Trials, Traits and Truth

Roman's Folly

Trigger Warning (But also a massive SPOILER:): There's blood at the end of this chapter, and a death.

Roman had called it a 'War Meeting', and Logan had called him dramatic. Nevertheless, the five sides sat at the kitchen table the next morning, and held counsel.

Virgil was still deathly pale, even without his signature makeup applied. He was slurping at the broth that Patton had concocted for him for brunch, and he was determined to keep it down. Virgil hated being a problem the others had to solve, and today he was literally half the agenda.

Logan and Roman were arguing passionately over how to tackle the two issues: the dead meadow and the sick Virgil. Roman was in favour of splitting up: having himself, Patton, and Logan go investigate the dreamscape, while Tristan took care of Virgil.

Virgil hated this idea.

Logan, on the other hand, didn't like the idea of splitting up: either they all went to the dreamscape, or none of them did.

Virgil hated both prospects of this idea too.

"- would be simply cruel to drag Virgil around the dreamscape which is already being influenced negatively - no offence, Virgil - when he is ill and weak!"

"- we may need all of us around to take care of Virgil, and we have no idea what the others would be walking into - "

"We cannot delay any further, the situation is worsening as we speak and I don't even know where to start!"

"-but-"

"Please stop." Virgil put down his spoon in his bowl and a little bit of broth splashed onto the table. "We should all go."

Roman raised an eyebrow.

"Walk to the living room and back without keeling over or painting a bucket with broth." It wasn't an unkind tone, but Virgil still let out a moody sigh. "I will not put you in danger, Virgil! We don't know what could be lurking - "

"Let's vote on it." Tristan suggested.

"We don't usually vote on stuff." Roman frowned.

"You had even numbers so it didn't always work." Tristan pointed out. "You now have a tie-breaker."

Roman squinted his eyes slightly in thought, but nodded.

"All in favour of splitting up..." Logan called authoritatively. Roman and Patton raised their hands. "All in favour of sticking together...that's three against two. We're sticking together."

"Fine." Roman pouted. "But in the dreamscape, I am in charge. You don't know it like I do."

To his surprise, no one argued.

"Be ready to go in five." Roman said, tone a little softer.

~

The five sides stumbled a little as they materialised in the dreamscape. They appeared on the top of a hill, from which they could see the dreamscape stretching away, far into every direction. Roman's castle could be seen in the distance to the north, the great lake to the west. They were surrounded by a sea of trees, but their eyes were invariably drawn southward...

"Merlins Beard..." Roman said, taking a step forward and gaping slightly.

The white dome of magic that he had created the day before looked completely different. Instead of a shiny, smooth outer shell, it looked like a glass bowl had been dropped.

"Are those...cracks?" Logan asked nervously. Large black cracks splintered the dome, making it look like it would cave at any second...

Roman grit his teeth and raised his arm, but Patton grabbed it.

"No! The effort last time literally killed you."

Roman frustradedly ripped his arm from Patton's grip. Virgil quietly explained to Tristan the different physics of the realm around death and injury, in responce to his alarmed look.

"Fine." Roman said finally. "We'll go closer and see the damage on the ground."

Virgil sucked in his breath as they teleported again, and sat down rather quickly when they appeared at the new location: right beside the dome. Tristan looked concerned, and sat down next to him in solidarity.

Inside the dome, they could only see a massive swirling cloud of dust.

"Fascinating..." Logan muttered, puling out a little pad and taking a note.

Patton gripped Romans shoulder.

Virgil tensed from his spot on the ground. He had thought he had heard something...

Sensing Virgil's unease, Tristan looked around wearily.

"ROMAN." He warned, clocking eyes on the source of the disturbance.

Roman spun around and practically breathed fire. His temper, which had been bubbling close to bursting point for far too long, finally let loose.

Roman bellowed and charged over to the spying troll, dragging him out of the nearby bushes and throwing him onto the ground in the middle of the group. It was the same beast who Roman had lost on the first day the meadow had died.

The troll didn't even put up a fight, but allowed Roman to drag him over to the others. He grinned at the sword pointed squarely at his throat.

"Why are you here?" Roman practically hissed.

"I - I have a message for you." The troll spluttered, but had an air of confidence that kept them all on edge.

"From who?" Roman said through gritted teeth.

"He wants to thank you all for playing your parts so perfectly...and one for completely going above and beyond..."

"I WILL NOT PLAY THE PRONOUN GAME WITH YOU." The Prince seethed. Logan took a step back in surprise. The air was thick with tension.

The troll just smirked and looked Roman in the eye. He gently grabbed the Prince's sword and batted it away.

"There's a big storm coming." He slowly rose to his feet. "I'm not afraid of you." He folded his arms. "He won't stop until you're all just shadows of the things you need to be." The troll turned and started walking away. Roman looked floored. No one ignored Prince Roman like that.

"YOU CAN'T WALK AWAY FROM ME!" He roared, finding his voice. The troll spun back around to face them.

"Yes, I can. Your power is already weak, you're all living on borrowed time. And Thomas? Poor sweet Thomas...I wonder how fast he'll fall when he moves into the next stage of his plans..." The troll didn't get to finish. Threatening Thomas was the last straw.

With a mighty roar, Roman threw his sword at the foul being, where it lodged in his stomach. Roman closed his eyes, panting sharply. A horrirfied gasp from Patton made him reopen them.

The five sides gaped in shock. The troll hadn't dematerialised yet. He stood there, now starting to scream, and dropped to his knees. Where the sword had penetrated, was a growing patch of red.

"No..." Roman choked, running over and pulling the sword out of the troll, recoiling at the blood that started to flow freely from the wound. He tried to put pressure on it, but someone pulled him away. Logan and Patton set to work on the troll, trying to stem the bleeding.

Tristan held Virgil's hand, the anxious side having put his headphones in and squeezed his eyes shut to try and avoid another panic attack.

Roman just stood there, bloody sword hanging loosely from his hand at his side. He was pale, which made the horrifying blood stains on his usually impeccable white suit pop even more prominently.

The troll managed one more laugh, coughed up some more blood, then shuddered and lay still.

His body didn't even dematarialise away.