There were three people in the room. The Queen of the Light Realm, The King of the Light Realm. And the youngest Prince of the Dark Realm. Virgil was frozen in his place, his fingers tapped at his side frantically. His eyes ran wild around the room as they searched for an emergency escape route. He figured if he was faster than Roman than he had to be faster than the king and queen. "Prince Virgil, would you like to take a seat?" The queen said she pointed to a chair to the side and then to a spot a few feet in front of them.

No. Virgil would not like to take a seat. If he sat down it would make him slower. It would add an extra step to his escape plan. What if they were gonna hurt him? He was a fool for ever agreeing to this. Their kingdoms hated each other, why would his getting attacked do anything? No. No. He didn't want to sit down.

But he did, Virgil carefully moved the chair exactly where the queen wanted and took a seat. 'You need this' He reminded himself. 'Dee and Remus need you and it'll be much easier if you have help.'

"Prince Virgil, are you aware that if any of what you have spoken here is false your kingdom will be going to war with our own?" The king asked

Virgil nodded.

"And you're willing to risk that?"

'It's the truth' He signed. But he could tell by the looks on their faces that they didn't understand. He bit his lip before making a writing motion.

"Of course, here you are" the king gathered some blank pages in front of him and a pencil, he motioned for Virgil to retrieve them. Virgil did, slowly and hesitantly. Once they were in his hand he carefully backed away, watching the two other royals as he took a seat again. He wrote the same words down before showing it to them.

"What do you know about war, Prince Virgil," the queen asked

'I'm sixteen, I know very little about war. I know that it's devastating and I know it's something my kingdom has wanted to avoid'

The king looked Virgil in the eye as he spoke again, sitting up straighter as he did "Yet we have had several battles between our kingdoms"

'I can not speak for the actions of my father.'

"You are speaking carefully" The queen noted

'I value my life and I am well aware that if I say the wrong thing it would not be very difficult for you to take it.'

"You were promised your safety while in this room." The king reminded him, "Did you hear anything the night that you were attacked?"

Virgil thought for a moment, the only words he had heard from the attackers were from the people who had chased after him, 'I was nearly caught, the two men who grabbed me were speaking about how they wanted me alive and how harming me might force my brother to stop fighting them'

Under the table, the king took the queen's hand gently, "Did they say anything about your father?"

Virgil shook his head.

"Were they strong?"

Virgil nodded.

"Do you think they might come here?"

This was getting annoying, answering questions, writing things down. All this was doing was wasting time! Why couldn't they just decide already? Were they gonna help him or not? He needed to go, he needed to save his brother. He needed to go home! He was tired of this. He wasn't supposed to be nice and polite to these people. He was supposed to not like them. They had done terrible things to their kingdom and terrible things to Remus, their son. He didn't like this 'Just a little longer. Be the polite calm prince for a little longer

'I don't know. I just want to help my kingdom'

"Why did you come here?" The queen asked

'It wasn't on purpose. I was just running, I didn't have time to know where I was going. I was scared'

"Why did they attack?"

The pencil in Virgil's hand snapped. The king inhaled deeply, he meant nothing by it but it sent fear through Virgil. His head shot upward, he looked like a deer in headlights. The pencil rolled to the ground. The king and queen watched him. His hands started shaking again, "Virgil, why did they attack?" they repeated.

He lifted his hands and tried to sign, they gave him confused looks. He missed his home, where everyone who mattered understood sign language and knew exactly what he was saying. "Virgil." they sounded so expectant of him. Roman said they weren't expecting him to speak but it sounded like they were and he couldn't. Before coming here Virgil hadn't spoken in so long. It had been nice. He had been comfortable in his silence. He was fine! He had been fine! Everything had been fine!

Virgil dove for the pencil on the floor, finding the sharp part and grabbing the notepad again. He hurried to try and put it all together, to write down the words they wanted him to speak. He tried to ignore the scraping of two chairs and the two sets of footsteps as he hurried to write down the words. He felt a hand placed on his shoulder and before he could stop himself he slapped it away. He froze. Realizing what he had done and terror-filled him. He dropped the pencil and notepad, 'I'm sorry' he signed 'I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry'

"Calm down boy!" The king yelled, Virgil jumped backward but stopped signing. The king and queen stared down at him, "You're an odd one, we'll give you that. However I doubt you are lying,"

"Richard," the queen said, her voice hushed. She took a step towards Virgil, he moved back and the queen did not press her luck on succeeding in getting closer, "I was about your age when my father died and my sister was deemed unfit to rule Virgil. Your grandfather-"

Virgil flinched at the mention of the man who had brought the Dark Realm it's terrible reputation.

"-did not waste time. He saw us as weak, he took his opportunity and attacked us unprovoked much like you were. Just like you, I was scared. But I was queen, people were looking at me to make decisions" The queen paused, "Prince Virgil you do realize that as of this moment you are the only person of royal blood who has been accounted for?"

Virgil nodded solemnly.

The queen looked to her husband, before turning back to Virgil, "Than you also must realize that the decisions now fall to you. Which means you must decide how you will react to what has happened. Will you retaliate and show those in your kingdom who have survived the attack that you will not allow this to happen, or will you return home and focus on rebuilding, and on safety rather than on revenge."

Virgil's eyes drifted from the queen to the king. The king was looking at his wife with love in his eyes. In most fairy tales a female would never be allowed to take the thrown, yet the queen of the Light Realm did so when she was seventeen. And when marrying the man next to her, he did not take any power away from her. They ruled equally. The queen's eyes met Virgil's and it was then that he realized that the king was not the royal he should have made eye contact and shown the determined look to. For the king did not inherit the throne, he had married into it. He should have challenged the queen, and yet he was thankful for his mistake.

"No matter what you choose Virgil, I do suggest we put whatever has gone on between our kingdoms to rest for now. After all, it would be difficult to help you and your kingdom if were fighting each other at the same time."

Virgil froze again.

They were doing it. They were gonna help him. He had done it. He had convinced them. He had a chance now. An actual chance. "Do you agree to a truce Virgil? We can sort out the terms at a later time" Virgil nodded, yes. Yes, yes he needed this. The queen lifted a hand to her head and pulled a pencil that had been tucked away in her hair, unseen until now. "And what will you decide Virgil? Both options show strength, neither are wrong, and both will at one point have to be dealt with but you must decide what comes first" she held the pencil out to Virgil.

He took it before finding the notepad again, 'Thank you your highness for what you have said.' he hesitated before continuing 'I think I should first see the condition the Dark Realm is in.'

The queen nodded before she held out her hand to Virgil. He forced himself to take it and the queen helped him stand again. She gave a small smile before turning to the door, "I think it's time to end the anticipation waiting behind those doors. Don't you agree?" she asked him. Virgil nodded, a small amount of anxiety falling away from him as he realized he was one step closer to fixing everything.

"I can't believe it," Roman said as he moved around the room. Virgil stood still, his eyes followed the prince and looked over to the other two boys in the room. It had been decided that Virgil would stay the night in Prince Roman's room. He was a flight risk, and since he could use his magic to unlock doors they couldn't just lock him somewhere. Virgil understood why they were doing it but he wished they could have just stationed guards or something. They didn't trust him and he didn't trust them. "How did you convince them?" Roman asked.

'I guess I'm good with parents' Virgil wrote, a nervous and mostly fake smile on his face.

"It could also be how their lost son is also involved" Logan mentioned from where he had been sitting and reading a book. Roman had asked Patton and Logan to stay as well, which had simultaneously made Virgil feel better and worse.

Roman handed Virgil a pile of clothes, "There's a bathroom over there, you can take a shower too" he said as he pointed to a door. Virgil nodded before slowly making his way towards it. He felt a heaviness in his chest fall away as he was finally alone again. He hated people. His daily limit had been reached hours ago, probably before he even met the king and queen. He had pushed himself so far and he was sure that his mask of 'strength' was going to collapse any moment now.

Logan, Roman, and Patton were sitting in a small circle talking in hushed and quiet voices. "It's nice of your parents to be doing this. Aren't they worried though?" Patton asked

Roman shook his head, "The fighting between the two realms has gone on forever. My mom hates it, she's always said she wanted to put an end to it before I took the throne. I think she saw her chance and took it. Besides, now that we know that Remus is okay we have to help."

"Well, my mom was happy. She said she thinks Ann is better than his grandfather" Patton said

"Well, that's not exactly hard. His grandfather was evil." Roman said.

Logan looked up from his book, "General Tafe did not seem happy about their choice, I heard him talking to you parents after the meeting. Quite loudly I should add."

"General Tafe is a horrible man, I'm not surprised. He's a villain, just like the Dark Realm has been" Roman whispered, "I trust my parent's choice, and I agree with them. I don't think Ann is lying, but still, we should be careful"

"Agreed," Logan said as he flipped his book closed, "Ann is being cautious around us because he does not trust us. And if he can not trust us than we can not trust him"

They stopped as the sound of the door creaking open alerted them that Ann was exiting the bathroom again. They turned to face him swiftly. The clothes he wore were slightly big on him but would be fine for a while. The boy's hair was still wet and messy from the water, but he had obviously tried to towel dry it. He was tall for his age, something that had come to a surprise to them all. But he was also thin, when coming in Roman had easily been able to wrap his arm around him.

Ann lifted his hands and started signing something but nobody knew what he was trying to tell them. "You're going to need to write it down kiddo," Patton said, they stood up to hand Ann the notepad again but Ann backed away from him and shook his head, waving his hand as if to tell them 'never mind'. Patton frowned, "Okay then. Are you sure?"

Ann nodded and took another step away from Patton, his back nearly hitting the door to the bathroom again. "Ann, I have a few more questions for you about the attack," Logan said as he stood up.

Ann shook his head and signed again, he looked at them before sighing and taking the notepad from Patton, 'I'd rather not.'

Logan sighed "It's important that we are prepared"

'It's all I can think about. It's too much.'

"You'll have to-"

Logan was interrupted by Patton, "Lo, let's give Ann a break. He's had a long day" Logan looked Ann in the eye before nodding and walking towards Roman. The two looked at Ann again before falling into a quiet conversation. "Don't mind Lo, he's not good with emotions. Do you wanna play a board game? Roman has tons." Ann looked over at the other two boys in the room, "They don't have to play if you don't want them too. It can be just us. Okay?"

Ann hesitated before nodding his head.