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delimeful · 1 year

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carry them home (4)

warnings: magical oaths, mentions of past harm/captivity, mentions of murder, canon-typical remus behavior, lmk if i'm missing any

His declaration, predictably, sparked an entirely new argument.

Logan had wasted a few moments trying to call Janus’s bluff, and then, once it became clear that a Deal was absolutely not happening, he had been promptly dragged into the brewing argument.

Patton was vehemently against murder, and the fire sprite seemed to be tentatively backing him up. Logan was clearly weighing the benefits and the risks, his clear irritation with Janus seemingly warring with the fallout of going against Patton’s wishes. Vee appeared to be holding up the pro-murder side of the argument through sheer force of loathing.

Nobody had asked Remus for his opinion, presumably because the answer was extremely obvious. The kid was still leaning obnoxiously on Janus, watching the debate like a tennis match and nodding faux-wisely every once in a while.

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to look the other way while your companions are distracted?” Janus asked dryly, tilting his head slightly to see that the hands on him were utterly caked in dirt.

“And miss the opportunity to see how many ghoul fungi I could grow out of your corpse? You ask too much of me,” Remus replied, tilting Janus back slightly so he could peer upside down at his face.

Startlingly, underneath the errant patches of lichen and mold, the changeling’s face bore a remarkable resemblance to the fire sprite.

Rather than comment on it, Janus rolled his eyes. “At least grow edible ones. Waste not, want not, as the conscientious say.”

Remus blinked, and the edges of his smile grew sharper with delight. “Any corpse mushrooms are edible if you're not a coward!”

Janus hummed in agreement. “And if you don’t mind becoming a corpse yourself.”

Those mismatched eyes vanished, and there was a nasally laugh, as though he’d thrown his head back to cackle. “You’re awfully relaxed for a guy we might pull all the guts out of!”

Part of that was the lingering effect of the trance, as well as the theory that if he planned an escape too actively, he might send the soothsayer into another foretelling episode.

(It was strange. Normally, involuntary visions of the future were triggered by impending danger, but Janus hadn’t had any harmful intentions while pondering escape.)

Of course, he wasn’t about to tell them that.

“There’s no point to mindlessly panicking,” Janus said instead. “Besides, as far as captors go, I’ve had much crueler ones.”

“Are you sure? We’re literally trying to decide if I get to mulch your body!” Remus informed him cheerily. His sharp-toothed little grin was practically designed to incite terror; Janus felt a small surge of fondness despite himself.

“Indeed, but a few of you don’t seem to want me dead, so my statement stands.”

“‘A few’ is generous,” Vee muttered, and then ducked away from Patton’s puppy dog eyes.

“He hasn’t done anything wrong!” Patton insisted. Generally speaking, that wasn’t remotely true, but Janus wasn’t about to correct him. “We shouldn’t hurt innocents!”

“Patton, we have to focus on keeping ourselves safe,” Logan tried, a sort of halfheartedness to the words, as though he already knew they wouldn’t sway the other fae.

“What’s an epic voyage without a few struggles?” the fire sprite countered. “This serpentine stranger may have some tricks up his sleeve, but a hero such as myself will valiantly protect you all from any threat he may pose!”

Vee scoffed. “Ro, you can’t even protect us from your twin’s bad singing.”

Ro gasped, placing an affronted hand to his chest, but before they could return to bickering, Logan mantled his wings in an unspoken demand for attention.

“If we aren’t killing him—,” he pointedly ignored the groan from Vee, “—we need an alternative method of ensuring he won’t hurt anyone.”

“Remove his arms!” Remus offered helpfully. Patton winced, and Logan sighed.

“Physical restraints seem to be effective enough for the moment. Our primary concern should be countering whatever method the human used to break free of my trance.”

“Or,” Janus interjected mildly, “we could skip the mind magic entirely, and negotiate instead.”

“Right, because you’re so trustworthy,” Vee snapped. He’d started aggressively pacing at some point during the discussion, his shoulders hunched inward.

The kid made an astute point, as inconvenient as it was.

“I’m not the one who chose to be dragged out here and interrogated,” Janus said, tone only slightly snippy. “However, I would be willing to swear a blood oath, if that is what’s required to ease your minds.”

All of the kids turned to him with wide-eyed surprise, though Vee snapped back into anger within moments.

“You don’t get to put any of us under oath—,” he started, edging in front of the others with bared teeth.

“I would be the sworn party,” Janus interrupted, heroically resisting the urge to sigh at the assumption.

Another beat of silence, though Remus and Ro seemed more bemused than anything.

“You’d rather subject yourself to a blood oath than a Deal?” Logan asked, his expression shifting to something more pensive as he studied Janus. “Have you… been under oath, before?”

Janus resisted a dry laugh. “I have,” he understated.

“But blood oaths hurt!” Patton chimed in, still looking far too worried on behalf of a relative stranger.

He was well aware. “The pain is only debilitating if I actively act against the agreed terms. As long as I am guaranteed my safe release by the end of the oath, I am willing to endure the side effects.”

Vee had gone quiet, watching him intently with those tar pit eyes.

“Alright,” Logan said, and settled into a neat, cross-legged sit in front of Janus. “Let’s negotiate.”

—

The agreement ended up being relatively straightforward, for how long-winded their discussion was.

Janus had agreed not to harm, or plan to cause harm to, any of the kids. He’d agreed to offer his honest knowledge on not only the movement of the Guard, but any relevant matters that could aid their journey. He’d agreed to follow the orders of whoever was currently assigned as his watcher, but only that designated person.

He’d insisted on that wording, having already picked up on the frequent bickering that went on between the kids. Being subject to one highly-opinionated child at a time was manageable. Being subject to magically compelled orders from all five of them was a recipe for disaster.

In exchange, he would not be killed, and he would part ways peacefully with the gaggle of infants after the oath period— a completed moon’s cycle— had passed.

He had spent so much time weaving loopholes into his requirements and playing innocent as Logan caught and unraveled the vast majority of them, that he hadn’t actually realized how heavily skewed against him the deal was until the oath was already being made.

That was what he got for indulging in bad habits, he supposed. A necessary evil, as he doubted the children would have trusted his word if he’d simply stated what he meant outright.

They had good instincts— it was always better to be watching for the trap— but in the end, they were still young. Rooting out Janus’s double-meaning machinations had successfully distracted them from including the conditions Janus wanted to avoid-- one that would force him to tell them anything about his own person, for example.

(Really, his highly suspect background aside, it was none of their business.)

He didn’t bother trying anything during the ritual swearing itself, both because Vee was watching him like a starved hawk, and because he wasn’t a fool that meddled with the processes of blood magic.

The heavy, dull ache of a blood oath settled onto Janus like an old jacket draped over his shoulders. He hadn’t missed it. Still, it was leagues better than making a Deal.

Five gazes watched him with varying levels of curiosity and wariness, as though waiting to see if he would spontaneously combust under the force of the oath.

Janus pushed down the stress that always accompanied arrangements like these, reminding himself that he was in the here and now. As far as captors he’d been magically bound to went, he’d endured far worse for far longer.

It would only be a month. They were children. This would likely be the easiest trip he’d ever made under blood oath.

“My first piece of advice,” he offered with a winsome smirk, “would be to move eastward. Odds are good that your encounter with the shopkeep will linger in her mind enough to mention it to the Guard, and I assume we’ll want to be well ahead of any scouting parties sent off the way I led you out of town.”

Vee crossed his arms, scowling. “We’re not going to find Sanctuary in the east. It’s in the mountains.”

“I’m not giving you information on how to get to Sanctuary, the place that isn’t real. I’m telling you how to not get caught by hunters,” Janus replied, saccharine-sweet.

Vee hissed petulantly.

“Ooh, ooh!” Remus waved his hand around wildly. “We could always go with my plan and immolate the Guard! I always wanted to go out in a blaze of gory glory.”

Patton chuckled nervously. “Immolate? I think I’d prefer we get moving immoearly to avoid the Guard instead!”

Remus booed. Ro also booed, but it seemed to be more about the pun than denial of mauling.

“Patton is correct. We don’t want to be caught unaware, particularly at nightfall,” Logan said, folding up his map after adding a few careful notations to it. “The human’s advice is sound— for the short-term, Vee. We can worry about Sanctuary once we’re out of immediate danger.”

With a decisive nod, he shifted back to his feet, and everyone dispersed as though on cue, hurrying to grab the supplies and belongings scattered about the clearing.

Having left all his belongings at home pre-abduction, Janus leaned back against a tree, grimacing as the bark pressed into his wrists. He really would have to convince them to retie his hands in front of him, he was going to be entirely useless like this.

Patton would be the easiest to convince, though he doubted that Logan would assign anyone but himself to watch Janus for the first few days—

“Vee! You’ve got the human. Keep an eye on him.”

Or maybe the siren trusted the others more than Janus had originally thought.

...Or cared less about Janus's survival than he'd originally assumed.

Vee returned Janus’s mocking smile from earlier, a silent promise that the changeling was going to enjoy making life harder for him.

So much for an easy journey.

#sanders sides fic #fae au #ts janus #ts remus #ts logan #ts roman #ts patton #ts virgil #my writing #carry them home #cth #writing

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where-are-the-spooky-gays-2 · 1 month

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*materializes into existence*

Hey there :D

I haven't sent an ask in... I don't remember. This is very long.

Calling this the QPP Fae AU.

(cw/tw: mention of death & dead parent, implied/referenced mistreatment & alienation, possible grief and denial, disappearance/missing person, not being believed, abandonment issues, fear of being alone, fear of vulnerability & trusting others, massive anxiety mention, hunters, mention of questioning ones humanity)

Spooky Gays in a qpp. One is a human, the other is some fae creature in disguise. Not the ones ya think.

Fae Virgil not wanting to deal with most humans can they're really mean and weird and why did one of them just down chemicals for a media challenge, huh??

Human Remus being his feral, chaotic self & Virgil genuinely believing he's a fellow fae. No human does that shit, you have no shame, sir, and don't give a shit about human rules, ain't no way you're a human. Remus is very much not like his peers at all, but he loves himself for it. The weirder he is, the better. He rather be alienated from those strict jerks.

It's not like he wants genuine connection, haha, shut up

Remus tells Virgil that actually he's human, but he thinks being mistaken for fae is the best thing ever. Virgil does not believe him for a while before just accepting his human is just a massive feral weirdo.

Virgil and Remus end up in a qpp/partnership. They slowly show trust and vulnerability to each other & find out things about one another. Like Remus' fear of being alone or his abandonment issues that may or may not being related to his missing twin brother who's being missing for almost six months by now. Or like Virgil's massive anxiety bc of unfair shit from other fae & meanie humans/human hunters. Also his fear of trusting others bc he's so used to be betrayed and hurt. They help each other out w/ their things.

And maybe h/c qpp turns into a mystery and thriller as they search for Remus' missing brother, Roman, who disappeared right after a trip into the woods and hasn't been seen since. Remus believes he's still alive somewhere but no one believes him. The townsfolk held a memorial/funeral that Remus refused to attend bc "he's still alive, what are you doing, we have to find him, idiots". Virgil is the only one who kinda believes him bc lots of ppl disappear into the woods and end up in the fae world, it happens a lot, so maybe he's there? So, Virgil uses his fae connections to help look for him & he and Remus look in Roman's fave spots in the woods. As this happens, Remus tells stories of when the twins were younger and they'd go camping w/ each other & how they'd play pretend a lot & when they played make believe Re chose to be a Duke & Ro chose to be a Prince & their mom Rhea would pretend with them sometimes and pretend to be this epic Dragon-Witch or some badass queen. And yus, Rhea is named after the actual mother of Romulus and Remus from the myth.

On this goes, and they find Roman. Not how you'd think. Maybe he'd be dead, maybe he'd be in the fae world. It's neither, kinda. They discover that Roman is, in fact, fae himself and is a changeling with a human form. Which raises so many questions of how the fuck that happened, does that mean Re and Roman aren't actually biological twins, but he's still his brother right, you're still my twin brother, how did he figure that out, he's more human than Remus is, how in the hell? Ya see, all those questions are put off bc Remus found his lost brother and hugs him so tight that he could break him if he wanted. The twins hug each other tightly and Virgil watches fondly in support from the background.

Turns out, Roman started questioning his humanity and discovered he may be fae, so he staged a 'mysterious disappearance' and ran off to figure himself out. He discovered himself, who he really is, what he really is, and he has missed Remus so so much. Remus is like "you asshole why did you tell me they said you were dead pls never leave again I missed you you bastard" and yep, more brother hugs for these two. Virgil and Roman meet, and Ro of course teases Re over having a partner in the most sibling way possible and everything turns out okay! The most likely to be fae isn't fae, and the other "normal" ppl are actually fae and Remus has everyone he cares about again (excluding his Mom cause she's dead but eh).

Anyway, Roman made friends with a fae Logan and Patton & made rivals with a witch/sorceress transfemme Janus. Remus is the only full-on, not magical, human in this entire group. Which is the funniest shit ever.

Oh yeah, and Rhea was a single Mom when she was alive. Best Mom Award, fr. Took the twins camping & indulged them in their interests (to a healthy degree). One of the few who ever supported Remus for being himself.

So, a qpp Dukexiety idea that leads into a mystery about fae, brothers, and transfemme witches. About family and most Dukexiety being dorks together as they go on this journey.

Hope ya enjoy!

Heyo! :}D That literally sounds S O fucking cool I L O V E L O V E L O V E E V E R Y T H I N G about this oml!!! There's S O much I already adore it's got Mystery, Fantasy aspects, The Spooky Gays adventuring and being absolute dorks and trusting to each other, Hilarious concepts (Forever cackling at both the fact that Ree is chaotic and unhinged as shit to the point where Vee doesn't even believe him when he says he's human at first and that the poor Emo Fae's QPP is literally the only non magical person in the group don't worry the C H A O S makes up for it Bud XD) The perfect amount of A N G S T and F L U F F ratio, Wholesome Creativitwins moments (Rhea is forever a Queen for raising such wonderful sons <3) Twists, and just ahhhh I desperately N E E D this <3!!!

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briandthemoon · 2 years

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And my second work for the @sandersidesbigbang ; a cute prinxiety piece for the wonderful @wistful-wish ‘s Equinox!

It’s a very cute Fae AU fic! Also getting to go full celtic with this one was so freeing, Roman really suits it <3

Also go check out @selfdestructivecat ‘s art too!! Theirs is adorable!!

[Do Not Repost This Art]

[ID: A digital drawing featuring Roman and Virgil from the waist up in a field of plants with petals floating in the air while they converse fondly. Roman has long red hair (with a single braid that rests behind his right ear and is tied with a red ribbon and gold hair pin) with pale skin and green eyes. He has freckles and is wearing typical celtic attire; a gold circlet with ruby gems, a red neckpiece, a golden bracelt with a celtic knot engraving, a slightly off-white poet's shirt with slight golden embroidery, and a sash printed with red tartan. Virgil has short black-purple hair, pale skin tinted slightly purple with blush, purple eyeshadow that sparkles, and eyes with black scaleras resembling purple galaxies with white moons as the pupils. His ears are pointed (mostly hidden by his galaxy patterned cloak) and covered in piercings with dangling purple gems and golden studs and rings. His cloak is closed at the neck with a iridescently shiny gold brooch with a celtic knot engraving. His undershirt is white with a folded collar and the shirt atop it is black with a silver V-neck. At the waist, Virgil's shirt is taken in by a silver wrapping. His V-neck houses a lilac purple cravat.]

#roman sanders #virgil sanders #prinxiety #sanders sides #sanders sides big bang #sasi fae au #its such a good fic its so much fun!!!

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ashs-random-writing · 1 year

Text

To Fly with Glass Wings

One-shot

Ao3

REBLOG>LIKE

Roman, a teenage fairy, was curious about the human that kept showing up in his forest. And, more importantly, he was curious about their devices. Perhaps going into their bag on an impulse wasn’t the best idea...

Deep in the forest, where most didn’t go, there was a magical town, filled with fairies. It was hidden from human eyes using magic, and it was usually bustling with activity

Roman walked around the small town. He was bored. He was so bored. He had done everything there was to do anywhere nearby a million times already.

He groaned, sitting on the very edge of the town border, careful not to go past the runes that protected them all from non-magical eyes. Perhaps just watching the wildlife would help?

He watched animals skitter along the tree roots and fidgeted with the cuffs of his sleeves. He heard heavier footfalls, and immediately became more alert. A human made themselves known less than a minute later, completely oblivious to the town right next to them

Roman just watched them.

Humans were... interesting, though he’d never admit as much to anyone else.

Humans were, above all else, dangerous

But this one, with their strange clothes and weird make-up and purple hair (he didn’t think humans could have purple hair; usually they only had boring colours like brown and blond) was just sitting on the forest floor, strange wires in their ears that almost sounded like they were producing a song

Roman wondered how humans worked without magic.

How did they cook, clean, keep predators away, travel- do basically anything- without magic? Like sure, they were phenomenally large, and that would probably help with predators and maybe travel, but the rest was confusing to him.

He flew upwards to sit on a branch, still within the town boundaries. He kicked his feet, and fluttered his wings, quietly watching the human scroll on one of their strange devices.

He could hear some of the music, and he danced slightly from his branch

The human came back every day for a week.

Roman concluded that they had used some sort of artificial colouring on their hair. It was starting to fade into a more brown-ish colour

He wanted to know more about the small device they always had. It seemed to show the human things, and let them communicate through it and let them read, and Roman figured that something like that would probably cure his permanent boredom.

He watched the human more and more. The human, he was gonna try figure out their name, seemed to never notice the town just to the side of them, which meant that the magic was working exactly as it was supposed to

Though, Roman was told by some elders that he needed to tell people when a human was nearby, even though the human literally just sat there and did nothing

Either way, he did alert them and then went to ‘keep watch’.

Roman had seen very few humans in his time; most didn’t come this far into the forest.

He watched as the human got ready to leave like they always did, and he couldn’t help the disappointment he felt. The strange giant was the most interesting part of his day, and now he’d have to be bored for the rest of the day

He watched them put their small device in the bag they usually carried, and he lamented his inability to try it out. Except, the human’s focus drifted elsewhere, towards where a twig snapped as a rabbit had hopped onto it, before they distractedly left.

They left without their bag.

Roman slowly left the safety of the town, making sure no one was watching him, before flying into the bag. He knew that he would need to leave before the human inevitably came back for their belongings, but this was likely the only chance he would get. Never let it be said that he didn’t evaluate risk, he just did the risky thing anyway

He tapped the screen on the device like he had seen the human do, and it lit up. Roman grinned, trying to make it go onto the other screen

All the human had to do was look at it and it would change, what was he doing wrong? Was it because he wasn’t human? Because that was discriminatory, thank you very much

He huffed, trying again and again, and, in his distracted state, he didn’t notice human footsteps until the bag was moving. He stumbled, falling over as the bag moved. He tried to move into a position where his wings would be safe, but the constant shifting of the bag and the bags contents were making it impossible

Horror slowly found it’s way into his feelings. The human was going to see him. The human was fascinating, but Roman was made of magic. The human would not be able to understand him, and what humans don’t understand, they get rid of

That had been drilled into his mind longer than he could talk.

Curse his own impulsivity and curiosity.

The human walked for a while, with Roman trying not to get hit by various objects, and feeling something hit into his back. Eventually, they must’ve arrived at their destination, because the bag was set down, and Roman tumbled out

The human stared at him, and Roman got up from sitting on the ground, and moved backwards, trying his hardest not to tremble.

He surveyed his surroundings. He was pretty sure he was in a human house.

A hand started reaching for him, and he conjured a clear magical dome around himself as protection. The human had retracted their hand, but didn’t stop staring

“... I’m Virgil. What’s your name?” Their voice was softer when talking to him than it was when they talked through their device

Roman said his name, wary of the obvious trap, and forgetting that humans couldn’t understand him.

The human (’Virgil’) stared blankly, and Roman kept as far away as possible from them.

“I’m sorry, I can’t understand you”

Roman knew that, he wasn’t dumb.

“Can you understand me?”

Roman nodded, looking at a window out of the corner of his eye. Virgil seemed to be looking at something behind him. Roman followed their gaze to his wings, which were looking different than usual. He felt the, now jagged, edges lightly and winced

Now that his panic had mostly subsided, he could feel pain. He mustn’t have noticed, because he was too busy worrying about what Virgil was gonna do to him, but it turned out Virgil wouldn’t even need to do anything to keep him there.

His wings would heal, but it would take months at best, years at worst. He couldn’t help the tears that were welling up in his eyes, and he couldn’t stop them from falling.

Great, he looked even more weak in front of a potentially bad human.

Roman messily wiped his eyes, and glared at the giant. Virgil put their hands up

“Hey, I didn’t do that to your wings! I haven’t even touched you!”

Roman sat down, bringing his knees to his chest, and half-heartedly observing the human

Virgil sighed

“Okay, I’m sorry for accidentally kidnapping you, but I didn’t know you were in my bag, and I’m sorry that you broke your wings in the process. I would have been more careful if I knew you were there. But, you can stay here with me until your wings heal, and I’ll help you with anything you need, yeah?”

‘Can’. Like Roman would want to stay in a human house for however long. Roman glared again.

Virgil looked a little lost at his reaction

“I know it probably won’t make up for breaking your wings, but I am really sorry”

Roman turned away, and noticed that his shield had fallen at some point whilst he was distracted. He got up and looked around at the house. He knew Virgil was watching him, but he understood the curiosity aspect.

That was what had gotten him into this whole predicament after all. He was curious about everything in this house as well. He wanted to explore

-----

Virgil was having a major freak out.

He had found a nice clearing in the woods, where he could just escape reality and be on his own. There was no one watching him, no one judging and no one to tell him what to do.

So of course, it only took a week for things to go to shit. He had left his bag in the clearing, and somehow a fairy had managed to find their way into it. He hadn’t even known that fairies existed previously

He didn’t know if they had willingly got in, or if they had fallen in or something, but from the way they seemed terrified of him when they fell out, the second one was more likely

Their skin was a pale reddish-pink, with large, wide eyes and red hair. They had (comparatively) large wings that almost looked like they were made of glass.

They seemed to put up some kind of forcefield to protect themselves from him, and he tried to diffuse the tension by introducing himself. The fairy seemed to introduce themselves as well, though whatever language they spoke sounded more like a melody than it did words

He noticed something was wrong with their wings after a few seconds of staring; they were an odd shape, almost reminding him of a broken window.

They followed his gaze, and stared at their own wings, and reaching a hand out to touch the edges, all but cementing in his mind that they were broken. They turned to glare at him, with glowing eyes and tears running down their cheeks

Virgil had a feeling they blamed him for the damage caused, and honestly, he didn’t blame them for thinking that. But he didn’t mean to.

They sat down, crying for a while, before doing something that he figured was probably a way to distract themselves

They started looking around, seemingly inspecting things. Virgil figured they probably didn’t have a lot of the things he had. He had no doubt they had substitutes that worked just as well, or probably better, considering they had magic and based on the exceptionally high quality of their clothes, they obviously had some sort of tools

He let them explore the countertop for a while, discreetly videoing them. He wouldn’t show the video to anyone without their permission, of course, but... just having the videos wouldn’t hurt.

They refused to go near him. They seemed to be feigning stubbornness, but Virgil could see the way they trembled when he spoke, or moved too fast or got too close. He could tell they were scared. They were scared of getting hurt again.

Virgil didn’t know how to feel about that. He understood the fear, but he would never hurt them on purpose.

They wouldn’t let him take them somewhere else to sleep, since he’d have to carry them, and just sat down when he asked, stubbornly glaring at him.

Virgil just sighed and brought them a blanket. They were still there in the morning, wrapped up in the almost comically large blanket, and still asleep. Virgil wondered what they would eat, and simply waited for them to awake (maybe snapping a few pictures here and there)

They eventually woke up, though visibly deflated when they saw him. He offered to get them some food, and they (after a while of what seemed like mental debating) nodded. They didn’t let him take the blanket away.

Virgil figured he couldn’t let anyone else know about the little guy, seeing as they seemed scared of people, and he wondered what he was going to tell his friends as for why they suddenly couldn’t come over anymore

He felt so wrong, next to the fairy. Virgil was usually short, and now... now, he was tall enough to accidentally kill someone. He could trip and crush them. And they knew it.

The next few days were tense, but the fairy had started letting him a bit closer, though they wouldn’t stop glaring. He had dubbed them Little Red, as a sort of nickname until they could communicate their actual name.

Little Red didn’t mind the nickname too much, he didn’t think so, anyway. They had been interested in his phone when they saw it, and Virgil had shown them different apps, pretending not to notice their tense, trembling posture when he moved too suddenly.

They played games on his phone every day, and they had started letting Virgil help them get to other places in the house than the countertop. They were still undoubtedly somewhat scared, and they still very obviously held a grudge of some kind against him, but they were getting somewhere.

They were very vocal, even though Virgil couldn’t understand them.

Virgil was careful every time he carried them into the living room or into the blanket nest they’d claimed as their own. He didn’t want to cause another accident at their expense

They were curious about a lot of things, he noticed.

It made him a little calmer, to know that Little Red seemed just as clueless about humans, as he was about fairies.

He noticed what they liked and disliked in terms of movies and tv shows.

They didn’t seem to like horror movies, but they were fine with things like The Addams Family. They liked animated films quite a bit, particularly disney, and would watch with rapt attention. Virgil didn’t usually watch animated movies, but he was willing if it kept Little Red a little happier

He waited for a while for them to wake up as he made food. Surprisingly, they didn’t seem to have a very big sweet tooth.

Their blanket nest was in a corner of the spare bedroom, and Little Red had decided to claim the entire room as their own, despite being far too small to need all of that space. Not to mention only being able to use part of it with their broken wings. Either way, they didn’t need an entire room, but Virgil certainly wasn’t using it, and he kind of owed it to them, after kidnapping them and breaking their wings.

Virgil’s only problem with them claiming the room, was that now he’d have no where to hang out with his friends

Virgil brought them breakfast and carefully avoided getting too close. They seemed to notice his phone in his other hand and stared at it. Virgil chuckled

“Sorry, not right now, Little Red, I have to go somewhere, maybe when I get back”

Little Red pouted at him, but ate their food. Virgil left them alone, leaving the door open in case they wanted to traverse the house, though he wasn’t too comfortable with that idea.

He didn’t want to think about how easy it would be to crush them underfoot. They knew where to and not to go, so there wasn’t that much risk, but any risk was too much, in Virgil’s eyes

Their wings hadn’t made any progress, as far as he could see, but then again, it had only been a few days.

He got ready to go out and meet his friends

Remus and Janus were already at the movie theatre before him, annoyingly.

“How’d we get here before you? You’ve never relaxed on the idea that you might be late, and yet, here you are, a whole-” Remus checked his watch gleefully “- two minutes late!”

The movie lasted a while, and Virgil almost forgot the fact that he had an injured fairy to take care of back home. He hung with his friends, talking about everything and nothing, carefully avoiding any mention of what he had been doing the last few days

He wondered what Little Red was doing.

-----

Roman wanted to go home.

Virgil wasn’t bad, per se, but he didn’t like that he needed to be carried places because everything was too big and his wings were broken. And, he missed his friends.

He looked around at the room he was in. It was too big, it was too expansive. He looked around at the blankets he had nested in. They were too thick.

He finally got to try out the strange device, however, and he had found so many things to do. The ‘phone’ had games and it played ‘videos’ and ‘movies’

The movies that Virgil had showed him were interesting, but he only liked some of them. The ones that looked not-real, they were really cool, despite their inaccurate depiction of fairies and magic in general.

They did get one key aspect of fairy culture correct, though; the blessings and gifts bestowed on children. Roman was gifted with an adventurous spirit and, like with most gifts, it came with an unfortunate downside

His sense of fear was rather dulled, whereas his impulsivity skyrocketed when there was some sort adventure to be found. Which explained why he was sat on the floor of a human house with broken wings.

His friends’ gifts were also a bit of a mixed bag.

His friend Patton for example! He was gifted with a kind and pure spirit. This also meant that he trusted far too easily and got himself hurt by people with not-so-kind intentions in the past.

His friend Logan was gifted with a logical mind. It made him great at a lot of things, including stopping Roman from getting killed due to impulsivities. But it made it harder for him to understand his own feelings, and harder to make friends when viewing it through a logical lens

Great, now Roman missed his friends even more. He sighed, looking out of the window. He knew this situation was his fault, but, he really wished it wasn’t. He wished he could completely blame it on someone else, but, Virgil hadn’t done anything really wrong other than not letting him go. Roman was the one who flew into their bag on impulse

He groaned, pushing his head into his hands, and trying not to cry. Virgil was out of the house at that moment in time, and Roman knew he should be trying to escape

But a voice in his head reminded him that he had no way home when he didn’t know which way home was. Besides, he’d probably just get found by a different human, he noted bitterly

When Virgil eventually returned, what had to be hours later, Roman had not gotten any better at dealing with boredom. It would’ve been better if he had someone to talk to

Except, no. It wouldn’t. His sense of fear might’ve been dulled enough that he felt pretty much none after only a few days, but others didn’t have that. They’d still be scared

Roman scowled at the blanket that made up half of the nest. He wanted his bed, he wanted his house, he wanted his blanket.

There was a knock on his door. His stupidly oversized door that he couldn’t even open himself. He supposed that was probably why it was almost always left ajar.

Roman sighed

“Come in” He shouted. The door opened, scraping against the carpet with a uncomfortable sound

Virgil was bringing him food, he realised. He almost didn’t want to eat. He hadn’t been outside in days. He hadn’t seen his friends in days. He hadn’t properly held a conversation in days. He just wanted to go home...

He didn’t care how boring it was, at least he had friends back there

Virgil placed the food down in front of him, seemingly watching him. Roman gave a half-hearted glare and started eating. Human food wasn’t as nice as the food back home, nor was it very flavourful.

He noticed that Virgil was staying in Roman’s room more than they usually did. Roman looked at them quizzically, wondering why they weren’t in their own, strangely decorated, room.

He verbalised his thought, and Virgil looked at him

“Hm? Oh, sorry.. Uh, I was gonna watch a movie in the living room, do you wanna come?”

They always guessed what he was trying to say.

Virgil was awkward most of the time. Perhaps that’s why they kept going into the woods for hours at a time every day, instead of partaking in social activities with other humans.

Roman knew that Virgil did have friends, having seen pictures of them, but also...

Actually, no he wasn’t going to finish that train of thought, it was rude. It didn’t matter how much he personally thought the human was strange, anyone could have friends

Roman wordlessly nodded to the offer and Virgil placed their hand on the ground next to him. Roman walked onto it, sitting on the palm, and drawing his knees up to his chest

He hated being carried. He hated feeling helpless. He was supposed to be an adventurer, he was supposed to be strong. Virgil placed him on the arm of the couch and started looking through movies on their tv

Roman wondered how the tv worked. Logan would probably be able to figure it out.

He watched the tv with full attention as it showed him a story of a princess who fell in love with a thief, and it was full of genies and tigers and magic.

It was horribly inaccurate, but with how separated human and magical societies were, it was almost a miracle that they got any of it right. He yawned, but he didn’t want to leave to sleep before the movie ended. He had to see how it would end

He carried on watching, though he could feel himself begin to lose focus as he yawned again

“Are you sure you don’t want me to turn this off for now, and you can watch it tomorrow?”

Roman shook his head, still watching the screen intently. Virgil sounded like they were supressing a laugh next to him, but Roman didn’t care. He could feel his eyes drooping, and he laid on his stomach, watching the screen still

He didn’t exactly know when he fell asleep, but Virgil wasn’t in the room anymore when he woke up. Roman groggily stood up, to peer out of the window

…Sunrise. Huh. Usually if he woke up this early, he’d go to sit somewhere high up to watch the sunrise and see the way the hills and trees would be dusted pinks, purples, oranges and reds.

What if his wings never healed? Would he be stuck with Virgil forever and not ever be able to sit on a hill or tree branch and watch the sunset, or ever fly around? Would he be cursed to forever live a life of pain and longing?

This was the part that Logan would usually tell him he was being overdramatic. But Logan wasn’t here, and Roman wasn’t even sure if he was being overdramatic anymore

He really didn’t know if he’d ever be able to go home

Virgil had told him that he could go when his wings were healed, but when would that be?

Roman just sat on the arm of the couch and thought about his friends until Virgil came into the living room, about an hour later. They looked exactly how he would expect them to look after just waking up

“Mornin’, Little Red,” They yawned “Sorry I didn’t take you to your room last night, it felt rude to pick you up when you were sleeping”

Roman considered the apology for a few moments, before giving them a thumbs up. He wouldn’t want to be picked up when he was sleeping, honestly. He was most vulnerable when he was asleep, especially since he was a deep sleeper

They watched the end of the movie together.

-----

Virgil felt bad for Little Red. He had seen them staring out of windows, and he knew they probably wanted to go home.

But...

He was so worried that they’d get hurt even more, or found by someone not as kind as him, or- or something else even worse, that he couldn’t let them go. Not until they could fly at least

He could at least be more certain of their survival chances if they could fly out of reach of predators.

He watched them with almost as much attention as they watched Aladdin. They seemed completely enamoured by the film’s story, reacting quite dramatically with every twist and turn of it.

Virgil had to admit, their dramatic tendencies reminded him of Remus, although Remus openly hated wearing red unless it was fake (or sometimes real) blood

Little Red kept yawning, still watching the movie, but very obviously starting to drift off

“Are you sure you don’t want me to turn this off for now, and you can watch it tomorrow?” He asked, trying to hide the amusement in his voice

They immediately shook their head, eyes still locked firmly on the screen. Virgil stifled a laugh, watching as they slowly succumbed to sleep.

He turned the tv off, and turned towards them.

How was he gonna get them to their room? He carefully reached a hand out, but retracted it. He would probably lose any type of trust they had in him if he grabbed them whilst they were sleeping

Besides, they looked so adorably peaceful, in a way that he hadn’t seen them be very often. They had fallen asleep in front of him before, but this was the first time they seemed completely relaxed.

He stared at them a few moments, before deciding to leave them be until morning

He left them for a while, letting them sleep, and went to his own bedroom

He laid in bed with his thoughts, as he stared up at his ceiling.

Why did he feel so guilty about this? He was protecting them!

They might’ve seemed upset, but it was better than letting them get eaten by a bird or something. As far as he knew, they had fallen into his bag. If they were clumsy enough to fall into his bag, then he didn’t trust their survival skills without their wings

After about a month and a half, he didn’t feel as guilty. He knew he was protecting them.

Their wings had started to slowly heal, the edges slightly bigger and smoother than the jagged edges they were when they had first tumbled out of his bag.

And that was because Virgil was keeping them safe. Lord knows they weren’t the best at keeping themself safe, Virgil thought, remembering the time he found them trying to fight a house spider.

He had started keeping a more careful watch over them after that, deciding not to let them out of their room without his supervision. Who knew what danger they would idiotically get themselves into without him there? Besides, they had more than enough space in there, even with the door closed

He knew that they didn’t see it that way, but Virgil was fine with playing the villain if it meant keeping Little Red safer.

They weren’t as vocal anymore, and Virgil missed the melodic tones of their voice. They ignored him a lot. They still watched movies, but they declined more often than not.

It was fine. He was fine with that. They’d thank him eventually, he told himself. They always watched his every move when he was nearby, as if they were scared he’d hurt them. But he wouldn’t. He would never.

There was a camera in their room now, so he could help them if they got hurt without him there.

He knocked on their door, though didn’t wait on a response before opening it and closing it just as fast. They had tried to run out of their room quite a few times before, hiding from him. And as much as it was amusing the first few times, it had become annoying quickly. Besides, it was dangerous for them

They stared up at him with those wide eyes, and he crouched down and gave them their food. Little Red didn’t speak, and just grabbed a few pieces of food and started eating.

Virgil stayed crouched there for a moment. What could help them see he wasn’t a bad guy?

“I’m going to go watch a movie in the living room, if you wanna come,” He asked, before adding “Aladdin, your favourite”

They thought for only a moment before shaking their head

Virgil bit back his annoyance at the refusal, and just sighed. Why were they being so difficult recently?

He left, making sure to close the door behind him. He sighed, they needed to see that he was helping. They were sure to get hurt if he let them go, what was he going to do? Let them walk straight to their death whilst doing nothing to help?

He groaned, giving the door a glare.

-----

Roman wasn’t sure what had changed. Virgil had become more paranoid, more protective. Roman was well and truly trapped now.

They wouldn’t let him out of his room now, and Roman supposed it was only a matter of time before he was in a cage for maximum security. He looked at the door, now closed and wondered when it would next open. He suppressed a sob and curled up on the blanket

Nothing he could do would ever sway Virgil's protectiveness. They wouldn’t let him out of his room, or out of their sight. Roman glared at the camera in his room. He hadn’t even known what a camera was, until Virgil. Now the knowledge of what it was just hurt him even more

He would never get a moments privacy.

The lack of anything to do was genuinely hurting him, a lot worse than back home. At least then, he could climb to the top of the tree tops and dive down, only catching himself at the last moment. The lack of adventure was hurting him worse than his wings were

Roman curled up more. He had the spirit of adventure, he needed to be doing something mildly dangerous! He wasn’t even allowed to sit on the couch when they watched a movie anymore. Virgil would just hold him the entire time, so they’d ‘know for sure where he was’.

And they wondered why he didn’t like them anymore. Sometimes they’d come into his room whilst he was sleeping, and he’d wake up in their hands. He missed when they were concerned with being rude. Now they told him how simply adorable he was

He glared at the camera again, knowing that the lens probably couldn’t get an accurate reading on his face. Roman had thought about doing some magic, to destroy the camera, but he could already picture the condescending ‘this is for your own good’ disappointed stare, and stopped.

Nothing was going right for him.

He sighed, letting the tears fall. There was a knock on his door, but he didn’t get a chance to respond before the door was opened. He supposed that was because of his escape attempts. If you could call them that, anyway

All he did was run out of his room and try to hide. Anywhere was better than being trapped in his room forever. His attempts annoyed the human. They would sigh, telling him that the ‘game’ would have to stop. But it wasn’t a game.

None of this was a game. This was Roman’s real life, this was his nightmare, this was all too serious.

Roman wondered what they wanted now. They had already given him his food, he’d already declined to watch a movie, what could they possibly want? He weakly glared at them, as they crouched down

“Hey, Little Red. I know you already said no to watching a movie, but there’s a movie you haven’t seen, that I think you’ll like”

Roman ignored that they were using the same tone people would to entice a child, or dog, to do something and thought on the offer.

There was no point disagreeing. He nodded his head.

Virgil didn’t set their hand down anymore and let him climb on. Now, they just grabbed him. He didn’t like it. He wondered what the movie was.

They took him to the living room, where the movie was already set up. Tangled, it was called.

Roman attempted to get slightly more comfortable in their grip, but the hand tightened around him just enough that he wouldn’t dare

The movie was interesting he supposed, but he kept being distracted, as Virgil kept fidgeting with him during the movie. He tried to stop them, but they didn’t notice. He didn’t even know if they realised they were fidgeting

They kept gently grabbing his arms, moving them around slightly, rolling his torso between two hands, not enough that he couldn’t see the screen, but enough that it was completely distracting. When scenes got intense, the fidgeting increased.

He could barely concentrate when the ending was happening. He quietly grumbled about Virgil’s rude behaviour, and attempted to watch the screen. He was lucky that the fidgeting didn’t hurt.

The only thing he could properly remember about the movie was that Mother Gothel was trapping Rapunzel under the guise of keeping her safe, but it was actually a ploy to use her magic for herself.

Roman looked up at Virgil’s face from where he was in their hands. He wondered where he had heard that story before. Oh wait.

He (very stupidly, may the narrator add) tapped the giant hand to get Virgil’s attention, before pointing at the picture of Mother Gothel on the title screen, and back to Virgil with a stubborn glare on his face.

They looked down at him for a few moments in which Roman had just enough time to evaluate the idiotic decision before they actually reacted

His heart stopped for a single beat as they shifted their grip on him with an annoyed expression on their face

“I am keeping you safe. You should be grateful, not comparing me to fictional villains” They grumbled.

Roman, still feeling mutinous apparently, tried to move in the grip, and muttered his counter argument

“Well, maybe if you weren’t acting so villainous..”

They didn’t justify him with a response. Though, whether it was due to the language barrier, or their annoyance, was hard to say.

Roman did notice that their grip was now uncomfortably tight, almost bruising. So much for safety, he thought, before the grip tightened even more

He let out a pained gasp, as the pressure increased on his wings for a few seconds. He could hear them breaking even more. The grip loosened, and Roman watched a few shards of wing fall onto the floor

He could hear frantic apologies from Virgil, but it was soon drowned out by the blood rushing in his ears. He stared at the shards, until Virgil touched his shoulder, dragging him out of his thoughts.

Roman flinched back, shaking, almost instinctively raising his forcefield, like he hadn’t since that first day. It hurt, and- and he was still shaking, and Virgil was still there, still holding him

His forcefield had pushed away their fingers a bit, but he was still in their hand. He ran his hands through his hair. He was crying, he realised hysterically.

He almost started laughing, no matter how much he knew this wasn’t a joke. You know, for how much danger he was in, it still wasn’t an adventure. It was just a bad situation. A really fucking bad situation, that was entirely his fault, and the reason he’d probably never see his friends again

He tried to steady his breathing for a simple moment, but nothing was helping.

Virgil was still talking, still too big. Of course they were, humans couldn’t shrink (could they?)

Eventually, though Roman didn’t realise it as it was happening, he was left back in his room, alone. He never thought that he’d be so relieved to be trapped again, but it was better than being in Virgil’s hands.

Roman gingerly touched his wings, wincing.

What were his friends doing, he wondered. Why couldn’t he go see them? Why did Virgil get to decide what Roman could and couldn’t do? Why did Roman have to be so stupid as to go into their bag? Why did any of this stupid situation have to happen?

He sobbed, pulling his knees up to his chest. Everything hurt, and- and he was still trapped and nothing he could do would ever be able to fix it.

-----

Logan had been searching for his friend for almost two months. Roman didn’t seem to be anywhere.

Logan knew that there was somewhere he could be, though he sincerely hoped not. It was the logical conclusion, however, to assume that Roman was taken by the human that he had been watching. The only reason they hadn’t already assumed so was that they wanted to make sure that Roman hadn’t just gotten lost before rushing into potential danger

The human never came back after Roman disappeared, after all. Perhaps they only came to steal a fairy and leave. Perhaps their peaceful demeanour had been a ploy to get trusted. Or perhaps Roman had done something impulsive and gotten himself captured.

No matter why the human had him, it was a very unideal situation. Especially given the nature of Roman’s wings. As much as a human could harm any type of fairy, very easily, they could harm fairies with crystal wings much, much easier.

Crystal fairies’ wings were fragile, thin, and almost glass-like. Easy to break, easy to make the fairy in question much more trapped.

It was a miracle that Roman’s wings had never been broken before, with the reckless stunts he pulled. Not that Logan could completely blame him, of course, no more than he could blame Patton for being too trusting. But it was incredibly unlucky for Roman’s gift to directly contrast his wing type

Logan was a stone fairy, so his wings were, as the name suggested, stone. The stone spread across his entire body the more he aged. At the moment, he was stone across his entire back, and down to his forearms. It was hard to fly with stone wings, so he could only keep low, and he could only really glide. It was hard to walk with the heavy weight on his back, so he, like the majority of stone fairies, used a walking stick so he would be able to balance. His own walking stick doubled as a staff to do complicated spells

There were accommodations for fairies who couldn’t fly well, but not as many as there should have been. With most buildings strung up in trees, only a few had ladders, and even less had ladders that were easy to climb with stone wings; a problem he had complained about many a time.

Roman was helping him figure out a plan of better accessibility to present to the council, before he disappeared. Roman was helping with the design and aesthetics, and the visual appeal, and Logan was helping with the accessibility, having experienced the issues first-hand, and having an idea of it should work logically.

Roman was the youngest of their little trio, about one and a half years younger than Patton, and two years younger than Logan. He was kind, he wanted everyone to be safe, he wanted to protect people, he had wanted to be a knight when he was a little older. Roman wanted everyone to be happy.

And now, for the past few months, there had been no Roman. Logan and Patton were very worried. Logan tried to figure out how to find the human that he was certain had his friend, but was coming up short. There were hundreds of human homes outside of the woods, and not to mention, humans had those devices. Logan believed they were called cars? With a car, they could go pretty much anywhere. Roman could be anywhere

He sighed, looking for a spell that could help track his friend. Patton was looking as well, and they weren’t having very much luck.

Patton was a butterfly fairy, and so was able to fly a lot easier than Roman and Logan, not having to worry about fragility, or weight. Though he was eager to help wherever he could.

Now, that eager, cheerful face with creased with worry, and tear streaks. Logan knew that Roman’s unfortunate disappearance was the cause. Logan was never the best at comforting people, usually Roman would help him.

Logan gently patted Patton’s back, and weakly tried to comfort

“There, there. We’ll find him,”

His words were clunky, he wasn’t used to comforting people, and that’s not to mention the lie he told. He had no idea if they would find him or not, and statistically, it was improbable, given how many human houses there were in the area alone. Logan attempted to remember how the particular human looked, from the few glimpses he had gotten

Purple hair, he could remember, but that wasn’t definite. Besides, there had been an increase in numbers of humans with coloured hair in recent years. Dark clothes, purple patches on them. That might have been a bigger lead. Not many humans wore patched clothing. What else could he remember?

They were pale, he remembered, and they had strange makeup under their eyes. He was pretty sure that was unusual for humans.

And now, if he could simply find a way to figure out where this human lived, he could be reunited with his his friend. Roman would’ve figured an out-of-the-box, crazy idea that would’ve worked perfectly by now.

Logan couldn’t do that.

He sighed, closing the book he had been reading for hours, and resting his head on the library table. There was nothing that could help. They could potentially track Roman, if they had an object that belonged to Roman and Roman been near recently.

And there lied the problem. They had only found the spell after a month and a half of the disappearance. He hadn’t been near anything recently enough.

He groaned, prompting Patton to gently pat his back. Logan knew that, logically, the chances of finding Roman were low, but he forced those thoughts out of his mind. He would find his friend, dead or alive (though preferably alive), whether or not it took months or years.

He carried on reading.

This routine carried on for weeks more, until they finally figured out a way of tracking. Logan looked at the glowing blue trail on the ground, and started walking, his staff in one hand, Patton’s hand in the other. Like Logan had hypothesised, it led into the human town.

Only he could see the trail, so that wouldn’t raise suspicion, however, two fairies walking into human territory probably would raise a fair bit of suspicion.

He waved his staff and casted the invisibility spell, before starting to walk. Patton let him lead him. The walk was slow, and they had to avoid several humans, so as to not get hurt. But, after several hours, they had found the human house where their friend was being kept

Logan looked at the window that the trail led up to. He couldn’t get up there, but Patton could.

“He’s in there, but so’s the human,” Patton whispered down. Logan was glad that they both still were invisible

Patton reported back to him, when the human finally left. Patton looked upset at whatever he could see, and Logan was glad that he couldn’t see the state that Roman was in.

Patton used a quick unlocking charm to help with the opening of the window. Logan used a little magic from his staff to make it lighter, and he watched Patton go in to the room

He couldn’t hear most of the conversation

-----

Roman had been right. Everything got worse. With his newly re-broken wings, he absolutely refused to let Virgil touch him, at all.

Virgil didn’t argue as much as Roman thought they would. He could see the guilt on their face when they looked at his wings, but he didn’t feel any sympathy for them.

The first time, it truly had been an accident, but this time, they had been squeezing him, as a warning. That wasn’t as much of an accident as they claimed it was. He made sure not to speak anymore, not wanting them to hurt him again. He still had the bruises from where they squeezed him.

He was starting to get ill, he thought. He was starting to grow ill from captivity, and Virgil didn’t even notice. His wings were still in the early stages of healing, and he had no chance of getting home on his own. His magic was weakening as he sat here, as he stayed in the corner, never moving

Everything that happened after the second breaking was a blur, he thought. All it was was a blur of scaredness, anger, and exhaustion. He hadn’t stood up in two days. All he did was sit down, watch the wall, and occasionally he would quietly sing to himself, though he hadn’t done that recently.

Virgil barely bothered talking to him anymore. He could hear their hesitation when they knocked on his door. They didn’t check the camera as much anymore. It was like they were trying to make it up to him. It wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough, until they let him go. And even then, it had taken months.

He was in pain every time he moved, because of them. He was away from his friends, because of them. He was unable to adventure, because of them. He was exactly in the wrong place, because of them.

They brought him some food in, and they told him that they’d be leaving the house for a while. Visiting friends, Roman thought bitterly.

Once the human had left, Roman heard the noise of a window opening, and he turned towards it in alarm. No one..?

An invisibility spell, he realised, feeling the distinct presence of Logan’s magic. Finally, he thought, seeing Patton fade into view, as he was approaching. Roman placed a hand on the wall and tried to lift himself up, but failed, falling back onto his knees. He looked up at Patton, who smiled down at him

“Hi, Pat,” He said, though his voice was raspy and unused “Did you miss me?”

Patton nodded with tears in his eyes, pulling Roman in for a hug. Roman accepted immediately, so glad to finally have someone to talk to, so glad to finally be going home, so glad that his friends were here

“What happened to your wings?” Patton asked quietly, and Roman looked away

“I... I don’t want to talk about it,” he mumbled, trying not to think about it. He shuddered, remembering how Virgil’s hand had slowly tightened until he was bruised and broken. He closed his eyes, trying to shake the phantom feeling

Patton wiped away a tear that Roman didn’t realise had fallen

“That’s okay, I’m gonna help you up to your feet, and I’m gonna carry you up to the window, is that okay, kiddo?”

Roman nodded

He was finally, finally going home. He was finally getting away from the human. He found himself back on solid ground, the grass under his feet. He stumbled slightly, but Patton steadied him. Logan was out there, looking almost the same as when Roman went missing. The only noticeable difference was that Logan’s wings had become almost overcome with moss, the way they did when he was stressed.

Logan pulled him in for a hug, and Roman complied. The hug was clumsy, Logan didn’t usually hug people. Roman cherished this moment more than any of his swords or daggers

It took a while, but soon he was home. His bed was how he left it, people welcomed him back, though the people at the medbay were not all pleased at the state he was in.

Neither was he, honestly.

It took a year and a half for his wings to completely heal. It took a lot longer for the emotional scars to heal

Sometimes, he did wonder about Virgil, though he tried everything not to.

And Virgil wondered about him. Wondered if he was still living. The human did, in fact, severely regret his actions, though knew better to try seek out the terrified fairy. He would look at the woods sometimes, wonder why they ever ended up in his bag to begin with

Life carried on, despite the events of this story.

Taglist: @a-chilly-pepper

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tss-grimmverse · 9 months

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Chapter 8: Gladiolus

Roman learns some disturbing things about his father, and he and Virgil finally talk.

Want to start at the beginning? Here’s the AO3 link and the Wattpad link.

An excerpt from Chapter 8:

They’d nearly reached the top of the staircase. “Was he awful, Red?” Roman asked quietly. “Just tell me; I can take it. I already know he abandoned my bio mom and Smile, and nothing I’ve heard so far has improved that image.” “Johnny was…difficult,” Red allowed after a moment. “How do you mean?” Red sighed. “I won’t sugarcoat it. We all had our inner demons to fight, but his were more vicious than most. His faery master fed on pain. I still believe the bastard used Johnny’s powers to control their other changelings, which broke him on a fundamental level. He was fickle, moody, prone to violent outbursts, hated any kind of commitment, and he enjoyed…” Roman swallowed hard. “Enjoyed what?” Red grimaced at his expression. “The thing you need to understand about Johnny’s history with this house is how deeply he hated faeries.”

The whole chapter can be found over on AO3 or Wattpad. The boys aren't completely hopeless at talking! And Roman has only learned the tip of the iceberg...

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two-am-outlines-only · 2 years

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Soulmate September

Series Summary: Written for the Soulmate September challenge. Every day is a different soulmate au prompt and ship.

Part Summary: Virgil goes deeper into the forest than he’s ventured before in the hopes of gathering more food. He finds more than he bargained for when a fairy claiming to be the prince of the forest begins to follow him.

Prompt: Feel a spark when you touch your soulmate

Ships: Prinxiety (Roman x Virgil)

Warnings: none

Word Count: 3959

AO3 link

Part One: Sparks Fly

Tugging his long, dark cloak impatiently away from a jagged branch, Virgil skid down the steep embankment swearing the entire way. He didn’t often venture this far into the woods but he was getting just desperate enough to find gatherable ingredients he had decided to risk it. Honestly as long as he kept his eyes straight ahead and avoided the beckoning twinkles of light between the trees he should be fine. Thankfully this time of year the river was reduced to a large creek at best, making crossing to the other side where he was certain to find berries and mushrooms aplenty quite easy. It was only a matter of keeping his balance on the slimy rocks that normally made up the river bed, a skill he had mastered before he had even been entrusted as a gatherer.

Hiking his pants up to just below his knees he carefully adjusted his pack to be more balanced and draped the bottom of his cloak over his arm for good measure. The last thing he needed was to be scolded for dripping mud all over the floors again when he returned to the kitchens. Absentmindedly rubbing the stinging memory from the back of his head he hopped to the first rock, breath hissing between his teeth as the cold water rushed over his heated skin. With another breath he was perched on the second rock and then the third, toes gripping the moss in a mostly unneeded measure for stability. Wiggling a bit so his pack would recenter he eyed his next target, muscles tensing in preparation for the bigger leap.

“What are you doing?”

Squawking in alarm, Virgil tipped back dangerously, arms pinwheeling as his feet lost their purchase and let him fall backwards into the creek. Taking a brief moment to thank the gods he hadn’t landed on a rock he sat up quickly, sputtering as water ran down his face and soaked his shirt more than it already was. His cloak dragged behind him as he tried to get up, aiding only in him slipping back again with an unceremonial splash.

“Oh my dear I didn’t mean to frighten you!” There was more mirth than malice in the voice but that didn’t stop Virgil from flinching away from the strange hand that reached towards him. It retreated as he shoved sopping hair from his eyes and squinted against the sun to try and see what idiot made it a habit to scare people when they were jumping on wet stones. His breath caught when a face finally came into focus, sunlight forming a halo around the most beautiful person Virgil had ever seen.

His brightness was almost blinding, with shining red curls looking like spun gold in the light. Sharp features complemented kind brown eyes and tanned skin flecked with earth. Like Virgil he was barefoot, but instead of wearing sturdy pants and shirt to protect himself from the woods, autumn-red pants flowed just below his knees with an equally flowy white shirt tucked into them and unbuttoned to the chest. Despite the darkness of his skin he seemed to radiate his own gentle light that somehow made the sun look dull by comparison, making Virgil idly wonder if this was what seeing a god was like.

“Prince actually, but you do know how to inflate the ego.” The man chuckled.

Face burning with the realization that he had not only said that out loud but he had also been sitting in the water gaping like a stunned fish for entirely too long. Mumbling low curses under his breath he once again struggled to his feet while waving away the other’s outstretched hand impatiently. A fairy prince coming to pester someone with zero assets or connections- the fae were worse pranksters than they had the reputation for. Sighing, he decided to wade the rest of the way through the creek since he was already soaked, leaving the stranger behind in hopes he would stay there.

“So you never did answer.” No such luck apparently. “You do realize what part of the forest you’re in right?”

Virgil gritted his teeth. “I don’t wish to consort with your kind fae. I’ll only be in here for a little while.”

“My kind?” Virgil winced as he detected insult in his tone. “My kind are the reason your kind feel safe enough to traipse wherever you please regardless of obvious territorial lines!”

Virgil glanced at him quickly as he began scrambling up the incline of the bank. “Territorial lines?”

The man drew himself up proudly, keeping pace with Virgil as he effortlessly stepped his way up the embankment rather than crawling. “This part of the forest is mine, a long way from the edge of the river by your route. I could turn you into dandelion fluff for trespassing here.”

Virgil raised an unimpressed brow as he searched around for his next handhold. “Mhm, I’m sure you could.”

Smirking as the other man stomped his foot impatiently he made it up and over to the other side, slinging his pack around to see how damaged the things he had already gathered were from his earlier fall. Shoulders sinking as he surveyed the smashed contents he shot a glare at the stranger, who was currently standing on tiptoes with his arms crossed trying to see inside the bag.

“Humans used to grovel at our feet, what happened to that? Also is it custom to smash ingredients well before they’re cooked? I’m not caught up with the latest human affairs. Terribly dull, most of them.”

Gritting his teeth Virgil dumped the berries and mushrooms he had collected onto the forest floor, water that had seeped in from the top sloshing out as well and coming out like a weird, thick juice for all the mush everything had turned into. “They only smashed because I fell- something I never do unless someone decides it's a good idea to startle someone who’s trying to balance.”

The man looked unimpressed. “Why were you coming over this way anyway? There should be plenty of the things you were collecting on the other side of the river...and much closer to the nearest village too might I add.”

“Fall makes the pickings slimmer the closer to the village you are. Other people gather, animals eat what ‘s left, sparcer trees means more sun means things ripen and fall faster. I was trying my luck further in.”

“And you came alone?”

“None of your business.” Virgil hauled up the pack and stood. “I’m a tracker so I’m the one that usually gets sent out.”

“Oh really? Must be an expert to come out this late.”

“Sure.” Grunting, Virgil stepped over a rotting log and began pushing his way through bushes.

The man snorted. “Expert tracker- when I could hear you tromping through here from across the forest.”

“Your words not mine. And stop following me, I’m only here to gather ingredients.”

They continued on in silence for a while, the fae following behind him near silently as he kept an eye out for anything edible. The crops had been plentiful this year but berries, nuts and mushrooms weren’t something locally grown, so gatherers routinely went into the forest to search for them to dry for the winter. Fast protein was always welcome in the harsher months when tracking fresh meat became a dangerous chore.

The forest was quiet here, nearly serene if it wasn’t for the fae still following him no matter how harsh a path he took- not that he was having much luck finding easier ones. He imagined he could easily get lost here if he wasn’t careful so he kept an eye on the direction of the shadows and any landmarks he spotted so he couldn’t get turned around. Fair folk were rarely hostile towards travelers as long as you met them on their level and stated your intentions clearly. Most of the time a certain level of sass while only answering them when they were curious served Virgil just fine. Of course, they didn’t normally follow him either but he remained unconcerned so long as the forest didn’t turn hostile. He didn’t think he’d succeeded in pissing the other off that much...hopefully.

It was some time later when Virgil found his cloak snared on a branch as he was struggling to get over a particularly high log. Crawling under it hadn’t been an option so now he was stuck straddling the thing awkwardly with the cloak snagging in one direction and his pants in the other. Blowing out a frustrated breath he startled as the fae appeared a foot from his face, brown eyes searching his green ones as he struggled not to fall backwards for a second time.

“What are you tracking anyway?”

“What?”

“You’re a tracker, so what are you tracking?”

Virgil resumed trying to lift himself enough to get his other leg over without ripping his pants. “Nothing at the moment. Not that, again, it’s any of your business.”

The fae glanced at the dirt under his nails and hummed thoughtfully. “Mushrooms is it?”

Groaning, Virgil sat back down and instead reached behind him to try and tug his cloak free. “Partly.”

Trying and failing to get his cloak untangled he stumbled as his feet found solid ground after dangling for the better part of ten minutes, nearly overbalancing for the third time that day as the fabric went limp in his stranglehold. Looking up he saw the spot on the river bank he had climbed over not ten minutes before with a significantly lighter pack. Confused, he slung it around and peeked inside only to see it nearly overflowing with varieties of mushrooms he had never seen mixed with the more common ones he had found before. Opening his mouth to speak he quickly shut it as a light breeze carried faint laughter through the trees.

“Feel free to thank me later.” A faint voice called.

Looking down again, he carefully closed the pack and looked up at the sky. It was barely encroaching late afternoon...would anyone believe he had gathered these that quickly? Deciding to just say he had gotten turned around and found a good spot if anyone asked he started hiking his way back as slowly as he could. He’d have to find something to offer as thanks when he came back.

-----

“You’re back.”

Virgil shuffled around a low shrub between the trees awkwardly. “Mhm.”

“Do you need more mushrooms?” The fae crouched on a low branch, balancing on his tip toes as he watched Virgil struggle through the underbrush.

“They asked me to come back- ow!” Stumbling away from the bush he knelt down to tear away some thorns sticking out of his pants. “Since I was so successful yesterday they asked me to come back to find more. Among other things.”

“They?”

“People from the kitchens.” He started off in a slightly different direction, seeing sunlight a little ways away and hoping for a clearing.

“What else do you need?”

“A variety of things to dry for the winter. Nothing to concern yourself with. I won’t invade your forest for too long.”

“A shame. My forest is beautiful but I’ve found I enjoy looking at you more.”

Virgil stopped in his tracks as he tried to process the comment. Was this a trick? Some weird fae flirting technique to get his guard down so he gave away his soul? Which reminded him-

“Not because of that comment, but for helping me the other day.” He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a smooth skipping stone, the surface a perfect, uniform pale gray. He knew fairies rarely had use for human materials but things like this could be enchanted or used for entertainment- the more pleasing to the eye the better. “Here. And...thank you.”

The man’s eyes lit up at the sight of the stone, taking it carefully and running his fingers gently over the smooth surface. “For me?”

“Don’t expect it again, I don’t expect anything more from you.” Hoping that would settle it, Virgil continued on in the direction of the clearing. Fae were always tricky to get involved with and with the fall harvests approaching, continuing to speak with one claiming to be a prince wasn’t something he would allow himself to get involved with- at most for the sake of the village and at the very least for his own sanity.

“A pity really.” The fae called from behind him. “I could help you find whatever you need.”

Gritting his teeth, Virgil resisted. “I don’t need any help.”

“Right, expert tracker and all that.” He startled as his pest of a companion appeared in front of him waving a hand dismissively. “This is my forest and I can bend it however it suits me at the moment. Right now it suits me to help you, why won’t you let me?”

“I don’t want to owe you anything. Owing things is a risky business- especially with fae. No offense.”

The fae sniffed indignantly, putting a hand dramatically over his heart. “No offense indeed! I suppose this wound was here before you arrived, it’s fine really.”

Virgil glanced over as the other man draped a hand over his eyes and leaned back slightly, sighing loud and deliberate and trying to disguise the fact he was peeking at his human companion from under his arm. Virgil couldn’t help it- he barked out a laugh he managed to quickly catch with a hand slapped over his mouth. Watching as a wide grin took over the fae’s features he realized he was too late and the damage had been done. He stalked over and jabbed the air in front of Virgil with a perfectly manicured finger.

“You like my company!”

Blinking, Virgil lowered his hand. “Absolutely not!”

“You do! You find me amusing! Dare I say charming!”

Snorting, Virgil readjusted his pack. “Uh-huh. Nothing like a raving lunatic spouting he’s royalty to get the giggle juice flowing.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“I believe fae will say anything to strike whatever emotion they want in a human. Whether it be fear or awe, the end goal is always to lead someone astray.”

Glancing over he startled when he saw the other man actually looked a bit hurt at his words, head down and eyes flicking to the side with a tight draw to the lips. A trick...obviously. But one that had him reconsidering his choice of words.

“Look I-”

The fae held up a hand. “It’s okay! I’ll prove it to you! You need mushrooms and berries and the like right?”

“Uh- yeah?” Virgil watched as the fae stepped forward and furrowed his brow in concentration. Bringing his arms up towards the clearing he swung his arms out and up before slouching tiredly.

Virgil squinted against the sunlight shining overhead, looking around in wonder. They were in a large clearing absolutely teeming with enough plantlife to fill his pack ten times over. Dappled shade dominated at least half of the clearing as the sun shone through the bright trees at an angle. Soft grass soothed his aching feet that had previously been treading on nothing but snapping sticks and long-dead leaves. It was beautiful- and glancing over at his companion as bright gold shot through his hair and the sudden calming warmth relaxed him- Virgil could tell he was in his element.

“Did you just use magic in front of me?” He honestly hadn’t thought the fae would go that far to prove a point.

“Watch regular fair folk top that for ability.” the fae mumbled under his breath. Speaking up, he flashed a bright smile and punched a hand lightly onto his hip. “Of course! Got the point across didn’t it? Never seen a fairy bend a forest before?”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “I’ve never seen a fairy perform any magic before. Usually they keep that to themselves. Honestly none of the good neighbors have paid me any mind before whether I was in their territory or not.”

“Oh.” The fae sputtered uselessly for a moment, fluttering his head to his hair to fidget with the curls. “Well, clearly that’s their loss. Berries, was it?”

Face burning, Virgil nodded mutely and made his way over to a far tree that looked like it promised chestnuts in the higher branches. He never figured having company, however forced upon him it was, would be so nice.

Later, when Virgil’s pack was practically bursting at the seams, he reluctantly turned towards home. The afternoon had been wonderful, gathering enough to make the people in the village happy while listening to the other man as he sang almost like he didn’t realize he was doing it. Rich, low tones filled the clearing with a bright melody that Virgil didn't recognize but found himself humming along to- much to his companions utter delight.

It had surprised him when he began singing popular festival songs after that, thinking that fair folk never bothered much with humans and therefore wouldn’t know many traditional tunes. But when Virgil had started softly singing along, offering a wry grin when the other man had started excitedly bouncing on his toes from having a singing partner he couldn’t bring himself to care. Eventually both of them had started getting louder and louder, swaying along to an invisible beat as they had continued collecting what was needed. Another reason Virgil was reluctant to return to the village for fear their noise had reached ears he’d rather not explain himself to. He found it strange that he felt drawn to stay, stranger still that he didn’t immediately think it was some trick on his companions' part. He just- enjoyed his company and wished he could come into the forest to actually visit rather than just his job. Pressing his lips together he turned around, smiling faintly and gesturing to his back.

“You really didn’t have to help, or keep helping. But thank you again-”

“Roman!” The fairy blurted at his slight pause.

Smirking, Virgil cocked his head to one side. “Aren’t I supposed to give you my name first?”

Roman shuffled slightly. “Yes well, seems a shame that if you were to think of me you’d have no name to give the thoughts.”

“Bold of you to assume I think of you after leaving the woods.”

“How could you not?” Striking a bold pose he sniffed indignantly. “It’d be an insult really, wounding me so deeply.”

Chuckling Virgil turned and started walking away. “I’ll be sure to bring bandages next time.”

“It’s a date, Doom and Gloom!”

“That a promise, Sir Sing-a-lot?”

“If my serenades are what brings you back I shall renounce my princehood and become a siren.”

“Your voice is certainly deadly enough, leads to something prettier though.”

The forest was silent for a moment, before Virgil began walking as quickly as possible without stabbing his feet to the edge of the woods. Why had he said that? Did he mean that? Of course he meant it but why on the gods green earth had he said it? Could he even come back now? Chest tight with nervous anxiety and head swimming he didn't look back as he dashed out of the trees.

Though if he had he would have seen Roman standing stock still, face a mask of shock but slowly splitting into a flustered smile below rapidly reddening cheeks.

-----

When Virgil stepped into the creek the following day, it was without his pack. Early evening sunlight drifted through the trees as a slight breeze ruffled the cloak around his shoulders. Pushing his dark hair away from his eyes he surveyed the banks for any sign of Roman, deflating a bit when he saw none. It was stupid to think he could get away with saying something so forthright without reaping anything but negative consequences. It was just as well he supposed, consorting with fair folk never led to anything good after all. He had just- hoped this would be different.

Fair folk and humans rarely mixed well, platonic or not, and once he found his soulmate he was doubtful they would enjoy the thought of fraternizing so casually with one of the good neighbors- especially one as powerful as Roman appeared to be. If he knew anything of the fae it was that one didn't just casually bend an entire forest to their will with so little effort by themselves. Sighing, he turned to leave, feet missing the wispy grass of the clearing as they crunched through dead leaves.

“Going so soon?” Whirling around he was met with a charming smile, Roman balancing on a rock in the middle of the creek with a hip thrust out cockily.

“I thought- I didn’t think you’d come back around.”

“If you were trying to get me to leave, your methods are wanting my friend.” Roman squinted at him curiously. “No pack today?”

Virgil shuffled a bit before answering. “I- just wanted to see you.”

Blinking in surprise, Roman smiled warmly. “What an honor it is that our wants should align. Care to join me?”

Face burning, Virgil was quick to hop to the first rock, finding his balance easily. Keeping his head down he stepped from rock to slippery rock, finally getting close to where he assumed Roman would be. Looking up however, he didn’t expect to be quite as close as he had gotten, vision suddenly filled with deep brown eyes surrounded by flaming red curls. Yelping he tipped backwards, arms reaching forward in a desperate attempt to not repeat their first meeting even as he prepared to go home soaking once again.

To his surprise, the riverbed never rose to meet him, instead finding himself surrounded by the scent of wildflowers and moss in the most comforting embrace he’d ever been in. Virgil tilted his face up when he heard Roman gasp in wonder, his own eyes widening in disbelief as he leaned back to take in their surroundings. Colorful sparks seemed to catch the evening sunset as they bounced off and around them, falling like stars imbued with the colors of the sky and sizzling as they hit the water only to be immediately replaced by ten more.

Leaning back but still catching each other’s arms they watched as the sparks continued to fly around them in a frenzied shower, dimming the already fading sun itself in their wake. Virgil watched as the light caught itself in Roman’s eyes, flecking the brown with golds and brilliant reds and deep purples. Seeing his face literally light up in amazement and wonder, Virgil couldn’t help but let out a low chuckle, then tilting his head back and laughing out loud.

“What- why are you laughing?” Receiving no answer, Roman grinned uncertainly. “Do I have something on my face?”

Shaking his head, Virgil stifled another bout of laughter to answer. “I’ve never seen the sparks of soulmates before. Are they supposed to be this dramatic or is it just because of you?”

Smile turning more genuine and laughing himself, Roman let go of his arms and instead wrapped his arms around his waist and lifted, twirling them around with a sure step even as the water splashed around his feet. Setting him down gently, he rested his forehead against Virgil and held him as close as he could.

“Maybe both- knowing me, probably more of the latter. Do you really mind?”

The sparks were dying down as the sky darkened and yet to Virgil his companion still stood bright enough that he feared nothing the darkness could threaten him with. Leaning impossibly closer he touched Roman’s nose to his own and smiled softly.

“Absolutely not.”

#oren writes #sanders sides #sanders sides fic #virgil sanders #sanders sides virgil #roman sanders #sanders sides roman #roman x virgil #roman sanders x virgil sanders #prinxiety #sanders sides prinxiety #soulmate september 2021 #fae au #sanders sides fae au #fairy!roman

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gildedgrimoires · 7 months

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Bronze age vampire adventure...

#i should focus on my current projects...#most of my bronze age knowledge is from some archeology classes Ive taken n i dont mind learning moooore #anything non greco-roman bronze age stuff is so cool wth #but also vampire-fae??? to add on that #sick as hell

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druidicentropy · 2 months

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Honestly ya'll I really dislike the Encyclopedia of Fairies by Bane Theresa, she essentially just went through world mythology and just slapped the fae label onto anything that has any sort of connection with nature and it's so INFRIATING how it directly calls something as being apart of the fae but then within the fucking books own energy itself it directly contradicts itself by mentioning they're a completely different nonhuman species entirely, IT REALLY JUST ANNOYS THE FUCK OUT OF ME😭 I've been thinking about kind of creating my own like speculative classification system for mythological beings purely out of spite for this one book tbh

I personally think she's one of the writers that have influenced this idea that some people have about the "fae existing on every single continent" belief that I've seen some Celtic pagans regurgitate and it honestly doesn't really sit right with me since yeah if you're just casting the net as wide as fucking possible and including every single nonhuman being that's even remotely connected with nature then of course you're gonna come to that conclusion 💀

I've been getting into like speculative biology so this has been on my mind for the last couple of days and just how absolutely disorganized all of the actual classifications for mythological & fictional monsters/beings actually is so I might end up just cobbling together my own methods cuz my autism hates how vague it all ends up being and also how it can sometimes be used negatively against other cultures and is kind of a colonization tactic that's been used for a really long time most notably by the Romans and later on by the colonial powers so even though there's no actual intention to do harm it's somewhat rooted in not great methods if that makes sense?

Kind of just wanted to spew my thoughts on this topic a little bit since it's made me realize how unhelpful the overall classification system for what is/isn't fae is just nonexistent so I wanted to prompt everyone with the following question: what traits do ya'll think something has to have either in their behaviors, traits, use of magic, and appearances for it to actually be classified as being apart of the fae?

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sagilsnonsense · 6 months

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Here, you guys get some more odd ass doodles of fey Milo

One of them is him discovering that trolls are WAY more attractive than the man-made books make them out to be.

And the other is the very reason why you should never layer up on clothes when you already have a bunch of fur.

#art #milo #sketch #sketches #traditional art #wip #faun #alp #fey #fay #fae #maybe at some point I'll tell you guys what an alp is #just know he's technically roman and german #trollhunters

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kpop-stories-21 · 10 months

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The Mythos

Welcome to The Mythos, the alternate plane where werewolves and vampires live safely separated from humankind.

We do hope you enjoy your stay here, and that you find everything comfortable and easy to access.

First things first, choose where you wish to travel:

Fengári, the world of the werewolves

Aíma, the world of the vampires

If you wish to travel to the lands of the Greek, Roman, and Norse gods and their demigod children, please climb onto the back of this beautiful pegasus.

If you wish to read stories from before the Death Age and the creation of The Mythos, you may step into my library and browse the tales within.

If you wish to hear of the supernatural creatures still on Earth, come to this special corner of my library.

If you wish to learn more about the creation of The Mythos and the rules that govern its worlds, please step into my study and I will answer as many questions as I can.

Thank you for your time, and I wish you the best of luck during your stay.

#alternate universe #I created my own world #kpop #kpop stories #werewolves #vampires #the Fae #Greek mythology #Roman mythology #Norse mythology

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delimeful · 2 years

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carry them home (3)

warnings: arguing, mentions of murder/death, tension, cliffhanger

A/N: previous chapter's mention of Silver Guard changed to Iron Guard because i got my lycanthropes and my faeries mixed up :P

“Good afternoon,” Janus started, because if he was to be stripped of the element of surprise, he was at least going to handle the situation with grace. “I’m afraid there’s been a bit of a misund– ahm.”

He cut his sentence short, since two undersized hands had descended to pull at his cheeks with a careless, borderline-painful level of strength. Janus didn’t allow himself to wince or sputter at the childish gambit, simply narrowing his eyes and raising his eyebrows slightly into something unamused as he felt crumbs of dried mud tumble off his face.

“Re!” the fire sprite hissed, frozen where he was hovering above the others. “What are you doing?”

“Instigating,” Re replied, the shit-eating grin audible even though he was still standing behind Janus. “He broke Lo’s magic, so I’m tryin’ to see if he can blow someone up with his brain or something.”

Did that imply the kid was trying to get himself blown up?

“My magic didn’t fail,” Logan snapped, hurriedly climbing back to his feet. “Remus, let go of him. Explain yourself.”

Janus resisted the urge to grimace, the sour taste of compulsion rolling on the back of his tongue and then fading away as his makeshift blood rune drained the command of all its power. “Right, because that wasn’t exactly what I was just doing.”

The effect of his words– clearly unburdened by Logan’s charmspeak– was instantaneous, all the children growing tense and shifting closer to each other. Logan’s face went pinched and cold, the fire sprite looked downright alarmed, and Vee looked alarmed and pissed.

On his shoulders, Remus’s hands bit down with bruising force, a clear warning. “Do you want me to kill him?” he asked eagerly, as though excited about the very concept.

“Now, now,” Janus smoothly intercepted before Logan could respond. “That would be a rather poor way to repay a debt, wouldn’t it?”

The words, as always, held weight.

The tufts of feathers that lined Logan’s pointed ears flattened back, giving him the look of an angry cat. “You said you wanted the ring. It was a fair exchange.”

The utter naivete of that little accusation was enough to make Janus sigh, only riling the siren up further. “Humans lie, kid. But for the record, I was actually talking about your sense of hospitality. I offered you no malintent back in town, even gave you advice, and for all my graciousness, I currently seem to be… ah, yes, abducted and held against my will.”

“You unraveled my disguise in a dangerous place,” Logan returned, though some of the certainty had faded from his sharp tone. “I had no promise of safety from you.”

“And clearly, nor I from you,” Janus returned dryly. “I can tell you now, I had no intention of revealing you to the townsfolk, or anyone for that matter.”

The information didn’t seem to be as reassuring as Janus would’ve liked.

“Humans lie,” Logan echoed, his wings mantling slightly as he crossed his arms.

Using his own words against him. The kid was a quick learner, Janus thought with a smidge of amusement.

“True, but the proof is in my actions, not my words. If I wanted to cause you harm, all I would’ve needed to do was pull off your hood in the middle of a town currently crawling with the Iron Guard,” he told them, wishing his hands were untied so he could spread them in an extravagant flourish.

If his magic resistance had startled the children into wariness, his mention of the most notorious fae-hunting guild on the continent was enough to make most of them drop into downright fear.

“The Guard?” Vee spat, shrugging off Pat’s hands to struggle to his feet. “You’re full of it. This is way out of their normal routes.”

How curious, that a fae would speak so confidently about the routes of a hunter guild. Janus would have worried about it more if it wasn’t so clear that there was no lost love between the two.

Instead, he met the child’s poisonous glare evenly. “It is. But there was a sighting of a winged witch at the nearby spring, and so they came swarming down in hopes they’d get a shot at their most notorious enemy.”

Vee’s dark-edged eyes went suddenly wide, and behind him, Patton clasped his hands together in front of his chest and squealed excitedly, sounding remarkably similar to river ice creaking under the force of a current.

Re whooped loudly in response, and the flickering edges of the fire sprite seemed to solidify slightly as a hesitant, hopeful smile grew on his face as well.

Janus narrowed his eyes curiously. That was… not at all the sort of reaction he’d expected for news about the Guard.

“We must be getting close!” Patton said, the edges of his voice still burbling slightly.

“It might not be him,” Vee warned, but even he seemed oddly heartened. “Until we see evidence of the Guard, we don’t even know if the human is being honest or not. And even if it’s true, it’s still probably not him.”

“But it could be him!” the fire sprite returned brightly. “This could be just the lead we need to get our quest back on track!”

“And we could fight hunters on the way!” Remus added, a malicious grin audible in his voice.

“Nope.” Vee pointed at him with the stubborn sternness of someone who’d clearly learned to cut these ideas off at the root. “We are not doing that.”

“There’s no reason to abandon our plan just because of a rumor of a sighting,” Logan cut in, running a hand through his wing to carefully smooth down his ruffled feathers. “Vee’s foresight is a far more reliable method of guidance than hearsay from humans.”

Vee’s face scrunched up with uncertainty. “Is it, though?”

“What if the witch needs our help?” Patton asked, fingers worrying at the edge of his damp shirt. “The Guard could be after him, he could be in danger!”

“We could rescue him!” the fire sprite chimed in, gesturing valiantly with an ember-red hand that was visible within the flames. “And then he’d have to take us with him, right?”

“What happened to figuring out if we could trust him first?” Vee protested, turning half-away from Janus to pointedly cross his arms at the optimistic duo. “We’re not risking getting captured by the Guard for an adult we don’t even know!”

The fire sprite scowled, but Logan cut him off before he could respond.

“If he can’t even defend himself against the Guard, he’s not strong enough to protect us,” he said coldly. “We’re better off trying to find the haven itself.”

The pieces finally clicked together in Janus’s mind.

Oh. How… ironic.

“Ah, I see,” Janus said, and the attention of every child there immediately snapped back to him. “You’re seeking Sanctuary.”

An overlapping cavalcade of voices responded, ranging from “You know about Sanctuary?” to “We don’t have time for this,” to “What would you know about Sanctuary?”

Seeing as Logan was looking a few seconds from deciding to try a second round of enchantment on him, Janus chose to focus on the last one. “I know that it’s not real.”

Patton’s eyes went watery so quickly, it was as though Janus had personally kicked a puppy in front of him or something. Virgil stepped in front of him like he could physically shield him from the words, making a noise like a very angry rattlesnake.

“Many fairytales have a considerable basis in reality,” Logan replied, his expression somehow becoming even more closed off. “That you choose to not believe in the possibility is not—,”

Janus couldn’t help the bitter snort, shaking his head. “Oh, I certainly believed it. Right up until we were standing at the supposed gilded gates and found nothing but dirt and ash.”

“You were seeking Sanctuary?” the fire sprite asked, drifting a bit closer. His feet barely skimmed the ground as he moved, Janus noted with mild curiosity. The sprite was certainly the most ethereal of the lot.

Janus shrugged, forcing a casual air over the old, infected wound that was his experience with Sanctuary. “Fae aren’t the only ones that want to get away from the Guard. I'm telling you now: you're wasting your time. Give it up.”

There was a short gap of silence as that sunk in, and then–

“Liar,” Vee accused, his voice rough and those inky tear tracks visibly darkening. “You don’t know anything!”

Janus rolled his eyes. “Of course, of course. Since I’m so clueless, I’m sure you all wouldn’t mind letting me be on my way?”

“Not a chance,” said Vee, in a tone that promised violence.

“No,” said Logan in the same moment, his tone considerably more contemplative.

“No?” Janus asked, raising an eyebrow in silent judgment of his decision-making skills.

“No,” Logan confirmed. “We’re going to continue on our path to Sanctuary, and you’re coming with us.”

“I’m what,” Janus said flatly.

He’s what?” Three other pre-puberty voices shrieked at varying levels of horror and/or glee.

“A new friend!” Patton cheered, possibly the only person in the clearing who was actually fine with this.

“No, Patton—,” Logan sighed. “We’re taking him prisoner. Having a human around will be advantageous, and if he’s as familiar with the Guard’s typical routes as he claims, it will decrease the risk of our journey significantly.”

“By introducing a whole new risk?” Vee asked, his hands twitching as though he wanted to grab Logan’s shoulders and shake the sense back into him.

“Forcing him is kind of mean, isn’t it?” Patton said with a frown. “Why don’t we just ask for his help, instead?”

“Because, at the moment, there is no evidence to suggest that he is at all trustworthy, and I am not willing to bet any of our lives on a human’s word,” Logan told him firmly. “Let me be entirely clear: if we aren’t taking him with us, we are killing him.”

Patton seemed almost as displeased about the possibility as Janus. “No killing!”

“Dibs on the body!” Remus shouted.

“Dibs on the murder,” Vee grumbled, still glaring.

“I dunno, Lo,” the fire sprite mused. “I’ve never heard of a quest where the guide is a human.”

Logan inhaled, pinched the bridge of his nose for a good few seconds, and then exhaled slowly with a sort of exhaustion that Janus suspected was a side effect of managing four other fae children.

“I suppose,” the siren said dryly, “that we’ll just have to be the first.”

This seemed to be enough to intrigue the other child, though Janus was under no illusion that the fire sprite would particularly care if they ended up choosing the more lethal method of ‘dealing with the human’.

The siren turned and approached him, his magic stirring tangibly in the air. “Shall we figure out the terms of our Deal, then?”

The hairs on the back of Janus’s neck prickled, old memories and phantom pains alike making themselves known at the offer.

In the back of his mind, a little voice encouraged him to turn the tables: offering him exactly the wording he needed to twist this Deal into something that would hurt the other party instead of him in a vicious whisper. It wouldn’t be hard. He’d tricked more powerful opponents before.

With a low exhale, he straightened his back and looked at the ones in front of him directly. The children in front of him, no matter their origins.

“No,” he told them all, his voice composed and unbending. “I’d prefer to be a prisoner over a casualty, but not if it requires making a Deal.

“Find another way to ensure I won’t betray you, or follow through on your promised threat and kill me.”

#sanders sides fic #sanders sides #Fae AU #ts janus #ts logan #ts virgil #ts remus #ts patton #ts roman #carry them home #cth #my writing #writing #janus-centric #i think.#sorry for posting this a day late i don't know how time works </3

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