Monster - Prinxiety [COMPLETED]

Chapter Twenty Four

When Roman woke up hours later, the dark prince having long since left their shared dreamspace, he felt his heart racing in his chest. He blinked a few times, sitting up.

"Roman, you're awake," a voice he recognized as Luis'. He moved next to the cot, looking at him with concern. "What happened?"

The prince pinched the bridge of his nose as he winced at his headache. "Virgil's being forced to summon an old dark mage that's going to take over the kingdoms, or kill anyone who refuses his rule," he said as calmly as he could. "He doesn't have any control over what his body is doing, and he's trapped in some sort of astral plane. This figure's influence is too strong for him to fight..."

Luis nodded, swallowing nervously. "T-That sounds great," he said sarcastically as he rubbed the back of his neck. Thorn had looked up upon hearing what was happening, and it was just making him more anxious. He turned his head away from her, trying to focus on his brother. "So what's our plan? The search party's getting ready to move already, so we should be able to get to the castle today."

"We've got to get to get to him, and find away to stop him or..."

Roman's voice trailed off as he remembered the promise he'd made. The younger prince was looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish his sentence. He sighed heavily. "I promised him that if... I p-promised that if we couldn't find a way to stop him-"

"He made you promise to kill him, didn't he?" Thorn finished, coming to stand next to the cot. The other prince paled as he nodded, looking like he might pass out. The two of them noticed, moving to comfort him. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Luis, it's not going to come to that, we'll figure it out."

He shook her away, sitting down as he took deep breaths. Roman got off the cot, moving to kneel in front of him. He took his hand, feeling a sense of responsibility to comfort him. "Luis, I promise, I don't want to hurt him, you know I won't do it unless given absolutely no choice," the prince told him as he met his eyes. "I didn't even want to agree to his request, but he forced me to promise him I would if it came down to it."

The younger prince was silent for a bit before nodding with a reluctant sigh. He stood up, walking away from the two of them to instruct the search party to prepare to move. Roman shared a concern look with Thorn, who then looked down guiltily before going off to prepare to leave. The prince watched her go, wondering what happened between them while he was asleep.

Shaking out his head, he prepared to leave himself, remembering that Virgil needed him. The fear in his glossy brown eyes was an image he'd never be able to remove from his memory. It quickened his pace, mounting his stallion as the party gathered to move. Luis was behind him, keeping his gaze low as he waited to move. Thorn pulled her horse up next to his, trying to get his attention, but he just ignored her. Roman felt sympathy for the younger prince as he watched him move away from her. The prince looked away from their interaction, lifting his head to direct the search party.

"Move out!"

Virgil was taking deep breaths as he watched the figure from the doorway. He was instructing him to continue with the spell. The dark prince gasped fearfully as rain started pouring down and thunder shook the earth. The glowing grew brighter as the clouds swirled faster.

"What am I supposed to do?" he murmured to himself. He had to do something, or he might hurt someone when Roman and the search part arrived.

Upon having that thought, he could hear horses arriving outside. His heart raced as he ran to the window, seeing a white stallion at the lead as a group of men on horses approached. He heard the figure growl angrily, moving toward the balcony and waving his hand. Virgil's eyes widened as the familiar bloodcurdling screech of the guardians pierced his ears. He watched as a group of them attack the men, who drew their weapons and fought back. The dark prince watched in horror as they fought, running into the room.

"You need to stop! This isn't right!" he yelled at the figure, shaking with fear. "I don't want to do this anymore!!"

The figure cackled evilly, turning to him. "It's a little late for that, Virgil," he told him, raising his hand to send him flying against the wall. He let out a painful gasp, crying out. "You can't overpower me now."

The dark prince fell to ground, whimpering. The figure moved away, ignoring him with a deep laugh. Virgil watch him go, feeling useless.

Come on! Don't you want to actually do something about this for once?! he yelled at himself in his mind. Fight him! Get your body back! FIGHT HIM!

He was shaking as he started to get to his feet, his hand subconsciously moving to grip the necklace tightly. He bit down on his lip as he stood up, channeling all the anger he felt toward this figure. He'd manipulated him into trusting him. He'd tricked him into doing something horrible. He was the cause of all of this.

Virgil's shaking was now for a different reason. He was scared, but now he was furious. He growled under his breath as he started stalking toward him. The figure didn't notice until he'd shot a blast of lighting at him. He gasped, stumbling a little at the force. "What-"

"Get the hell out of my head."

Roman dodged as the creature slammed its paws down on the ground, barely avoiding the blow. He slashed it with his sword, earning a painful scream from it.

"Roman!!"

He whipped his head toward the voice, seeing Luis making his way through the fight toward him. He pointed at the clouds and the castle.

"Go!!" he yelled as the prince looked at him with wide eyes. "We can hold these things off! Go!!"

Roman took once more look around at all the chaos before finally nodding and running toward the castle.