Magenta

Ch. 43

JUST REALIZED HOW CLOSE THE CLIMAX IS I'M SWEATING

Virgil woke up to Susan kissing him.

Immediately, he jolted and scrambled to push her away. Before he could even move his hands, however, she pulled away.

"Hey there, sleepyhead." Susan smiled. Virgil rolled his eyes, wiping his mouth in disgust.

He sat up, beginning to look for his clothes that Susan had frantically ripped off of him.

"You're leaving?" Susan asked, frowning.

"Yeah," Virgil grunted, putting on his pants.

"Already?" Susan whined. "Isn't your house an hour away? It's too early to drive so far."

"I'll be fine." Virgil told her.

"Last night was amazing." Susan sighed dreamily. "You're incredible."

"You had fun? Good. I didn't." Virgil grumbled, pulling his shirt over his head. "Maybe for a bit. Halfway through I started pretending you were Roman."

"You could at least pretend you liked it." Susan frowned.

"Why? It's not like we'll be doing this again." Virgil grabbed his jacket off the floor, putting it on. "Remember our agreement, you tell no one."

"Okay." Susan nodded.

"I'm serious. I swear to god, Susan. If word about this gets out, I'll fucking kill you." Virgil growled, checking his pockets for his keys.

"Relax." Susan rolled her eyes. "I'm a woman of my word."

"Then I'll be off." Virgil huffed. "Don't call me. Don't text me. Don't even look at me, okay?"

And with that, he left.

---

It had been two days.

Remus had quickly joined the search for Emile, assuring Patton that he would find him.

"I'll find him, Pat. Don't worry."

Patton had also tried to get in contact with Roman, but he was finding it difficult to reach him lately. He had asked Remus, and he was told that Roman still had his phone. Patton hoped he was doing okay. He'd been looking pale for weeks now.

Patton was losing his mind. Emile could have left the country by now, with some stranger he's never met.

As for his parents, they made sure to make it very clear that they were disappointed in him. He didn't really blame them, he was disappointed with himself.

Mr. Berry had been keeping him and his parents in the loop as to how the investigation was going. They had a lead, but Patton knew better than to get his hopes up.

"Hey, how you holding up?" Remus asked, sitting down next to him. Patton sighed.

They were at Remus' house currently, taking a little break. Patton really appreciated Remus, he had been forgetting to take care of himself.

"He's only seven years old, Ree." Patton mumbled. "He's probably so scared."

"I heard that your father put up the missing posters yesterday." Remus said. "I'm trying to get Susan to put something about it in the newspaper."

"You think she'll do it?" Patton asked.

"If she's a decent human being." Remus huffed.

An awkward pause.

"I just..." Patton began. "...feel like this is all my fault."

"How is it your fault?" Remus furrowed his brow.

"That day, if I had just managed to get there a little bit quicker. Maybe...Maybe I would've been able to--"

"Patton, there was nothing you could have done. Someone set you up, I'm sure of it." Remus mumbled. "Susan never does things for no reason, sometime must've been influencing her."

"Maybe I could've fought back? Or--"

"Patton, listen. This is in no way, shape, or form your fault. If anything, it's my fault." Remus told him. "I'm the one who insisted we keep looking for Janus' killer, and look what happened."

"But I'm the one who didn't try hard enough to stop you."

"That's ridiculous." Remus rose a brow. "How about this? For now, it'll be both of our faults."

Patton snorted halfheartedly. "Yeah, okay."

Remus looked at the nearby clock. "It's getting pretty late, should I drive you home?"

"If you don't mind."

---

Theodore was walking towards his house when Patton and Remus arrived.

Patton immediately got out, Remus not too far behind him. "Mr. Berry?"

Theodore turned. "Oh, Patton. Perfect timing. I need to talk to you and your parents." He looked at Remus. "I'm going to have to pull Mr. Libum away for a bit."

"Well, no." Patton furrowed his brow. "Whatever you can say in front of my family, you can say in front of him."

Theodore sighed. "If you insist."

Together they walked up to the house, and knocked on the door.

---

"Well, what is it?" Mrs. Libum demanded. "Is this about my son? Do you have any news on him?"

"I do." Theodore nodded.

"Spit it out, then." Mr. Libum growled. "I have places to be."

"We found your son." Theodore told them.

"What?!" Mrs. Libum stood up from her spot on the couch. "Where is he?! Can I see him?!"

Theodore took a deep breath. "More accurately, we found his body." He mumbled, face grim. "It was at the bottom of the lake, already beginning decomposition."

The room had gone dead silent. Patton felt faint. He almost fell over, but instead stumbled into Remus' arms. "What...?"

"I'm sorry," Theodore murmured, sighing heavily. "Your son is...dead."

Mr. Libum rushed foward and grabbed Theodore by the collar. "You bastard! Is this your idea of a joke?!"

"I'm sorry, Eric." Theodore shook his head. "We were too late."

Mrs. Libum screamed in agony.

A/N:

Eh, this one kinda sucks.