Virgil slept again and was woken up by Denise shaking him awake.

"Hey, Roman's awake if you want to come to see him, dear," She whispered. Virgil sprung out of his chair, suddenly feeling full of energy. Denise smiled sadly and added. "Be calm and gentle, he's still a bit out of it," 

"Where are you guys going?" Virgil queried, wondering why they weren't still with Roman.

"Just to the cafeteria for a while," Denise replied, looking over at Richard who was waiting for her.

He looked over at the doors to where the rooms were and sighed softly. "Okay," Was all he said before he went on his way to see Roman. 

The nurses let him into where the intense care was and when he got to Roman's door his heart dropped in his chest.

Can I handle seeing him like this? He thought.

Virgil opened the door slowly, fighting thoughts that told him to flee, and saw Roman laying in the bed. He had one of those cotton hospital gowns on and a bandage on his head but he looked, like Roman. Paler and sleepier, but still Roman.

"Stormcloud?" Roman wondered excitedly as Virgil came into his line of vision.

Virgil smirked at the nickname. "Yeah… it's okay if I come in?" 

"Of course! I've been uh, waiting for you," Roman told him and Virgil's cheeks flushed on command. 

Virgil then went up to Roman and sat in the armchair beside the boy.

He then just stared at Roman for a bit before breaking the silence. "How are you feel- That's a dumb question I'm sorry," 

"No no, not at all. I'm uh, I'm feeling okay," 

Roman was surprisingly not out of it like his Mom said he would be, and Virgil assumed seeing him had sobered the boy up. 

"You sure?" Virgil asked, his voice full of uncertainty and guilt brewing in his stomach.

It was at this point that Roman finally noticed Virgil's tense shoulders and pained expression. "Are you alright, Virge?"

"I- yeah. I just feel bad is all," Virgil replied, now looking away toward the door. 

Roman raised a brow. "Why? It wasn't your fault," He insisted, but Virgil still wouldn't make eye contact. "Hey!" Roman yelled, to try and get Virgil to meet his gaze.

Roman smiled when Virgil's eyes focused on him again and he repeated what he had said prior, but with more conviction. "It wasn't your fault," 

Virgil's eyes filled with tears but he blinked them away. "Let's not talk about that. This is about you," He avoided the topic because he was scared but Roman wasn't going to give up yet.

"I am fine, Virge," Roman reassured. "I promise," 

"You got impaled and it was my fault!" Virgil yelled. "I couldn't control my powers and it distracted you… and you could have died! You just got major surgery so don't lie and say you're fine to spare my feelings," 

Roman's eyes widened at Virgil's tone. "I was worried about you, yes, but that doesn't make the crash your fault," 

Virgil exhaled sharply, getting flashbacks of the accident. The blood. The fire. He was so entranced by his thoughts that he didn't realize he was crying until he wiped his face with his hands, and that brought him back to earth. "If I wasn't in the car it wouldn't have happened!" 

"Virgil… I-" Roman started but cut himself off. "C' mere," 

Virgil came closer as told.

"I just wanted to tell you that I-" Before Roman could get a word in Virgil pressed a soft kiss to Roman's lips. Roman kissed back after a few moments and smiled against the kiss. 

Virgil was the first to break contact. 

"I thought you didn't feel the same way," Roman faltered, laying himself back down in bed.

Virgil sighed. "I do… this stuff is just hard for me. I uh, I don't like being touched without warning. I know I just did that to you and I understand if you are mad," 

Roman scoffed. "Mad? I have been waiting for that all week. I mean!-"

Virgil snickered at him. "You were hiding it terribly," 

Roman laughed at himself. "Oh good," 

Then Virgil sobered up for a moment and he sat beside Roman again. "The truth is. I have felt the same way for a while but, I just am scared to get close to anyone again. When my parents died, it was the worst day of my life and if you… I just can't lose anyone again. So I thought if I stayed friends with you, you would be safe, but as long as you are around me you're in danger," 

"Virgil… I don't care," Roman replied honestly. "I… really like you. My life has been so much more colorful since you came into it and, I am very glad to have met you,"

Virgil was blinking back tears again. "I just can't have you go dying on me without knowing that I like you too… then you almost did die and I had to take this opportunity," Then Virgil remembered Roman's Mom's words.

"Your Mom said you would be really out of it," Virgil told him. 

"Oh… I was but then… I saw your cute face?" This was supposed to be smooth but it was hard to be smooth in a hospital gown. 

“Nice try, dumbass,” Virgil commented with a laugh. 

Roman laughed at himself awkwardly in response. "Okay, yeah. I deserve that," 

Then Roman’s parents came in. “We just went to see Patton and he asked for you, Virgil,” Denise announced.

“Me? Really?” Virgil wondered.

Denise sighed. “Well, he asked for Logan first but we had to tell him Logan went home. Then he asked if you were still here,”

“Oh, okay,” Virgil replied, feeling sympathy for Patton who was looking for his boyfriend, and he wasn’t even here when he needed him. “Where is his room?” Virgil asked Denise.

“Just down the hall. Room 304,” She told him with a smile.

“Okay, thanks… bye Roman,” Virgil lent a small smile at the older boy and Roman smiled back at him fondly. “Bye,” He waved to the Prince’s and they smiled at him.

Virgil walked down the hall to find a room that said 304 and underneath there was a piece of paper that said “Patton Baker” on it. When he went in he saw Patton, and he was crying. 

Patton’s eyes were covered by his messy hair and his hands which were catching his tears, and he had stitches in his cheek as well as on his forehead. 

“Pat?” Virgil was concerned but had no idea how to comfort people, so he just sat in the chair beside his friend and smiled softly.

“Oh, Virgil,” Patton muttered, rubbing his eyes to hide his tears but they were already red and puffy.

“You alright?” Virgil asked and then felt stupid again.

Patton dodged the question. “Did Logan say anything before he left?” Patton wondered. 

Virgil quirked a brow. “No, he didn’t… why?”

Patton’s face clenched as if he was about to cry again. “Oh… okay,” Was all he said before he looked away toward the window.

“What’s wrong?” Virgil pried.

Patton exhaled sharply. “I uh, I just hoped he would be here when I woke up, you know?”

Virgil was against most physical affection, but he wanted to make the boy feel better, so he placed a comforting hand on Patton’s hand, and Patton laced their fingers together in acceptance of said affection.

Patton was quiet for a few moments, and Virgil was always quiet, so silence fell between the two for a few moments until Patton spoke. “Thank you, for staying. You’re a good friend,”

“Of course, Pat,” Virgil said, lending his friend a smile. He wasn’t the best smiler either but he was trying his best and that was what mattered. 

The two just hung out most of the day after that until visiting hours were over, and had fun while the fun lasted. Patton was thankful for Virgil being there, he needed a friend to distract him from his pain, both physically and mentally, and Virgil did an excellent job, despite his fears.

Virgil couldn’t wait until his friends were out of this place, because hospitals always seemed to be the start of bad things for him, and they brought back a lot of trauma, but he was thankful for them because this one was the reason his friends were okay right now, and if he ever lost them he wouldn’t know what to do.

Saturday was finally here and the boys were on their way to the Prince family cottage.

The drive was only about an hour, and the weather was really nice today. It was warm and sunny but with a nice cool breeze that made everything feel cozy. The trees were all turning orange and the fields were full of foods to harvest. It was beautiful.

Virgil had his head out the window, and with his eyes closed, he just let the air hit his face and took in some soft breaths. He hadn’t felt this at peace in a long time. It was at times like this that he would start to feel an impending sense of doom.

He was sat in the backseat today with Patton, because Logan insisted on being the one using the map, and you can’t guide the driver very well from the backseat, but neither Patton nor Virgil minded. Roman, however…

“Ugh, what’s my next turn, nerd-brain?” Roman grumbled. He would have much rather had Virgil sitting beside him but he lost this round and was being a brat about it.

Logan sighed. “Turn left at the fork and then go straight,” He sounded like a GPS and every time he gave directions it caused Virgil and Patton to quietly snicker at him from the back

“Thank you, Siri,” Roman told him.

“Haha. Very funny,” Logan replied, using the same monotone voice as before.

“Logan, I am genuinely starting to think you are a robot and have just hidden it from us this whole time…” Virgil commented with a smirk.

“Well, sorry to disappoint you but I am not a robot,” Logan stated.

Virgil went on. “What if, you just don’t know you’re a robot…”

Logan was getting annoyed. “That’s absurd,”  

“How so?” Roman wondered, joining in on the teasing.

“Because… because!” Logan exclaimed. “Robots cannot be gay! Aha! I have foiled your joke!”

“Nah, I’m pretty sure C3PO was gay,” Roman replied, taking one hand off the wheel to take a sip of his drink.

“Hey, be careful! Both hands on the wheel, mister!” Patton yelled, startling everyone and causing Roman to drop his drink, and spill it all over Logan in the process.

“Fuck!” Logan screamed.

“Oh, shit! Oh shit!” Roman was too distracted. He needed to pay attention to the road. His eyes were away from it for too long. Virgil was getting nervous. He could feel his hand starting to heat up. It burnt his palms.

“Ouch,” He murmured, trying to put the fire out. Usually, it went out a lot easier than this, but right now he was struggling.

Roman caught a glimpse into the back and noticed this. "You good, Virge?"

"Yeah, I-"

“Eyes on the road!” Patton yelled again.

Roman turned to look at Patton. “It’s fine there’s no one out h-”

Then out of nowhere, they swerved into the next lane and had a collision with another car. It crashed into the side.

Roman’s side.

They rolled into the ditch and the other car took off. It was a hit and run.

Everyone was out but Virgil.

His hearing was gone. It was just a loud ringing, and his head was pounding from hitting it off the window when they crashed.

Blood was dripping down his head, and despite his tolerance for pain, he was feeling some of this, but he didn’t care. He had to make sure his friends were alive.

Looking around him was like a horror movie. There was blood everywhere, everyone but him was out and they all were horribly injured.

“Patton?!” He yelled. Patton’s eyes were shut, and he seemed to be breathing, but the window on his side had broken from the impact and cut his face. Virgil tried shaking him but he wouldn’t wake up, and it was probably for the best since he was probably in a lot of pain.

“Roman?!” Virgil screamed, climbing into the front of the car. Roman was the most beat up. Other than the other car nearly crushing him, his car was totaled and he had been impaled by some of the metal.

“Fuck,” Virgil whispered, looking at Roman. He wasn't doing well. His skin was sickly pale and he was losing a lot of blood. Virgil hadn’t noticed it but he was crying heavily.

Then, Logan woke up.

“Wh-” He tried to speak but was shocked by the scene that was laid out before him. His best friend was either dead or dying, his other friend was sobbing, covered in blood and screaming and his boyfriend was out cold with glass sticking out of his face.

His nose was broken and bleeding from the impact of the airbag but he hadn’t noticed that.

“Logan…” Virgil said, with tears steadily streaming down his face from before.

Logan wiped his nose and his hand was covered in blood. “Oh my. You should uh… use the phone...”

“Phone,” Virgil repeated and climbed back into his seat to retrieve his phone.

“911, what’s your emergency,” The female operator said.

“Hi, uh… I was just involved in a car accident,” Virgil replied sounding frantic.

“Can you give me your location, sir?” The operator asked calmly.

“N- no we uh, we were headed toward- toward…” Virgil kept trailing off. He was in shock.

“Sir, please stay on the line,” The lady said, tracing the call and trying to pinpoint their location.

“We are on our way,” she said.

“Hello, sir? Please stay on the-” He hung up on her because he barely took in anything she said.

“Virgil, are they coming?” Logan asked, holding a hand over his nose.

He was staring into the distance. His eyes were all glossy.

“Virgil!” Logan screamed.

“Yeah… yeah…” Virgil was losing it.

“We need you, stay with us,” Logan said calmly. “I need you to take the glass out of Patton’s face and cauterize the wound.

“H-how?!” Virgil’s hands were shaking, and little sparks were dancing off his fingertips.

Logan took a deep breath. “Just gently pull the glass out and try to control your powers for a second… can you do that?”

“I… I can try,” Virgil replied. He turned to Patton. The glass was in his cheek, but it looked quite deep.

He took the glass in his fingertips and started pulling, it slowly. It slid out but now the wound was gushing blood.

He was trying to get the fire to work but he was too stressed out to control it and he was worried he would burn Patton’s face. “Shit. Logan I can’t…”

“Virgil…”

“No! I can’t! I’ll hurt him!” He screamed.

“Just calm down,” Logan pleaded.

“No!” Virgil yelled and his eyes turned orange. His powers were out of control and if he wasn’t careful he would kill himself and everyone in the car.

Logan never cried. He didn’t even cry the day his Grandmother died. He was sad, but he just wasn’t outwardly emotional, but right now his eyes were full of tears.

“I’m gonna kill you guys if I don’t get out of here,” Virgil whispered.

“No, it’s alright,” Logan replied.

“No… I have to get out… I have to leave... I can’t-”

“Shut up, you big babies!” Roman woke up and screamed at them.

“Oh my god… you... shouldn’t be awake,” Logan blinked.

“Why-” He said and then looked down. “Oh, that’s… oh that uh, cool,”

“Are you feeling any pain?” Logan asked.

Roman was trying to hold it together but he was also going into shock. “N-nope, maybe that’s uh, worse…”  His voice was full of gravel.

“Fuck, Virgil please just…” Logan began and then looked into the back. Virgil was gone.

“Virgil?!” They both yelled.

Virgil had climbed out of the car and was now running down the side of the highway. He had to get away from them. He had to. He wasn’t in control and he was terrified of killing them as he had done to his parents.

He clearly wasn’t in his right mind because he was just running, with no destination. Well, trying to run. He was really injured and climbing out of a totaled car when he could barely feel any pain didn’t help.

He was using every last bit of power he had to keep moving but he was getting weaker by the second.

After running for about ten minutes he stopped and collapsed to his knees, fire somehow still surging through his palms.

"Why…" Was all he could manage to say. Something wasn't right. He was extremely distressed, but he should not have been able to still use his powers now, hell, he shouldn't even have been conscious. He was weaker than he had ever been, weaker than he was in the woods. Something was very wrong here.

Virgil just stared into the distance again, and his mind went blank. He stayed this way for what seemed like hours until the ambulance, police cars and fire department caught up to him.

They lifted him and put him in the back of the ambulance with his friends. Logan was still conscious but Roman had passed out again and Patton was still out cold.

"Don't you dare pull something like that again," Logan scolded and gave Virgil the biggest hug he had received in years.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry," Virgil cried into Logan's shirt.

"It's okay… it's alright," Logan comforted. "They said that Patton only needs stitches, but he has to stay for a few days because he lost a lot of blood. Roman needs surgery, and they are hoping they can stabilize him,"

Virgil sniffled. "So, they're gonna be okay?"

Logan kept the hug going, not really wanting to let go yet. "I don't know. One can only hope so..." He was scared but he knew he had to hold it together, for both of them. There was no use scaring Virgil again, and there was no use in him freaking out either. That didn't help anyone.

Needless to say, after the accident both Patton and Roman needed extensive care.

Roman needed surgery to remove the metal from his stomach and Patton's injuries to his face and other areas required glass to be removed and the areas to be stitched up.

Virgil was injured as well, possibly more than even the doctors were able to tell, but his powers seemed to be working again and his wounds were healing up on their own. He knew he was badly injured only from the fact that he could feel the pain. He would have had a concussion right now if it weren't for his quick healing. 

Logan was fine. Only a few minor scratches and a concussion from when the crash happened.

The two of them were checked out, treated and determined fit to go home. Roman and Patton, however, had to stay for a while. 

Logan and Virgil sat together in the waiting room for a while, holding hands to comfort each other, as friends who had been through a traumatic event together did. Then Logan's Mom came and got him, and the Prince's came to see Roman. They were going to stay and asked if Virgil wanted to go home, but he couldn't leave them. He couldn’t leave Roman. 

The Prince's were able to go and stay in Roman's hospital room, seeing as they were rich and could afford to get him one to himself. Patton was in a single one as well but Virgil was told that only his family were allowed in, even though he didn't have any. So, Virgil had to stay in the waiting room. 

He sat down in an uncomfortable chair, rested his head and as he did so, his eyes got heavier and heavier until they eventually fluttered shut. 

When his eyes opened he was once again in Roman's destroyed car. This time though, it was on fire.

He sat up in his seat and looked around, only to once again find his friends burned to death like in his other dream. Their bodies were unrecognizable this time, though. He could only tell which one was which by where they were sitting.

He got out of the car, tears streaming down his face and saw a car mirror on the ground. When he looked into it he saw himself, his eyes glowing and his face, evil.

Virgil woke up with a start, and the waiting room was still vacant, or so he thought.

"Hey there, Virge," A familiar voice said, making him jump in his seat.

Virgil swallowed dryly. "Nate," 

"What brings you here?" Nate asked smugly. 

"I could ask you the same…" Virgil replied, staring at the boy suspiciously.

Nate smirked. "Well, you see, yesterday my car just so happened to crash into another car," 

Virgil's eyes widened. "No…" Virgil felt pain seer through his body, more than he had been feeling. 

Something wasn't right here. 

"My plan was to have you be the cause of the accident, and have Roman demolish my car as well as kill every passenger aside from you, but unfortunately your powers are stronger than I first thought," 

"My- what?" Virgil's heart felt like it could pop out of his chest at any moment. How did Nate know? Why weren't his powers working? 

Virgil could tell some of his wounds were bleeding from how bad the pain was getting, but he was too scared to look. 

Nate laughed at the sight of him. "You see, I too have powers. What they are is that I can erase, control and manipulate the powers of others as well as mind control those without powers," 

Virgil felt heat rise at his palms again. "So…" He looked at his hand and sure enough, it was flickering just as it had in the car. "You... you did this!" He went to grab Nate, but Nate caused the fire to grow larger and Virgil stopped dead in his tracks.

"Move any closer and you'll draw attention to yourself," Nate said, holding out his hand toward Virgil. 

Virgil teared up instinctively. "I'll- I’ll get you! I'll go to the police I-" 

"Oh, poor Virgil. If only there were someone out there who would believe you that isn't one of your pathetic mortal friends," Nate snickered. "You see, my plan was for you to kill Roman, then his blood would be on your hands and everyone would know what you really are… a murderer," 

"But I didn't kill anyone…" Virgil said, but did he really know that?

"Oh, you sure about that? Dear old Mom and Dad surely feel different," Nate's eyes were full of what seemed to be amusement. He was enjoying this.

"Don't you dare talk about them as if you know anything!" Virgil yelled, emotions getting the best of him. 

"Listen, I'm gonna get back to my room. Until you leave this place your powers are going to keep acting up. Wherever you go, if I am there, you risk burning down the building. I suggest running away now… before anyone gets hurt… oh. Too late," Nate snickered before walking away, leaving Virgil in tears and his heart heavy in his chest. 

He couldn't leave. He had to get control over himself. His powers were tied to his emotions, so maybe if he relaxed, Nate couldn't affect him. 

What relaxed him?

His mind drifted to times with his three new friends. This past week had been such a roller coaster but any moment he shared with them, he felt so safe. 

Maybe, he just had to think of how safe he felt in those moments, to calm down.

It wasn't a for sure thing, but it was worth a shot. 

He decided he was going to try to meditate by listening to relaxing music and thinking of his friends. At first, he could still feel sparks on his skin but then, they stopped. The more relaxed he was the harder it got for Nate to control him. Now he just had to keep this up for as long as he lived with Roman.

Roman. 

Virgil's face flushed red from fondness at the thought of the boy, and then he remembered what happened yesterday. His eyes started tearing up again and he frowned. He was partly responsible for Roman getting distracted, and he could have died because of him.

He remembered the look on Roman's face when he woke up. He was fine but then he wasn't. He remembered the looks on all of their faces. Fear. Pain. 

It was all his fault. 

He had to fix it, to make it up to them somehow. He had to protect them from Nate. This surely wasn't the end of his torment.