Point of View: Virgil, First Person
Timeline: Present Day

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T GO?!" I yelled, looking at Logan with wide eyes, unable to believe what he was saying right now.  How could even he say that?!

After leaving Roman's room, I had raced down here to the Common Room (in the shape of Thomas's apartment, as usual) to find both Logan and Patton there watching Steven Universe – both oblivious to what was happening in the Imagination.

I figured that after I told him what was happening, I'd leave and be on my way to help Roman.

That was not the case.

"You are too critical to Thomas to go and fight," Logan said decisively, crossing his arms over his chest firmly.  "He cannot function without you, Virgil. If you were to go and end up getting yourself killed, then you would basically be killing all of us."

I stood there for moment in shocked silence before coming up with a response.  Were we really doing this right now? 

"I've been training with Roman for months, Logan," I argued, my hands closing together in fists.  "He needs help you can't leave him out there alone – then that would be sentencing Roman to death and I can't stand here and wait for it to happen," I said, starting to make my way back to Roman's room.

"You will not leave this room until Roman enters, Virgil."

Suddenly I slammed into an unknown force in the doorway which sent me stumbling backwards. I strained against the force that was keeping me here before I realized what had happened. I spun around, facing Logan who had the decency to look slightly ashamed, cheeks a light pink, but still holding to his decision.

"Persuasion," Logan answered finally. "Persuasion is my power since Logic is an appeal to persuasion along with ethos, which is an appeal to convincing someone of the character or credibility of the persuader - which is also under my control. I had no intention to tell you this way, but there is no chance that I'm going to let you be so reckless in your decision making. Your love for Roman is clearly outweighing your typical rational thought process."

"My thinking is fine," I argued, still straining uselessly against the doorway. "What isn't fine is Roman – who is out there all by himself waiting for me to show up and you thinking it's your place to stop me. I have to go – please Logan, PLEASE."

"We need to come up with a solid plan," Logan said, ignoring me and settling down on the couch, summoning his computer with a quick flick of his hand. He slid on a headphones that had a microphone attached to them, stopping momentarily to adjust the mic before proceeding to do... whatever he was doing. "Our job is to protect The Mind Palace. We are the last line of defense – Thomas cannot function properly without any one of us in the equation. Quite frankly, Roman should not have gone out there on his own, but there's nothing we can do about that now."

"Don't you see?" I cried, frustrated at how I was stuck here. That alone was enough to start triggering a small anxiety attack and Roman fighting out there alone certainly wasn't helping me at all. "That's all the more reason that we HAVE TO HELP HIM!"

"Roman was reckless – that is no excuse for us to follow in his footsteps," Logan said calmly.  How could he be so calm at the time like this?!  "There are other way to help him as well. It would do better to assist where we can up here, rather than throw ourselves on the battlefield as Roman carelessly did himself. I cannot stop him but I can and will stop you by all means necessary Virgil. We need to protect Thomas – that is our main and only objective in times of crisis."

"But what's the point if Roman is still out there?" I muttered irritably, still fighting to leave. "Thomas is in danger either way."

"I will not risk two sides leaving the Palace in crisis," Logan snapped, balancing on the edge of impatience as he began typing furiously on the laptop.

I let out an angry huff of air, scanning the living room to at least feel like I was doing something productive.

"What do you think, Dad?" I said, turning to Patton, who had been oddly silent - standing worriedly in front of the television, eyes flickering between Logan and me. "You've been awfully quiet."

Patton didn't say anything, twisting his hands together in thought. "I – I think it best if you... stay, Virgil," Patton said quietly. "Believe me – of course I wanna go after him, kiddo. You know I do. But right now... we need to be thinking 'bout what's best for Thomas. Roman... is on his own," Patton said, wincing before the words even left his mouth, but he didn't take them back.

"Please Dad," I whispered.

Patton turned away from me, avoiding my eyes and fiddling nervously with his cat-hoodie sleeves - tying and untying it over and over again.  I knew he didn't want to make that call –not by a long shot. But that didn't mean it was the right one.

"I've gotten into one of the radio frequencies in the Imagination," Logan said suddenly, pressing a hand tightly against one side of his headphones, the other side resting just behind his ear so he could talk to us. He turned pale and his eyes flicked to mine, looking nervous. He didn't say anything, but I could tell that nothing he was hearing was good.

"Roman doesn't have to go at it alone if you just let me help him," I growled, slamming my hand harshly against the barrier keeping me here, feeling helpless.

There was suddenly a loud whirling sound and I turned back around to see-

Roman falling from the ceiling.

I was too far away to do anything and I loud out a shout of surprise as he fell from the portal he must've created on the ground in the Imagination. It was such a short fall – he didn't have time to snap out his wings.

The good news was that Roman's landing was cushioned.

The bad news was that the cushion was Patton.

Patton groaned from his position under Roman. Snapping to my senses, I stumbled forward – yanking Roman to his feet. Logan did the same for Patton, helping the father-figure-figment get to feet.

"Are you hurt?" I whispered, placing a gentle hand on Roman's cheek, eyes fluttering all over him, searching for injuries.  He didn't seem to injured, but he had soot and dirt all over his uniform and smelled like smoke, which only heightened my anxiety.

"'M fine." Roman grunted, wincing as he moved his arm – hand flying to his shoulder in pain.

"Let me see," I said inspecting his left shoulder closer. "It's dislocated," I reported.

Roman gritted his teeth, walking over to the couch and bending down slowly, gripping a couch pillow in his hand tightly. "Go ahead," Roman said, bracing himself, forcing his muscles to relax.

"Uh Roman, I don't think that I'm the best person-"

I slammed his shoulder back into its socket.

Roman let out a loud yell, squeezing the pillow so hard his knuckles turned white. I winced in sympathy. "Sorry, I thought it might be better if you weren't expecting it," I whispered quietly, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek in apology.

Roman gave a weak grunt in response, collapsing on the couch - face white with pain. He was breathing tightly and weakly in pain. After a minute or so, he snapped the fingers of his good arm and a red sling suddenly appeared before he closed his eyes.

"Virge?"

"Y-Yeah?" I stammered, worried for him as he sat there, eyes closed.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"S-Sure, what do you need? Water? Pain pills? Food? I - I could b-bring you a p-pillow or something-"

"Breathe," he said simply, not even bothering to open his eyes.

I flushed at the observation and tried to focus on breathing normally.

"And some Advil would be grand," he winced, voice still tight with pain.

I nodded quickly even though he couldn't see me and sped-walked into the kitchen, going into the medicine cabinet and grabbing some Advil, along with a bottle of water. When I came back, not much had changed. Logan had Patton sitting on the couch and was performing a concussion test on Patton.

Apparently a side falling from the Imagination and landing on top of you warrants that sort of thing.

But it sounded like it was going fine, so I turned back to Roman – settling down next to him and pressing three pills into his good hand.

"Stop worrying," Roman muttered, still not opening up his eyes as he quickly tossed the pills in his mouth, chasing them down with a swig of water from the water bottle.

"Can't help it," I returned, gently slipping my hand into his. "Deal with it, Hotshot."

"Hotshot," Roman muttered dizzily. "How long did it take for you to come up with that one?"

"About three seconds," I said, opening the water bottle I had grabbed for myself with a simple twist.

"You're losing your game, Di Angelo."

"...Who is that?"

Roman sighed, but a small smile played on his lips. But... it looked... off somehow, although I didn't know what. "I waste my best material on you," Roman said matter-a-factly. "Nico Di Angelo? From Percy Jackson? Rick Riordan?"

I shrugged. "I don't read," I stated simply.

"Maybe you should. It's good for your brain."

"Maybe you should shove your books up your-"

"Patton's okay," Logan interrupted. "No concussion," he added. "Roman do you want me to check you?"

Roman shook his head, wordless. I frowned at his uncharacteristic silence. Now I knew there was definitely something wrong.

Logan caught on as well, sharing a worried glance with me. "Prince, please let me check you."

Roman shook his head again, firmer this time. "I need to talk you to guys," he said, opening his eyes, which flickered momentarily over to Patton who stood up and settled down on the floor – looking up at Roman attentively. Logan merely crossed his arms over his chest, still looking concerned.

"Is this about the Hell-hound?" I asked tentatively. "I swear I tried to convince them to let me go but they simply-"

"This isn't about the hell-hound," Roman admitted. "Well, yes, but that's not the only thing."

Logan, Patton, and I frowned in union.

"Did you kill it?  The hell-hound?" Patton asked tentatively.

Roman's silence said enough.

"It's still out there? And you came back?!" I said, jumping to my feet, feeling a sinking pit growing in my stomach. None of this would be happening if I had just killed it the first time.  "We have to-"

"Virgil," Roman said sharply, cutting me off. His eyes watered and I stopped mid-thought, stumbling from panic to confusion. His face was filled with guilt and... and shame. He tore his eyes away first, fixing his eyes on his lap as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"H-How many?" Patton asked softly, looking a bit stunned. It hadn't hit him yet. Logan was blinking quickly, trying to process what Roman meant. "How many, Roman?"

Roman let out a small sob, using his good arm to hug himself – his wings hugging tightly to his body. "It- It breathed fire and – and so many homes just – just lit up instantly. There was no time to try and save anyone. And there was this big explosion and – and I remember seeing this little boy, shaking and crying. He couldn't have been more than five," Roman sobbed out. "It – It heard him screaming and I tried to warn him but-" Roman's jaw snapped shut, hand shaking slightly.

"The blast knocked me backwards and I hit the ground just as the hellhound burst into flames itself and ran down what was left of-"

I cut him off, gripping his good hand tightly. I wrapped my arms gently around him, mindful of his bad shoulder. Roman pressed his face into my neck, tears landing on my sweatshirt.

After a minute of Roman crying on my shoulder and Patton into Logan's chest, Roman pulled away, taking long calming breaths.

"There was nothing you could do," I said, my voice lowered.  "Don't blame yourself."

"It was my job to protect them," Roman returned, uncharacteristically bitter.  "And I failed."

I couldn't think of anything to say to that.

"But that's not - that's not what I – what I need to discuss with you guys," Roman said finally, hands forming into fists, trembling slightly as if he was... bracing himself? What for?

Then, to my surprise, he turned to me.

"Virge, I know I said you could take your time," Roman started.  "And I'm sorry for this, but I think it's time for you to tell us about your past."

_____________________
Yeah, even I'll admit that wasn't the most interesting chapter.  My bad :/ But it's almost 2,000 WDS sooooooooo :>  Sorry it took so long too :(

Voters:

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Commenter: ImSorryplzforgiveme

Comment: ALL HAIL THE BLUE LITTLE BIRD GOD

ALL HAIL THE BLUE LITTLE BIRD GOD!! XD

Commenter: Amelia_Divine
Comment: GIVE SOME SLEEP

haha now I know how Thomas feels lol (probably not XD)

Commenter: SoftxRacoon
Comment: Well your comment made me want to die . . . of laughter, you comedian *throws food in the air* puns  

*fangirls* AHHHH

And I loved so so many of them these were really hard to choose! So I picked three :3

I start classes again on Monday :(

- Max :)