Feathers & a Dash of Magic

Chapter 61: Planning is a Lot of Work

"Virgil?" a soft voice called. A hand nudged his shoulder and he slowly blinked his eyes open again. Roman was sitting next to him, a smile on his face, though he was sad. "Hey love, I'm sorry to wake you again. I know you need your rest but..."

He frowned. Something was wrong, what was wrong?

Roman's smile fell and was replaced with a look of worry when he felt Virgil's anxiety rise. "I-it's okay, don't worry, nothing is wrong," he reassured. "I-it's just... We found your necklace. But we also found your... your parents." He held out the jewelry.

Virgil's eyes widened and he tried to sit up, only managing to go on his side and hold himself up by his elbow. The pain made him whimper, and Roman reached out to help, but the fairy held his hand out for the jewelry.

"I-it..." he whimpered as they were placed in his hand. The magic was all the same, they really were his parents. He laid down on his side, holding the stones in front of him.

Roman felt the grief start to overwhelm the shock. Although he was happy to see Virgil able to move again, he couldn't stand the pain he was in. "I'm... I'm sorry, Vee. I just thought it would only be fair if you knew so... Elliot says they remembered your parents. I'm sure they would be happy to know that you're... That you're here now."

Virgil curled up, holding the stones closer to himself as he let out a sob. It was hard to close his hands, the nerves in his arms damaged, but he somehow managed. It hurt but he didn't care, he didn't want the stones torn from his grip. He was going to have to relearn how to move his hands again anyway.

Roman sighed and set his hand on Virgil's shoulder, rubbing his arm as he cried. "I know, dear. I'm really sorry. I wish that they were here now."

"I-I mi-miss the-them!" he cried, struggling to get the words out between sobs.

The other couldn't say anything. He didn't want to try to make Virgil feel better with empty words, and really what was he supposed to say that hasn't been said already? Roman preferred it when it was silent while he was grieving anyway.

"Do... Do you want me to lay down with you?" he asked.

Virgil looked up at him with watery eyes, trying and failing to stop his sobs. He nodded before curling up again. The bed dipped down and he felt Roman climb around him so he was behind the fairy. The wings were still wrapped in bandages, though there were already some feathers growing back. Roman laid his hand on Virgil's side, not touching his wings but still holding onto him so he wouldn't feel alone.

The fairy curled up tighter, letting himself cry hard. He needed to anyway. It hurt too much to not.

~~~

"Are we sure this will help?" Mr. Miller asked. "I doubt the king will care about a small town like ours."

"We destroyed a building, he better care," Kayda replied.

"Technically Roman destroyed a building," Logan pointed out.

"Well, writing to him is better than nothing. How is it looking so far?" Mrs. Miller asked.

"Um... yeah we're scraping this one," Mr. Miller crumpled up the piece of paper before anyone else could see. "We need an outline. What do we need to highlight and how can we convince the king to be on our side?"

"Threats?" Janus suggested.

"No," Patton shot him down.

"We need to introduce ourselves first," Logan stated, grabbing a piece of paper and writing it down. "Then we need to tell him that monster hunters need to be outlawed. Then several points why, mostly being the injustice and inhumane things that magical creatures face while in captivity. Of course we'll list examples, like what had happened to Virgil and the other creatures being torn apart."

"Straight to the point, I see," Janus commented.

"It needs to be. We need the king to be sympathetic to our cause."

"We also need to get more support," Kayda suggested. "Spread the news far and wide."

"That's already been taken care of," Mrs. Miller explained. "We did that while you were gone."

"We had a feeling that we would need allies to our cause," Patton added. "Otherwise if something had gone wrong, no one would care and no one would help."

"How did you go about doing that?" Logan asked.

"Well..." Mr. Miller sighed.

"We went to Randsted, they have that newspaper line that's pretty popular and loves gossip," Mrs. Miller said. "We told them what had happened here, and our protest against monster hunters. They ate it up." She grabbed a newspaper from somewhere and set it on the table. "Not a single lie. Also, they always chose a side, and we made sure they chose ours."

Logan took the newspaper, others looking over his shoulder as he scanned through. "Well, that takes care of one thing. What has the response been so far?"

"It's only been a few days, we don't know yet. Hopefully it'll be good. I don't think we can handle any more enemies without gaining more allies."

"Hopefully it won't take long for the king to see."

"She's certainly your mother," Patton said with a smile. "As sharp as ever!"

"No one messes with my boys. I will rain Hell on any hunter I get my hands on," she told them. "They deserve more than imprisonment, but if that's the best I get then I'll take it."

"I just wish that I could have fought a hunter," Patton complained. "Did you hurt any for me, dear?"

"Although your violent side is new and slightly concerning, I can understand where you're coming from," Logan said. "And yes, I did punch quite a few."

"I love you!"

"I love you too, Patton."

"Okay, so does anyone else have any ideas of what to put into the letter?" Mr. Miller asked.

"Not currently, but we should flesh out the outline first so we actually know what we're going to write. That way we'll end up rewriting it less."

"Oh! And to show how serious we are, we should have everyone in town sign it!" Kayda suggested.

"That's going to be a lot of paper," Mr. Miller mumbled. "But it'll be worth it."