The Borrower and the Fairy Prince

Chapter 46: Well That Was Fast

CW: slight hypothermia

Remus clasped his hands together, letting the roots wrap around Ignis. He quickly let go of control as Ignis turned the roots dark, quickly learning that it would hurt badly if he didn't do so.

Ignis unraveled the roots around him, but the distraction worked well enough for Janus to catch him off guard. He aimed to hit Ignis's head with the spear to knock him out, but Ignis raised an arm and blocked it.

Still, it made him unbalanced and took him a second to recover. A second was all Remus needed to send a root hurdling his way and hit him hard.

Ignis fell to the ground, but started to sit up, not yet knocked out. Janus flew down and kicked him in the chest, pointing the spear at his neck.

Ignis grabbed his ankle and Janus's heart leapt to his throat. He pulled out of his grasp and jumped back, now slightly shaken up. He didn't feel any pain, so he must have jumped back fast enough.

"You keep your hands off of my boyfriend!" Remus threatened, swinging another root at Ignis.

The elder raised his hand to take control of the root, and even though it shriveled it didn't fall under his control. It hit him hard, sending him flying into a tree trunk.

Remus let himself fall to the ground, shaking off the headache he got from the pain of controlling a twisted root. He kept his eyes on Ignis, but the elder finally seemed to have been knocked out.

"Remus what the hell were you thinking?!" Janus yelled at him when he realized Ignis wasn't getting up.

"That I would never let you fight him alone!" Remus responded.

"You were supposed to stay out of the fight! I told you to! Where's Patton?!"

"He went to try to save Roman and Virgil!"

Janus stepped back with wide eyes and looked over to the river. "Shit." He looked at Ignis once again. "Shit! What do we do?! We have to help them, but we can't leave Ignis here! We need help but it'll take too much time to get help!"

Remus raised his hand and roots wrapped around Ignis. He went over and picked him up, throwing him over his shoulder. "I'll take him back to the colony, you go help Patton."

"There's no way I'm letting you carry him alone, what if he wakes up? He could seriously hurt you!"

"Then come with me!"

"But what about Patton! What if he needs help saving the other two?"

Remus growled and threw Ignis on the ground. He bit his thumbnail in thought. "Fine, you make the decision. But whatever we do, we do it fast."

Janus ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "Okay, I'll stay here and watch Ignis and you go help the others. My magic is useless for that situation, but maybe you can actually do something."

Remus nodded before giving Janus a small kiss on the cheek. "Okay, stay safe."

"And hey-" Janus pulled Remus back. "-if you do something stupid I will kill you."

"I love you too!"

~~~

Roman leaned into Virgil for warmth, though it didn't help much since they were both wet and cold. Still, as Virgil tried to find a way out they sat down together as far away from the waterfall as possible to avoid the cold spray of water.

The prince thought about what looked like giant, thick gold plates and gems. Is that the treasure Thomas was talking about? Hopefully it was, if they get out of there they can tell him about it.

When. When they get out of there. He has to trust that Virgil will find a way. Virgil is smart and crafty, he always finds a way.

But Virgil was stuck. There were no ledges that lead around the waterfall, and if they tried climbing on the rocks they could slip and be back to square one. Or worse yet they could actually die that time.

He was still exhausted too, even though Roman healed his injuries. Swimming in freezing cold water was really hard, and he was still trembling from the cold. He couldn't think clearly, he was so tired...

"Roman! Virgil!" The borrower perked up, barely hearing it over the roar of the water. He looked outside and strained his ears, hearing small drops of water from behind and the waterfall in front of him.

"D-Did you think of s-something?" Roman shivered.

"Shh," Virgil told him, still staring intensely at the waterfall. He saw a figure fly in front of it, moving from side to side as if looking for something. He stood up, helping Roman up as well before shouting, "I-in here! Behind the waterfall!"

The figure seemed to turn around. They spread their arms wide and as if the waterfall was curtains, it opened up.

Patton's eyes brightened and he smiled in relief when he saw them, flying in and pulling them in a tight hug. "Oh thank the stars! You're both alive! I was so scared, I thought I was too late!"

"W-we're ok-kay," Virgil stuttered. He and Roman clung desperately to Patton, melting into his warmth.

"Oh, you're both so cold!" Patton pulled back and used his magic to dry both of them. "We need to get you home as soon as possible!"

"Wh-what about Ignis?" Roman asked, feeling much warmer now that he was dry. It could be better, but he was shivering significantly less.

"When I left Janus and Remus were fighting him."

"I-I need to help them then," Virgil insisted.

"No way, not after jumping into a frozen river like that you aren't! Your skin is like ice and your ears are turning blue!"

Virgil grabbed his ears, hating that they were numb. It had been bugging him, but he didn't want to worry the other two. He was sure it was just the tips that were blue.

"Janus is an amazing fighter, and Remus has become better thanks to your spars with him! I'm sure they can handle themselves."

"I st-still want to make sure."

Patton sighed and nodded, "Okay, let's make it quick. Roman, can you fly?"

"Thanks t-to you, yeah."

"Okay, I'll keep the water out of your way."

Roman picked up Virgil, hugging him tight as he flew. Patton did as he said and kept the cold water out of the way and quickly followed.

They followed the river upstream, staying above dry ground. Though flying in the air chilled them, moving his wings warmed Roman up quite a bit. He made sure to hug Virgil close to keep him warm as well, the borrower burying his head into Roman's neck.

Patton gasped, seeing the familiar green winged fairy heading towards them. "Remus!" he shouted, hurtling himself into the prince's arms.

"You found them!" Remus cheered. He looked at the other two and told them, "Good job on staying alive."

"It's only thanks to Virgil," Roman said. Virgil didn't even bother to look up, still shivering in Roman's arms.

"Where's Janus?" Patton asked.

"Watching Ignis, I knocked him out!"

Patton turned back to the other two. "I told you they had it under control!"

"Gr-great," Virgil stuttered, "fine, you can t-take us home."