It was a beautiful day, that was undeniable. The sky was bright blue with fluffy white clouds floating in it. The sun was golden as it hung in the sky, the warmth it provided was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold. The wind would blow every once in a while and with it came the smell of spring flowers. The birds and animals seemed to be singing in delight, everything seemed perfect. It was nice compared to how it had been in the capital these past few weeks.

Their mother had taken them away from the castle for the rest of the month. It had been raining and stormy non-stop back home for three weeks and the air around it had become just as dark and gloomy as the weather. Their father and uncle had been so stressed lately dealing with transactions and communication between the Light Realm. Just trying to avoid another war, nothing out of the ordinary when it came to the two kingdoms that were constantly at odds with each other.

The rain had only added to that stress because it had been raining for so long they were now dealing with flooding, it was ruining their crops and the land. They had plans to dig trenches but it was only causing mudslides, they had gotten lucky that nobody had lost their life to those yet. The aura around the palace had become so stressful that it was practically contagious. The queen had finally had enough when she found Janus becoming angry over the math equations his tutor was having him do. So they had taken the journey to the place she had grown up, a much better atmosphere compared to the one they had been dealing with lately.

This morning the queen and her sons had snuck away from the royal guards in an effort to spend some actual time alone. Their mother, ever the bad influence, had never liked the royal guards following her around everywhere they went. Like her sons, it was not uncommon for her to sneak away from them. She complained often about not having any time to herself or with her family because there was always a guard nearby. She couldn't even take a bath without the guard pounding on the door every five minutes to make sure she hadn't drowned. So yes, this morning she and her sons had snuck off without them.

They were in a meadow now, playing within a clearing of trees with a shallow river of water running right down the middle. Virgil, only twelve years old at this point in time, was hopping between rocks. Every once in a while, he would slip and fall into the shallow water. There was no real danger though, it was only a few inches deep, he'd just climb back onto the rocks and start again. Janus stood at the bank of the river, trying to learn how to do a minor water manipulation spell. He wanted to create an orb of water with a fish inside it, a miny aquarium if you will. The hard part was getting the fish, the rest came easily. At fifteen he had a strong and determined will to learn as much as he could, he was caring and protective over his younger brother.

His trait name had been given to him a couple years prior and it definitely seemed to fit now. Though, before he had been given his trait-name Janus would try to repress this quality of him. And when the name had been given to him, he had hated it. He had tried so hard to be given a positive trait name, he hadn't wanted to be a liar or manipulator. He had wanted a name like his mothers, Joy, instead, he got Deceit. How was anybody to trust him with a trait name like that? How was he to be a ruler when everyone thought him a liar? How were other kingdoms supposed to trust him enough to work with him?

Of course, he should have expected it. It was widely known that you can't hide your defining trait from those that give them. The fere, what they call those that assign trait names, were trained in an archaic art that allowed them to see one's true defining trait. There was no hiding it.

His mother had been the one to convince Janus that there was nothing wrong with his trait name. And as soon as she had managed that he became obsessed with lying. He became quite good at telling them too, though there were times he'd pretend not to be just to mess with people. He often would slip in bits of magic, a persuasion spell, to nail down his case. Though no one doubted he'd be able to do so without the spell. His mother, and once they met and Prince Remus, were the only ones who had little difficulty separating his lies from reality. Eventually, he had calmed down with the lies, though not before convincing Virgil that the whole west wing of the castle was haunted by a ghost.

Their mother, the queen, watched from a blanket laying in the grass, a picnic basket with food next to her "Virgil," she called to him"Careful okay, those rocks are slippery"

"Yes mama" Virgil yelled back as he continued to hop from rock to rock.

He smiled lightly at a large boulder that sat in the center of the river, and a small laugh escaped him as he jumped off his small rock and tried to climb up the large one. "Mama look! I'm the king of the world!" Virgil shouted from the top of the rock.

His mother laughed as she smiled up at him, "I don't know how happy your brothers going to be about that," she told him from where she sat, "I think he's pretty excited to be king." They looked over at Janus who was fully engrossed in learning the spell and seemed to not have heard any of what was said.

"He can still be king here. But I'm king of the world" Virgil said, holding his arms out as he walked the perimeter of the rock.

His mother laughed again, "well then your majesty," his mother said, "Be careful up there. It's quite a fall," Virgil nodded again as he continued to enjoy his time on the rock. He was just about to see if he could jump from his large rock to another small one when Janus called from behind.

"Virgil look! Look I'm doing it, Virgil!" Janus yelled. Virgil turned to him, in Janus's hands was an orb of water about the size of a baseball. Swimming around inside the orb was a small goldfish.

Virgil stared back at him with wide eyes filled with wonder and amazement. At twelve his lack of magical expertise could still be dismissed as Virgil being a slow learner, rather than something being wrong with his magic. "Teach me, Dee! Teach me!" he with excitement as he started scrambling to get down, his foot slipping out from under him.

Virgil cried out as he fell the four-foot distance to the ground. His mother let out a startled yell, "Virgil!" she yelled as she jumped to her feet.

Virgil shook himself off, his clothes now soaked, and stood up, "I'm okay Mama, don't worry"

"Are you sure?"

"Just some bruises," Virgil rolled his pant legs up again, "Dee, teach me?"

Janus nodded and waved him over. The younger of the princes began to make his way over as their mother sat back down again. He stopped though when he caught something moving out of the corner of his eye, Virgil stopped and looked up. At the edge of the clearing, where the trees began, a shadow of a person could be seen. Virgil hummed in thought, why would there be someone here? His mother said this was her special place, only her sister and father knew of it. And his aunt had agreed to keep their location a secret, who would be here?

Virgil gasped and stumbled backward as his eyes turned purple and a vision took him over, whining slightly as it did. He had begun getting visions when he was eight, but as he got older they had started getting stronger. He still wasn't used to visions of this much intensity, it almost hurt to get them.

The vision was over quickly, he didn't understand it but he was terrified of it. There had been blood, and screaming in his vision. Virgil blinked away the remaining coloring his eyes as he looked up again. Almost as soon as he did something smashed into his chest and knocked him off his feet.

"Virgil!" His mother called again.

"Hey-!" Deceit yelled as he barely managed to avoid an attack sent towards him. "Mama? What's going on?"

"Lillian Snow," a woman's voice said as she and a young man only a few years older than Janus stepped out of the foilage.

Virgil couldn't move. He must have been hit with a paralysis spell of some sort, he was lucky the water wasn't deep enough to drown him.

"Ira," his mother's voice said, "What are you doing?"

"Gabriel," the woman's voice said, "take care of the princes please"

"No!" his mother yelled

"Yes mother," the young man said, Gabriel apparently.

"Ira you stay away from my sons"

Janus frowned as Gabrial began to step closer, he didn't need any more hints to know what was going on. These people were here to hurt them. "If you come any closer, I'll light you like a candle" Janus claimed, his voice filled with confidence and not wavering one bit in uncertainty as he lit his hand with a flame.

The boy laughed, "I've heard you were talented at both lies and magic, but I'd like to see you try."

Janus took a deep breath as he pursed his lips and prepared himself before his mother gave a shout, "No! No, Ira," the queen said, a hand in front of her as if to put more distance between her and the other witch, "Not my boys, do whatever you'd like with me but if you harm a hair on their heads-"

"Lillian," Ira said with a smile on her face, "You've had your chance. You had many chances." her voice suddenly became angry and her gaze turned to a glare, "But you gave it all up when you betrayed your coven and went off to marry that coward of a king and created two monstrosity hybrid children"

"Who are you calling a monster?"

"Janus-" His mother hissed at him, giving him a look that very clearly told him that now was not the time.

"Do it now Gabriel," Ira said to her son before all hell broke loose. Ira and the queen had quickly locked themselves in a duel. Gabriel had just as quickly begun to attack Deceit, and though there was a few year age difference between them Janus seemed to be proving himself to be a worthy adversary as he dodged attacks and sent back his own, just trying to do his best to keep them away from his brother.

Virgil wanted to scream, he couldn't see what was going on. He could only listen to them call out spells or grunts that came from pain or effort. He was trying to perform a reversal spell but it wasn't working. It wasn't working!

Janus shot a spell out towards his attacker, it knocked them back a few feet but he stood right back up and marched toward an exhausted Janus. He was kneeling over himself, trying to catch his breath, his energy was running low. "You little snake," Gabriel spit out.

"I may be a snake but at least I'm not a cowardly weasel like you," Janus said in return as he stood up tall again and sent another spell towards Gabriel.

It hit the boy in the shoulder, and you could tell it hurt, "You'll pay for that, I'll make sure of it."

"I'd like to see you try," Janus remarked with a smirk.

Gabriel glared at the crown prince, acid in his eyes before he threw his hand out and yelled the incantation to a spell. Janus's eyes widened as yellow sparks flew towards him far too fast for him to avoid. The spell caused Janus to fly backward, sending him flying into the shallow water. Janus screamed in pain as he clutched at one side of his face, his hands came back red with blood.