Can't this be 'happily ever after'?

6

ROMAN's POV

I walk quietly back to the tent, afraid to wake Patton up. I don't feel like talking to anyone right now, even though Patton knows how to make me feel better. I pull off my boots, placing my feet on the cold, sandy ground. I peek into the tent. He's not there. I blink a couple of times and look back in, pulling out my torch. There is no one there. Maybe he's with Logan? I slip into the tent and lie back onto the hard mat, curling myself into a ball. It's so cold. Pain, fear and loneliness make me fall into a unsettling memory.

"Virgil?" I look over at my boyfriend, he is holding a bag full of who knows what. I rush over and push the tears from his face. "What's wrong, love?"
"I have to go." He brushes me away. A few townspeople look at us.
"Wh-where?" he can hear the pain in my voice, he flinches.
"Your parents banished me."
"They kn-"
"They found out. I'm sorry Prince Roman. I have to go." I feel my heart collapse on itself when he calls me Prince Roman.
"No, why?"
"Goodbye." He starts to walk away. I can feel the heartbreak already taking over me. I feel like I'm drowning. I grab his arm.
"You can't leave!" I whisper. There are more townspeople now. Eager to know what the prince is doing talking to a commoner.
"I have to."
"Please." I know it'll do nothing. My parents have made a horrible decision. It will break me. "I- I love you, Virgil."
"I know."
"Why can't we just be?"
"It would have never worked anyway. Now let me leave." He shakes my arm off and starts to run.
"Virgil-"

I sit up, whacking my head in the top of the tent. I feel the wet patches on my mat. The tears haven't stopped. I wipe them away furiously. "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this." I scream.

Tugging on my hair, I get out of the tent pulling on my boots. I want to scream; I want to hurt physically not mentally. I want to die! I freeze, I've never ever thought that before. Surely, it's not that extreme. I choke on my tears, causing me to fall over. I just want this all to be over.

I stand up and start running. A sudden fear washes over me, I can sense distress somewhere. I don't think whoever they are is okay. I run through the woods, forgetting about death and pain. Someone's in trouble, I have to help. I can hear yelling.

"Help!" It's a young person's voice, I can't tell if they're a boy or a girl, but they sound young. "Help! Somebody? I'm stuck!" They scream. I round a corner, almost tripping over a stick. I brush past trees and leaves and more sticks. I'm getting closer. That's when I see them. It's a little boy and he has one of his legs stuck through a stick. There's blood everywhere. Four huge branches are squishing him.

"Oh my God." I whisper.
"Oh thank God!" He sighs. He has tears streaming down his cheeks, but he still manages to smile at me. He reminds me of Patton.
"What happened?" I ask, getting into action. I pull a couple of branches off him, clearing the way so I can get to his leg.
"Joan told me to go home so I was trying to find my way but then I got lost and scared. A huge wind broke out and the tree branches toppled over onto me."
"Go home?"
"Yeah, I wanted to help fight."
"Wha- how old are you?"
"13. My names Thomas. I met your brother before."
"13! How? When I get you out of this, I'm taking you home, alright?" Thomas nods. "Wow, this is awful." The stick that's stuck through his leg isn't huge. It's quite thin but it's sharp and it probably hurts a lot.

I end up picking Thomas up and running him back home. Running it only takes around an hour which is good. Thomas feel asleep after a while. He was telling me about Joan before they did. This kid really loves his sibling. I think I've met Joan before... wait, isn't he Virgil's brother?

"Come on, Princey!" Virgil yells at me, "we don't want to get caught do we?" I chuckle and follow Virgil back to his house. I've never been inside it before, but he wanted me to stay over. "We haven't been caught yet; we need to spend the night together before we do." He said. I smile at the memory. His face went so red, it was adorable.

We walk into his house, it's a nice house. Small, wooden, painted a creamy white on the outside but in the inside it's purple. Purple just like Virgil's jacket. He always wears the same jacket. I would give anything to wear it. We walk through the small house to supposedly his room. There're three beds, crammed together in the tiny room. I glance at him, confused.
"Brothers. I have two brothers."
"Oh, you failed to mention that ever." I smirk, letting him know I don't care. He rolls his eyes.
"They're not very interesting. Joan's a year below us and Thomas is 10. They go out a lot and I don't think anyone's home this weekend."
"You home alone a lot?"
"Nah, I told them I wanted time with you," he says, face going redder, "they said that was valid and they'd go camping in the woods without me."
"Oh?"

I shake Thomas a bit, reaching the outskirts of the town. There are four sections in the town. Purple, navy, light blue and red. No one ever thought of names for them, so we just go by colour. When I become king- if I become king- I'm going to name them. They need a sense of home.
Even though I've figured out that Thomas is Virgil's little brother I want to be sure.
"Do you want to go home or to the hospital?"
"Home, please. Mummy's there." He mutters, I feel some dry blood fall off his face onto my shoulder.

"Thomas, honey, you have to stay awake for me. Where do you live?"
"The fourth house on Anx street." He mumbles. I'm so afraid that he could die I sprint to his house, correct saying it's Virgil's, and in through the door.
"Miss Sanders?" I shout, quietly. She walks out of a room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She stands still for a second, taking in the scene.
"Oh my God, Thomas." She whispers, coming over and taking him from me.
"Mummy?"
"Yes dear, I'm here." She gets to work, cleaning and stitching up his cuts. I stand around quietly, passing her things when she needs them, for a while.

Eventually she puts Thomas to bed, all fixed up. I breathe out a sigh of relief. He's going to be okay. "Roman?" I look up and stare at a mum I met many years ago. It was brief but she was so happy I was making Virgil happy.
"Miss Sanders, hi. I hope Thomas is okay." I give her a sad smile.
"Roman, wow. You've grown so much!" She pulls me into a bone crushing hug. I'm shocked, I thought she'd hate me since I got her son banished...

"Hi." Smiling at her, she smiles back.
"I've missed you."
"Not Virgil?" I laugh.
"Of course I miss Virgil, silly." We catch up for a while. I tell ger about seeing Virgil again and what he looks like and all. After a while I catch the time.
"Oh wow, I need to be back at camp!" I say, standing up.
"All the fighting?" she sighs, "tell me if you see Virgil again, please." I give her a quick hug and promise her I'll keep him and myself safe from harm.