Chapter 10
"Virgil!" Roman greeted him in excitement, the bars of his cage no longer coated in black smoke.
"What did you do this time, princey?" The anxious side tried to give his best casual grin but the growing strain that the darkness' affect on his being caused was starting to get to him. Despite the fact he was Anxiety, his own namesake still affected him to an extent, just not as much as it got to the other sides. He already knew the signature darkness under his eyes was growing and darkening from the smoke. Had his copy really gone and summoned this much anxiety?
"You." The copy growled with such venom that it sent a shiver of fear through the two sides. "You're the one that ruined everything."
"Listen, I haven't done anything. I don't even know what's happening or who you are but you're hurting my family and I won't let that happen anymore. Not with my own anxiety." Virgil said, hoping his voice sounded stronger than he felt.
With a wave of the copies hand, the remaining black smoke froze, no longer moving at Virgil's command but feeling as if it were being pulled like a tug of war rope. The anxious side gave a small grunt at the sudden change in the effort needed to summon the smoke. The strain now reminded him of the time he had tried to push the refrigerator out of the way for Logan. An absurd amount of weight straining his muscles and forcing him to work even harder. Only instead of the physical effort he had needed for the fridge, he felt the strain throughout his entire body and his mind. He frowned at just how easier his copy seemed to be handling the increased strain, as if he were an adult arm wrestling with a child. He must've already absorbed a lot of anxiety if he was this powerful.
"Well then, Anxiety." The copy almost growled, there was a very small hint of strain in his distorted voice. "Let me explain."
"Virgil, no." Roman tried but since the two were so focused on each other and their fight of control, neither bothered to respond. Neither of them were fully sure which Virgil the prince was talking to anyway.
"I'm the better you. The stronger and smarter you." The copy explained. "Roman created me since you weren't good enough but unfortunately even your existence still distracts him. Everything was perfect until those other two showed up. Morality and Logic. Roman was going to get rid of me after they left."
"I wasn't!"
"Liar!" The copy shouted, his anger sending waves of energy through the walls, causing more cracks to form and Vitgil had to push himself more against the sudden extra strain.
"Please listen to me!" Roman begged. "They suggested I do something but I'd never destroy you!"
The copy finally broke eye contact with Virgil, who felt a sudden shift in the strain of controlling the smoke without the copies direct control. He turned to face Roman in his cage, studying the look on the prince's face. Virgil watched his copy take a few slow steps toward the cage, still on edge since he had no idea what was currently going through the copies head. The fake Virgil raised a hand to rest on one of the bars of Romans cage, silently as he watched the hopeful look form on Roman's face.
"You want me to listen?" The copy asked, his voice soft yet void of emotion.
At Roman's hopeful nod, the copy gave a small nod in return. Everything seemed to happen fairly quickly after that.
The copy reached through the bars, grabbed Roman's chin and kissed him. Virgil's eyes widened in shock. He was already feeling hurt by the prince making a copy of himself in the first place and now he felt much worse. Watching a copy of himself kissing Roman, and enjoying it? It made him feel violated. It made him sick to his stomach and he had had to turn his eyes away from the sight.
Which seemed to be exactly what the copy wanted.
He pulled out of the kiss, turning quickly and raising a hand before Virgil could react. A sudden force rushed forward and knocked the anxious side off his feet and into a wall. He hit the wall hard and fell to the floor like a sack of potatoes. His head throbbed and his shoulder burned in pain from the collision. The sound of Romans shocked cries was lost to his ringing ears and throbbing head.
"I just need to fix this mistake and then we'll be happy, baby." His voice was more distorted again as the copy made his way over to the fallen side.
Something was wrong. Despite the spinning head, Virgil could feel the darkness of his namesake churning in a way that felt broken. He looked up at the copy and saw that he was once again surrounded by the dark smoke but a new addition to his face made Virgil suddenly become even more worried than he was before. A long crack had formed under the copies left eye, cutting into his cheek and making the skin wither and break apart as it bled dark smoke.
Virgil pulled himself to a sitting position, leaning back against the very wall he had been thrown at. He had to do something. Sending a glance towards Roman, he could tell that the prince could feel it too but there was no way he could know exactly what was wrong.
"Virgil." He said to the copy, ignoring the strangeness of feeling like he was talking to himself. "You need to stop. Too much anxiety will break you. It's already causing damage."
As he explained, trying his best to keep his voice, and firm despite the growing fear in his chest, he watched as new cracks began to spread over his copies face, growing out from the darkness under his eyes. If this kept going, Virgil needed to get himself and Roman away from the copy as fast as he could. Despite his current state, Virgil found himself briefly worrying about Thomas, hoping that Logan and Patton had gotten out of the realm and were helping Thomas deal with the effects of the overwhelming anxiety. He had been feeling hints of summons since Roman had failed to show up at dinner but he had ignored it, trying to focus on the problem at hand and then he'd try to explain everything after.
For now he had to focus on not letting the realm collapse around them. To keep his copy from absorbing too much darkness.
"You think I care about that?" The copy asked, his voice dark, deep and distorted. "There are only two options here; either you die or I destroy this whole realm. There are no other options."
The finality in the copies voice made Virgil's blood run cold. This double of him only craved destruction now. He must've known as soon as he started absorbing the darkness that it had already started corrupting him.
"If you kill me, what happens next?"
The copy frowned as if the thought hadn't fully crossed his mind. He glared at Virgil.
"You'll be dead. It doesn't matter to you." He scoffed in a very un-Virgil-like manner. Arrogant and confident.
"Oh I disagree. If I know, if you promise me that none of Roman's creations or the sides are harmed. Meaning you don't destroy Roman's realm." Virgil raised his hands defensively. "If you promise me that then I'll go peacefully."
"Virgil! No!" Roman shouted, he pressed against the bars of his cage in effort to get out.
"What makes you think I care about your promise?" The copy asked, his voice cold.
"I know you hate me but," he tried to keep his voice steady. "I know we're still very similar if princey made you to be like me. I know if you kill me then you'll be the villain and I know exactly how that feels. I'm used to it. If this is my choice, then the other sides, they can't blame you. Not if it's my sacrifice. But I need your word."
As he spoke, he saw the look on his copies face change from hatred to indifference to understanding and finally acceptance. The same look that Virgil had known on his own face in the past. While the copy listened to him, the dark smoke that had been swirling around them had calmed and settled along the ruined floor. The tug of war between them had faded to nothing. No more fight.
"You know what?" The copy said, his tone was decisive as a look of understanding passed between the two Virgil's.
Before anything else could happen, the sound of metal clattering caused the two of them to turn and see the bars of the birdcage fall to the floor around the creative side. Then he was running toward them, tackling the Virgil copy to the ground, pinning his arms down above his head as Romans straddled his waist. Virgil was still too surprised to do anything, but he managed to shoot a glance toward the ruined cage and take a note at how the residual dark smoke surrounded the bars.
"Please, Virgil. I need you to calm down." The tone in Roman's voice was lost yet loving. "Nothing needs to die."
As Virgil pulled himself to his feet, he tried to ignore the knot forming and tightening in his stomach at the way the two looked at each other. He stuck his hands in the pockets in his hoodie, turning his eyes away for a moment.
"I love you." The copy said, a hint of a decision made in his voice caused the anxious side to straighten and look at him.
A look passed between Virgil and his copy as their eyes met. They both knew what was going to happen now. And they both knew there wasn't much time anymore. The damage had been done to both the copy and to the castle. The silent request in the copies eyes was met with a nod from the anxious side. Stepping over to them, he set a hand on Romans shoulder.
"We need to go. There isn't much time."
The creative side released the copies wrists and sat up to look at Virgil.
"What are you talking about?" He asked, his voice saddened and confused. He knew something was going to happen but he didn't want to accept it.
"We need to go." Virgil repeated.
"Please, baby." The copy pleased in a soft voice, all fight suddenly gone. "You need to go now."
"But- No- I can't." Roman's voice cracked.
As the prince leaned down to place his hands on either side of the copies face, Virgil turned his eyes away. The two leaned close to each other, whispering something that Virgil didn't want to hear and exchanging small kisses. The anxious side took the chance to try to absorb as much of the dark smoke that was his name sake as he could in order to return it to his room later. He felt stronger as the smoke obeyed him again and as soon as the limit was reached, he stopped, but a pretty large amount was gone now, only small wisps remained along the ground.
Despite how much he had taken, he could still feel an overwhelming amount of darkness stirring in the copies body. Setting his hand on the prince's shoulder once again, he gave the final warning. They had to leave before the castle collapsed around them.
"Come on, Roman. It's time."
Giving the copy one last kiss, both had teary eyes as the prince stood. Virgil and his copy met eyes again, both saying a silent thank you. Cracks of darkness had already spread over the copies check and arms now, cutting through the fabric easily. All life was gone from the copies eyes now.
"I wish we had been able to get to know each other better. I know you're not just a copy. In the end, you were your own person through and through." Virgil said, knowing that his words were now falling on deaf ears. He then turned and led Roman out of the room and into the hall.
As soon as they got into the hall, a loud rumble that echoed around them caused them to exchange looks before running out of the castle as fast as they could. Virgil could feel the power of the darkness, starting in the direction of the office, expanding and strengthening like a balloon ready to pop. He could feel the pressure build and push as they ran through the ruined halls. It wasn't until they found Patton and Logan on the bridge leading to the castle and they rushed to the edge of the grassy field that the balloon had popped and a large explosion erupted into the castle, knocking the four off their feet and sending the stones to crumbles.
The sides could only watch as the explosion and the release of energy caused chunks of wall and roof to fall to the ground. Each piece that fell caused two more pieces to fall until the whole marvelous castle was only a pile of rubble.
As soon as the rubble settled, the darkness seeped out from under the broken stones and formed a large cloud over where the castle one stood. They watched as darkness from throughout the realm flew through toward the large cloud and caused it to grow even larger. The areas around them; the grass, the sky, the ocean and even the dark forest brightened without the darkness' effect. The grass became green and luscious. The ocean conned and regained its glowing sparkling blue. The sky cleared and almost blind of them with the bright sun. Even the dark forest didn't seem as dark anymore.
The large ball of black smoke seemed to beckon to Virgil. Taking a breath, he released the smaller bit that he had absorbed and watched as a smoke joined the cloud. Then, as if the smoke knew where it belonged, it flew out, towards the door where the sides knew it would fly through Romans room, through the common room and then into Virgil's room where it belongs.