Put back together

31. Fallen Cities, broken Souls

Patton smiled.
For some reason he was glad that Virgil considered sticking with them.
He was still a little scared of the man's magic but if Virgil wanted to hurt them he probably would have done so by now.

And according to Logan he had done something to help Roman's wound.

In Patton's pocket Elliott had fallen asleep.
The dragon let out small puffs of smoke with every breath and made cooing noises every now and then.

Roman was a little pale and a thin layer of sweat gleamed on his forehead. He held his injured arm close to his chest and the sleeve was dark red.
But he had stopped complaining and hadn't fallen behind either so Patton guessed it couldn't be too bad.
He still felt bad for the prince.

After a while Virgil declared that it was noon and Patton wondered how he could tell. There wasn't anything noticeable that had changed apart from the colour of his lantern.
Maybe that was what the colours meant?

They sat between the trees, ate, drank and Logan changed Roman's bandages.
Patton couldn't bring himself to look at the wound.
The thought alone made him feel sick.
He had never been good at dealing with sick or hurt people.
He wanted to help but couldn't bear to watch them suffer.
It was the same with Mom.

Patton pushed the thought away before it could anchor itself in his consciousness again. Pushed it back and distracted himself because he knew that if he didn't he'd break down.
He couldn't do that now.
So he wouldn't.

After a few more minutes they went on.

Somehow they'd managed not to come across any corrupted animals since the encounter with the blade-thing.
Maybe the gods had decided to grant them a little peace.
At least like this they didn't risk any more injuries or for Roman's to get any worse.
In Patton's opinion the cursed creatures could stay as far away as they wanted to.
They were scary.

Virgil walked ahead, somehow sure of the way despite not having a map, compass or even visible paths to follow, Roman was next to him, breathing just a bit to heavily.
Logan walked next to Patton.

The baker was sure that by now all of them were tired.
The break had helped as much as a twenty minute break could against hour long hikes through uneven and dangerous woods could possibly help.
It was better than nothing but by far not enough.

Suddenly the treeline broke and an almost fleshy looking cliff came into view.
It looked... wrong.

It reminded Patton of the edge of ripped fabric or the claw marks Mama had shown him after a werewolf had tried to gat into their stables one winter.

"Is this... where this Island broke?" Logan asked.

"Good guess," there was something weird in Virgil's voice but Patton was too focused on the breaking point. Despite of how long ago it must have happened he could almost feel the static in the air left over from the curse and it made him shiver.

Logan narrowed his eyes.

"Why is it connected to the coast on the other side?" he asked.

Patton realised that he was right.

Both left and right he could see the coastline stretch until it reached the other side in the distance.

Virgil stepped closer: "It's not really a complete break but more like a large chunk of land has been ripped out."

"Incredible," Logan breathed.

"There used to be a city here," Virgil added.

"What?" Patton blurted out.

"What happened to the people?!" Roman spun around to face Virgil.

"I don't know," the mage didn't look at any of them. "I don't even know what the town was called or how many people lived here. I just know that the houses, the gardens and even the fields were ripped out."

Patton shuddered at the thought.

Not for the first time he wanted to ask whoever had done this why?
Why turn a beautiful place into a death trap?
Why twist innocent animals into monsters?
Why rip apart these Islands?

"Did the city fall?" Roman asked and his voice sounded hollow.

"I don't know," Virgil repeated. "Let's just keep going. Please."

Patton looked up at him.
He looked upset.

"You're a mage too, aren't you?" he heared himself ask. "Can't you fix it? Lift the curse?"

"Let's just keep going," without another word Virgil turned away leaving them with no other choice but to follow.

Patton noticed that his grip on the lantern had tightened and that his free hand had closed to a fist.

He wasn't sure how to interpret that. Was Virgil angry at him for asking? Was he upset with himself for not being able to lift the curse or could he and simply didn't want to?
Then again, why wouldn't he want to?

Patton shook off the thought.

In his pocket Elliott began to stirr and let out a jawn showcasing the tiny white beginnings of stubby teeth.
He opened his eyes and blinked up at Patton.
Or was it 'her' eyes?

"Are you a boy?" he asked quietly.

Elliott shook and let out a small growl.

"No? A girl, then?"

Again Elliott reacted with a growl.

"Are you... neither?" Patton asked slightly confused.

For a moment Elliott hesitated only to make one of the cooing noises they seem to always make when happy.
They climbed out of the pocket and - with a bit of help - onto Patton's shoulder.

"Logan, I found out what pronouns to use for our baby!" Patton announced happily. "They!"

"Our baby?" Logan choked and a blush painted his pale cheeks bright red.

"Well, they are our baby, aren't they?"

Roman chuckled.

"I- uhm... I guess in a way,"  Logan stammered and the blush crept down his neck. He pushed up his glasses and turned up his collar as if to hide behind it.

Elliott made a noise and streched out a leg towards the librarian.

"I think your kid wants to go to you," Roman grinned.

The long suffering groan he got in response made Roman laugh out loud.
Still Logan held out his hand for Elliott to climb on and let the dragon curl up around his neck behind the collar.

Patton grinned at the sight.
He guessed there were worse people to have a child with shortly after meeting them.

Bit of angst, bit of fluff...

Sorry this took so long but the reasons I expected the last chapter to take long turned out to come true for this one.
Hope you enjoyed it anyway!

As always feel free to comment, ask questions or roast me for spelling errors!

Have a nice (gay) day!