Castle of Devils

Roman Has A Nightmare. Or Did It Really Happen?

Warnings: supernatural themes, ghosts, nightmare mention, implied deciet

It became a part of their nightly routine. Roman woke up, spent most of the day exploring the castle, pampering himself, doing whatever he wanted, then, in the afternoon, Roman would go to the library and meet Virgil for their daily lesson and talk more about the property Virgil was thinking of buying before they would go down and have dinner. After dinner, the two would discuss what to watch and they made their way to the living rooms. One of the cats would usually follow along so they could curl up in Virgil's lap as they watched the movie. Occasionally, Roman got to hold one of the cats but they seemed rather partial to Virgil. He liked it though. He liked spending time with Virgil.

However, watching movies together wasn't the only thing that became routine. Unfortunately, every night, as Roman walked back to his bedroom, he felt this thing follow him. He couldn't describe it as anything other than just a thing. Walking through the dimly lit corridors with his footsteps echoing around him was okay. Just a little creepy, but he could handle that. But then he would feel eyes on him. It was eerie. But he could handle that too. He always played it off as not being used to it yet. But then it got worse; he'd start hearing phantom footsteps, feel an icy draft blow through the hall, feel something brush against his arm. These things you could explain away though. And that's what he always did. Phantom footsteps? It was just his own footsteps echoing back to him. Icy draft? It was a big stone castle, there were bound to be drafts. Something brushing against his arm? It was simply a cobweb. Although, the thought of a cobweb, something spiders made, was not exactly a comforting thought either. Yet he always found he could explain it away. He would be fine so long as he could explain it away.

He could handle the thought of a ghost in the castle during the day. But at night, when he walked back to his room for bed, he found himself creeping along, the hair on end and eyes darting towards every creak and shuffle he heard. During the day, he forced himself to forget the night before and focused on enjoying himself in the hopes of his fear not getting to him.

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Roman had a pleasant day. He had given himself a spa day and was able to have a relaxing time as he listened to his favorite Disney and Musical tunes. Then, Virgil had stopped by so they could walk to the library together for the lessons. After that, the two walked down to the dining room. He got a pleasing surprise when Virgil asked if he would like to make dinner with him. He graciously accepted.

The two goofed off in the kitchen as they made homemade pizza and Roman had so much fun, he barely noticed that Virgil had yet again elected to not eat. They went to the Disney living room and watched as many Disney movies as they could before midnight rolled around. Everything was perfect. Roman should have known it was too good to last.

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Roman and Virgil parted ways after watching tv. With all the good things that happened that day, Roman was too blissfully tired to fear whatever it was that made the footsteps that followed him each night. Roman's left side still felt hot from when Virgil leaned against him earlier. His face had at least cooled down by now. But he still felt the lingering pressure of the other against him. He was so caught up in the very recent memories of the last few hours that he almost didn't hear the words at first.

"Virgil?" Roman asked as the whispers of a voice slithered past his ears. He turned around and squinted his eyes as the dim lights of the hallway left the edges of the corridor in shadows. A cold chill ran down Roman's spine as he waited for Virgil to step through the shadows and admit he was trying to scare him. Virgil never came.

Fear seeped into his mind as he straightened his body and turned around. He kept his footfalls even as he walked briskly to his room.

He was trying to keep the fear from getting to him. Roman may have been an overdramatic and extra prince, but when it came to fear, that was one thing he always kept locked away. He wasn't scared. Princes didn't get scared. So he couldn't be scared. It didn't matter that no one was around to watch him get scared. He couldn't show fear. He had gotten into the habit a long time ago and he wasn't about to change now.