Remus woke up in pain, which he wasn't exactly surprised about considering he had been stabbed. What he was surprised about was that he A: wasn't dead and B: was covered in bandages. He groaned in pain and placed a hand over where he had been stabbed. The knife wasn't in his body anymore, maybe whoever took it would let him keep it. Like how some people kept their lost teeth or appendixes. Probably not though. Oh well, no knife that could've killed him for Remus then.

Despite the pain Remus managed to sit himself up, it didn't take him very long to figure out that this wasn't his room in the castle. He was in a dungeon, and Remus had hung out in the dungeons back home long enough to know that he wasn't in the Light Realm castle. Remus looked down to examine his injuries only to find that his shirt and jacket were missing and had instead been replaced by bandages climbing up his chest and stomach. He placed a hand gently at where he had been stabbed and immediately pulled away when it hurt. He paused for a moment then touched the area again.

Don't pretend you wouldn't do it too. Everybody presses on bruises and pulls at scabs, it's not that weird... okay maybe it was a little weird but it wasn't going to stop him.

The sound of a door opening made him look up and outside the bars of the prison that held him. Footsteps could be heard in the hallways, as well as a voice, "Slow down Ann," The voice said, from the hallway behind the bars, "This guy has been asleep for two days, maybe the vision was wrong or something? It was wrong last time" the footsteps continued to get louder and faster, at least one of the people was running now.

And then a person stopped in front of his cell and looked at him. He smiled at Remus before gesturing for whoever had been with him to move faster. It was a kid, probably only a year or two younger than him. He wore a black shirt and a purple coat. The boy's hair was dark brown and overgrown barely covering a pair of blue eyes. He was thin, and not too short. There were dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep, and they were slightly red around the edges.

Soon a second boy appeared, this one wore a yellow shirt with long sleeves and a black vest. He was more strange looking than the first boy, and older. With two different colored eyes, scales going up one side of his face, and strands of golden hair appearing sporadically in his black hair. Both of them had naturally pale skin and for a moment the three of them just stared at each other.

"You like what you see?" Remus asked them with a smirk.

"I'm not sure," the older one said, "Do you like what you see"

Remus shrugged, "Shortys alright, but I've seen better. Haven't seen many that look as good as you before though," The first boy frowned slightly while the second turned a little red. It was unclear whether it was from embarrassment, anger, or both.

"Are you guys vampires?" Remus them suddenly. Both looked taken aback by the question before the first boy looked up at the older one and started making weird shapes with his hands, "Witches than?" Remus asked, the first boy paused and glanced at Remus before continuing to make hand signals at the older one.

"He wants to know if you like witches or not, we've heard of magic not being accepted in your kingdom," the older boy said.

Remus shrugged, "it's okay, one of my friends is a wizard! I like the spells with the funny words and the sparkly colors" Somehow the two boys remained unconvinced and it got quiet again. Again the younger boy made shapes with his hands to the other boy who smiled at the younger and seemed to be about to respond before they were interrupted.

"Prince Virgil, Crown Prince Janus, your father is calling for you," a guard said with a bow.

Remus froze. Virgil and Janus were the princes of the Dark Realm. He looked the boys up and down to double-check his assumption, it did seem like a viable possibility. They looked vaguely like the soldiers that got caught from the Dark Realm. And the older one did have a bit of an accent. They didn't wear anything that screamed Dark Realm. Still, though, everything else did seem to confirm that he was in the Dark Realm. Remus looked down at his lap and fiddled with his fingers as the two boys followed the guard away.

Remus stared down at the ground with thought as he sat in the prison. He was trying to remember what had happened the night he had been stabbed but it all seemed kinda blurry. He remembered he was mad at his parents and why he was mad. He remembered storming out of the castle and swinging his mace at the bushes in anger and that it was raining. The last thing he remembered after that was being ambushed.

He couldn't remember who had done it or if they had said anything. He couldn't remember why or if they had done anything that could've told him where they were from. Did he deserve it? Did he know who did it? Did it hurt? What was he saying of course it hurt, he had been stabbed. Did they hurt his family too?

"Hello again," a voice said.

Remus jumped and he looked up, the two boys were back. "Where's Roman!?" He demanded loudly, forcing himself to his feet despite the dizzy feeling and the pain, "If you hurt him I swear I'll spoon out your eyes and eat them like peeled grapes with a cup of your blood on the side" Immediately two guards jumped out from behind the walls and jumped in front of the Dark Realm princes while the younger one took a step behind his brother.

The older one waved the guards away, barely even phased by the threat, presumably because of the metal bars that separated them. "Roman, you said. That means your Remus," Remus looked at the boy with slight confusion before the younger took a cautious step forward and showed Remus a chalkboard with writing on it.

'I'm Anxiety. That's Deceit'

"Anxiety and Deceit? Those are weird names"

"Deceit, whose she? Never heard of her." Deceit said, his typical saying after the name had been spoken.

"I thought you were Janus and Virg-"

"You're not allowed to call us that." Deceit said quickly with a frown

Remus looked confused for a moment before his insane grin returned, "Why not?" He asked, "Not fond of what mommy and daddy named you? Have to hide behind silly names to make the little princes feel stronger? Or maybe- Ow! Holy shit stained underwear that hurt" Remus cried out as- something- hit him and he stumbled back, tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground and biting back another cry of pain as he put a hand to his wounds. "Decapitated lizards tails that one hurt more,"

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Deceit said in a voice that very clearly told Remus that he was not sorry at all.

"What was that?" Remus asked

"It definitely wasn't magic"

"For a guy named Deceit you really are bad at lying," Remus said as he continued to lay on the ground, deciding it wasn't gonna be worth the pain to sit up. A tapping noise caught his attention and he turned his head towards Anxiety who once again held up a sign. "What's the matter with you? Cat cut off your tongue?" Remus asked, ignoring the writing on the chalkboard tablet.

Deceit narrowed his eyes at Remus, "There's nothing the matter with him. He's mute, you're probably too big of an idiot to know sign language so he's communicating in other ways." Anxiety rolled his eyes at his brother but stepped away from Remus who continued to lay on the ground.

"Where's Roman?" Remus asked again as he stared up at the ceiling, "Where's my brother?"

"Probably in the Light Realm palace. That's where light realm princes normally stay,"

"So why me?" Remus asked, "Why have them try and kill me and not both of us?

The other two princes looked back at each other, "We never chose you, nobody ever would," Janus said, receiving a light smack from his brother, "And we didn't try and kill you, we just found you. Don't you remember?"

Remus shook his head, "It's all kinda fuzzy... like the feeling you get when your leg falls asleep and you have to smash it against stuff for it to wake up"

"Nobody does that," Janus said with a slight roll of his eyes.

'Virgil taped the board against the bars again and Remus read it over 'Doctors said it's a miracle you're alive. They did a lot to keep you from dying. Probably makes sense that you can't remember cause of your injuries. Or maybe PTSD?'

Remus hummed with a shrug, he'd had PTSD before it hadn't felt this way. Then again he had been seven then and hadn't really understood what had happened but that was alright, he wasn't so sure he wanted to understand it. Everyone has memories like that, don't they?

_______________

"Stay away from me!" Remus demanded as two guards and a doctor prepared to enter the cell. Virgil was already squeezed into the corner, doodling on his chalkboard as he knew this might take a while. It had been a few days since Remus had woken up. Virgil and Janus were still the only ones allowed in the small cell without Remus panicking, but he spoke a lot more freely now. He often flirted with Janus, which the other boy hated seeing as he thought Remus was joking or doing it to be rude.

Remus had begun to remember the events of the night he was stabbed slowly, often getting quiet whenever he did. He noticed his missing bracelet the morning after he had woken up, Janus hadn't yet confessed to stealing it. Remy had visited once, they got along fine. Remy didn't treat Janus or Virgil as princes so he certainly didn't treat Remus as one, Remus had kinda liked that though. Remus had met both King Harper and Prince Hollis. Neither was impressed, to say the least.

Remus was currently struggling to fight off the two guards, who were supposed to hold him down while the doctor checked his wounds. Normally Remus would have no problem at all with this task, but a lot of his movements hurt and were restricted. Virgil wasn't allowed to interfere, as demanded by his father. So even if he understood how Remus felt with a bunch of strangers touching him, he remained in the corner with the chalkboard pulled up a little too close to his face like some might do while reading a book if an awkward situation ensues. Janus and Virgil had tried making him a calming potion, but Janus's exploded and Virgil's burnt a hole in the carpet, and even though Remus said he wanted to try them any way they decided not to test their luck.

Virgil looked up when the door at the end of the hall that led out of the dungeon opened and his father came in, followed by his brother and uncle. That's odd, they were supposed to be in meetings all day long. Meetings Virgil wasn't allowed to attend because he wasn't old enough and his father said so. Oh well, Virgil didn't mind too much honestly. Janus said they were boring and he got to hang out with Remy more and avoid interacting with all the people in his father's council. Virgil didn't like how they looked at him, his Uncle said they looked at him that way because he was mute and they were stupid enough to think that made Virgil weak and dumb. Virgil really didn't care why they looked at him that way, he just didn't like it.

"Right now really might not be the best time to tell him," Janus hissed as they walked down the stone hallway.

The king ignored Janus's words and how Remus continued to struggle as the guards held him down so the Doctor could do their jobs, "Virgil, come out of there," His father said, "I never want to see you standing on the other side of those bars, understand?"

'It keeps him calm'

His father opened his mouth again before Hollis placed a hand on the king's shoulder, "Oh let him be Harper, if I'm not mistaken we spent plenty of time here when we were his age. And most of the prisoners weren't recovering from stab wounds" King Harper looked at his brother like any parent did when a sibling was trying to be the 'cool relative'.

"Prince Remus we need to speak to you," King Harper said, the guards and doctor filing out. Remus glared at those leaving as he struggled to stand, Virgil got up to help him.

Remus looked at the four royals in front of him. He was almost positive they were about to tell him that they were gonna execute him, or his family was gonna declare war against the Dark Realm or something similar. He was scared, King Harper could see that. Harper had two sons both close in age to Remus, he had seen fear in their eyes, he knew how to recognize it in a child, in a teenager.

"Dad, he's not going to-"

"He needs to know Janus,"

"Need to know what?" Remus asked as Virgil stepped away. Janus, Hollis, and Harper exchanged glances before Janus finally nodded in agreement and sighed.

"You might want to sit down to hear this," Harper said.

Remus shook his head, "I'm not allowed to sit while in the same room as a king or queen unless they're also sitting."

"That's not how we do things here though," Janus said, "So you are allowed."

Remus only shrugged but remained standing. The king sighed slightly, "Your parents declared you dead a few days ago," he began, Remus didn't move for a moment, "And your brother has been named heir to the throne"

Remus opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before nodding, slowly he lowered himself onto the bed. "They think I'm dead?"

The four others exchanged looks again, "They've announced it yes..." Harper said, "I will be speaking to my council and advisers about you soon. They do not know you're here, once they do we will discuss releasing you. We realize you are not here to harm any of us, Janus's spells have proved those beliefs"

Remus nodded again, "Oh... okay... um... Roman's gonna be a good king. He-he always talked about all the good we were gonna do when one of us was crowned. He wanted to change a bunch of laws and talk with you guys and other kingdoms about peace."

Janus glanced at his father and uncle, "Harper, let's give them some time. I'm sure Janus could explain the rest if needed" Hollis whispered, knowing his nephews would be better comfort than either of them. Harper nodded and followed his brother away.

"You're gonna see them again," Janus assured after they were gone, "I'll make sure they let you go back home," Remus shook his head but Janus ignored it as he slowly took a step into the cell, "I mean it's not like we want you here," Janus said with slight sarcasm, "And then we'll see each other again when we're discussing boring politics and-"

"I think my parents did it." Remus interrupted a hand over his cracked ribs.

"Did what?" Janus asked after a pause.

"Ordered the assassination attempt," Remus explained, "I know who stabbed me, I still can't remember what they said but I know who stabbed me."

"Who?"

"Tafe," Remus said, "General Tafe, is I guess how you guys know him... He's on my parent's council and was kinda close to my dad when they were kids."

'Why would they do that?' Virgil asked, holding out his board for Remus to see.

Remus shrugged, "They wanted me to meet this girl who I might have had to marry... They said it would work because Cririn only passes the throne to male rulers so if I married this girl my brother and I could both be kings." Remus shrugged slightly, "Except it's Cririn tradition to produce an heir, and Uhm... I'm gay... and asexual... I couldn't do it, I'd never be able to do any of that, so I said no and we argued about it for days and then I stormed out and got stabbed"

'Cririn is the least accepting kingdom ever, they still kill people with magic there'

"Yeah, they do," Remus nodded, "They'd kill me if I lived there too, if they knew I mean"

"Our father has terminated communication and trading between us and Cririn. We only take refugees now, and most of them end up going to Lexidal instead," Janus told Remus, standing not too far from him now, "It's too dangerous since Virge and I are basically everything they're against"

Remus looked up at him questioningly 'half-bloods, wizards, I'm gay, Dee's Bi + Demi,' Virgil answered. Remus nodded and looked down at the ground. The Dark Realm princes exchanged glances before arguing in sign to each other to comfort Remus. Virgil won, as he normally did when something involved communication, arguing that he didn't speak and it would make it easier for everyone if Janus just did it.

"Look, Remus," Janus began, "Even if you can't go back to the Light Realm because it's dangerous, there are other kingdoms to go to. Here, might not be the best considering the history between kingdoms, but I'm sure we can find somewhere you can go."

"I've never been anywhere without Roman being somewhere close," Remus mumbled, shaking his head slightly, "Do you think he was in on it? He was really excited about who would be king, he said he didn't care and I didn't think he did but maybe I was wrong..."

"Twins don't do that-"

"There are plenty of twins who have tried to kill each other"

Silence passed for a moment before Janus jumped forward, "I took your bracelet"

Remus looked up at him, "What?"

"I took your bracelet," Janus repeated as he pulled the item from his pocket and handed it to Remus, "At first it was to make sure as few people as possible knew who you were, preserve your identity, and keep you safe. Which I definitely regret. But, I don't know why I kept it after you asked about it... I don't know your brother, but I know my dad and uncle would never do something like that to each other, and Virge and I wouldn't either... it takes a lot for someone to kill their siblings, you're not making it sound like you did much."

Remus stared down at the bracelet, "It's broken. The chain snapped." he muttered

"I have a spell for that," Janus said as he wrapped the bracelet around Remus's wrist and put the two broken ends together. He mumbled out a few words, Remus could feel the chain grow a bit warm, and Janus's fingers began to glow. When he let go the bracelet fell limp around his wrist, slightly loose, the two ends of the chain that had broken were now linked together and had turned from gold to black.

Janus frowned, "It wasn't supposed to change colors," he looked at Virgil, "Did you curse me? My magic has been off all week"

'You're blaming the kid who's bad at magic for cursing you to be bad at magic?' Virgil asked on his chalkboard, 'I think your hats on too tight Dee, get over yourself'

Remus smiled slightly, "I like his hat! It makes him look sophisticated and pretty"

Virgil snorted as Janus turned red again, "If your brother flirts nearly as much as you do, I am not signing a peace treaty."

"Oh you'll hate him more than me then," Remus said.

"That's impossible."

Virgil smiled slightly as he and Janus took seats close to Remus. This was the closest he's allowed anyone other than Virgil to get, it surprised the brothers. They could tell he was still scared, who wouldn't be? Remus had just been told that his death had been announced, not only that but he thought his family, his own family, had tried to kill him. He was safer here in the Dark Realm, a place that a few weeks ago might have killed him themselves, then he was in his own kingdom. He wasn't even sure if he could trust his own brain, seeing as there were still memories from that night that were still missing or unclear.