A Home for Lost Boys

~Twenty-Three~

{Possible trigger warnings: DEATH. CHARACTER DEATH. THIS IS ANGSTY. MAIN CHARACTERS DIE. Blood, wounds, pain, loss, MAIN CHARACTER DEATH.

If I miss something, I apologize and please let me know}

JJ's body and the bodies of his companions and dead sympathizers were stacked near the front gate. Logan announced that he planned to take the bodies outside the Sanctuary and burn them. He assured Roman it would be kept quiet and out of sight so that local authorities wouldn't come looking.

The Sanctuary itself was a mess. JJ's men had gotten to several buildings before all of them had been stuck in fights, and since the infirmary had been targeted first it was mostly a burnt out husk. Roman organized a small group of the more able-bodied (or in this case currently less injured) residents to do a sweep of the place to make sure that there weren't any fires still burning.

It wasn't until he saw Sova and Sari carrying Dannan's body past him that Roman realized something was wrong.

"Sar, where'd you find them?"

The twins stopped, their dresses continuing to shift as they always did. Sari glanced at Sova, then nodded and turned back to Roman.

"They were lying slain just outside the perimeter of the main clearing."

Roman's heart dropped and he whirled, scanning the people wandering around and getting started on little tasks he and Logan had given them. There were tales of werewolves who had an ability to bring themselves back, just once. A second wind of sorts. He spotted the dragonshifter a dozen yards away and ran over to him.

"Virgil- where's Virgil? Have you seen him? Has he checked in?"

Logan frowned and shook his head. "Not yet. I assume he had to get his breath back, when I saw him he was moving full speed with his power surge- Roman!"

Roman took off in the direction he'd last seen the White Court.

He almost missed the faint coughing just off the path, but skidded to a stop when a quiet gurgling sound reached his ears. Slamming into the thicket, he began to scan the ground and spotted what looked like a heavy trail of blood. The kind one would get from dragging a body around.

Virgil was propped up against a large boulder, paler than usual. Roman collapsed to his knees next to him, frantically pulling off his jacket and ripped up shirt and beginning to tear it into strips.

He didn't know where to begin. The White Court's body was littered with slashes, each one seeming deeper than the last. Roman choked back a sob and uselessly pressed a wad of fabric to one that crossed his chest diagonally.

"Hey... Hairball...." Virgil grinned weakly, coughing up a bit of blood. "D'chu get'im?"

Roman swiped at his eyes furiously. "You're going to be okay- Patton will know what to do, or Mam- hold on just a second Virgil, I-"

"Roman."

Virgil grabbed Roman's hand. His grip was strong by normal standards, but for a White Court it was terrifyingly weak. He coughed again, grimacing.

"Take care of this place, 'kay?"

Roman let out a whimper and brought Virgil's hand to his chest, as if his own body heat and the residual adrenaline in his system could heal his friend.

His friend. Virgil was his friend.

"Please don't leave me." Roman whispered. "I know I've been a sh*thead and we don't always get along, but I need you."

"Nahhh." Virgil waved him off, eyes drooping a little. "You've got Pat... Lo... all them. You'll be fine."

Roman shook his head. He was too choked up to protest when Virgil pressed a small white stone on a chain into his hand.

"Don't tell Pat I had it... Protector Stone." He grinned weakly. "Ask Lo... 'bout it...."

Watching the life leave his eyes felt as if Roman was dying alongside him. When Virgil's hand dropped limply from his grasp, Roman threw back his head and screamed, the sound raw and ripping through him.

Logan and Remy found him crouched next to Virgil's body, crying and apologizing over and over.

"Roman, come on." Logan said gently, motioning for Remy to pick up the body. "Let's take him to be laid to rest with the others."

They brought Virgil's body to Mam, in the burnt out infirmary. Her eyes welled with tears as she looked over the body, then she nodded and began to clean him off as best she could. Roman moved to help, but heard someone yelling his name before he could.

"Oh god- please, no more..."

Emile was standing outside the infirmary, chest heaving. His tails were showing for once, twitching nervously.

"There's rubble- rocks, something fell. We heard a voice beneath it- don't know who it was-" He took another gulp of air. "They stopped talking a minute ago."

"Where?" Roman asked wearily, steeling himself to see more death.

"This way."

The rubble was a rock outcropping that Logan had once explained was built by a nature-magic user years before. It looked like it had exploded, and as Roman and Emile approached he could see Pietos and Alex the centaur trying to carefully shift rocks.

Pietos looked over at them and Roman could see it in their eyes. Whoever this was, they weren't with the living any longer.

"Hand!" Alex suddenly called. "Found a hand!"

Roman raced forward to join them, shifting the rocks as quickly and as carefully as he could. He saw the chipped blue nail polish, then the t-shirt covered in sunflowers. Gritting his teeth, he kept digging.

"I'll get Mam." Emile squeaked, his face covered with tears. "And Pops. They'll want to bury their boy."

The other three quickly uncovered Patton's body, and Roman carefully gathered him up.

"This is all my fault." He said softly, burying his face in Patton's messy blond curls. "I'm so sorry. If I had just died in that clearing before Virgil found me, I could have saved you from all of this."

Arms wrapped around him, someone on either side. Roman cried until he'd run out of tears, Mam and Pops holding him and their child in one large embrace.

"We'll bury him with Virgil." Pops said quietly, his voice choked with tears. Roman nodded and got to his feet carefully, handing Patton over.

"Roman." Mam said quietly as they began to walk back. "I need to talk to you."

"I'm sorry. I'll leave." Roman promised. "I didn't mean for this-"

"Roman."

He stopped and looked at her.

"I believe that everything in the universe serves its purpose." Mam took his hands, glancing after her husband. "That purpose may be painful, and it may ruin others, but it is a purpose nonetheless."

Roman nodded, sniffling.

Mam smiled tearily. "I think that we may have been neglecting yours. You know much, child, and you warned us. There was a reason for that.

"The Sanctuary has long been without one, but we used to employ a Protector. The Protector of the Sanctuary was in charge of keeping the residents safe. They were allowed to use force, at the promise that it would only be last resort."

Roman slowly let go of her hand and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out the stone Virgil had given him. "Would this have anything to do with it?"

Mam nodded. "The symbol of the Protector. Your having it says many things."

She turned with him and gestured to the Sanctuary. "This is your home, and we forced you from it when we should have embraced you. You are a fighter, and you find strength in your friends. Would you take the mantle of Protector?"

{So waaaaaaay back when I had people do a random vote on my Instagram story...}