The Mark of A Cursed King

11

Welp... they were finally in single numbers. Virgil sighed as he stared at his wrist sadly. He had been training as much as Roman would allow him but that was it. He was only training. After their argument, Virgil spent as little of his time talking with him as he could. It just hurt too much. Seeing him hurt so much but he couldn't just not train. He had to if he was going to beat his trials. There was no getting around it. Virgil just wished it didn't hurt so much every time. Then again, how do you expect it to feel when you staring at a carbon copy of the one man that means the absolute most to you?

"Kiddo?" Virgil frowned as he looked over to see Patton standing there with a confused look. "Are you ok? Is there something wrong?" Virgil quickly pulled his sleeve down so Patton couldn't see as he just shook his head. Patton sat down beside him noticing right away how Virgil started crying.

"He's not waking up." Patton tensed as Virgil just laughed. "Not anytime soon."

"Virg-..."

"Patton I know." The way morality paled was shocking enough as Virgil wiped his tears away. "I know. I had Remus tell me everything."

"Virgil, I am so sorry. I know this must be so hard. I wanted to tell you. I swear..."

"Don't bother, Patton. I know you're stressed." Virgil smiled sadly as he looked up at the ceiling. "Remus told me just what you, him, and Lo have to do now. I didn't expect you to be able to tell me." Virgil closed his eyes as he faltered. "You shouldn't have been the one to have to. Remus shouldn't have had to tell me. I mean. He should've. Roman should've. Roman's cursed. He won't wake up anytime soon and he never fucking told me."

"Oh, kiddo... He just wanted to keep everyone safe." Patton took his hand in his as he smiled and brushed his thumb gently over the others. "I can promise you, he didn't do it to keep you out. It was to protect you from it."

"So I've heard." Virgil groaned as he tried to focus on his breathing. "Do you know?" Patton frowned in confusion as Virgil looked away. "Who he fell for I mean."

"Nobody does. That's something he kept very close to his chest. The only thing he ever said about it was he never planned on it... he just couldn't help it." Virgil met Patton's eyes as the older smiled sadly. "He said it was far to easy for them to become his everything. He didn't even know he had fallen so hard until the counter started going down."

"Why couldn't he at least tell someone about them then? I just don't get it!"

"Hun, I've asked that question myself. And every time all he's ever told me was that he couldn't risk him getting hurt. You know Roman is, Virgil. He's protective to a fault. He'd rather self sacrifice to risk the possibility of a loved one getting so much as a scratch. He takes every slight pain to heart as if he should be able to protect everyone from everything."

"Yeah but it's stupid." Patton shifted till he was holding both hands making Virgil sigh, head dipping slightly in guilt. "I want to hate him." Patton's eyes darkened as Virgil hiccuped. "I want to hate him so much. I'm so angry with him. I'm hurt and upset. I want to hate him, but I just can't."

"You can't control a person's choice."

"No... No, you can't." Virgil pulled his hands away as he started to close himself off. "I can't change the fact that he didn't tell me. I can't change the fact that his life is now in the hands of someone else." Patton flinched at that, considering he didn't know that someone happened to be the youngest sitting in front of him. "I can't change how I feel... a-about it I-I m-mean."

"Kiddo, no one is going to blame you for feeling betrayed."

"I don't feel betrayed, Patton." Virgil pushed himself up off the couch as he looked up, focusing on the feeling of Roman standing beside him unseen. "I don't feel betrayed." Virgil sighed as he turned around and started to leave. "I feel abandoned."

"Virgil, that was not his intention." Patton jumped up making Virgil falter at the doorway. "You have to believe that at least. Roman never wanted this. He never would have left if he had the choice." Virgil frowned, unable to look back at the father, as he felt this energy wrap around him. "Please? Please, believe that Roman never intended for that. He never would have abandoned any of us."

"It doesn't change the fact that it happened. Intentions don't mean shit if at the end of the day people still get hurt." The energy suddenly vanished as Virgil clenched his fists. Patton frowned, tears in his eyes as Virgil tensed up bad just trying not to cry again. "I don't blame him. Not really. He didn't want to tell me. Fine. Whatever... But that means something. I'm tired of hearing that shitty excuse. 'He didn't want me getting hurt'... I GOT HURT!" Virgil choked as he shook his head and tried really hard to breathe. "I still got hurt. Just as I can't control what he does... He and everyone can't control my reaction to it. I got hurt. I'm hurting... There's nothing I can do about that. So right now... right now all I do know for a fact... that timer on his wrist... That's not just counting down to some trial the mark bearer has to go through. It's counting down today I might lose him forever. Right now, I'm in a state of grief that just won't ever end. It's a vicious cycle and he's the one that made the choice to not prepare me for it."

"Virgil, please..." Virgil visibly laxed as he stared blankly out the door. "You know how he is."

"Yeah, I do..." Virgil shook his head as he finally left Patton there alone. "...and I really wish I could hate him for it."