Assessment of Abilities

Chapter 12 | Crimson Horror

The two on the ground watched almost in slow motion. They have no idea what had happened, or what that shot was, however, whatever happened, it caused Virgil to falter and was now free falling towards the hard ground.

"Roman! Create a pool of water below them! Now! Quickly!" Logan shouted, he'd never raised his voice, but this situation had his completely panicked.

Roman didn't waste any time, he knelt down, placing his hands on the grass and focused all his energy to get the ground beneath the freefalling pair to sink and fill with the water in the soil and the air.

"No! Roman! You need to-" Logan couldn't finish it off, it was too late. During the free fall, Patton had somehow separated from Virgil. The latter having landed safely in the water pool, however, all that could be seen, or rather heard, was Patton hitting the ground with a loud crack.

The sound echoed throughout the clearing, making anyone that heard it cringe in pure horror.

"PATTON!" The two yelled in unison, Logan dropped his book and ran with Roman to where they vaguely saw Patton land; both gasping in unison at what they saw.

On the ground, Patton lay on his front, his head was facing the side, his eyes open but no signs of life. His left arm and right leg were bent in directions they weren't meant to and blood was pooling around his head, having hit a small rock.

"W-What do we do?!" Roman asked hysterically, panicking and sobbing. Logan was stood there in shock, his heart in his stomach, he felt sick, however, he prayed, for the first time in his life, he prayed that Patton would survive this.

And his prayers were answered.

"Owiee... Not again..." Patton whined as he woke up, his head had healed rather quickly and his ribs having fixed themselves back into place. "Oh my god! Patton! Are you okay?" Roman asked, trying his best to carefully sit Patton up, Logan's eyes still on the broke arm and leg, his thoughts leaking out unintentionally 'Patton must be in so much pain right now'.

"I-I'm okay, Lo, just need to-... Ow!" There was a click where Patton had forced his left arm back into place, healing almost instantly, and before the others could protest, he quickly clicked his leg back into place to allow that one a little more time to heal.

There was silence for a moment, as Roman and Logan were coming down from their horrific experience. "Are you okay, Patton?" Logan asked as he knelt down next to him. Patton nodded "Don't worry, Lo, I've survived worse than this, the pain is all gone now but... what happened...?" He asked, his recent memory fuzzy from the impact, as the brain took a little longer to heal.

At that moment, both Roman and Logan looked at each other, the horror on their faces returning. Seeing as Virgil had landed in the water pool they assumed Patton was the one in need of major assistance, however, momentarily forgetting Patton's ability caused them to forget that Virgil had to have fallen for a reason.

"What's wrong?" Patton asked, seeing the horror on their faces, and having momentarily forgotten what had just happened. However, before Patton could say another word Roman stood and ran toward the pool of water "Virgil!? Are you okay?!" He asked.

Logan stood and helped Patton to his feet, Patton now just as worried, his memories slowly returning as they followed Roman to the water.

2 minutes of silences and tears must have passed as Roman fell to his knees next to the pool, Logan held onto Patton as the latter sobbing heavily into his chest, remembering what had happened.

In front of them was a pool of water, however, the translucent water had now become red and thick. Black and purple feathers were scattered around and inside the pool, and in the very centre floated a limp body.

"N-No..." Roman whispered, unable to believe Virgil was dead. Unlike what you'd expect, Roman didn't jump in dramatically and shake the body until it awoke. No. Roman, not caring about his clothes or phone, walked into the pool slowly, reaching out his arms and pulled Virgil into his arms before slowly draining the water and raising the earth.

He then lay Virgil on his back, Logan and Patton both helping to straighten out Virgil's wings and to check for the damage.

Logan looked at Roman, placing a hand on his shoulder "Roman, would it be possible for you to create a barrier of some sort around us and also create light within? Virgil has clearly been shot and we don't want whoever shot him to find he has shot a winged person, additionally, it is difficult to diagnose the damage in the dark"

Roman heard Logan but didn't move for a moment, the anger in his heart gave him the urge to hunt down the dick with the firearm and take him down. Patton sensed this and back hugged Roman "It's not worth it, Ro... Please... We need to help Virgil..."

Roman took a deep breath, as he knew Patton was right; Virgil was the priority now. Roman closed his eyes and placed his hands on the ground. This was all new to him; he was still impressed he'd made that water pool. Nonetheless, he concentrated hard and managed to have them surrounded in a dome of thorns and coving the inside of the dome with bioluminescent algae.

The princely character panted heavily when he was done, this use of his ability had taken almost all of his energy, but not enough to stay by Virgil's side and continue to sob as they finally got a look at the damage...

Virgil lay on his back, his eyes closed and head tilted to the side. His arms were by his side, one leg was straight while the other was bent, however, they didn't seem to be broken. Of course, his entire body was soaking wet, including his wings.

"Shit... One of his wings is broken" Logan stated, if it weren't for the urgency, Logan's use of language would have been a huge conversation starter.

Nevertheless, he was right; while one of the wings seemed intact if not a little scruffy, the other was indeed bending the wrong way "A-Are you sure? I think it might just be dislocated" Patton sniffled, Roman was gone, in tears, unable to let go of Virgil's hand, it was up to Logan and Patton to try and help.

Logan began fully examining Virgil's body, firstly checking to see if Patton was correct. He ran his hand over the midsection of Virgil's wing and found that Patton was in fact right; the joint had been dislocated and needed to be popped back in place. "Thank goodness he's unconscious" Patton whispered, not wanting to wittiness the pain he would have felt when Logan pushed Virgil's wing back into place.

Finally was the major injury Roman had been putting pressure on with his jacket. Logan placed a soft hand on Roman's shoulder "Roman, I need to look at the damage" he spoke softly and calmly, though internally he was in turmoil.

Roman was not listening however, Patton and Logan looked at one another in sorrow before looking back ay Roman's tearstained face, his eyes glued onto Virgil's face. Patton tried this time "Ro? Sweetie, Lo needs to look at the damage, you can let go now, okay?" he asked, placing a gentle hand on Roman's. This seemed to sink through and Roman pulled away slowly but silently.

While Logan lifted Virgil's shirt to check for the damage, Roman sniffled "W-What's the point... he's... he's dead... why are you trying... why... he's gone..." These words cut through Logan and Patton, in all honesty, they hadn't checked Virgil's pulse as they simply believed their friend to be alive, there's no way he could be dead...

Logan looked at Patton, the latter's eyes welled up with fresh, hot tears, the concept that his friend was dead hadn't even occurred to him. Logan reached over with a shaky hand and pressed two fingers against Virgil's neck.

Nothing. No pulse. No warmth. No signs of life.