Prestons eyes fluttered open and he held back a small groan as he felt the pain in his head from where it had hit the tree he was now slumped against.

He could see Virgil and the others over by the barrier, they hadn't noticed he was awake just yet because they were more focused on Virgil.

Deciding that he didn't want to hang around until they did notice, Preston slowly began crawling into the trees until he was out of sight of the others. Only then did he stand up and start walking.

He was curious if his tree house was in the barrier so he set off in that direction and a pleased smirk twisted onto his face when it came into view.

He slowly pulled himself up the ladder, wincing and grunting from the aches and pains in his body.

He flopped onto the balcony with a loud sigh and lay there catching his breath for a bit before standing up and heading into the tree house.

He began searching through the house for anything useful and grinned as he pulled open a draw and found a ton of his favourite torture tools.

He pulled out a long sharp hunting knife that made his old knife look like spoon and closed his eyes as he imagined all the ways he could get back at Virgil with it.

He let out a small sigh and set it down, searching the rest of the room and coming across his hidden stash of cigarettes and lighters.

He ripped open the carton and stuffed one of them into his mouth, lighting it and letting out a contented sigh as a cloud of smoke burst from his lips.

He felt the stress of being trapped in this hellish barrier thing melt away and he could actually focus on a plan of action now.

He stuffed the packet into his pocket and toyed with the lighter in his hand thoughtfully as a thousand different ideas ran through his mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Logan sank to the floor with a small groan of exhaustion as he finished healing Virgils back.

It had taken a lot of intense concentration but he'd managed it and now Virgil wasn't going to bleed out.

Virgil had fallen asleep leaning against the barrier and Patton quietly said "I'll take Logan to bed and you can keep an eye on things tonight. Is that OK?"

Roman nodded and replied "That's fine by me, just make sure Thomas doesn't have another one of those nightmares. That's the last thing any of us need right now."

Patton shuddered at the reminder as he gently helped Logan up. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he has a peaceful sleep. If anything major happens let me know."

Roman watched as Patton coaxed Logan into walking and the two disappeared back to the main part of the mindspace leaving him alone with Virgil.

Roman turned back to Virgil with a sorrowful expression. He wasn't sure how long this process was going to take but he was quite certain that it wouldn't be pretty and the one thing he wanted more than anything was to embrace Virgil and tell him it would all be OK.

Roman slumped forward with his head in his hands as he was overwhelmed with the daunting truth; nothing was going to be OK anymore, he wouldn't ever be able to even hold Virgil in a hug because of everything that had happened and the barrier.

It was as if something within him broke and suddenly his body was wracked with sobs, hot floods of tears running down his face.

He was supposed to be the strong one, the one who dreamed big and never let anything put a damper on his hope of reaching his goals, but he didn't feel like that at that moment. He felt lost and hopeless, like anything he thought about would be pointless.

His sobs mustn't have been particularly quiet because a soft voice from nearby said "You know, I never thought I'd ever see you cry like this."

Roman raised his head and found himself looking at a now awake Virgil.

When Roman raised his head and showed Virgil his tear streaked face Virgil inhaled sharply. It was such a bittersweet image because all the raw emotions in Romans eyes made them sparkle so beautifully.

Roman opened his mouth to try and explain himself but all he could produce were more sobs.

"There's no need to say anything, just let it all out and you'll feel better." Virgil said in a comforting voice.

Roman let himself cry for another half an hour before he started to try and calm himself down. He felt much better at having let it all out but there was still an overhanging feeling of despair.

"I'm sorry for waking you, I didn't mean to be so loud." Roman muttered with a sigh.

"there's no need to apologise, there are much worse ways to be woken up." Virgil replied, trying to make light of the situation but failing as it reminded both of them of Preston.

Roman wiped his face and said "You barely got any sleep though and I bet you don't get much when in this thing." he gestured to the barrier which both of them were now leaning against.

Virgil was leaning on the barrier sideways his head resting against it as he surveyed Roman. "It was probably better I was woken up after a little bit of peaceful sleep than having to go through hours of nightmares and agonising sleep paralysis."

Roman frowned at that and felt another wave of sorrow flow through him at how much he wished he could save Virgil from all this suffering.

"This is actually a welcome change. I got enough sleep that I don't feel like I'm going to collapse and I woke up to a lovely sight." Virgil said casually before freezing as he realised what he'd said.

"A lovely sight? What do you mean?" Roman asked.

Virgil opened his mouth and nothing came out as he tried to think of a way to respond.

"are you talking about me crying?" Roman asked with a confused expression.

"yes and no, it was just kind of breathtaking seeing you crying because your eyes were so.... Pretty and... Stuff..." Virgil managed to stutter out lamely and looked about ready to bury himself in the ground to hide from the shame and regret.

Roman was stunned into silence before he managed to ask "you think my eyes look... Pretty?"

Virgils cheeks burned as he stared at anything but Roman. He mentally cursed himself for making the comment about waking up to a lovely sight and regretted everything he'd said to try and explain.

Roman noticed the reddened cheeks and felt a jolt of hope which was promptly squashed as he remembered the situation.

"Pretty isn't quite the word I meant." Virgil eventually mumbled "I was just so caught off guard at the amount of raw emotion in your eyes and the way they sparkled while filled with tears... Ugh I'm just going to shut up now and contemplate removing my tongue so I stop embarrassing myself like this." Virgil hid his face in his hands and fought the urge to headbutt the barrier.

Roman was lost for words as he processed what had just been said but when Virgil made another comment, this time about wanting to just disappear, he managed to say "If you disappeared I wouldn't get to say something equally embarrassing back."

Virgil raised his head and peered at Roman from between his fingers. "what?"

Roman swallowed nervously and said "I... I might have a small amount of feelings for you, which you probably don't return and you don't have to at all I just felt like I needed to say it so now you're not alone in your embarrassment and now I'm starting to understand the wanting to remove your tongue thing because I can't seem to stop talking right now."

Roman clapped a hand over his mouth to force himself to stop speaking and fixed his eyes on Virgil who had yet to respond.

Virgil was dumbstruck at Romans words and was struggling to comprehend just what had been said. He just about managed to become cognitive enough that he realised Roman had admitted to having feelings for him.

Panic surged through Virgil as he tried to force his sluggish brain to form actual words in response. "I.... I.... I think I'm going to be sick." Virgil spluttered before retching.

Roman winced and looked away as Virgil vomited, this didn't appear too promising.

When Virgil had finished puking he started laughing hysterically. "This whole situation is so fucking typical. Of course it's when I'm behind an impenetrable barrier, ready to sacrifice myself for everyone that I'm suddenly aware of you having feelings for me. This sums up my life so perfectly, I eventually find love and I'm in a situation where it's impossible to have a relationship."

Romans jaw dropped at Virgil mentioning love but sobered up quickly as Virgil let out a weird half laugh half sob. "Even if this barrier wasn't here, we wouldn't be able to be together either."

Roman, who had rested his forehead on the barrier, looked up at Virgil questioningly "Why not?"

Virgil took a few gulps of air and replied in a subdued voice "The medication is changing me, taking away all the limits and rules I've created for myself so I don't become a monster. I've become more violent and angry while I've been in here and I never used to be able to physically manifest my anxious energy. I'm changing and if the barrier were to come down now I'd probably become more of a threat than Preston is."

Roman opened his mouth to protest but Virgil looked him right in they eyes, his hands pressed against the barrier. "Promise me you'll keep making Thomas take the medication. Even if Preston dies before me, even if I ask you to make him stop. He must keep taking them until both me and Preston have gone."

Roman stuttered "I... I don't know... If you asked me to tell him to stop why wouldn't I listen to you?"

Virgil closed his eyes for a few seconds as he unblocked his anxious energy until it was a huge mass of black smoke swirling around him and his eyes were glowing eerily. "Because right now I'm pretty much fully in control but the longer I'm in here the harder it is to stay in control. If in the future I ask, or even beg to be let out you can't listen. If you were to let me out I could utterly destroy Thomas."

Roman stared at the black smoke with a tinge of fear before locking eyes with Virgil. "I... I promise Virgil. I'll make him keep taking them no matter what." Romans voice wavered slightly but Virgil smiled and carefully brought the energy under control again until the black smoke had gone.

"Thank you Roman. You'll have to convince the others but knowing you that won't be very hard."Virgil said with a sad smile.

They sat staring into each others eyes for a bit before a few tears trailed down Romans face. "I wish I'd said something sooner, I can't even hug you or hold your hand and the thought that I'll never get to hold you again is killing me inside."

Virgil felt tears of his own run down his face as he smiled bitterly "Unfortunately life's unfair Roman but at least we said something now so we both know. It would have been worse if you'd never said anything."

Roman took a few gasping breaths to calm himself down then said "It seems like it was years ago that I was threatening to stab Logan for getting drunk and kissing you."

Virgil snorted at that "Now there's something I'm not surprised about. I did always peg you as the jealous, possessive type."

Roman managed a small smile at that "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Virgil rolled his eyes "actually I didn't say it was a bad thing, it's fine by me, but threatening to kill someone? That seems a bit overdramatic."

Roman let out a light laugh "But I'm the Prince, it's my job to be overdramatic."

Virgil let out a small snicker as Roman gestured wildly and felt the urge to shove him playfully but he was quickly bought back to reality as he remembered the barrier.

A sad sigh passed his lips and he leant against the barrier with his eyes shut. "All this is fun and everything but don't you think this will just make everything worse in the long run? The more time we spend talking and getting closer is just going to make it hurt more when I become a monster."

Romans hands fell to his sides and his head hung slightly as he absorbed what Virgil had said. He'd waited so long to admit his feelings and he just wanted to know everything he could about Virgil.

Romans expression turned determined as he said "It may hurt in the long run but I don't care. I want to know everything about you, what you like, what you dislike, everything. Surely this will help keep you as yourself for longer and it's better to have experienced this and then lost it than to have never experienced it at all. I don't care how much it will hurt, I'm not abandoning you."

Virgils eyes shot open and he stared at Roman in astonishment. He hadn't expected any of this and he knew he should say no, that they shouldn't indulge in their want to get closer but the expression on Romans face and the words he'd just spoken had made any argument Virgil had melt away into nothing until he found himself saying "OK, fuck it, let's do this."

Roman grinned and they sat there all night talking, neither of them even noticing the absence of Preston.

I've got a lot of things planned now and things are going to start being revealed in the next few chapters so get ready for that. I think the chapters might either get longer and I'll end up uploading every couple of days or I'll end up splitting them up into multiple chapters and keep trying to upload every day.