Fair warning, I'm going to change up this part, so I hope you're ready.

The trio rode through the woods as fast as Thomas could manage, until they came up to the wall of rock and ran through the secret entrance, the large tower coming into view.

Thomas quickly stopped at the base of the tower, and the three slipped off of him, saying thank you's as they rushed to the base, all three staring up at the window.

"Virgil!" Roman called.

"Virgil throw down a rope!!" He yelled, but didn't get any response.

They waited a few seconds before beginning to climb up the wall of the tower, gripping at the rocks which had become slippery from the slight drizzling that had begun to come down when they started riding.

Suddenly the window opened up above them, and a few seconds later a rope was thrown down.

The three smiled slightly as they saw the rope, and dropped down from where they had begun to climb the wall, and quickly began to make their way up the rope, Roman taking the lead, followed by Patton and then Logan.

"Virgil, I thought we were never going to see you again-" Roman cut himself off as the three of them quickly climbed into the room, only to stop dead when they saw Virgil on the floor, his mouth gagged and his body tied up by some strange material.

Virgil's eyes widened when he saw them, and he tried to say something around his gag as he struggled against his bonds, which seemed to get tighter as he moved, but it only came out muffled and incomprehensible.

The three rushed over to his side and propped him up from where he'd been laying.

"Oh my goodness." Parton said as he kneeled in front of him and brushed the hair out of his face, before trying to pry the gag out of his mouth, but it wouldn't budge.

There was a slight movement and a small hiss before something darted out and latched onto Patton's arm, causing him to shriek and jerk back into Roman.

A snake, a very large one at that, had struck out and bitten Patton, it's fangs sinking into his flush and pumping venom into his blood steam.

Virgil cried out from behind his gag, before forcibly jerking himself away, forcing the snake to let go of Patton in order to move with Virgil, hissing loudly.

(Note: if a snake bites you, do not yank it away, you'll only do more damage to yourself and the snake)

It was then the trio realized that the strange material binding Virgil was in fact one giant, living, snake, the same snake that had just bitten Patton.

"Well well well, what don't we have here."  A voice from within the shadows asked, causing the three to stiffen and whirl around.

Deceit was standing next to the shattered mirror, his arms behind his back as he stared at the three of them, snakes hissing and slithering around his feet and around the rest of the room.

He snapped his fingers and snakes jerked forwards, wrapping themselves around Roman, Logan and Patton, bonding the trio and causing them to fall to the floor with strangled gasps.

They struggled, writhing and trying to break free from their bonds.

"Ah, I would totally do that if I were you blondie." Deceit said."the venom totally won't course through your body even faster if you move around a lot."

His words caused Patton to freeze and lie perfectly still, the only movement from him being his slightly erratic breathing.

"Let us go! you mother fuc-" Roman was cut off by the snake binding him wrapping around his throat and beginning to choke him.

"Now now, we can have that." Deceit said as he began walking towards Virgil.

"Look what you haven't done Virgil." He hissed as he grabbed the cuff of Virgil's shirt and takes him up.

"Now our little secret won't die with these three," he said."we'll just have to not wait for that one to not starve, or I could not poison him as well." He said with a laugh, gesturing to Logan, who stiffened, eye staring between Virgil, the suffocating Roman, and Patton, who's cheeks had begun to get a bit flushed and he began to sweat a bit, looking semi-feverish.

"And as for us," Deceit continued. "We aren't going where no one can find you ever again, you will most definitely see the light of day for the rest of your life." He said as he began to drag a struggling Vergil away.

"Stop this," Logan said. "Stop, you're killing them."

"That is totally not the point." Deceit hissed.

Remy, who had been hiding up in the rafters since he'd arrived, unable to help Virgil, swooped down and began to peck and scratch at Deceits face and eyes, causing the man to stumble back a bit before swatting the bird away, slamming him into the wall, where he then fell into a heap on the ground.

Virgil gasped and began to struggle even more as Deceit dragged him towards the set of secret stairs that lead down the tower.

"Don't stop struggling Virgil!" Deceit hissed as he yanked Virgil even closer to the open trap door.

Virgil glared and proceeded to bite down on the snake in his mouth as hard as he could, forcing its to move and free his mouth, allowing him to gasp for air.

"No!" He yelled. "I won't stop! For every minute of the rest of my life I will fight! I will never stop trying to get away from you!" He yelled at him as he managed to jerk away and collapse to the floor.

"But," he began. "If you stop choking him, and let me save Patton, I will go with you." He said as he stared him in the eye.

"No, no Virgil don't do this-" Logan said, but a snake quickly gagged his mouth.

"I'll never run, I'll never try to escape," Virgil continues. "Just let me heal him, and you and I will be together, forever just like you want." He said. "Everything will be the way it was, I promise, just like you want." He looked up at Deceit pleadingly. "Just stop choking him, and let me heal Patton." He finished.

Deceit continued to stare at him for a few seconds before sighing and snapping his fingers, the snake chocking Roman letting go, allowing the teen to gasp for air and cough, only to be gagged by the snake instead.

The snake binding Patton slithered away, allowing the male to lay limply on the ground, the venom quickly taking effect, making him feverish and weak, shivering slight while also burning up.

The snake binding Virgil slithered away as well, and Virgil quickly scrambled to Patton's side, quickly propping the other male up against the column to the side of the room that helped to support the ceiling.

He watched as Patton opened his eyes slightly and looked up at him, panting softly.

"Virgil," he whimpered. "Please don't do this."

"Shhh," Virgil shushed him gently. "Everything's going to be alright." He said as he took Patton's hand and held it up to his head, but Patton pulled his hand away.

"You can't....you can't do this." Patton said weakly as he winced. "I-I can't let you...do this."

Virgil smiled sadly. "And I can't let you die, not for someone like me," he said. "I'm not worth it, and you need to live and get that dream of yours, where you Roman and Logan live happily together, in your own house." He said as he gently rubbed Patton's cheek with his thumb.

"You're part of that dream now," Patton mumbled. "I can't...I can't be ha-happy without you." He said as tears well up in his eyes.

"Shhh, let me do this for you, please?" Virgil pleaded with him, wiping his tears away.

"But if you do, then you will die." Patron whimpered again.

"It's alright," Virgil said. "I promise, everything is going to be okay." He said as he closed his eyes and held back his own tears.

Patton glanced over and saw the broken mirror.

He subtly reached over and grabbed the largest shard he could.

"Virgil, wait..." He mumbled softly as he lifted his other hand and carded his fingers through Virgil's hair, prompting the other boy to look at him.

Before Virgil could say anything Patton had gathered Virgil's hair together and lifted his other hand, using the shard of glass to cut Virgil's hair.

His once shiny black hair turned matte, the glimmers of purple and green like raven feathers disappearing and turning into rich dark brown, very similar to a dark chocolate color.

"Patton!" Virgil said in shock and he reached up and felt his now short hair, and watched as the hair that had been cut and had fallen into his lap turn dark brown, losing their magic.

"Yes!" Deceit screeched as he rushed forward from where he'd been watching next to the window, and grabbed Virgil's shoulders, shaking him vigorously.

"Yes yes yes!" He said before throwing Vergil to the ground.

"What haven't you done!" He cried as he watched his once fair skin turn wrinkled and saggy as his old age rushed upon him. "What haven't you done!" He yelled, taking a few steps back.

Remy, having recovered from being slammed against the wall, flew forward angrily and began to scratch and peck at deceits face with new vigor, clawing at his eyes viciously as the man continued to screech and stumble backwards, before tripping over the rope for the pulley system, and falling out of the window of the tower with a cry.

Virgil gasped and watched as the man fell out of the window, screaming all the way down, until it stopped and went deathly quiet.

The silence was broken by a small cough, and Virgil's attention immediately went back to Patton.

"Patton, no no no no no, don't go," he said as he pulled Patton into his lap and cradled him. "Stay with me, stay with us, please..." he mumbled, tears welling up in his eyes.

He brushed the hair out of Patton's face as he began to cry.

"Virgil..." Patton mumbled. "Take care of them for me..."

"No, no you can't, we need you, I need you." He said desperately as he pressed his forehead against Patton's, tears sliding down his cheeks.

The snakes binding Romans and Logan slowly slithered away, freeing the two, who quickly rushed over to Virgil and Patton, kneeling down and close, tears gathering in their eyes as well.

Patron smiled slightly, before his eyes slipped closed and he went limp in Virgil's hold, making the younger males breath hitch before he began to cry harder, his tears falling down onto Patton's cheek.

"Patton..." Roman said, his voice rough and choked up as he looked at the blonde, tears running down his face as he squeezed Logan's hand, the other male not doing much better than him.

One of Virgil's tears slowly seeped onto Patton's skin, a softly golden glow emanating from the skin for a second, but the other three didn't notice.

Then his arm where the snake had bitten him began to glow, tendrils of golden light spiraling upwards.

The three noticed the glowing now and leaned back to stare in awe as the room was quickly bathed in a glowing light, before it all seeped back into Patton in the blink of an eye.

The three watched with baited breath, waiting to see any sort of reaction from Patton.

Then his face scrunched up.

And he slowly began to open his eyes.

Virgil felt a fresh batch of tears well up in his eyes, and he quickly pulled Patton into a hug, soon followed by Roman and Logan, everyone now outright sobbing as they held each other, happy that they were all still alive.

Eventually they pulled back and began o fuss over Patton, who brushed them off, claiming he was fine.

"Virgil, I just want to say that the other night, when we went on the beach, I swear to you that we were going to come back , but-" Logan was cut off by Virgil gently pressing a finger to his lips.

"I know," he said softly as he pulled his hand away. "Fath- Deceit told me when I figured out that he'd been lying to my my whole life, found out that he'd kidnapped me as a baby and was only using me." Virgil explained.

"We'll address that in a second," Roman said. "But if you know does that mean-"

"-that I still love you?" Virgil asked with a smile. "What kind of question is that, or course I still love you." He said.

The three of them seemed to relax at his words and smiled.

"Oh thank goodness." Patton said as he relaxed against Virgil, pressing his face against the others neck with a relieved sigh, making Virgil laugh softly.

"Now," Logan began. "What is this about you being kidnapped?" He asked.

Then Virgil began to explain everything he'd figured out, from how he was actually the lost prince and that Deceit had kidnapped him for his own greedy intentions, then he talked about his argument with Deceit and what had lead to him being bound and gagged when they arrived.

The three listens with rapt attention, soaking up every detail and become more and more upset with every new thing the heard or learned about Deceit.

"But enough about me, what happens to you guys?" Virgil asked, "Deceit said that you were...that you were going to be..." he trailed off, looking down.

The three grimaced and Roman rubbed his neck subconsciously before beginning to explain what had happened, starting with when the three had left him on the beach, to when they'd been captured by the guards, and then when they'd run into the Stabbington brothers again, with Logan blushing when they described how angry and concerned he'd been, to when they were being taken out to the court yard, and then the entire fiasco with the thugs from the Snuggly Duckling, telling him how it had been Remy and Thomas who had gotten them and convinced them to bust the trio out.

Virgil laughed softly and smiled at them.

"Seemed like you guys had a bunch more excitement than I did." He said. "We'll need to thank all of them and Thomas and Remy for helping." He said.

"Also," he began as shifted, moving Patton so he was leaning against Roman as Virgil turned to face Logan.

"May I please have a kiss?" He asked."if it's not to-"

Virgil was cut off by Logan moving forward and pressing his lips to Virgil's, closing his eyes as he wrapped his arms around the smaller males waist. Virgil was a little surprised at first, but soon smiled and kissed him back, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around his neck, humming softly.

Roman and Patton smiled at the two, before turning to each other and laughing softly before kissing as well, pulling away after a few seconds.

Virgil and Logan pulled away from one another a few seconds after the other two, and before Virgil could say anything he was tackled by Patton, who squealed and began to kiss at Virgil's cheeks and neck, making the slightly younger male blush brightly and laugh as he lifted his hands and ran them through Patton's hair.

"Be careful of the glass guys." Logan said, reminding them that there were still shards of the broken mirror all over the floor.

The two smiled brightly as they sat up, Patton curled up in Virgil's lap as he held onto the younger boy with a death grip.

"I'm never letting you go ever again." He said. "You'd better get comfy, cause my new home is being attached to you." He said with a laugh.

"Oh really?" Virgil asked, "But what if you ever want to cuddle with Roman or Logan?" He asked as he pressed a kiss to the top of Patton's head.

"I'll go to them, and then come right back to you." He said. "It'll be like a vacation, they're my homes away from home." He said with a laugh, gaining laughs from the other three as well.

All jokes aside Patton did eventually let Virgil go, but only because it was about time they left the tower, none of them really wanting to be inside of it for much longer.

They made their way down the set of rickety old stairs in the secret passage that lead to the bottom of the tower, holding each others hands on the way down, until they were able to step outside, Remy quickly flying down after them.

Virgil took a deep breath of the fresh air that he'd missed after being brought back to the tower, and smiled as he looked at the other three, who smiled back at him.

They met up with Thomas at the secret entrance to the clearing, and he nudged against Virgil's cheek happily.

They all began the walk back to the kingdom, taking their time and enjoying themselves now that they had nothing to worry about, except for the possibility of guards spotting them or something.

They eventually found a nice spot to set up camp, a much more comfortable spot in comparison to the last place they'd camped together, which somehow felt like forever ago.

As it began to grow dark they curled up together, Virgil tucked up against Logan's chest while Roman held a sleeping Patton close, the four of them sitting contently by the fire.

"Are you going to tell your parents?" Logan asked softly out of the blue, gently carding his fingers through Virgil's short hair.

Virgil shrugged and snuggled closer to Logan.

"Probably," he mumbled. "I want to meet them, but what if they don't believe me?" He asked.

"They will, you look just like them, and you can explain everything that happened." Roman said, and if they don't believe you than it's their loss and we'll just have to go make a home for ourselves somewhere else." He said.

Virgil hummed and nodded. "Alright." He mumbled as he pressed his face against Logan's neck, pressing a gentle kiss there for a second.

Virgil soon fell asleep, and was soon followed by Roman and Logan, who shifted them all down into laying positions before cuddling up against each other and falling asleep.

Patton was the first one awake the next morning, and smiling before snuggling closer to Roman, pressing gentle kisses to his neck to wake him up.

It worked after almost a minute, with Roman curling around Patton and holding him tighter as he slowly woke up, blinking his eyes open with a small hum.

His cheeks quickly flushed as Patton pulled away and smiled up at him.

"Good morning." He said softly.

"Good morning, love." Roman said in return, gently kissing Patton's forehead before sitting up with him and stretching.

Paton blushed brightly before turning to Logan and Virgil, who were still sleeping.

"Should we wake them up?" Patton asked quietly.

Roman thought for a second, before shaking his head.

"Nah, let them sleep for a little while longer." He said as he slowly stood up.

"I'm going to go look for some breakfast, mind keeping an eye on things here till I get back?" He asked.

"Sure, I don't mind." Patton said with a smile. "Good luck finding stuff." He added.

Roman smiled and kissed the top of his head before leaving, walking out into the woods around them in search of food.

Patton stretched a bit before getting up as well, rekindling the fire they'd made last night so that if Roman did find something and it needed to be cooked they'd be ready.
And it was also pretty cold still and the fire would help him stay warm now that he wasn't cuddling with Roman.

-an hour or so later-

Virgil woke up slowly to the faint murmur of chatter and the sound of a crackling fire, feeling warm and content.

He hummed softly and snuggled closer to whoever was his pillow, opening his eyes slowly as he did.

He looked up and saw Logan looking down at him with a fond smile.

"Why good morning sleeping beauty." A voice next to them said, and Virgil shifted to look, spotting Roman sitting next to Patton a couple feet away next to the fire.

Virgil blushed slightly and sat up with a yawn before rubbing his face.

He then turned to Logan and his blush darkened.

"Sorry for sleeping on you." He said sheepishly as he looked down at his lap.

"It is alright," Logan said. "I quiet enjoyed it actually, it is very pleasant to sleep with you." He said.

Virgil's blush darkened even more, and slowly Logan realized the phrasing he had used and blushed dark red as well, quickly stuttering out a reply.

"I-I mean snuggle with you, b-but I'm sure actually sleeping with you would also be pleasant, if that's something you'd want to do, but you don't have to, it's not a requirement, it's just-" Logan was interrupted by Roman, who was smiling at the usually composed male's flustered-ness.

"I'm just going to stop you there Logan," he said with a smile. "Better stop you now before you both die of embarrassment." He added with a small laugh.

Logan just blushed beet red and looked away, while Virgil also blushed and chewed on his lip shyly.

"Well, anyway, we saved you some breakfast." Patton said as he held the food out to Virgil, who took it with a shy thank you.

"Roman was able to fine some black berries, hazelnuts and wild strawberries this morning, and brought back plenty for us to eat." Patton explained with a smile before leaning over and kissing Roman on the cheek, making the taller teen blush a little bit.

Virgil smiled and began to eat the food Patton had given him, hesitantly leaning against Logan as he did, trying to get rid of some of the still existing awkwardness.

After he'd finished eating they put out the fire and cleared their camp, before beginning to walk again, Thomas idly following behind hem at a slow pace, Remy perched on his saddle, to lazy to fly.

They chattered as they walked, smiling and occasionally holding hands or exchanging kisses to the cheek or small pecks to the lips every now and then as well.

They eventually made it back to the bridge that lead into Corona, the kingdom bustling about like a beehive even without the excitement of the festival.

The four of them hesitated before beginning to cross the bridge, keeping their eyes peeled for any guards, since Roman, Logan and Patton were even more wanted now, having escaped prison and their punishment for their crimes.

They carefully made their way to the castle, before eventually giving up on sneaking around and just letting Thomas lead the way as they walked up the steps to the castle.

A group of guards rushed forwards, but Thomas stopped them, and huffed at them threateningly until they backed away and let them enter the castle, following close behind them though.

They eventually made it to the throne room, standing in front of the two giant doors, Virgil's parents on the other side.

Virgil took a shaky breath and closed his eyes for a few seconds, feeling a hand squeeze his own and another squeeze his shoulder, with a third rubbing his back.

He smiled and relaxed a small bit as he opened his eyes and looked at the other three lovingly before carefully reaching forward and pushing the large doors open, slowly stepping inside and looking up at the two thrones nervously.