Chapter Text
Roman was just about ready. He considered taking Patton with him, but Patton was currently busy with Remus.
“Oh, come on, just one taste? Pickles are the best!”
“I don’t know, kiddo, it doesn’t smell like something I’d like…”
Roman grinned, and then slipped out. He was halfway to the dragon’s cave before he realized that the insistent being-watched feeling might really be true.
“Virgil?”
No answer.
“Virgil, why are you following me?”
He really hoped Virgil was actually following him, or else this was going to get very awkward very quickly.
Virgil slipped out from behind a tree, looking more than a little bashful. “Sorry, I just wanted to see what you were doing.”
Roman shook his head, letting out a small chuckle. “Well, I was going to ask the dragon to please behave himself so that we could move on.”
Virgil nodded slightly. “Oh. Wait, there’s a dragon up here?”
Roman beckoned him to walk with him, and turned to keep going. “Yeah. I would’ve thought you knew that already. Aren’t you in tune with dark magic?”
Virgil shook his head firmly. “I’m not, and neither are dragons.”
“Then what are you?”
Virgil shrugged. “Logan says I’m a shadow mage, whatever that’s supposed to be. But basically just shadows.”
“So then… ha, you have me questioning so much of what I know. What exactly is dark magic?”
Virgil’s face scrunched up. “It’s like… well, you know the people with normal magic just coax, really, not so much control. Dark magic is controlling and forcing.”
“How do you even do that?”
Virgil shrugged, “I never wanted to try.”
Suddenly the dragon shifter stepped out from behind a tree. “Virgil?”
Virgil’s eyes went wide, and he ran forward and hugged him. “Dee!”
“Wait, you know him??” Roman asked. “How do you know him?”
“I was sorta sacrificed to him once,” Virgil explained. “It was… years and years ago, I’m so happy to see you!”
The dragon shifter, Dee, apparently, smiled down at Virgil with the softest expression Roman had seen by far. “I’m glad to see you too. How did you end up with Roman?”
Virgil looked rather embarrassed. “Well, first he was going to kill me, and then I made a deal to get away. And then my fairy was captured, and I made another deal for Roman to help me get him back. And now we’re… teammates?”
Roman nodded quickly, which turned Dee’s glare towards him into the more familiar vague annoyance. “And we came to ask if you would try to get along with the villagers, cause we’re leaving soon.”
Dee’s grip on Virgil shifted to be almost possessive. “You’re taking him where?”
Roman very hesitantly shrugged. “Just… moving on. More people to help? More places to see?”
Dee’s eyes narrowed, and then his expression became very confident and smug. “Fine. I’ll ‘behave’. But you have to tell me whenever you intend to move again, and I get to visit whenever I want.”
Roman sighed, he’d never be free of tag-alongs ever again, would he? Though, was that such a bad thing? “Deal.”
Dee grinned, for the first time an expression of genuine happiness. “And I’m keeping Virgil until you leave.”
“No, hey, wait. Logan’s still down there. And I also picked up a kid named Remus. Why don’t you come down with us?” Virgil said, turning puppy eyes up at Dee.
Dee melted immediately, though he was clearly trying to look like he hadn’t. “Picked up a kid? You’re far too young to be a father.” He started walking down the mountain, Virgil tucked against his side, and leaving Roman behind.
It suddenly hit Roman that this was going to become his new normal. People either loved or
hated Virgil almost instantly, and Virgil just ran with it, not knowing how to change their opinion. And now Roman was going to have to help oversee that, and direct it in safe ways. Life was going to become very strange. And exciting. And for the first time, Roman was solidly sure that he was doing the right thing.