Warnings: Please check the description of the book for trigger warnings as we continue in this book. As far as I know there are none in this chapter, but there definitely will be in the future with what I have planned for this story and I don't want anyone to read and then suddenly find out they can't continue because of a trigger! Please stay safe. <3

There was a loud knock at the front door.

A few days ago this would have sparked a little hope in the three residing in the apartment. They would have rushed to the door, hoping that finally their friend might be back home, that he would be okay. He would come back and everything could go back to normal, as if he had never left at all.

It only took a few days for most of that hope to leave them. Logan was the first to bring up the fact that Virgil might not ever return.

"He might be... We don't know if he's okay. We have to consider that maybe he's..." Logan had said to the pair, tears brimming in his eyes. The three of them were all sat silently in their living room, not doing anything. It had been that way since Virgil went missing. They didn't know what to do.

"Don't say that." Roman snapped, glaring straight through Logan. Patton couldn't say anything, choking on sobs at the idea. His hands came up to cover his mouth, muffling the sound. "Don't even think that, I-that's not true. He's out there, somewhere. We can't give up hope."

Patton had nodded his head quickly, hiccuping and gasping for breath. Roman pulled him under his arm, mumbling reassurance. Logan just nodded his head, deciding not to mention it again.

Now, though, they were less certain. They didn't feel hopeful at the knocking. They were scared of it. They knew that it could be someone finally there to tell them the worst. To tell them that they had found him, but not in the way they wanted.

After a few moments of just staring at each other anxiously, Logan finally offered to answer the door. Neither Patton or Roman offered to instead, so he slowly rose from the couch and made his way towards the door. He hated the way his hands shook as he reached for the handle of the door, gripping it and hesitating. Drawing in a breath he pulled the door open, and began to say hello to whoever was waiting outside.

The word was barely out of his mouth when he froze, staring in shock at the scene just outside his apartment. It was deathly silently for seconds that felt like minutes. Then he heard a raspy voice saying his name, felt a weight crashing against him, and just barely managed to regain his senses before both him and the knocker fell to the floor.

"Patton, Roman!" He called, gaining the attention of his friends as he struggled to hold himself and the other up. They turned to him, and froze up briefly just as he had, but quickly got up to go and help him to get the limp body in his arms over to the couch.

****

When Virgil finally started to regain consciousness it was hard not to just fall right back into his peaceful slumber. He hadn't slept in days, maybe weeks. He wasn't really sure how long it had been, he just knew that he was tired. Tired of being in danger, tired of running, tired of being away from his friends with no way of telling them he was still alive. He was just tired.

He wanted to see them all again though. He had only gotten to see Logan for a brief moment before collapsing on him. He had expected to never see them again, and now he was here and he just had to wake up so he could talk to them again. So he focused hard on the whispers he heard, on each of their voices. He could tell that Patton was crying. There were the occasional sniffles and his voice was wavering as he spoke, wondering where he had been. He heard Roman muttering something to calm Patton, telling him it was fine because he was there now. He couldn't tell where Logan was.

He felt something brush against the back of his hand, and realized that someone was holding onto it. He felt it again and realized they were rubbing their thumb against the back of his hand. Virgil squeezed the hand, and heard the person drawing in a sharp breath. Logan spoke finally, voice soft as he said his name and filled with so much emotion that Virgil had never heard from Logan before. Even with how quietly he had spoken he had gained the attention of Virgil's other two friends, who had stopped speaking to each other presumably to look over at Logan and Virgil.

Virgil's eyes finally fluttered open, lifting his head slowly from the couch to look around at each of his friends. Patton had tears streaking down his cheeks, and Roman looked as though he had been crying as well earlier. Logan has tears in his eyes also, each of them looking so relieved to finally see him again. Virgil felt the same way-had he not already cried more tears than he thought possible while he was away from them he was sure he would be shedding tears now too.

"Hey," Virgil finally found his voice and said the first words coming to his head. He cursed himself for not saying more, but he didn't know what he could possibly say to them anyways. They didn't seem to care too much, and simultaneously moved to throw their arms around him in a tight hug. Even Logan had joined in, one arm curled around his shoulder and tightly gripping the fabric of his shirt, his other hand still holding Virgil's tight. Tears were falling again from everyone but Virgil, who tried his best to put his arms around all three of his friends, pulling them closer to him and finding comfort for the first time in a long time.

"Where have you been?" Patton asked suddenly, voice wavering. The question made Virgil tense, body frozen like a statue. He hadn't even thought about what he would tell them, about what he could possibly say to explain his sudden disappearance.

"I..." Virgil trailed, bringing his hands away from his friends to instead wrap around himself comfortingly, defensively. "I can't... I don't know how to tell you..."

Images flashed through his mind, causing him to tremble in fear. Terrible beasts jumping towards him, their howls and snarls seeming loud enough to shake the ground beneath them. Their teeth sharp as knives, glaringly white against the black fur covering their bodies, so close to sinking them deep into his skin, to tearing him apart and dragging him down to their master.

"Virgil, hey, Virge it's okay, you're okay," he heard, breaking him away from his thoughts. It was Roman speaking this time, trying to calm him down. He realized he had started whimpering to himself, shrinking into the couch and away from everyone. Roman spoke again, softer now that he seemed to finally have Virgil's attention. "You're safe. You don't have to explain everything right now."

Virgil nodded quickly, movements frantic. He drew in shaky breaths of air, focusing on Roman's word. He's safe. He was finally safe, and he was there with his friends. They were safe. Virgil threw his arms around Roman, pulling him onto the couch with him as tears silently streamed down his cheeks. Funny, he didn't think he was hydrated enough to shed any more tears.

"Sorry," Virgil said once he had finally caught his breath. "To all of you, so sorry."

"You don't have anything to apologize for," Patton said, cutting that train of thought off quickly. "We're just happy to see you safe."

"Do you need anything? Have you eaten lately, had water?" Logan asked, bouncing on his feet subtly. Virgil felt both happy and guilty knowing they worried so much over him. He was glad he was missed, but he didn't want to hurt them. He started to shake his head at Logan's question but paused. He couldn't actually remember the last time he'd had the chance to stop for water or food, now that he thought about it. The thought hadn't crossed his mind much as he was running for his life.

"Water?" Virgil said, and Logan was off to the kitchen before all of the word had left his mouth.

Patton took a seat next to Roman, who Virgil still hadn't let go of. He smiled shakily at the two of them. "Are you hurt at all, Virgil? Do we need to take you to a hospital?"

"No, I'm okay." Virgil muttered. He was thankful he hadn't actually been injured other than a few scrapes and bruises from running. He had also tripped quite a few times on his trek back to their apartment. "I... didn't eat, or sleep very much. While I was gone. I only passed out because I just... Couldn't handle it anymore, I guess."

Logan returned with the glass of water, meaning Virgil had to untangle himself from Roman to take it. He frowned, reluctant, but let go and sat up quietly. Roman made sure not to move too far, side still pressed against Virgil as he took the cup.

"Don't drink too fast," Logan warned as Virgil raised the glass to his lips, watching as Virgil took a few slow gulps of the water. It wasn't very cold, but it felt heavenly all the same, soothing his sore throat.

Patton stood up suddenly, urging Logan to sit down on Virgil's other side. Virgil leaned his head into Logan as he did, still wrapping one free arm around Roman. Virgil couldn't help the yelp that left him as Patton started to walk away, arm around Roman leaving to make a grabbing motion at Patton. "Don't, don't leave, please don't leave!"

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Patton was back in front of Virgil in an instant, crouching down, hand slipping into the one Virgil extended towards him. "I'm not going far, I promise. You said you haven't eaten much, yeah?"

Virgil nodded, face burning. He didn't mean to be so clingy, but the idea of any of them leaving without saying where they were going terrified him right now. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Can I go make us some food? I'll be back quickly, but you need something Virge. And then we'll let you get some rest. Sound good?" Virgil nodded again, gaining a smile from Patton. He squeezed Virgil's hand, slowly rising to go into the kitchen. Virgil hid his red face in Logan's shoulder, arm going back around Roman.

It was so warm here, on the couch with his friends, back in his apartment. Comforting. Safe.

****

"Virgil, hey," Virgil felt an arm on his shoulder, gently shaking him awake. He blinked his eyes open slowly, meeting eyes with Patton who smiled down at him. "I'm sorry to wake you, I know you're exhausted but you need to eat. You can lay back down right after, I promise."

Virgil slowly nodded, sitting up and groggily mumbling a thank you as Patton handed him a plate of food. He had also brought food for himself, Roman, and Logan, who hadn't left his side as he had slept. He was grateful for that-he wasn't sure what he would think if he had woken up without them. He didn't want to part from them again after everything that had happened.

Almost immediately as the smell of his meal hit him Virgil was overwhelmed with how hungry he was. His stomach groaned and his mouth watered, quickly taking a few bites of the meal before being warned not to eat so fast, reluctantly slowing down as he ate more. He still finished his food faster than anyone else, setting his plate onto the coffee table that sat in front of the couch before sitting back with his friends silently.

"So," Roman spoke up after a while, clearing his throat. "Can... Will you tell us anything about why you disappeared? Where did you go?"

Virgil swallowed thickly, looking down at his hands in his lap. He tried not to think too hard on what had happened. He couldn't tell them the truth anyways. They would never believe it. He knew it would sound crazy. He tried to think of something, anything else to explain why he left that wouldn't cause too much concern but he couldn't think of anything. "I can't."

"Why can't you?" Logan asked, Virgil glancing up briefly to find them all watching him. His hands started to shake.

"You-I... It doesn't matter." Virgil said, glancing at the wall in the opposite direction from all of them. He couldn't stand seeing their gazes locked onto him intently. "I'm back. Isn't that what's important?"

"We're very glad to have you back, Virgil." Patton said, hand resting on his forearm gently. Virgil's hands shook more, and Patton's retreated. "We're just... Worried. Something clearly scared you a lot. We want to know, we want to help."

Virgil let out a shaky breath, squeezing his eyes shut. He nodded slowly. "I know. I'm sorry for worrying you, I... I'm okay. I promise." He turned to look at each of them with an unconvincing smile.

The three of them shared a glance with each other, frowning. It was silent again for a long while, until Virgil yawned. The quiet sound made all three of them jump, looking back at Virgil quickly.

"I think we need to talk about this more," Roman said, speaking slowly and cautiously. "But for now... I think you just need rest. We could probably all use some rest, really. It's been... a long, emotional few days."

"Sleep sounds... Wonderful." Virgil agreed, sighing. The few minutes he managed to get since he had been back in the comforts of his apartment were wonderful, especially when he had only slept maybe ten minutes in the days he had been gone. Even when he did manage he had been plagued with nightmares, and woke up just feeling more exhausted.

Soon enough the four of them had said their goodnights, and were heading to their separate rooms. They were all a little reluctant-they missed Virgil, and after he disappeared they didn't want to leave him again-but ended up in their beds soon regardless, wanting to let him get the sleep he needed.

Virgil found patterns in the ceiling above his bed, staring up at them for a while. He really tried to go to sleep, he closed his eyes, played soothing music, even tried meditating, but it didn't help. He didn't know if there was a remedy out there for people who saw hell hounds viciously snarling and lunging at him, and demons with snake scales and yellow eyes every time they closed their eyes. He couldn't help the overwhelming fear from coming back to him as he laid there, trying to block out the images. Finding faces in the ceiling only worked for so long before the faces turned too familiar.

Virgil jumped out of bed quickly as he imagined the sounds of the rumbling growls that shook the ground beneath his feet, chanting the words Roman had spoken earlier instead to block it out. You're safe. You're safe. You're safe.

His feet led him into the kitchen, shaking hands reaching for cabinet doors and pulling them open, searching. He found what he was looking for quickly, snatching the container and carrying it back with him to his room. He opened the container, pouring the contents in a circle that trailed all the way around his bed. When he was done he placed the salt on his nightstand that sat within the circle, just in case he needed it.

He hoped he would never need it.

Feeling a little safer now Virgil slowly climbed back under the covers, pulling them up to his chin and peering around the room. He felt like a little kid, checking for monsters. He felt a little silly at first, but hadn't he seen these monsters first hand? It didn't seem so silly after remembering everything he had went through.

Finding nothing out of the ordinary in his room Virgil pulled the blankets up around his head, a protective shield against whatever might be in the darkness. His eyes slid closed, and for the first time he didn't see hell hounds or demons. He saw his friends, happy, not so worried. He saw his friends from before he left, before he became such a nervous wreck. He saw their smiles and he felt at peace, and he slowly drifted off to sleep.