My Knight in Dragon Scales

38. Mr. Sandman

I looked at the sleeping dragon Virgil and I just felt everything go cold. One second later. If I had just been one second later. Why him? Why is it always him? Hasn't he been through enough? I see the pain in him all the time. I just want to take it all away. I just don't know how.

"That's the curse of being a shield." I turned to see Avery standing there with this sad look on her face. "You want to protect them. You want to save them but sometimes you can't or sometime you don't know how."

"It sucks." I said as I finally moved away from Virgil.

"That's life." Remi whispered and I snapped.

"You almost killed Virgil!" I yelled out throwing my arms out in frustration again. He went to say something but I cut him off before he could. "I don't care what the reason is. If you threaten him again I will snap you in half." I growled out and Remi just smiled.

"Look down, Roman." I did confused and just froze in place. I held my hands up and stared at the purple aura that had surrounded it. It's happened before but not this strong. 

"Our power is in our desire to protect, Roman. Who else than Virgil do you want to protect the most?" Avery called out as she walked over and flat out punched Remi. Her hand went right through him though and he just sighed.

"Look I'm sorry ok? I was never actually going to hurt him. He's been through enough." I narrowed my eyes and Remi tensed up. "Roman?"

"You're lucky. That's all I can say. You're fucking lucky." 

"Roman, let's get away from that for now." I glared at Avery and she frowned. "What can you tell me about your power?" What do you mean? I don't know anything about my power. Avery sighed and ran a hand through her hair as she held up another disk thing. "What does it feel like? What do you see? What do you feel? What shape do you see it take? What does the power do for you? What does it mean? All of these are questions you have to find out for your self. The more you know about your power the sooner you'll be able to control it."

"I still don't"

"Jesus, here." Remi placed his hand over my eyes and I felt myself drop suddenly I found myself back in the gazebo I had dreamed of. "Welcome to your mind, Roman!" I spun around to see Remi standing there next to Avery with this big smile on his face. "I did say my focus was on sleep."

"I always hated sandmen." Avery muttered and Remi frowned.

"Hey, I am still a witch. I am so sorry I wasn't born with magic like you druids were. I had to work for it. It's not my fault that sleep magic came easier to me." They had lost me again. Why was I here? Were was Virgil? What... "Hey, stay with us, Roman. I brought you here so you could practice without constraints."

"Practice? How..." Suddenly, there was this spike, moments from my chest just hovering inside this purple bubble. "What the hell?"

"Wow... Your reflexes are faster then I thought they were." I glared at him and he smiled. "We're going to spend the next several day's practicing until you got it down so... Keep up."

"Uh..." He placed a finger on his lips and I stopped.

"Today's practice ends. When Virgil wakes you up!" When Virgil wakes me up? I don't understand.

"Roman?!" My eyes opened and I jumped with a start. I looked up to see Virgil off the bed and trying to make his way over to me. I could see the fear on his face and I hated it. "Roman, are you ok?"

"I'm ok. Virgil. I was sleeping." He stopped and gave me this confused look. I got up and walked over to him, picking him up and taking him back to the bed. I winced slightly at the soreness I was feeling but ignored it and laid in bed with him. He latched himself onto my arm and I smiled.

"You sounded like you were hurt. I was scared. I didn't... I didn't hurt you did I?" I tensed up and hugged him tightly.

"No. Virgil, you didn't hurt me." It was nearly the other way round. If I hadn't... If i hadn't used my power Virgil wouldn't be here right now. "I really am ok. I swear it."

"I'm sorry." I looked down to see him crying and I brushed his hair out of his face. "I didn't know you were there. I just... I got angry and... and I..."

"Hey. Hey now don't worry. I'm ok. Patton's ok. You're ok. Nobody got hurt." I felt him start to shake and I thought back to earlier. He acted like he hated Emile. "Virgil? I know we never really spoke about our pasts. And I know there are things you might not want me to know but..." I felt him tense up and I frowned. "Why don't you like Emile?"

"Who?" His face scrunched up in confusion and I just smiled at how cute he was. "I don't know who that is?"

"Emile Picani? He was the man you were attacking earlier." His eyes went wide and he pulled away from me. "He was the one I had asked for help from."

"I didn't... I don't know... He just..." He took a deep breath and wrapped his arms around himself. "I didn't know who he was. He just... I smelt smoke... and metal... I smelt him... I couldn't..." He started shaking terribly. "All I could smell was that. Smoke and metal. Burning... burning..." He gripped his hair and I could see his eyes start to redden. It was off because of how his eyes were white now but I could see. He was losing control. I pulled him in and my heart just about shattered. "Father... I can't, Roman. I can't do it."

"I'm here, Virgil." He shakily grabbed ahold of me and I laid back pulling him in closer. "I'm not going anywhere. I promise." He started to shake his head as he gripped my shirt and I frowned. "rest, hun. You need to save your strength to heal."

"What about our date?" I looked down at him with this big smile on my face. "You promised. Anywhere and Anything that I wanted, we would do together."

"When you all healed. Until then... please. rest."