King of Mean

24

"Roman, can you please explain..." Virgil slowly looked up from his desk to see the very prince mentioned frozen still after trying to sneak his puppy into class. The teacher stood there glaring at Roman as the prince just rubbed the back of his neck. "...why you have a dog with you?"

"This is Prince." Roman smiled as he held the puppy up and Virgil frowned. He hadn't actually thought Roman would have kept the name he picked. Virgil honestly didn't know what to think. It's been a few days since the adoption event. He had used the weekend to avoid the prince entirely but he couldn't do that now. Not when Roman was supposed to be his mentor anyway. Thomas worked there schedules around so well there was no avoiding Roman during the week.

"I didn't ask you its name. I asked..."

"F-Familiar." The teacher quieted down instantly as Virgil's voice rang through the room. Roman nodded enthusiaticly as he beamed. 

"This is Prince. I got him... Friday." The teacher sighed as Roman literally jumped with joy. "He's going to be with me now permanently because... Virgil's right. He's my familiar. Isn't he cute?" Virgil frowned as the sound of a sharp hiss caught his attention.

"The level of it'sss cuteness isn't what'sss important, Roman. We get it. Your dogsss adorable." Cassidy hissed out with a glare as Roman flinched slightly over the sudden hostility. "Now if you could sit down so the class can start that'd be ssssswell." 

"Right... sorry." Roman slowly took his seat letting his puppy curl up under his chair. Virgil frowned as he looked around. The floor had to be cold. Virgil sighed as he pulled one of Blue's old makeshift nests from his desk. He held it loosely in his hand as he let his power branch out.

"With metal fluff and Cotton lead..." Roman's eyes shot over to Virgil who whispered quietly to himself "..make this dog the best new bed." The prince's eyes went wide seeing Virgil drop the nest to the floor and watching it turn into a small dog bed. Virgil kicked it over to Roman, who just beamed as Prince curled up right on it. Roman mouthed a thank you over to Virgil who just smiled slimly as he turned back to the teacher who was already well into the lesson.

"So continuing our lesson from several weeks ago, It is easy for a Villain to do evil things because of events that have occurred in their past. Villains are villains regardless but the more 'tramatic' the backstory the worse a villain you will get. Case and point, Maleficent from several weeks ago." Roman tensed as he looked over to see Virgil resting his head in his hands. Roman hadn't been in this class for very long, not that at the time he would have known about Virgil's parents or helped at all... but it still hurt Roman to know Virgil had to go through that. "As Emile brought to our attention it was the loss of Maleficent's wings in such a harrowing betrayal that made her fall break down. Although as it was a Royal who committed such betrayal against such an unstable mind as hers... I really don't see a fault." Roman could see the way Virgil's fists clenched as they both just listened in silence. "However, even I can admit such an event as that is traumatic."

"A lesser form of this might be... Mor'du, who in an attempt to change his fate resulted in him turning into a bear. Literally, he is a bear that's why he as mean and aggressive. Less villain more animal but even still his actions resulted in many getting hurt or almost losing their lives." The teacher wrote all this down and them some making both the boys eyes go wide in fear at the sight another familiar name. "An extreme form of this would be Hades." First his mother and now this. Virgil was already shaking as the teacher turned around to look at everyone with a beaming smile. "Hades, in my opinion, is one of the worst villains out there..." Someone coughed out 'Evil Queen' and Virgil glance over to see Emile nodding with this look of 'like seriously?'. "He's a god. Yet he used his divine power to punish his nephew simply over his..."

"That isn't true." The whole room went silent as Virgil suddenly stood up yellign out before he could even stop himself. All eyes were on him now as the darker one held his amulet tightly.

"What was that, Anxiety?" Virgil narrowed his eyes as Blue flew up to his shoulder in an attempt to keep him calm.

"I said..." Virgil could feel his nerves getting the better of him. "I-I said t-that isn't true. Hades didn't do anything Hercules. Your retelling of it is completely wrong." There was a collective gasp as Virgil's eyes darted around the room only meeting Roman's for a split second but he could still see the concern.

"You're calling Zeus a liar."

"Well, if you had affair with a mortal wouldn't you?" The teacher's eyes went impossibly wide as the sound of Cassidy snickering filled the room. "Hercules was never a god... h-he was only half god. Zeus used his brother as a scapegoat." The teacher smirked as Virgil looked away.

"It just adds more reason for Hades to do bad things." Virgil groaned in annoyance. "He was already tricked into being the god of the underworld."

"Hades is a god regardless of what." Virgil frowned as his hands started shaking bad. "He didn't blame his brothers at all. Who wants all that responsibility anyway? Hades is lazy. He's practically a slacker. He was fine with what he got. And he wasn't mad at Zeus for blaming him over Herc either."

"So what you're saying Anxiety is... Hades had no reason for doing what he did?" Virgil was stunned into silence as the teacher raised an eyebrow at him. It was a trick and Virgil knew that, but his anger was getting the best of him. His mother was one thing. She was a villain. Virgil knew that. He understood that. But his father... that was a whole other story. "After all it was Hades who sent monster after monster after Hercules... and enslaved Megara forcing her to..."

"Megara made a contract of her own free will." Virgil's anger burned in him as he stood up straighter. He was not going to back down from this. Not this time... His eyes shined with determination as he stared the teacher down. "She wilfully signed her soul and servitude over to Hades in return for her loves resurrection. WHICH HE DID DO!" Virgil's presence shifted from one of anxious submission into one of powerful standing. It was not something anyone ever saw from him before and Roman who was watching with wide eyes couldn't get enough of it. "It was not his fault that man turned from Meg shortly after. Hades met his end of the bargain and when Meg got hurt he ended the contract even though it caused him to fail. Besides... Hercules had the strength of a god. If Hades truly intended on killing his nephew he wouldn't have put all that work sending measly monsters after him. He would have just gone himself and gotten it over with."

"You feel so strongly about this villain..."

"MY FATHER IS NOT A VILLAIN!" Virgil's hair went up in flames scaring the shit out of all the students as blue chirpped about him hoping to draw his attention to it. Virgil's eyes went wide as he suddenly went back into being his usual anxious and withdrawn self. His hair went back to normal as he quickly grabbed his back. "I-I'm sorry..." His eyes met with Roman's, who frowned seeing the pain in the other as they quickly left the room. All the Vk's shifted in their seats about to move but it was Roman who followed Virgil out the door. It was Roman who found him collapsed in the hallway crying into his arms as he shook. And it was Roman who sat beside him letting him just get it all out.