It was cold.

Virgil had taken his black robe off to use as a pillow while he slept and it had not been grabbed off the ground when his attackers had carried him away. The hair on his arms stood up on end as he slowly began to wake. He didn't know where he was, but he remembered what happened very clearly. Pain from the spells still resided in his chest, hurting more so when it rose upward to breathe than when it fell.

A black band had been tied around his head preventing him from seeing where he had been taken, but from the uneven cold stone floor, he could tell they were in a cave. His hands had been tied together with a rope, one that Virgil was sure had been enchanted to prevent him from using his magic. Every once and a while he would see shadows flickering from beneath his blindfold, a fire had been lit. He wished he was closer to it, he hated the cold. He could hear two voices speaking in turn, a feminine one and a slightly deeper one though he couldn't tell if the deeper one belonged to a male or female.

Virgil wondered if the others were nearby or if he was on his own. He had only seen two wizards and that probably wasn't enough to take all four of them, but then again they hadn't known there was more than one until they had revealed themselves, maybe there were more than he thought. But, what if the others weren't here? What if he was alone? Or if they weren't looking for him? Maybe they didn't think he was worth the trouble and they had gone home. Roman would tell his parents that Virgil got caught too and the truce would be canceled. They'd finish off the Dark Realm and kill off anyone who resisted, like his uncle and Remy's family.

He'd spend the rest of his life under the custody of whoever had attacked them. He wasn't guaranteed to see his brother or Remus. They might try and hurt him or they might execute him. Virgil didn't want to die, he might joke around slightly but he didn't mean it. Or maybe they might use him for his magic, they might even get mad when they realized he wasn't good at it. What if they tried to force him to speak if they didn't let him sign and would hurt him if he didn't verbally answer their questions. He didn't want to speak ever again, it was so much easier being selectively mute. He hadn't talked or held a verbal conversation in years, when he had become selectively mute it was never supposed to permanent but it was just so much easier and better that way that he never started speaking again. He didn't want to speak. He didn't want to speak.

The stop in conversation and the sound of footsteps made Virgil freeze. It was only then he realized he was spiraling into an anxiety attack. He couldn't do that. As hard as it was he needed to try his best to stay calm if he wanted to get out of this. That's what Logan and his father would tell him, he needed to stay calm and think about this. There was no room for panic and anxiety in situations like this. He needed to-

Someone was touching him.

Someone was touching him and he didn't know who it was and he couldn't see and he didn't like being touched. He didn't like how cold their hands were or how one pressed onto his face while the other was slightly above his hip. He didn't like anything about this and the touch only made everything so much worse. Virgil tensed under the touch and whimpered in fear as the blindfold began to mop up his tears.

"Prince Virgil," the feminine voice said to him. Virgil tensed deeper, "Hello there, my name is Alani. My friend Luther and I are students under Ira Lynx, I'm sure you've heard of her." Virgil nodded fearfully, Ira Lynx was one of the most feared and powerful witches in Dark Realm history."No, no," Alani told him, pressing his head to the ground, "Don't move. Spells are harder when your target is moving, you should know that shouldn't you?"

Virgil's breath got caught at the words as fear grew in his chest, he would have nodded to show he understood but that would've been contradictory so he just stayed as still as possible and tried not to anger Alani or her friend. "Good, now an explanation is probably in order don't you agree?" She asked, of course receiving no answer, "Ira is working with the New Kings. They're not very happy with how the Light and Dark Realm have been leading and they have decided that the three of them are going to bring forth a new era with three new kingdoms all led the proper way" Alani explained.

The second voice laughed, "They'll be fixing all the problems your stupid father and the Light Realm royals made," they said, Virgil assumed this was Luthor speaking, "Reinforcing laws that have been gotten rid of and building their kingdoms as they see fit"

"They have asked for your presence prince Virgil, they want you there to watch as The Dark Realm crumbles and the new kingdoms rise. But before that happens they need to make sure that you can answer their questions" Virgil tried to shake his head, no, try and get the point across but Alani pressed his head down again. "We already know you don't speak, that's the problem, well sort of," Virgil began to struggle now, wiggling underneath Alani's hands and trying to get away but failing. Another spell hit Virgil and he screamed but stopped moving, whimpering as tears spilled faster down his face.

"The problem," Luther said from behind Virgil, "Is not that you do not speak. There are spells that will allow the New kings and Ira to read your mind. The problem is that as a seer you're mind is better equipped to fight those spells automatically, you are more immune"

He was? Virgil didn't know that. He didn't know him being a seer influenced his immunity to certain spells. He knew that it was possible to fight spells that had effects like that. Janus had the ability to fight off spells, it was actually impressive. He didn't know that he had the ability though. But then again, he had never had the chance to find out. Fighting spells was a difficult and dangerous skill to learn, his father didn't want him doing that until he had a better grasp on his magic. His teachers have never had him practice spells like that, it made sense.

What were they going to do to him? He didn't have to wonder for long as Luther continued to explain. They were going to use a spell that would forcibly break down his ability to fight off the mind-reading spell. It would not be painless, that's why they were touching him. They needed to touch him to do the spell and find the point where his magic was weakest.

Virgil hated spells that required touching other people. He only knew a handful of them, two of them were healing spells, one empathic spell, another that allowed him to share his visions with others if it was absolutely necessary, and two more to protect him. He rarely used those spells because of his fear of touch. He couldn't use them now, he would if he could but his anxiety was too high, he couldn't focus and any spell he attempted died before it could be sent off. It wasn't the rope that was the problem, it was him.

Alani eventually found where to place her hands to perform the spell, in the center of his back and on his stomach. Virgil again began to struggle and fight against them before another pair of hands, bigger, rougher, and stronger this time, pinned him down and kept him from moving. Virgil shook slightly and cried as he waited for them to begin. When Alani began to say the incantation it was an almost immediate reaction and a scream was torn from his throat.

Everything hurt. His chest and head felt like it was about to explode, the places where Alani's hands rested burned like they had been set on fire. He could feel it working too. A wall in his head, one he had never known was there before, began to grow weaker, and as it grew weaker the pain would increase. Virgil's body writhed and fought, Luther no longer able to hold him down completely. His body felt like he was being stabbed all over by a thousand pins and needles, the burning feeling had spread across his torso.

Eventually, Virgil managed to kick Alani she was gone in an instant, and as soon as she was gone the pain lowered and become a throb instead. Virgil panted, he laid in a cold sweat, his body shaking slightly as he whimpered and curled into a ball as tears poured down his face. His ears were ringing and he wasn't listening to Luther or Alani anymore. He bit his lip, an 'F' sound leaving his mouth but nothing more. No words, not anything, just an 'F' sound that he couldn't stop no matter how much he wanted to. He felt a hand grab his arm and pull him to his feet, he stumbled and struggled at first but eventually managed to not be dragged.

Luther threw him down closer to the fire. "Don't move!" Luther shouted at him, making him flinch. Virgil's breath left him in sobs as he heard the footsteps of Luther get further and further and light cursing. What Virgil didn't know was that he hadn't just kicked Alani away. The same magic that would've kept him safe from the mind-reading spell had kicked in right as he kicked her, his body's unconscious attempt at self-preservation, working despite his panic. It had worked, it kept him alive, kept that weird wall standing even if it was a little damaged.

But Virgil didn't know that, the black band was still around his eyes keeping him from seeing anything. Through the ringing in his ears, he could vaguely hear Luther calling Alani's name and what might be a spell. He whimpered through the pain only to be yelled at and told to shut up. An hour passed and it got quiet, the fire had gotten smaller, he knew because it was colder now and there wasn't as much light beneath the blindfold. His arms hurt from being tied for so long and though the pain had subsided slightly he was still hurting terribly. Virgil was getting close to passing out when the first vision he's had in a couple of days came to him. He let out a breath of relief at what he saw.

It took him a minute or two to get onto his feet, with his chin tucked in he listened to what the vision had told him. He'd need to be careful leaving the cave, it was on a steep hill about twenty feet or so. He moved his feet slowly, a cold wind hitting him as he left the mouth of the cave. He could feel the ground turn from stone to dirt now and the beginnings of a slope. He was slowly shuffling down when he heard the Luther guy yelling from behind him and quick footsteps, "Get back here you little shit!" He yelled.

Virgil quickened his pace but with the blindfold still on and only the vision's instructions to guide him it was hard and he slipped. He slid down the hill, branches, and rocks scratching at his bare arms and causing his clothes to become dirty. Luther could be heard from above, still yelling but his voice becoming distant even as he tried to follow.

When he stopped sliding about halfway down he once again struggled for the trees and ran. The feeling from his visions told him what to do and how to move to avoid getting hurt, his boots pounded on the ground hard, twigs and leaves snapping and crunching beneath him as he pushed himself to move faster and faster. He couldn't let Luther or Alani catch him again. he couldn't let them take him to Ira or whoever those New Kings were. He needed to find somewhere safe again, figure out where he was, get himself out of these ropes. He hoped he'd be able to find the others but wasn't sure how possible it'd be.

"Hey watch out!" A voice said, a new voice, Virgil attempted to slow down but it was too late and suddenly he had run into someone. "Dad, you okay?" the voice asked.

A confirmation could be heard from whoever held Virgil, he was struggling against their hold, "Hey calm down there kid," an older voice said, lifting one hand and pulling the blindfold off Virgil's eyes. "You're pretty banged up there, hold still we'll cut you loose alright?" Virgil nodded once but before he could give any other sort of reply he had fallen limply into the man's arms. Exhaustion and injuries catching up to him as the man yelled for his son to get the cart. A few seconds later his vision went darker then it had with the blindfold

They had searched for hours after the sun had set, but there was no sign of Virgil or the two attackers. Eventually, when it was close to midnight or so, Roman was able to convince his friends to stop. They'd start again in the morning and if they didn't find him they'd continue following the path until they found whoever had done this to the Dark Realm, it was more than likely Virgil would have been taken there as well.

The bed and breakfast they found only had one available room but they had shared a room as a group of three before and there was really no time to be picky. Logan's arm was still dislocated and they were all exhausted. They were lucky that one of the owners was a healer and was able to put it back in place, though Logan had been in intense pain through it all and had been told to avoid using magic for the next couple of days.

They let Logan have the bed seeing as he probably shouldn't sleep on the ground with his shoulder. Patton slept by the window and Roman against the wall. Logan had fallen asleep quickly, to Roman's surprise. But Patton was up for two more hours crying quietly. He had been crying all night, telling his friends how if he only hadn't hesitated Virgil might not be missing right now. Nobody blamed him though, nobody blamed Patton except for Patton.

Roman fell asleep last, wanting to make sure the other two were as close to okay as they could get before he so much as closed his eyes. He worried about his friends, and that did include Virgil. He was worried that Patton wouldn't forgive himself, that Virgil was hurt, that Logan wouldn't want to keep going until they found a clue. He was worried that if they kept going without Virgil something would happen.

The Dark Realm needed at least one of their princes, they needed Virgil and Janus. Those boys were supposed to guide their kingdom out of this chaos. He doubted the Dark Realm would be trusting or willing to let the Light Realm help them. Of course, they had Prince Hollis, but the man had already said he didn't ever want to be King. Just like Virgil, he felt the place belonged to his brother and nephews, he would only take it if he was the only choice. Roman sighed as he turned on his side in an attempt to fall asleep