roman audibly gasped, his mom was still alive? he peeked his head around the corner and saw that his father had his back turned to him so he silently stepped closer. "what do you mean? you said she died after giving birth from-"

"i lied." he said, crossing his arms. "i.. she is still alive and living in this kingdom."

"what?!" remy exclaimed, becoming slightly angry. "she is living here and you didn't care to tell us-"

"i have a valid reason,-"

"i'm sure you do!" remy said sarcastically, "totally. there can be a super valid reason for hiding me and roman from our mother!" remy glanced past his and saw roman, but said nothing about it. "what other lies are you keeping from us?!"

the king sighed and rolled his eyes. "stop being so childish! i had to hide your mother because of who she was!"

"who was she?" remy asked, his tone softening.

"she... she was a freak, to put it simply. she had these powers that weren't normal." the king explained. "i admired her for them, but the world has a different opinion as me."

"what does this have to do with roman."

"well, she had both of you.. obviously." he laughed to try to lighten the mood. "and well, you inherited a lot of my traits, and roman. he inherited a lot of your mother's traits... including her powers."

roman finally spoke up. "what do you mean i have my mother's powers?!" the king turned around.

"i see you're home. you're late, you know?"

"and you lied, you know?" he spat back, crossing his arms. "plus i have a reason to be late."

"well i have a reason for lying-"

"yeah right-!"

"i didn't want you to be hated!" he father shouted. "i didn't want to banish you into the dungeon with your mother!" he ranted angrily. "i would have loved to have your mother out of there! for you both to be yourselves! but i can't, if it got out that you had any abilities at all you'd be out casted, hated by everyone!"

both remy and roman were taken aback. "i-i'm sorry.." roman looked down guiltily. "i should've trusted you.. but can i see her?"

"your mother?" roman nodded. "of course. follow me, remy you can come too."

the three of them began to head towards where their mother was. she wasn't in the dungeons, like the king said rather in a hidden area where she could roam free with very few. roman's mind was racing, what was his power? was his dad lying? "hello, victoria? it's fredrick.." shuffling was heard from the inside and the door creaked open. "i have a surprise, darling."

"what is it?" she asked, but the king said nothing as he stepped aside to reveal their sons. "are they..?" she looked to fredrick, tears welling up in her eyes. he nodded and smiled. "oh my goodness! come in, please." she said and opened the door fully.

------

"why won't you open up?" patton asked virgil, wrapping his arms around virgil's shoulders.

"opening up is terrifying." virgil sighed deeply. "besides, it does not matter. we need to tend to everyone here."

"everyone is fine, virgil. bottling things up isn't healthy, you know that." patton said softly, "i'm not going to force you to talk, but just know it's an option-"

"the kingdom i came from is edonna." virgil rushed out before he could stop himself. "i- i was listening to the king's thoughts, although i thought he was speaking. he was in my father's store at the time. i asked him about his wife, because that is what he was thinking about. he found out i could read thoughts and kicked me and my family out of the kingdom."

patton gasped. "i'm so sorry that happened!" he hugged virgil tighter, "you didn't deserve that."

virgil nodded numbly. "when we were kicked out my little sister, who was only three at the time, fell ill and passed i swore to build my own army and get revenge.. but. there is something about roman that i can't shake-"

"you have a crush!" patton exclaimed, "you have a crush on roman!"

"what? n-no!" virgil blushed and stood up. "that's illogical."

patton smirked widely. "who d'you think you're kidding? he's the earth and heaven to you!" virgil smiled at patton and rolled his eyes.

"come on, let's go. we have a kingdom to run."

------

"i.. i know a place where mom and i can go." roman spoke up after a while. "they're nice people. they most likely will allow us in, it's kingdom uhhh equality in french?"

"that's a weird kingdom name." remy said, scrunching his nose. roman sighed in disappointment at how stupid his brother was. "well, should we go see?" his mother spoke up.

"yes. gear up, the ride is at least a half hour when rushing." the four of them geared their horses up, keeping victoria hidden from the public. roman was nervous to go back, what if they didn't want to help roman and his mother? what if virgil and patton were lying and didn't actually believe in equality?

roman wasn't completely sure where the kingdom was but he had a small understanding of its general direction. he knew that it only looked like a small city which may make his father uneasy but they were new, they were still working on it.

it took forty five minutes to arrive to the kingdom and as he suspected, his father was becoming uneasy. fredrick walked next to roman and whispered, "are you sure this is suitable for you and your mother?" roman just nodded as he walked up to someone.

"excuse me, do you know where king virgil is?" roman asked someone who had a very unnatural hair color.

they turned around, "oh, yes. he is in the infirmary, do you know where that is?"

roman smiled and nodded. "yes, thank you.."

"talyn." they smiled.

"well thank you, talyn." with that, roman was off the infirmary, his family following behind. it didn't take long for them to reach their destination, when they did they were greeted by logan.

"roman, i didn't expect to see you here again." logan said, quite surprised. "what brings you here again? are you feeling alright from earlier?"

"i feel fine, but i need to speak to virgil." logan nodded in understanding.

"well, i can go get him for you." logan walked off into the infirmary, roman knew he was going to want to talk in private so he followed and waited in the waiting area. "care to explain how you know this kingdom or these people? and what did that boy mean were you feeling alright?"

roman sighed at his father. "i was attacked and they helped me back to health." roman said, staring at the doorway. the family conversed until logan came back with virgil. "virgil, hello."

virgil smiled, "hello, roman. what do you need?"

"well.. first i would like to apologise about what i said earlier about people with abilities i was misinformed."

virgil nodded. "it is fine, i actually do not doubt that your father would have lied to you like that," virgil said, knowing very well that king fredrick was here. "seeing as he does dislike people with abilities."

"excuse you, i do not dislike anyone!" fredrick exclaimed angrily.

"really? could've fooled me." virgil crossed his arms and turned back to roman. "now. what do you need, roman."

"um. i was just wondering if my mother and i would be able to reside here." roman scratched the back of his neck. "for.. reasons i am unable to stay in my own kingdom with my mother."

"of course." virgil said. "i can find you somewhere to stay until we can expand our kingdom and make new houses for you and others." virgil gave a small smile to roman and his mother.

"thank you so much, how can we ever repay you?" his mother spoke up, extremely grateful.

virgil shook his head. "it is fine, i am happy to help anyone in need."

---

time passed, only a month or so, and roman and his mother already got a house for their own. it wasn't too big or too small, it was cozy.

virgil and roman hung out a lot, too. roman truly thought nothing of this but virgil just couldn't keep himself away from roman. he was very glad that roman liked his presence and didn't find him creepy or annoying.

virgil was staring out the window of the highest room the small castle has already. "is it roman?"

virgil almost flinched but kept to himself, not turning around. "i'm afraid i do not know what you mean." he replied, cooly, only slightly freaked out.

"you like my son." the voice- who he now assumed was roman's mothers- got closer.

"and." virgil said, sighing slightly. "so what if i do?" he asked, glancing over to roman's mother.

she thought for a moment. "i think that is wonderful if you do. although you're both so young, your minds have grown so much and you're more than mature enough." she replied, carefully picking her words. "he likes you back, i hope you know."

virgil laughed, shaking his head. "nonsense. he doesn't like me back, this is just a stupid crush." he said, back. "but i must get back to work, goodbye." and with that, virgil turned his heal and left, going down to see if anyone needed help around the kingdom.

meanwhile logan was having tea with roman and patton. they all were working at the infirmary, and right now there wasn't anybody to tend to. "