The room was dark, he could barely see anything. Long shadows were spreading across the wall. But as he slowly moved forward Virgil finally saw them. Two young men sat in a cell not too different from his. Remus's head sat in Deceit's lap, he was asleep and his green clothing was covered in blood. Somehow Virgil knew that it was his. Deceit's hand rested on the other boy's head. His yellow eye was swollen, the gloves he normally wore were gone and revealed two poorly bandaged hands. He was looking down at Remus, a guilty look on his face. He was humming.

Virgil gasped at the sight, it began to fade away. The vision leaving his head. No. No! He had to hold on! He had to find them! He fought to control the vision but no matter how hard he tried eventually it was replaced with his own cell. He cursed his lack of magical strength as he lunged at the notepad. He quickly scribbled down the words and shoved it into Roman's hands. He was standing now, it was then that they realized Virgil was not as small as he looked. In fact, he was only a little shorter than Roman, which was surprising since Virgil was nearly two years younger.

"Why would we know where your brother is?" Roman asked

Virgil glared at them, an almost deadly look in his eyes as he snatched back the notepad. 'You have him.'

"You told us you were alone," Logan said, he pushed Roman behind him in case Virgil did something, "Ann, did you lie?"

'You lied. You have him, I saw it'

"I can assure you, Ann, you are the only person in this whole castle who is from the Dark Realm that we know of," Logan told him.

"What did you see?" Roman asked

"Does it have to do with why you were running?" That was Patton, they all stepped towards him and Virgil backed up until he was up against the wall. He dropped the notepad before moving his hands, wildly signing to them even though he knew they didn't understand. His mouth moved up and down as well but no sound came out.

Logan's eyes widened slightly as a purple smoke began to spread out across the room. Immediately Logan took hold of his hands and Virgil's panic worsened as he tried to pull away, but Logan refused to let him go. The smoke continued to spread as Virgil's panic continued to grow and he continued to try and sign. "Ann, you must calm yourself, your panic and fear are causing you to lose hold of your magic and you could be putting many people in danger if you continue in this direction." Logan's grip tightened on wrists slightly as the other's breaths began to turn uneven. "I can only assume these emotions are being caused by the things you saw in your vision, forget about that for a moment and focus on your breathing and taking control of your magic, can you do that?"

Virgil nodded, trying his best to take deep breaths. Logan followed suit, his breaths far too exaggerated for the boy's normal personality. Virgil's eyes were closed tight, his hands kept trying to pull away as he did the breathing with Logan but Logan was refusing to let go. Several minutes passed before Virgil was calm enough for Logan to release him, "Ann, why do you think we have your brother?" Logan asked him, gently pushing the notepad back into his hands.

'Because you attacked us'

The three other boys were silent as they read the words over and over again. They looked at each other, Roman's face was white. "We never attacked you." Roman said, "Is that why you were running?" Virgil nodded. "I have to go," Roman said, before sprinting out of the room. Logan and Patton glanced at each other before following him, the door of the cell closing behind them and leaving Virgil alone once again.

He stared at the door as he realized something. Dread filled him and pulled his legs up again, resting his chin on his knees.

The Light Realm didn't do this

Over eight hours had passed before the door opened again. Virgil's head swung towards Patton as he stood at the door, "Hi kiddo, I thought I should check up on you." Virgil jumped towards the bar, the notepad in hand as he showed it to Patton, "We still don't know anything about what happened. But it's okay, calm down. Logan said he saw you making string figures yesterday. Do you know how to play cats cradle?" Virgil didn't reply and Patton sat down outside the bars. "Ann, I know you're scared. You're probably worried about your brother huh?"

Virgil nodded.

"I can understand that." Patton said as he pulled a thin blue string from his pocket. "but right now the only way you can help him is by helping us. So, let's try and stay calm. I'll ask you a few yes or no questions while we play. Okay?" Patton stuck their hands in through the bars towards Virgil, their fingers already set up.

Virgil hesitated before picking up the strings, "When they attacked, were they hurting people?" Virgil nodded as Patton dropped the strings. "Were they... killing people?" Virgil nodded again. "Did they have a target?" Patton picked up the strings again, Virgil dropped them and picked up his notepad.

'They were at the castle'

"Were they after the royal family?" Virgil paused, his finger missing a string before he picked it up again and shrugged to tell Patton he didn't know. Patton didn't mention the mistake, "Did they chase you?" Virgil nodded. "Were they looking for you, or were they just attacking anyone?" Virgil pointed at himself when he got the chance. "They wanted your brother too?" He nodded again.

Patton paused, "Do you know why they were there?" Virgil shook his head, "Do you think they're still after you?" This time the strings fell away almost completely, they fell at Virgil's hands. He hadn't thought of that. Patton seemed to understand, "Are you sure they didn't hurt you?" Virgil nodded again. "You haven't told us your real name, but are you from a family we might know about?" Virgil hesitated before nodding again as Patton wrapped the string around their fingers again. "Do you think they might come here?" Virgil shrugged.

"Are you willing to help us?" Logan asked as he came into the room, Roman following from behind.

Virgil looked at each of them before picking up the notepad, 'I want to help my kingdom'

Logan bent over and Virgil moved away from the bars, it was obvious to everyone in the room that he did not feel safe. He was wary of everything and everyone around him, Roman and Logan called it paranoia, Vigil called it being careful and vigilant. Logan lifted his hands in front of him, Virgil moved back again. "Ann," Logan began, his hands moving around his face, he was using sign language, "We want to help"

Virgil looked at them before moving forward slightly, he hesitantly reached his hand towards Logan's. He formed one of Logan's hand into a fist. The others watched him curiously before he picked up the notepad. 'You signed you wanted to cook.'

"Ah, alright," Logan said and repeated the motions, this time getting it all correct.

"Ann, will you help us help you?" Roman asked him, it was the first time his voice didn't have any malice in it, the first time he wasn't being rude to him just by speaking.

'You can't hurt my kingdom, and you can't hurt me.'

Roman nodded to him "Same goes for you Ann if this is a trick the Dark Realm is pulling to try and make us weaker than I can assure you it will lead to war"

'My family and my kingdom are in danger. The castle has fallen and the only clue I have that tells me what happened to the townsfolk is the smoke I saw rising with the sun. This is no trick'

"Than you have nothing to fear. We'll be back tomorrow, and we'll bring someone who knows a little more sign language so you don't have to write everything"

They didn't come the next day, no one did except a guard who delivered him his meals and a bottle of water. It was his third day in the cell. His kingdom could be in serious danger and it didn't seem like the Light Realm was doing anything about it. Maybe they didn't want too. It had become clear to Virgil that the Light Realm wasn't who attacked them. The guards didn't wear the same armor, nobody knew who he really was, and the others all seemed genuinely surprised to learn the reason as to why Virgil was running.

It didn't matter.

Not to Virgil anyway, either way, someone had attacked them. Either way, his brother was hurt and captured, his castle was most likely destroyed. And he had no idea how his father and the citizens were. Was Virgil the only person from the Dark Realm that hadn't gotten caught in the attack? How many had they killed? What was their plan? Why did they do this? What had the Dark Realm done to deserve any of this? Aside from a few (sometimes violent) disagreements with the Light Realm, Virgil couldn't think of a single event that might warrant this type of reaction from anyone.

The sound of the first door opening got his attention and he looked up. The sight of a guard entering the room made him glare at his hands. It had been over twenty-four hours since the prince and his two friends had come into this room and woken him up. Time was ticking, if they weren't gonna help him that was fine. He'd do it on his own. He stood up as the guard pushed the food and water into the cell.

'A simple spell to unlock the door, shouldn't be too hard' he thought as he walked to the cell door. He had done this spell a hundred times before, it was one of the first ones he learned. Dee had taught it to him when they were kids, they loved getting into trouble and going into rooms they weren't supposed to. After all, what was the point in knowing a spell if you weren't gonna use it? That's what Dee said anyway.

Still, his experience with the spell didn't ease the doubt he had in himself. He bit the inside of his cheek as he went to the door, the guards back was to him. He had to do it now. He closed his eyes, his hand on the door. His hands felt warm, a good sign that it was working. The guard was almost past the second door, Virgil needed to hurry. There was a click and the door swung open. The guard turned around just in time for Virgil to charge at him, tackling the man to the ground before sprinting down the hallway to the dungeon as fast as he could.

He was relying on three things now. One; his speed, Virgil was fast, he could outrun some of the fittest knights in the kingdom and it helped him in most of the sparring matches his father had him do. Two; The knowledge and stories Remus had shared about his childhood in the castle. And Three; dumb luck, he was hoping and praying that he wouldn't get caught, that this would all work out well, that he'd make it out of the castle and back to his side of the border safely and without trouble.

Virgil made a swift turn and ran up a flight of stairs, he could hear shouting behind him but he chose to ignore it. Remus had once told him that the dungeons were four flights below the ground floor, so that's how many flights he had to climb before he'd be able to stop. He counted them carefully, double and triple-checking he hadn't gone too far or not far enough before he opened the door at the top. He was met with a hallway with three doors on each side and then one at the end. 'Seriously?' He thought as he stopped for a second. He looked behind him, as the sounds of footsteps and shouting grew closer he took off again choosing the second door on the right and once again relied on luck.

He must have been all out of luck though because when he pushed the door closed again he was met with two pairs of eyes staring back at him. Patton and Logan had been in one of the many kitchens, the same one Virgil stood in now. "Ann?" Patton asked him. Virgil narrowed his eyes at them but knew he couldn't go back into the hall. There were at least ten guards after him and only two boys in here, sure one of them had magic but so could the guards.

Logan stood up and Virgil took that as his cue to start running again. He sprinted in Patton's direction, barely avoiding a spell Logan had sent at him. He pushed past Patton, towards the open window behind him, he was never planning on hurting the guy, he was half-way out when Patton caught him by his cloak. Virgil let out a strangled sound, Patton was calling for Logan and Logan was calling for the guards. Virgil growled, as he un-clipped the already torn cloak from his shoulders and finished his way out the window. "Ann wait!" Patton called, but Virgil ignored him and started running around the castle trying to find where the tall stone wall finally ended.

He kept hearing shouts from Patton and Logan trying to chase after him. He pushed himself forward and left them behind in the dust. At one point he saw Roman chasing after him, but he too lost the race they were in. A few guards chased after him but not very many, he noticed that fact quickly. It was mostly just the occasional appearance of the three boys as they used their knowledge of the land to their advantage. Virgil was almost free, he could see the gate to the forest. It was open and only two guards stood by it. He could get past them easily, he was sure of it, he was almost there, he was- running into someone much larger and stronger than he was.

"You idiot! Watch where you're going you, stupid peasant!" The man shouted as he stared down at Virgil who hurried to stand. Virgil looked at the man, he knew exactly who this man was. He hated this man, this man was responsible for hundreds and thousands of deaths from the Dark Realm and even his own men. He hated this man more than he ever hated anyone else in his life, he was awful, he was evil, he was a bloodthirsty monster. And it was taking all of Virgil's strength to not attack him right now. "Well? Are you just going to stand there or are you going to apologize"

Virgil just stood there, he had no words for this man. He only glared, his eyes sharper than knives. If looks could kill this man would have died a thousand deaths. "Apologies sir!" Logan's voice said from behind him, "Unfortunately this stable boy is not to bright." Virgil turned his glare towards Logan, who grabbed his arm painfully. "You stupid stupid boy I told you not to leave the west side of the castle. Are you trying to get yourself fired?" Logan turned back to the man in front of them, "My deepest apologies sir I will make sure that this boy is thoroughly punished."

Logan started pulling Virgil past the man, his grip only tightening on his wrist when Virgil tried pulling away. "Not so fast Mr. Croft, I would like to hear the boy apologize for himself."

"He doesn't speak sir," Logan told the man.

"Has his tongue been cut out of his mouth?" The man looked Virgil up and down with mild interest.

"No sir" Logan replied

"Has a curse been cast upon him and removed his ability to speak?"

"Not that I am-"

"Than he can speak," The man looked at Virgil, his gaze hardening, "Well boy? Let's hear it." Virgil said nothing, his glare did not soften, his hatred did not get smaller, he did not fear this man. Not one bit, he only had anger and hatred for him. The man continued to stare at Virgil expectantly, Logan watched nervously, not completely sure what to do. The man sighed, before suddenly unsheathing his sword and bringing it to Virgil's neck, pushing Logan away from them as he did. Virgil didn't even flinch as he continued to stare the man in the eyes, "Apologize or die, it's simple"

"Sir is this really-" Logan tried

"Stand down Mr. Croft!" The man yelled, he pressed the sword into Virgil's neck a little more. "Well, it's your choice."

Nothing about Virgil changed as he glared up at the man. He wasn't going to speak to this man. He would not break his silence. Not now, maybe not ever. And if he did it would never be for the man in front of him. He didn't owe this man anything except maybe a good hard kick where the sun doesn't shine. Virgil watched a small and evil smile spread across the man's face, "Fine then, suit yourself" He rose his sword, about to strike Virgil where it would most certainly kill him before Logan suddenly jumped forward again.

"Sir please!?" Logan asked desperately, "It-it was just an accident, I'll make sure he learns his lesson."

Virgil's glare intensified as if daring the man to actually kill him. He and the General locked eyes for a moment, then the general sheathed his sword and tore his eyes away

"Be thankful I just had my sword polished, that is the only thing stopping me from killing you here and now" The man said, he looked at Logan, "I trust you will handle his punishment accordingly, excuse me. I have a meeting to attend with the king about the Dark Realm. It's been attacked and for some reason, the royal family wants to assist them, though if you ask me we should just let the whole kingdom burn to the ground and take it while it's weak"

Virgil moved forward but Logan took hold of his wrist and pulled him away again, "Of course sir, I hope the meeting goes well. We will be taking our leave now." Logan said before dragging Virgil away. The man watched them as they left, his eyes didn't leave Virgil's back until Logan turned the corner of the castle and they were out of his sight.