TW: Bullying, slight swearing

Virgil's POV

Any events after Roman got pulled away from me all blurred together.I remembered sprinting away from the fire, grabbing my bag from Cabin 11, running to the Hades cabin and locking the door behind me.

That's where I was now, huddled in the corner with my back against the wall and my chest rising and falling rapidly with my breathing.

What had happened at the campfire had sent my brain into full on freak-out mode. Seeing the looks of utter disgust on the faces of people that had called me a friend mere moments before had pretty much shattered the piece of me that had only just started to grow back.

The piece of me that got me to hope.

But as I replayed in my mind what had happened, the memory of the first time someone had looked at me with that look of unbridled repulsiveness washed over me.

(Itallics = memory)

I was twelve years old and I kept my head down as I walked down the hall of the school.

I moved through the crowd of students and as I was jostled by their shoulders, I tried to make myself invisible. If I could just make it to class before-

"Well, well, well. Look who it is." A loud voice called from down the hall. I froze. "It's the little orphan boy!"

I turned to face him. Sure enough, there stood my long time bully, Martin. I forced down my impending fear and rolled my eyes.

"Well technically I'm not an orphan. For all I know, my dad's still alive."

At this point, everyone but me and him had cleared a ring around us and some had even taken out phones to record us. I could see the title of the YouTube video now, 'Depressed Emo Gets The Shit Kicked Out Of Him For Daring To Exist.'

"If he's not dead, then where is he?" He taunted, walking closer to me casually. "To the supermarket for a few years?"

I tried to step back, but the other kids pushed me forward.

"Who knows?" I replied slowly. "Cashiers can be pretty talkative."

He chuckled lowly. Now he was standing within reach of me.

"Well I can't say I can blame him for running." Martin said. "No one wants to parent a freak."

"Well," I started, looking straight into his beady eyes. "I may be a freak, but at least I'm not a pompous asshole that thinks I'm better than everyone. I guess that title goes to you."

"Ohhhhhh!" The crowd went, eagerly awaiting for Martin to snap.

He didn't disappoint.

"You little-" Martin growled.

He grabbed my backpack and threw me to the ground. I barely had time to grunt in pain before his foot connected with my stomach, knocking the breath out of me. I curled inwards on myself as blow after blow rained down on me.

Martin gripped my chin and forced my head to look at him. As he looked at me, his face shifted into an expression of intense disgust.

"I mean, just look at him!" Martin called to the surrounding students, who were all laughing. "Why would anyone want to stay around him?"

Then he looked me straight in my eyes and lowered his voice so only I could hear.

"Why would anyone care about him?"

He punched me hard in the face, sending me sprawling, and walked away. The crowd dispersed too, leaving me kneeling on the floor clutching my bleeding nose.

Alone.

(End of memory)

Tears flooded down my face as Martins old words repeated in my mind.

I clutched my hair tightly and sobbed heavily. Martin was right.

Why would anyone ever care about me?

Roman's POV

I was worried about Virgil. No, worried didn't even begin to cover how I was feeling.

Virgil hadn't come out of the Hades cabin since he was claimed, which was four days ago, and I couldn't concentrate on anything without wondering about him. Logan and Patton were just as worried.

The way Virgils eyes had had a sort of brokenness behind them as he registered how everyone backed away from him had nearly shattered my heart, but Chiron had told us to give him time to wrap his head around everything.

So, of course we were going to check on him.

Before dinner that night, Remus stopped me while I was heading out the door.

"Where're you going Ro?" He asked.

"I'm meeting up with Logan and Patton." I answered as I tied my shoes. "We're going to try and talk to Virgil."

His smile instantly melted.

"Roman," He said seriously. "That guy is bad news. You should really stay away from him."

I felt a sudden urge to defend the purple haired demigod.

"How do you know that? Everyone was perfectly fine with him until he was claimed." I replied, trying to keep my hands from shaking in anger.

"I know because he's the the son of Hades." Remus shot back, crossing his arms. "You know, the god of death? DEATH, Roman! You can't be this naive."

"So what?" I glared at him, standing up. "That doesn't mean he's evil! That's like saying you and I are nothing but pretty faces with makeup addictions just because our mom's Aphrodite."

"You've only had one full conversation with him! You have no reason to believe that he won't go all 'Lord of The Underworld' on us!"

"I know that he looks like a bit of a creepy cookie, but under all that, he's a nice guy. You shouldn't just make assumptions on someone based on something they can't control!"

Remus went quiet for a moment, and that was when I noticed that all my other siblings were watching me and him argue. One or two had slightly guilty or thoughtful expressions, but the rest just avoided eye contact with me.

"Look," Remus sighed. "I know I can't tell you what to do, but-"

"That's right." I cut him off, opening the door. "You can't."

And with that, I left Cabin 10 and strode over to our meeting place by the volleyball pit.

How dare Remus try to tell me who I can and can't talk to? So Virgil is the son of Hades. Why should I care? It's not like my mom is the perfect parent either. No one at this camp can say that their godly parent is unproblematic! None of us should judge Virgil for something he couldn't possibly have known about. We have no idea what his life outside of camp might have been like, so-

"Woah," Patton said, interrupting my internal monologue as I approached him and Logan. "What happened? You look like you're about to burst into flames!"

"My idiot twin." I rolled my eyes, trying to shake off my anger. "He tried to stop me from seeing Virgil and attempted to convince me that he's a villain or something."

Logan and Patton exchanged looks as we began to walk in the direction of the Hades cabin.

"Patton and I had similar encounters." Logan told me, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "It seems that the camps view of Virgil has changed drastically in only a few days. And unfortunately in a negative way."

"If they would just give him a chance, they would realize how wrong they are." Patton sighed softly.

"I know, Pat." I said as I patted his shoulder. "They'll have to come around eventually."

He smiled gratefully, then turned to face the cabin we had reached.

The Hades cabin was made of what looked like solid obsidian and a skull was hung over the doorway. The silver number plate that said '13' on it reflected the light of the torches, which burned with Greek fire. From where I was standing, I couldn't see a single window.

"Virgils been cooped up there for four days?" Patton exclaimed quietly.

"I don't think he felt like he had anywhere else to go." I replied solemnly.

Patton sighed, then knocked on the door. There was no answer.

"Virge?" He called. "You okay kiddo?"

Still no answer.

"Virgil," Logan tried. "You must understand that self-isolation will not solve this issue. To do that, you must open the door."

Silence.

"We know you're in there, Emo Nightmare." I sighed. Patton hit my shoulder.

To the surprise of all of us, I actually got a reply.

"Go away." Virgil finally answered, his voice sounding rough and scratchy. It also sounded close, as if he was leaning on the closed door.

It's better than nothing.

"He speaks!" I exclaimed.

"Virgil, please open the door." Patton said, resting his palm on the cabin door. "We're here for you kiddo. What ever you need."

"Please." The demigod replied quietly from the other side. "Please just go."

I could tell he didn't really want us to leave.

"But-" Logan started, no doubt about to explain why isolation is harmful, but Patton placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Lo," He said sadly. "We should go. We'll come back tomorrow."

He directed the last part to the dark cabin.

Reluctantly, they both turned away. But I stayed planted in place.

"Roman?" Patton asked. "You coming?"

I just shook my head. He eyed me for a moment, but nodded and walked away with Logan.

I don't know why I stayed. A part of me just had a feeling that I could help Virgil. And for some reason, I felt like that was the most important thing I could ever do.

I turned my attention back to Cabin 13 as a soft thump sounded from it, like Virgil had rested his head on the door.

"Virgil." I called, stepping closer to the door. "It's just me now."

He didn't answer, but he didn't tell me to go away either.

"Well," I said with a sigh. "You give me no choice."

I took my lock-pick I had borrowed from the Hermes cabin from my pocket and pushed it into the lock. I wiggled it around a bit until I heard a click.

I smiled in accomplishment and swung open the door.

Virgil was there. His hoodie was rumpled, his hair was messy, and his purple eyes were bloodshot. Tears were streaming down his cheeks but he was glaring as if he didn't notice.

That was all I could see before a pure black sword was pressed to my throat.

"What part of 'go away' do you not understand." Virgil growled.

AN- All comments are read and appreciated <3

Hey guys! Sorry this ones a bit shorter than usual, but I'm writing on my phone while at camp so that makes writing very tedious.

The art at the top is a fan art of Roman by Jxlierart on Instagram! Go show the artist some love :)

Any fan art you make for this story, post it on Instagram or Twitter and tag me, and I'll post it with what ever chapter comes next!

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Hope you enjoyed :)