Misinformation Can Be Deadly

Chapter 93: When You Try Your Best But You Don't Succeed

CW: self deprecating thoughts

The outside of the room was muffled, even for those with super hearing. The walls were too thick, and the spells around the room suppressed their power. No one had any idea of what was going on outside the room, and they were all too scared to open the door to check.

Everyone was waking up the next day, or when it's been long enough. Virgil has learned that there haven't really been any "days" since the apocalypse started.

The adults were making some food for the kids, but there wasn't a lot. Most of it was in the kitchen, outside of the safe room. Roman and Remus were the only ones that could get it, but neither wanted to leave them. Especially Virgil and Janus.

Virgil didn't want anything to eat, so he turned down any offers for food. He just watched over everyone from where he sat in the corner, not wanting them to get hurt anymore. Reasonably, the room was filled to the brim with fear. It was hard to handle, but it's been getting easier.

Logan sat down next to him, making him tense up. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Virgil curled up tighter. "I'm fine."

"Now I know that's a lie."

"Then why did you ask?" Virgil looked away from him.

"Because I want you to talk to me." Logan frowned in worry when his son didn't respond. "I know this is getting to you. It's getting to everyone-"

"I know, I can feel it," Virgil mumbled. "I-I just... I don't know."

"You might be a god, but you're new at this. Don't beat yourself up for what's happening. You didn't ask for any of this."

Virgil squeezed his eyes shut. Why were they all so understanding and caring? Why didn't they just yell at him for letting this happen? He wouldn't blame them...

"Everything is going to be okay, Virgil," Logan promised.

Virgil bit his tongue so he wouldn't snap. "Everyone keeps saying that, but it's only gotten worse. It's not going to become better unless someone does something about this. She's going to come after me, I know it."

"We won't let her take you away again."

"I know." Virgil dug his nails into his arms so he wouldn't cry.

Logan sighed, putting a hand on Virgil's shoulder. "You're not going to get hurt again. None of us will allow that, especially Roman. He's strong enough to protect you."

"Especially since his curse is broken, apparently."

Logan blinked in surprise. He and Patton were told about his curse, Roman told them when he told them stories of him and Virgil. "But- I thought he couldn't break it?"

"I broke it... I don't know how. I don't know if it's permanently broken. But he used his magic yesterday. During the fight. I hope it's permanent." He can protect himself now.

"That's great news! But... you're still being down on yourself, aren't you?"

"I'm not," Virgil mumbled.

"You're sulking."

"How are you not, considering what's happening?"

"Because we have plans. Before we were attacked yesterday, Patton, the Picani's and I were talking about what we could do. We're going to need more time, and we definitely need to plan more. But... we're going to find a way to stop Alice."

Virgil didn't respond. He just sat there, staring off. After a few seconds, he sighed and leaned his head on his fathers shoulder, closing his eyes. "I have a headache," he whispered.

"Do you want to sleep?"

"I don't know... I am tired though."

"Then rest, you don't need to sleep. Just closing your eyes and relaxing can help. I'll watch over you."

"Thank you, dad."

Roman watched from where he was helping to make food. He wanted to do something with his hands, so he helped the adults. But seeing Virgil like that made his heart ache. He had a feeling he knew what Virgil was thinking...

They had made progress with Virgil's self deprecating thoughts. All of this surely brought him back to square one. Just the way he was behaving proved he was stuck in his thoughts. He was probably blaming everything on himself, and it killed Roman to see it. He really wanted to hurt Alice for all she's done.

~~~

It wasn't even time for dinner yet and they were already running out of food. Roman and Remus had gone out to get more food from the kitchen, and Virgil somehow convinced them to let him come along. Well, he has gotten a hang of his powers now, and as long as one of them is with him, he should be fine.

"Okay, we're gonna need some water too," Remus said. "We can just reuse these plastic water bottles. Ooh, ramen."

"We need food that's filling, too," Roman said. "Oh, we should get the meat from the fridge and freezer! Stuff as much as we can into the freezer in the safe room."

"There's no stove in there, it'll be hard to cook."

"Better than nothing, we don't want the meat attracting any demons to the kitchen."

Virgil kept watch as the demons grabbed whatever they could. "Let's just grab it all," he told them. "We shouldn't leave anything behind. Non perishables should be left for last, before we can find a way to get more food." Though, he didn't plan on keeping them stuck in the safe room for long.

"That means the ramen is for last," Roman told Remus, taking the noodle cups. "What even is it?"

"The best kind of food ever!" Remus said. "It's a shame that you've been deprived of human food for hundreds of years."

"It was only a little over a hundred years," Roman told him.

"Humans change really fast! The discoveries they've made! I will say, you did miss some bad stuff."

Virgil listened to their conversation as he started to walk away, looking around. There weren't any demons around, they had only seen a few imps. Roman and Remus should be fine on their own... Virgil needed to focus on stopping Alice, or at least getting away to keep them safe.

He jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Virgil, where are you going?" Roman asked.

"I-I thought I heard a noise," Virgil lied. "I was going to check on it."

Roman frowned. "You're going to try to find Alice, aren't you?"

Virgil shrugged Roman's hand off his shoulder. "I told you, I don't want to go back there."

"I know, dear, but you tend to... do stupid things to protect others."

"You don't have much room to talk," Remus called, still grabbing food with his magic.

Roman ignored him. "Virgil, we're going to come up with a plan together. You don't need to fight her on your own. I'd rather you not fight at all but if you really want to... I won't stop you. As long as we're fighting alongside you."

Virgil looked away with a frown, fighting back tears. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me."

"No one is going to get hurt because of you. If anyone gets hurt, it's because of Alice. Let us help you, love. The odds of winning will be greater if we're together." Virgil nodded, but didn't look up. Roman cupped his cheek, wiping away a tear that slipped out as he turned the god's head to look up at him. He softly kissed his forehead. "I love you, dear. I don't want to see you get hurt either."

"I love you too, Roman."

"Now come on," he turned to led Virgil back to the pantry that Remus was still emptying out, "let's get the food back to-"

The three of them froze, the food Remus was holding dropping to the ground. Virgil felt sick as a new aura filled the house. A horribly familiar one. One that made him stop breathing and made every inch of him want to run away.

"There you are, little god."