he needed to share in the anger that had dug itself into Patton’s heart. He stepped back a little when a very disheveled Roman opened the door.
    He actually got some sleep for once, a guilty voice in his head supplied, but Patton pushed that away.
    “Padre what-”
    “Logan knows who did it. He- he found out,” Patton whispered. He looked down to see his hands were clenched into fists and shaking.
    Roman’s eyes blew wide and he ran outside of his room, just in time for Logan to finally catch up with Patton. He didn’t say anything, just stared at Logan, something pleading in his eyes. And if Patton weren’t looking at Logan the same way, he would notice the barest hint of tears.
    “It was the dragon witch. I am not exactly certain on her motives, though I have a theory as to why, but I do know what spell she used,” he said, holding out what he had been clutching so tightly.
    It was a page torn from a book (Logan never damaged his books, even by accident) with an incantation. Patton read it once, but the all consuming fury that overtook him morphed into despair. Roman, however, snatched the slip out of Logan’s hands, his eyes scanning the page over and over.
    Suddenly Roman summoned his sword, and swirled around to enter his room again. Neither Logan nor Patton stopped him.
-⍟-
    Roman slammed open the door to the imagination and ran in, waiting for the door to dissolve behind him as he stared around the field.
    “You’re going to pay for this, dragon witch!” he shouted at the sky, knowing she was bound to show up then.
    And soon enough, a large dragon loomed over the sky before descending and morphing into a woman, who was smirking. And oh, how much he wished he could rip that smirk off her face right then and there. But he wanted answers first.
    “I know what you did witch,” he hissed, raising his sword in warning.
    “Oooh, snappy aren’t we? You’re starting to sound a bit like a particular anxious side,” she crooned, and Roman saw red.
    “Don’t try and act coy! How do we reverse it?” His grip tightened.
    “Adorable. You think I want to tell you,” she cooed, her face twisted in a mock pout before settling back into a smirk.
    “You’ll tell me if it means your hut won’t go up in flames,” he spat. 
A formidable threat. Unlike the dragon witch, the hut couldn't regenerate, and without her hut, she was practically powerless.
    The dragon witch paled at that, and the satisfaction of that wasn’t nearly enough.
    “You wouldn’t dare.” Her voice was quiet, fearful. His satisfaction grew.
    “You took my husband from me. The only reason I haven’t wiped you from existence just yet is because I know you know how to break the curse. So, tell me, how do we reverse it?” he asked.
    After several seconds of deafening silence, the dragon witch said, “They’ll only remember once they’re reminded of their love. That’s as far as I know.”
    Roman was satisfied. He charged, slashing his sword until he heard a thud as the dragon witch’s body fell onto the grass in front of him. He felt nothing about it. She would regenerate after a week.
    “Ladies and germs, give some applause for Roman’s giant ego!” a familiar voice announced behind him.
    Remus.
    Any satisfaction Roman felt earlier immediately fizzled out. He swirled around to come face to face with his brother.
    His brother who didn’t remember when he and Logan were in love.
    “Remus, I-”
    “Oh, no need to clarify, bro-bro! I know your self-confidence is even smaller than your dick! Which is saying a lot!” Remus cackled, and Roman felt his chest constrict.
    The dick joke didn’t bother him. The jab at his confidence didn’t bother him too much. But he figured his brother would at least remember the good times they had growing up. His love for Logan wasn’t contingent on Roman.
    But he’d read that incantation that Logan found. Love for the light didn’t have to mean romantic love.
    He sunk out of the Imagination into his room.
    -⍟-
Roman, Logan had noticed, was a great deal quieter after he found out who had done it. Not only that, he had become a great deal more irritable. And it frustrated Logan to no end. Roman had been getting better as time wore on, so couldn’t understand what could have possibly driven him to relapse like this. Even Patton had cheered up slightly (it’s amazing what a little hope can do to a person).
He had confessed about his encounter with the dragon witch and the cryptic solution she had given. They did their best with the information they had. Roman wasn’t entirely mentally present for the entire conversation, despite the fact that he had been narrating the entire encounter. Logan didn’t miss the way Roman glanced up at him briefly before looking back down at his hands.
It all came to a head when Roman snapped at Logan over something minor at breakfast.
And then Logan got reminded of why he spent all of that time in his room researching a solution in the first place.
“Roman, you are acting like a child. Have you ever stopped to consider the fact that the rest of us are going through the same situation you are,” Logan seethed, standing up from his seat at the table.
“Frankly, Pocket Protector, no I haven’t! Because none of you are!” Roman shouted.
“Just because Virgil was your husband doesn’t mean that it hurts any less for us, Princey,” he spat.
“Well, you aren’t the only one who lost Remus!” Roman clapped a hand over his mouth.
The kitchen grew quiet. Too quiet for Logan’s liking, and that was coming from him.
“Ro, kiddo…” Patton cooed, reaching towards the princely side, who immediately flinched away from him.
At the flash of hurt in Patton’s expression, Roman mumbled, “Pat, I’m fine”
“Falsehood,” Logan stated simply.
Roman only sighed in response.
“I apologize for the way I reacted. I did not take into account that you lost your brother as well,” Logan conceded, hoping that would draw some sort of verbal response.
“I’m sorry too. I… I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that,” Roman sighed, curling in on himself. “Fuck, why am I such a mess?”
Patton moved over to Roman’s side and pulled him into a hug. Surprising everyone, including himself, Logan joined the hug as well. Eventually, one of them broke down (they couldn’t remember who) and soon enough all of them were crying. Patton was the first to pull away from the hug, after their sobbing had reduced to sniffles.
“I think the three of us need to have a movie night,” Patton sighed, flashing a strained smile.
“Patton, it’s 10:00 in the morning,” Logan remarked, wiping at his eyes and pulling himself out of the hug as well.
“Well, I don’t exactly feel like my Princely self right now, so I wouldn’t mind an impromptu movie morning,” Roman said, stretching.
Patton’s smile shifted into something slightly more genuine as he made his way over the couch and turned on the television, turning around and patting the empty space next to him. Roman plopped down next to Patton and, deciding he had nothing better to do, Logan joined soon after.
They watched movies till the evening, keenly aware that they were missing three other people.
-⍟-
It had been four years, and they were still no closer to saving the ones they loved. Thomas had created a name for himself on the internet by that point, even including the sides in his new series.
Logan hated it.
As each new dark side was introduced, each of them earned a room in the light side. And that meant each of them having to watch the loves of their lives look on in disgust. Logan much preferred it when they each stayed in their separate sections of the mindscape. At least that didn’t hurt as much as this did.
Logan had come down from his room (after Roman had broken down that morning, Logan resolved to start researching again, this time for a cure) to see Remus milling about the kitchen, spattering blood onto the walls. He would have gladly avoided lingering in the kitchen and went straight to the living room had Remus not looked up and sneered.
“Looks like the nerdy wolverine finally emerged from his cave! Was being a social recluse too much of a pain in the butthole, or did you just decide that everyone needed to be bored by your existence?” Remus asked, summoning his mace and twirling it idly.
Logan simply sighed and went to the living room, sitting down onto the couch and turning on the tv.
Don’t listen to him, he doesn’t really mean it. Don’t think about how you used to hold him. Don’t don’t don’t.
“Oh look at that! I hit a nerve. You should see your face right now, it looks like you ate some bad deodorant,” Remus continued, and Logan pretended not to hear it as he scrolled through the endless array of movies and shows.
The hand holding the remote shook slightly, but he wouldn’t let Remus’ comments get to him. He fidgeted with his engagement ring. He had dealt with the crushing loneliness before. This was simply another set of obstacles he needed to take care of. They would find a way to break the curse and-
“Actually, you always look like you ate bad deodorant. I guess that comes with being the side with the biggest stick shoved up their-”
“Enough, Remus!” Logan shouted.
Remus only cackled in response. And Logan felt tears prick at the back of his eyes.
“I’m an illogical fool. I- I can’t break this stupid-” he spluttered.
He stood up, yanked his engagement ring off, and threw it on the ground before running back to his room.
You really thought you could break this curse?
Pathetic.
You only managed to come by that incantation by chance.
He slammed his door shut and his whole body shook with the force of his sobs. There was a pounding in his head, and he wanted it to stop, stop, stop-
“Logan! Logan please open the door!”
What was Remus doing here?
Logan was not ready to get insulted even more, especially not in the familiar safety of his own room.
“Raven, please, can I come in?” Remus pleaded.
Raven. Logan hadn’t been called Raven in four years.
He ran to his door and yanked it open to reveal a crying Remus. He held something small and metallic in his hand. His ring.
“Raven… I’m so sorry! Fuck- I didn’t- I’m sorry!,” Remus wailed, curling in on himself.
Instinctually, as if it had only been days and not years since he’d done it, Logan wrapped his arms around Remus’s waist and hugged tightly, sobbing.
“Please… please tell me this is real. I- I don’t want to be dreaming. Do you really remember?” Logan asked, begging that he wouldn’t wake up before he got a response.
“I remember. This is real. Logan, I’m so sorry,” Remus sobbed, clinging tighter.
Logan only pulled back from the hug to kiss him, each of their tears tasting salty on his tongue. But it didn’t matter because Remus was here, he was here.
-⍟-
Remus joined their breakfast setup from then on. He and Roman made up, with a lot of crying and apologizing. And things were better.
At least, better than him hating Logan.
Once Virgil and Janus found out that he didn’t exactly hate the light sides as much as they did, they weren’t too keen on letting him stick around. And things typically didn’t faze Remus, but this stung. He had gone to his room and smashed his mace into every single piece of furniture he had before breaking down in tears, which was where Logan found him.
After a few days of moping in his trashed room and sleeping on the floor, Logan had decided that if they were engaged, they might as well get a room together. And Remus made an obligatory dirty joke (he’s gotta stay on brand) and grinned when Logan rolled his eyes fondly and started sleeping in Logan’s room with him.
Or technically, sleeping with Logan in their room.
But that didn’t diminish any of his shitty feelings. Logan told him that Remus remembering was an ‘anomaly with multiple variables that could have influenced the result, and could not be narrowed down to a singular source. Performing an experiment in this scenario is impossible and would raise ethical questions, as it would involve administering the curse on the test subjects’.
In other words, none of the others had a fucking clue because it was a lucky accident.
Remus did what he did best when having an ongoing mental breakdown; he created. He rose up in the commons and summoned a stack of paper, various art supplies, and his cellphone. He blasted something Patton would definitely tell him off for if he came into the kitchen and began scribbling things onto the various sheets of paper. His drawings were gory and bloody, just the way he liked them.
“Oh hey Remus! What- oh…” he heard Patton say behind him.
He turned around to give a noncommittal wave to the moral side, the look of fear he had not unexpected. What he didn’t understand was why Patton stayed frozen in his spot instead of heading to the kitchen and baking something to repress whatever garish thing Remus had been making. He didn’t think much of it, heading back to his illustrations, when a smooth voice above him crooned.
“Enjoying yourself, Remus?”
Oh.
“Double D! Didn’t realize you would slither your way up here. Did you finally miss our nightly sexcapades?” Remus teased, with more bite than before.
Janus didn’t pay him much mind, simply scoffing a little before glancing up at Patton with a glare. Somehow, the other side stiffened even further.
Remus didn’t know how to diffuse the situation. That wasn’t really his specialty. But he did get up, summoning his mace behind his back. The tension coated the room like thick sludge.
“What are you doing here Janus?” Patton whispered. His hands were shaking.
“I came to see what compelled Remus to suddenly betray us. I’m still trying to find the reason, apparently,” Janus replied, eyes never leaving Patton.
Remus adjusted his grip on his mace before growling, “Maybe I realized we have better things to do than hate the light sides for no real reason.”
“Remus. I didn’t realize you grew a conscience all of a sudden,” Janus hissed.
“At least I have one, asshole,” Remus spat, pulling his mace out from behind him and holding out. A warning.
Janus glanced down at the mace and then back up at Patton, and Remus swore he looked angrier.
Maybe Patton noticed it too, because he locked eyes with Remus, his eyes almost pleading. But unfortunately for him, Remus had no idea what he was asking of him.
“While I’m thoroughly enjoying the conversation, Remus, I’m afraid I would like to speak to Patton alone,” Janus crooned. Remus wanted to grab him by the neck and shake him until the smugness left his voice.
“Like hell I-”
“Actually Remus, “ Patton interrupted, “I think I have something to say to Janus as well.”
The realization rammed into him like a train.
“Sure thing daddy! If he gives you any trouble just call me, yeah?” Remus’ voice grew soft towards the end of the sentence.
He sunk out, but not before walking around the couch to give Patton’s shoulder a small squeeze.
He hoped whatever Patton had planned to jog Janus’ memory was good, for Patton’s sake and his.
-⍟-
Patton felt his stomach twist as Remus sunk out and left him alone with Janus.
He loved this man once. He still loves him.
And he didn’t know what he would do if Janus didn’t remember after this.
“Janus I… I don’t exactly know how to say this I-” Patton fumbled, twisting the sleeves of his cardigan.
“Just admit what you did to Remus and we can move on,” Janus spat, some of his composure slipping.
Ice crawled up Patton’s spine. “What?”
“Strange. You’re not lying. Then who was it then? Logan? Roman?” Janus asked.
He stalked closer to Patton and the moral side’s heart squeezed.
“Janus, please we can figure this out, it's not what you think!” Patton cried.
“Then what am I supposed to think, hm?” Patton couldn’t bear looking his boyfriend in the eye at this point.
The little box in his pocket dug into his skin. He dug it out of his pocket and stared at it, not caring that the person who was going to give it to him was standing right there.
He was going to propose to me, Patton’s thoughts wailed, and he clutched it tighter.
“You… you don’t even remember this!” he sobbed, frantically waving the box in Janus’ direction. “You don’t… remember any of times you told me you loved me or- or when you wiped away my tears you-”
Letting out a guttural yell, he tossed the ring box to the ground, shrinking in on himself. He cried buckets when Janus first lost his memory but this was somehow worse. At least then, he could live with knowing that he was doing the best he could. Now, that fact just made him feel like he failed his boyfriend.
“Patton,” Janus whispered, and Patton swore he could hear Janus’ voice shake. “Patton, my love, can you look at me?”
Patton gasped a little before daring to glance in Janus’ direction once more, and felt his heart drop when he saw that Janus was holding an open ring box and was staring at Patton with tears streaming down his cheeks.
“Janus?” Patton asked, his voice shaking as he dared to hope.
At that, Janus enveloped Patton in a hug, shaking with tears.
“My dove, I’m sorry.” The lying side clung tighter to Patton’s arms
Patton started sobbing once more, holding Janus and whispering that it was ok.
And it would be.
He had the love of his life back.
-⍟-
Roman was happy for the other sides. He really was. Even having Remus back was a relief.
But despite it all, he missed Virgil more than anything. Seeing the other two sides with their partners and still not having his back stung most of all. Virgil was his husband, the light of his life. They promised to be there for each other no matter what.
Roman couldn’t help but feel like he hadn’t been there for Virgil enough. 
The other sides weren’t oblivious to Roman’s unhappiness. Remus invited him to the imagination to fight monsters more often, to try and draw his mind away from things. Patton always baked his favorite cookies to cheer him up. Logan was always up for a debate over poetry or literature. He appreciated the sentiment. But it was never enough.
He spent a lot of time in the living room, watching movies that he never really enjoyed but he thought Virgil would. He always ended up crying by the end of them, even if the movie wasn’t particularly emotional.
Patton even suggested he go see Picani, just to get through the situation a bit better. He didn’t have the heart to tell Patton that he was seeing Picani regularly.
It didn’t take long for all of the sides to address his behavior.
“Roman, no part of this situation will be solved if you react to it this way.” Logan’s voice was gentle, probably because he was afraid Roman would snap at him like he did all those years ago.
“I know it’s just- if I had some sort of clue to how you guys remembered then maybe I could save my husband,” Roman murmured.
The other four only exchanged sad glances at one another.
“Well, we aren’t entirely sure, kiddo. I only decided to save Janus on a whim and Logan wasn’t even expecting Remus to remember…” Patton sighed, leaning onto his fiance’s (Janus had proposed immediately after he came to) shoulder.
“In which case… I’ll go down to the dark side tomorrow.” The other sides went pale.
“Roman don’t you think that's a bit hasty? After all, we don’t know how Virgil might react to you being the first face that he sees after I left,” Janus warned.
The thought didn’t scare him as much as he should. Frankly, his main concern was that Virgil was alone in the dark side. He knew Virgil didn’t really do well alone and someone had to be there for him, even if that someone was his husband who he didn’t remember because of a curse.
“I have to try something. I’ve been waiting for four years for something, anything that could save him. And… and if after all this time, you guys could do it, then I have a chance. Fuck, I’m willing to try anything at this point,” Roman groaned, running a hand through his hair.
It was pitifully silent in the common room.
“Then I wish you luck,” Logan said, and he glanced over at Roman with a small smile.
All of the others nodded their agreement.
Roman was thankful for their encouragement. Now the hard part was bringing Virgil back.
-⍟-
Tomorrow was sooner than Roman had expected. All of the confidence in his abilities had flown out the window the moment he was genuinely faced with the fact that he was going to try and jog Virgil’s memory. But he couldn’t back out now. At least, he felt like he couldn’t.
He shook the thought away. Virgil needed him. There was no time for cold feet. The door to the imagination glared back at him, taunting him to go in and cross over to the dark side of the imagination. Roman took in a deep breath and pushed open the door.
The sun shined high in the sky. The meadow near his castle was  picturesque, several deer grazing among the flowers. It was beautiful.
It was too beautiful for the situation.
As he tread across the Imagination to the dark side, he felt a twinge of wistfulness as he gazed at the castle. He and Virgil had made a room for themselves in that castle. Even though he knew he had to go to the dark side and save Virgil, his heart screamed at him to go visit the room at least one time. He glanced over at the entrance to the dark side. It was still a ways away, but Roman could get there fast enough. Roman turned toward the castle and 
The outside of the castle was pristine. Roman could never bring himself to let it waste away, even though he rarely went in it anymore. The memories of times gone by were still there and an irrational part of him thought that, if it wore away, there would be no chance to bring the love of his life back. He pulled open the grand oak doors, taking in the dusty interior. The nostalgia of coming back made his heart clench.
He walked past the rows and rows of rooms that he took hours and hours to build before pausing in front of the one door that didn’t fit along with the rest. Purple and red with a red stormcloud in the center. Roman almost cried the moment he found it. He reached a hand out and hesitated to open it before setting it on the doorknob, creaking it open, and stepped in.
The room was just like he had left it the day Virgil and the others had left for the dark side.
He was so preoccupied with how the room looked that he didn’t notice the side sitting on the bed.
“You!” Virgil hissed.
Roman’s heart dropped into his stomach.
“Virgil I-”
“No! You don’t get to… to twist me to your will like you did with Remus and Janus. I’m not going to fall for shit like that!” he spat, and Roman yelped as the door slammed behind him.
The lock clicked into place, and when Roman tried to turn it back, it stayed shut.
He was trapped.
He swirled around to face Virgil, who was glaring at Roman the same way he did when he first left Roman. He kept reminding himself that this wasn’t Virgil, this was the curse, and that the real Virgil would never hurt him so he had no real reason to be afraid.
But something dark and shadowy was emanating off of Virgil’s fingertips and Roman couldn’t help but feel dread coil around him.
“Do you know what my biggest fear is, Princey?” Virgil asked, although it sounded more like a threat.
Roman knew, but he didn’t think Virgil would appreciate him answering that.
“It’s loneliness. And guess what you did by taking the only two friends I had away from me?” Roman’s chest squeezed, because of course Remus and Janus leaving would hit a sore spot for him, Roman should have come for Virgil
“Stormcloud…” Roman whispered.
“Shut up! I don’t care what you have to say. I’m going to make things your worst nightmare… literally,” Virgil snarled, and in any other situation, Roman would have laughed at the last part.
“Stormcloud please I know you’re mad at me, you have every right to be,” Roman pleaded, watching as the shadows from Virgil’s fingertips spread across the room. It was getting dark. Roman hated the dark.
“If… if I had been there for you when you needed me, if I had just held a little bit closer that night maybe you would have been cursed.” He laughed bitterly. “That’s stupid to think, right? That I’m somehow more powerful than a curse?”
The shadows had crawled up the walls now. Roman felt his heart rate pick up even more. He really hated the dark.
“V-Virge I- I miss you so much and… fuck- this won’t even work will it? Just… darling, I miss my husband. I miss the person who I held in my arms during movie nights. I miss the Virgil who would belt emo music when he thought no one was looking, the Virgil who was so scared all the time and yet so brave, I….” Roman trailed off the moment the shadows grew so much that it plunged the room into darkness.
Oh no.
Roman’s breath caught in his chest as he swirled around to see if there was any light at all. But it was just him. And the darkness. And Virgil. Or was Virgil even still here and was it something else. He tried to tell himself that it wasn’t
He twisted his wedding ring around his finger in an effort to keep calm, but it was dark, and couldn’t see anything and he swore he heard something move behind him. Something wooshed past Roman’s ear, and he flinched hard enough that he yanked off his wedding ring on accident.
He gasped and collapsed to the ground, frantically scrabbling at the ground to get it back before whatever was in the room with him got to it first. He felt his hand brush against something that felt like skin and reeled back.
And suddenly it was bright again and Virgil was in front of him and he was saying something but Roman was blinking at how unfocused his eyes were and it took him a minute to see that Virgil was crying.
“Stormcloud?” Roman croaked, reaching out to wipe his tears away, before thinking better of it and pulling his hand away.
“Oh, Ro…” Virgil said softly, setting his hand on Roman’s cheek and wiping away at a tear that Roman barely even realized was falling out of his eye.
He was more preoccupied with the fact that Virgil had called him Ro. That was his nickname for Roman that he only ever used when they were alone, back when they were together.
“Virgil? Are you…?” Roman asked, feeling something bloom in his chest.
Virgil only nodded, let out a broken sob.
And that was enough for Roman to pull him in for a teary kiss, sobbing as Virgil kissed back.
And he knew things would be ok. Because he had the love of his life back.
They all would be ok, in time. They were a family again.
They were whole.