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35. Letting Go

It's getting so close to the end and once again it's going to be bittersweet.

TW: swearing, angst,

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"Virgil?" Roman looked at him in confusion. "What's going on? Why are you here?"

"It's alright, Ro," Virgil murmured. "Calm down. You're safe here. Madrina activated your clairvoyance is all."

"Then why am I seeing you?" Virgil laughed, the sound light and beautiful.

"Because I'm in your future dumbass," Virgil said teasingly.

"So... so you're real," Roman said.

"Yes, I'm real."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Virgil said. "Usually the future isn't set in stone enough for someone with clairvoyance to interact with it."

"That means this really will happen," Roman mumbled to himself. "Wait, how many years has it been?"

"It's been five years. She's gone."

"Thank god-" Roman cut himself off, noticing something on Virgil's finger. "Is that a ring?"

"Yes," Virgil said with a laugh. "Of course you'd notice the ring first."

"Well yeah, I'm not blind," Roman muttered. His stomach felt weird at the thought of Virgil marrying someone else. "Who'd you marry?"

"Can't tell you that, it'd spoil the surprise." Virgil's smile was playful, and Roman whined.

"Oh come on," Roman huffed. "I just want to know."

"Too bad, Ro," Virgil said. "But I should really tell you what I need to tell you before you go back to the past. You can win, but only if past me let's go. Tell him those exact words. He needs to let go if he wants any chance winning against her."

"I hope you know what you're talking about."

"I lived it, didn't I?" Roman felt himself start to slip out of the vision. "Oh, and one more thing. Wait for me, Ro. I'll come around eventually. Just give me a little more time."

"For you, anything."

~

Roman woke up with a loud gasp, being brought back to reality. Janus was leaning over him, frantically checking to make sure he was alive and alright.

"I'm alright, Janus," Roman said. Janus looked relieved.

"Thank god you're alright."

"Where's Virgil?"

"Fighting her." Roman looked, and sure enough, Virgil was sword fighting with Madrina, magical sword blazing.

"Virgil!" Roman yelled. It caught the attention of both Virgil and Madrina, causing them to break apart as they stared at him in shock. Madrina especially looked surprised. "Let go!"

"What?! You don't know what you're saying!" The surprised would only last so long before Madrina would attack again, and Roman knew he needed to convince Virgil, and fast.

"Just trust me!"

"For you, anything," Virgil said, turning back towards Madrina. Roman could tell the moment when Virgil's gaze turned into steel: sharp, cutting, and cold. The magical tension in the air was like a live wire. The earth itself seemed to hold its breath as the two faced each other.

Janus snapped out of the shock first, grabbing Roman and pulling him to his feet. He started quickly pulling Roman along as he ran. Roman let himself be dragged along. He could see the fear in Janus' eyes. The last thing Roman could see before they turned the corner and were out of sight was the magical aura coming off of the two and filling the space around them. It was amazing, yet terrifying.

"Why'd we run?" Roman asked, trying to catch his breath.

"We don't want to be there for what's about to happen," Janus stated. "Do you even realize what you told him to do?"

"Not in the slightest."

"You basically just told him to become a living, magical bomb."

"What?!"

"What did you expect?" Janus raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't know, but it wasn't that! I don't even know what that means!"

"When you have magic like Virgil's, you have to put up walls inside your mind," Janus explained. "The walls stop too much magic from flooding your body at once, and protect you from eating overcharged. There's a difference between letting down your walls and drawing in too much power. Madrina drew in too much power, and her form burned away, leaving her as just magic."

"And what happens if you let your walls down?" Roman asked quietly. His heart was pounding from newfound fear. He almost didn't want to know.

"If you let your walls down, you're letting the magic choose for you. It can give you however much or little magic it wants to give you. Magic has a mind of its own. You have your personal magic that you control, and then there's the outside magic that controls you. At best, Virgil will be able to channel the magic properly and will hopefully be strong enough to fight Madrina."

"What about at worst?"

"At worst, he'll become a magical puppet, doing only what the magic desires, and his soul will be trapped until he can either overcome the magic or until something kills him."

810 words.