Put back together

70. Managing expectations

Warnings: implied gore, implied trauma, blood and injury mention, killing mention

Patton woke up slowly.
He looked around in the temple.

The early morning sun shone in through the windows and painted everything in soft warm shades.

Something was off.

Patton frowned and made another sweep of the room.

Roman and Logan were slumped against eachother, fast asleep.
Elliott was still in Patton's lap, also sleeping, the occasional puff of smoke escaping their mouth.
Emile had fallen asleep in a corner, arms wrapped around himself tightly and muttering incoherent nonsense to himself.
Virgil was -

Virgil was gone.

The spot next to Roman where he'd sat last night was empty, his lantern no longer stood by the fire bowl and his bag was nowhere in sight.

Patton frowned.

He'd announced that he'd leave them, sure, but disappearing in the night without even saying goodbye seemed unfair somehow.
Had he been scared that Elliott and Roman would convince him to stay with them after all?
Or had he just wanted to get away from them as fast as possible?

With a heavy heart Patton watched the light crawl over the altar as the sun rose higher into the sky.

He waited for about an hour before the others woke up.

Patton saw the sadness in Roman's eyes when he realised that Virgil was gone and Elliott hid in Patton's bag. Their tail hung out and shook slightly.

He wished he could help them but as soon as his fingers brushed their tail, they pulled it into the bag.

Maybe they just needed a little time to themselves. Patton hoped they knew that they could always come to him with their sorrows.

With little else to do they ate the last of their bread in the temple and left the village behind again, managing to avoid anyone who might've recognised Patton and showered them in questions.

Part of him wished they could go by his parents' farm but if they wanted to reach the capital soon, they couldn't afford a detour like that.
Also he was a little scared how Mama would react.

How could he ever explain all of this to her?

'Yeah, Ma, this is the crown prince and a librarian from that legendary library, they're my boyfriends. This is my child, Elliott. Yes, they're a dragon. I love them very much. Also I found out I'm part of an ancient holy artifact. Anyway, we need to get back to Corin now to save the kingdom from something, not sure what yet. Good to see you again, love you.'

He cringed. Maybe not.

If news of the riots had made it out here Mama had definitely heard them too. She was probably worried out of her mind.

Patton gripped his amulet.

"How long does it take to reach Corin from here?" Logan asked.

"About three days by horse. By foot maybe four if we hurry," Patton answered.

"Then I suggest we hurry," Roman spoke up. "In the castle we might finally get a chance to relax."

And wasn't that a tempting thought.

-~-

Alfred the Skull would probably be yelling at him if he could see him now.

Something along the lines of him being a disaster and running away again, with every curse Alfred could think of mixed in between.