To Break A Curse

2.20

"Roman!" Alex ran down the path holding a black umbrella and hoodie as he quickly made his way to where the text had told him they were. Honestly, he thought he was going to have a heart attack. These men where basically his fathers and it seemed like something was always wrong. The last thing he knew was that Virgil wasn't even leaving the house and now he finds out that he's... "In shorts?" Alex froze up seeing Roman holding Virgil in his arms daintily brushing his fingers through his hair with the lightest touch as he leaned back against the tree with his own eyes closed. Alex couldn't help but smile. This was what it was supposed to be like for them... Seeing them like that... it was the best. "Hey, DB."

"Alex." Roman smiled as he looked over with a short laugh. He saw the umbrella and hoodie and he sighed in relief. "Thank you so much. I couldn't keep holding up my jacket so... I just bought further into the shade."

"Why is he even out here dressed like that?" Roman flinched as Alex handed the umbrella over to him, which he opened and held over top Virgil. As soon as the shadows got darker Virgil snuggled up closer to Roman with a happy sigh and smiled. 

"It was my fault. Mostly anyway... I tried to tell me he could be outside since he didn't have his hoodie but I didn't understand him and ended up dragging him out of the motel anyway. I... I didn't know that the sun drained him like that." Alex nodded with a sad sigh as he sat down beside the two. 

"It's not just the sun." Roman frowned as Alex shrugged slightly. "It's any light really. To much bright lights hurt him... in a very similar way as to getting touch starved. If there's not enough darkness... He gets sick. That's why he covers up so much, the light on his skin bothers him. The sun worst of all. It literally burns him."

"I didn't know." Roman's eyes darkened as he pulled Virgil in more subconsciously just trying to hold on to him as if the very act could make them both feel better. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Roman. He didn't tell you." Roman shook his head as he curled up a bit despite the man in his arms. Alex had to hold back the chuckle over it looking as though Roman was trying cuddle up with Virgil as a teddy bear. "Roman, It's ok."

"No, it's not ok. It's... Alex?" Roman glanced over at the memorial beside him and his heart broke. "Was I the one that wrote that one line?" Alex's face fell as he let out a shaky breath.

"Honestly Roman... I wasn't here for it. I came after it was already done and gave you a stone Rose for the garden... this was about 3 years before I became a demi. I don't know the answer to that." Roman's frown only grew as Alex groaned slightly. "But he would know." Roman's eyes shot up as Alex nodded. "He would know if you did and if he's saying you did... then you should believe him."

"He said I wrote it... because I cared about Virgil."

"Roman you loved Virgil." The world seemed to crash around the god as his eyes flashed as pitch-black his grip on Virgil tightened as he started to hyperventilate a bit.

"W-What?"

"You loved Virgil. You loved him more than anything. He was your..."

"Stormcloud?" Alex froze up instantly as Virgil shifted in Roman's arms. Roman was just staring off in a daze, his eyes black and pink, lost in thought. "Why did that name come to mind?"

"Roman, It's going to be ok. I'm sorry I couldn't help you remember him. I tried to but... I didn't have enough of the story for you to latch onto. I only had a small piece of it." Roman's eyes narrowed as he started to play with Virgil's hair again. 

"Can you still tell me it?" Alex smiled softly as he nodded and laid back against the grass.

"You and Virgil were in this store. I'm assuming for clothes because I found him sitting there in the clothes section. I was ten and I was lost." Roman glanced over at him with this question in his eyes as Alex nodded. "Yeah... I was the first lost person he helped. I was scared and he told me that was ok. That fear was only there to protect you and to help you stay focused. I latched onto that and started calling him Mr. Fear God. I was the first. I was only a kid. I didn't understand but he was so kind to me. He told me about you."

"Me?" 

"Yep. Said he had a father who was a god and a friend who was a god who... was there with him. You... Roman." Roman's expression slowly softened with every word Alex said. "I asked him to make my mother a flower which is why I gave you that stone one. It made me so happy to see her wearing it and... She was the second one to start believing in him. The two of us really did take Virgil as our protector god. But I think what really stuck with me, Roman... Was what he did for me. Not just bringing me back to my mom but... He gave me a reason to keep believing you. He wasn't a god at the time but he took that title and he let me believe it so that I had someone to believe in." Roman's eyes went wide as Alex smiled brightly. 

"He had you use your fire so that I could see it... to prove that you were the other god he was talking about. And then he used your fire to burn something I think to create a shadow-like smoke to come from his hand. Making it look as though he was a god of darkness like I was saying he was." Roman blinked several times as Alex just shrugged. "Even at a young age, I could tell how much you two cared for each other. You gave each other the same look my parents did before my dad died. And... when I was sent here by Virgil to help you... I could see how much you missed him. You loved him so much, Roman. It tore you apart that you were forgetting him."

"I don't..." Roman winced as he breath quickened more. "...wanna forget."

"No, you didn't then either... but you couldn't stop it. You tried. You kept a journal about him." Alex frowned as he saw how Roman's eyes literally fought between Pink, black, and pale yellow. "You wrote several you still have but... this one, in particular, was about Virgil. You and Logan had written everything involving Virgil down in that one notebook."

"I don't have a book about..."

"You lost it." Roman's eyes went wide as Alex nodded. "Virgil told me something was wrong and so I came over to your house and found you a complete mess. You had lost the book and was breaking down because there was nothing to stop you from forgetting anymore. I told you, I tried but it just didn't work... So Virgil thought after you had forgotten him... that maybe it would help you if you turned your focus on someone else. He thought if you started to feel for someone else than maybe you would stop grieving so much over him."

"The date?" Alex nodded again as he just stared at his hands. "Wait I'm confused... A god forgets everything about there past life when they ascend... for the most part. How would he have even remembered me?"

"Because you and I are the reason he became a god in the first place, Roman. He loves you and he wants you to be happy." Roman crashed as he leaned his head back against the tree with this far away look in his eyes. "He'd do anything to make you happy."

"I just want to remember. Is that to much to ask?"