Feathers & a Dash of Magic

Chapter 10: The Web of Lies Grow

TW: blood, gore sorta? (Pulling out stitches, in a safe way though)

Virgil unwrapped the bandage around his leg. His fingers and wing had healed easily, and his leg didn't hurt as much as it used to. The deep cut had healed, and there seemed to only be a scab left around the stitches.

"Oh, he actually stitched it up," Logan said in slight shock. "I wonder where he learned to do such a thing."

"I could have told you that, these have been itching like hell," Virgil complained.

"Language," Patton scolded. "How do we get them out?"

"That's actually quite simple." Logan explained, "We cut the suture near the knot and pull it out, there don't seem to be that many. So this'll be fast and easy."

"Will it hurt?" Virgil asked as Logan went to the kitchen to grab scissors and tweezers.

"If the sutures were put in correctly, and if I pull them out correctly, then no. You will feel the tug however, just don't freak out."

"Oh, how fun." Virgil's shoulders slumped.

Patton took his hand. "It's nothing to worry about, Logan's got this!"

"Logan doesn't have the medical training for this. How do we even know Roman put them in correctly?! What if he went too far?"

Logan sat in front of the couch, grabbing Virgil's leg to steady it and making the fairy flinch. "Apologies, I didn't mean to startle you. I'm going to pull out the first one now, tell me if it hurts."

"Okay." Virgil squeezed Patton's hand as he watched Logan grab the knot with the tweezers and cut it with the tip of the scissors. He pulled it out, and strangely enough it didn't hurt badly. It stung a small bit, but not badly, and the tugging mostly felt weird.

Logan grabbed a clean hand towel and pressed down lightly on where the stitches were, stopping the small drops of blood from coming out. "Was that okay?"

"Yeah, that was fine. You were right."

"I'm rarely ever wrong. Now I'll just get the rest out."

"Looks like the burns have healed all the way at least," Patton sighed, staring at the weird burn scars. "I never knew I could hate a metal so much."

"I definitely did," Virgil laughed. "My birth parents didn't get the chance to teach me much, but they always kept me away from iron. They warned me every chance they got about the dangers of this world. Well, I guess they were wrong about all humans being dangerous."

"While we will always support you and be your ally, many humans might not feel the same. It's natural to be fearful when you don't know who you can trust," Logan told him. "So it was only natural for your parents to warn you of us. In fact many parents, including my own, warn their children of strangers."

"Stranger danger! That's what mom and dad always said," Patton laughed.

"I remember, though it's not like they needed to tell me," Virgil said.

"Well you did kinda get picked up by them one night and lived with us so..."

"I didn't trust you, at the time I thought I would stay with you guys until my birth parents could find me. And when they didn't appear, well, you remember. Plus I got sick, and at that point I accepted that my life was in your parents hands."

"That's a dangerous mindset, however it seemed you picked the right people to place your trust in," Logan commented. "And I'm done."

Virgil blinked, looking over at his leg. The small holes were already closing up thanks to his magic, and all that was left was the cuts the bear trap had left. "That was fast."

"When you work outside, you should wrap up the cuts until they're healed so they won't get affected." The alchemist wrapped the used sutures in the used bandages to throw out later. "Keep them clean, and you'll have no problem."

"I'm just glad they seemed to be healing okay, it's been over a week! Cuts made by iron seem to take the same time to heal as it would take a human."

"Do you think the iron poisoning has healed completely?"

"Yeah, at least I'm no longer dizzy when I stand." Virgil sighed, looking out of the window to the forest. "I'm going to have to thank Roman somehow."

"We can give him some food, a vegetable basket!" Patton suggested. "You know, like a fruit basket but with vegetables."

"We get it."

"Technically tomatoes are fruit, not vegetables," Logan added.

"Do you guys know where his house is?" Patton asked.

"No, I've never been. He only comes into town once a month to sell my family herbs or buy necessities."

"I mean, I walked home from there so..." Virgil trailed off. Honestly, he was nervous about the thought of returning to the forest. He still hasn't told Patton about the hunters, and he really wasn't planning on it. If he told him, then Patton would be scared or overprotective of him for who knows how long. He would never allow him to step foot into the forest again, and even though the fairy was afraid he wanted to return.

"Do you think my wheelchair could get there?" Patton asked.

"It was off trail, so no I don't really think so, not unless a clear path was made for you."

"Dang, that's disappointing, I wouldn't be able to go with you."

"Well the lighting was different anyway so I don't know if I would even remember the way," Virgil added, really not wanting to go back into the forest until he felt ready. But he didn't want to tell Logan or Patton that either.

"I could inform Roman the next time he comes to town that you have something for him," Logan offered.

"Yeah but that won't be for a few weeks," Patton pouted. He sighed, "But I guess that's the best we can do."

Virgil groaned internally. "I mean, maybe if I can find Darrell he can help me get back to Roman's house. Just... Do you think you could come with me, Logan?"

Logan frowned slightly in worry. "Of course."

"Then I'll go pick out the best veggies for him!" Patton shouted, turning his wheelchair around to leave. "I'll be right back!"

"Wait, are we going tonight?" Virgil asked.

"Unless you're not up to it." Patton stopped, twisting to face them. "We can do it later."

Virgil rubbed his arm, did he really want to go into the forest today? It would be safest to go with Logan, and he was already here. "No, we can do it today, only if Logan is okay with it."

"I am," Logan agreed, placing a hand on Virgil's arm. Patton frowned, noticing how anxious Virgil seemed.

Virgil winced when he felt the spike of foggy electricity fill the air, fear. Well, not really, it was weaker so it was most likely concern.

"What's wrong, Virge?" Patton asked, turning his wheelchair around.

"Nothing, I'm fine," he told them.

"Then why do you seem anxious?"

"Did something happen the last time you were in the woods?" Logan asked. "Or did Roman do something?"

"No, it's just," Virgil sighed, trying to figure out a lie. "I mean there seemed like there's more hunter traps around and I don't want to run into another one because I wasn't careful enough."

"You're a very careful person, Virgil, I don't think you would allow yourself to be caught twice. Besides, even if you are, I'm going to be there to help in case something happens."

"Okay, yeah you're right." Now they just had to avoid the hunters. Maybe Roman did something that would make them never want to return anyway, he did remember the hunters screaming in fear. "Then we should do it before it gets dark."