Put back together

40. Still not safe (will we ever be?)

Janus felt numb.
He stared at his little brother, at the dark blood coming from his stomach and his sister who kept trying to keep Virgil awake.

He wanted to do something. Help somehow.

But he had no idea how to. So all he could do was watch.

Ironic how he kept finding Virgil like this.
Covered in blood, barely or not anymore conscious and with guilt darkening his eyes.

Back when he had first met the other, again shortly after his father had died, then after his mother had died, the day he had gotten himself cursed...

Sometimes it was Virgil's blood sometimes someone elses and Janus had no idea which cases he preferred.

"Jan!" Persephone's voice cut through his thoughts. "Three-lobe beggartricks! I need three-lobe beggartricks! And lavender! Now!"

"Can you fix him?" he asked.

"Not if you don't get me three-lobe beggartricks and lavender!" she yelled back.

--~--

Patton gasped for air, his sides were burning. He couldn't breathe and felt like he was about to throw up.

The blood had almost burned itself into his mind.

"You...," he finally managed to take a deep breath. "You killed him! Oh gods, you killed him!"

"He deserved it," Roman hissed much less out of breath than Patton and Logan were.

They had ran all the way out of the city and by the time Roman had finally let them stop they had left the castle far behind them and were in the woods again.

"Falsehood," Logan said sharply. "To 'deserve' death I believe one has to do something far worse than deceive and betray a group of strangers. If you killed him you've certainly committed the worse crime."

Roman huffed and opened his mouth to retort but stopped when close to them a branch cracked.

"Criminals, huh?" a bald man carrying a club stepped out of the trees. "Then we can't get punished for killing you."

He laughed and around them more armed men closed in on them.

Roman swore.

Patton wanted to scream but all that came out was a whimper.

"Give us your stuff and we won't harm you," another bandit promised. "Just cooperate and no one gets hurt."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Logan asked his voice shaking slightly.

"You'll just have to trust us. Because, let's face it, there's no way the three of you could beat us. You might be able to hurt some of us though, so if you just give up it's best for everyone," the man smiled predatory.

Patton, Roman and Logan exchanged looks.

"Fine," Roman spat and let his sword fall to the ground.

Patton let his bow and quivers fall too and stepped closer to Logan. He felt safer by the others side.

Two men got closer and picked up their weapons.
Then strong hands grabbed Patton from behind.
For a moment he was back in the palast garden. He tried to reach for Logan who had been grabbed too.
Their fingers barely brushed but it sent a soothing sensation through Patton's whole body.
His bag was ripped from him and his pockets looked through and he saw Logan and Roman get the same treatment.

One of the men grabbed his amulet.

"Please, don't!" Patton cried out.

"What? You want to keep this?" the man sneered and his voice sounded scratchy.

"Yes, please!"

The man laughed.

"Boss! This one is trying to resist! Should I kill him?"

"Wha-?" Terror ran through Patton's veins freezing him in place.

"Go for it!" the bald man smiled.

"You said you wouldn't harm us!" Roman yelled and tried to struggle and let out a pained noise when the man holding him grabbed right into his wound.

"Shut up or you're next!" the bald guy laughed.

Patton was forced on his knees.
His whole body was shaking now.

He didn't want to die. There was so much he still needed to do. He wanted to see his parents again, introduce them to Logan and Roman. He wanted to tell the two how much they meant to him. He wanted to-

The man pulled his sword and held it high over Patton's head, ready to strike.

"Any last words?"

--~--

"He'll be fine," Persephone sighed and Janus felt as if a huge weight had been lifted of his shoulders. "He's going to need some time to recover but knowing him he's going to be gone again before it fully heals."

Janus nodded.

He had no idea why both of his brothers were like this. Why they couldn't just stay at home for a while without growing restless.

Well, not that Virgil really considered the castle his home.
Janus knew that he never would.
At least the mage knew that he could come back here whenever he needed help by now.

"Aren't you going to send soldiers after them?" Persephone asked staring at him with deep hazel eyes.

"Yes," he answered curtly.

She frowned.

"Why not? They almost killed him! I don't even care if they thought he did them wrong first!"

Janus sighed. "If I were to send soldiers out to hunt them down, you should know that Virgil would hunt my troups."

Each word seemed to burn on his tounge but he needed her to know that this was serious. He needed to tell the truth, no matter how hard it was and how many new scales would form.

Persephone was silent for a moment, the humming of her magic filled the air and seemed to wrap itself around him, to the point where it was the only thing he could hear.
She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths until the humming was only a background noise, quiet enough to dismiss.

"I guess you're right," she conceded and looked back at Virgil's sleeping figure on the bed. With another sigh she turned on her heel and headed for the door.
"I need to write a letter. Even if we can't have them hunted down, I won't let them get away with trying to murder him."

Janus wanted to tell her that he agreed but his tounge already burned and he couldn't bring himself to say the truth again.
So instead, he just kept quiet.

--~--

"Please don't," Patton whimpered and the blade came rushing down.

Enjoy this cliffhanger for now.
Don't worry, it shouldn't take too long for the next chapter to come out, since I'll most likely already start working on it while still editing this chapter.

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

Have a nice (gay) day!