Maybe I am writing a fic where Regulus and Sirius are vampires and they murdered their entire family and they're pathetic because they saw two friends at a party once and one was full of scars was exactly Sirius' type and the other had a dorky smile and was Regulus's type and they're fucked because they can't fall in love but they do. And they protect James and Remus without them knowing except they do know and they have silly crushes on the two mysterious brothers that look out for them.
Roman, a teenage fairy, was curious about the human that kept showing up in his forest. And, more importantly, he was curious about their devices. Perhaps going into their bag on an impulse wasn’t the best idea...
--
Deep in the forest, where most didn’t go, there was a magical town, filled with fairies. It was hidden from human eyes using magic, and it was usually bustling with activity
Roman walked around the small town. He was bored. He was so bored. He had done everything there was to do anywhere nearby a million times already.
He groaned, sitting on the very edge of the town border, careful not to go past the runes that protected them all from non-magical eyes. Perhaps just watching the wildlife would help?
He watched animals skitter along the tree roots and fidgeted with the cuffs of his sleeves. He heard heavier footfalls, and immediately became more alert. A human made themselves known less than a minute later, completely oblivious to the town right next to them
Roman just watched them.
Humans were... interesting, though he’d never admit as much to anyone else.
Humans were, above all else, dangerous
But this one, with their strange clothes and weird make-up and purple hair (he didn’t think humans could have purple hair; usually they only had boring colours like brown and blond) was just sitting on the forest floor, strange wires in their ears that almost sounded like they were producing a song
Roman wondered how humans worked without magic.
How did they cook, clean, keep predators away, travel- do basically anything- without magic? Like sure, they were phenomenally large, and that would probably help with predators and maybe travel, but the rest was confusing to him.
He flew upwards to sit on a branch, still within the town boundaries. He kicked his feet, and fluttered his wings, quietly watching the human scroll on one of their strange devices.
He could hear some of the music, and he danced slightly from his branch
The human came back every day for a week.
Roman concluded that they had used some sort of artificial colouring on their hair. It was starting to fade into a more brown-ish colour
He wanted to know more about the small device they always had. It seemed to show the human things, and let them communicate through it and let them read, and Roman figured that something like that would probably cure his permanent boredom.
He watched the human more and more. The human, he was gonna try figure out their name, seemed to never notice the town just to the side of them, which meant that the magic was working exactly as it was supposed to
Though, Roman was told by some elders that he needed to tell people when a human was nearby, even though the human literally just sat there and did nothing
Either way, he did alert them and then went to ‘keep watch’.
Roman had seen very few humans in his time; most didn’t come this far into the forest.
He watched as the human got ready to leave like they always did, and he couldn’t help the disappointment he felt. The strange giant was the most interesting part of his day, and now he’d have to be bored for the rest of the day
He watched them put their small device in the bag they usually carried, and he lamented his inability to try it out. Except, the human’s focus drifted elsewhere, towards where a twig snapped as a rabbit had hopped onto it, before they distractedly left.
They left without their bag.
Roman slowly left the safety of the town, making sure no one was watching him, before flying into the bag. He knew that he would need to leave before the human inevitably came back for their belongings, but this was likely the only chance he would get. Never let it be said that he didn’t evaluate risk, he just did the risky thing anyway
He tapped the screen on the device like he had seen the human do, and it lit up. Roman grinned, trying to make it go onto the other screen
All the human had to do was look at it and it would change, what was he doing wrong? Was it because he wasn’t human? Because that was discriminatory, thank you very much
He huffed, trying again and again, and, in his distracted state, he didn’t notice human footsteps until the bag was moving. He stumbled, falling over as the bag moved. He tried to move into a position where his wings would be safe, but the constant shifting of the bag and the bags contents were making it impossible
Horror slowly found it’s way into his feelings. The human was going to see him. The human was fascinating, but Roman was made of magic. The human would not be able to understand him, and what humans don’t understand, they get rid of
That had been drilled into his mind longer than he could talk.
Curse his own impulsivity and curiosity.
The human walked for a while, with Roman trying not to get hit by various objects, and feeling something hit into his back. Eventually, they must’ve arrived at their destination, because the bag was set down, and Roman tumbled out
The human stared at him, and Roman got up from sitting on the ground, and moved backwards, trying his hardest not to tremble.
He surveyed his surroundings. He was pretty sure he was in a human house.
A hand started reaching for him, and he conjured a clear magical dome around himself as protection. The human had retracted their hand, but didn’t stop staring
“... I’m Virgil. What’s your name?” Their voice was softer when talking to him than it was when they talked through their device
Roman said his name, wary of the obvious trap, and forgetting that humans couldn’t understand him.
The human (’Virgil’) stared blankly, and Roman kept as far away as possible from them.
“I’m sorry, I can’t understand you”
Roman knew that, he wasn’t dumb.
“Can you understand me?”
Roman nodded, looking at a window out of the corner of his eye. Virgil seemed to be looking at something behind him. Roman followed their gaze to his wings, which were looking different than usual. He felt the, now jagged, edges lightly and winced
Now that his panic had mostly subsided, he could feel pain. He mustn’t have noticed, because he was too busy worrying about what Virgil was gonna do to him, but it turned out Virgil wouldn’t even need to do anything to keep him there.
His wings would heal, but it would take months at best, years at worst. He couldn’t help the tears that were welling up in his eyes, and he couldn’t stop them from falling.
Great, he looked even more weak in front of a potentially bad human.
Roman messily wiped his eyes, and glared at the giant. Virgil put their hands up
“Hey, I didn’t do that to your wings! I haven’t even touched you!”
Roman sat down, bringing his knees to his chest, and half-heartedly observing the human
Virgil sighed
“Okay, I’m sorry for accidentally kidnapping you, but I didn’t know you were in my bag, and I’m sorry that you broke your wings in the process. I would have been more careful if I knew you were there. But, you can stay here with me until your wings heal, and I’ll help you with anything you need, yeah?”
‘Can’. Like Roman would want to stay in a human house for however long. Roman glared again.
Virgil looked a little lost at his reaction
“I know it probably won’t make up for breaking your wings, but I am really sorry”
Roman turned away, and noticed that his shield had fallen at some point whilst he was distracted. He got up and looked around at the house. He knew Virgil was watching him, but he understood the curiosity aspect.
That was what had gotten him into this whole predicament after all. He was curious about everything in this house as well. He wanted to explore
-----
Virgil was having a major freak out.
He had found a nice clearing in the woods, where he could just escape reality and be on his own. There was no one watching him, no one judging and no one to tell him what to do.
So of course, it only took a week for things to go to shit. He had left his bag in the clearing, and somehow a fairy had managed to find their way into it. He hadn’t even known that fairies existed previously
He didn’t know if they had willingly got in, or if they had fallen in or something, but from the way they seemed terrified of him when they fell out, the second one was more likely
Their skin was a pale reddish-pink, with large, wide eyes and red hair. They had (comparatively) large wings that almost looked like they were made of glass.
They seemed to put up some kind of forcefield to protect themselves from him, and he tried to diffuse the tension by introducing himself. The fairy seemed to introduce themselves as well, though whatever language they spoke sounded more like a melody than it did words
He noticed something was wrong with their wings after a few seconds of staring; they were an odd shape, almost reminding him of a broken window.
They followed his gaze, and stared at their own wings, and reaching a hand out to touch the edges, all but cementing in his mind that they were broken. They turned to glare at him, with glowing eyes and tears running down their cheeks
Virgil had a feeling they blamed him for the damage caused, and honestly, he didn’t blame them for thinking that. But he didn’t mean to.
They sat down, crying for a while, before doing something that he figured was probably a way to distract themselves
They started looking around, seemingly inspecting things. Virgil figured they probably didn’t have a lot of the things he had. He had no doubt they had substitutes that worked just as well, or probably better, considering they had magic and based on the exceptionally high quality of their clothes, they obviously had some sort of tools
He let them explore the countertop for a while, discreetly videoing them. He wouldn’t show the video to anyone without their permission, of course, but... just having the videos wouldn’t hurt.
They refused to go near him. They seemed to be feigning stubbornness, but Virgil could see the way they trembled when he spoke, or moved too fast or got too close. He could tell they were scared. They were scared of getting hurt again.
Virgil didn’t know how to feel about that. He understood the fear, but he would never hurt them on purpose.
They wouldn’t let him take them somewhere else to sleep, since he’d have to carry them, and just sat down when he asked, stubbornly glaring at him.
Virgil just sighed and brought them a blanket. They were still there in the morning, wrapped up in the almost comically large blanket, and still asleep. Virgil wondered what they would eat, and simply waited for them to awake (maybe snapping a few pictures here and there)
They eventually woke up, though visibly deflated when they saw him. He offered to get them some food, and they (after a while of what seemed like mental debating) nodded. They didn’t let him take the blanket away.
Virgil figured he couldn’t let anyone else know about the little guy, seeing as they seemed scared of people, and he wondered what he was going to tell his friends as for why they suddenly couldn’t come over anymore
He felt so wrong, next to the fairy. Virgil was usually short, and now... now, he was tall enough to accidentally kill someone. He could trip and crush them. And they knew it.
The next few days were tense, but the fairy had started letting him a bit closer, though they wouldn’t stop glaring. He had dubbed them Little Red, as a sort of nickname until they could communicate their actual name.
Little Red didn’t mind the nickname too much, he didn’t think so, anyway. They had been interested in his phone when they saw it, and Virgil had shown them different apps, pretending not to notice their tense, trembling posture when he moved too suddenly.
They played games on his phone every day, and they had started letting Virgil help them get to other places in the house than the countertop. They were still undoubtedly somewhat scared, and they still very obviously held a grudge of some kind against him, but they were getting somewhere.
They were very vocal, even though Virgil couldn’t understand them.
Virgil was careful every time he carried them into the living room or into the blanket nest they’d claimed as their own. He didn’t want to cause another accident at their expense
They were curious about a lot of things, he noticed.
It made him a little calmer, to know that Little Red seemed just as clueless about humans, as he was about fairies.
He noticed what they liked and disliked in terms of movies and tv shows.
They didn’t seem to like horror movies, but they were fine with things like The Addams Family. They liked animated films quite a bit, particularly disney, and would watch with rapt attention. Virgil didn’t usually watch animated movies, but he was willing if it kept Little Red a little happier
He waited for a while for them to wake up as he made food. Surprisingly, they didn’t seem to have a very big sweet tooth.
Their blanket nest was in a corner of the spare bedroom, and Little Red had decided to claim the entire room as their own, despite being far too small to need all of that space. Not to mention only being able to use part of it with their broken wings. Either way, they didn’t need an entire room, but Virgil certainly wasn’t using it, and he kind of owed it to them, after kidnapping them and breaking their wings.
Virgil’s only problem with them claiming the room, was that now he’d have no where to hang out with his friends
Virgil brought them breakfast and carefully avoided getting too close. They seemed to notice his phone in his other hand and stared at it. Virgil chuckled
“Sorry, not right now, Little Red, I have to go somewhere, maybe when I get back”
Little Red pouted at him, but ate their food. Virgil left them alone, leaving the door open in case they wanted to traverse the house, though he wasn’t too comfortable with that idea.
He didn’t want to think about how easy it would be to crush them underfoot. They knew where to and not to go, so there wasn’t that much risk, but any risk was too much, in Virgil’s eyes
Their wings hadn’t made any progress, as far as he could see, but then again, it had only been a few days.
He got ready to go out and meet his friends
Remus and Janus were already at the movie theatre before him, annoyingly.
“How’d we get here before you? You’ve never relaxed on the idea that you might be late, and yet, here you are, a whole-” Remus checked his watch gleefully “- two minutes late!”
The movie lasted a while, and Virgil almost forgot the fact that he had an injured fairy to take care of back home. He hung with his friends, talking about everything and nothing, carefully avoiding any mention of what he had been doing the last few days
He wondered what Little Red was doing.
-----
Roman wanted to go home.
Virgil wasn’t bad, per se, but he didn’t like that he needed to be carried places because everything was too big and his wings were broken. And, he missed his friends.
He looked around at the room he was in. It was too big, it was too expansive. He looked around at the blankets he had nested in. They were too thick.
He finally got to try out the strange device, however, and he had found so many things to do. The ‘phone’ had games and it played ‘videos’ and ‘movies’
The movies that Virgil had showed him were interesting, but he only liked some of them. The ones that looked not-real, they were really cool, despite their inaccurate depiction of fairies and magic in general.
They did get one key aspect of fairy culture correct, though; the blessings and gifts bestowed on children. Roman was gifted with an adventurous spirit and, like with most gifts, it came with an unfortunate downside
His sense of fear was rather dulled, whereas his impulsivity skyrocketed when there was some sort adventure to be found. Which explained why he was sat on the floor of a human house with broken wings.
His friends’ gifts were also a bit of a mixed bag.
His friend Patton for example! He was gifted with a kind and pure spirit. This also meant that he trusted far too easily and got himself hurt by people with not-so-kind intentions in the past.
His friend Logan was gifted with a logical mind. It made him great at a lot of things, including stopping Roman from getting killed due to impulsivities. But it made it harder for him to understand his own feelings, and harder to make friends when viewing it through a logical lens
Great, now Roman missed his friends even more. He sighed, looking out of the window. He knew this situation was his fault, but, he really wished it wasn’t. He wished he could completely blame it on someone else, but, Virgil hadn’t done anything really wrong other than not letting him go. Roman was the one who flew into their bag on impulse
He groaned, pushing his head into his hands, and trying not to cry. Virgil was out of the house at that moment in time, and Roman knew he should be trying to escape
But a voice in his head reminded him that he had no way home when he didn’t know which way home was. Besides, he’d probably just get found by a different human, he noted bitterly
When Virgil eventually returned, what had to be hours later, Roman had not gotten any better at dealing with boredom. It would’ve been better if he had someone to talk to
Except, no. It wouldn’t. His sense of fear might’ve been dulled enough that he felt pretty much none after only a few days, but others didn’t have that. They’d still be scared
Roman scowled at the blanket that made up half of the nest. He wanted his bed, he wanted his house, he wanted his blanket.
There was a knock on his door. His stupidly oversized door that he couldn’t even open himself. He supposed that was probably why it was almost always left ajar.
Roman sighed
“Come in” He shouted. The door opened, scraping against the carpet with a uncomfortable sound
Virgil was bringing him food, he realised. He almost didn’t want to eat. He hadn’t been outside in days. He hadn’t seen his friends in days. He hadn’t properly held a conversation in days. He just wanted to go home...
He didn’t care how boring it was, at least he had friends back there
Virgil placed the food down in front of him, seemingly watching him. Roman gave a half-hearted glare and started eating. Human food wasn’t as nice as the food back home, nor was it very flavourful.
He noticed that Virgil was staying in Roman’s room more than they usually did. Roman looked at them quizzically, wondering why they weren’t in their own, strangely decorated, room.
He verbalised his thought, and Virgil looked at him
“Hm? Oh, sorry.. Uh, I was gonna watch a movie in the living room, do you wanna come?”
They always guessed what he was trying to say.
Virgil was awkward most of the time. Perhaps that’s why they kept going into the woods for hours at a time every day, instead of partaking in social activities with other humans.
Roman knew that Virgil did have friends, having seen pictures of them, but also...
Actually, no he wasn’t going to finish that train of thought, it was rude. It didn’t matter how much he personally thought the human was strange, anyone could have friends
Roman wordlessly nodded to the offer and Virgil placed their hand on the ground next to him. Roman walked onto it, sitting on the palm, and drawing his knees up to his chest
He hated being carried. He hated feeling helpless. He was supposed to be an adventurer, he was supposed to be strong. Virgil placed him on the arm of the couch and started looking through movies on their tv
Roman wondered how the tv worked. Logan would probably be able to figure it out.
He watched the tv with full attention as it showed him a story of a princess who fell in love with a thief, and it was full of genies and tigers and magic.
It was horribly inaccurate, but with how separated human and magical societies were, it was almost a miracle that they got any of it right. He yawned, but he didn’t want to leave to sleep before the movie ended. He had to see how it would end
He carried on watching, though he could feel himself begin to lose focus as he yawned again
“Are you sure you don’t want me to turn this off for now, and you can watch it tomorrow?”
Roman shook his head, still watching the screen intently. Virgil sounded like they were supressing a laugh next to him, but Roman didn’t care. He could feel his eyes drooping, and he laid on his stomach, watching the screen still
He didn’t exactly know when he fell asleep, but Virgil wasn’t in the room anymore when he woke up. Roman groggily stood up, to peer out of the window
…Sunrise. Huh. Usually if he woke up this early, he’d go to sit somewhere high up to watch the sunrise and see the way the hills and trees would be dusted pinks, purples, oranges and reds.
What if his wings never healed? Would he be stuck with Virgil forever and not ever be able to sit on a hill or tree branch and watch the sunset, or ever fly around? Would he be cursed to forever live a life of pain and longing?
This was the part that Logan would usually tell him he was being overdramatic. But Logan wasn’t here, and Roman wasn’t even sure if he was being overdramatic anymore
He really didn’t know if he’d ever be able to go home
Virgil had told him that he could go when his wings were healed, but when would that be?
Roman just sat on the arm of the couch and thought about his friends until Virgil came into the living room, about an hour later. They looked exactly how he would expect them to look after just waking up
“Mornin’, Little Red,” They yawned “Sorry I didn’t take you to your room last night, it felt rude to pick you up when you were sleeping”
Roman considered the apology for a few moments, before giving them a thumbs up. He wouldn’t want to be picked up when he was sleeping, honestly. He was most vulnerable when he was asleep, especially since he was a deep sleeper
They watched the end of the movie together.
-----
Virgil felt bad for Little Red. He had seen them staring out of windows, and he knew they probably wanted to go home.
But...
He was so worried that they’d get hurt even more, or found by someone not as kind as him, or- or something else even worse, that he couldn’t let them go. Not until they could fly at least
He could at least be more certain of their survival chances if they could fly out of reach of predators.
He watched them with almost as much attention as they watched Aladdin. They seemed completely enamoured by the film’s story, reacting quite dramatically with every twist and turn of it.
Virgil had to admit, their dramatic tendencies reminded him of Remus, although Remus openly hated wearing red unless it was fake (or sometimes real) blood
Little Red kept yawning, still watching the movie, but very obviously starting to drift off
“Are you sure you don’t want me to turn this off for now, and you can watch it tomorrow?” He asked, trying to hide the amusement in his voice
They immediately shook their head, eyes still locked firmly on the screen. Virgil stifled a laugh, watching as they slowly succumbed to sleep.
He turned the tv off, and turned towards them.
How was he gonna get them to their room? He carefully reached a hand out, but retracted it. He would probably lose any type of trust they had in him if he grabbed them whilst they were sleeping
Besides, they looked so adorably peaceful, in a way that he hadn’t seen them be very often. They had fallen asleep in front of him before, but this was the first time they seemed completely relaxed.
He stared at them a few moments, before deciding to leave them be until morning
He left them for a while, letting them sleep, and went to his own bedroom
He laid in bed with his thoughts, as he stared up at his ceiling.
Why did he feel so guilty about this? He was protecting them!
They might’ve seemed upset, but it was better than letting them get eaten by a bird or something. As far as he knew, they had fallen into his bag. If they were clumsy enough to fall into his bag, then he didn’t trust their survival skills without their wings
After about a month and a half, he didn’t feel as guilty. He knew he was protecting them.
Their wings had started to slowly heal, the edges slightly bigger and smoother than the jagged edges they were when they had first tumbled out of his bag.
And that was because Virgil was keeping them safe. Lord knows they weren’t the best at keeping themself safe, Virgil thought, remembering the time he found them trying to fight a house spider.
He had started keeping a more careful watch over them after that, deciding not to let them out of their room without his supervision. Who knew what danger they would idiotically get themselves into without him there? Besides, they had more than enough space in there, even with the door closed
He knew that they didn’t see it that way, but Virgil was fine with playing the villain if it meant keeping Little Red safer.
They weren’t as vocal anymore, and Virgil missed the melodic tones of their voice. They ignored him a lot. They still watched movies, but they declined more often than not.
It was fine. He was fine with that. They’d thank him eventually, he told himself. They always watched his every move when he was nearby, as if they were scared he’d hurt them. But he wouldn’t. He would never.
There was a camera in their room now, so he could help them if they got hurt without him there.
He knocked on their door, though didn’t wait on a response before opening it and closing it just as fast. They had tried to run out of their room quite a few times before, hiding from him. And as much as it was amusing the first few times, it had become annoying quickly. Besides, it was dangerous for them
They stared up at him with those wide eyes, and he crouched down and gave them their food. Little Red didn’t speak, and just grabbed a few pieces of food and started eating.
Virgil stayed crouched there for a moment. What could help them see he wasn’t a bad guy?
“I’m going to go watch a movie in the living room, if you wanna come,” He asked, before adding “Aladdin, your favourite”
They thought for only a moment before shaking their head
Virgil bit back his annoyance at the refusal, and just sighed. Why were they being so difficult recently?
He left, making sure to close the door behind him. He sighed, they needed to see that he was helping. They were sure to get hurt if he let them go, what was he going to do? Let them walk straight to their death whilst doing nothing to help?
He groaned, giving the door a glare.
-----
Roman wasn’t sure what had changed. Virgil had become more paranoid, more protective. Roman was well and truly trapped now.
They wouldn’t let him out of his room now, and Roman supposed it was only a matter of time before he was in a cage for maximum security. He looked at the door, now closed and wondered when it would next open. He suppressed a sob and curled up on the blanket
Nothing he could do would ever sway Virgil's protectiveness. They wouldn’t let him out of his room, or out of their sight. Roman glared at the camera in his room. He hadn’t even known what a camera was, until Virgil. Now the knowledge of what it was just hurt him even more
He would never get a moments privacy.
The lack of anything to do was genuinely hurting him, a lot worse than back home. At least then, he could climb to the top of the tree tops and dive down, only catching himself at the last moment. The lack of adventure was hurting him worse than his wings were
Roman curled up more. He had the spirit of adventure, he needed to be doing something mildly dangerous! He wasn’t even allowed to sit on the couch when they watched a movie anymore. Virgil would just hold him the entire time, so they’d ‘know for sure where he was’.
And they wondered why he didn’t like them anymore. Sometimes they’d come into his room whilst he was sleeping, and he’d wake up in their hands. He missed when they were concerned with being rude. Now they told him how simply adorable he was
He glared at the camera again, knowing that the lens probably couldn’t get an accurate reading on his face. Roman had thought about doing some magic, to destroy the camera, but he could already picture the condescending ‘this is for your own good’ disappointed stare, and stopped.
Nothing was going right for him.
He sighed, letting the tears fall. There was a knock on his door, but he didn’t get a chance to respond before the door was opened. He supposed that was because of his escape attempts. If you could call them that, anyway
All he did was run out of his room and try to hide. Anywhere was better than being trapped in his room forever. His attempts annoyed the human. They would sigh, telling him that the ‘game’ would have to stop. But it wasn’t a game.
None of this was a game. This was Roman’s real life, this was his nightmare, this was all too serious.
Roman wondered what they wanted now. They had already given him his food, he’d already declined to watch a movie, what could they possibly want? He weakly glared at them, as they crouched down
“Hey, Little Red. I know you already said no to watching a movie, but there’s a movie you haven’t seen, that I think you’ll like”
Roman ignored that they were using the same tone people would to entice a child, or dog, to do something and thought on the offer.
There was no point disagreeing. He nodded his head.
Virgil didn’t set their hand down anymore and let him climb on. Now, they just grabbed him. He didn’t like it. He wondered what the movie was.
They took him to the living room, where the movie was already set up. Tangled, it was called.
Roman attempted to get slightly more comfortable in their grip, but the hand tightened around him just enough that he wouldn’t dare
The movie was interesting he supposed, but he kept being distracted, as Virgil kept fidgeting with him during the movie. He tried to stop them, but they didn’t notice. He didn’t even know if they realised they were fidgeting
They kept gently grabbing his arms, moving them around slightly, rolling his torso between two hands, not enough that he couldn’t see the screen, but enough that it was completely distracting. When scenes got intense, the fidgeting increased.
He could barely concentrate when the ending was happening. He quietly grumbled about Virgil’s rude behaviour, and attempted to watch the screen. He was lucky that the fidgeting didn’t hurt.
The only thing he could properly remember about the movie was that Mother Gothel was trapping Rapunzel under the guise of keeping her safe, but it was actually a ploy to use her magic for herself.
Roman looked up at Virgil’s face from where he was in their hands. He wondered where he had heard that story before. Oh wait.
He (very stupidly, may the narrator add) tapped the giant hand to get Virgil’s attention, before pointing at the picture of Mother Gothel on the title screen, and back to Virgil with a stubborn glare on his face.
They looked down at him for a few moments in which Roman had just enough time to evaluate the idiotic decision before they actually reacted
His heart stopped for a single beat as they shifted their grip on him with an annoyed expression on their face
“I am keeping you safe. You should be grateful, not comparing me to fictional villains” They grumbled.
Roman, still feeling mutinous apparently, tried to move in the grip, and muttered his counter argument
“Well, maybe if you weren’t acting so villainous..”
They didn’t justify him with a response. Though, whether it was due to the language barrier, or their annoyance, was hard to say.
Roman did notice that their grip was now uncomfortably tight, almost bruising. So much for safety, he thought, before the grip tightened even more
He let out a pained gasp, as the pressure increased on his wings for a few seconds. He could hear them breaking even more. The grip loosened, and Roman watched a few shards of wing fall onto the floor
He could hear frantic apologies from Virgil, but it was soon drowned out by the blood rushing in his ears. He stared at the shards, until Virgil touched his shoulder, dragging him out of his thoughts.
Roman flinched back, shaking, almost instinctively raising his forcefield, like he hadn’t since that first day. It hurt, and- and he was still shaking, and Virgil was still there, still holding him
His forcefield had pushed away their fingers a bit, but he was still in their hand. He ran his hands through his hair. He was crying, he realised hysterically.
He almost started laughing, no matter how much he knew this wasn’t a joke. You know, for how much danger he was in, it still wasn’t an adventure. It was just a bad situation. A really fucking bad situation, that was entirely his fault, and the reason he’d probably never see his friends again
He tried to steady his breathing for a simple moment, but nothing was helping.
Virgil was still talking, still too big. Of course they were, humans couldn’t shrink (could they?)
Eventually, though Roman didn’t realise it as it was happening, he was left back in his room, alone. He never thought that he’d be so relieved to be trapped again, but it was better than being in Virgil’s hands.
Roman gingerly touched his wings, wincing.
What were his friends doing, he wondered. Why couldn’t he go see them? Why did Virgil get to decide what Roman could and couldn’t do? Why did Roman have to be so stupid as to go into their bag? Why did any of this stupid situation have to happen?
He sobbed, pulling his knees up to his chest. Everything hurt, and- and he was still trapped and nothing he could do would ever be able to fix it.
-----
Logan had been searching for his friend for almost two months. Roman didn’t seem to be anywhere.
Logan knew that there was somewhere he could be, though he sincerely hoped not. It was the logical conclusion, however, to assume that Roman was taken by the human that he had been watching. The only reason they hadn’t already assumed so was that they wanted to make sure that Roman hadn’t just gotten lost before rushing into potential danger
The human never came back after Roman disappeared, after all. Perhaps they only came to steal a fairy and leave. Perhaps their peaceful demeanour had been a ploy to get trusted. Or perhaps Roman had done something impulsive and gotten himself captured.
No matter why the human had him, it was a very unideal situation. Especially given the nature of Roman’s wings. As much as a human could harm any type of fairy, very easily, they could harm fairies with crystal wings much, much easier.
Crystal fairies’ wings were fragile, thin, and almost glass-like. Easy to break, easy to make the fairy in question much more trapped.
It was a miracle that Roman’s wings had never been broken before, with the reckless stunts he pulled. Not that Logan could completely blame him, of course, no more than he could blame Patton for being too trusting. But it was incredibly unlucky for Roman’s gift to directly contrast his wing type
Logan was a stone fairy, so his wings were, as the name suggested, stone. The stone spread across his entire body the more he aged. At the moment, he was stone across his entire back, and down to his forearms. It was hard to fly with stone wings, so he could only keep low, and he could only really glide. It was hard to walk with the heavy weight on his back, so he, like the majority of stone fairies, used a walking stick so he would be able to balance. His own walking stick doubled as a staff to do complicated spells
There were accommodations for fairies who couldn’t fly well, but not as many as there should have been. With most buildings strung up in trees, only a few had ladders, and even less had ladders that were easy to climb with stone wings; a problem he had complained about many a time.
Roman was helping him figure out a plan of better accessibility to present to the council, before he disappeared. Roman was helping with the design and aesthetics, and the visual appeal, and Logan was helping with the accessibility, having experienced the issues first-hand, and having an idea of it should work logically.
Roman was the youngest of their little trio, about one and a half years younger than Patton, and two years younger than Logan. He was kind, he wanted everyone to be safe, he wanted to protect people, he had wanted to be a knight when he was a little older. Roman wanted everyone to be happy.
And now, for the past few months, there had been no Roman. Logan and Patton were very worried. Logan tried to figure out how to find the human that he was certain had his friend, but was coming up short. There were hundreds of human homes outside of the woods, and not to mention, humans had those devices. Logan believed they were called cars? With a car, they could go pretty much anywhere. Roman could be anywhere
He sighed, looking for a spell that could help track his friend. Patton was looking as well, and they weren’t having very much luck.
Patton was a butterfly fairy, and so was able to fly a lot easier than Roman and Logan, not having to worry about fragility, or weight. Though he was eager to help wherever he could.
Now, that eager, cheerful face with creased with worry, and tear streaks. Logan knew that Roman’s unfortunate disappearance was the cause. Logan was never the best at comforting people, usually Roman would help him.
Logan gently patted Patton’s back, and weakly tried to comfort
“There, there. We’ll find him,”
His words were clunky, he wasn’t used to comforting people, and that’s not to mention the lie he told. He had no idea if they would find him or not, and statistically, it was improbable, given how many human houses there were in the area alone. Logan attempted to remember how the particular human looked, from the few glimpses he had gotten
Purple hair, he could remember, but that wasn’t definite. Besides, there had been an increase in numbers of humans with coloured hair in recent years. Dark clothes, purple patches on them. That might have been a bigger lead. Not many humans wore patched clothing. What else could he remember?
They were pale, he remembered, and they had strange makeup under their eyes. He was pretty sure that was unusual for humans.
And now, if he could simply find a way to figure out where this human lived, he could be reunited with his his friend. Roman would’ve figured an out-of-the-box, crazy idea that would’ve worked perfectly by now.
Logan couldn’t do that.
He sighed, closing the book he had been reading for hours, and resting his head on the library table. There was nothing that could help. They could potentially track Roman, if they had an object that belonged to Roman and Roman been near recently.
And there lied the problem. They had only found the spell after a month and a half of the disappearance. He hadn’t been near anything recently enough.
He groaned, prompting Patton to gently pat his back. Logan knew that, logically, the chances of finding Roman were low, but he forced those thoughts out of his mind. He would find his friend, dead or alive (though preferably alive), whether or not it took months or years.
He carried on reading.
This routine carried on for weeks more, until they finally figured out a way of tracking. Logan looked at the glowing blue trail on the ground, and started walking, his staff in one hand, Patton’s hand in the other. Like Logan had hypothesised, it led into the human town.
Only he could see the trail, so that wouldn’t raise suspicion, however, two fairies walking into human territory probably would raise a fair bit of suspicion.
He waved his staff and casted the invisibility spell, before starting to walk. Patton let him lead him. The walk was slow, and they had to avoid several humans, so as to not get hurt. But, after several hours, they had found the human house where their friend was being kept
Logan looked at the window that the trail led up to. He couldn’t get up there, but Patton could.
“He’s in there, but so’s the human,” Patton whispered down. Logan was glad that they both still were invisible
Patton reported back to him, when the human finally left. Patton looked upset at whatever he could see, and Logan was glad that he couldn’t see the state that Roman was in.
Patton used a quick unlocking charm to help with the opening of the window. Logan used a little magic from his staff to make it lighter, and he watched Patton go in to the room
He couldn’t hear most of the conversation
-----
Roman had been right. Everything got worse. With his newly re-broken wings, he absolutely refused to let Virgil touch him, at all.
Virgil didn’t argue as much as Roman thought they would. He could see the guilt on their face when they looked at his wings, but he didn’t feel any sympathy for them.
The first time, it truly had been an accident, but this time, they had been squeezing him, as a warning. That wasn’t as much of an accident as they claimed it was. He made sure not to speak anymore, not wanting them to hurt him again. He still had the bruises from where they squeezed him.
He was starting to get ill, he thought. He was starting to grow ill from captivity, and Virgil didn’t even notice. His wings were still in the early stages of healing, and he had no chance of getting home on his own. His magic was weakening as he sat here, as he stayed in the corner, never moving
Everything that happened after the second breaking was a blur, he thought. All it was was a blur of scaredness, anger, and exhaustion. He hadn’t stood up in two days. All he did was sit down, watch the wall, and occasionally he would quietly sing to himself, though he hadn’t done that recently.
Virgil barely bothered talking to him anymore. He could hear their hesitation when they knocked on his door. They didn’t check the camera as much anymore. It was like they were trying to make it up to him. It wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough, until they let him go. And even then, it had taken months.
He was in pain every time he moved, because of them. He was away from his friends, because of them. He was unable to adventure, because of them. He was exactly in the wrong place, because of them.
They brought him some food in, and they told him that they’d be leaving the house for a while. Visiting friends, Roman thought bitterly.
Once the human had left, Roman heard the noise of a window opening, and he turned towards it in alarm. No one..?
An invisibility spell, he realised, feeling the distinct presence of Logan’s magic. Finally, he thought, seeing Patton fade into view, as he was approaching. Roman placed a hand on the wall and tried to lift himself up, but failed, falling back onto his knees. He looked up at Patton, who smiled down at him
“Hi, Pat,” He said, though his voice was raspy and unused “Did you miss me?”
Patton nodded with tears in his eyes, pulling Roman in for a hug. Roman accepted immediately, so glad to finally have someone to talk to, so glad to finally be going home, so glad that his friends were here
“What happened to your wings?” Patton asked quietly, and Roman looked away
“I... I don’t want to talk about it,” he mumbled, trying not to think about it. He shuddered, remembering how Virgil’s hand had slowly tightened until he was bruised and broken. He closed his eyes, trying to shake the phantom feeling
Patton wiped away a tear that Roman didn’t realise had fallen
“That’s okay, I’m gonna help you up to your feet, and I’m gonna carry you up to the window, is that okay, kiddo?”
Roman nodded
He was finally, finally going home. He was finally getting away from the human. He found himself back on solid ground, the grass under his feet. He stumbled slightly, but Patton steadied him. Logan was out there, looking almost the same as when Roman went missing. The only noticeable difference was that Logan’s wings had become almost overcome with moss, the way they did when he was stressed.
Logan pulled him in for a hug, and Roman complied. The hug was clumsy, Logan didn’t usually hug people. Roman cherished this moment more than any of his swords or daggers
It took a while, but soon he was home. His bed was how he left it, people welcomed him back, though the people at the medbay were not all pleased at the state he was in.
Neither was he, honestly.
It took a year and a half for his wings to completely heal. It took a lot longer for the emotional scars to heal
Sometimes, he did wonder about Virgil, though he tried everything not to.
And Virgil wondered about him. Wondered if he was still living. The human did, in fact, severely regret his actions, though knew better to try seek out the terrified fairy. He would look at the woods sometimes, wonder why they ever ended up in his bag to begin with
Life carried on, despite the events of this story.
Janus, Remus and Logan were (very happily) in a polyamorous relationship. However, to most of the world, Janus and Remus were just a couple. You see, Logan was a borrower; a tiny person that lives in the walls of human houses and steals from those humans in order to survive. And, he’s a secret.
Here’s three close calls and the one time everyone found out about Logan.
1. The time Remus’ brother showed up unannounced
Logan was sitting on the arm of the couch, having a movie date with his boyfriends, when the door slammed open. He quickly gestured to Janus’ pocket, hoping he would understand. Luckily, he nodded and quickly scooped up the borrower and deposited him in the fairly large (to Logan at least) pocket.
“good evening, Roman. Is there a reason you showed up unannounced, or did you just want to ruin our date?” Janus spoke coldly
“oh- I- uh.. I didn’t know you two had a date tonight..” Roman rubbed his neck sheepishly
“us three” Logan corrected under his breath, shifting his position slightly. Unfortunately, Roman seemed to notice the movement from the pocket.
“What’s in your pocket?” He asked hesitantly
Logan stilled and held his breath as Janus answered “why do you want to know?”
Remus was staying silent, not trusting himself to not accidentally let something slip.
“I want to know beca-” he was cut off by Remus
“why are you here Roman?”
That quickly distracted the human “oh! I was just-” he explained why he was there, Logan still forcing himself to be still.
Once the dramatic man had left, the borrower let out an annoyed sigh “you really need to take away his key, so he can’t do this again. It is rather annoying to have to hide every two seconds that Roman shows up unexpectedly”
Remus giggled “and what would we tell him? ‘oh yeah our secret tiny boyfriend doesn’t like it when you burst in randomly so we’re gonna take your key’ I don’t think that would work very well, tiny nerd”
2. Janus’ brother shows up slightly less unannounced than Roman
Janus, Remus and Logan were watching random Youtube videos, with Logan sat on Remus’ shoulder. They heard the door open at the same time as Janus got a text message from his brother, Virgil
Was on a walk and saw your house. Am now in your house :)
Luckily, there was an entrance to the walls right next to where they were sat and Logan practically ran into it, the entrance closing just as Virgil entered the room.
“Virgil, do you have a reason to be here other than being an annoyance?” Janus raised an eyebrow at his younger sibling
“Nope!” Virgil replied with fake cheerfulness, before sitting cross-legged on the floor staring at the other humans. Remus just stared back, but with a slightly more eerie tone to his actions.
Janus just sighed at his boyfriend and his brother. He had no doubt that Logan was watching with an annoyed face that he would deny ever making. Almost everything they tried to do together was interrupted by someone bursting in uninvited, and it was getting tiresome. He heard a faint noise from the walls and by the looks of it Virgil and Remus heard it too.
Logan had gotten into a fight with a (luckily non-venomous) spider, and had just killed it, when he tripped. The impact made him hiss with pain and, unfortunately, made a semi-loud sound on its own. “... what was that?” He heard Virgil ask
Janus and Remus looked at each other for a split second, before Janus shrugged and said that it was probably nothing
“Anyway, emo, if you’re scared and you didnt come here for a reason, you can leave” Remus said, slightly too bluntly.
Virgil, thankfully for Logan, did in fact leave. It was at exactly that moment that the borrower decided that Virgil was better (if only slightly) than Roman
3. The time with Patton
Logan was wandering around the house (its his house and he can do that now that the humans knew about him) when a knock at the door sounded. Suddenly really glad that he stayed near the walls on his walk, he rushed into the closest entrance.
He knew that this would be Patton (he was the only person who ever bothered to knock) but he still couldn’t decide whether this particular human was as good as Virgil or not. He was better than Roman, not as loud (though still pretty loud), and not as keen on staying somewhere that he didn’t own. However, he wasn’t as quiet as Virgil, and had accidentally hurt his ears quite a few times, but at least he knocked instead of bursting in randomly with little to no warning.
He watched from a vent as Remus opened the door
“Heya Remus! Can i come in?” Patton greeted with obviously fake happiness and Logan could see a smile that seemed just a little too forced
“of course, do you want to sit down? I’ll go get Janus” Remus genuinely had no clue what to do, but Janus was slightly better at comforting people. Logan was better at it as well, because he’d bring up facts about why you’re good, but it wasn’t like Logan could comfort Patton..
Janus quickly rushed to the living room, where his best friend was obviously trying to hold back tears.
Logan watched Patton rant about both everything and nothing at the same time, obviously just needing someone to talk to. As much as he hated to admit it, he was still annoyed at the interruption that had forced him into the walls. He couldn’t control what annoyed him, and that in itself was an annoyance. He wanted to sympathise with the human, but did he have to show up right as Logan was finally relaxing? He decided to just randomly do things on the phone his boyfriends had given him. It had been hard to drag to his house in the walls but it made it easier to not get bored and to contact the two humans
4. When everyone (finally) finds out
Logan had had enough. The three humans that didn’t live in the house had all shown up unexpectedly, together. Whilst Logan, Remus and Janus were trying to finally have uninterrupted time together. Of course that’s when they show up Logan thought bitterly. They had showed up for, as they put it, a ‘surprise sleepover’
He glanced at his phone leaning on the wall next to his bed and a thought popped into his head. The humans were bound to find out anyway, if they were to keep bursting in unexpectedly, so why not just tell them?
Logan unlocked his phone, opening Whatsapp and typing out a message
‘tel VIrgl patan and romun to stay were they are. im reveeling mysellf to them. im going throo the enterance on the bukshelf. see yoo soon’
He probably spelt most of it wrong, but he hadn’t exactly gotten taught spelling. All he was taught in regards to reading, was just barely enough to figure out what he was taking and if it was dangerous or not. And he was making a life-changing decision, so he thought that meant he could make as many spelling mistakes as he did, and play it off to nervousness.
Janus and Remus both looked at their phones and paled. What was Logan thinking?! It seemed that the other humans had noticed their uneasiness “what’s wrong? What’s on your phones that is making you react like this??” Virgil asked, worry lacing his tone
“Don’t worry, Vee. It’s nothing bad, it’s just.. unexpected. ...You’ll see, just stay there” Janus soothed his brother
“you two stay there as well” Remus added , getting up and walking towards the bookshelf, Janus soon joining him. They looked at where they knew the entrance was, waiting for it to open.
Roman piped up “uh, care to tell us what is going on?”
“we will, but not yet. We need to wait”
“well, that was ominous..” Virgil commented, seeming slightly nervous
Then, the entrance opened and Logan walked out glaring softly at the shocked humans
“uh, Remus, what the fuck is that?!” Roman practically shouted, reminding Logan just why he was on the bottom of his list of favourites.
“He is our boyfriend, and I expect you to treat him with respect” Janus said, his voice venomous. Remus held out a hand for Logan to climb onto, which the borrower did, still glaring at the other humans (mostly Roman).
“Salutations. I am Logan, do not introduce yourselves, I already know who you are” He spoke before muttering an “unfortunately”
Remus, being the only person close enough to hear the mutter, let out a chuckle “Lo, if you revealed yourself just to complain about them to their faces, this will be hilarious”
The three humans were staring in shock, until Roman snapped out of it “Wait- why would he be complaining? I don’t know about those two, but I am positively amazing!”
Logan scoffed “yeah, amazing. You’re too loud, burst in randomly, and it’s always for the stupidest reasons. You have hurt my ears far too many times to count, and almost every time me, Janus and Remus try to do something together, you show up, and I have to hide or go back to the walls. So, yeah, amazing” He spoke, voice dripping with sarcasm.
He turned to the other two “you two aren’t as bad, but you still manage to show up at some of the worst possible times. Patton, you are quite loud, but not as loud as Roman, so that makes you slightly better. Also, you don’t burst in, and you knock so that’s something good. Virgil, you’re not as loud as these two, which is good, and you always send a text message when you show up, so I have at least a little bit of warning before going into the walls, so you’re both better than Roman” not that that’s saying much he added mentally.
Summary: Virgil, a small and anxious pixie, goes out alone to scavenge for food only to find himself in the hands of a tall and not-so-gentle human intent on bringing him home as a gift to his boyfriends.
Words: 2670
(Warnings: Anxiety, treating people as pets, kidnapping, Character blacking out and other person thinking they died)
-
I stretch my arms as I yawn out, popping my back in the presses. I lean back and use my hands to rub out my sore wings, having slept on them weird. They flutter a bit as I try to wake up, the morning light shining through one of the small windows in my tree home hits them causing flashes of rainbow light to bounce off the walls.
A small smile crosses my face as I pull off the thick gray long sleeved shirt I wear to bed and change into a simple black tunic, the tunic itself being a little loose around the sleeves and neck, not that I really cared.
I walk across my dark hollow I call home, the whole room only being about a foot long and a half in human measurements. Sure it’s small, but I’ve never really liked large spaces, they make me feel overwhelmed.
There is a shard of broken mirror resting against the dark oaken wall, and I glance at myself in its reflection, taking specific notice in my hair that I try to tame with my fingers, not being very successful. I had given my brush to my cousin a few days ago for him to fix, and am yet to get it back from the forest fairy.
“Damn Emile…” I mutter to myself, cursing the kind fairy as I continue to struggle with my hair. The handle had been broken a small while ago, but it still worked its purpose. Which unfortunately wasn’t good enough for my green winged friend.
I don’t have great luck in flattening it down, and only seem to tame it a small amount. A few stray black strands continue to stick out, causing me to let out an annoyed sigh. I also notice a small amount of dark purple peeking out from my roots, reminding me that I need to get Emile to cut and re-dye it for me. I’ve never been too great at things like that, and last time I tried I almost cut my ear off and also left my arms up to my elbows dyed black. It didn’t wash out for a full month, and I got quite the earful from my older cousin, who acts more like my parent.
Always telling me to be careful, avoid humans, elves and other large creatures, never fly into Fae circles, stay out of the rain, remember to eat, and blah blah blah.
He’s way too protective of me, but I guess he has a reason to be, him being a fairy and me being a pixie. It’s easy to tell the difference, since fairies are two inches taller then pixies and it’s a well known fact that pixies are much more fragile than fairies. And much more rare, which is why I live in the middle of a dense forest, while Emile lives a little ways away and has to fly to see me.
I give up on trying to fix my hair and it’s not like anyone is going to see me. But thinking of my older cousin did remind me that I’m almost out of food and water. It rained a few days ago, but almost nothing ever reaches the mossy forest floor through the trees, and whatever did has dried up by now, meaning I have to go out to get supplies.
“Uuuugghhh….” I groan out as I rub my face. I hate leaving my house, I wish I could just stay here forever. But a main reason I picked my home to be here is it’s not too far from a small pond, hidden between some trees. But an even bigger plus is what’s right across the pond, where large berry bushes sprout. They hold all types of berries, making it the perfect spot to get food all year round.
It's secluded enough that no real predators are able to get to it, but just in-secluded enough for me to be able to walk there in about 20-30 minutes. I could fly but that draws too much attention to me, and I prefer walking over flying anyways.
I wish I was a fairy if I’m being honest, like Emile. His wings and body are much larger than mine, as I stand at a small 4 inches while he stands at a whopping 6. His wings are a light green color, looking like butterflies and they allow him to glide through the air instead of mine, which are thin, almost completely see through. They shimmer when light touches them, and they hold thin silver highlights that seem to emphasize their fragility. I always try to tuck them away, knowing of the horror stories of pixies who had gotten caught by humans, their wings torn off and used for jewelry or a collectors item, while they get thrown into a cage to live out the rest of their lives.
Another thing I happen to be jealous of is Emile’s skin tone. He holds a nice peach color that often ends up tanned due to him spending so much of his free time outside with the other creatures of his small section of forest. Pixies are known to be on the paler side, but I am almost sickly pale due to almost never getting sunlight, along with the patches of light and dark purple littering my skin, the most prominent ones being on my forearms and on both sides of my face.
I sigh again, putting on some platform shoes Emile had made me, grabbing a large bag I can throw over my shoulder, along with another bag stuffed inside to hold the water as I get ready to leave the house.
I put a small cloak on as well, using the hood to cover my hair, and to make it easier to camouflage, since I happen to pop out against the brown and lush green environment of the forest.
I use my feet to push up and leap my way up and out of the small room, my wings being open and fluttering slightly to help my balance.
There is one thing that Emile was jealous of me for, and that was the fact that even though pixies aren’t great or fast fliers like fairies, we can jump significantly higher than almost all fairies and on ground we are incredibly fast on our feet, which is another reason I prefer walking to flying.
I jump over the wall of my room and use my wings to lower myself onto the mossy forest floor. I stretch out my wings again before looking up and rubbing my eyes, trying to get used to the bright light coming from above the tree line high above. The sun feels warm against my skin, and it’s only slightly humid.
“I really need to get out more.” I say to myself as I adjust my bag and begin the trek towards the pond. I stick to walking near the trees instead of the few natural open paths, making it easy to leap up incase of any dangerous animals came towards me, and partially because I’m paranoid.
Wouldn’t be the first time somethings tried to eat me….
I continue walking, humming a quiet tune to ease my mind, as I always feel anxious walking outside by myself. I end up being alert the whole time, feeling as though I’m being watched. Of course I’m not being watched and I know that. No sane person would ever just walk into an enchanted forest, everyone knew that. Not to mention where I live is a good way into the forest, miles away from any human or elf towns.
I stop my humming abruptly as I hear a ruffle of leaves above me to the right, and my eyes shoot over to the area immediately. My breath stops as I try to stay as quiet and still as physically possible. After a few minutes of nothing happening, I let out a shaky sigh, allowing my muscles to relax.
It was probably the wind. Or a bird.
I shiver at the thought. Birds are the worst and one of the only predators a pixie can’t just fly away from.
I start speed walking towards the pond. Being by the large open water always calmed my nerves. There were no fish or kelpies and thank god there aren’t any mermaids or any type of aquatic animals living in the deep water for that matter. But I have seen a deer or two around the area, along with the water spirits that inhabit the clear waters. They let me take water as long as I give them something in return, which is normally a berry or two extra I grab from the bush on the other side of the lake. It’s not a lot, but I think they know I can’t carry much as it is.
I see the pond behind some long grass and my face lights up, as my anxiety seems to melt away. I always was at my calmest at the pond and my paranoid nature would be put on hold until I got home.
I smile as I walk towards the body of fresh water coming towards the edge, easily seeing my reflection in the clear surface.
Pixies and fairies can’t exactly swim, and if even a little water gets on our wings we become temporarily grounded and unable to fly. I don’t really worry about that when coming here, I mean, now anyways…
I slowly got over that fear a year or so ago,
I had been giving the water spirits berries in exchange for water for a while at that point, until one day I had gotten frightened and lost my footing causing me to fall straight into the depth below. I thought I was going to drown….
That was until I heard soft, echoing voices and the light above the water became brighter, the next thing I knew I woke up on the grass next to the pond and my satchel filled with fresh water. I made sure to put double the amount of berries into the pond that day…
I pull out my spare bag and unscrew the lid near the top before lowering it into the water and waiting for it to fill.
A few stray ripples in the blue water come towards me, causing small waves against my bag. I smile at it, making small talk. From anyone else’s view it would seem like I’m crazy and talking to myself, but I know that the water spirits appreciate conversation.
Once my bag is full I pull it away from the water and screw on the lid, while thanking the spirits.
I use my cloak to dry off the outside of the pouch before placing my water bag inside my larger bag. Sure it’s heavy, but I don’t have anywhere to be at the moment, so I’ll take my time.
I sigh and begin the tiring trek around the pond. It takes longer than I would like to get to the berry bushes, but the sound of the soft water makes for a quiet and calming walk. Around this time of year, the path to the other side of the pond is extended. While the rain might not make it through the forest where I live, it does here, making the edges of the pond muddy and dangerous.
I walk deeper into the forest, making a big semi circle around the muddy area. I decide to walk deeper, enjoying the fresh air and the small breeze that causes my hood to almost fly off, but I fortunately catch it and pull it back onto my face.
I walk a straight line between a few of the trees, a content smile on my face, while starting to hum quietly to myself again. I close my eyes for a second as I walk, a hand crossing over on the strap of my bag, but when I open them slightly I notice a large dark shadow covering me. I look up quickly to see a large hand coming towards me.
Out of instinct I immediately drop my bag and jump backwards just in time for another hand to rush at me and I barely make it out of the way. I use the hand to push myself into the air, my wings immediately getting to work as I go to fly upwards, trying to put as much distance between me and the stranger.
‘Crap!-’
I don’t get more than a few feet before I narrowly avoid another hand, this one coming at me so quickly that instead of grabbing me, it barely manages to snag my cloak with it’s nail, but it lets out a loud ‘riiiiiiiiiiiip’ that seems to echo out into the otherwise quiet forest.
That momentary distraction is all it takes for the two large hands to harshly cup around me, shadowing me into darkness. Once it grips on I start to struggle, thrashing and screeching in it’s hold, my feet kicking against its palms. This only seems to anger it as its grip tightens to an almost suffocating hold, I whimper as the grip pushes my arms together, my chest feeling like it’s going to explode as tear prick the corners of my eyes.
My wings sting against the calloused hands and I can feel him start to move quickly causing me to bump around against the mini prison, murmurs of someone's voice heard somewhere outside as my vision starts to swim, so I do the only reasonable thing I could think of.
I bite down. Hard.
I draw blood easily and the second the hand opens I launch myself out towards the light ahead of me, adrenaline and fear fueling my movements as I see the hand try to reach out to me before I see it pushing down, taking me with it.
All I see is the hand and the forest floor rushing up to greet me before I’m slammed onto it, the weight of the hand crushing me and knocking the wind out of my chest before everything in sight is covered in black pools and eventually nothing….
-
I groan from my place on the ground, having tripped over my own feet when reaching for the winged mini-person. My boyfriend Logan was always fascinated with fairies so when I saw it just walking around I figured it would make a great ‘I’m-Sorry-I-Accidentally-Lit-The-Bathroom-On-Fire’ gift.
I hadn't expected the thing to bite me though. Or sting me, I don’t know which one it was but it hurts like a bitch. I hope they're not poisonous…. But then again if they are, my boyfriends will have to take care of me….. I shake my head to get rid of the thought, looking around for the little thing that has caused me so much trouble.
I look to where my hand is planted on the ground, and I try to keep it steady as I wipe a bit of dirt that had gotten on my green throw over that Patton had made me bring incase it got cold.
I scoop up the little being with both of my hands in a little pocket, making sure not to crush it and bring it up to my eyes before slowly opening my hands, allowing me to look at it.
I can see it’s pale skin, dark messy hair and clearly ripped cloak, along with some patches of purple throughout their body. But the most striking part are its wings, not like any fairies I’d ever heard of, and once the light catches them they seem to burst with colors…
“Logan is going to love this!” I mutter to myself.
But then I notice something else strange. The once feisty and screeching fairy wasn’t struggling, heck it wasn’t moving at all!
My body jumps when I realize this, and I nearly drop the little person, my eyes widen in panic as I end up blurting out,
He liked to think himself smart, he liked to think himself clever, but he was anything but, currently.
Curiosity had always been his downfall, his failing, his one deadly fault. He would pursue answers to the ends of the earth, fascinated by a world that wasn’t his, that he had been warned time and time again was dangerous, but he hadn’t listened, had he?
And now, well, now his life may as well be over.
It was already fading, the memories of the sea, of ocean water, of slipping between the waves smoothly and sleekly, his pod around him. The pups playing, splashing, sidling up to the dolphins, the braver ones to the whales.
He had thought himself brave, once. But now he knew better. Reckless, that’s what he was, stupidly reckless.
He was cold. Cold was an unusual feeling for him. He’d never known real cold before. His coat always kept him warm.
But his coat was gone, now. Stolen. Just like every story he’d ever been told by his kin, every folktale warning of humans and their greed, he had succumbed to his own hubris.
He wouldn’t leave this beach. This was as close to home as he could get, just far enough away that the water wouldn’t touch him, the spray couldn’t reach him.
It was agony. It was torture. Watching the tide roll in, the gentle lapping of the waves, the spray of the salt, the clouded, windy sky, stretching out across that blue oasis.
He shivered, arms tightening around his middle, curling against himself, salty tears spilling down his face.
It hurt, stars above, it hurt. He could feel them calling to him, begging him to come home, to answer their calls, but he couldn’t, he couldn’t if he wasn’t touching the sea, and he could never touch the sea again.
“Hey! Are you ok? What are you doing out here?” He looked up at the worried voice, meeting green eyes and black hair, with white streaked bangs.
“What do you want?” His voice was flat, empty, exhausted. The stranger furrowed his brow, confused.
“I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re barely wearing any clothes, sitting on the beach when a thunderstorm is rolling in, in the middle of autumn. Do you have a death wish, or something?”
“maybe. I haven’t quite decided yet, if it is better to die now or slowly waste away pining for the sea. Or perhaps my owner,” he spat the word, bitter on his tongue, “will find me and the last of my memories will fade until I have nothing left but an empty, yearning, desperate desire for something I can no longer name.” The stranger stared at him for a long moment, taking him in.
He was wearing ragged shorts, no shirt or shoes or anything else. His hair was smooth and silky, despite his constant exposure to salt water. His face was sharp and angular, what he supposed humans considered breathtakingly handsome, with his large, dark brown eyes and perfectly tanned skin. He supposed that’s what had got him into this mess in the first place.
He doubled over, clutching his head as a resounding, echoing cry keened through his mind, and he shot to his feet, barely restraining himself from rushing into the water, eyes wide and breaths heaving.
“no. No! I’m here! I’m right here, I’m not lost! PLEASE!” He screamed at the waves, knowing they couldn’t hear him, knowing they wouldn’t hear him, ever again.
Leaving him. They were leaving him. They were giving him up, they were migrating to new waters, they were marking him as lost, and the worst part was, as much as he hated it, as much as it tore him to pieces, they were right.
It was only logical. He had come ashore and not come back within 24 hours. It was too dangerous for anyone else to come ashore and search, not when they didn’t know what had happened, not when he might have been discovered, not when there could be others waiting.
Selkie coats sold for quite a fortune, after all.
So did the selkies they were attatched to.
He let out a harsh sob, would have collapsed to the ground if the stranger hadn’t caught him, lowered him gently to the sand.
He was doomed. His connection to the sea would grow weaker, his connection to his coat stronger, until he was forced, compelled, to go to it, to go to his master, to obey his orders.
And everyone knew what happened to selkies whose coats were stolen. Everyone knew what humans wanted with the alluring, beautiful, mysterioius sea folk.
Yet another loss, to shatter him, break him, soon his body, and worse, his mind, would no longer be his own. He was owned. Like a thing, like a toy, like a doll. Just the thought made him ill, truly, throwing himself into the sea and dissolving into the foam was the best possible option.
He was freezing. Or he thought he was. He was so cold he didn’t even feel cold anymore, a pleasant, fuzzy warmth filling him, as cold droplets began to fall from the sky. Each one left him feeling slick and slimy, like swimming through oil. It left him feeling dirtier than before, and he shuddered at the feel of it, bile rising in his throat.
The stranger was saying something, he thought. He couldn’t hear him over the buzzing in his ears, the cotton filling his head with fear/panic/pain/despair/longing. It was too much, it was too cold, it was too futile, and his brain shut down before he could drive himself further to madness.
…
Swimming. The water parts around him, as he swims. There’s a voice, calling him onwards, pulling him towards it. It sings with power, it glows with warmth, with the promise of all the answers he’s ever searched for, all the knowledge he could ever wish for, and he drives his tail faster through the water, towards the light.
Then it turns cold. Ice wraps around him, the water freezing, he can’t reach the surface, he can’t breathe, he’s running out of air. He thrashes, trying to escape the chains he can feel, dragging him down, words echoing through the water.
“Come to me.” Burns, it burns, he won’t, he can’t, he-
His eyes flew open and he let out a strangled cry of pain, squeezing his eyes closed and counting his breathes, shoving and fighting that voice until it abated, faded away into nothing, and he pulled his knees to his chest, hugging them tight, still shaking from the call.
It was so strong, already. So hard to resist, though he had been asleep, which made it more difficult to fight, but still. How long until it was completely enthralling? How long until he lost himself forever?
With another jolt of panic, he realized he wasn’t on the beach anymore. There had been a blanket draped around him, he was on a couch, in a house, and he felt his pulse speed. Had he already been caught? Were they just keeping him captive until his owner arrived? He had to fight, he had to think, he had to do something!
He looked around the room, a coffee table sat in front of him, a bookshelf against the wall, photos sitting on a shelf, an entertainment set with a television, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing he could use.
He froze as he heard footsteps, eyes dilating, and he bared his slightly too sharp teeth, hissing a warning as the human came into view. His hands were held in the air, and he took a step back, eyes lowered to the ground. Everything about his body language screamed I am not a threat, I don’t want to hurt you, and despite himself, he let his guard down. It was the stranger from the beach.
“You stopped hissing. Does that mean you’re not gonna bite me?” That got a small laugh out of him, the innocence and pure curiosity in the human’s tone.
“I am not. Why am I here?” He asked, uneasiness churning in his gut.
“Well, you passed out on the beach, and it looked like you had hypothermia, your lips were turning blue, seriously freaked me out, so I had to get you indoors and warmed up. We’re at my apartment, right now. My friend is also here, but, um, we decided it was best I come talk to you, since you already kinda knew me.” Well meaning, then. “I would have called someone, for you, but you didn’t have an id or anything, so, we were just waiting for you to wake up.” And considerate. Not intent on keeping him hostage then, that was a relief. Not that it mattered much.
“So… you’re a selkie, yeah?” He shot to his feet at that question, teeth bared again, fists clenched, eyes flashing as he backed up against the wall, so no one could get the drop on him. How did he know that? Had he gotten him wrong? Was he just holding him here until his owner arrived? How else would he know?
“Remus! What did you do?!” He whipped his head as a new person appeared in the doorway, growl dying on his throat as he saw the new stranger. Dark violet eyes, pitch black hair, dark shadows around his eyes, pale and lanky.
A Night Sylph. A spirit of air, tied to darkness, helping to bring the night and protecting the creatures of it. He himself may not be a creature of air, but a Sylph wouldn’t allow anything to harm a mythical, not if they hadn’t acted against his creatures first.
“I apologize. I did not realize your friend was a Sylph. Not many humans could identify a Selkie, much less one without their coat. I was afraid…” He trailed off, unable to bring himself to say the words aloud, his shoulders slumping and hands relaxing, as he felt the Sylph’s concerned eyes on him, gaze softening.
“it was stolen.” The sylph said softly, not a question, but he nodded anyways, unable to speak past the lump in his throat, eyes watering again. “how long?” He took a shaking breath.
“36 hours and counting. My pod is already moving on. I give myself another 12 to 18 hours, before I have no choice but to go to Him.” He whispered, the sorrow washing through him nearly drowning him.
“That is not going to happen. We are not going to let that happen.” His eyes shot up, the Sylph’s voice fiery, his eyes glowing with his determination and fierceness. The human nodded, hand slipping into the Sylph’s, eyes just as hard and cold.
“We’re gonna find that coat. We’re gonna find that little bitch, and I’m gonna beat the shit out of him, for even daring to lay a hand on it.” His mouth was agape, looking between the two, confused, but feeling a small bubble of hope start to build in his chest.
“why?” his voice is so small, but he doesn’t have it in him to be any louder.
“Because it’s wrong! It’s slavery, and it’s hurting you, and it’s cruel.” The human replies, and the Sylph smiled at him softly.
“I’m Virgil. This idiot is Remus.” Virgil said, bumping Remus’s shoulder lightly, Remus rolling his eyes.
“Logan. You can call me Logan.” Virgil nodded, carefully coming just a bit closer as he looked over Logan.
“Why don’t we sit down, and you can tell us what you remember. That’ll give us somewhere to start.” He nodded, sinking into an armchair, knees once again pulled to his chest.
“Do you want anything to drink? Or eat?” Remus asked. He shook his head, and Remus sat on the edge of the couch, Virgil perching on the arm of it. Eating anything now would just make him sick, his stomach was so tied in knots he could barely breathe properly.
“I… it’s blurry. I was in town. I was in… in a park. I like to look at the plants, at the trees. I had my coat with me, obviously, I can’t go anywhere without it. It was wrapped around my shoulders, like a shawl. Then… then suddenly it wasn’t. Someone grabbed it, from behind me. I was stunned, I tried to chase, I only got a look from behind. Light hair… tall, I… he looked at me. Eyes, mismatched eyes. He didn’t try and take me, he knew he didn’t need to. Knew I would be forced to come to him, now that I’m stuck on land.” He shivered, remembering the glint in the man’s eyes, the smug smile on his face.
“What happens? If you go back to the water without your coat?”
“Remus!” Virgil hissed, but a wry smile crossed his face.
“I… die. I dissolve, into the ocean, into the waves, into nothing. As if I never existed. Not… not the worst option, truly. At least then I’d be home.”
“no. Logan, that is not going to happen. You won’t have to make that decision.” He flinched at the hand on his shoulder, looking up at Remus’s soft, kind eyes.
“We’re gonna find him, Lo. I promise.” He simply nodded. He knew the probability of them retrieving his coat in time was low, but he was willing to let them try. He didn’t have any other choice.
“I can tell it hasn’t left town. That’s all I know.” Virgil hummed in thought.
“Well, you got a fair description of him, not that many people have heterochromia. And we know he knew what you were, so it’s someone with knowledge of mythicals. Probably a collector, or someone who works for them. That narrows it down quite a bit. I’ll go scope things out, find a likely area. You’ll be able to feel it, if it’s close, yeah?” Virgil asked, and he nodded once more. “cool. Remus, stay with him. I’ll be back soon.”
“What should I do?” Logan asked, and Virgil softened further.
“Try and get some more rest. You’re still exhausted, and it’s only going to get worse the longer you’re away from the water. Build up strength now, while you can.” He didn’t think he’d be getting much rest, not with the fear and anxiety filling his every pore, but he acquiesced anyway.
“Are you cold?” Remus murmured, feeling his forehead. He let out a harsh laugh.
“I’m always cold, without my coat. Nothing else feels… right, or warm, everything else itches or scratches or…” He trailed off in frustration, raking his hand through his hair, surprised as Remus slid into the chair next to him, before pulling him onto his lap, wrapping his arms around him.
He was warm, stars above, Remus was warm, and he couldn’t help himself, as he melted into the touch, warmth surrounding him for the first time in what seemed like forever.
He didn’t understand, why it was so easy to surrender himself to this human, didn’t know why he felt safe, why it warmed him so deeply from the inside out, when so recently he had been irrevocably wounded by a human. He didn’t have the energy to care, though an answer niggled in the back of his brain.
Something about Remus being so passionate, barely knowing him, yet reading him as easily as a favorite book, the way he was so willing to fight for him, the way he didn’t for a moment seem to hesitate, in anything that he did.
He didn’t know him. Barely knew him for more than five minutes. But he’d somehow never felt more right.
“This better?” Remus whispered in his ear, and he let out a small hum of agreement, eyes fluttering shut as the warmth brought out the overwhelming ache for sleep in his bones.
Remus looked up in time to catch the small smile on Virgil’s face. Virgil saw him looking and shot him a thumbs up, before quietly vanishing out the door, a wisp of soft fog against the air as he shifted into his ethereal form.
…
The beach. Water lapping on the shore, sun shining warm and bright. He can hear his pod, off in the distance, can see the pups’ heads popping up through the water, splashing and playing. He calls out to them, wading into the water.
He swims towards them, but the faster and harder he swims, the thicker the water seems to get, the darker the sea becomes around him, his family vanishing into the distance. He tries to call out, but his voice is locked in his throat.
He can’t breathe. He is choking on the water, it is filling his lungs, it is dragging him down, blackness surrounding him as he sinks into the depths. He claws at the water around him, he screams, bubbles leaking from his mouth as his mind goes fuzzy.
“Come now, little pup. Stop resisting. You’ll feel so much better, once you just give in.” The voice is smooth and silky, sweet and warm as honey. He shouldn’t listen, he knows he shouldn’t listen, but he can’t quite remember why.
“That’s right, lovely. Come home-“
“Logan!”
He jolted awake, heart racing, unsure where he was, what was happening. He was pinned to the floor, wrists held down, and for a moment he thrashed, panic blinding him, before the soft tone cut through his haze, and he relaxed, head thumping back against the floor, tears forming in his eyes.
“Logan?” Virgil, from the doorway, he heard the door close. He must’ve just gotten back. Remus’s face came into view above him.
“You back with us?” He nodded, and Remus carefully released his hold on his wrists, supporting him as he helped him sit up. Instantly, Logan took stock of the scratches on Remus’s arms, the four bleeding cuts across his cheek, and he buried his head in his hands, shoulders shaking.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t…” He broke off, sighing raggedly.
“He was calling you. You couldn’t help it, Lo.” Virgil said softly, resting a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry.” He whispered again, feeling Remus wrap his arms around him.
“It’s not your fault. You scared me, more than anything. I could tell you weren’t… you. You were trying to leave, I had to grab you, and you just started clawing at me. Caught me off guard, but I’ve had worse than this, trust me.” He half laughed at that, the panic starting to settle into something a bit more tolerable.
“Did you find anything?” He asked, wiping at his eyes, looking up at Virgil, who pursed his lips.
“I think so. Rumors, an old warehouse, downtown. Strange noises, strange lights, nothing confirmed, but I did a quick flyby, I didn’t go close, Remus,” Virgil commented at Remus’s stern glance, “Just enough to get a sense, and there was a faint spell around it, to divert attention. Just enough to make it uninteresting to any humans, who don’t already know what to look for, anyway.” Logan got to his feet, a bit wobbly. The overwhelming need for the ocean was pounding in his pulse, pain in his chest, and it took a moment to steady himself against it.
“Let’s go, then. What are we waiting for?” He asked.
“Logan, pal, you’re in no shape for a raid.” He shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter. Any longer and I will not be able to resist the next call. That one was so strong, I have a few hours, at most, before I will be completely incapacitated. And you can bet you won’t be able to find it without me, he will have hidden it, somewhere, hidden it well, if he’s smart. It is now or never, as I believe your saying goes.” He sounded more sure than he felt. A slight ache was pounding at his head, and he felt slightly dizzy, a bit off kilter, but he couldn’t let that stop him. This was their best chance, their only chance.
Virgil and Remus exchanged a glance, a silent conversation held in their eyes, but after a few moments, Remus nodded and Virgil sighed. Logan was right, and they both knew it.
“Alright. Let’s do this.”
…
His pulse raced as he stared at the unassuming building. He could feel it, feel it, feel it. He couldn’t look away even if he wanted, eyes trained on the doors.
“Here?” Virgil asked lowly. He nodded, hands shaking with anticipation. It was close, it was so, so close.
Carefully, they snuck around the side of the building, managing to find an unlocked window. It was a tight fit for Remus, but Logan was slender enough he slid through easily, and Virgil simply flowed inside in his noncorporeal form.
They landed with soft thumps inside the darkened warehouse, and instantly, they froze at a soft, bell like sound.
“Kiddos, what are you doing here? Run!” A small, musical voice hissed at them. They turned their heads, surprised to see a small birdcage sitting by the window, a tiny, winged figure clutching at the bars, giving off a soft blue glow. Virgil’s eyes widened, and he was instantly examining the cage, biting his lip as he assessed the lock.
“Don’t worry, Spriggan. I’ll have you out in a jiffy.” Virgil murmured, eyes deepening in their violet glow, as air swirled around the lock. His gaze intensified, the air around him almost buzzing. Then the lock popped open.
The sprite gasped softly as Virgil opened the cage door, fluttering to the edge, almost hesitant to step outside.
“It’s ok. I promise.” Virgil whispered, and the sprite fluttered out, a quiet, disbelieving laugh ringing out as he flew a few laps around Virgil’s head, before settling on his nose and hugging his forehead as far as his tiny arms could reach.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you, Sylva. But you have to go! You have to leave, now, before he-“
“Finds you? Please, Patton, I knew they were here from the moment they stepped inside.” Instantly, the sprite was gone, buzzing out the window as fast as his wings would carry him, leaving the three to spin around and face the darkness alone.
Logan gasped, icy fear plunging into his heart as he met those gold and brown eyes, that arrogant smirk.
“Give it back. Now.” Virgil growled, and the figure laughed, a dangerously soft sound.
“As if you are in any position to bargain. You did just cost me my Sprite. Though I suppose a Sylph is a fair trade, an upgrade, even.” He mused. Virgil hissed, eyes flashing as he shifted incorporeal, a dark splash of smoke as he swirled up and away.
“As if you could catch me.” The stranger’s smile widened.
“Oh, you do amuse me. I think you will be a new favorite of mine. I will enjoy watching you struggle.” He snapped, and golden light flared to life around him, golden strings unspooling from his fingers, twisting and turning through the air. Virgil dodged and weaved, avoiding the threads that were spiderwebbing through the rafters, slowly closing in on him.
Remus growled, and charged at the man, who lithely stepped out of the way, as he stumbled past him. He felt something coil around him, sending him falling, and he looked up to see a huge, hissing golden serpent wrapping tight around his body. He jolted as Virgil cried out, and he saw him falling through air, landing hard on his back on the ground, gold thread squeezing around him. Then the snake bit into his neck, and the world blurred.
“Remus!” Logan lunged towards him, halting mid step at the soft glimmer he caught in the corner of his eye, slowly turning to face the sorcerer, eyes locked on the soft fur coat held in his hands.
It shimmered, gray and black, smooth and silky, and for a moment, Logan could feel the ocean around him, could see the endless waves, could taste the salt, could feel the cool relief of water.
“There now, little pup. Isn’t that better?” He purred. Logan couldn’t breathe. His heart was frozen in his chest, he couldn’t even bring himself to blink, the want, the overwhelming need filling his soul, his very being. Slowly, despite himself, he nodded.
“Logan… no…” a voice begged weakly. Distantly, he thought he knew that voice, but his coat was all he could see, the gold and brown imprinting into his soul, and his whole being relaxed, putty in his veins.
“Now, lovely, why don’t you come with me?” Emptily, he nodded, following the sorcerer’s directions, his hand on the small of his back guiding him into a small, dark, room, and he passively sat. His mind was fuzzy, soft, barely aware. Something was wrong, something was very wrong, but the feeling flowed over his head, lost in the heady buzz filling his chest.
Dimly, he felt something cold clamping around his ankles, felt something hard clamp around his wrists. He whimpered, trying to move, but a voice shushed him.
“None of that, now, darling.” A hand caressed his cheek, tilting his chin up to meet gold and brown. They stopped his breath, they sucked him in, and he was drowning in those hypnotizing pools, slumping weakly back against the wall. “Wonderful. Oh, you are a pretty one, aren’t you?” He felt those hands turning his chin, examining him, before stepping away with a dark chuckle. Logan’s head fell back against the wall, eyes blurred and unseeing, mind empty and buzzing with soft, hazy warmth. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about a thing, lovely. Jussst sssleeep.” His eyes fluttered shut, the man's voice echoing softly through his mind, recognizing dimly the feel of a spell weaving into him, taking him into a dark, empty oblivion. He didn’t hear the door shut, the lock turn, didn’t notice the pure black darkness of the room. He didn’t notice or feel or think anything. Not anymore.
…
Virgil was dying. Or he thought he was. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t… there wasn’t any air, he couldn’t live without air, he was air, it was his being, he needed it. He gasped in a choking breath, managing to raise his head just enough to see. He was in a large, glass cylinder. He could see a grate at the top, could feel it, it was a vacuum, he was trapped in a vacuum, he was helpless, he was defenseless, he was trapped.
Roman. He could see Roman, through the glass. He was tied to a chair, he could see the sorcerer circling him, taunting him, if he had to guess, and he tried to do anything, tried to get to his feet, but he only succeeded in falling to his hands and knees, dizzy and gasping and consciousness fading, but he couldn’t, he couldn’t leave Remus to this mess all on his own.
But it felt like a thousand pounds of rocks sitting on his chest, it felt like the weight of a mountain pressing down on him, and he weakly clawed at his throat, desperate for air, any air, as his vision flickered, dimming.
Then, suddenly, shattering glass. He wheezed in a desperate breath, kneeling on broken glass, barely getting his bearings as another lungful of air filled him with power.
He didn’t have time to wait. He shot to his feet, eyes flashing electric violet, form dissolving and coalescing into a menacing, flashing cloud of angry black, shadows growing throughout the room, darkening everything. A low growl rumbled, like thunder, and then the room was filled with crackling, sizzling lightning.
…
Roman woke tied to a chair. He groaned, a bit surprised to be waking at all. He had thought for sure that snake was going to kill him.
“Hello there, dearie. Pleasure to meet you properly.” He hissed, struggling against the rope, glaring as those eyes came into view, the man leaning casually on the arms of the chair, too close in his space.
“What do you want?” He spat, not ceasing his struggle, even as the stranger tutted, tilting the chair back on its back legs as he circled it.
“You see, I was going to kill you. Just a human, just in my way, too much care and desperation to stop chasing me, not when I have your little pets.”
“They aren’t my pets. They’re my friends.” The man just chuckled, slamming the chair back down on all four legs, causing him to bite his tongue so hard he tasted blood.
“But then I realized something. You are not the simple human you appear to be, are you?” He froze, breathe catching, before his defiant mask slid back into place.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The man tutted again, grabbing his chin and forcing himself to stare into those eyes.
“Liar, liar, little changeling. Why didn’t they want you, I wonder? Stunted growth? Crippled limb? Ah,” He snapped, “Crippled magic.” Remus winced, jerking his chin out of his hold, glaring at the ground. “Bit touchy, are we?”
“Fuck off.” He looked up, and spat directly into that smug face, enjoying immensely the expression of pure shock and outrage that twisted his lips as he wiped away the bloody spit.
“Oh, you will pay for that.” Then the room exploded in lightning.
“-us! Remus!” He groaned, slowly blinking his eyes open, blinking again as a soft glow of blue buzzed across his vision.
“Virg? What… what happened?” Virgil rubbed the back of his head, shooting him a sheepish grin as he helped him sit up.
“Got a little heated. Lightning went a bit haywire. Gave you a good shock, on accident.”
“How did you get out? And I thought you left us!” Remus accused, getting dizzy as he tried to track the sprite’s nervous fluttering.
“He left to go get help. Something you should have done before charging into a trap!” Remus groaned, looking up as someone reached out their hand, helping pull him to his feet.
“Really, Patton? You had to go get him?”
“You’re lucky he did! What were you thinking, Ree?” He shrugged, meeting the identical face of Roman, his changeling counterpart, the human that had been taken in his place and grown up with everything he should have had, should have been. Which, turns out, wasn’t actually all that great, so he supposed he actually kinda owed Roman.
Still, by the time they’d met, they’d both spent more time in each other’s realms than their own. Roman was more fae than human, and Remus was more human than fae, so they decided to keep their roles, their homes they’d made for themselves. They hadn’t even known what they were, until their early teens.
“we couldn’t wait for you. He’s a Selkie, Ro, we didn’t have time.” Roman softened a bit at the distress of Remus, sighing.
“you panicked. I get that, Remus, I do. It just… scared me. Seeing Virgil like that, seeing you…” Roman trailed off, shaking his head, wry smile on his lips. Remus’s eyes widened, gaze flying through the room, skating over the sorcerer, who was now bound to an upright support beam with shimmering, nearly invisible thread. Faery thread. There were very few things that could break it, certainly nothing the sorcerer had on hand. He didn’t care.
“Logan. Where…” His eyes locked on a door, and he sprinted over to it, growling as he tried the handle, finding it locked. He didn’t wait for Virgil to pop it, instead he kicked it with all his might, sending the door slamming open.
“Remus!” Virgil hissed, appearing at his side, but he barely noticed, instead falling to his knees, Logan filling his entire vision, fury clouding his mind at the chains shackling his wrists and ankles to the floor.
“Get them off.” He hissed, unsure who he was even talking to.
“Virgil, you’ll have to do it. They’re enchanted against magical meddling.” It took Virgil longer than normal to pop the locks, the enchantment making them a bit trickier to handle, but finally, they were all removed, and Remus carefully pulled Logan onto his lap.
“Logan… wake up, please.” He gently shook Logan’s shoulder, but the Selkie remained limp and still as a corpse. His face was too pale, his breathing deep and slow. He brushed back Logan’s hair, frowning at the warmth of his forehead, realizing too his skin was dry, flaking.
“he won’t wake up. He’s sick.” He looked helplessly up at Roman and Patton, who was sitting on Roman’s shoulder, wings fluttering nervously.
“We need to find his coat. Now.” Virgil muttered. Remus stood, still cradling Logan, snarling as he entered the main room, eyes aflame as he glared at the sorcerer, who was now awake, eyes glinting with almost amusement.
“What did you do to him?” He snarled, spitting, mere inches away. The sorcerer simply smirked.
“Whatever do you mean, little changeling?” Remus growled, would have punched him, if he wasn’t holding Logan in his arms, then Virgil was at his side, carefully moving him back, getting in his line of sight.
“Logan-“ Virgil shook his head.
“I know. But we will handle it. You and Patton go take care of him.” Remus hesitated, but his shoulders slumped and he nodded.
“alright. Just kill him for me, won’t you?” a ghost of a smile flitted across Virgil’s face.
“Oh, we’ll do one better. We’ll make him wish he were dead.”
…
Roman turned to face the sorcerer, hands clasped behind him, Virgil leaning against the wall in the shadows, still shaky.
“I believe I’ve heard of you. You’re a freelancer for ‘collectors’.” He spat the word, ash in his mouth. “Deceit, I believe you go by.” The sorcerer’s smirk didn’t drop, but something wary shifted in his eyes. “Usually you’re more careful than this, to my knowledge you’ve never been caught in the act, before tonight.” That seemed to hit a nerve, Deceit’s eyes narrowed.
“How many creatures have you ‘caught’? Torn away from their homes and condemned to torture and captivity and slavery? They have homes, they have families, they’re people!” Virgil spoke up, eyes electric, each word crackling.
“It you protected them better I wouldn’t be able to catch them.” Virgil recoiled, then surged forwards, flying around Deceit’s head so fast all the oxygen was sucked out of the air.
He finally pulled back, coalescing next to Roman, satisfaction rushing through him as the sorcerer coughed, wheezing in breaths.
“Where is his coat?” Virgil demanded, meeting Deceit’s glare with his own.
“Why don’t you ask your little selkie, hmm? Poor thing can’t find it? Oh, that’s right,” he snapped, “you can’t. And nothing you do will change that.” Roman’s eyes flashed, and the string tightened, causing Deceit to hiss in pain as the sharp strands cut through his skin. “You don’t even know what you have, do you? For all your self importance, you really are an idiot. Nothing in the world will make me give up that coat.” The strings dug in deeper, beads of red leaking through the torn fabric of his clothes, slicing through flesh like butter.
“Explain.” Virgil hissed. Deceit rolled his eyes, not saying a word.
“Fine. Hard way then. Virgil, tear this place apart. I’ll tear his mind apart. If there’s one good thing about being raised by seers, it’s this.” Before Deceit could move, Roman had pressed his hands to each of Deceit’s temples, mind foccused on one thought only. “See.”
…
“Well?” Remus asked, looking down at Patton, who was kneeling on Logan’s forehead, hands glowing softly. The sprite slumped back on his knees, exhausted.
“I can tell it’s a spell, some kind of sleep spell. It’s strong, too, nothing I can crack, but nothing that explains why he’s sick like this. Selkies don’t get sick like this, no matter how far from the water they are. I don’t know, I’m sorry.” Carefully, he scooped Patton up in his hand, setting him down on his shoulder.
They were sitting in the back of the van, Logan laid out across the backseat, his head resting in Remus’s lap as he nervously ran his hands through Logan’s hair. He didn’t understand, Logan had been relatively fine just a few hours ago, now he was burning up under his hands.
His eyes shot up at the sound of the door opening, gaze flickering between Roman’s sympathetic brown eyes and Virgil’s thin lipped stare.
“did you get it? Please, please, tell me you got it.” Roman wordlessly handed him a soft, silky seal pelt. Remus nearly sobbed in relief, wrapping it around Logan like a blanket, stroking his cheek.
“wake up, wake up, wake up.” He whispered, almost a prayer, searching Logan’s face for any sign of movement.
“remus. He’s a direct descendant of Sedna. That’s why he’s ill. He literally cannot survive on land. He’s… he’s dying.”
“Then let’s go! What are we waiting for?” He demanded. Roman and Virgil exchanged a look, one that he didn’t miss, sadness and something soft in their eyes.
“We’re too far from the ocean. We won’t get there in time.” A sob clawed its way out of Remus’s throat, and he shook his head.
“NO! No, we promised him we’d get him home, we promised him! So get in the car and FUCKING DRIVE!” He screamed, tears streaming down his cheeks.
“Remus-“
“Just do it. Please. We still have a chance, there’s still a chance.” He pleaded.
“Even if we get him back, we have no way to break the spell. He won’t survive.” Remus glared up at Virgil through watery eyes.
“We’re not going to just do nothing! Now get in and drive or I’ll do it myself.” Remus hissed. Virgil and Roman exchanged another glance, and Patton patted his neck in sympathy, but they complied without another word.
…
Logan was shaking. Chills wracked his body, and he was heaving in raspy, unsteady breaths. Sweat covered his hair, sticking to his forehead, and his face was paling even further, as the life drained out of him one breath at a time.
“Come on, Lo. Just hold on, just hold on for me.” He murmured, trying to keep his own voice steady and reassuring, trying to keep his own panic from swallowing him whole.
“We’re here.” Virgil breathed out, the car jolting to a stop, Roman not having bothered with the parking lot, pulling directly onto the sand, as far as he could. Instantly, Remus bolted to his feet, oh so gently lifting Logan into his arms, bolting for the water, tucking his coat tightly around him.
His shaking had stopped. As Remus ran, he realized Logan’s shaking had stopped, he couldn’t feel him breathing anymore, he couldn’t feel his heartbeat. They were nearly there, nearly to the water, he couldn’t die now, they were so close, surely he was still holding on.
He gasped at the shock of cold water, not stopping until he was up to his knees, Logan floating in the water before him, his arms holding him so his head was above the surface.
“Logan… come on, please, Logan, please, wake up, wake up, you stupid seal!” He shouted, tears streaming down his face at Logan’s lifeless form, limp and still, head lolling with the waves.
“Remus… he’s gone…” Patton, he had darted out to Remus had settled on his shoulder once more, looking back to Virgil and Roman, who were waiting on the shore. Another sob tore from his throat, and he shook his head, pulling Logan close, burying his face in the selkie’s soft hair.
“no. nononono we got him home! He can’t… he can’t… he can’t just steal my heart and then die before I can tell him, he can’t just leave, he can’t!” Remus sobbed, shoulders shaking, wishing for all the world Logan would open his eyes. He would give anything, for Logan to open his eyes.
“would you, child of fae, human in nature? Your kind are cruel, cold. What would you truly give, to bring him back?” He didn’t look up at the softly accented woman’s voice. He knew, some part of him knew.
Sedna. Goddess of the sea, mother of all of its creatures, guardian and vengeful spirit of the ocean and all of its depths. Logan’s biological mother.
“anything. I would give anything.” He whispered, meeting her deep, infinite dark eyes, that sparkled with all the mystery of the darkest deepest depths. He saw his own sorrow reflected ten fold there, though her gaze hardened as he met her unfathamoble eyes.
“Choose your words carefully, mortal fae.” His breath caught. He’d spent enough time around Roman, around other mythicals, to know that tone, that careful wording.
“What do I have to do? What do you need from me?” He asked, and the goddess actually hesitated, almost taken aback by his intensity. She held out her arms, and relunctantly, he let her take him.
“oh, my heart, my soul, my babe. What have they done to you?” She murmured softly, kissing Logan’s forehead. “but even still…” she gathered herself, looking up at Remus, something softer in her eyes now, a desperate sort of hope. “A life. Willingly given, willingly gifted. Only then can you hope to find him.” Remus let out a low chuckle, though it lacked any mirth.
“You had me worried there. For a second I thought it might be hard.” He met her eyes, once more, drowning in them, a soft smile tinging his lips. “My life, huh? It’s not much of one, I’m afraid, but you can have it. Willingly and no regrets. Not… not if it gives us a chance.” Sedna nodded once. He didn’t have time to even hold his breath, before he was pulled beneath the waves.
“NO!” Virgil screamed, as Remus was pulled under, in an instant swirling out to Sedna, his form blurred as he hovered above the waves.
“This is not of your business, Sylph.” She stated, not looking away from Logan, and Virgil hissed.
“Like hell, it isn’t.” She looked up at that, eyes sharp but sympathetic.
“It was his choice to make. If his love is pure, they will both come back to us. Have some faith.”
“If it isn’t two innocent lives were lost today.” He growled,
“Innocent lives are lost every second, Sylph. At least this has the chance of righting a wrong.”
…
He is sinking. He can just barely see a faint halo of light, but it is far, far, far above, and fading fast.
Where is he?
He tries to remember, tries to wrack his brain, for what this dark, endlessly sinking abyss could be, but the farther from the light, the blurrier it all gets.
There’s something important, he should be doing. Yes, there was something urgent, something he was looking for, but it is hazy now, and he doesn’t know what it is or was.
He doesn’t know who he is.
That should be worrying, but it isn’t. Not here. Here, it feels inconsequential. Everything seems small and meaningless, and he thinks he would be perfectly content to drift down and down and down in this darkness for eternity, thinking of everything and nothing, letting the darkness swallow him until what’s left of his awareness fades.
But something pulls at him. Something forces him to open his eyes, to take a deep breath, something he’s surprised to find he can do underwater. Or, he thinks he’s underwater. For the first time, he looks around.
He’s surprised to see shapes, in the darkness. Some have outlines of color, just faintly flickering, some are gray, and fade in front of his eyes, but all are drifting listlessly, down and down, and somehow he knows that the deeper they go, the more they fade, until nothing is left.
That sends a jolt of panic through him.
Logan. He has to find Logan.
He doesn’t know quite who that is, but the name lights something inside him, and though it takes all the will in his body, he forces his limbs to move. He forces himself to swim downwards, searching, searching, searching-
There! A faint flicker, a faint something, that tugs him closer. It was so dark, he could barely see where he was going, but he didn’t let up for a moment, not when his lungs began to burn, not when he felt his limbs start to go numb, not when he could see the outline of himself flickering in and out, his mind going hazy.
He pushed forwards, and suddenly he was there, grabbing onto the ethereal form of Logan, pulling him close, and without thinking, he pressed their lips together, exhaling all of his air into Logan’s lungs, breathing all of his own life into Logan, his eyes slipping closed as Logan’s dark ones flew open, his surprised gasp inhaling the last of Remus’s air, and the world blurred, his outline fading quickly to gray, and his last thought was the hope that Logan would live enough life for the both of them.
…
Remus gasped, coughing, heaving in huge breath after huge breath, vision blurred from tears, every part of him sore and aching as he choked on the air.
“Remus.” His eyes jerked up, and he met deep browns, that perfect, beautiful face, and Logan reached out, cupping his cheek, wiping away the tears slipping down his face, as he let out a small, desperately happy laugh. Then he leaned forwards, crushing their lips together, feeling Logan melt into his touch, hands tangling in his hair, and even after their lips parted, Remus didn’t let go, nuzzling against Logan’s hair, silent tears still falling.
“how… what…” he whispered, unable to form the words he was looking for. How was he alive, how was he here, how was Logan here, how had he lived, when he’d given his entire soul to breathe life back into Logan.
“You love me.” Was the somewhat awed, somewhat small answer from Logan, and he pulled back slightly, just enough to meet his eyes, a smile dancing across his lips.
“yes. I love you, Logan.” He replied, somehow melting even more at the soft, adoring gaze Logan was bestowing upon him, his lips quirked at the corners in a small smile.
“You were willing to give your life for mine. Even if you couldn’t live to live with me, even though I would gain everything and you would lose all, you would still have given it freely. That intent, was enough. It was a test, of sorts. And you passed, Remus.” Logan intertwined their fingers, and Remus couldn’t help it anymore as a desperate, relieved sob shook his frame as he fell into Logan’s arms, crying into his shoulder.
“you still have to go. You still have to leave, go back to the water. I’m still losing you.” He choked out, feeling Logan brushing his thumb over his knuckles. He heard Logan chuckle softly.
“Not quite. You still gave me part of yourself, part of your soul. And you now hold some of mine. We’re tied together now, Remus. Anywhere you step I can also. Anywhere I pass through so will you be able.”
“but… you won’t get sick? You won’t… I won’t keep you, I won’t make you stay, you don’t have to stay.” Just the thought of forcing Logan to stay made him ill.
“I know, Remus. I know you wouldn’t. I know you would never take my coat, I know you would never force me to do anything, I trust you. It won’t make me sick. We can spend time, between land and sea, there’s so much I can show you, Remus, worlds you wouldn’t even be able to imagine.”
They both looked up at the sound of hesitant footsteps. Roman was approaching, having kept his distance and given them space on the shore, where Logan had pulled Remus, just out of the surf. Virgil was still speaking to Sedna, form flickering with displeasure and anger, while she was nothing but calm and placid, the soft glow of Patton clear on his shoulder.
“Remus. If you ever do something like that again I will strangle you with my bare hands.” Roman muttered furiously, eliciting a high laugh, Remus soft as he met Roman’s eyes for a moment, understanding passing between them without a word needing to be spoken. “And Logan… take care of him. He’s a lot softer than he’d like you to believe.” Remus huffed in indignation, melting with a happy hum as Logan pressed a kiss to his cheek, causing the selkie to shake his head in amusement.
“I will. I promise.” With that Roman nodded, walking several yards down the beach before simply vanishing.
“He’s such a drama queen.” Logan chuckled.
“Nothing at all like you, I’m sure.” Remus snorted, tilting his head back, to look up at Logan, his Logan, His.
“We should get you indoors. You’re sopping wet, and it’s cold.” Remus nuzzled closer to Logan, gently butting his chin with his head.
“Good thing I’ve got you, then, keeping me warm.” And before Logan could argue, he had captured the selkie’s lips once more, lost in a different, amazingly beautiful kind of warmth.
The third prompt of Soulmate September . @tsshipmonth2020
Prompt: “You have an animal that only you and your soulmate can see.”
Fae, Fantasy AU
Pairings: Romantic Demus
Warnings: Mention of death (no one dies, it’s just a very small mention), swearing, violence, thinking about wanting to die
First - Previous - Next
A fox. That was Remus and his soulmate’s animal.
He was ten when it first showed up. He and his brother were playing in their old backyard at the edge of the forest, when a small fox jumped out of a bush. He quickly pointed it out to his brother, but he said he didn’t see anything, so Remus went inside, followed by the little fox, and asked his mother about it. She was really excited, although, at the time, Remus didn’t understand why.
That was the day she explained to him and his brother everything they would need to know about soulmates and the animals connecting them. Of course she first had to comfort Roman, because he was crying that he didn’t get an animal.
Then she explained to him and Remus everything. How an animal that represents you and your soulmate shows up at one point in your life, and no one but you and your soulmate see it, how you and your soulmate share this animal, and how the animal travels between soulmates to help them find eachother, either by helping to send messages and gifts, or by showing them the way to one another. This animal can never be hurt, but it can die if one of the soulmates does.
That was when everything was easier. When they were all happy, living in the small town surrounded by the forest. Before they moved to the big city. Before his family hated him.
Remus was now 18. He always kept in touch with his soulmate, Janus. Their fox, Ember, would always be taking trips back and forth and deliver messages between them.
Remus was reading his last letter from Janus. It left him completely amazed. His soulmate revealed to him his true nature. He was fae. Remus knew fae existed. It was common knowledge for everyone at this point. And most people would be terrified if their soulmate was a fey. Remus was estatic. So estatic that he started writing his next letter for Janus.
Janus,
Are you kidding?! I don’t mind that you’re fae. That’s the coolest thing ever. How many people can say that they have a fae soulmate -
“Remus! Could you please come down here?” his father shouted from downstairs.
Remus sighed and went downstairs, leaving the letter on his desk.
A few minutes after he left, his mom walked in to clean the room.
She started putting the stuff on the desk back in their proper places, noticed the letter and decided to take a look.
She gasped, took the letter and hurried downstairs. "Remus, what is this?"
"What is it?" Remus asked.
"Your soulmate is a fae, and you keep writing to him?! Are you mental?! You will bring destruction upon this family!"
"I'm not going to 'bring destruction upon the family'. You just have sticks shoved too high up your asses too see that not all the fair folk are bad!" Remus shouted.
He felt pain across his cheek. His father had just slapped him, making Ember let out a distressed sound. "Do not talk to us like that! No son of mine will go around dating a vile thing such as a fae! You either stop writing to him or pack your things and get out of my house!"
"Then I guess I'm no son of yours."
Remus ran back to his room, packed a few essentials in a bag and then left the house, followed by his fox, of course.
He ran as fast and far as he could, before collapsing in an alley way and bringing his knees up to his chest. "I fucked up, Ember. I have nowhere else to go. Maybe I will get mugged and put out of my misery." He finally looked up and noticed the fox was nowhere in sight. "Em? Of course you leave me too."
Only Ember didn't abandon him. She went to get help from the only other person who could see her. Janus.
She got to the fairy hill, in Janus' room, where he was currently sleeping, and jumped on his chest, making distressed noises.
Janus opened his eyes and looked at her. "Ember? Did Remus send another letter?"
She shook her head.
"What happened? Is Remus ok?"
She made a 'Sorta' kind of gesture with her head.
Janus got up, careful about Ember on his chest. "Where is he? Lead the way"
Ember went back to Remus, with Janus following her.
Janus knelt down in front of Remus. "Remus, it's me, Janus. What happened?"
Remus sniffled "My parents found out about you and got mad. They said I would 'bring destruction to the family', or something like that, and they kicked me out."
Janus gently pulled him into his lap, wrapping his arms around him. "I have nowhere else to go" Remus said. He had tears in his eyes.
"Yes you do. You can come with me to the fairy hill. You would never age and we could be together for forever. Do you want that?" Janus asked.
Info - He works as a bartender, and it’s a maricle he hasn’t been fired yet. He goes to the coffee shop to either annoy people, or to get some food and vibe. He loves the outdoors and all the little critters that come with it. He is very chaotic and does have a dark sense of humor. He enjoys hanging out with his brother, and doing fun activities with him.
