Virgil ran through the forest, trying to avoid the trees that would spring up in front of him out of the gloom all of a sudden.

Going around or by the castle would be a definite no but as Virgil narrowly avoided smashing into another tree, he started to wonder if it would've been worth it.

"Janus?" Virgil asked in between breaths. "Now would be a good time to appear and give me a bit of light or something." He had no idea if Janus could hear him or not but it was definitely worth a try.

Nothing happened. Virgil rolled his eyes and lept over a tree root, speeding up again. "Wow, some Fairy Godfather you are." He thought scathingly.

"Hey, no need to be so rude." Janus said. Virgil skidded to a stop just short of colliding with the Fairy Godfather.

"I didn't say anything." Virgil said. Janus rolled his eyes and flicked his wand. A little row of yellow lights appeared all along the forest.

"There." Janus said, shoving the wand back in their cloak. "That's a path home. Now, if you excuse me, I need to shake off a very drunk and very suggestive prince." Janus disappeared with a small two-fingered salute and a puff of yellow smoke.

Virgil blinked. "Suggestive prince?" He thought. "Oh, probably Prince Remus." He realised. Virgil realised the lights were slowly fading and started running after them.

"Great idea, Janus." He thought. "Give me a time-limit on the lights and don't tell me. Real mature."

"I can hear your thoughts, you know." Janus' voice said in his head. Virgil jumped so violently he ran his arm into a tree.

"Ow!" Virgil grabbed his arm and gave a little leap, trying to catch up with the faded lights.

Virgil ran into the house and stopped at the bottom of the spiral stairs. He leaned against the wall and tried to catch his breath. As he panted for air, a dreamy kind of smile spread across his face. This smile turned into a grin which turned into giggles.

Virgil ran up the stairs to his room, laughing and grinning all the while. He threw himself on his bed and hugged his pillow to his chest.

"Best night of my life." He said to no one in particular. "And I didn't even go to the castle." He got up and held his pillow out in front of him. "Would you care for a dance?" He asked, bowing to the pillow.

Virgil laughed and whirled around his room, past the row of sunsets on his walls. "One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three." He counted to himself, trying to dance a waltz. "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream." He sang, hugging the pillow to his chest again as he spun. "I know you, that gleam in your eyes is so familiar a gleam. And I know it's true that visions are seldom what they seem." Virgil laughed again, losing the words of the song.

Virgil threw his pillow on the bed again and leaned against the wall. That's when he noticed his shoes still had a little gleam of gold woven through them. It wasn't much, only just enough to notice if there was the right light.

"Weird." Virgil said quietly but he didn't dwell on it. His mind was too full of the night and his heart was lighter than it'd been in years.

This was so much fun to write. Virgil happy might even be slightly more fun than Virgil repressing emotions.
Bye,
Blaize