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The crack of something hitting his face was all Roman heard as he was abruptly awoken by something hitting him in the face to wake him up. As he tried to move, he realized two things, his body felt as if was simultaneously being burned on every inch of spare skin, stabbed, and mildly electrocuted, a slight but painful tingling in the periphery of his senses, as well as that he could barely move his hands, likely bound as Roman couldn’t muster the energy to try and look.
“Good, you’re finally awake, now I can finally have my fun. Shame I had to ruin your pretty face with a wake up slap” A voice came from above Roman, but Roman could only see their shoes, black boots that were familiar to Roman, but the pounding in his head made it hard for Roman to think about where he could’ve seen them before. Instead, Roman involuntarily let out a groan as a particularly painful wave crashed through Roman’s body, causing Roman to spasm without meaning to, which only perpetuated the cycle of pain.
He’d been kidnapped and whoever this person did not sound nice... Great.If only Roman knew where his sword was, he could slay this villain with ease... ignoring that he could barely move at the moment.
Above him, he heard a scoff, and Roman’s blood boiled, the villain was the one who put him there and did everything to him, they didn’t expect Roman to at least cry out in pain. Whoever this villain was, they were delusional.
“The great Creativity, whimpering on the ground at my feet, who would’ve thought? Apparently you’re not as big a big-shot as you thought, right Princey?” The voice was clearer this time, and... that word, there was only one person who called Roman that nickname and that was-
“Anxiety...” Roman brokenly growled out through his raw throat, pushing as much malice and hate into that one word as he could muster.
Anxiety sickeningly chuckled, bending down to grab Roman’s face and force him to look at him. Roman’s eyes struggled to focus in on Anxiety’s face, but when he did he wished he didn’t, as Anxiety’s sickening smile made him want to revoke the contents of his stomach.
Again, there was something Roman felt like he wasn’t noticing. But again Anxiety gave him no time to think as he dropped Roman’s head, slamming it into the ground, causing Roman’s vision to cloud a long moment before Roman could focus again.
“You never were the brightest candle in the church. Oh how easy it was to capture both of you with just one spell, like taking candy from a baby.”
“Both?” Roman asked incredulously, head still reeling from the pain. It took a long moment for Roman to realize, the last of memories flooding to him. He had been goofing off with Remus when they both took a water break. he had suddenly felt dizzy, and he had thought it would pass, that he could just lay on the ground and get up when the dizziness passed, but the ground had suddenly felt so soft and his eyes slipped shut...
Realization slammed into him, both what was off about Anxiety and what he meant. The green fabric stretched across Anxiety’s chest, standing out like a sore thumb.
“You fiend! You have Remus! What have you done to him?! Taken his sash- AHH!!” Roman screamed in pain as something solid connected with his leg. The pain clouding his thoughts, finding the culprit, he saw a bat in Anxiety’s hands out of the corner of his eyes.
“I also have you, Princey. And I don’t take kindly to being disrespected, don’t disrespect me and you’ll be able to walk... eventually...”
Roman groaned, barely baring the pain wracking through his body. They had his brother, he was hurt, Roman needed to-
Roman’s anger was cut off by a rough pair of hands picking him up, Roman yelling out in pain as his body was manhandled, no regard for his injuries. Roman barely registered Anxiety securing his bonds to the chair, in the back of his mind wondering why he hadn’t already, but all too soon Anxiety was speaking again, now in possession of a knife.
Roman recognized the knife immediately, and that gave him a burst of frantic energy, struggling against his bonds as Anxiety drew closer, beginning to speak in a low voice as he read from a book in his hands. A wind began to pick up around Roman, magic beginning to charge the air.
“Motherfucker, you’re trying to summon him?! He’s dead and gone, and you know it! Nothing is going to happen, just let-” Suddenly, the air around Roman felt as if it were sucking itself from Roman’s lungs, his words cutting off as he gasped desperately for air.
Roman’s vision dimmed slowly, vaguely noticing the spell was nearing completion and hearing an echoing thud as Roman’s world went black.
It wasn’t black for long, however, which was a surprise to Roman. Suddenly, his vision was back and he could breathe, realizing Anxiety’s spell failed somehow, leaving Roman alive.
Roman’s awareness was fuzzy, but he was able to raise his head to see what had thwarted Anxiety’s plan, nearly sobbing in relief as he saw his boyfriends, Remy in a spell casting position, his other boyfriends running into the room after him. Anxiety was collapsed to the ground now beside his book, Remy having hit him with his speciality sleep spell almost immediately.
He couldn’t stop sobbing as Emile and Patton got to him, untying his bonds as fast as they could, both of them, speaking to him, but his mind was too fuzzy to make out what they were saying. When they finally freed him, they first tried to help him up, supporting him but letting him try to walk, but Roman’s legs protested, buckling as soon as they tried supporting his weight.
Roman’s mind drifted, registering Patton picking him up bridal style, his hands weakly gripping the folds of Patton’s cloak as he realized this was his boyfriend was being carried by. His chest filled with joy as it finally sunk in that Roman was safe and saved and-
Where was Remus?
Roman cried out, trying to break through the fog around his mind, choking out, “Rem- R- Rem- Remus! He- dead, hurt- help him!”
Roman heard someone close gently shush him, opening his eyes (when had he even closed them?) to see his brother, sans his sash, smiling sadly at him, perfectly fine, not a scratch on him. Despite everyone else’s words being muffled, Remus’s were crystal clear in Roman’s mind.
“Roman, hey, it’s okay. I’m not dead. Anxiety didn’t nab me, just managed to rip my sash off of me, I’ll get him back for that, bash his skull in. Don’t worry your ‘royal’ head about me, you’re safe, we’re here.”
Roman’s mind had boiled down to Remus. His brother was alive. His brother wasn’t dead. He- He needed-
Before Roman knew what he was doing, he suddenly reached out his hands as much as he could toward Remus, whimpering, tears numbly rolling down his face. He needed his brother.
Remus’s expression immediately softened, saying something to Patton before accepting Roman into his arms. Roman immediately clung to Remus, murmuring about protecting and never letting him go. Roman wasn’t really concentrating on what he was saying, only knowing his brother was alive.
His mind was getting foggier and foggier and just before Roman finally succumbed to unconsciousness, he felt Remus whisper one last “You’re gonna be fine.”
Roman’s last thought was just that, but Roman himself wasn’t who he was concerned about.
He’s gonna be fine. Remus is fine.