Gone

Chapter 18-Worried

Was the chapter before this a prinxiety chapter? Yes, yes it was. Is this chapter Ananlogical? Yes, yes it. Am I trying to confuse you? Yes, I am. Is it working? Probably not.

TW: Anxiety, Mentions of Kidnapping, Mentions of Assassination, Talks of Death, 

It had been three days since Virgil passed out and Roman was nearly kidnapped. That meant ten days since the attack. They hadn't gotten very far with finding information, just a few rumors that only a small percentage of which have been confirmed and a smaller percentage were correct. They had gotten far in distance though. Already hitting ten- or was it eleven- different towns and villages. They spoke to six mayors or people who had taken a leader's position if the mayor was gone. 

Despite not wanting to, Virgil had fallen into the place of a king. The others helped him often, especially Roman. He helped Virgil make decisions that were hard for him, like when one man asked if they should still be arresting people who broke laws when they caught a woman stealing from a jewelry store. Or someone else asked what they should tell children whose parents had either died or been taken. How should they ration food? Who should take priority? Was there still a social hierarchy? 

Who was in charge? What were they doing? Where were they going? Who had done this? Would they save the citizens that were caught? Was the Light Realm trustworthy? Where was Prince Hollis? Why wasn't Virgil taking the throne and ruling? Was he sure that going to find the taken was really a good idea? Who was next in line to the throne if something happened? What was Virgil going to do to help them? What about when winter came? What was going on?

It was so hard for Virgil to answer those questions. The others translated for him as best they could but never actually spoke for him. Virgil was worried he'd say the wrong thing or something would get lost in translation and there'd be a miscommunication. He worried he'd make the wrong decisions and that people would get mad at him. What if they didn't want him as their king? Sure, Virgil believed that they could get the others back but he also knew that he had to accept the reality that they might not save Janus...

In places where lots of people had been taken, the attacking army had portalled away. Like the capital near the palace. Logan and Roman said it was probably because they didn't want the larger groups to try something before they reached their destinations. Portals were really hard to make, it was another spell that was very hard to learn. Not even Janus knew how to make them and he was a really strong wizard, better than Logan even. The towns where the army hadn't portalled away reported that they were going in the right direction.

Currently, the others were eating. They had found a town that had been spared from the attacks, small towns with small populations had been left untouched, and decided to stop and eat lunch in one of the restaurants. They sat in a booth with Virgil next to Patton. He had become a little more used to them, though it was a little more of reluctant getting used to. Virgil would occasionally, rarely, give Logan and Roman high fives or fistbumps and Patton had been promoted to side hugs as long as they asked anyway. Virgil had to admit he still wasn't comfortable with it. He didn't like his own brother and best friend touching him, this was so odd. Still, the others seemed happy when Virgil gave them high-fives. As if they had been rewarded or something, he wasn't so sure how he felt about that.

The others were worried about Virgil. He hadn't been sleeping or eating much. He didn't sign to them very much and sometimes made mistakes when he did, which wasn't helping the language barrier. He was having trouble paying attention and was pushing himself really hard. Whenever he got a free chance he would push Logan to help him learn a spell, or he'd do it himself. If he wasn't practicing magic he was practicing swordsmanship, even asking Roman to spar with him. He was fidgety and jumpy and uneasy. They didn't know what was wrong with him but they wanted to help him.