Well, ....

Here we are...
The end...

***
TW: Panic attacks, gore, Jay realizing how dramatic her books are
***
Virgil screamed and ran towards Roman, heaving the boy into his lap before hearing a groan, "God damnit- where'd you get hit?" Virgil already had added all the people involved in the occurrence of this happening to his hit-list, excluding Logan and Patton.

"Shoulder..." Roman choked out, prompting Virgil to gently turn the boy over and see the sight of Roman's wound.

There was a dampened, filled ring of blood around a bullethole with deeply damaged flesh. The blood was pouring dramatically out of the wound and, Virgil being Virgil, he could only let out a muffled cry for help before passing out all together.

By the time Virgil woke up, he hissed in pain at the feeling of handcuffs tightly around his wrists. He felt cold and sore as he looked around with blurry eyes before they locked on a hunched over figure that sat a few feet away from him.

They were in a holding cell. It was gray. Logan sat on the corner of the cement bench that Virgil sat on the other end of, leaning against the wall.

And it hit him.

He recalled all of the events, and let out a muffled sound of desperation, instantly catching Logan's attention who then stared at Virgil in absolute bewilderment, a rare expression for the Logical boy.

"Wh-where is- where is he?" Virgil whispered.

"Patton or-" Logan saw the helplessness in Virgil's eyes and knew who he was talking about, looking down, he shook his head slightly, "I don't know.."

Virgil was done. Looking down at his bruised up fists that had punched and split against Mr.Princeton's face, he broke down, and, considering the bench was cramped and short, as he fell forward, he fell against Logan's shoulder, instantly clinging to the antisocial student and shaking.

Logan stiffened up...but...for the first time ever...

Virgil felt arms around him as he was held in a tight hug. He suddenly curled into a tighter ball as quiet tears streamed down his face before shaking his head and leaning away, quickly wiping away tears and breathing, "I'm- sorry- this isn't just a me problem- you probably don't get it so it's going to be awkward for you and-"

"I don't know what I'd have done if it had been Patton." Logan cut in quietly.

Virgil took a moment to look at the logical one who had taken his glasses off and had a hand over his eyes as he shook his head in confusion, putting a hand down. Virgil had never seen Logan without his glasses, and he felt like this wasn't uncommon for most.

"Where...is he?" Virgil sniffed.

"They shut me down- they got a GPS fracking from my phone and I knew- the moment I did, I hung up and sent Patton home...they didn't know he was there and I wasn't going to put him in harm's way."

"So he just...left?" Virgil frowned, it sounded uncharacteristic of Patton to run, that was Virgil's job.

"No...I told him I was redirecting you two to his home..." Logan stared at the ground, "The last thing I told to him...it was a lie..." he sounded shattered, "It's my fault that he'll most likely hate me after all this has come to set-"

"I let the most important thing in my life get shot." Virgil commented hoarsely.

Logan looked at Virgil, "You really care for him that much...this must be harming you immensely..."

"It's my fault..."

"Not exactly."

"I'm going to rot in jail knowing I may have killed the man I love." Virgil whispered.

This seemed to catch Logan off guard, "Love is a strong word."

"I know- I hate it- and..."

"And?"

"And I love Roman."

There was silence before the jangling of keys were heard and a guard made his way to their cell.

Logan looked up but Virgil stayed still.

"You two are coming with me." The guard grumbled.

"Why?" Logan demanded.

"I don't have to tell you-"

"It's my right to know." Logan stood up.

The guard sighed and rolled his eyes, "Until you've gone for your trial, you're to remain in a prison cell- if you're issued guilty, you'll be getting to know your cellmates for awhile, if issued innocent- home sweet home it is- now get your asses out." He opened the door and Logan glared as he turned to Virgil.

"Come on." Logan urged.

Virgil was quiet.

"We haven't got all day princess."

"Where's Roman...?" Virgil murmured.

"You mean the one who was driving?" The guard clarified and Virgil simply nodded, "He's being taken care of by someone else, now come on."

"I'm not going until I see Roman." Virgil's words came out like daggers.

"Well too bad, we're going now and you don't have the right to see him." The guard put a hand on something in his belt.

Logan visibly tensed, "Virgil, let's go."

"I have any goddamn right I want to see him!" Virgil shouted, "You shot him! Y-you and your-"

"Virgil!" Logan snapped.

"Y-your numb-nut, pissy-assed goons!" Virgil screamed, looking up for an instant to see the taser just as it hit his side.

Words couldn't describe the amount of pain that was then felt as Virgil fell to the ground as writhing subsided to twitching.

"Virgil- oh my g-!" Logan shut up as the guard turned to him.

"Grab your friend and let's go."

Logan didn't have to be told twice and he quickly helped up the limo Virgil, having to carry almost the full-weight of him, thankful that only Virgil was still cuffed and not him as he slung an arm around the younger boy to support him.

The duo had made it into the back of a holding vehicle, barred up, and Logan now had cuffs on.

Virgil leaned against Logan, skill twitching and still in a great deal of pain.

The two sat in complete silence as the car slightly shook. There were others in there, much larger men and women who seemed to sneer at the small young-adults.

Logan tried to ignore it all, focusing on Virgil's head on his shoulder and pretending it was Patton's. This only confused him and made him feel uncomfortable so he stopped.

Meanwhile, Virgil had an expression of complete defeat as he stared blankly at nothing specific. He felt as if he had truly hit rock bottom, an up was hardly even a flicker of an idea if not one at all.

"I only bring pain." It was the first thing Virgil said.

"Virgil-"

"My biography would be titled Of Tom's and Bullets." Virgil droned on.

"Virgil, seriously-"

"Starting from the death of mice and ending at the death of men." Virgil shut his eyes.

"Virgil, that's enough!" Logan snapped.

This caught Virgil by surprise.

"There's too much drama and stress as it is add I don't need you adding to it! I know you're depressed but giving boon spoilers isn't a solution- ever!" Logan squinted with a grimace.

"I'm...I didn't mean to." Virgil looked away.

"It's...it'll work itself out at some age." Logan muttered.

"How long." Virgil chuckled sarcastically.

"Who's to say..." Logan looked at the ceiling of the dull vehicle.

There was only the murmur of the rest of the residents in the truck before it came to a slow stop, turning the volume up on everyone's voice before the loud sound of the back of the holding vehicle's door opened and daylight poured in through the otherwise closed-in backroom of the truck.

A row of guards flooded in and were assigned two at a time per person, un-cuffing them before taking them down the ramp attached to the truck.

Logan gave one last glance at the defeated Virgil before being taken away.

Virgil was too weak to respond to the people who began to move him from the truck, shoving him aimlessly it seemed before reaching the bottom of the ramp and looking out upon a large prison that seemed to stretch for miles- in the middle of the desert at that...nothing but a train buzzing by to show any form of civilization.

"Welcome!" A voice boomed at the entrance, "To the Mindscape Prison Academy!" It was the General of the prison, "I'm General Thomas and despite your being here on your own faults, we'll hope you don't cause any further trouble while you're here!"

At the name Thomas, Virgil's head shot up, but when he saw the General's face, he was relieved to see he only resembled a fraction of Thomas Reece...and, despite him being a General of a prison, seemed a lot nicer.

Virgil looked down at the jumpsuit he'd been issued, an ugly orange, apparently new though, since, for whatever reason, the prison had recently used its funds to buy new jumpsuits...as if that were better than fixing the leaks and cracks in it...regardless, Virgil was glad he at least enjoyed the color orange- though, he was sure he wouldn't after this.

Each prisoner had been issued a cell and were currently being directed to theres. Virgil's wasn't on the first floor, which made him feel a bit safer for whatever reason, and apparently, he already had a few cellmates. This wasn't exactly fortunate, or, at least, it wouldn't be, until he met them.

As for Logan, Virgil had seen him long enough to know he'd be right down the hall- a handful of cellblocks away, so this was moderately comforting, as comforting as it could be, that is.

Virgil glared at the guard who pushed him up to his cell before they finally roughly took off his handcuffs that had been relocked to him once he'd gotten off the truck. He then stared at the cell door before him.

The guard grumbled, telling him to open it himself before heading to his post at the end of the hall.

Virgil frowned.
His biggest worry right now was Roman...but what rivaled this was who his cellmates would be...
And he couldn't be more justified about being worried about this once he opened the door.

Virgil's blood ran cold.

A voice came from inside the cell...

"What a coincidence...so this is the Virgil I've heard so much about?"

[The end]

...

Or is it?

I'll tell you this...

This is not the end...

Nor is its sequel...

The Sequel:

Lead Me to Deceit

The sequel to Lead Me to Deceit is also the sequel to this book, but you MUST read Lead Me to Deceit before moving on to the next book as otherwise it won't make sense- because Lead Me to Deceit is the sequel to this book- so that's like reading the first and last Harry Potter book without any knowledge of what happens in between and trying to piece it together- it just won't make sense-

So, the last chapter of Lead Me to Deceit will soon be released...and with it, in that chapter, I'll release the next book in this series!

And the book I will be releasing...
Will be the final book in this trilogy, no longer making it a trilogy- and this will all finally come to an end...

So, stay tuned, there's much more to come... not here though, in the new books

So, thank you for being such wonderful readers! I love all the comments and votes and reads and everything! I'm so, so grateful and I look forward to seeing you guys in the next book, or in Lead Me To Deceit if you haven't already read it- which, now you kinda have to ;)

I love y'all so so much, thank you so much, this all means the world to me <3

-Jay 🌕