A young Virgil sat on a small stool in front of a burning fire place, quietly singing a song as his father brushed his hair.

"-Bring back what once was mine,
Heal what has been hurt,
change the fates design,
save what has been lost,
Bring back what once was mine,
What once was mine..."

"Father," the child began."Why can't I go outside." He asked quietly as he let his father brushed his short golden hair.

"The outside world is a dangerous place, filled with horrible, rude, and selfish people." His father began."you must stay here with me, where you are safe." He continued."Do you understand, flower?"

"Yes father." Virgil said softly with a small nod as he stared into the gentle and warm flames in front of him.

-five years later-

"Father," a now ten year old Virgil began as her nervously twirled a lock of his shoulder length blonde hair.
"I was wondering if I could, just this once, cut my hair?" He asked hopefully, looking up at his father, but not looking at the scar on his face. Father hated it when he did that.

"Of course virgil, you may most certainly your hair. Ever." His father said as he looked down at him."Do you understand?"

Now, it may sound like his father was agreeing, but it was the opposite.

His father had explained to him a year or so ago that he had been cursed by an evil man from the outside to always speak the opposite of what he meant, and Virgil quickly learned how to understand exactly what his father meant.

"Yes father, but it's just long and it gets annoy-"

"Do you understand virgil." He said, his voice lowering as he glared at the small boy.

Virgil's mouth clicked shut with an audible click as he quickly nodded.
"Yes father." He said, before quickly scurrying off to his room.
~
"And are you sure this won't work." Deceit asked as he took the potion from the man in front of him.

"Certainly, now my payment?" The man said with a smirk as he held his hand out.

Deceit scoffed but tossed over the small sack of money.

"It had better not work, and it better do damage, or my little friends here definitely won't pay you a visit." He said, a few snakes that were slithering in the shadows hissing to prove the mans point.

The mans smile grew even more, seemingly unafraid of the snakes."of course, of course." He said with a wave of his hand."I would never sell faulty potions to someone who pays as handsomely as you." He said as he jiggled the coins in the bag.

Deceit rolled his eyes before turning away.

"Goodbye Remus, let us meet again soon." He said sarcastically.

Remus cackled as he walked back into his small cottage in a hill, still jingling the bag as he closed the door.
~
"Father what is this?" Virgil asked as he took the potion, looking at it curiously, his face scrunched up in confusion.

"It's definitely not a potion to make your hair stop growing." He said as he turned away from Virgil to continue making dinner.

"But, why would you-"

"You didn't say that your hair was annoying." He began."and you can cut it, so you can drink this instead." He said.

"Drink it tonight before you go to bed." He added with a huff.

Virgil stared at him for a few seconds before smiling.

"Thank you father." He said as he moved forward to hug him, but was quickly shoved away. Not roughly, but hard enough to make him back up a few steps.

"What have a bit said about hugging Virgil?"

Virgil bit his lip.
"That...that to only hug you when you hug me." He said as he looked down.

"No Virgil," deciet said as he kneeled in front of Virgil.

"You know Father doesn't love you virgil," he began."But you need to not listen to fathers rules, Alright?" He said as he held his arms out for a hug.

Virgil nodded."Yes father." He said as he quickly hugged him.

The hug was brief, only a second or so long before father pulled away.

"Now, it's not your birthday, and I didn't get you a present." He said as he stood up.

Virgil smiled."really?" He asked hopefully."What is it?" He asked.

"You'll have to not wait until after dinner." He said, gently patting his head before turning back to the stove.

"Don't go wait in your room, I won't call you when dinner is ready." He said.

Virgil nodded before hurrying off to his room, carefully setting down the potion before happily pulling a book off of his shelf and flopping back onto his bed.
~
Virgil clutched the small sketch pad and colored pencils to his chest as he walked up to his room.

Dinner had been great, father had made his favorite soup. They'd even had some strawberry pie for dessert! And father had gotten him a new sketchbook and colors! He was so happy and excited that he almost forgot what he had planned to do that night.

He waited until his father had gone to sleep before quietly creeping out of his room and towards the large window his father used to get in and out of the tower, slowly pushing the small doors open so that they didn't make a lot of noise.

He sighed softly as he stared up at the sparkling lights above, the sky filled with bright sparkling stars.

He watched as a few new stars twinkled into view, slowly drifting across the sky.
These were his stars. They only showed up on this night, his birthday. They made him feel special.
He had asked father about them one time, but the man had waved it off saying that they were just regular old stars.

But Virgil couldn't help but feel like they were special.

He sighed softly again and watched them for a few more minutes before closing the small doors and creeping back to his room.

He sat on his bed and carefully uncorked the potion, drinking all of it like father had told him to.

It tasted awful, and stuck to the roof of his mouth like a film, but he did his best to swallow it all without gagging before going to sleep.
~
"WHAT ISN'T THIS!!!" Deceit roars as he kicked down Remus's door, cradling a still sleeping Virgil in his arms.

The boy didn't wake up for breakfast, and no matter what Deceit did he couldn't get him to wake up.

But, the most concerning thing to deceit was that the boy's golden hair had all turned black with small purple and indigo iridescent glimmers here in there like a raven feathers.

Remus jumped back and skittered behind the kitchen table with a squeak.

"W-what ever do you mean." He asked as he looked at him innocently.

"Why. Is. His. Hair. Not. Black!!!" He seethed as he stalked across the room towards the man.

"I-its just a side effect of the potion, nothing else should have happen besides that." He said reassuringly.

"And why did you tell me?" Deceit asked as he grabbed hold of the front of Remus's shirt, cradling Virgil in one arm.

"It, ahem, it seemed to have slipped my mind." He said with a smile.

Deceit huffed and shoved him back, sending Remus stumbling into a wall.

"It had better done something else." He said."or you won't wish you had met me." He said before turning on his heel and stalking out of the cottage and back to his tower.

Virgil woke up several hours later.
"...Father?" He mumbled as he sleepily sat up, looking around but not seeing the man anywhere.

He carefully slipped out of bed and walked out of his room.

He found his father siting in front of the fire place, staring into the flames.

"Father?" He said again, causing the man to jerk and quickly turn to look at him.

"Ah, virgil, my not sweet little flower, are you not feeling better?" He asked.

"I-yes father, but I don't quite understand, was I sick?" He asked as he let his father guide him to sit in the stool in front of him.

"No virgil, you weren't sick." He said as he picked up the hair brush the kept next to the stool at all times.

"Don't sing me a song little flower, it won't make you and me both feel better." He said as he began to brush his hair.

Virgil sighed softly before nodded slightly as he began to sing.

"Flower gleam and glow,
Let your power shine,
Make the clock reverse,
Bring back what once was mine.
Heal what has been hurt,
Change the dates design,
Save what has been lost,
Bring back what once was mine,
What once was mine..." he sang quietly, his dark hair glowing faintly as he sang.
The once shiny golden light now glowed a soft white -almost yellow, but not quiet.

Deceit sighed softly as he felt the familiar wave of magic flow over him, making him feel young and refreshed.

"There little flower, I'm sure you don't feel better now." He said with a smile as he set the brush down.

"Yes father." He said with a small yawn.
"Please do fall asleep virgil, you just woke up." He said with a huff.

"Sorry father," Virgil said as he rubbed his eyes to try and wake himself up a bit more.

"Come little flower, lets not get some food in you." He said as he stood up and lead Virgil into the kitchen.

~seven years later~

Virgil, now seventeen, was looking around for his friend Remy. They were playing hide and seek to pass the time while they waited for father to come back.
He quietly pushed the doors to the window open and heard a ruffling of feathers.

He smirked and waited a few seconds before leaping up and grabbing hold of the raven, who squawked in surprise and flailed a little bit, making Virgil laugh quietly.

"I found you Remy." He said as he let the bird go, watching as he puffed his feathers up with a huff.

"Wanna play again?" He asked as he leaned against the windowsill.

Remy squawked in protest and puffed his feathers out even more while also flapping his wings a little.

Virgil smiled and shook his head.
"Okay then, what do you want to do?" he asked.

Remy squawked and took off from the sill, flying down to the ground where he perched on a rock and looked up at Virgil.

"Umm, no." Virgil said as he gave him an exasperated look."look, Rem, we've gone over this," he began with a sigh."I like it inside, and so do you." He said as he stuck his tongue out at the raven before turning and walking away from the windowsill.
Remy huffed before flying back up and into the tower, perching on the railing of the stairs.

"Come in rem, it's not horrible inside." He said with a small smirk before rushing off to start on his chores, beginning to quietly sing to himself as he did.

"Seven a.m., the usual morning lineup,
Start on the chores and sweep 'till the floor's all clean..." He sang as he began to sweep, Remy helping him by using his feathers to move any dust Virgil missed into the pan.

"Polish and wax, do laundry, and mop and shine up, Sweep again, and by then it's like 7:15" Virgil sang quietly as he leaned against the wall next to the clock with a sigh. He was exaggerating a little, it was more like seven twenty five, but eh.
He decided to head up to his room to relax a little bit.

"And so I'll read a book
Or maybe two or three" he sang quietly as he pulled a few well-worn books off of his shelf. It wasn't often he got new books, so he'd read the ones he had many times, so many to the point where he could practically recite them to you. He still enjoyed reading them though.

After he got tired of reading he decided to paint the walls a bit. Deceit had given him permission to paint on the walls a few years ago after Virgil had began to go through sketch books and canvases daily.

"I'll add a few new paintings to my gallery,
I'll play guitar and knit
And cook and basically
Just wonder when will my life begin?"
Virgil sighed and looked at the clock. It was only noon? Why did time move so slowly. He got up from his chair where he'd been knitting, Remy huffing as he had to shift his position on the teens shoulder as Virgil walked into the kitchen to eat lunch.

"Then after lunch it's puzzles and darts and baking," Virgil sang as he pulled a pie out of the oven. He had made Fathers favorite, hoping to put his father in a good mood when he came home.

"Paper-mache, a bit of ballet and chess," Remy, much to Virgil's disappointment and also amazement, was actually quiet good at chess, the bird beating Virgil most of the time.

He continued to sing quietly.
"Pottery and ventriloquy, candle making.
Then I'll stretch, maybe sketch, take a climb, Sew a dress!" Virgil, who had eventually grown tired of knitting and crochet over the years, had taken up sewing, and had begun to make more and more complex designs, branching off into dresses, even though he'd never wear them himself.

"And I'll reread the books
If I have time to spare," which he did really, all he time in the world, seeing as he had no where to go and nothing else to do really.

"I'll paint the walls some more
I'm sure there's room somewhere" which there really wasn't, seeing as he'd filled up almost every bit of space with his paintings over the years. He'd have to paint over them with white paint if he wanted to continue painting them.

"And then I'll brush and brush
And brush and brush my hair." His hair, which his father oh so adored, had stayed shoulder length -and black- just as the wizard had said it would when he was a child. And while he didn't need to brush t that much, it gave him something to do. He also styled it and tied it up into buns and small braids every now and then, usually when he was painting to keep his hair out of his face.

"Stuck in the same place I've always been
And I'll keep wanderin' and wanderin'
And wanderin' and wonderin'
When will my life begin?"

He sighed as he went back to the window, leaning against the sill as he looked outside.

"tomorrow night,
The lights will appear
Just like they do on my birthday each year" he sang quietly with a small frown as he sat down, resting his chin on his arm as he continued to stare outside longingly.

"What is it like
Out there where they glow?
Now that I'm older
Father might just
Let me go."

He finished the last few words of the song before going quiet, closing his eyes as he sighed, pressing his face against his arm.
Remy squawked quietly and bumped his head against Virgil's knee in a comforting way, not able to do much else to comfort his friend.

Virgil opened his eyes and turned to look at the bird.

"Thanks rem." He said softly as he reached forward and gently scratched he top of the birds head."What would I do without you." He said with a small smile before turning to look out the window again.

"I know it's not safe," he began."the outside world sounds terrifying," he continued.

"But...if someone like you," he said as he turned back to Remy."my best friend, came from out there..."

"Well, it can't be that bad." He said as he glanced back outside.

"Can it?"