"For what it's worth kiddo, Roman too was just acting like a... like a b-hole today."

As soon as he heard his name Roman started listening in on the conversation; had he really acted that bad? The prince observed as a firefly landed on a grass strand right next to where he was laying with his back to others. He had to admit he might have had slightly exaggerated, but could anyone really blame him? Finding his soulmate had always been his number one dream, but he did not wish to find him like this, not when it was di-

"Maybe he just doesn't feel the same. I mean, I wouldn't blame him. Who would want to be with a guy who hid in the woods for almost his whole life and has a dragon as his best friend? I wouldn't like me eith- OW! Was that really necessary Nyx?!"

After hearing those words, Roman's eyes were wide open in surprise; did Virgil really think those things about himself? His heart ached at the thought as he felt guilt build up inside him. That was not the reason behind his actions, he really did like the Dragon Witch, and not only for the way his slightly long black hair fell on his face framing it perfectly, or the way his brown, slightly violet eyes shined every time he would make a snarky or sarcastic comment, or even more the way his smile brightened up his whole face; he liked him also for how soft, caring and funny he was. Roman did like Virgil. But what if he only liked him because of the bond? That is not what he wanted, that's-

He shook his head, eyes screwed shut, as he tried his best to get those thoughts out of his head. He would have thought about it in the morning, when his mind would have been clearer and he would have been more awake.

***

"Good morning!" Patton exclaimed handing the still half asleep dragon witch an apple as he sat down next to him, Diego tightly wrapped around his shoulders and his back leaned back against Nyx's warm body.

"Good morning pat" Virgil mumbled as he watched his dragon leave a lick on the man's cheek immediately receiving a loud hiss from the snake wrapped around the man's shoulders.

"Diego!" Patton gasped looking at him sternly. The daimon immediately stopped, looking at him with wide seemingly innocent eyes. "Don't hiss at her! She is my friend too!"

The snake looked down guiltily, making the dragon chuckle slightly. He immediately turned around once again hissing at her and snuggling in Patton's neck, trying to prove a point.

"Diego what did I just tell you! No hissing! She is my friend too and I want you to be nice to her!" He once again reproached him, pushing him away slightly.

"Yeah, hiss hiss bitch, Patton is my boo." Nyx teased sassily, gently going to rub her nose on Patton's cheek, making the snake even more jealous as he tried to push her away with his body and failing.

"Nyx stop teasing him or I'll make you answer any other question Logan might have." Virgil threatened teasingly out loud, making the dragon immediately retreat from the now giggling guy with an almost panicked expression.

"Just so you know, I take great offense to that." The nerd said passing by, making even the dragon witch crack a small smile despite his situation. "Also, you might want to get ready, we're all leaving in a couple of minutes. Ray and the others are coming with us too."

"Okay, thank you Logan!" Patton said smiling as he got up and threw another apple he had towards Nyx.

"Okay Patt." Virgil sighed pushing himself off of his dragon and turning towards her. "It's better if you head towards the others. I'm gonna get on Nyx and follow you from the sky. As I was talking to Remy yesterday, he told me they know where the kingdom is and can guide you just as well as I do, so I can make myself and Nyx invisible."

"But-" The cheery guys started, but the dragon witch immediately interrupted him, his voice soft and sad.

"No, Patton. It's okay. I don't want Roman to see me like this. He's my soulmate, he deserves to be happy, and if his happiness is not with me I don't want him to feel guilty about it." Only then did he notice the way Virgil look; the bags under his eyes were darker than usual, his eyes were red and puffy, other than slightly glossed over, sign that not only he had been crying most of the night, but could also cry again at any moment, and the skin on his cheeks was flushed and irritated. The dragon witch offered him a small smile, trying to make his concerned look go away. "Plus that way I can check your surroundings from above and make sure no one is following us."

With those last words he jumped on the dragon's back and made a two fingers salute, before taking off.

Patton sighed as he watch the two fly up into the sky just to immediately become invisible once they surpassed the tallest trees. He shook his head, petting Diego's head gently as the snake nuzzled into his neck, trying to comfort him, before walking to where the others were waiting for them.

"Patton! There you are babe-" Remy started before almost immediately getting interrupted by Diego loud and jealous hiss, making him take a step back, surprised. "Okay bitch, got it, not calling your boo 'babe', no need to get all jealous on my ass." He said sassily, quirking an eyebrow before turning around. "Whatever, let's get walking bitches."

They started walking, the prince quickly falling into steps with the usually cheery guy who was now sporting a small frown watching Diego slither towards Janus and climbing under his cloak.

"Hey." He said, frowning slightly when he didn't get a reaction. "Where's Virgil?"

Patton shoot him a glare, making Roman's eyes widen in surprise, taken aback.

"Why would I tell you? You didn't seem to care where he was yesterday when you unnecessarily yelled at him, am I wrong?"

The prince looked down guiltily, flinching slightly at the uncharacteristically cold voice his friend used.

Seeing the conflict in the royal's eyes Patton sighed, frustrated by his own empathy and affection for the guy.

"He decided to follow us on Nyx; he didn't want you to feel guilty how the way you treated him made him feel. Regardless of what he said, I think you should feel guilty and you really owe him an apology." And with that, he started walking faster, falling into steps with the others.

Roman knew he was right, he shouldn't have yelled at Virgil, he could have handled the situation more calmly. But that didn't change that he didn't want this. He thought back to the conversation he had with Logan the night before; the prince had asked him how he could be comfortable with getting into a romantic relationship with someone he met literally just a few hours prior. His friend's answer left him more than surprised: he wasn't a romantic person, yet what he said was probably the most romantic thing Roman had ever heard; he said that despite essentially

"I'll be honest with you Roman, for once in my life I don't know. I have no idea why I feel so comfortable hugging and kissing a stranger. All I know is that for the first time in my life, I feel complete. And for some reason I don't care if the arms that make me feel at home just by hugging me are the ones of a stranger. And neither the fact that the stranger in question thought that a more appropriate name for the Milky Way was 'Cum Trail'." Logan let out a small chuckle at Roman disgusted expression. "All I know is that I wouldn't change it for the world."

But how can anyone accept something like that? Something that is not real? Something-

Before he could continue with his thoughts, a loud roar from the evening sky made all of them look up, just to see Nyx diving towards the ground and landing in a clearing a few feet away from them.

Roman blinked a couple of times; he was so wrapped up in his head he didn't even notice they had been walking for the whole day, only then realizing how much his feet actually hurt.

"Okay guys. I think we should stop here for the night. I can cast some protection spells around, then we cannot and rest." Virgil said, jumping down from Nyx's back.

It was in that moment that Roman could finally give a look at the dragon witch, and despite not regretting what he said, guilt started to build up once again in his stomach: his skin was paler and the circles under his eyes were darker, his brown-violet eyes that always shone so bright were dull and slightly irritated, his lips, red and swollen for all the time times he had bit into them, were bent into a slight frown.

"The asshole is staring at you." Nyx stated through the mind link, making Virgil shoot a quick look towards the prince. His eyes quickly ran away from his as he started towards the edge of the clearing to cast the protection spells.

"Let him. It's not like I can do anything about it."

There was a second of silence as the dragon just stared at Roman before she answered.

"Yeah, you're right, you can't." She said turning around and smirking to the dragon witch. "But I do." And with that she quickly whipped back around shooting a string of violet flames towards the royal, making him screech in surprise and terror as he quickly dodged to the right, shooting the creature a heated glare.

"Nyx! You shouldn't have done that! You're not helping my case!" Virgil scolded, but a small amused smirk was clear on his lips as his best friend just shrugged.

"Oh well. Too late."

They could hear the other laugh as Roman just grumbled under his breath and stomped back into the vegetation to gather some sticks from the fire, Logan and Remus right behind him.

Virgil has almost finished caring the spells and was just waiting for them to come back when Remy approached him, Kiera by his side with her ears flat on her head as she cautiously eyes Nyx.

"Virgil? Can I talk to you for a second?"

The dragon witch just nodded, turning completely towards him to give him his full attention. The guy squirmed a bit under his gaze, looking down to avoid his eyes.

"Okay, listen, I, uhm, I..." He sighed frustrated, rolling his eyes for a second and ignoring how Kiera rubbed herself against his legs to comfort him. "I'm sorry Virgil. I didn't think he would react like that, I have never seen anyone react that way! Sure, Janus is not taking it that well, but at least he didn't yell at Patton!" He whispered-yelled slightly gesturing with his hands, trying to not let the other two who were silently preparing dinner hear.

Virgil just let out a small, bitter laugh, shaking his head slightly.

"Would you look at that, rarest type of daimon and rarest type of soulmate relationship. How fucking lucky." He sad it in a joking voice, but he could feel his throat close up again and tears slightly gather in his eyes.

Seeing the man like that did nothing but fuel Remy's guilt, who once again sighed softly.

"I really am sorry babe. I should have minded my own fucking business, but apparently that is the one thing I'm not that good at doing."

Virgil just offered him a small smile.

"Don't worry Rem. It's okay. I couldn't have known."

Remy just stared at the dragon witch for a few seconds, his eyebrows raised in surprise. He couldn't believe that after what he had done, all the man had to say to him was that. He could have just ruined this man's chance to get with his soulmate and he just.. forgave him? Like that? And the asshole who just came back with his arms full of sticks was letting a man like this go, solely because he did not tell him right away they were soulmates?!

Remy felt anger and annoyance raise up inside him as he looked back at Virgil, giving him a small nod of the head before walking away. There was no way he was letting this go. He was going to talk to that bratty prince and he was going to listen to him.

"You know Vee, maybe the bitch's not that bad." 

Hello! So here's the next chapter! I was originally planning on putting Remy and Roman's conversation + Roman's apology in here but as you can see it's a really long chapter already by itself so... yeah, next chapter! But I think you can kinda guess by now Princey's reasoning in being so against the soulmate thing... I did leave clues in most of the chapters lol.

Anyway, I hope you like the chapter; as always feel free to point out any mistakes/typos you may find and leave a comment to tell me what you think of it!

Bye! 

Ali c: