CW: interrogation, torture, blood, burning, anxiety attack, it gets pretty bad so be prepared
Virgil jumped at the feeling of a hand touching his shoulder, pressing himself further into the wall. It took him a moment to realize where he was, but he saw Cynthia the siren sitting in front of him with a sad look in her eyes.
She pressed a finger to her lips and quietly shushed him, sharp teeth being shown for a moment before she moved further away, looking outside of the cell.
The fairy looked around to see Elliot petting Griffin, who was leaning his head against their chest and curling up. Cynthia rubbed over a bald spot on her arms where feathers should be, both her and the witch tense.
Then Virgil realized there were footsteps coming their way. He curled up more and folded his wings around himself, holding his hands together to keep himself from picking at his feathers.
Four monster hunters walked into view, one of them being the guy with the scar on his eyebrow. Morgan was his name, right? Didn't matter, what mattered the most right now was that he was in danger.
One of the hunters pulled out a key and unlocked the door. Virgil tried to focus on his anger to push away the fear, glaring at them, but the other two unknown monster hunters walked towards him and grabbed his arms, picking him up off of the floor.
Elliot looked away in shame, squeezing their hands into fists. Griffin cooed sadly and pressed further into the witch's chest.
"Check the siren's feathers, see if they've finally grown back," Morgan commanded.
One of the monster hunters let go of Virgil's arm, who was trying to keep control of his breathing. They walked over to Cynthia, who braced herself for pain when they grabbed her arm roughly. Virgil frowned sympathetically, seeing her tremble hard as she sat still obediently. How badly have they hurt them?
"They're still small, they'll probably be ready for picking in a few days," the hunter reported. The way he worded it made Virgil's stomach turn, as if she wasn't even a living being and just some feather growing product!
"Fine, leave it then. Just grab the fairy and follow me."
Virgil tried to stifle a gasp as his arm was grabbed again, the hunter's grip being hard enough to leave a bruise. They pulled him out of the cell, his legs shaking so hard it made it difficult to walk. He already had a feeling what they were going to do, but he prayed he was wrong. Stars please let him be wrong!
The cell door was shut and locked again as they led him down the hallway. He was brought to the end of the hall where the cell bars were changed to iron doors. He felt magic coming from each one, but no sound came from inside any.
They stopped at the end of the hall, and Morgan pulled out a single key. He unlocked the iron door and pushed it open, walking in as the other hunters followed. Virgil's eyes widened when he saw the inside of the room.
There was a wooden chair in the middle of the room with leather straps to hold whoever sits there down, iron shackles on the wall with various other weapons, and a rack along the wall full of all kinds of tools including surgical tools. Chains with hooks hung from the ceiling and there was a distinct smell of blood in the air. He knew this was coming, he should have been prepared, but how do you prepare for the absolute horror this was.
Once the door was closed and locked, they took the steel cuffs off. Though the collar around his neck still had those black crystals that Virgil had realized drained his magic away. It was slow, and his magic was replenished at the same rate it was drained, but it kept him from safely using his magic.
The monster hunters were taking him over to the wooden chair when Morgan said, "Stop, don't strap him down yet. Just hold him still."
Virgil watched with anxiety as Morgan walked over to the wall. The hunter grabbed iron shackles, and Virgil's heart stopped. He tried to step back but the hunters held him in place, squeezing his arms hard. He tried and failed to pull out of their grips, fear crawling up his throat.
"D-don't!" he pleaded, his eyes squeezed shut as he braced himself for the agony of iron.
A hand grabbed his hair and pulled his head forward. "Stay still or this will hurt more. We have questions, and if you answer correctly and without resistance, then no iron has to touch your pretty skin."
"Just le-let me go! Please, pl-please don't...!" What did they want from him? Why did they have to do this? How could they do this?
"Hold him still," Morgan commanded. He grabbed Virgil's right arm and clamped one of the iron cuffs on his wrist. The iron burned into his skin, making Virgil scream in pain as he tried to pull his hand back. Morgan readjusted his grip to make it tighter and pulled him till they were facing each other. "Answer my questions and it'll come off. Do you know of any witches or gorgons?"
It took awhile for Virgil to register the question, but once he did he immediately knew the hunter was asking about Remus and Janus. "No! I-I don't! Please!" He shook his head desperately as he pleaded, trying to pull his arm away from the iron. He couldn't tell them about those two, there's no way he would give them up. Roman wouldn't forgive him, he wouldn't forgive himself.
"Hm... you know I really don't believe you." Morgan let go of his hair and clamped the second shackle around Virgil's other wrist, making him scream again.
The hunters seemed to know what to do, moving Virgil's arms up and hooking the chain on one of the iron hooks. The fairy tried to fight against it, the blinding pain was unbearable.
"Please! L-let me g-go!" he pleaded, tugging and pulling at the chains on his arm. "I-It hurts!"
"Who are the witch and gorgon? How many others help them?"
"I don't know!"
Morgan sighed with a small shake of his head. "I still don't believe you, I can tell between lie and truth. Especially since I have some magic running through my system right now. I'm sure you've heard what we do to any magic, to cores. We crush it up, and make potions to give ourselves the magic. Or poisons... Either way it would be useless for you to lie to us."
"Let me-me go!" Virgil sobbed, tears cascading down his cheeks.
"Don't worry, we will, as soon as you give us our answers. Oh... and as soon as we have all of your pretty feathers." Virgil shuddered a sob as a hand trailed down his wings, trying to press them closer to his body. "These little things are going to make us a lot of money." The hand closed around some feathers, making the fairy's breath hitch.
YOU ARE READING
Feathers & a Dash of Magic
Fanfiction*Completed* Everything was normal, Virgil's learned to be normal. It was hard at first, living with a human family on a farm and all, but he got used to it. Even after his adoptive parents passed away, he's learned to live with just Patton, his adop...
