Sides Quest

Chapter 2 - Virgil

Virgil groaned and rolled onto his back. Why was it impossible to sleep? While he stared up at the ceiling painted with swirling purples, greys, and blacks, his mind started uncontrollably going through possible answers.

King Roman could attack the kingdom at any moment.

He would trip and fall on his face at the annual meeting in front of everyone.

The other rulers would vote him out of his own kingdom.

They will make fun of his anxiety, Patton will stop being nice to him, Logan will become suddenly over the top bubbly about everything, and Roman would continue to insult him.

Nothing, absolutely nothing would go well during this meeting. Actually, it would get worse.

Virgil gave a little cry and tears started rolling down his cheeks. He wrapped his arms around his face. These thoughts happened daily, or nightly, and never went away.

It slightly comforted him that some people had tried to help. Patton and Logan had suggested seeing their counselor, Dr. Picani, but Virgil hated interacting, especially when it involved talking about himself.

Virgils advisor, Jane, had tried to comfort him herself. That worked, but only for the time when she was there with him.

He considered calling for Jane, but his throat was too scratchy from all his crying and sleepless nights.

Rolling out of bed, Virgil shuffled over to his mirror. He looked a mess; his magenta hair sprung out in different directions, he was pale and had huge bags under his puffy, red eyes.

Virgil grabbed some eyeshadow off his dresser and started applying it to hide the droop.

Glancing at a clock, he saw that it was four in the morning. Great, he thought, I can get out of here without running into anyone.

The meeting wouldn't start for quite awhile, but Virgil just wanted his nervous feeling to go away.

Every time he stepped out of his kingdom's boundaries, an overwhelming sense of relief washed over him. But it only lasted for a few moments.

However, when it came back, it wasn't as strong. Virgil would never admit it to anyone, but he really enjoyed being away from the kingdom.

The only thing that brought him back was the anxiety about leaving his kingdom with no ruler. Especially when two other kingdoms were already at war.

Virgil was just about ready to leave after he finished changing into a dark hoodie and old, ripped jeans when a servant walked into his room.

Virgil glared at him. He had actually been thinking his escape plan would work. How could he be so stupid and forget that a lot of other people in his kingdom didn't sleep very often either?

"What do you want?" He said viciously.

The servant looked around nervously. "I just wanted to inform you , Your Anxiousness, that the annual meeting is held today on this, um, gloomy morning."

Virgil barely kept himself from screaming at this useless information. "I knew that already. Why don't you do something useful and get out?"

"Yes Your Highness, right away Your Highness." And the servant quickly fled the room and closed the door.

Rubbing his temples, Virgil sighed. Sometimes he wished he could always be left alone to his own business.

After pulling some shoes on, Virgil poked his head out the door and looked down the hallway.

He could hear the footsteps of his servant echoing down the corridor, but he could see no one else.

Closing the door softly behind him, Virgil slowly headed towards the back door, careful not to make any noise.

Suddenly, two people turned a corner and started walking in Virgils direction. He quickly jumped behind a pillar and held his breath as they passed him. The lengths I go to so I don't have to socially interact...

After a long while of hiding, walking on tiptoes, and held breaths, Virgil finally made it to the back door.

He slipped through, leaned back against the door and gave a sigh of relief. Now all he had to do was get through town.

The sky was a dark blue, and some grey clouds floated above. Though it was dark, some street lamps casted a dim light.

All the houses were built in straight lines about half a mile away from the castle, and about a third of them had some glows coming from their windows.

Virgil decided not to go around the town, because that would take longer and he could be late for the meeting.

Throwing his hood over his head, Virgil started walking through the groups of houses, careful to stay in the shadows.

As he walked, his mind drifted. If he moved the kingdom elsewhere, would the anxious aura go away? But if it did, would he really want to go through all that work?

These thoughts filled his head as he approached the border. Thank the stars no one had bothered him on his way there.

Virgil hesitated before crossing over. Every time he left, it was always hard to come back, and he feared he might not- ever.

Discarding this thought, he took a deep breath and stepped through the magical border.

Calmness, relif, and pure bliss spread throughout his body. He could stay here forever and ever. Forget all of life's problems and finally, finally get some rest.

But he couldn't. Life always got the best of him. Before Virgil could lay down and sleep, a sense of dread started creeping back into him, to the point of being overwhelming.

He couldn't just lay down in the open. Someone or something would attack him. Cursing, Virgil shook his head. He could sleep when he got to the cottage.

Still relived by the downgrade of nervousness, Virgil continued onward. Pretty soon, he got to the cottage and was opening the door when he heard a voice.

"Virgil! I didn't expect to see you here this early."

Turning around, Virgil saw Logan glancing up at the sky.

Virgil sighed with relief. It was only Logan. There wasn't any reason to get all worked up. He was very glad it wasn't Roman.

"Well, yeah, I couldn't really fall asleep last night. Not because of the regularly scheduled existential crisis or whatever, but I was thinking about this meeting thing and it made me a little nerv-"

Virgil stopped. What was he saying? Without his hightened anxiety he had started talking about his feelings to Logan. Logan seemed to have no feelings whatsoever. So in a way, out of the three people he could've said that to, Logan wasn't the worst.

"You know what, it doesn't matter. I'm here, " Virgil said and lifted his arms up, realized how awkward he must look, and put them back down. He cringed inwardly.

Luckily, Logan just dismissed it, sat down in a chair and pulled out some papers.

Sighing, Virgil when to a corner and pulled his legs up onto his chair. Because it was just Logan, and he wouldn't care, Virgil closed his eyes and tried to relax.

Everything was going perfectly fine. That is, until Roman showed up.

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Thanks for reading! I'm really excited for this next chapter, so I hope you enjoy it!

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