Chapter Text
Virgil wasn’t expecting his day to go like this.
Then again, when had anyone ever expected to be kidnapped by an eldritch abomination?
Not him, that was for sure.
And yet.
Here he was, hanging upside-down in a pitch-black cave, miles away from civilization.
Well, it's not like he had anything to do today.
Or tomorrow.
Or the next day.
Honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if no one noticed he was gone.
Well.
One person would notice he was missing.
Virgil began struggling anew.
///---///
When Virgil came to the next time he was greeted with curious, bright orange eyes peering at him. He jerked, startled. The eyes moved away, towards a table with- Virgil's eyes widened. Was that a knife?
The creature picked up some sort of glowing thing, and held it up.
The light hit the creature that had taken him, and he craned his head, trying to see what it looked like.
It was almost like nothing was there.
The light hit the pure nothingness of the thing, and was promptly swallowed up by the darkness. Even the midnight-coal of the cave couldn't compare to the absolute absence of light the creature emitted.
Virgil tested the… ropes? binding him. Having no luck, he sighed and gave up. His head hurt.
He drifted off to sleep.
///---///
When Virgil woke up for the third time, he was strapped to a table. It wasn’t exactly… preferable- he would have preferred to be at his house, watching Netflix or something- but at least his head wasn’t about to burst from filling up with blood.
The eyes were back, watching him with the same intensity from before. He squirmed under their scrutiny, wishing he had some way to get them to turn away.
As if the universe was answering his wishes, the eyes turned and made their way over to the table with the knife.
Virgil gulped.
The thing used some sort of… fuckin’- telekinesis or something to lift the knife and bring it over. Virgil squirmed as hard as he could. Maybe if the ropes weren’t strong enough he could wear away at them?
But that would take too long, and Virgil was kind of running out of time here. He twisted and writhed, hoping that something would snap and he could get free.
The creature’s eyes narrowed, and Virgil felt a freakishly cold thing slither across his body, rendering him immobile.
He couldn’t keep track of all the loops and twists and knots it made, but when it was done, Virgil couldn’t even move his fingers.
The creature sat back, evidently pleased with itself. Using that same telekinesis, it lifted the knife up again, and used one of its appendages to put it to Virgil's arm.
Virgil screamed when it first cut through his arm. A fiery burn shot through him, and the blood dripping down his arm that followed was easily the worst thing Virgil had ever experienced in his life.
The creature hummed, cocking its head- or so Virgil assumed from the way its eyes moved.
It moved the knife towards him again, and Virgil began to plead, mindless words falling from his lips at the hope he could stop it from happening again.
The creature stopped in its tracks, and Virgil almost sobbed in relief.
He was still feeling that bit of hope when a second appendage snuck up on him from behind and another burst of pain hit Virgil like a train at full speed.
He wished he was being hit by that train. Anything would be better than this agonizing loop of cut, rinse and repeat.
Virgil screwed his eyes shut, wishing for blackness to take him, the cool numbness that would let him escape.
He still had his eyes closed when he heard a commotion. It didn't matter to him then, in this haze of foggy suffering. He just wanted the torment to end.
Virgil felt something touch just over his stomach. He had only a split second of realization before there was pain pain painpainpain on his stomach and spreading through him.
It felt like there was a fire inside him, a raging inferno eating at him like acid from the inside.
He couldn't take it anymore.
Suddenly he heard a voice, and then he was being untied, though the appendages wriggled and fought back.
The voice scooped him up, murmuring "I've got you"s and "Shh, it's alright"s. He nuzzled into the oh-so-cool person and felt himself being picked up and moved somewhere where the light was so bright it went through Virgil's eyelids.
Or maybe that was just the dark cave that he had been in for the last... huh. How long had it been? Hours? Days? Weeks? He couldn't keep track.
He was laid down gently with a hand carded through his hair. He sighed happily and nuzzled into it, only to have it pull away. Letting out a low whine, he decided to just ready his head on the ground. He heard footsteps walk away, back to the cave they had walked from.
He registered a brief flash of panic at where the person was going just before his body decided to shut down.
///---///
Virgil hurt.
He squeezed his eyes shut in pain, trembling.
He tried to discern the source of it, registering that it came from his stomach.
Then he remembered.
Sitting up with a gasp got him a sharp pain in his stomach. Gritting his teeth, Virgil kept at it, stumbling up to a standing position. He looked back at where he had lain, and retched at the pool of blood that lay there. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and took a step forward.
A few steps later, he was at the mouth of the cave. He leaned against it, recovering his breath.
Once he had rested enough that the burn from his injury had subsided, he began to make his way into the cave.
His eyes widened.
Roman (who had rescued him, and would most likely be bragging about it for days- Virgil internally groaned) had- somehow- tied up the creature with its own appendages, and was now working on trying to figure out how to kill it. Whenever he tried to stab it, his sword would go straight through.
Virgil scoffed. "It's made of literal shadows, you're not going to kill it like that." He tried for snarky, but softened when Roman's worried face landed on him. "Hey Princey." He offered with a small smile.
"Virgil! You're up!" Roman sprinted the first few feet toward him, then, realizing Virgil still had a gaping hole in him, slowed down and hugged him gently.
Virgil hugged back.
Y'know. For balance.
When Roman tried to pull away, Virgil made a disgruntled noise but retracted his hands enough to grab Roman's arms.
"Are you alright?" Roman asked softly.
"Yeah." Virgil looked away. "Fine."
Roman raised an eyebrow. "The hole in your bloodstained shirt says otherwise."
Virgil shuffled his feet, wrapping his arms around himself- and immediately wincing. "Well, it's- it's whatever."
Roman rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no, you need to- Virgil!"
Virgil waved off his concerns, having crumpled to the floor in a particularly harsh burst of pain.
"Yeah, that's it." Roman decided. "Get up, we're going right now to get Logan to patch you up."
Virgil sighed, tilting his head back until it rested against the wall of the cave. "Fine." He groaned, making no move to get up.
Roman rolled his eyes and grabbed him under his arms, pulling him up.
Virgil stumbled as he was his with a wave of dizziness. Black spots danced across his vision, leaving him seeing stars- and not in the good way.
He swayed, managing to get out a "Catch me." Before he collapsed again.
He felt himself fall into someone's arms, and heard a whispered "I always will." before he passed out.
///---///
When Virgil woke up yet again, he was more comfortable than he had been any other time.
This was a bit overshadowed by the fact that he was strapped down again.
Memories flooded him and he thrashed, trying to get out of his restraints.
"Hey, hey, hey, shhh, it's okay." A concerned Patton hovered above him. He winced when he saw the red marks Virgil had gotten on his skin from resisting the restraints.
"We just had to tie you down so that you wouldn't struggle when Logan gave you stitches." Patton smiled besottedly at the mention of Logan and began to undo the ropes binding Virgil. "Here, I'll get these, just don't-" Patton shot a look at Virgil. "Rip the stitches."
As soon as they were gone, Virgil stretched as much as he thought he could get away with. Patton watched him with wary eyes.
Virgil tried for a smirk. "Don't worry, Pat, I'll be fine. I won't rip them out."
Patton didn't look convinced. "If you say so, kiddo."
Suddenly he heard a clatter in the background. Roman came skidding into the room. "Virgil!" He exclaimed. "You're awake."
Patton began inching out of the room. "Guess that's my cue. Take care of yourself!"
"Yep, thanks Pat." Virgil called after him, focusing his attention back on Roman. "Hey Ro." He said, voice soft.
Roman kissed him, sweet and breathless.
When they finally pulled apart with mussed hair, Roman rested his head on Virgil's forehead.
"Hi." He breathed, staring into Virgil's eyes. "Hey." Virgil said, still a bit floaty from their kiss.
Roman laughed, and kissed him again.
Huh, Virgil thought, still a bit dazed from kisses. Maybe he should be kidnapped more often.