Chapter 8

He couldn't wait anymore.

True it had only been half an hour and he had told Logan he had forty five minutes but the cold feeling in his chest was close to making him run to the door and yank it open as fast as he could.

Standing and trying his best to ignore the feeling of fight or flight telling him to stop he made his way toward the red door.

His worries were causing him to go but his fears were causing him to run. But something was wrong and he had to help his family so he kept going despite his anxious nature kicking in.

The first door was easier than he thought. Stepping into Roman's room, he took a second to look around, taking mental note to make sure nothing here was wrong. He nodded to himself as he noticed that the room was just as he remembered. Very prince-like and something out of a disney movie.

The second door, the one leading to Roman's realm, seemed to hum ever so slightly, as soon as he touched the handle, a small jolt of electricity shot through his hand. This caused him to jump back, quickly releasing the handle and sending the piece of metal a frown.

Did Roman really not want him in his realm that bad?

No. This wasn't something Roman would do. Clenching his free hand into a fist, Virgil shook his head, shaking the spark of doubt out of his head. If the door was trying to keep him out so badly, then he knew he had to get through the door even more now. He had to help his family. The fight caused the anxious side to strengthen his resolve that something was wrong and he had to help.

Ready this time for the electricity, Virgil firmly grabbed the handle and opened the door.

Wind rushed at him instantly at full force, nearly knocking him off his feet. He had to push forward against the wind to get through the door and found himself in the very field he had always spent so much time sitting in. Only it wasn't the same field. The grass was pale and brown instead of it's luscious green. It was dead and dry, as if all life was sucked out of it, crunching under his sneakers as he stepped over it.

Virgil found himself having to zip up his hoodie and pull his hood up over his head in an effort to protect himself in the cold.

Dark clouds filled the sky above him, threatening to tear open the sky with rain as thunder boomed through the air. The ocean's edge ran along the edge of the mountain and the water crashed and climbed over the rocks with a ferocity that felt as if the waves were trying to destroy the castle on the cliff above. The harsh winds ran over the trees of the dark forest, causing the dark trees to creak and sway as the leaves flowed and moved like waves. The leaves of the dark trees swayed and moved in a way Virgil had seen Deceits snakes writhe around his form.

He turned his back towards the dark forest and started to make his way toward the castle, hoping that Roman, Patton and Logan were there and not within the dark trees. The castle looked as if it had had all of its colors had been reversed. Gleaming, flawless white bricks were cracked and had been darkened to almost black. And the red tiles of the roofs had changed to a stormy dark purple that seemed corrupted. Each of the chimneys in each corner of the castle spewed out clouds of dark smoke that rose to join the dark sky.

All in all, the castle strangely reminded Virgil of himself.

Finally reaching the drawbridge leading to the castle, the anxious side gasped at just how destroyed the castle was. Cracks sprawled out along the walls and floors where large chunks had been taken out of walls, doorways and some of the floor.

Holding his hands to cup the sides of his mouth he shouted into the darkness of the destroyed castle.

"Roman! Patton! Logan!" He shouted, hoping they'd hear him.

After being greeted by silence and the echo of his own voice, Virgil pulled his hoodie tighter around himself, tugging his hood down over his head more securely, he decided to search the halls of the castle. It had been a long time since he had been here. Sure, he had seen the outside of the castle plenty of times from his spot in the field but had only been inside once before back when the sides had decided to have a housewarming party to celebrate the completion of Roman building said castle. Soon, he found himself in what he assumed was the throne room due to its large size and grandeur.

The sight of the two thrones sat side by side in their familiar patterns and styles made Virgil stare at them for a moment longer in curiosity. Shaking his head in an effort to get himself to focus back on what was important, he decided to move on.

The silence in the halls was unnerving. The place was like a maze and it was starting to get on Virgil's nerves. How princey knew his way around this place at all was lost on the anxious side. This castle was definitely overkill in Virgil's opinion. But to be fair, overkill was Roman in a nutshell.

Finding himself at a set of stairs that lead downward, he glanced around the hall for somewhere else he could look in order to not have to go into the dark area but a slight glimmer in the darkness on a lower stair caused him to take a closer look. Stepping down a few steps to reach the source of the glimmer he knelt down to get a closer look and saw it was a pair of glasses. They were cracked and one of the frames was bent.

A cold feeling rushed through him at the sight, adding to the slowly growing pit of darkness in his stomach. Tucking the glasses in his hoodie pocket, Virgil gulped and tried to ignore the flight response getting stronger in his chest. He kept making his way down the stairs.

"Patton? Logan?" He called, hoping to hear one of them, hoping that they were ok, after finding the broken glasses.

As he made his way down the stairs, he couldn't help but question just why the creative side would make such a place. At the base of the stairs, he found himself in a dark dungeon with iron doors on several dark and dirty cells that ran along the opposite wall. Mentally, the anxious side thanked Roman for not putting the usual torture machines that he had read about in history books, in his dungeon. No one in Disney movies had ever been tortured in dark dungeons anyway.

"Virgil!"

The anxious side jumped at the sudden loud whisper. Looking over each of the apparently empty cells, his eyes finally caught sight of both Patton and Logan, the latter without his glasses, waving to him through the bars.

"Kiddo! Is it really you?" Patton asked, gripping the bars with dirty, scratched up hands and watching him with that hopeful glimmer in his eyes.

"Guys!" Virgil rushed forward, pausing slightly at the question from the fatherly side. "Of course it's me! Who else would I be?"

The two glanced at each other nervously before seeming to move onto a different topic. Virgil had a feeling that they were hiding something from him. Something important.

"Nevermind that. Roman's in trouble. This whole realm is in danger of collapsing on itself." Logan explained. "Grab the key on the wall and let us out."

Nodding but mentally making a note of the other two were sides' hiding something, Virgil grabbed the large key ring with three large chunky keys off the wall. The cell door was quickly opened with a loud creaking noise and Virgil found himself wrapped in a hug from Patton. Despite the dirty state of the fatherly side's clothes, Virgil found himself returning the hug, enjoying the safe familiarity of Patton's scent.

"Are you guys ok?" He asked as Patton released him.

"Some bumps and bruises but we'll be fine." The fatherly side nodded with a smile but Virgil caught the worried glance he sent towards Logan, who was walking toward them with a slight limp.

"Oh, I found these." Virgil said, taking out the shattered glasses.

Logan took them from his outstretched hand and inspected them closely. Something in his eyes made Virgil once again question what exactly it was that they were dealing with. It seemed that most of the physical damage between Patton and Logan was mostly on the logical side, like something purposely went after him. Glancing back toward the stairs, Virgil didn't notice the frown and thankful nod that Logan had given him.

"Unfortunately," The logical side caught his attention. "I don't think these will be of any use due to the amount of damage caused to them and I don't have my repair kit let alone another pair of glasses to wear instead but luckily I can still see fairly well without them. Thank you, Virgil, for bringing them anyway."

As the anxious side nodded at the thanks, stuffing his hands back in his pockets while Patton seemed to ponder Logan's face without his glasses for a moment. Logan raised a brow at the fatherly side in question at the attention.

"Well," He nodded, smiling. "I think you look very handsome without them but we can share mine if you'd like, Logan."

A faint pinkness dusted the logical sides cheeks at the compliment but it faded fairly quickly as he adjusted his neck tie that was torn and missing half of the main piece.

"Thank you, Patton."

After briefly making sure they were all ok, the trio decided to head back up to the halls as the dungeon wasn't much for searching. They turned and made their way back up the dark stairs, being cautious of any other things that could be in the maze of castle halls.

"What did this? The dragon witch?" Virgil asked, keeping his low as he looked around the hall. He had definitely noticed that his voice carried a lot farther in these spacious halls.

"Something worse, I think." Logan explained, but the tone of his voice gave a sign that he wouldn't say more.

Glancing at Patton, Virgil caught a look that the fatherly side wanted to say something but was hesitant. It looked as though there was a small argument going on between the logical and fatherly sides using only eye contact. This was something Virgil had yet to actually figure out how the two had gotten so good at silent communication.

"What's going on here?" The anxious side asked, the cold feeling that had been growing in his chest getting stronger.