Word Count: 3218
***
TW: Mention of torture/murder/previous chapter events
***
Virgil fidgeted from where he sat in the visitor's center. He currently sat in a plastic chair with metal dividers on either side of him and a window in front of him, with a small slot at the bottom, looking into a room much like this one but with less guards. That being the room that Patton and Logan would enter to.
Virgil was under constant surveillance which didn't help his anxiety. However, he knew that the security cameras would be shut down soon enough if Brian was to succeed. Alas, the guards were unable to leave their posts here- even with distractions such as the one in the break room the other day.
Virgil shuttered at the memory of what the one guard had done- you'd need to be able to reach your feet to the back of your head to perform such a stunt...
Moving on from that lovely imagery- Virgil perked up at the sound of arguing.

"Sir, it's one visitor at a time-" The gruff voice of a guard could he heard on the other side of the window.

"Oh, I'm sorry, is this because we're gay?" Pouted a mock offended voice.

Virgil grinned, Patton.

"No? Sir- no, not at a-"

"Oh, I see, so because me and my boyfriend want to visit our kid, that's why you won't let us in." Patton's glare could practically be heard.

"My boyfriend an I." Logan corrected.

"Your kid?" The guard asked, "Parents are allowed in together but- don't leave the room."
There was a click and the entrance to the room opened and Patton came busting in, Logan lagging behind.

Patton slammed himself against the glass and Virgil had to keep from laughing at how his face looked, smooshed up against the glass.

"Hi, Patton." Virgil chuckled, not being able to stop smiling at how truly happy he was to see the father-figure.

"OH MY GOD ARE YOU OKAY!? ARE THEY FEEDING YOU WELL!? IS TOM BEING A POOP BUTT!? DO YOU NEED ME TO KILL SOMEONE SO I CAN GET ARRESTED AND JOIN YO-"

"Patton." Logan cut in sharply and pulled his boyfriend back by the collar of his polo shirt.

Patton seemed to realize he was making a scene and sat back, straightening a tie that didn't exist before clearing his throat and sitting down in the chair facing the window.
Logan leaned against it.

"How's the slammer?" Patton asked as cool as he could.

"Well, for one, we don't call it the slammer- and for two, it's living hell." Virgil spat.

Patton whimpered, "Kiddo!" He put his hand on the glass, "I'm so sorry- what's wrong?"

"Well, I'm in prison, that's a start." Virgil chuckled.

"Aw, I mean..." Patton paused, "Ya know.."

"He means how are you and Roman." Logan specified.

"Logan!" Patton gasped, slapping him on the stomach lightly, "So blunt!"

"What? You know it's what you meant- I'm simply getting to the point faster. We do only have fifteen minutes, after all." Logan pointed out.

Virgil slid down his chair a bit with a sigh, "Not good. He...doesn't hate me anymore, so I guess that's progress..."

"Mhm." Patton nodded.

"But he doesn't love me soo..." Virgil's voice trailed off.

"Virgil..I'm so sorry..." Patton's voice was a whisper.

"It's..." Virgil remembered the plan and shook himself out of his feelings, "It's okay, really, it's fine- I mean, now that I have my jacket, I'll have some company." His eyes flashed to Logan.

"I still don't understand the importance of this but- I suppose sentimental purposes, though those have never been my forte...here you go." Logan gently pushed the jacket through the slot in the window.

Virgil sighed with relief and took the jacket, holding it to his chest and breathing in the scent. It smelled like Roman...it smelled like home...he felt the inside of the pockets and dropped a wrapped flash drive in one of them before rubbing the jacket to his cheek.

"Excuse me, but you're not allowed other clothes." The guard who'd been monitoring Virgil commented this, not noticing he had slipped the drive in.

"Oh, of course, my bad- must have slipped my mind." Virgil shook his head and passed the jacket back.

Patton seemed like he was about to protest but Virgil shook his head subtly with a stern look, mouthing the word pocket.

Patton didn't get it, but Logan, who had now taken back the jacket, did, and felt inside the pocket, eyes widening as he felt the flash drive.

Virgil motioned a zipper moving over his mouth and then put a finger over it to signify for Logan to be quiet about it.

"Well, I had better get going- it's going to be lunch soon and Tom hates waiting." Virgil stood up.

"So you are friends with Tom..." Patton marveled.

"It's...really fucked up, I know- but in comparison to everything else...it's totally normal." Virgil shrugged before the guard cuffed him to take him back through and into the main prison facility.

"Goodbye..." Patton murmured sadly.

Virgil just gave a smile before he was put through the exit door.

***

Virgil had first stopped by to his cell to collect Roman who had been waiting for him- that had only started happening the day after their discovery in the surveillance room...Virgil wasn't opposed to this new habit.

They walked silently down to the cafeteria, unsure as to what to say or if there was anything to say at all. That is, until the question burning at the backs of both their minds finally surfaced and they stopped at the end of the food line after retrieving their trays of food, they both looked at the table where Tom and Lea sat, conversing with their backs to them, awaiting their presence.

"Do we tell Lea...?" Roman murmured.

"Does he already know?" Virgil answered with a question.

"I mean, I didn't know until I saw those videos of me- I still don't exactly remember it but...I also full-heartedly believe it happened...after all, it does make sense." Roman shrugged.

"It could mess the guy up." Virgil sighed.

"He doesn't already seem messed up to you?" Roman cocked an eyebrow.

"True...I mean, maybe it couldn't hurt?" Virgil tried.

"And if it does?" Roman looked at Virgil.

"Then we should be more afraid of Tom's reaction." Virgil sniffed before heading to the table where Lea and Tom sat.

Roman followed with a curt sigh.

The two sat adjacent to the couple across from them.

Roman seemed to visibly stiffen at how close Tom and Lea were and Virgil had to remind himself that Roman still wasn't Roman, so him being jealous was somewhat justified- but that didn't change the fact that it still hurt.

Tom finished slurping up his pudding with the good side of his face before looking up, "Finally! What took you two so long?"

"Had to give Logan the thing." Virgil picked at his food, taking the pudding before pushing the rest to Lea who happily took it and began eating it.

Roman looked at all the food in disgust and went with Virgil's habit of only eating the pudding.

Tom lifted his eyebrows, "How'd it go?"

"Seems like we'd have been called up to the head office now if they'd been caught so- I'd say it's all good." Virgil grinned.

"Good." Tom sighed in relief, "One step closer to freedom."

They all nodded in agreed relief- except Lea who was too busy chowing down on what was probably made of things one should never put in their body.

Lea then looked up curiously, "Noticed you two running by our cell the other night- what was that about?"

"Oh yeah!" Tom nods in agreement.

Virgil and Roman shared a nervous glance before Roman tapped his knee to Virgil's, signifying that Virgil should be the one to talk.

Virgil nodded and looked at the two, "We found a lot of things out- about Roman, mostly.."

"Oh?" Lea cocked an eyebrow.

Virgil shuttered at the way he said it- just like in the video.

"I was tested on...in some sort of lab on the prison primacies...it brain washed me- made me think Virgil.." Roman flinched slightly, "Was some sort of threat to me- made me forget and... I still can't remember, but-"

"Is that why you two were holding hands like your life depended on it when you ran by?" Lea smirked.

Roman and Virgil went red in the face and Lea smirked at this in amusement at what he'd done to cause this.

"Anyway...he...it's an experiment they do to control prisoners- give them triggers to control how aggressive or not they are and when...or if at all...Roman was one of their lab rats, it's still in testing phases." Virgil frowned.

Tom furrowed his brow, "One of their lab rats?" He looked between Roman and Virgil, "More have been tested on.

Shit was a shared thought in Roman and Virgil's mind.

"Well...well, yes." Roman responded reluctantly.

"Who?" Tom prompted.

Virgil gritted his teeth and Roman pursed his lips together.

"Well?" Tom narrowed his eyes.

Virgil looked at Lea, "Lea...what's your um..." He stumbled on words, "That is to say-"

"Your first name." Roman said simply and sharply.

Tom's eyes widened and he took a firm grip on the table.

Lea's breath hitched and he straightened up, fist clenched and knuckles white. He began to shake.

Tom put a hand on Lea's thigh and brushed his thumb over it reassuringly, "We don't talk about it."

Lea seemed to calm down at the action but still looked fairly shaken up.

"What are you implying?" Tom growled.

"Lea was their first test subject.." Virgil murmured.

Lea swiftly took his sunglasses off to look at Virgil as if to make sure he was real, "Excuse me?"

Virgil scooted closer to Roman on instinct of fear, "Y-You were tested on- your name...um, it's a trigger for you- it sends you into a state of panic and or violence..." He said in a squeaky voice.

"I don't remember, any of this." Lea glared slightly and Virgil was sure this was a death threat.

"Neither do I." Roman cut in, "I saw videos of it being done on me-"

"It?" Tom questioned, "What do they?"

Roman shook his head and looked down, not wanting to talk about that part.

"They shook the living hell out of you while associating a trigger to that pain."  Virgil tapped a finger on the table to release some anxiety, "For Roman- it was me. For Re-" He choked on his own words and cleared his throat quickly while Tom looked about ready to lunge over the table and strangle him, "For Lea...it was his first name."

Lea looked blank in the face but had a death glare in his eyes as he stared at Virgil.

Virgil wasn't going to sleep for a million years with that glare boring into his soul and burning into his own eyes, "It triggers the pain and can cause fear and or violence- like I said- small or large it seems..."

"That- that makes sense." Tom sat back slightly with a sad look.

Virgil didn't want to know why Tom understood this and felt he shouldn't know anyway, "It...leaves you with a fuzzy memory too- it's why Roman can't remember much about me, all my memories with him were replaced with pain."

"That explains it..." Lea whispered.

"Come again?" Tom glanced at his lover.

"I can't...seem to get a grasp on myself- who I am- ever...I...it didn't feel right but I didn't know if it was supposed to feel like that or not.." Lea looked up with a confused look in his eyes, almost broken; a look that sent shivers down everyone but Tom's spine for never having seen Lea vulnerable like this before, "I can't...I cant see it..."

"Is that why you're so comfortable here? It's all you're familiar with?" Roman murmured.

Lea nodded slightly, "Yes and no...I remember my childhood- everything, I remember everything but...it's as if seeing it on TV, not living it...it's painful..." He looked at Virgil as if he knew what he knew, "I remember especially what got me here...and I remember that...it felt like they hurt me...so I hurt them."

Tom looked like he had something to say but knew better than to say it.

"That's what it's like for me with Tom- only seeing him clearly- I'm sorry...for what I did.." Roman aimed this at Lea but gave a side-long glance at Virgil before looking down at his food.

"This isn't fair.." Lea whispered.

"...I-It can be reversed." Virgil blurted.

Roman nodded, "It's true."

"How?" Lea frowned.

"I'm...not quite sure- the flash drive had the instructions and everything but it had something to do with erasing the the pain attached to the trigger word as to remove the trigger word- from what I could understand."

"Wouldn't that mean erasing the memories as well?" Lea questioned.

Virgil opened his mouth to respond before shutting it.

He hadn't thought about that.

"Possibly." Roman shrugged as if this were nothing, "So?"

"So, it's his name!" Tom suddenly stood up, "That's literally everything! He whole memory- everything could be erased! I could be erased!"

"Tom, sit down!" Virgil stage whispered sharply.

"I'm not letting that happen!" Tom slammed his hands down on the table like an upset child.

"Tom!" Roman hissed, "You're making a scene!"

"Easy for you not to be upset! You can't even remember your own boyfriend!" Tom snapped.

Virgil gritted his teeth and looked away.

Roman grew quiet.

Tom felt guilt rise up and quelled it by sitting down harshly.

There was silence until Lea put a hand on Tom's shoulder, "Tom...I'd never forget you, you know that, right?" He whispered.

Tom melted into this words and grabbed Lea's hand silently, lacing their fingers together and giving the hand a tight, anchoring squeeze.

Virgil looked at Roman with a sad gaze, "It could erase all your memories of us completely...good and bad...- at least right now we can temporarily access the good ones." He looked at Roman's shoulder.

"My wound will heal eventually." Roman frowned, "Either way...you're not in here," He tapped his temple, "Not you."

Virgil's shoulder's sagged. He knew this was true.
He let out a shaky breath.

"It might work...and that's worth a shot." Roman gave a small, reassuring smile.

"I guess you're right.." Virgil nodded slowly and took in a firmer breath, "Okay...we can do this then- we just need a computer to access the flash drive to know how to get to business on this thing."

"Brian has a laptop." Lea murmured, sounding uncertain as to if he should share this information but deciding to anyway, "Don't drag me into this quite yet-" He looked at Tom and then back at Virgil, "I don't have complete motives yet, but...go ahead and fix him to your heart's content- I'm not so sure I'm broken." Lea referred to him meaning Roman.

Virgil nodded, "Thank you."

"I suppose." Lea sighed.

***

"Why should I lend you my pride and joy?" Brian scoffed from where he sat on the top bunk of his own cell, Camden fast asleep on the bottom bunk.

"Because, you want power." Virgil advanced forward.

Brian cocked an eyebrow, "Go on?"

"Lea's obviously your obstacle- Tom's mentioned that more than once, you don't like Lea, do you? He's in this for Tom?" Virgil challenged.

Brian sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, "Of course I don't like him." He jumped down to stand in front of Virgil, "I don't like anyone who I can't control."

"What if you could control him?" Virgil smirked slightly.

A grin slowly crept onto Brian's face, "Then we just might have a deal."

Virgil had to get Roman back.
He had to fix him.
At any cost.

***

"How in Lin Manuel Miranda's good name did you get his fucking laptop?" Tom nearly choked and Lea was equally surprised as they all sat in the cellblock they all used to share, Roman there as well a few feet away from Virgil.

"I have my ways." Virgil shrugged, "What's important now is the information.." He plugged the flash drive in and familiar files popped up. They waited for quite sometime, passing the time through playing chopsticks, a common game in prison when phones weren't even a topic anymore, until the final file loaded.
The solution.

Virgil grinned at the map and the instructions attached, "Bingo." He read over it, murmuring the instructions to himself quietly, mindlessly babbling, until he sat up straight and nodded firmly.

"Well?" Tom leaned forward.

"Like the map says, the testing facilities are on these primacies." Virgil nodded, "The subject has to be taken back to the room where they have to be dosed up with some other drug called ProExta - whatever that is- which'll weaken the mental ability of their mind to fight back the memory loss...some device called the MindSpaper has to be hooked up to them- and then the process begins. It's short and fairly simple." Virgil hummed, "Easy."

"Easy if you mean saying that versus doing that." Tom scoffed.

"How would we get there?" Roman inquired, "The plan is going to take place any day now, do we even have time?"

Virgil frowned, "I mean-"

"Fit it into Brian's plan." Lea murmured.

"That...that just might work!" Virgil grinned, "Perfect!"

"I have my moments." Lea shrugged.

"That's it then?" Tom looked around the room at the others' faces.

"That's it." Roman nodded.

Virgil unplugged the drive and switched the laptop off, shutting it with a gentle, yet satisfying, "slam".

"I think we're ready then." Virgil grinned.

The four boys shared a look of fear and excitement.

"This is it then..." Roman breathed.

Virgil stood up,

"This is it."

////
This is it guys...
This is it.

Also y'all will never know what happened in that breakroom ;)

Just a reminder that the contest is going on until May 15th! And if we get enough entires in, it might even close on May 10th simply because I'm way too hyped for this next chapter!! So get your entries in quick!!
I just wanted to quickly thank you all too, for being along for this crazy ride.
This all started as a one shot idea that I wanted to elongate into a book and...well, here we are now. We've come so far and I couldn't be more proud and excited to write for you guys. Your support is what keeps me writing and what will keep me wanting to write even after this series is over.

Chapter 19 is going to be a doozie...but hey, we can do it, yeah?
Rad.

Just...
Wow.
W o w...I'm really hyped that this book series has come so far and is now coming to a close that ties it all together.
We're on the final lap of the race, guys...—gals and non-binary pals—
Let's do this.

-Jay🔥🤜🤛🔥