"It hurts Jan," Remus said quietly into Janus's shoulder as tears poured from his eyes, "It hurts so much. Please Jannie, please, please, please, make it stop."

Remus and Janus were sharing the cot again, Remus's body curled tightly around Janus and his fingers gripping his boyfriend's shirt, so tightly that Janus was sure he was going to rip another hole into it. Janus's arms were wrapped around Remus, one around his waist and the other on his back, trying to do his best to comfort him. "I know. I know. I'm so so sorry. It's gonna be okay."

Remus shook his head, "Make it stop, please. It hurts too much."

There was a heavy feeling of guilt in Janus's chest. He yearned to help Remus, to take away the pain, and heal him until he was better. He felt awful knowing that he had the knowledge and the ability to perform a healing spell, the only things stopping him were the injuries on his own hands that had only been worsened these past few days. He felt his heartache with sympathy and guilt and protectiveness. He wanted so bad to make Remus feel better but he couldn't.

Even if his hands weren't injured the man keeping them here would become angry if he discovered Janus had used his magic to heal Remus. They would separate them, or worse they'd hurt Remus again except graver. Janus couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let them take Remus away or hurt him again. They might kill him if he did. The man doing this was getting angry. Virgil still hadn't been captured and as relieved as Janus was to hear that he knew it was only a matter of time before his brother met their captor. And until that time came the man was only becoming more and more angry, taking it out on them and other prisoners. He'd already tried to convince Janus what he was doing was right, and when that hadn't worked he had threatened Janus to try and force him to do whatever he wanted.

Janus would die before he let them touch Remus again. The man might kill Remus the next time he was taken from Janus. The crown prince knew this, he knew this and has sworn his life to protecting Remus from that possibility.

"Jannie," Remus whispered as he buried his face in Janus's neck and whimpered in pain, "I want it to stop. Please make it stop."

"It's gonna be okay Remus. I swear to you, Love, it's gonna be-."

"Stop lying!" Remus shouted before pulling himself even closer to Janus, "Please Dee. Stop lying... You don't know what's gonna happen. Neither of us knows what's gonna happen."

"Remus," Janus whispered.

But Remus only shook his head, "They're gonna win. They're- they're gonna find Virgil and then they're gonna attack home and they're gonna kill Roman. They're gonna kill Roman and I won't be able to do anything" Remus gripped Janus's shirt tighter, "My parents too... they won't spare Ro. They'll kill him. And when they're done they'll kill me.-"

"Don't say that," Janus told him sternly

"It's true and you know that,"

"No, it's not"

"Yes it-"

Janus pulled his hand away from Remus's waist and used it to force his boyfriend to look at him. Remus squeaked in pain and another pang of guilt shot through Janus knowing that that had been his fault. "Listen to me," Janus said in a hushed but firm voice as he looked Remus in the eyes, "You're not going to die. I'm not gonna let them."

"You can't stop them."

"He needs me. He needs Virgil. If he kills you he won't have either of us. We won't let them hurt you. And it's going to be okay. We're going to get out of here. And we'll go home, and we can tell you're family about what they tried to do to you. We'll explain to them how we found you, and how close we are. And if they don't like that we're dating then screw them. It's gonna be fine. We'll beat him. He's not gonna win. He's not going to hurt Roman. He's not going to do anything. Everything is going to be okay, everything."

Remus blinked back tears as he stared into Janus's eyes. He was so sure of himself. He was so confident that they were going to be okay. And Janus was saying all the right things. Remus wanted nothing more than to believe him. He wanted nothing more than to fall into this net of safety Janus had created for him and despite a part of him knowing that the net was made of lies he still jumped into it, nodding his head to show Janus he believed him. Janus sighed with relief as he pulled Remus close to him again, allowing the other the to bury their face into his neck and pressing small kisses to Remus's head.

Janus hated lying to Remus. He hated not knowing if what he said was true. He hated that Remus was so willing to fall for his lies. He hated not being able to get him and the rest of the people in this castle out with just a snap of his fingers. He hated that Remus was hurting so bad. He hated how Remus had practically glued himself to Janus out of fear. How he was being forced to do what they said lest someone gets hurt.

The door at the end of the stone hallway clicked loudly and footsteps began to come towards them. Remus and Janus both tensed in each other's arms before Janus forced himself to act, "Pretend to be asleep," he whispered into his boyfriend's ears. Remus hesitated for a moment before giving a small nod and closing his eyes. Janus forced Remus's fingers open and pried them away from his shirt, hearing the other whimper slightly when Janus slipped off the cot just as the footsteps stopped in front of their cell.

"Ann! Be careful!" Patton shouted as the sixteen-year-old boy hopped from one rock to another. His feet were bare and the water below him splashed up against his ankles. They had stopped to rest by a river. The water was mercilessly cold, making their skin feel as if it was being burned. None of them minded though, it was far too hot to care what temperature the water was. The air was thick with warmth, making it hard to breathe, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.

The four of them stood in the water. Four pairs of shoes and socks lay unworn on the edge of the water by the rest of their things. They had all taken off every single layer of clothing they could until they were left in nothing but their pants and the shirts they wore beneath their robes, jackets, vest, or other clothing items. Each of them had rolled up their pant legs to prevent them from getting wet, it hadn't worked very well.

Roman was knee-deep in the water, watching with amusement as the fish swam past him or curiously stopped to examine him. Logan had gone in a little deeper and was taking the opportunity to practice spells that allowed him to manipulate water. Virgil was almost in the middle of the river, jumping from rock to rock. Something in him wanted to see if he could make it to the other side without using the bridge that had been built not too far away. If he fell in now he'd be chest-deep in the water, and the current was strong enough to carry him away. Patton was the only one who hadn't gone in so deep, he sat on a large rock near the shore and only dipped their toes into the water. They watched with a small smile as their friends enjoyed the cold water.

"Ann," Patton called from where he sat. The pale prince turned to him with a wide smile, "Don't go much farther okay?"

Ann nodded and turned back, deciding he'd get to the middle and then go back before continuing to jump across rocks.

"Virgil look!" Logan called, his voice sounded much more excited than usual as he showed off his ability to use a spell he had been struggling with for a while now before this journey had even begun. Virgil turned back again, shooting Logan a thumbs up to cheer him on.

Virgil looked up, past the other three as he caught sight of something in the trees. Virgil froze as he stared out the figure not too far away from the others were, but were far enough into the shadows that Virgil couldn't see their face. The others didn't notice how Virgil had frozen on the rock he stood on and was staring at the figure.

"Virgil! Virgil!" Logan called again. They took their eyes off the spell for a moment to look up at the Dark realm Prince. He just managed to notice that Virgil seemed to have zoned far off when he lost control over the spell he had been performing on the water and a large sphere of it shot forward and slammed into Virgil, throwing him off the rock he stood on, into the water and a painful image of the past.

"Ann!" Patton screamed.

"Logan what did you do?!" Roman yelled with panic.

"I didn't mean to Roman. I got over-excited, I lost control."

"I can't see him! I can't see him!" Patton cried, he jumped off his rock and began running into the water before Roman stopped him, "Roman! I can't see him!"

"Patton stop! You don't know how to swim!" Roman pushed Patton back, "I'll get him! Stay here. Logan keep them back!" Logan nodded as Roman ran deeper into the water where they had seen Virgil fall. They just hoped they could find him in time.

"Virgil," a voice called from behind him, "Careful okay, those rocks are slippery"

"Yes mama" Virgil called back

*

"Virgil, Mama look! Look I'm doing it, Virgil!" Janus called loudly with a smile plastered across his face when Virgil turned back to look at him. He was barely fifteen, his face completely human still. In Deceits hands was a very small orb of water with a goldfish swimming within it.

Virgil stared at his brother with wide eyes filled with amazement. "Teach me, Dee! Teach me!" Virgil scrambled to get back across the rocks so his brother could teach him the spell he had just learned only to slip a little on the rocks.

*

"Virgil! Mama!" Deceit's voice screamed. Virgil didn't know what was happening, he was on his side. He couldn't move. "Virgil! Mama!"

"Janus, go to your brother now!" A voice said, panicked and distressed as loud noises followed.

*

"Vee-Vee? Virgil, we need to run Virgil we need to run!"

"Where's Mama?"

"We need to go."

"You're bleeding Dee," Virgil brought a hand up to Janus's face. His brother winced in pain and when small drops of blood came off his face one shiny scale was found. "Dee?"

"We need to go now!" Janus screamed at him.

*

"Boys," A voice said breathlessly, begging not for their lives but their children's, "Don't hurt my boys"

"They'll die with you at their side," A woman voice said

"Ira, please don't do this"

*

"My son! You killed my son!"

A boy's body, barely a man yet, lay lifeless on the ground in front of Virgil and Janus. The princes could only stare at it as a woman next to them screaming. Janus suddenly grabbed Virgil's hand and ran.

*

"Virgil?" Janus asked, "Virgil what's wrong?" Janus got no answer. "Virgil please talk to me," He still said nothing, "Virgil I'm scared. I need you to say something. Virgil... please..." Not a word. "Virgil? Are you alright?"

Our mother's dead.

"Virgil! Virgil, wake up! Please wake up" Roman's voice said loudly as he cradled Virgil in his arms. The seer had fallen into the water and as soon as his body had been submerged the current had dragged him down the river quickly. Roman hadn't actually been able to catch up to him until they both reached the end of the stream. He found Virgil face down in three-inch deep water, quite a change from the five feet deep water they had been in before. When Roman had turned him over they found his eyes flashing back and forth between their regular blue to their magical indigo.

The Dark Realm prince's ears rang as he blinked the remaining purple from his eyes and stared up at Roman. He was barely lucid for a single second before immediately having a panic attack.

He had just relived one of the worst days of his life.