Chapter 9

After a few more silent looks between the two, Logan was silent but he sent a nod to Patton, who spoke.

"Roman… well he made something that he shouldn't have. It might have caused all the trouble and damage here." The fatherly side explained, hesitantly but with a purpose in his voice that made it feel like Patton had wanted this to come from them. "We think that something must've happened to make him snap after we left Roman in his office since the realm didn't look anything like this when we visited earlier today. It attacked each of us when we came back in and brought us back to the dungeon."

"What did he make?"

A few beats of silence once again passed between the trio. Virgil was, understandably, starting to get impatient. Just as Patton opened his mouth to say more, a loud rumble, like a distorted demonic scream, caused the walls to shake around them. Black smoke began to bleed out of the new cracks forming along the walls and the energy shook the floors around them. The air was silent for a moment as the waves of energy faded and the trio looked at each other, making sure they were all ok. Then, faster than they could imagine, a long crack raced down the hall toward them, splitting the floor in half between the trio. As the floors resumed their shaking, the three sides tried their best to stay standing as best as they could. Patton ended up falling back on his butt while Logan had been forced to take a knee beside the fatherly side.

A loud scream once again echoed through the air and amidst his panic and worry, Virgil vaguely pondered why that voice sounded so familiar to him when he knew for a fact that it wasn't Roman.

"We need to get out of here!" Logan said, loudly as the scream silenced again, catching Virgil's attention. "This place is going to collapse around us any second!"

"But-"

"We can't help Roman if we're crushed! We need to get to safety!" Patton shouted as Logan raised an arm to cover their heads to protect them from falling debris.

A few moments passed where Virgil couldn't decide on what to do.

Something told him that the answer to his questions is in the direction of the scream. But Logan and Patton need to get out of the castle, they were both injured. Roman needed them though. Despite the desire to go and help the two sides, Virgil nodded to himself and took off in the direction of the scream, ignoring the shouts from Logan and Patton. He found himself in front of two large ornate doors that had been ripped off their hinges and leaned against the sides of the doorway.

It looked like this was where the source of the damage was coming from. He could tell since there was more damage here than anywhere else he has seen so far. Shoving one of the doors out of the way enough to get through, he crawled under into a small space. Having to lay on his stomach, he scooted himself forward just enough to see in the room while still being hidden away from anyone or anything in the room..

"Why can't you just let me have this? I thought you loved me!"

That was… his voice? Distorted and broken but still his voice.

Virgil couldn't help but let out a gasp, quickly clasping his hand over his mouth, silently hoping his double hadn't heard him.

His double was currently surrounded by a cloud of darkness and didn't seem to hear him through his anger fuelled musings. His entire form and appearance was much darker than Virgil's was. His clothing was several shades darker and the fabric seemed to bleed black smoke. Virgil could feel the aura of the double from his spot almost on the opposite side of the ruined office. The aura was dark but felt familiar. Like Virgil's own aura of anxiety in his room. Anxiety but much darker.

Turning to look at Roman, Virgil was glad to see that the side was unharmed. A bit scratched up and locked up in what looked like a giant birdcage with a rounded top made of smoky black metal but he was fine.

"I do love you but my realm isn't yours to control." Roman said sternly, gripping the bars as the black smoke curled around his hands. "You've caused so much damage here. Please, you need to stop. Just let me help you."

"Absolutely not!" The copy snapped. "You lied to me! You told me I was the only one! This is my home and now I find out there's someone else?! Another me? I won't stop until this error, that mistake, is fixed."

This is why Virgil had been feeling that something was wrong. Why he had been feeling that coldness in his chest. He has been feeling his own namesake, his own aura of anxiety being manipulated by someone else. His questions of why and how were lost by the sound of more rumbling echoing around the castle, shaking the walls and causing more cracks to spread over the damaged stones. It seemed that his copies anger was fueling the anxiety that was slowly deteriorating the castle around them.

His fight or flight response was really starting to get to him.

"If you don't calm down then you'll bring this place down on top of us!" Roman pleaded.

The copy didn't seem very concerned. In fact, he almost seemed happy.

"You wanted to get rid of me anyway." He smirked and gave a casual shrug, the coldness in his eyes seemed to bore into the prince.

"No! I didn't! I promise you!"

Virgil tried his best to ignore the feelings churning in his mind. The hurt of feeling that Roman could make a copy of him without him even knowing. The wrenching feeling of fear of being replaced. The panic that came from hearing the words come out of his copies mouth in his voice. And the complete and utter loss of not knowing what to do.

Reaching a hand out slightly, just far enough without being seen, Virgil tried to will the dark smoke of anxiety to come to him. His name sake responded to him almost instantly at his summons. The dark smoke shifted and flew towards the anxious side's outstretched hand.

Unfortunately this action didn't go unnoticed by both the prince and the copy. As the smoke flew towards Virgil, he took the seconds he had from the others' shock at his appearance to climb out of the small opening he had been hiding in to stand.