CW: monster hunters, blood, gore, death, near death, gunshot wound and stabbing (so more gore)
Remus was prepared to see anything when he returned to the battlefield. He was prepared to see them winning or losing, to see monster hunters torn to shreds of people from their side put in cages. He did not expect to see Virgil and Patton fighting alongside Roman. Darrell was further out in the field, using monster hunters as chew toys.
He managed to make his way over to them, using wind magic to push some hunters aside. He skidded to a stop next to Roman, making the witch glance at him for a moment before throwing a red vial which exploded in front of a group of hunters.
"What the heck are you two doing here?!" he asked, turning away from them so they could fight and talk.
"Help-ping," Virgil answered, using wind magic to blow back another group of hunters. He was too tired to say much more.
Patton saw a hunter hiding behind a tent, angling a rifle at them. He lifted the revolver in his hand and shot through the tent, hearing the hunter shout in pain and pull back. "Town isn't safe," he explained, going through the bag of ammunition he had found and put on his lap.
"Well it's less safe here! And you're all out in the open too!" Remus raises his arms to make a wall of dirt grow to stop some bullets. He hit the wall, making it travel towards the hunters that had shot at them.
"I tried convincing them to leave," Roman said. "They're too stubborn though."
"Wow, just like you! Guess you really found the one for you- but you're going to lose him since he's in the middle of a battle with iron poisoning!"
"I-I'm fi-fine," Virgil argued, though his appearance didn't help him convince the others. His face was as pale as paper, and his legs felt like jelly.
Remus took a step forward, using ground magic to cover the hole he had created. "You sure are... You both need to get to town and hide! We got this. Besides, these hunters clearly don't know how to shoo-"
Just as he said it, his leg gave out on him and he fell to the ground. It took him a moment to realize why, and took him even longer to see the blood coming from the hole in his calf as he sat up.
"Rem-" Roman asked, glancing down at his brother before he screamed in pain.
"Shit! Shit! Motherfucker!" Remus covered the bullet wound in his leg, looking up through the tears to see who had shot him but he could barely see anything.
"Remus!" Roman sat down, pulling out a vial.
"R-Roman!" Virgil warned, looking over at the hunters to see someone sitting on a horse. He was reloading a rifle, and didn't show any sign of fear or urgency. Other hunters were around him, almost protecting him. He was clearly the leader here, and the fairy was getting flashbacks to Morgan.
Patton tried reloading his revolver, lifting it up before another shot hit the gun and blasted it out of his hand. He yelped in pain, holding his hand before checking to see the injury. His finger was bent, but still there, though it felt like it was covered in lava.
"Sh-shit," Virgil cursed. He looked down to see Remus gripping the grass in pain, letting out another sob as Roman poured some healing potion onto the wound, his hands shaking.
Hunters went to rush them, but Virgil raised one of his wings out of the cloak and flapped it, pushing them back with wind magic. Of course, the leader of the group lifted his rifle back up and aimed towards them, and he was too far away for Virgil to attack him with any magic.
He waited for what felt like a second too long, watching as the trigger was pulled back. The moment it was, Virgil used wind magic again and somehow managed to steer the bullet off course just enough that it only grazed his cheek.
"Virgil!" Patton yelped when he saw his brother flinch in pain, raising a hand to his cheek. The fairy looked back at him with worried eyes, pulling his hand away to show the red. He quickly turned away and wiped the blood on his pants, looking up to see the leader reloading the rifle.
"R-Roman," Virgil said again, looking back down to see Roman still trying to help Remus who was struggling to stay conscious.
"I know! I know!" Roman responded, raising a hand and creating a wall of dirt for cover. He pulled Remus closer to it, pushing some dirt out of the way so they were in a small hole. His brother whined in pain, still clenching his fists tight to fight against it.
Virgil looked around to see more hunters surrounding them, hiding behind covers but they were still surrounded. Others kept the rest occupied, fighting against the vampires and werewolves, and whoever else was fighting for them. Darrell was also surrounded by monster hunters, pretty much trapped since he couldn't make his way back to them.
There was another loud bang coming from where the leader was and a chunk of the dirt wall came off, spraying on them. There's no way that's going to hold long.
"Virgil, we need to retreat," Patton told him.
"We-we c-can't," he replied. And it wasn't because he didn't want to, he knew that they needed to, but the moment they ran out from cover they would be shot. Not only that, but even if they made it to town the hunters were sure to follow, and then what? There's no running from that. There's nowhere to go, they were trapped.
Virgil looked over when he saw a werewolf pounce onto a hunter, a familiar vampire jumping off of it's gray back and onto another hunter. That was Remy and Emile... A plan was quickly forming in Virgil's mind.
"R-Remy!" he shouted, immediately coughing from straining his throat. Speaking normally was hard, shouting was near impossible. Still, the werewolf heard him and looked over.
He barked at the vampire who turned to them, and in little time they made their way over. The werewolf shifted as the two slid into the small trench.
"Wow, you all look horrible," Remy commented, as if he wasn't covered in blood himself. At least it wasn't his own.
"I-I ha-have a p-pl-plan," Virgil said, looking out at the leader who shot at another target.
"What do you need?" Emile asked.
"I-I ne-need to-to g-get to the-the le-leader." He tilted his head in that direction.
"Are you crazy, Virgil?" Roman asked. "There's no way you're doing that, whatever you have planned, let me do it instead!"
"N-no, I-I need y-you he-here. Di-distract hi-him for m-me."
"B-but-"
Virgil interrupted him this time, grabbing Roman's shirt and pulling him in for a kiss. It tasted like dirt and blood, but they were both reluctant to pull away. When they did though, Roman nodded solemnly, making relief fill Virgil's chest.
To be honest, the real reason Virgil had said no was because he knew the plan was reckless and didn't want Roman to get hurt. The kiss was too distract him and... just in case he didn't come back.
"Okay, I can get you to him," Remy said. "But he's going to notice a giant wolf rushing him."
"N-not i-if th-there is-isn't anyth-thing to s-see," Virgil told him.
"You're not seriously planning on using glamour on both of you!" Roman shouted.
"I-if th-that's wh-what it t-takes."
Roman sighed in disbelief, looking at the others for back up. But none of them seemed to argue. "Fine just, be-be safe, okay?"
Virgil nodded. "I-I love y-you."
"Nuh huh, tell me that after the battle, okay? And-and tomorrow, and the day after that, and every day after. Just not now, because I refuse to let this be goodbye."
The fairy nodded, feeling tears in his eyes. "O-okay."
"Come on," Remy said. "Whatever you have planned, let's do it now. We don't have all day."
"R-right."
Remy changed back into his wolf form and Emile helped Virgil up. The fairy smiled at Roman one last time before the two vanished out of sight.
The witch sighed, feeling worry grow in his chest for a moment before getting up. "Stay here, Emile, watch these two." The vampire nodded in understanding.
"Wait, Roman you be careful too!" Patton told him.
"I will, don't worry about me." Roman's hands lit on fire as he turned to face the other hunters. "I'm just going to be the distraction."
Virgil looked back when he heard Roman scream, rushing out from cover and towards a group of hunters. He threw fire at them, causing quite the commotion. Looking forward again, the fairy could see it certainly caught the leader's attention.
Clay reloaded his rifle once more, pointing it at the witch. Before he could pull the trigger however, something grabbed his gun and pulled it out of his grip. He looked over just in time to see someone appear out of nowhere and jump at him, pushing him off of the horse.
The horse whinnied and reared back before running away. A werewolf that had appeared from nowhere started attacking the men around them. Clay pushed his attacker off of him, pulling out a knife as the two stood up.
Virgil let the plants on his leg root into the ground as he steadied his stance. The plants on his arms shot out and went to grab Clay, but he jumped to the side to dodge them. He ran towards Virgil again, who ripped the plants from the ground once more to move. However, instead of moving out of the way he ran at Clay again, jumping and flapping his wings to help him.
Of course, he didn't take flight. Instead he jumped onto Clay, feeling a sharp pain in his stomach but ignoring it and instead using his magic to make all of the plants around him grab Clay.
Virgil rolled off of him, the plants pushing Clay away. Just as the hunter tore out of the plant's grips, the fairy pulled out a red vial from his pocket, or technically the pocket in the red cloak. He knew what it was, Roman had explained what it was to him earlier.
He used all his strength that seemed to be rapidly fading to throw the vial. It hit Clay square on the chest before exploding. Virgil ducked from the debris and waited for a moment.
He looked up, realizing his ears weren't going to stop ringing. Clay wasn't there, though everything was starting to get blurry. Why was everything so heavy? What was-
Virgil cringed in pain as he tried to move more, feeling a burn in his stomach. He looked down as he curled up, seeing something silver sticking out from him. No... not silver... iron. He was stabbed by an iron knife.
He heard more shouting around him as he tried to pull it out, and then a shadow covered him. He looked up to see a gray wolf standing over him, growling as people ran by. Oh, those were hunters, they were retreating.
His hand burned from holding the iron handle, reminding him that the knife was still in him. His body was starting to go numb, but he tugged some more, seeing red cover the blade. A hand grabbed his and peeled his fingers off of the handle before pulling the knife out.
Virgil's vision blurred til it was almost black before it cleared up again. His hearing was muffled, but he could have sworn someone said his name. At least, it was two syllables that were shouted. He opened his eyes to see a familiar face, it was blurry for a moment before his vision focused again and he saw Roman.
He was saying something, his lips were moving too fast and Virgil couldn't keep up. He tried to listen, but everything was getting heavier. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't move his tongue. So he just focused on Roman's eyes, his worried filled eyes, until his vision went black again.
~~~
Waking up always sucked. The iron poisoning made Virgil's eyes sensitive and his muscles hurt. For some reason though now his stomach burned, and he could feel a heavy weight where it hurt.
He whined and tried to desperately push the weight away, but it wouldn't budge. Someone grabbed his arm and pulled it away, holding his hand.
"It's ok-kay, Virgil, y-you're going to-to be okay," they told him though heavy sobbing. He felt them holding his hand to their cheek, his fingers brushing against the tears.
He forced his eyes open, squinting at the bright light. Though, they were still outside and the sun seemed to be setting. He could smell dirt and blood, and it made his empty stomach turn.
He winced again at the pain in his stomach, though it was starting to fade away. He looked over and saw Emile sitting next to him, he was the one holding his hand against the fairy's stomach. His eyes were shining a bright pink, and he seemed entirely focused on whatever it was he was doing. Oh, he must be healing him. Vampires can do that.
Virgil looked over to see who was holding his hand, it was heartbreaking to see Roman crying so hard. Did he cause that? Darrell was trying to comfort the witch, rubbing his head against his side.
Looking around more, he saw Patton was out of his wheelchair and being held by Logan. He sobbed into his boyfriend's chest, the alchemist rubbing his back. Behind them, Janus and Kayden, or who Virgil assumed was Kayden from what he was told, were sitting next to Remus. The witch was sitting against a log, a tired smile on his face, but Janus's eyes were puffy as he frowned and seemed to yell at him. Kayden just looked relieved.
Virgil looked back at Roman, who was still crying hard. His eyes were closed and he held on tight to the fairy's hand. Virgil squeezed his hand, wincing at the pain it sent down his arm, but it got Roman's attention and that was all that mattered.
"R-ro..." he tried to say.
The witch gasped as he tried to stop his tears, hiccupping from the effort of it. "Y-you're an idiot," he growled, but didn't let go of Virgil's hands.
The fairy smiled wider. "I-I l-love you..."