Misinformation Can Be Deadly

Chapter 74: Oh and It Just Gets Worse

CW, blood, mental torture (including visions of gore and death)

Virgil didn't know how long he had been out. He couldn't feel his arms anymore and didn't have the energy to even lift his head. There was a constant dripping from somewhere, each drop louder than the last.

His chest was on fire. All he could remember was Alice summoned a knife and... his mind probably blocked the rest out. She must have used more than a knife, because his chest refused to move to even breathe.

He should be dead. Why wasn't he dead? He was stabbed in the chest, tortured till he blacked out, and could barely get any air. It made no sense, why was he still alive? He... Everything hurt so much, he just wanted it to end.

Something dripped down his cheek, but whether it was a tear or blood, he couldn't tell anymore. He squinted his eyes open, his vision fuzzy for a moment before focusing on the floor.

He was standing in a puddle of his white blood... but it wasn't just white anymore. It looked purple now. It was faint, but Virgil could swear it was becoming purple. And now that he was able to focus on his hair that fell in front of his eyes, it looked like it was turning white.

But it was dyed? Sure it had been a while since he dyed it, but his natural hair was brown. Why was it turning white? And it was in stripes. What was happening to him?

He frowned as he tried to remember what happened. He had no idea how he got here, but he did remember the cultists. They kidnapped them and then... They did some ritual. Something about gods and immortals. Did they turn him into an immortal? That would explain why he's not dead. The universe seemed to hate him.

"Well, you seem to be in bad shape," a voice said, turning Virgil's blood to ice. He looked up to see Alice was there again, a wicked smile on her face. He felt himself tremble as she walked over, bending down to get a good look at him. "Ooh, I see the changes have started. I wonder if you're strong enough to handle me going into your mind..."

Virgil bit back a whimper as she placed her fingers on his temple. He frowned and groaned in pain as a pressure formed in his head, like the worst migraine he's ever had. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction of him being in pain, but it was so hard to not cry out.

My my, that's impressive. Most would have passed out by now. I wonder if I can make it worse.

That made Virgil whimper in both pain and fear. He opened his eyes to find he was still in the room, but Alice wasn't there. The pressure in his head was still there and only getting worse.

"Virgil!" he heard a familiar voice call, one that took his breath away.

Tears formed in his eyes as his heart sped up. "Roman?"

His demon teleported into the room, eyes wide with fear. He relaxed when he saw Virgil, a smile crossing his face. "Vir-"

A black sword went through Roman's chest, the demon freezing before he could even take a step towards Virgil.

"No!" Virgil shouted. He tried to pull his wrists to free himself, but it only brought him nauseating pain. "No, no, Roman! Please!"

The vision went away as he continued to sob. He felt a hand on his cheek and looked up to see Patton, his stomach twisting in horror.

"It's okay, kiddo, it's going to be okay," his father told him. And then an arrow sprouted from his chest, stopping before it hit Virgil.

Virgil shut his eyes and cried some more. "Stop it, stop it please! No more!"

The visions continued despite his pleas, family and friends trying to comfort him only to be killed or mutilated. Each one was worse than the last, and soon they stopped trying to comfort him. Soon they started to yell and blame him.

They blamed him for their deaths, they blamed him for Alice, and they blamed him for the apocalypse. The demons that were running rampant across the world. Even Delores and the kids from the orphanage were there, and so were his biological parents shouting about how they didn't care for him and he was a horrible child. Virgil knew that Alice was looking through his memories to use them against him, but soon that blurred away. What was real and what was fake...

Did it matter anymore?

~~~

When Janus had woken up, he was surprised to see so many kids. But he was too tired to figure out why there were so many kids and had fallen back asleep. He didn't wake up again until he felt someone pick him up, and he opened his eyes to see Remy.

"Dad?" he asked, reaching up to rub his eyes.

"I'm just taking you to your room, don't worry," Remy told him. "You were sleeping like a rock earlier, I guess magic takes a lot out of you."

"Mhmm. Where's Remus?"

"Right here, my precious snake," Remus said, tapping Janus's head from next to them. Janus tried to turn to him, but found it difficult in Remy's arms.

"I'm surprised you're-" Janus was cut off as he yawned, "you're not carrying me."

"Oh, uh well, I'll explain once you're in bed." The demon opened the door to Janus's room.

Janus frowned. "What happened?"

"Well, while you were asleep, we went to the orphanage to bring them here to safety," Remy explained, crossing the room to Janus's bed.

Once he was set down, Remus continued. "Um, a hellhound had appeared," he said. "Roman distracted it as I got all the kids and Delores to safety but uh... Kayden was hiding and-"

"Where is Kayden!" Janus asked, sitting up in bed.

"He's okay! He's here now, he didn't get hurt. Roman and I made sure of that. But I uh, I did get hurt." Remus raised his arm to show the bandages, his hand slightly shaking from the injury.

"Remus!" Janus shouted, reaching out for him and carefully taking Remus's hand. "This looks really bad! Can't you heal it?"

"No, I was bitten by a hellhound as I said. Their teeth are like divine weapons, so I can't heal it."

"How are you going to fight like this? You're better with your left hand! Oh and it looks bad, doesn't it hurt?"

"It's fine! It doesn't hurt too bad. And I can use my right hand! I just like my left hand better."

"Most weapons you use are double handed, what if you need both hands for a fight? What about Virgil? You can't go fight Alice like this!"

Remus's face fell. "Well... we don't know what we're going to do. Hopefully this heals fast, but for now... Virgil is going to have to wait for us. I think Roman knows that too, he's been gathering supplies for us and leaving the moment he drops it off. He hasn't spoken since we got back."

"Shit... This is going to be bad."

"Look, we'll plan tomorrow," Remy said. "Or... later? It's been hours and the sky hasn't changed colors, but the clocks say it's almost midnight."

"Time has stopped," Remus explained. "The clocks will still run 'cause they're programmed to do that, but seasons won't change. There is no day or night."

"Well that's not foreboding at all. Anyway, we'll plan more later. Just get some rest, both of you. The gods and devils alike know we need it."