The Winter Won’t Fall (HFC18)
Summary: This story is about the dangers of an ancient winter magic, and how the sides find each other after getting lost in the woods.
Relationship: established Virgil/Roman/Patton/Logan
Warning: there’s a brief description of kidnapping, and a brief allusion to death (not to major characters)
Word count: 1,200 words exactly
  Virgil was many things, and a fool wasn’t one of them. Even if he was in the forest alone, walking along the winding path as the sky darkened.
  The wind had been strong enough to knock off his hood, whipping through his hair. It was still now.
  He was no fool.
  When the last thing he’d seen was a pair of blue smiling lips and freshly falling snow swirling around him, there was only one thought he could muster before the darkness set in,
  “Thank gods it was me-”
~•~•~
  The villagers were quick to forget about his presence. It was easier to turn a blind eye in the winter, easier to pretend that the people who disappeared and didn’t return each year, did of their own free will.
  Easier for most. Not for all.
  When Logan, Roman, and Patton asked searched, travelling from house to house, the villagers were quick to anger as well.
  “It’s the icy season boys, go home if you know what’s good for you.”
  That’s what Virgil had been doing.
  “Stop nosing your way around the village so close to nightfall, you know how dangerous it is.”
  Virgil knew the dangers.
  “If you really want to find that man, you’ll have to go to the woods. You know you might not return if you do… I hope he’s worth it.”
  Virgil was.
~•~•~
  Roman was the first off of his horse, patting it’s flank to send it back home. The trees were far to dense for anything but traveling on foot.
  The other two quickly followed suit, coming forward to stand beside him, torches in hand. The path was dark. The falling night would only make it darker.
  “I shouldn’t have left him alone.”
  Patton sighed, moving to pull Roman closer, “I could say the same thing you know…”, he gives a weak smile when Logan joins the hug (it wasn’t complete- it would never be until a fourth set of arms could encircle them).
“He wouldn’t blame us, and when we find him, we’ll never make the same mistake again.”
~•~•~
  Scanning through the trees, Roman tenses in surprise at the distinct feeling of a snowball hitting him on the back of the neck.
  It was so foggy all of a sudden.
  Another snowball, and suddenly it doesn’t matter because a familiar laugh guides him through the forest.
  “Virgil?”
  A relieved smile and a burst of speed sends him off the path. The world grows hazy, even the light of his torch growing fuzzy, but everything was alright. They’d found him.
  Freshly falling snow began to swirl around him.
  “Virgil!”
~•~•~
  Patton trudged forward, slowly swinging his torch back and forth and back and forth and-
  The distinct taste of something sweet settles on his tongue, giving him pause. Was that… ice cream?
  He shakes his head, squinting at a familiar shape in the woods. A person.
  It was so foggy all of a sudden.
  It waves around what he recognises to be the frozen dessert, but none of that matters half so much as the figure holding it.
  Tears sprang to his eyes as he beamed, stepping closer and closer, following where he lead him, straying from the path. He always seemed just a step away.
  “Virgil?”
  The answering laugh made him rush to get closer, joy filling his heart. He’s dropped his torch, the hazy light of the stars his only guide in the dark, fresh snow beginning to swirl around him.
  He can hardly bring himself to care about any of that, he was so close.
  “Virgil!”
~•~•~
  Suddenly aware of the singular sound of his footsteps along the path, Logan casts a weary glance around.
  The howling wind only serving to heighten his awareness of the heavy beating of his heart.
  “Roman? Patton?”
He takes a step forward.
  “…Virgil?”
  It’s his final call when he realises he’s not truly alone, three separate figures heading away from him, all in the same direction.
  Three.
  It was so foggy all of a sudden.
  At the edge of the path, he pauses. He shouldn’t do this. Looking up again, (impossibly) he can still see them jogging in the same direction. If he squints, perhaps he imagined one of them turning back to beckon him along.
  “Virgil?”
  Without them, he was alone.
  He jumps from the path, running after them. No more thought left for the fading light of the torch in his hand, or the freshly falling snow beginning to swirl around him.
  Running after them, he could allow himself to believe that they’d done it, they’d found him.
  “Virgil!”
~•~•~
  Her marks run out onto the frozen water, each caught in whatever dream had fallen over them.
  She never did bother to check and see what they could, but that didn’t matter these days. What mattered was that they kept her alive and warm in the cold.
  Virgil was it? He went wrong. Something in him wouldn’t let her steal his soul. Inconsequential. She’d left him to simmer in her magic. He would make a good puppet one day. It was just her luck that his spirit had unwittingly called out to these three individuals. Imagine what he could do with her guiding hand.
  He lay, drifting in the air, just above the middle of the lake. She circles them all. There was nothing to do but wait, and watch patiently as they scrambled their way closer.
  Freshly falling snow began swirling around them, the wind pushing the snowflakes through her hair. She frowns at the white strands, the snowflakes soft and unfamiliar. She didn’t cause this.
  Still, an unbidden smile tugs at her lips when she hears the first crack. It was too late. Their souls were hers.
  “You’re on thin ice gentlemen,” she coos, voice caught in the wind.
  And suddenly they can see clearly, the magic faded from their eyes. There is only Virgil, left floating in front of them, and a towering woman in white, beautiful in every way except for the look in her eyes and the knowing smile she held on her blue lips.
  The ice creaks and cracks further under their feet.
~•~•~
  Three times.
  They call his name three times, and even under this darkness, he will answer them.
  Suddenly, it is she who looks afraid.
  He is drifting in something powerful. If he took control now, he would be changed forever.
  “Virgil! Can you hear me?”
  The ice had stopped crumbling beneath them.
  “Virgil, sweetheart could you open your eyes?”
  The snow still fell.
   “Virgil!”
  Three calls. He would answer them.
  The wind howls louder than ever, the ice groaning under an immense pressure.
  But the three are safe.
  They watch the witch, there in one moment, closing her eyes. And then she is gone.
  The world falls silent and still. Patton turns, gasping as Virgil settles his feet on the ground, solid ice forming.
  His eyes glow bright, his hair a pure white, and his lips an icy blue.
  When he grants them a hesitant smile, the spell is broken and they rush forward. Four sets of arms around each other.
  They are complete once more.
by:Â @3-has-charm
