#and in the end i get to mix some fandons i love so much and even my own hc's about the characters in them

[mosdrash]

AU idea: Crossever!AU. Just listen! I love crossovers and right now Epic is taking my brain. Why not take the Epic characters and make them meet my favorite characters from other fandoms?

See some sketches i did with this AU in mind:

For example: Odysseus in some ways remind me of Tony Stark, from the MCU. Tony has the mind to match Ody for sure and i can totally see him comparing Pepper to Penelope. Actually, i can see Ody and Tony spending time just hyping their wives to each other 😅

Other characters that i would like to imagine interacting are Loki (specifically after season 2 of the series) and Poseidon. Why? Well, they have thunder brothers and death siblings (in the MCU Loki has Hela as a sister). It would be funny to see them interacting.

Now, why would these crossovers and others happen? Well, multiverse and time travel is the reasoning behind this AU. I can flesh out more how each character would get to meet, but for now i just have ideas of possible interactions.

Anyways... Would anyone be interested in hearing more about this possible AU?

[pequenaotaku]

Oh, hi! I haven't written any fanfic about my headcanon yet, but I intend to. Until then, I thought it would be interesting to answer these questions.

1. Nothing exciting. I just always loved imagining my own stories. Add that to the fact that I'm a bookworm and voila!

2. I'm very much a perfectionist, so for me the grammar has to be flawless. Anything I write is always proofread at least 5 times. Also, I struggle a lot to create character development that is decent.

3. Uhm... I think I do better with novels, but I also like to put another genre in the background. It's usually mystery or adventure.

4. Slowburn, definitely. Development is what rocks me the most in a work, so I love to see the novel take it one step at a time.

5. Fortunately, I never got around to it. What I have, in fact, is laziness, and it gets in the way a lot when writing because it depends a lot on the "will of the day".

6. Many things, honestly... But the thing that irritates me the most must be the wrong romanticizations. You know, the ones that are based on trauma and rape...

7. I would say it's the fear of not expressing/capturing the characters' personality well.

8. The first character I created in my life had many traits of my own personality. Today I try to vary the plot of each one, but from time to time it still ends up leaking out of my real opinion, I confess.

9. Ah, I love them as if they were my own children, after all, I spend a lot of time creating, developing and editing them. It takes up a significant part of my life, and I have so many, even in other fandons, that it's hard to decide which one is my favorite. But to save effort, I'm going to talk about Ellie (yes, her name is my nickname, whatever), my protagonist in Eldarya and OC filed a long time ago, because I'm recently reviewing details on her and redoing her file. In the beginning, I just tried to create the complete opposite of Erika, because she is an insufferable protagonist, but over time, she gained her own values ​​and merits. She has qualities and flaws like anyone else, but she also has a huge heart that is always ready to sacrifice herself for others, because, being a necromancer and having gone through some trauma in the past due to her rare race, she understands how cruel death is. She is also very serene most of the time and rarely gets really irritated, plus she hates to bother others, so she deals with her own problems on her own rather than, for example, making a fuss over a mattress... Cof cof.

10. Honestly, both. A novel without a cliché is a story without flavor.

11. Most of the time, yes, after all, writing so much about them gives me a good basis for how they would act in each situation. Currently, with Ellie, maybe it's just the fact that she doesn't support violence, although she's a little more extreme at it than I am.

12. I have a friend with whom I share my new creations. She always asks me for more details about my characters since I don't have the heart to post about them. I'm trying to change that, I swear.

13. Actually, I don't dislike criticism, I think it's fundamental to improve on something. What makes me afraid are the hateful comments. There is a cliff of difference between the two.

14. I'm definitely not proud of doing this, but I love a good drama, I can't do anything against it... Overall, I think it depends a lot on the context and the world the character is in as well. For example, in the world where a war reigns, it is easier to create a character that has or has gone through more difficulties. In a day to day school it is easier to create an ordinary character who is just living in pursuit of his goals.

15. Absolutely! I was a kid when I started writing, so it's obvious that my writing style these days is much more... refined, I think it's a good word. Even if, today, all I have left are drafts and a desire mixed with an insecurity to post. But maybe one day?

(I apologize if anything goes wrong, but I'm not fluent and I'm using Google Translate.)

Hey, my dear fellow fanfiction writers!

I saw a lot of cool writers out here, so I decided to make this thing. Basically, it’s made for every writer in “beemoov” fandom (mcl, ml, eldarya). I’m really curious about your answers!

1. How and why did you start to write? Is there some kind of story behind it?

2. What do you struggle the most with your writing?

3. What is your favourite genre to write?

4. Slowburn or “Flame”/PWP?

5. How do you overcome writer’s block?

6. What kind of thing you dislike the most, when reading a fanfiction? (for example: particular plot, grammar mistakes)

7. What’s the biggest issue for you, when writing a beemoov fanfiction?

8. Have you ever created a character based on person in real life? (celebrity, someone that you know, etc)

9. How do you feel about your own characters? Do you think of them as your babies or have rather love-hate relantionship with them? (And, do you have favourite one?)

10. Enemies-to-lovers or friends/bestfriends-to lovers?

11. Is it easy for you to get inside your character’s head? Can you empathize with them? Is there’s some similarities between you and your main character?

12. Who has been the biggest supporter of your writing?

13. How do you handle criticism?

14. Do you like giving your characters trauma? Why/why not?

15. Are you proud of yourself? When you look at first piece you wrote and compare it to the latest one?

[haunting-kind-of-high]

So Long and Goodnight

Warnings: A bit of swearing, major character death, cancer, car crash, drowning, suicide, lots of angst, no happy ending

Tag list: @musicphanpie-b, @imin-loveanon, @ordinary-chaos, @sandersandthesides, @ajumbleofwords, @demonickittykat, @zadi-jyne, @serenefreakgeek, @fandons-mangoes, @leesacrakon, @gayfagg, @friendlyinternetmeerkat

Notes: This was so hard to write this, mostly because I have no idea how hospitals work. There are probably lots of mistakes and inaccuracies, but I tried my best, don’t judge me too harsly :)

Read on AO3 here

So long to all my friends

Everyone of them met tragic ends

It started with Patton. About a year ago, he was diagnosed with liver cancer. When they discovered this, Patton was in stage II, but the cancer was exceptionally agressive. However, the doctors tried what they did to help Patton, but no matter what they did, it still spread. Patton’s health detoriated quickly and even though he always remained optimistic and happy, the treatment affected him heavily. Especially the chemotherapy was hard on Patton. The doctors tried what they could, but it never worked the way they wanted to. No matter what they tried, Patton lost weight quickly. He grew less energetic and his housemates noticed the change. Patton tried to hide it, but his friends saw through his facade of happiness. He was scared, worried about the future. Over the weeks, he got worse. He didn’t go out as much as he used to, he barely ate. It wasn’t looking good. Soon, he had to be taken to the hospital in critical conditions. After a quick examination, the doctor stepped into Patton’s room. 

“I’m very sorry,” she told Patton and his three housemates apologetically, “but the cancer is stage IV. I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do now. I’m sorry.” 

At that point, all four men felt like their hearts sink through the floor. Patton bit his lip and nodded. So this was it, he thought, this was it.

And that was the moment that Patton’s happy facade finally crumbled. And that was what broke Virgil’s heart more than seeing his health deteroriate the way it did. Patton had always tried to be strong, but now it was certain he was going to die, he couldn’t be strong anymore. He smiled sadly at the doctor and as soon as she had left, saying she would give the four some privacy, Patton broke down. 

“I’m sorry,” he sniffled, looking down at his hands, “i-it’s just… scary, I guess…” Virgil nodded as he grabbed Patton’s head, unable to speak due to the lump that had formed in his throat. 

“You don’t have to be sorry, Pat,” Roman said, his voice cracking, “it is scary. We get it.” 

In the week that followed, Logan, Virgil and Roman made sure at least one of them was with Patton at all times. His health got worse every hour. After a few days, he didn’t eat anymore. He barely drank. And six days later, he died. Virgil was sat next to him, holding his hand. 

“Verge,” Patton whispered. Virgil looked up and noticed with pain in his heart that Patton’s eyes had already lost their shimmer and liveliness. 

“I love you.” 

And those were his last words. The heart monitor let out a long monotonous beep that signified the lack of heartbeat. 

“Pat,” Virgil called softly, his voice breaking. “Pat…” He brought a hand up to his mouth to muffle the sobs that left his mouth as the nurses and a doctor rushed in. With trembling hands, he dialed his friend’s number. Almost immediately, someone picked up the phone. 

“Logan, it’s me,” Virgil said softly, “it’s Patton. He’s… fuck. He’s dead.”

Then came Roman. It wasn’t even a month after Patton had passed away. All three men were still mourning the death of their good friend, and that particular week hadn’t been great for Roman. It seemed that the realisation that Patton had died had finally kicked in for him. Food didn’t taste as good as it used to and his bed had never been more comfortable. Virgil and Logan did what they could to help their friend out.

After a few days, Roman had to go back to work again, after a few weeks of absence. When he heard this, Virgil immediately tried to talk Roman out of it. 

“Ro, you’re in no state to work,” he said, “you should stay in.”

“We have to be able to pay for food and rent,” Roman reasoned as he grabbed his bag from the table. 

“I know, but let Logan me take care of that. You have barely left your bed in the past week, you should stay home for at least one more day. I’m sure your boss will understand.”

“I will manage, Virgil. Trust me.” But he didn’t. Virgil didn’t trust him. Roman looked nothing like his usual self. He looked broken. His eyes seemed dead and they had black circles underneath them. His skin looked ten times paler than it usually did and he’d lost weight. 

“Why don’t you call your boss, tell her why you can’t come to work and stay in for just a few more days?” Virgil tried. He wanted Roman to stay home, until he looked better, at least. Roman seemed to have other plans, though. 

“I really can’t Verge,” he insisted, “and besides, I think it’s too late to stay in for today. Just… let me go okay? I could use a distraction.” 

“Fine,” Virgil sighed, “but you stay home tomorrow.” 

“Alright.” Roman seemed reluctant to agree, but at least he agreed, Virgil thought. 

“Take good care of yourself, okay?” 

“Of course,” Roman nodded with a small smile as he stepped forwards to embrace Virgil shortly. “I love you, Verge.”

“I love you too.”

He didn’t know what happened. All he knew was that thirty minutes later, he was sat in his car, rushing to the hospital while trying to get ahold of Logan. Virgil had gotten a call from the hospital, telling him that Roman had been in an accident and they were preparing to perform surgery on him. He wasn’t doing well. And that was why Virgil ran into the hospital and came to a sudden stop in front of the reception. He told the receptionist his friend’s name and they told him where to go. It all went by in a blur. Virgil made his way to the operation and sat down on a chair nearby.

It was his fault. He should have tried better to convince Roman to stay home today. He should have called his boss himself. He should have done anything to try and keep Roman home. It was his fault they were here in a hospital. What if he died? Oh God… what if Roman died too? He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if Roman died because of him. It was his fault. 

Virgil tried to call Logan time after time after time. Finally, after what must have been at least a dozen times, Logan picked up. “Virgil, what is it?” he asked with something in his voice that sounded like a mix of frustration and worry. “You’ve called me sixteen times. You know I’m in class, right?” “Roman… h-he was in a c-car crash,” Virgil told, trying his best not to cry, “he’s i-in the OR right- right now.” “He what? Are you at the hospital now?” “Yeah,” Virgil answered softly. “Stay there! I’ll be there as soon as possible.” Before Virgil could say anything, Logan had already ended the phone call. Virgil placed his phone on the seat next to him and buried his face in his hands. It was his fault. 

“Virgil,” he heard Logan’s voice next to him. He sounded out of breath and panicked. “Have you heard anything yet?” Virgil looked up at Logan, his face red and blotched. He shook his head and looked at the floor. “What happened?” Logan asked as he sat down next to Virgil. “It’s my fault,” Virgil mumbled, not looking at his friend. “What?” “It’s my fault,” Virgil repeated, followed by a sob. Logan wrapped an arm around Virgil’s shoulders, trying his best to comfort his friend, even though he didn’t know how to do it. “How is this your fault?” “I-I let him g-go to work,” Virgil explained, “I tried t-to stop him but he… he went anyways and…” Virgil couldn’t finish his sentence as he was interrupted by a new series of sobs. He wrapped his arms around Logan and buried his face in his shoulder. It was his fault they were here. It was his fault. “That could have never been your fault, Virgil,” Logan said, wrapping one arm around Virgil’s middle and the other held the back of Virgil’s head steady. His shoulders shocked as sobs left his mouth. “It was!” Virgil protested, his voice muffled by the fabric of Logan’s shirt. “I should have-” “You should have nothing,” Logan reassured him. “You did everything you could, that’s all you could have done. It’s not your fault, Virgil.”

They sat there for what felt like hours. After a while, Virgil calmed down, but he never let go of Logan. They never hugged that often, as neither of them were too fond of contact like that, but right now, both of them found comfort in that form of affection. Logan never showed Virgil, but he was scared Roman would die, too. He had managed to distract himself by taking on extra work and focussing all his attention on his classes, but he was afraid that the loss of another friend would be much harder on him. He wouldn’t be able to drown that out by taking on massive amounts of work. But now, he had to focus on comforting Virgil as well as he could. He wasn’t too familiar with it, but he tried. And it appeared to be working, because after a while, Virgil’s sobbing died down. He still clinged on to Logan like he was his last hope to be rescued. He was drowning in his thoughts and Logan was the only one who could pull him out of it. 

After a while, a doctor walked up to the two men. Logan noticed this and softly asked Virgil to let go of him so they could properly listen to what the doctor had to say. “I’m very sorry,” the doctor started and Virgil could feel his heart sink to his feet. “We did everything in our power, but we could not safe him. I’m really sorry.” Virgil looked down at the floor as the announcement sank in. Logan nodded and softly thanked the doctor. They had a short conversation that went completely unnoticed by Virgil. He could only think one thing: I was his fault Roman had died. It was his fault. He had killed Roman.

Months passed and Logan and Virgil tried to move on with their lives. They tried to accept that Patton and Roman had died and to get over it. It was hard, though. The wounds never fully healed. They never got used to the silence in their apartment. It was oddly quiet without Roman’s constant singing and Patton’s continuous jokes. But the two learned to deal with it. Virgil never stopped blaming himself for Roman’s death, though. But he learned how to handle his feelings. And just as the two thought their lives were going back to normal, it happened.

Logan died.

Virgil was home when it happened. Logan had left to get groceries almost two hours ago and Virgil started to worry. He knew Logan was more than able to take care of himself, but he still worried. He had already lost two of his best friends, he couldn’t lose a third. He wouldn’t survive that.  

Virgil had just sat down on the couch with something to drink, as his phone rang. He placed the glass on the table and looked at the caller ID. Logan. Thank goodness, he was okay! Virgil immediately picked up.

“Logan,” he greeted, “where are you? It’s been two hours!” But the voice that answered him, made his heart stop. It wasn’t Logan.

“Hi, Virgil… right?” A panicked voice asked.

“Yeah,” Virgil said slowly, “what’s… what’s going on?”

“I don’t know exactly what happened,” the voice on the other side of the line answered, “but I found someone… in the river on the side of the road and… and you were in their emergency contacts so…”

“Is he alive?” Virgil asked quickly, his voice shaking with fear and worry. “Is he breathing?”

“I… I’m sorry,” the voice sighed, “I’m afraid he’s…”

There it was. The final blow. It was as if all air was forced out of his lungs. All thoughts were pushed out of his head. All he could think was: he’s dead. Logan’s dead. I’m alone.

“Where are you?” Virgil asked, his voice breaking. “I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

It was a short journey to their location, in reality only a ten minute walk, but Virgil was so panicked and so scared that it felt like hours. His best friends were dead. They were all gone. There was no one there for him anymore. He was all alone.

Finally, he arrived. There were two females and a wet body that - no. Don’t look at it, Virgil said to himself, it’ll only upset you. But then again, he was upset already, so maybe… no. He couldn’t. Virgil approached the two women and the first smiled at him. She was still holding on to Logan’s phone. She had long brown hair and deep blue eyes. She approached Virgil and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m really sorry,” she said softly, “we tried anything but we found him too late. We wanted to call an ambulance, but… we were too late. I’m really sorry.”

Virgil nodded and looked down. He felt so numb. He knew he was supposed to be sad, he believed he was sad, but he didn’t feel it. But when he looked at the body that once belonged to his friend, that’s when he felt it. When he saw Logan’s soaking wet body, looking as if he had just fallen asleep, that’s when the sadness hit him. It felt like Logan could get up any second and greet Virgil like nothing had happened. But, as the women told him, he didn’t have a heartbeat anymore and his breathing had stopped. He wouldn’t wake up. Tears welled up in his eyes and his chest seemed to explode all of a sudden. He had lost his best friend. 

The woman, Maya, noticed and tried to comfort Virgil as much as she could. She carefully wrapped an arm around Virgil’s shoulders, waiting to see if he’d reject her or push her away. To her surprise, he didn’t. In any other situation, Virgil would have stepped away as soon as possible, but right now, it was a welcome comfort.

“Can I hug you?” Maya asked carefully. “Are you okay with that?”

Virgil froze for a moment, but eventually nodded. Maya wrapped her arms around Virgil and that was the moment he broke down. In that embrace, safe in the stranger’s arms, he realised the gravity of the sitituation and he crumbled. All his friends were dead. He was alone now.

He was alone. And in the months that followed, he tried to get used to it. He tried to learn how to deal with it. But he failed. He didn’t have any other friends and he was too anxious to talk to other people. He bottled up all his feelings until they broke him. He only left the apartment to go to work or to get food. The apartment was quiet. Too quiet. Sometimes, Virgil would go to his friend’s bedrooms - they had never been touched; neither Logan nor Virgil could do it. They were too scared to lose the memory of their friends. He’d sit there for hours, lost in his thoughts, his sadness, his guilt. Until he’d had enough of it. He couldn’t live like this anymore. No one cared about him anymore. So over the weeks he built up the courage he needed until finally he had enough. Slowly, he grabbed a rope and tied a noose.

“I loved you guys, too,” he whispered, before he let himself fall. “Goodbye.”

I failed and lost this fight

Never fade in the dark

Just remember you will always burn as bright

[haunting-kind-of-high]

The Shadows In Our Minds (Part 1)

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7

Warnings: angst, nightmares, fire, blood mention, death, decapitation, panic attack

Tag list (message me if you want to be on it): @musicphanpie-b, @imin-loveanon, @ordinary-chaos, @sandersandthesides, @ajumbleofwords, @demonickittykat, @zadi-jyne, @serenefreakgeek, @fandons-mangoes, @leesacrakon, @gayfagg

(I tagged everyone on my tag list, but if you aren’t interested in this series, let me know and I will take you off the list for this one)

Notes: This is the sequel to What Lies Beyond The Shadow, you should read that before reading this. It’s also found on AO3. You can also read this fic on there. 

After days of traveling, the trio finally arrived in front of the Royal Palace. With a relief, the three men brought their horses back to the stable and then, they entered the Palace. As soon as they stepped inside, chaos erupted at the sight of the three men. Personnel and friends came up to the trio, hugged them and told them how glad they were to see that they had all safely returned. Of course, they all wanted to know what had happened and the males answered all questions as well as they could. Not long after this, Roman managed to escape the crowd and walked to the throne room, where his parents were waiting for him. 

The king walked up to his son and hugged him tightly. Roman returned this hug, albeit stiffly, almost coldly. 

“I am proud of you, son,” the king told Roman. He smiled down at his son with a mix of pride and something that seemed to be pain, regret, maybe. Roman smiled in return and looked down. 

“Someone had to do it,” he said softly, looking up at his father again. The king nodded, but he quickly averted his eyes. Something about his attitude showed that he was overthinking something, it showed he was upset about something. But what could it be? Could it be - 

“We are glad you are safe, Roman,”  his mother said as she stepped forwards, embracing her son. 

“Yeah,” Roman replied, returning the hug, for the first time since he came back from the Cursed Woods, completely comfortable and willingly. “So am I.” 

After a long day of talking to people, and answering the same questions over and over again, Roman was finally able to retreat to his room. After he had announced that he wanted no one to disturb him, he walked into his room and sat down on his large bed. The light of the candles the illuminated the chamber flickered for a few moments as the prince’s hair grew more purple and his clothes changed back to his usual black ones. Roman - or Virgil, I should say - got up and carefully locked the door. 

“Now for plan B,” he muttered as he disappeared in the shadows around him. 

Not even one second later, Virgil found himself in the bedroom of the royal pair, who were just getting ready to sleep themselves. Virgil enhanced the shadows around him, hiding him from the royals. It felt like ages before they finally got in bed, and even longer before they fell asleep. Virgil waited a few more moments before concentrating his thoughts and all his powers on the sleeping king. In just a few seconds, the reality around him seemed to fade to black and another scenery took its place.

The king and queen were stood in a field full of colourful flowers, their arms wrapped around each other. It was nighttime, but the moonlight was bright enough to illuminate the field. Virgil watched them from a distance. He could see the royal pair, but they could not see him. 

The sorcerer knew what was going to happen; the king had told the tale of this ‘magical night’ more than a few times. And Virgil knew exactly how to make it even more magical. 

After just a while, the fireworks started. Right on time. But, instead of bursting out into the most beautiful and colourful shapes, the fireworks changed direction and flew in the direction of the royal couple, who scrambled to their feet as the fireworks hit around them. The sparks set the grass and flowers ablaze, igniting an enormous fire that quickly closed in around the two. Almost too quickly to be natural. The king looked around in a panic, hoping he’d see someone to help him out, and for a moment, he thought he saw a deep shade of purple in the darkness, but it faded away the moment he laid eyes on it. 

The flames caused a big pillar of smoke to rise up and soon, the entire field was covered in a grey blanket. And out of that thick smoke, a beast emerged, seemingly out of nowhere, as if it had spawned from the flames. Its grey fur resembled a wolf’s, but its body reminded one of a bear. A gigantic bear. Its eyes glowed a deep crimson as the beast let out a growl that would make a dragon cower in fear. Even standing on its four feet, the beast towered above the royal couple. The two royals were now standing next to each other in the middle of the ring of fire. Mysteriously, the fire seemed to have stopped spreading and it was now just a way to keep the two closed in. The queen looked at her husband in shock as the beast approached her. Neither of them had anything on them that could work as a weapon. Unless-

The queen fell to the floor, dodging one of the beast’s paws that was swung at her, and quickly undid the straps of her heels, taking the shoes in her hands. She rolled to the side to dodge another attack and tried to stab the beast with the heel of one of her shoes. She did manage to wound it, but it was only a small injury; it hardly even drew blood. The animal growled as it quickly pinned the queen down. The king awakened from his temporary state of paralysis and rushed to his wife’s side, picking up the shoes she had dropped. He clumsily managed to stab the footwear into his foe’s back. But, unlike he had hoped, this did not draw the beast’s attention to him. Instead, the animal only increased its pressure on its victims shoulders and its cries of pain mixed themselves with hers. Then, the beast decided it had had enough and with one quick move, it bent over and with nothing but its enormous maw, tore the queen’s head away from her body. 

The king wanted to run away, to scream, to cry, to fight back. But he was, again, paralyzed. The beast had dropped the queen’s head and had now turned his attention to its next prey. It slowly made its way to the king. It steadied itself on its hind paws and growled. And then -

The king woke up, panting and covered in beads of sweat. He looked to his side, to find his sleeping wife, still very much alive, and a sigh of relief escaped his mouth. He took a deep breath trying to calm down his wildly beating heart and his panicking mind. The dream had felt so real. So much more realistic than any other dream he had had before. And that purple colour he saw… no. It couldn’t have been him. It must have been something else. Besides, the colour faded after he saw it. Surely, it wasn’t real. Right?

With a sigh, the king lay down and closed his eyes again. It was just a dream, he told himself. There was nothing to be scared of. It was just a dream.

When the king had woken up, Virgil had quickly faded out of the room to make sure he couldn’t be seen by the royal. Then, he made himself reappear in Roman’s large room. With a sinister smile, the sorcerer changed his appearance back to the prince’s and prepared for the night. For real. 

Early the next morning, Virgil made his way downstairs. He still recognised some of the hallways he used to love so much. It almost made him nostalgic. Almost. If only these beautiful hallways and the good memories weren’t infected and corrupted by one big event. If only the memories could remain as pure as they once were.  But life could not be that favourable to him. It never was. 

Soon enough, Virgil found himself standing in a dining hall that was virtually empty. It had been twenty years since he last saw the vast hall and it had never changed one bit. Even the candles on the large table stood where they always had. It was as if he had never left. And as he stood there, Patton entered the room behind him. 

“Roman?” Virgil heard a voice call out to him. “What are you looking at?” 

“Just… glad to be back,” he answered, not looking at the man next to him. 

“Yeah, it has been a while, hasn’t it?” Patton looked at Roman with a smile.

“Too long.” 

An hour later, after they had had breakfast, Virgil found himself in the town of Darlea. The town he had ruined a little over two week prior. The civillians were doing their best to rebuild their homes and though they had made a lot of progress, they still had a long way to go. People ran up to their prince and thanked him for his effort, asked him about his battle against the Shadow Sorcerer or asked him for help in building up their lives again. Virgil put up a fake smile and answered their questions as well as he could for as long as the questions flooded in. As soon as the interrogation had ended, Virgil excused himself and he hurried off. He walked through the streets of Darlea. People came up to him every once in a while. And if they did, he would smile at them and listen to what they had to say. They told him about what they had to endure and about what they had lost in the fire. They told about what they had gone through in the past two weeks and how they were forced to live on the streets, not knowing they were actually talking to the perpetrator of all this. And as he listened to their stories, he… didn’t feel anything. You might have expected him to feel sorry for what he did, for everything he brought onto those innocent people. But, in reality, he didn’t feel bad at all. Sure, he knew that it wasn’t fun to live like they did; without a house, with barely any clothes and no money - he had experienced that firsthand. It just didn’t make him regret his actions. What was the point in feeling bad about it anyways? It had happened and there was nothing to be done about it. There was no point in grieving now.   

Patton had just made it back to the Royal Palace. He, along with Logan, Roman, the king and queen, had spent the day in Darlea. Just like before he, Logan and Roman had left for their quest, they had talked to the Darleans and helped them out where he could. It was nothing he hadn’t done before. That’s what made it so curious that he felt so drained today. He felt weak and his mind seemed to be all over the place. 

“Are you okay, Patton?” Logan asked carefully when they had reached the safety of the Palace. “You seem… absent.”

“Yeah,” Patton said shakily, not fully convincing, “I guess I’m just… tired.”

“Are you sure?” Roman inquired, “You seem… on edge, Pat.”

“No… no I’m fine,” Patton breathed, managing a smile. “Trust me.”

“If you say so,” Roman nodded. Patton smiled and quickly excused himself. He left the two behind and headed to his room. As soon as he knew they couldn’t see him, he fastened his pace. He wasn’t okay. He wasn’t fine. He was scared. He was panicking. And why? He didn’t know. 

Patton entered his room and slammed the door shut. He fell down on his soft mattress and clutched onto his pillow, as if that would ease his mind. His breathing became more and more rapid and more and more shallow.Tears burned in his eyes and they quickly rolled down his cheeks. He didn’t know why he was panicking so much, he didn’t know why he was so anxious or why his chest felt like it was going to explode. He had felt good all day, why did he feel so panicked all of a sudden? Patton couldn’t see it through the tears in his eyes and his blurry vision, but in the very corner of the room, there was an odd shadow present. It had a darker colour than the rest of the room, but the difference was so minimal, it was hard to notice. 

As time passed, Patton’s breathing seemed to be getting more irregular. He became dizzy and his ears started ringing. His heart started beating faster and faster, as if it was trying to find a way out of his ribcage. Patton was so scared. And of what? He couldn’t tell. All he knew, was that he was scared. Scared of failing, scared of losing control, scared of disappointing others. Scared of anything and scared of everything. Shaking hands reached up and covered his ears, as if that would drown out the voices of worry and fear he heard in his mind. He wanted it to stop. He wanted the panicked and anxious thoughts to stop flooding his brain. Where did they come from? Why wouldn’t they stop?

He sat there for what felt like hours. In reality, it was only several minutes until the shadow in the corner of the room left and peace immediately returned in Patton’s mind. It felt as if a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders and he could breathe freely again. After this, it took him a while to get his breathing back on track, but when he did, he slowly got up and walked to the bathroom to splash some water in his face. When he looked in the mirror, Patton saw his face was red and blotched. With a sigh, he rubbed the last tears out of his eyes and took a few sips of water. He stayed there until he looked presentable again.

Dinner that night was… unusual. As always, the three members of the royal family dined together, along with Logan, Patton and some other important members of the staff. Patton didn’t speak; instead, he focussed all his attention on the plate in front of him. This in itself was weird, as Patton was usually the most cheerful and the most talkative person of the company. The king seemed to be absent, too. His mind was somewhere far, far away, And also Roman acted unlike his usual self. He was more quiet than usual. Darker, even. Most of the meal was spent in a silence that was only interrupted by the cutlery ticking against the plate. It was weird, unusual. There was an odd atmosphere in the room, as if something dark, something bad was about to come, What they didn’t know, however, was that that something was already amongst them.