CW: blood, kidnapping, passing out, a giant fight (almost a riot) involving several people including bystanders
Virgil's day started out fine. He could still feel the joy coming from Roman when he was walking to town, and that made him happy. Maybe he should head over to the witch's house later in the day, but first he had to get food since they were low on it.
Besides, tomorrow was Saturday and Miss Kayda was supposed to come over. For some reason, he wasn't nervous about it. If anything, he was excited! Kayda had shown him nothing but love and support ever since they met, and she was a very understanding person, so why would she feel any different about him if she knew he was a fairy?
For a moment though, Virgil started to get anxious about something. It took him a moment to realize that he was actually feeling Roman's worry. Was everything okay with him? Maybe Remus told him something worrying. Once Virgil's done buying food, he's making his way to Roman's house as soon as possible.
But for now he made his way to Kayda's stand, wanting to see a friendly and happy face. His purple necklace rested against his chest, and he tried focusing on the magic in it to keep his anxiety down. Once her stand was in view however, he became more worried since Miss Kayda seemed upset about something.
She was talking to Mr. Johnson about something, both of them frowning. They didn't look upset at each other, just upset in general. Actually, now that Virgil was thinking about it the town seemed more gloomy today, but why? There was a lot of tension in the air, and everyone seemed upset. Did someone get hurt?
He tried to calm himself down, noticing Roman's worry wasn't going away. He didn't want to make the witch panic even more, so he had to stay calm.
"Hey Miss Kayda, Mr. Johnson," he greeted, walking over to the stand.
"Oh, hey Virge," Miss Kayda replied, a small smile forming on her face as a greeting. "Roman and Patton not with you today?"
"No, I'm just here to buy some food. You're still coming over tomorrow night, right?"
"Of course sweetie, I'm excited for dinner with you all." And it was true, Virgil could feel her excitement, but anger and worry clouded it.
"Is... everything okay? Everyone seems upset today," Virgil asked, looking over to Mr. Johnson before looking back at Kayda.
The older woman sighed, making Virgil worry more. "Well...-"
Before she could say much more, there was a loud barking coming from somewhere making Virgil jump. Panic rose above everything else, and he unconsciously moved closer to Kayda's stand.
He looked over and saw several men dressed in uniform, half of them holding onto dog leashes as bloodhounds tugged and pulled in their direction, all of them had guns on their backs or in their hands. Virgil couldn't take in much more information on the men since he saw a black and red marking on their chest. The outline looked like a shield, but inside were bars and behind was a phoenix, with a start Virgil remembered the first time he saw that symbol. It was during the night he lost his parents, his family, his whole colony.
One of the men pulled out a whistle and blew on it, making the dogs stop barking, but the group of men made their way over.
Kayda growled slightly with a roll of her eyes. "Monster hunters, they came into town last night."
Mr. Johnson folded his arms as he watched them walk over, clearly trying not to make a scene. "What the hell do they want with us?"
Virgil remained silent, almost hiding behind the bigger man. He felt his hands start to shake and his knees become weak with fear. His mind was buzzing and he was begging for the hunters to just walk past them.
But they didn't. They walked right up to them.
One with a scar on his brow asked, "Do you three mind if we ask you a few questions." Though it sounded like one, it wasn't a request.
"Only if you keep those dogs away, I don't want any of them coming near my fruit," Miss Kayda demanded. That was only a half lie, although she didn't know why, she knew of Virgil's fear of dogs.
"It will be quick, ma'am. We just want to know if any of you have seen any monsters lately, near the forest perhaps? Maybe one or more with feathery wings."
The fear made Virgil's stomach turn when the hunter said that. He kept his gaze to the ground, the fear getting worse and worse. He didn't realize how bad he was trembling until he felt Miss Kayda put her hand on his shoulder.
"No, none of us have seen anything," Mr. Johnson answered.
"We have nothing for you here, please leave us be," Kayda told them.
The hunters turned to Virgil, he could feel it but he just couldn't make himself speak. Instead he just shook his head, still shaking and head still buzzing. It was starting to get annoying, and he knew how obvious his fear was, but he couldn't calm down.
"Sir, do you mind if we ask you any more questions?" The hunter moved forward and reached a hand to the fairy.
Mr. Johnson stepped in the way. "Please leave him be, he's not well."
The hunter brought his hand back to his side. "This won't take long and then we'll be out of your hair."
One of the dogs growled at Virgil, making him whimper and move back until he was pressed into the stand. Miss Kayda moved out from behind it and stepped in front of him.
"You need to leave now," she told them, moving forward.
"Morgan," one of the other hunters whispered, looking back over their shoulders. The leader looked and saw several people watching and whispering, as if waiting for someone to make a move.
"Just wait," Morgan commanded. He turned back to the other three and told them, "We won't touch him, we just need to ask a few questions before we can move on."
"You can and will move on. You have no right to do this!" Miss Kayda told them, several bystanders murmured in agreement.
"Virgil, come with me," Mr. Johnson offered, taking his hand. "You can stay at my bakery until you're ready to go home."
Virgil gladly tried to follow him, but after only taking a few steps away a hand reached out and grabbed his cloak. It was pulled off, and the fairy's heart dropped but luckily he was already using his glamour so his wings weren't visible.
That was until one of the dog's leashes seemed to be torn from the handler's hand, though if anyone had watched close enough they would have seen how weak the handler's grip was. The dog ran at the fairy, who froze in complete fear.
To anyone else, for a split second it would seem as if the dog bit into something invisible. To Virgil however, he didn't need to see his own wings to feel the flashing pain that ran up them. He shouted in pain and tried to pull his wing away, his glamour dropping in an instant.
Several things happened at once, making time slow down. Johnson let go of his hand. The monster hunters moved towards him. Miss Kayda tried to move between them. Johnson grabbed the dog and pulled it back, making it let go of Virgil. Hunters grabbed Kayda and pushed her out of the way. Several bystanders moved forward to help. A gloved hand grabbed Virgil. Johnson grabbed the arm of the owner to that hand and yanked it away. Someone hit Johnson in the head with the butt of their rifle. Some people from Matela tried to push and pull the hunters away. Kayda got back up. Johnson fell to the ground, a gash on his head.
And as if by magic, or perhaps the opposite of it, time sped up the moment a white hot burn wrapped around Virgil's wrist. He looked over with a shout of pain and saw an iron shackle on his wrist, black gems on it. The shackle was connected to a chain, and he saw a monster hunter pulling on it.
A hand grabbed the chain and pulled back, and Virgil looked up to see Miss Kayda. He looked back down at Mr. Johnson, who was still on the ground and holding onto his forehead, blood pouring down and into his eyes. Somehow Silvia got there and was supporting him as he tried to stand back up. Looking around he saw several others fighting the monster hunters, they were fighting for him.
He tugged back on the chain with Kayda. He had to help them if they were fighting for him. He grabbed Kayda's arm and pulled her closer, opening his wings wide. He flapped them, not to fly but to use his wind magic to push the monster hunters back.
There was a large gust of wind, and several people were pushed down. However, the hunter that held the chain didn't let go, and the moment Virgil used his magic he felt most of his energy leave him. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell to the ground, Miss Kayda catching him and lowering him so he wouldn't fall face first.
Hands grabbed Virgil and Miss Kayda, pulling them away from each other. The fairy's vision was going black, and he didn't have the energy to pull himself out of their grip. His eyes closed before hearing a gunshot and several people screaming. He didn't have time to worry, or even think, since the moment he felt someone lift him up he blacked out.