Maybe arm in sling with Patton?
Warnings: Major Character Character, ghosts, talk of murder, an accusation of murder.
Characters: Patton, Virgil, Roman, Remus, Logan, and Janus.
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Patton walked through the school’s halls, feeling stares follow him and stick to the white cast wrapped around his forearm. Logan and Janus walked on either side of him and threw glares at anyone that dared lingered too long. But Patton felt their eyes on his back as they walked away.
“Did you hear what they told the police?”
“Just ignore them,” Janus hissed in Patton’s ear. Their hand was gripping Patton’s hand tightly and their words were brimming with confidence, sure that every word that they said was true. “They are mindless sheep and if they knew what we did, they’d be running through the streets in panic. Just ignore what they say.”
How could Patton possibly ignore them? When what they were accusing him was so terrible, so awful, that it made Patton want to cry?
“I heard that they claimed that Virgil didn’t actually die. They said that he was taken instead.”
Logan’s hand was like a vice on his shoulder, grounding Patton to reality, a reality that was so hard to understand lately. “They will eat their words soon enough,” he muttered, a hard steely glint in his eyes. “After we bring your brother back, he will tell them exactly what happened and they’ll see that we never lied.
Patton managed a short nod, glancing out a nearby window and looking at the old mansion that stood on the highest hill in town, looming over everything. Even as far away as Patton was, he had the feeling that he was watched. Though, it could’ve just been the hateful stares coming from the other students. Not that Patton could blame them. Virgil was such a sweetheart, it was hard not to love him.
“We’ll sneak back out there tonight,” Janus muttered, pausing by their locker and shoving their bag in. “We know what we’re doing this time. What to bring and what to say. It was a mistake bringing Virgil and you last time but we know that now and we know how to save him.”
“The ghosts of the Prince Brothers who used to live in that house. Now that’s rich. Even if there really were ghosts in that mansion, why would they want anything to do with the Heart Brothers?”
Patton swallowed and asked, pulling on the strings of his brother’s abandoned hoodie with his good hand, “I still don’t understand why they took him and not both of us. I mean...” He trailed off and gripped the strings tight, pressing his injured arm close to his chest.
Logan adjusted his glasses, giving Patton a look mixed with sadness and relief. “They tried, Patton. I suspect that it hadn’t tripped back and broke that old stairs’ railing than you would’ve been taken right alongside your brother.”
“You don’t know!? Dude, Patton and Virgil’s great-great-grandfather were one of the Prince Brothers! They changed their name since them but their family used to live on that hill!”
“Oh,” Patton whispered lamely. He stared down at his cast and cringed as he remembered falling from the second floor of a mansion where he and his brother had once played and the face that had stared down at him with bright glowing red eyes. “I-I’m still surprised that the railing broke so easily. That old house has really gone downhill, hasn’t it?”
Somehow, Patton didn’t think that it was just time that had broken down his old home.
“Seriously!? Dude, that’s wild! Patton and Virgil were related to - damn! But still, why would they go for Virgil? I mean, if they’re really related to the Princes, why would they try to, I don’t know, kill them or whatever?”
Janus scowled, glaring out the window at the mansion. “It doesn’t matter how downhill it is,” they said darkly. “After we get Virgil back from them, we’re burning that fucking mansion to the ground. It should’ve been burnt to the house years ago.”
“I can agree to that,” Logan muttered. “The better solution would be burning whatever is tying them to this world but I suppose we’ll just burn the entire house instead. Hopefully, that will fix everything.”
“But what if it doesn’t,” Patton asked softly, hands shaking hard. His arm throbbed his uninjured hand gripped the injured one, trying to stop the trembles. “What if, what if whatever’s tying them here isn’t in the house? What if it just makes them angry?”
“Hell if I know, dude. Besides, does it matter? It’s not like any of this matters. Patton Heart is a dirty liar and a brother killer on top of that. This ghost bullshit is just that.”
Janus clenched their fists tightly and spat out, “Then we’ll find whatever the hell it is and burn that too. We’ll do whatever it fucking takes. I don’t care what their reasons are for trying to take you two. You’re here and it’s not up to them whether or not that continues or not.”
“But I-” Patton cut himself off, his jaw clicking with how quickly he closed his mouth.
“Well, obviously. I’m just wondering what the liar’s reasoning is for the ‘ghosts’ taking his brother. I mean, what, did Patton just say the ghosts were just trying to kill them or something?”
There was a pause where Janus and Logan stared at him. “But what Patton,” Logan asked gently. “What is it?”
Patton hesitated before saying softly, “I don’t think they wanted to kill us. The one who tried to grab me looked so scared when I fell and they were wailing and... The one with the green eyes was beaming when he grabbed Virgil was sunk into the floor. He was babbling about how he was so happy to have family back in the house and how angry he was when our Mum made our Dad move us away. I think... they just wanted their family back.”
“No. He said that the ghosts just wanted their family back.”
“Well, the ghosts can’t force you or Virgil to stay with them,” Janus said firmly. They placed their hand gently on Patton’s cast, their fingers brushing against the sling. “We got you out and tonight, we’ll get Virgil out. I promise.”
“What a weak ass excuse. Like ghosts care about their families after they die.”
Patton nodded firmly, trying to ignore how the ghosts with red eyes had called him ‘Grandson’ and pleaded with him not to leave when Patton had run away. “Right. We’ll get him back.”
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