Virgil's Tidal Nightmare

Virgil has had this reoccurring nightmare for the past several nights. A cocktail of fear and guilt was usually the result of it and he didn't know when he would just get used to it.

The dream usually involved Virgil walking on the beach alone where it's not too dark and not too sunny, but also not too hot and not to chilly. Next to him, he saw waves picking up. He kept gazing around and walking as the waves were experiencing some sort of hypertrophy if they were organs. His eyes stopped as he saw Roman trapped to a large rock on the ocean as if he were Godzilla's bait. The waves continued to grow and Virgil knew it would be difficult for Roman to breathe. He started running in the water until he saw a massive wave in front of him the size of a large wall. He froze like a deer in headlights, but immediately woke himself up before anything could happen.

Obviously, he was scared for Roman. Can you blame him for being scared of losing the thespian he loves so dearly? The fact that he was also scared frozen when the massive wave appeared ignited his guilt as well. He figured that if not for the fact that he woke up as the wave appeared before him, he would've just run off like a coward and left Roman to fend for himself with what little time he had left. If there was a time he wished "fight" would take over yet knew "flight" would inevitably win in the battle over his instincts, that scenario would definitely be it.

During their dates, Virgil constantly reminded Roman how much he loved him with actions he wouldn't usually do such as making the first move in their flirting, cheer loudly whenever he did a performance in the mind palace, and even sing the Disney songs with Roman whenever they were watching movies together. Although Roman liked this change for Virgil, even he knew that something was off, but whenever he questioned the purple storm cloud, he'd just get the response that Virgil loves him so damn much.

After so much procrastination, Virgil decided to finally talk to the others about the nightmare and guilt while Roman was out battling the Dragon Witch again. He was watching TV with everyone else (himself on the floor, Patton and Logan on the couch, and Deceit on a recently-summoned loveseat with scales on it) and finally brought himself to ask the question.

"Guys, if Roman was in danger, do you think he would blame me if I ran away from the threat he was facing?" he carefully worded.

The group looked at each other trying to process the question.

"Of course, Virgil. His miniscule self esteem and his love for you combined wouldn't make him prefer battle a threat alone if it meant proving his strength and his capability to protect you," Deceit fibbed.

"What if fight or flight causes him to get hurt due to me being a coward?" Virgil asked.

"Well, Virgil, if it makes you feel better, studies have shown that adrenaline can also help you take action when a loved one is in danger, so it's best not to ignore the 'fight' part of your instincts," Logan brought up.

"Plus, you and Roman both know that he loves you more than anything. Would you really want something like that to happen?"

"No, of course not," Virgil responded.

After a while, Virgil decided to head into the Imagination to get some fresh air and think about everything else. Not only did he think about the responses to his question, but he kept in mind that he always woke up before he could do anything regarding that massive wave in his dream, so what he would actually do was still up in the air for him. He stopped in his tracks when he heard a roaring sound and followed it to see the Dragon Witch flying above him. What got him chasing after them, though, was the fact that he saw Roman in their grip.

Without much thought, he looked up at the sky to follow both of them and it wasn't until the Dragon Witch lowered themself that he realized where he was: he was at the beach with moderate temperature and a moderate amount of darkness. He saw the Dragon Witch pin Roman to a large rock and, from what he could tell, summoned chains to his wrists before the waves started to increase in size.

Without caring, he ran up towards the rock screaming Roman's name, but stopped when he saw a large wave block his path. He thought, "Oh, not you again," clearly getting annoyed. The next thing he knew, he dove into the wave and saw that the water had gotten so high that Roman's head was altering between being in and out of the water. He wasn't thinking of anything else as he finally made it to Roman. He grunted as he was pulling the chains from the rock, thus decreasing the amount of oxygen Virgil had in his body. Roman tried to object to what Virgil was doing, but the emo had already pulled off the second chain and started to sink. Once Roman was freed, he immediately swam to Virgil's aid and teleported them both to the thespian's room.

Roman summoned a fireplace where a big mirror of his once was and brought Virgil over so they can both dry off. The Prince performed CPR and begged for Virgil to be okay. After some time, Virgil slowly opened his eyes.

"P-Princey? Are you alright?"

"I could ask you the same thing. However I also need to know why you took such a big risk like that."

"Simple, you idiot. I love you too much to want to lose you."

"And you risked me losing you to save me?"

"Hey, if I was too much of a coward to do so in a dream, I should at least try to do so in real life."

Roman sighed and lied down next to his emo and trying to make sure the chains didn't get too close to the fire.

"Was this why you tried to be extra while confirming your love for me?" Roman asked.

Virgil nodded and Roman placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

"Baby, I already know you love me. Even when you don't express it in the most romantic ways possible, I know you love me and I love you. Even if you run off somewhere to protect yourself, I know you love me and I'd want nothing more than for you to be safe."

Virgil slowly reached for Roman's hand and held it with both of his hands before ripping the restraints apart to free his wrist before doing the same thing for the other hand.

"How about we still serve as each other's knights?" Virgil suggested.

"But at our own paces in our own ways for your sake," Roman included.

"Deal, you dork."