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36. Flashes

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TW: swearing, pain, angst, fear, death, blood, swords, slight gore, slight derealization,

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"You're telling me that there's a chance he won't come out of this fully himself?" If Virgil's eyes had been steel, Roman's were fire. His fear started a fire in him, almost like anger, but worse. It was more bitter, darker somehow. "You're telling me that I trusted that fucking vision when I might not even get him back?"

"Yes, that is what I'm telling you," Janus said with a sigh. His eyes held such a sad acceptance that made the fire in Roman burn even more.

"If he doesn't make it out of this I'm killing you for not telling me about this before any of this ever happened," Roman hissed. Janus froze, and slowly a look of understanding crept onto his face.

"Roman, calm down," Janus said gently. "He's going to be alright. Virgil will be strong enough."

"And what if he's not? What then?" Janus flinched slightly at how cold his voice had gotten, but he had to break through to Roman somehow before this got worse. Even if it was just clairvoyant magic, it was unpredictable, and Roman's fear was only making that worse. Janus could see the magic starting to create a haze over his mind, blinding him to reason. There was too much magic all around, and if Roman was exposed to any more of it....

"Virgil will be fine, but we won't be if we don't get out of here." He had to get Roman out of here. The magical aura from where Madrina and Virgil were located was too strong.

"I'm not leaving." Janus could tell that Roman was completely unaware of what was happening. Even as he winced in pain, the magic was making him blind to it, and Janus knew it was only a matter of time before he passed out from it, or worse.

"You have to leave," Janus stated. First gentle, he needed to get Roman out of there.

"No." He winced in pain again, but this time Janus could see it register in his head. "Why does-"

"Shit." Janus rushed forward, quickly catching Roman as he fell. The magic had triggered the clairvoyance in him, and it had taken over his mind. Janus couldn't even imagine what he was seeing, but by the quiet whimpers he started letting out, he knew it couldn't be good. It was like a child having a nightmare, except what he was seeing could be much more real.

~

The first thing Roman saw was darkness. The black was swimming around him, flowing like ink.

The next thing he saw was a glow around him, different shades of blue and purple rising up into the darkness. It took him a moment to realize that it was magic.

And once he realized it was magic, Roman also realized that he was sitting in a pool of it. He tried to get up and move out of the pool, yet when he tried to leave the magic yanked him back in. He kept trying, but the magic kept pulling him farther into the pool.

It formed chains around his wrists, holding him there in the pool of magic. There was nothing he could do. He was trapped, stuck in the darkness with a pool of magic acting as his only light.

That is, until there was a flash, and pain flooded his body for a split second. His eyes shut from the pain, and when he opened them again he found that he was not where he had been.

This time he was kneeling in the wreckage of the castle. Everything was destroyed and almost level with the ground. Rubble was everywhere.

In front of him stood Madrina. She was facing someone else, who Roman could see was Virgil. It was Virgil who she was holding a sword against the neck of. It was Virgil who wasn't looking at her, but at him. Staring straight into him with eyes full of regret.

Roman couldn't even begin to process what was happening until Madrina had already swung the sword. He tried to scream, to cry out, to do anything to stop it, but there was nothing he could do. He couldn't control his body, so all he could do was watch as Virgil's head was cut off and blood went everywhere. It hurt so much more than any physical pain he had ever felt.

Every word he wished he said, every second he wished he would've appreciated more, rang through his head. His heart felt like it had ripped in half from the grief that came crashing down upon him. Everything burned, his mind, his heart, his body. It all burned as the fire that was in him consumed him, spreading until the only thing he could feel was the pain from the loss and the hot tears running down his face.

Roman was so caught up in the grief that he didn't even notice the sword swinging towards his own head, nor the bright flash once again.

He no longer had any concept of time, only what was happening around him. With each vision he sunk further and further into grief, pictures of death and destruction painted behind his eyelids.

It could've been hours, it could've been days. He didn't know, and there wasn't a single part of him that remembered to care. The visions consumed his mind, until all that was left was an inky black abyss around him.

And then, like ice, the darkness cracked with light, sending him plunging back into reality.

935 words.