CW: implied death, blood, nightmare, small panic attack
"Virgil! There you are!" A woman shouted, rushing over to the small fairy who was crouched over a river. Her brown hair was braided and fell over her shoulder, she wore a white blouse and blue jeans. Her wings were a similar brown to her hair, but had white spots all over the feathers.
"Mommy!" the purple fairy giggled. "Look, there's fish in the stream!" He pointed to the small black guppies, swimming down the current.
"We were worried about you, dear, you've been missing for an hour!"
The younger fairy's smile dropped and was replaced with a guilty look. "I know, but I couldn't find the others! They ran off without me, and I didn't know where I was. So I did what you always told me to do when I get lost, stay in one place and wait for you to find me."
"It's not your fault, those kids should have watched you since they decided to play so far away. We were all just scared since we're not too far from a human settlement. You did a very good job."
"You'll find me, I know you and Daddy always will!" Virgil held onto the small purple stone that was tied around his neck. "You told me that as long as I have this, then I'll never be lost! I just have to stay put, and wait for you."
His mother bent down and hugged him, and the younger could feel something cloudy but electric coming from her. "Yes, and hopefully you'll never have to wait for long."
Virgil hugged her back, holding on tight. He started to get an ominous feeling that something bad was about to happen, but his smile didn't waver. "I'll always be with you and Daddy and everyone else! Nothing can tear us apart."
His mother pulled away from the hug, and Virgil opened his eyes. He expected to still see her there, but she was gone. He didn't hear the stream and turned around to see that his surroundings had changed. He was still in the forest, but now he was in his family's tent. There was shouting and a lot of commotion outside, but no one else was in the tent with him.
"Mommy?" he asked, confusion quickly morphing into fear.
"Virgil!" He turned around in time just to see his father. He had black hair, his wings just like his sons. Fear was written all over his face.
"What's going on? Where's mommy?" His parents were supposed to be on watch, and they were supposed to be together at all times. Why wasn't his mother there?
"We need to leave now." His father quickly came in, grabbing his son's hand and pulling him.
"Wait, we need to pack up! What about our things?"
"We don't have the time!" His father stopped only long enough to pick Virgil up, now running. "Martha!"
"Jack!" His mother rushed over, holding a spear in her hand. A red liquid was splashed on her face... That wasn't paint. "Get him out of here, I need to help the others."
"But-"
"Now!"
Virgil's eyes widened when he saw a group of unfamiliar people run out from between trees or the tents, and he saw the rest of the colony fighting or running away. A man ran towards them, holding a net.
"Mommy!" he shouted in warning, reaching out. He saw her turn around, but his father's wing blocked the view and covered the two of them.
Virgil sat up in bed, a cold sweat covering him as he gasped for air. His wings curled around him as he brought his knees to his chest. He rubbed his face to wake up, trying to slow his breathing and heartbeat.
After a few moments, he was able to breathe at a normal speed again. His chest still hurt, but he could move, so he lowered his wings just enough to see around his room. It was still dark, and it didn't sound like Patton was up. Probably for the best.
The fairy sighed and swung his legs off of the bed. He wasn't going back to sleep, and to be honest he didn't want to. He only had those nightmares when he was stressed out, so going back to sleep wouldn't help him.
He stood up and walked over to his desk, opening a drawer. He pulled out a small necklace, the string made of a stem of a plant and hanging on it was a purple gem. Was it stupid that he wanted to believe that they were still out there? That his parents were still looking for him?
"Hopefully you'll never have to wait for long." A little too late for that, huh? Well, Virgil accepted a long time ago that they never made it out that night. It was a miracle he did. The night the monster hunters attacked will haunt him forever.
~~~
"Okay, so I don't think my glamour is as strong as a fairy's, but maybe it'll be enough," Roman stated. It was the next day, and Virgil had gone to the witch's house to practice more magic. The cut on his cheek had healed, probably from one of his potions, and it left behind a thin white scar.
"This just feels like a waste of time," Virgil complained, moving one of his wings back and forth as Darrell chased it, trying to bite the edge of the feathers, though the fairy saw the hesitation any time he got close.
"Well if you can strengthen your magic, then it'll help you much more than tying them down! Seriously, doesn't that hurt?"
The fairy shrugged. "I don't care all that much. I mean, it sucks most of the time, but I always go to the Miller's whenever I need a break."
The witch put his hands together under his nose. "While I haven't known you for long, I know you're the kind of person that only takes breaks when forced to or when you're at your breaking point."
Virgil stuck his tongue out at him. "I would rather practice my nature magic. Or maybe a different elemental magic! Like water or air, maybe even a small bit of fire? Nah, that seems dangerous."
Roman sighed, leaning back against a tree. "Okay, how about this. We practice glamour for a little bit, and then we can both learn water magic. How does that sound?"
"Fine!" The fairy turned to Darrell. "He's so boring."
The fox yipped in response, jumping at Virgil's wing. The fairy quickly lowered it and Darrell ended up jumping over.
"Okay, that's enough," Roman told the fox. "You're going to hurt him."
Darrell barked at him before running over to Virgil, nuzzling against his chest. The fairy laughed before scratching his neck, making Darrell smile wide. Roman sat down in front of them, crossing his legs.
"Alright, how much of your wings can you hide?" the witch asked.
Virgil's smile fell and he looked away in embarrassment. "I can only hide one of my wings."
"Then let's try hiding both of them at once." Roman held out his hands for Virgil's, the fairy staring at him in shock for a moment. He remembered his mother doing the same when he first learned how to use his glamour... He did not appreciate the memory popping up especially after the dream he had the night before.
However, he still placed hands in Roman's. The witch had warm hands, and were slightly bigger than Virgil's. He felt Roman's magic run up his arms, an almost invisible yellow haze. It trailed over his shoulders and down his back, before covering each and every feather. Beads of sweat started to form on Roman's brow, and Virgil realized that the witch's glamour was only slightly stronger than his own.
"Okay, now try to take over and hold it for as long as possible," Roman instructed.
"Alright." Virgil nodded, using his magic and mixing his glamour with Roman's. It was stretched thin, but he used Roman's magic as a crutch.
"And..." The witch let go of Virgil's hand. "Just hold on for as long as you can."
The fairy nodded, no longer able to speak since it took so much effort to keep the glamour up. He could feel sweat start to form from the effort of it all, but he managed to take quick breaths to keep his concentration.
"You're doing good, let's try to keep this up for at least a minute."
Virgil tried to count in his mind, wanting to keep a steady beat. He could do this, it wasn't that hard. He could still feel his wings, but it only looked like there was a hole in his shirt. Not a single feather showed.
"Alright, good, keep going," Roman encouraged. "It's been over a minute, you got this."
The fairy balled the edge of his cloak up as he focused. He squeezed his eyes shut as he felt his magic start to waver, sweat starting to drip down the side of his face. The edges of his feathers showed for just a second before the glamour dropped completely, Virgil letting out a loud sigh.
"That's all I can-" he tried to say in a sad voice, but Roman cut him off.
"That was amazing! Almost two whole minutes, you did good!"
Virgil blinked, taken aback by the witch's excitement. "But... that wasn't long."
"It's still the start! Before you could only hide one wing, right?"
"Y-yeah... But there are fairies younger than me that can hide it for longer. I remember the teenagers being able to hide their wings by themselves in my colony."
"You've had less practice and you haven't had the same opportunities as them. No one was here to help you before, you had to learn on your own!"
"Well, I barely did any learning." The fairy looked away in shame. "I hardly ever used my magic."
"You still tried! And hey, if you practice your glamour every night then it'll grow stronger. Every night, practice for five minutes. When you're able to hide your wings for a whole five minutes, then practice for six, and then seven and so on. It'll get easier! And one day you'll be able to hold your glamour for hours!"
Virgil felt joy coming from the witch, making him smile. "You really think so?"
"Of course! You're magic is really strong, I can feel it!" Roman took Virgil's hand and Darrell yipped in agreement. "Now, I did promise that I would teach you how to use water magic. Though, to be honest, I hardly ever practiced that myself so it'll be a learning experience for me too."
The fairy snorted. "Am I finally going to be able to see the Great Witch Roman fail at something?"
"Oh ha ha, I'm not that great. But you may gladly think so." The witch put a hand to his chest, making Virgil laugh. "And yeah, I'm probably going to mess up. But if I do, I'll be sure that you're the one that gets splashed."
"I'll just splash you right back!"
Roman stood up, pulling Virgil with him. "Then we'll just have to practice drying ourselves with our magic then. Race you to the stream!" He let go and dashed off, Darrell running after him and then past him.
"Hey! I wasn't ready!" Virgil shouted, running after the witch.