#sacary village

[gaylotusthatexists]

Sacary Village (1)

pairings: all platonic rn, but eventual romantic moceit

summary: After arriving in a new village to live with their supposed ‘uncle’ Janus, Virgil and Logan meet the Prince family, and find something weird deep in the forest.

trigger warnings: death mention, sympathetic janus and remus, please let me know if i need to add anything else

word count: 5794

taglist: @boopiskoop

a/n: hey!!!!! i. have been watching gravity falls recently and i blame that entirely for this fic. i’m also really fucking excited about this au, i have so many plans for this, and aaa. mostly i just wanted to write some momceit but the idea has somehow evolved into. this. this will have a sort of storyline, although will probably be more of a collection of related one shots. (by which i mean there will be an overarching story, but each ‘chapter’ will be it’s own sort of episode dealing with a different topic (or monster ig) and some may not be connected to the story at all). due to that, i’m totally down for y’all to send requests for scenarios you’d like to see in this au, although probably won’t get round to them until i get everything set up properly (i do, of course, already have things in mind). anyway, i’m very very excited about all of this, so i hope y’all enjoy!!!

ao3

the cave in the forest

Virgil fiddled with his sleeves as he stared out the window, watching the countryside zoom past, trees all blurring into one as the sun set over the fields. He found himself playing with the zip on his sleeve, moving it up and down at an increasingly faster pace, completely ignoring the annoyed glares from his brother.

"Could you stop that?" Logan finally let out, trying to keep his voice at a whisper but failing.

Virgil just glared at him and zipped and unzipped harder.

With an heavy sigh, Logan leant his head back against the car seat and scrunched his eyes shut. Virgil's gaze fell to his knees and he let go of his sleeve, moving his fingers instead to the rips in his jeans, beginning to fiddle with the bits of string half-falling-off the fabric. These jeans had already been ripped when he brought them, of course, but they'd gotten worse as he constantly found himself pulling at the threads. It wasn't terrible, though, he supposed.

The car halted to a stop, causing Virgil to jerk forward. He looked up, noticing that they'd just stopped at a red light. Oh. Well, that was boring. He looked over at Logan, who still had his eyes closed, but Virgil could tell he wasn't asleep. No, he was just listening, waiting to see if this was the right moment.

It wasn't. They weren't there just yet, although they did seem to be a little closer to civilisation. The fields and trees had been replaced by little, family-owned shops and street lamps. Not many cars lined the streets, but there were a few people wandering around, adults just arriving home or teenagers lurking in the doorways of shops. This was where he and Logan would be staying for the next, what, two, three weeks? Their record so far had been a month, although they hadn't really had much time doing this whole thing. And this guy was supposedly 'family' - an uncle, or something, by the sounds of it - so maybe it would be a little different than the random couples they'd been passed around, people who couldn't deal with the fact that neither he nor Logan were perfect.

Glancing over at Logan again, Virgil noticed his older brother had now opened his eyes, and was looking out the window, scanning the area. He didn't look... all too pleased about this new development, but then again, Logan never was. It wasn't as if the two of them had much of a choice, anyway. They'd be out of here before they knew it.

The car left the main town area and drove a little through the countryside again, before turning into a smaller street, a few cottages lining the cobbled road. They stopped outside one cottage and climbed out the car, Virgil swinging his backpack over his shoulder and Logan dragging out a small suitcase. They stood for a moment just outside the wooden gate, swinging a little in the wind, and stared at the house, built of white brick and with ivy growing up the walls.

After Logan had a brief exchange with their driver, the car drove away, and Virgil and Logan were left alone on the street. The windows were dark, with no clear sign of human life within the house. Virgil looked up and down the street and saw no one else, but did hear talking coming from the garden of the house opposite their uncle's. He hummed, turning to Logan.

"We could just run," he suggested. "Like, our driver's gone, there's nothing stopping us from escaping right this second."

Logan sighed. "Virgil, do you want to die of starvation and/or murder in the middle of nowhere?"

Virgil took a moment to think of a response that was both true and also wouldn't concern Logan, who was already stressed out enough with the constant moving and the... everything. Eventually, Virgil replied, "Well, when you put it that way it sounds bad, but I do kinda see the appeal," which didn't particularly ease any of Logan's concerns.

"It won't be that bad here," Logan said, although he didn't sound too certain. "This guy's meant to be our uncle. Can't be that bad if he's family, right?"

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Yeah, our 'uncle' that we've never heard about before." He turned around and leant on the brick fence, looking over at the nearly identical house across the street. "Like, you'd think our parents would have mentioned him once."

"Maybe they did and we just didn't remember," Logan said, opening the gate and stepping into the front garden.

"I didn't even know we had an uncle," Virgil said. He twisted around to face Logan and frowned. "What are you doing?"

Logan paused, his hand hovering in mid air. "My plan was to knock on the door. Then introduce myself to our uncle."

"What about our running away plan?"

"You mean your running away plan that I never agreed to."

"What, so now I'm meant to just go along with your 'introducing ourselves' plan that I never agreed to?"

"Yes," Logan said, "you are."

Virgil groaned, but didn't argue anymore, instead turning back to face the houses on the other side of the street. The voices from the garden had stopped, but he could now see silhouettes of people instead - specifically, a man standing in the window, seemingly looking down at the two of them. He gulped and looked away, hoping that maybe he'd just been imagining things. If someone was watching them it probably wasn't anything malicious, but Virgil couldn't shake the thought away.

Logan hummed, turning back to Virgil. "Doesn't seem like anyone's in."

Virgil's head shot around. "What do you mean?"

"No one's answering the door," Logan said. "And, y'know, just looking through the window the house looks empty."

Virgil was silent for a moment, before a grin spread across his face. "Sweet!" He moved away from the wall, turning his full body around to face Logan. "Guess that means we're going with my running away plan-"

"No, Virgil, that- we're not doing that."

Virgil pouted.

"I'm going to check around the back," Logan decided, moving away from the door and heading down a passageway on the side of the house.

Virgil watched him disappear around the corner, then returned to the wall, pushing himself up to sit on it. Across the road, he noticed the door on the other house open, and a man step around, making his way towards Virgil. He was shorter than Virgil, which for a moment Virgil was quite proud of, and had a round, kind face, with dark skin and curled hair, dyed a pastel pink. He looked to be in his twenties, although his fashion choices depicted him as more of a child, with a blue t-shirt under denim overalls, as well as round glasses sitting on his nose. Virgil wasn't entirely sure what to make of him, as he stepped closer.

"Hey, uh..." He clicked his fingers and scrunched up his face, trying to remember something. "Logan, is it? I think Janus mentioned a Logan..."

Virgil shook his head. "Nope, not Logan."

"Oh." The man hummed, looking up and down the street. "So, uh, are you lost, or something?"

Virgil shrugged. "Nah, not really. Planning on doing some vandalism, maybe. Who is it that lives here?"

The man blinked, noticeably stepping back. "Uh, Janus," he said. "We're good friends. I thought he said something about having family coming over, but, uh, if you're not them then-"

Logan re-emerged from behind the house. "Who's this?" he asked, glancing suspiciously at the man.

"Oh!" The man smiled and turned to Logan, holding out a hand which Logan politely took to shake. "I'm Patton, I live across the road. I was just, uh, wondering if you kiddos needed any help, or anything."

"Perhaps we do," Logan muttered.

Virgil rolled his eyes and turned around, lifting up his headphones to his ears. He didn't play any music, instead continuing to listen to the conversation, but didn't feel like doing anymore human interaction.

"I'm Logan," Logan introduced. "This is my brother, Virgil. Whatever he said to you, it probably isn't true."

Virgil turned around and stuck his tongue out to Logan, stupidly signifying that he was listening to the conversation. Thankfully, Patton had his back turned, and so clearly hadn't seen.

"Oh, of course, Janus did also mention a Virgil," Patton said. "So you two are his... nephews? Cousins?" He paused. "Sons?"

"Nephews, apparently," Logan confirmed. "Although we have yet to actually met him in person. Would you happen to know where he is?"

Patton hummed. "He's probably in the town somewhere. I can go look for him."

Virgil jumped down from the wall, taking off his headphones and approaching Patton. "Not gonna lie, I don't know if I actually want to meet him," he said, causing Patton to jump and spin around to face him. "I mean, he's not here for our arrival, so he clearly doesn't give a shit about us, y'know?"

"Virgil-"

"What?"

Logan sighed. "Chances are, he just didn't realise what time we were coming." He turned back to Patton. "Could you help, please? Unlike my brother here, I don't particularly want to die in the wilderness."

"I never said I wanted to die in the wilderness-"

"You can hang out in my house for a bit, if you'd like," Patton offered, stepped away and beginning to move to the other side of the road. "The twins can help you get settled whilst I go search for Janus."

Logan and Virgil exchanged a glance, before Logan began to follow Patton. Alarmed, Virgil grabbed Logan's arm and pulled him back, moving back around the house until they were out of ear-shot of Patton. He let go of Logan's wrist, who proceeded to rub the spot where Virgil had grabbed him.

"Are you sure about this?" Virgil asked, a twinge of worry in his voice.

Logan nodded. "Yes, Virgil. Patton seems like a nice enough guy. I mean, what do we have to lose?"

"I don't know." He began to fiddle with his zip again. "What if he's kidnapping us?"

"Virgil, look at him." Virgil glanced over Logan's shoulder, noticing that Patton still had a wide, happy smile on his face. "I'm fairly certain he isn't trying to kidnap us."

Virgil closed his eyes and breathed in. "Okay. Fine. But if we get murdered, it's your fault." He pushed past Logan and returned to Patton, who quickly let him into his house.

"There's some food in the kitchen if your hungry," Patton said, leading them into the front room. "I'd advise against cooking anything, but if you want something heating up feel free to use the microwave. Should be enough stuff to make sandwiches, though. And, of course, feel free to have any drink you want. Uh... the twins are upstairs if you need any help with anything, although you both look like very capable young boys. I'll- I'll try to be as quick as possible, but make yourself at home." He smiled, and then darted out the house.

After a few moments of staring at the door, Virgil sighed and flopped down into the sofa, taking his phone out his pocket and beginning to mindlessly play a game. Logan seemed a little more hesitant to 'make himself at home', instead just standing in the middle of the room, staring out the window.

"Y'know, I really don't like this Janus guy," Virgil finally said, to which Logan looked at him for a moment and then sat down besides him. Virgil took off his shoes and pulled his legs up onto the sofa, sitting cross-legged. "I mean, we show up and he isn't even here, we've never actually met him before in our life, he's apparently friends with this weirdo-"

"I'm sure everything will be fine," Logan said, which didn't really make Virgil feel any better. "Based on our track record, we probably won't be here much longer anyway."

"Yeah, true." Virgil let his phone fall down into his lap, before he looked around the room. It was tidy, too tidy, with a white, fuzzy rug in the middle of the wooden floor, pure white sofas, and walls painted a pale blue. On the fireplace, Virgil noticed a few photos, one of Patton and two of people he didn't recognise, but who looked pretty similar to Patton - perhaps those were the 'twins' he had mentioned.

As if one cue, a person came running down the stairs and into the living room, frowning upon spotting the two brothers. He looked very much like a younger version of Patton, but with a leaner build and well-kept dark brown hair, and no glasses. He wore fairly casual clothes, just blue jeans and a white shirt, under a red jacket with the trans pride flag containing the words 'he/him' attached. From the looks of it, he seemed to be older than Virgil - fifteen, if Virgil was to make a guess.

"Who are you?" he asked, stepping into the living room and folding his arms.

Logan stood up and held out a hand. "Logan Sanders. And my brother, Virgil. We've just moved here."

The guy stared at Logan's hand for a moment, but didn't shake it. "Why are you in our house?"

"Patton - uh, your father, I'm assuming? - let us in," Logan explained. "We're supposed to be staying with our Uncle Janus across the road, but he isn't home right now."

"Oh." He turned around, stepping back towards the stairs. "Remus!"

Another boy came stumbling down the stairs, looking vaguely annoyed but grinning wildly upon seeing Logan and Virgil. He looked very similar to the guy, although with much messier hair, longer and dyed green at the ends, and a few strands of a moustache. He wore a simple green tank top and black shorts, and Virgil wondered for a moment how he wasn't cold.

"This is Logan and Virgil," the guy introduced to Remus, as Remus stepped into the room.

"Hi! Are you burglars?"

Logan blinked. "What? No. Patton just told us to stay here whilst he went to look for our uncle."

Remus pouted. "Boring."

Logan frowned. "Would you... rather us be thieves?"

"Well, it would be more exciting-"

"Don't mind my brother," the other guy interrupted, stepping in front of Remus. "Can we do anything for you?"

Logan gave him a polite smile. "We're quite alright, thank you. As I mentioned, Patton has already offered to help."

Remus pushed in front of his brother again, eyes sparkling with excitement. "You're new in town, right?"

"Correct."

"We should show you around!"

Logan glanced at Virgil, who tried to tell him to say no, but returned to Remus regardless and said, "That would be nice. Although, Patton did say to stay put-"

"We won't be long," the other guy promised. "We could show them the forest," he continued, now addressing his twin.

Remus grinned and nodded. "Yes! Oh, we haven't had anyone to explore the forest with for ages!" He grabbed Logan's hand, and began to drag him out. "C'mon!" Seeming as though he had no choice, Virgil sighed and followed the other three out the back of the house, through the fields and, once again, away from civilisation.

~*~

Patton's frown deepened as he wandered around town, still no sign of Janus in sight. Huh, that was strange. Well, it wasn't particularly unusual for Janus to disappear, sometimes for days on end, but he'd usually at least inform Patton that he'd be gone, and he rarely left when something important was happening. And this was important, right? Two kids coming to live with him. Janus had been talking about these two for ages, about how excited he was to have family coming round to stay, even if the circumstances weren't exactly... ideal.

Patton didn't know much about the Sanders family, but from the sounds of it those kids had been through a lot. He didn't want to dig too much, just allowing Janus to tell him what he was comfortable with him knowing, but he knew that both their parents were dead - how they died, he didn't know, but he assumed it wasn't pretty. And now Janus wasn't even here to welcome them in? It didn't make any sense.

Unless he'd forgotten about them. Maybe he'd got the day wrong?

Or maybe he was just in town, and Patton wasn't looking hard enough.

"If I were Janus, where would I be?" Patton muttered under his breath, peeking inside the local bar only to find it empty asides from the barman. The answer to the question was: not here. Janus only ever came into town for basic necessities, and didn't really involve himself with any of the residents. Asides from himself, as Patton had given Janus no other choice but to be friends, way back when Janus first moved here.

He supposed there was always the forest - Janus often disappeared into the forest for days, weeks at a time, although, again, he'd usually tell Patton. Plus, Patton didn't particularly want to go in the forest and... well, he'd heard stories, enough to make him shudder at the very thought of it. He knew that Roman and Remus frequently hung out there, even though they thought he didn't know - his boys really did think they were good at hiding things, but Patton knew everything - and, although they'd never actually provided evidence, they were certain that something was going on in there. Something that Patton didn't want to find out about.

He turned into the local supermarket and wandered through the aisles, picking up a few bits for himself, as the fridges at home were beginning to look a little bare, and kept an eye out for Janus as he went, figuring that it was likely that if Janus did come into town it would just be for food, especially knowing that he'd have guests coming over to stay soon. But when Patton left the store, and realised that he'd checked every other store, he came to the conclusion that Janus probably wasn't in town. So instead, Patton turned back into the local bar, deciding that maybe he should ask around.

A few other people had gathered inside now, people that Patton recognised but never really spoke to. Whilst Patton did try to be friendly with everyone in the village, it was rare that he came into the bar, and talked to the (mostly straight) crowd. So instead of approaching the more intimidating men sat around drinking, Patton approached the bar, which Remy was stood behind.

Patton knew Remy fairly well, as they lived down his street and often came over for dinners. Why they had decided to work in this bar, Patton didn't know. He gave them a small smile as a hello and took a seat at the bar. Remy smiled back and immediately got to making Patton a cocktail, strawberry flavoured like he always liked. Remy always knew what Patton would want.

"So what brings you here?" Remy asked, taking off their sunglasses (they always wore sunglasses inside for some reason - Patton had yet to figure out why) and sliding the drink over to Patton.

Patton took a small sip, before replying, "I was looking for Janus."

Remy raised an eyebrow. "In here?"

"This is actually my last stop," Patton said, with a giggle. "Couldn't find him anywhere else. Have you seen him?"

Remy shook their head. "Haven't seen him for a few weeks now. Why, is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Patton said, although he wasn't sure how much truth there was to that statement. "It's just that he's got some kids he's meant to be taking care of. They arrived earlier today, but he isn't home."

Remy frowned. "Kids?"

"Yeah." Patton fiddled with the edges of his now empty glass. "His nephews, apparently. They do sorta look like him."

"Oh." Remy hummed. "He's never mentioned his family to me before." Remy was another person that Janus was somewhat close to, simply because they spent so much time round Patton's house. Although, he very clearly didn't trust Remy as much as Patton.

"He doesn't talk to me about them, either," Patton said. "He did say some stuff about these kids a few weeks back, though."

There was a moment of silence between them, as the men in the back started cheering - someone scored in football, by the looks of it - before Remy said, "Think he's pulled another disappearing act?"

Patton stared down into his cup, watching the ice slowly melt at the bottom. "Maybe. I- I should probably head back home. You're right, he's probably just in the forest again."

Remy nodded and slipped his sunglasses back one. "Good luck, babe. Say hi to the boys for me, yeah?"

Patton grinned. "Of course!" He got up off his chair, handing his empty glass back to Remy. "How much do I-"

"Don't worry about it."

Patton blinked. "You sure?"

"Yeah." Remy smiled. "Gift for a friend."

"O-Okay then. Thank you." Patton smiled one last time, then left the pub, heading back towards his car to drive home.

~*~

Virgil glanced nervously around the forest as the twins dragged them further in, so far in that he could no longer see the exit. This was probably fine, right? No one was going to murder him, it wasn't as if he was alone. Although, it was beginning to get darker, and the others showed no signs of wanting to go back. What if Patton returned home with Janus and discovered they were all missing? What if they died in this forest and no one found them? What if they were all forgotten about?

No, no, that didn't sound right. The twins - one of whom Virgil still didn't know the name of - said that they came in here often, so it was probably safe. They'd be fine.

"Hey, uh, can I ask what your name is?" Virgil eventually asked the unknown twin, beginning to feel a little uncomfortable with the silence.

Remus gasped. "Woah, he does speak!"

Virgil rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets, refusing to say anything else.

"My full name is Romulus, but I tend to go by Roman," the other twin introduced, smiling politely at Virgil. Virgil smiled back, and nodded.

"Oh! Romulus, Remus. Do I sense a theme there?" Logan said, his eyes lighting up. Of course Logan would pick up on that link, and of course he'd choose to be an absolute nerd over it.

"Yeah, Roman decided to be a nerd when picking out his name," Remus said, crouching down to the ground and picked up a large stick, which he proceeded to wave around in the air pretending it was a sword.

"I'm not a nerd," Roman defended.

"You keep telling yourself that."

"Shut up."

"Nothing wrong with being interested in mythology," Logan interrupted, stepping forward to walk besides Roman, thus forcing Virgil to fall to the back of the group. "It is quite fascinating."

Roman looked at him for a moment, before looking away and beginning to walk a little faster. "Hey, Remus, we should go to that cave again!" he suggested. Virgil was just a little confused at the sudden change in conversation, but even more alarmed at the thought of exploring a cave.

"Uh, is that safe-"

"'Course it is!" Roman exclaimed. "We go in there all the time, right, Remus?"

Remus nodded. "Yeah!" He let his stick fall to his side, still swinging his arm back and forth as he walked. "I want to check it out again, anyway. We heard that sound last time, remember?"

"Oh yeah, that was weird." Roman hummed. "Couldn't get past that door, though."

"Door?" Virgil frowned.

"Yeah, this big ass door built of stone or metal or something. We needed, like, a code to get in it."

Logan seemed vaguely interested by that. "What sort of code?"

"Numbers? I don't know."

"Bet I could crack it."

"We spent, like, an hour trying to crack it," Remus said.

"I could do it."

Roman grinned. "Let's go then! I do wanna know what's in there." He picked up the pace again, beginning to run further into the forest. With a sigh, Virgil began to run along with the others, not particularly happy with the change of pace but not really able to complain, since he was an alright runner and didn't seem to have any other choice.

Eventually, the four of them came across a cave in the side of cliff, with lights illuminating the way inside. That was weird - it was a cave, why would there be lights? Unless someone lived there? Unless... something must have been going on. Virgil wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. "You sure about this?" he asked, once again.

"Don't worry, Virge," Roman said, before frowning. "Can I call you Virge?"

Virgil shrugged. "Sure."

"Nice. Anyway, don't worry, it's completely safe."

"Why don't I believe that?"

"Don't worry, Virgil," Logan said, coming up to his side again. "We'll be fine, yeah? If it gets too much, you can always come back out."

Virgil breathed in, then out. "Okay. Yeah, sure, whatever." He followed the twins into the cave, trying his hardest to stay brave, to stay strong. Things would be fine, surely. He couldn't... Well, okay, he could think of many things that could go wrong, but couldn't think of any likely things that could go wrong. Still, he found himself playing with his zip again, as the four walked around the dimly lit, quiet cave.

He could hear a low rumbling, and wasn't entirely sure what to think of that. It sounded like some sort of machinery, and the thought that this may be some kind of government facility briefly crossed his mind, before he shook that thought away and figured that it was probably just like that in here. Although, the twins had mentioned a sound, so...

"Down here!" Remus exclaimed, shooting down a corridor to the side with Roman quickly trailing behind. Virgil and Logan exchanged a concerned, kind of afraid look, before following them. Once they reached this supposed door, however, the twins stopped, frowning. "It's... gone?"

"Not gone," Roman muttered, stepping towards a keypad to the side, a green light blinking in the darkness. "Open."

"Is someone in here?" Logan wondered, leaving Virgil's side and stepping closer towards the door. Virgil decided to stay way, way back, not wanting to know what was behind the door, or find out who had entered. This was- This was all a little too strange for Virgil, too scary, and those unlikely situations he'd thought of earlier suddenly seem way more plausible.

"Looks empty," Roman said, as he stepped into the room. Virgil peeked a glance around the three of them, still keeping his distance but... a little intrigued, he supposed. Mostly, he just wanted to try and ease his anxieties, maybe knowing that nothing was wrong would help him. And, as Roman said, the room was empty, asides from a few crates. There didn't seem to be any other exits, either.

Logan looked back at Virgil and motioned for him to come closer. "C'mon, Virgil, it's safe in here."

Virgil grimaced. "No thanks, don't want to be trapped in some mystery room."

"It really is quite-" Logan's jaw dropped, and he fell silent. A look of fear grew across the other boys faces, as they all became frozen in place.

Virgil frowned. "What's up?"

Logan raised a shaky hand, finger pointing behind Virgil. Okay, that was weird, but... Gulping, Virgil turned around and soon found himself frozen in fear as well, trying to hardest not to scream. Some huge creature stood behind him, a big lizard of some sorts, with forest green scales and huge yellow eyes, glowing in the darkness, and... a pair of wings spread out behind in, talons digging into the ground.

Virgil slowly backed away, back into that small room with the others, and fell into Logan's arm, allowing Logan to grip him tight. He would be safe with Logan, right? Logan always promised to keep him safe. And-

"Close the door," Logan muttered, glancing at Remus who was the closest to the entrance.

"How the fuck am I meant to close the door-"

"I don't know, is there any buttons anywhere?"

"Here!" Roman said, stepping towards a control panel on the other side of the room. He pressed a few buttons as the dragon edged closer, before the door eventually shut tight. Virgil let out a breath, and then screamed.

"What the fuck?" he shouted, gaze drifting between Remus and Roman. "You didn't tell us there were fucking dragons down here?"

"Hey, last time we checked there weren't any fucking dragons!" Roman shouted back, beginning to show his own fear as well. "We thought this cave was abandoned!"

"Well, clearly not, if there's all this machinery around, and working lights," Logan stated, "and, y'know, an actual dragon. Since when were dragons real?"

"Look, I know Remus and I aren't exactly the smartest of people," Roman said, ignoring Remus' offended hey, "but I swear we have never found anything like this in here before-"

"What are we meant to do?" Virgil said, eyes now fixed on the closed door, trying his hardest not to think about the scratching on the other side. "We can't just stay in here forever!"

"You have your phone, Virgil, right?"

"Well, yeah, but who am I meant to call? Our fucking social worker?" Virgil groaned. "Just imagine that conversation. 'Oh yeah, my brother and I are trapped in a cave with a dragon, send help please'. Be realistic Logan."

Logan bit his lip. "We could call Patton? Either of you two have your phone?"

"Left mine at home," Roman said, at the same time that Remus said, "Mine's dead."

"Great. Either of you two know his phone number, maybe?"

There was silence for a moment, before Roman quietly said, "Who remembers phone numbers anymore?"

Logan sighed. "Okay, yeah, didn't think so."

Again, silence. After a few minutes, Virgil blinked. "The scratching's stopped."

"Huh." Logan broke away from Virgil, despite Virgil's silent protests, and approached the door again. "Do you think it's gone?"

"Maybe." Roman's hand hovered over the panel again. "Should I open the door?"

Virgil's eyes widened. "No. It might still be waiting for us."

"We can still close the door afterwards-"

"Open it, Roman," Logan ordered.

The door slowly opened to reveal the dragon laid on the floor, either asleep or dead - Virgil wasn't sure which one he hoped for more - as well as a man standing over the body, trying to catch his breath. After looking at each other, the four slowly made their way out of the room and towards the man. He was older, probably early thirties, one eye brown and the other green, a scar running down his face over the green eye. He wore a yellow shirt under a brown leather jacket, and a yellow beanie covering his somewhat messy brown hair. Virgil couldn't help but think that he recognised him, or that he reminded him of somebody.

"Janus?" Roman said, stepping forward.

Janus. Was- Was this their uncle?

"Uncle Janus," Logan said, stepping forward as well. "Right? Janus Sanders?"

The man looked Logan up and down, and then moved over to Virgil, a smile growing across his face. "Logan, Virgil. I've- I thought you were arriving tomorrow?"

Logan frowned. "No. We arrived today."

"Oh." Janus glanced around. "Well, uh..." He paused, frowning a little. "What are you all doing here?"

"Exploring!" Remus exclaimed, to which Janus sighed.

"I thought I told you boys that the forest was dangerous," he said.

"Yeah, which makes it even cooler."

Once again, Janus sighed. "Well, I'm sorry you all had to see that. We- We should probably get back. Your dad must be wondering where you are, right?"

"He went to look for you," Roman stated.

Janus closed his eyes. "Of course he did. We should... head back anyway." He turned, beginning to lead the four of them out the cave, not even taking notice of the dragon still lying on the floor. "You won't tell Patton about any of this, will you?" The twins nodded.

"Are you-" Virgil breathed in. "Are you going to explain any of this?"

Janus hummed. "Later. For now, we need to make sure you're all safe. This cave isn't exactly for a playground for children."

"I'm not a child-"

"I'll explain later, Virgil," Janus said, "I promise."

~*~

Patton arrived home to discover the four teens and Janus sitting around the table in the kitchen, all with a hot drink in front of them, Janus taking small sips and the others just staring into the liquid, looking rather shaken. A little confused, Patton hovered near the table, waiting for Janus to explain himself.

"Ah, Patton," Janus eventually said, "thank you ever so much for taking care of my boys. I'm sorry I couldn't be there for their arrival."

"I've been looking everywhere for you!" Patton exclaimed, sounding like he wanted to be angry but mostly just... relieved, that Janus and the boys were okay. "What happened?"

"I just had a little trouble to clear up in the forest, nothing to worry about," Janus stated. "Totally forget my nephews were arriving today. But, again, thank you for taking care of them. They've already seemed to make friends with Remus and Roman, at least."

Patton wanted to argue more, but seeing the small smile slowly growing on each of the boys faces made him soften up. He didn't know what had happened, but whatever had gone on must have made the four of them like each other, and... well, the twins had never really had many friends before, so maybe this would do them some good. Patton couldn't really complain, anyway. And it didn't look like anyone was hurt.

"Now that you're back, though, I suppose I'll be taking Logan and Virgil back home," Janus announced, beginning to stand up. "It is getting awfully late."

Patton considered him for a moment, before smiling a little. "No, don't go just yet, at least stay for supper?"

After a moment of silence, Janus sat back down. "Oh, all right. You are an excellent cook."

Patton grinned and went to get started on supper, occasionally glancing back at the table. It looked as though all five of them were trying to hide something, like they'd just done something extraordinary. Janus had mentioned that he'd been in the forest - what was going on there?

Either way, as Patton prepared the dinner, he came to the conclusion that life was about to get a whole lot more interesting.

#sacary village #thomas sanders #sanders sides #virgil sanders #logan sanders #patton sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #my fanfic #my writing

[gaylotusthatexists]

Sacary Village (2)

pairings: brotherly analogical and creativitwins, eventual romantic moceit, parental anxceit/loceit

summary: Logan and Virgil spend their first full day in their new town, and join forces with the town's self proclaimed 'monster hunters', the Prince twins. 

trigger warnings: knife mention, discussion of past death, implied past bad family relations

word count: 9172

taglist: @boopiskoop @shootingcookielover @vindicatedvirgil

a/n: hey! this is part two for my vaguely-gravity-falls-inspired-but-not-quite-au. you don't need to read the first part if you don't want to b u t i would recommend it simply for this to make more sense haha. anyway this chapter was a lot of fun for me and would have had it posted like a week ago but ran out of time and then was offline all week, but here we are now! hope y'all enjoy~

ao3 

monster hunters

When Virgil woke up the next morning, there was a brief panic as he tried to figure out where he was, why he was in such an unfamiliar bedroom, until he remember the move. Right, of course - he was with Janus now, in some sort of attic bedroom, sunlight seeping in through a large, circular window and Logan sat up in bed on the other side of the room, flicking through the pages of some encyclopaedia. Virgil slowly sat up as well, looking around the room with a tired expression.

"Ah, Virgil," Logan asked, shutting his book tight. "Good morning."

Virgil blinked. "How long have you been awake?"

"I'm not sure," Logan said. "An hour, maybe?" 

"Oh."

Logan stood up and made his way over to Virgil's bed, sitting down on top and opening up his arms. Smiling, Virgil sank into him, allowing Logan to hug him tightly. It was a routine of theirs that they'd quickly gotten used to over the past year and a half, a silent reminder every day that, even if the world wasn't offering anything else, they still had each other. Logan was alive, and well, and right here besides him, and things would be okay.

"I didn't dream up yesterday, right?" Logan checked, glancing down at Virgil.

Virgil blinked, confused for a moment, before his eyes widened. Oh. He'd forgotten about that. A dragon, in the forest. What the hell had that been about? "Kinda hope that we did, honestly," Virgil said. "I mean... a dragon?"

"Yeah." Logan hummed. "Janus said he'd explain everything, right?"

"Yup." Virgil wiggled away from Logan, moving closer to the wall. Sensing that Virgil was done with physical contact for the morning, Logan stood up, moving back towards his bed. "I... don't know what to think about Janus."

"I know, Virgil," Logan said, "but we'll be fine. He hasn't tried to hurt us, correct?"

"I mean, yeah, so far."

"He saved us yesterday," Logan reminded him.

"He didn't know it was us then," Virgil said. "How did he even know the dragon was there? What was he doing in the cave?"

"He'll explain everything later."

"He better explain." Virgil looked around the room, eyes landing on the window. "Window looks big enough for us to climb out. It's not to late to pick up my running away plan, is it?"

Logan sighed. "We're not running away, Virgil."

He stood up, heading towards his suitcase and pulling out some clothes. Virgil turned his head as Logan got changed, before the two switched places and Virgil got changed as well. Another routine they'd settled into, changing in one another's presence for fear of being left alone. Logan always refused to leave Virgil's side, and Virgil was grateful for that.

"I'd like to go into town today," Logan decided, as the two made their way to the bathroom just down the hall, which Janus has showed them last night. "Buy a notebook of sorts, to record information about that dragon we saw and any other things we end up seeing."

Virgil frowned. "What, you want to go seeking out all the weird shit again?"

"Well, I believe it will be interesting," Logan claimed. "I'm not asking you to come with me."

Virgil would have come anyway, and Logan knew that. He also knew there was no way in hell that Virgil would want to seek out danger. "Logan, I don't think-"

"We'll be fine," Logan said. "I just want to go back and get a drawing of it. After that, I don't mind if we don't go looking for other things. But if we do happen to come across something-"

"We will run in the opposite direction-"

"I will want to attempt to understand it," Logan corrected. He began to brush his teeth, which Virgil copied a few seconds later. Virgil didn't feel like arguing anymore, but knew that if Logan did go back out there, Virgil would attempt to stop him. He was fairly certain that Logan knew that too.

Once the two had finished with their quick wash, they headed downstairs, hearing footsteps wandering around. Before entering the kitchen, to the source of the footsteps, Virgil and Logan looked at each other, Logan silently communicating to Virgil that it would be fine. Although they hadn't had much time to talk to Janus the night before, after arriving home late from Patton's, he had told them that they were welcome to come downstairs into the kitchen whenever they were ready.

Logan entered the kitchen first, with Virgil following tentatively behind. He wasn't sure what time it was - was it too early for them to be awake? What if he had imagined last nights conversation and were actually meant to wait to be collected from their room, like a few other places that the brothers had stayed in? What if Janus already hated them and wanted them gone?

Virgil's fears quickly faded, though, when he saw Janus' face brighten up upon seeing the two brothers.

"Logan, Virgil, good morning," he greeted. "I trust you had a good sleep?"

Logan nodded, smiling politely at Janus. "Yes, thank you. It's a lovely room." He took a seat at the table as Janus sat down himself. Virgil still hovered in the doorway, assessing the situation.

"It's just an attic," Janus said. "If all goes well and you two can stay here permanently, we can decorate it properly."

Virgil frowned. "Permanently?" he repeated, stepping further into the room.

Janus blinked. "Yes? I thought you knew that by taking you in I was intending to adopt?"

Logan glanced at Virgil, then back at Janus. "We weren't told. It's very... considerate of you, though. Although, fair warning, every other place we've stayed in has had... difficulties."

"I'm well aware," Janus confirmed, straightening his posture and motioning for Virgil to sit down. Although still a little hesitant, Virgil complied. "What separates me from the rest of them, though, is that I am your uncle, and I only want what's best for both of you. I know you two have been through... a lot, recently, and I have every intention to make sure that you are now safe."

Virgil wasn't sure what to make of that. It seemed almost too good to be true. And he didn't trust Janus, not one bit. "If you're our uncle," he said, "how come we've never heard of you before?" That question had been plaguing his mind since he'd been informed of him moving in with Janus, and still set off all sorts of warnings.

"My brother - well, your father and I, we... well, we haven't talked in a while, to say the least."

"Well, yeah, he's been dead for a year and a half," Virgil said, jokingly, although immediately regretted it afterwards as he saw the sort of sad expression on Janus' face. "Sorry," he mumbled after. "Just- you weren't even at the funeral."

Janus gulped. "I know. I- I wanted to be there," he said. "Or would have wanted to be there, if I'd known. I hadn't spoken to him for years before. Or the rest of our family. It's only recently that I heard of his passing. And I'm- I'm dreadfully sorry, Virgil, Logan. I can't- I can't imagine what it must be like."

Virgil raised an eyebrow at that last statement, but didn't say anything else. After a few more moments of silence, Janus stood up and made his way over to the side, before returning a few seconds later with a plate of pancakes.

"Breakfast," he said. "No more talk of death for now. We can talk more about it another time, okay?"

Virgil shrugged. "Alright." After Janus handed him a clean plate, he grabbed a pancake from the centre of the table and began to eat.

After a few moments of silence, Janus spoke again, "So, since you two are getting settled in, we should probably talk ground rules."

Virgil paused eating for a moment, trying not to show how nervous that made him. It was expected, he supposed, but previous places he'd lived in had been pretty ridiculous, and he didn't want to end up somewhere where everything he did was controlled again. He glanced over at Logan, who just stared at Janus intently. Logan had always been a stickler for the rules, he was probably excited to hear them.

"In all honesty, I don't really care what you two do," Janus began, causing both Virgil and Logan to frown. What did that mean? "You're free to come in and out of the house as you please, all rooms here are open, including my bedroom as long as I'm not sleeping - unless it's an emergency, of course - apart from the shed in the garden. That's my space, and I'd rather you two not poke your head around. Even if you see weird lights coming from inside." He paused. "Especially if you see weird lights coming from inside."

There was a long silence, before Logan quietly said, "Anything else?"

Janus shrugged. "I mean, you're both teenagers, I assume you know how to take care of yourselves. If you need any money, just ask, although obviously I'll be hesitant if it's a ridiculous amount. You can have whatever food we have in, or buy your own if you'd prefer. I'll make breakfast and dinner anyway, and lunch if you need it. Patton across the road will be more than willing to provide that as well. Speaking of, feel free to go to Patton's whenever, he's an alright guy, his kids come round here all the time."

"So you... really just don't care what we do?" Virgil asked. "Like, we can just do... whatever?"

"Well, sure." Janus hummed. "I mean, I'd advice against you taking drugs or committing any serious crimes, and obviously I'd like you to do fairly well at school - let me know if there are any problems with school, by the way, I won't be angry if you're struggling. You still have until next week before school starts, though."

Huh. Even their parents had been more strict than this. This was... This was weird.

"I believe that covers it all. I won't give you a curfew, but if you're going to be home super late, or if you're staying at some other house, let me know." Janus smiled. "I want you two to be comfortable here, okay? If you ever need anything, you can tell me."

Another silence. Virgil continued eating, eyes flickering up to Janus every few seconds.

"So," Logan eventually said, "can we talk about yesterday yet?"

Janus' eyes widened. "Yesterday?" he repeated.

"Yes?" Logan said, tilting his head. "The dragon, remember?"

There was a pause, and then laughter. "Dragon? Don't be silly."

Logan frowned. "You were there. You said you'd explain everything today."

"Did I?" Janus hummed. "You must have dreamt that, Logan."

"No, no, he definitely didn't dream it," Virgil said, beginning to feel a little concerned. "I was also there, and we saw you handle the dragon."

Janus shrugged. "Huh. Well, you boys have a great imagination."

Logan stood up, finished with his breakfast. "I bet it's still there," he said, sounding a little agitated, gritting his teeth. "We could show you. Jog your memory a little."

Janus rolled his eyes, and Virgil was half-tempted to punch him in the face. He restrained himself, because, despite the fact he still didn't trust Janus, he had been pretty nice to them so far. "And where was this dragon, exactly? Because I feel like if there was a dragon in the town, I would know about it."

"It- It was in the forest," Logan said, staring hard at Janus. "You were there."

Janus was silent for a moment, something flickering through his eyes - fear? Worry? Anger? "I wouldn't go in the forest if I were you," he said. "It's dangerous."

"Thought you said we could do what we want," Virgil said, regretting it slightly afterwards.

"Of course, I won't stop you, but..." He shook his head. "Actually, no. Unless you're with Patton or myself, no going in the forest. It's dangerous, and I don't want either of you two getting lost." There was something different in his voice, something that Virgil couldn't quite place, but something that also made Virgil feel anxious. That calm, easy-going nature had faded. He sounded stricter, and... and Virgil didn't want to know what would happen if he disobeyed Janus. Going against his 'guardians' wishes had never done him any favours in the past.

"Alright," Logan eventually said, still sounding a little bitter. "I'm... sorry." It occurred to Virgil that perhaps that final tone had made him just as anxious as Virgil.

"Don't apologise, Logan," Janus said, returning to his calmer nature from before. "Now, how about we all take a little walk into town today? Get to know each other a little better. Maybe get you some stuff for the room, or some new clothes if you'd like."

~*~

"Roman, Roman, Roman!"

Roman groaned, turning over in his bed and wrapping his quilt tighter around him.

"Roman!" The voice continued to repeat, over and over. Roman just wanted to continue sleeping. He'd been up late last night and, whilst that wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence, it was also a Saturday, which meant he had an excuse to sleep for a little longer. If it wasn't for his brother, of course, shouting his name over and over and jumping down onto his bed.

"What?" Roman exclaimed, finally sitting up. "What could possibly be so important that you wake me up on a Saturday?"

Remus grinned. "I'm heading back into the forest!" he announced, proudly.

Roman stared at him for a moment, then blinked, unimpressed. "And you're telling me because...?"

"You're coming with me!" Remus said, grabbing Roman's wrist and attempting to pull him out of bed. He failed.

"Remus, it's, like, ten in the morning."

"Yeah, and Dad's still asleep, and I wanna leave before he wakes up so he doesn't find out we're going to the forest-"

"Why don't you just tell him?" Roman wondered.

"Because he'd freak out."

"I don't think he would."

"He would. Especially if he knew about the dragon."

Roman's eyes widened. "Oh shit. The dragon."

"Yup!" Remus grinned. "I wanna go see it again. My new goal in life is to poke it."

"You think that's safe?"

"Nope! That's what makes it fun." He paused for a moment, tapping his leg, before his eyes widened again. "Wait, do you think we could keep it as a pet?"

"It tried to kill us," Roman reminded him.

"Yeah, and? Wolves used to try to kill humans, probably, but then we domesticated them! Bet we could do the same with dragons!"

Roman closed his eyes, sighing. "Lizards, Remus. You're talking about lizards. Just get a lizard."

"I don't want a lizard," Remus said. "I want a dragon." He moved away from Roman's bed, heading over to the door. "Get dressed! I'll nip down to the shop and buy us some snacks for a picnic, if you want. We could go to that lake again."

Roman's eyes lit up at that, and, seeing his now happy expression, Remus grinned and left. A moment later, Roman heard the front door slam shut, before he rubbed his eyes and crawled out of bed. He quickly tidied up his clothes from the night before, which he'd just thrown on the floor before getting into bed, then got changed into a red t-shirt, jeans, and a white jacket, decorated in swirling patterns he'd painted on himself. He quickly brushed his hair, sweeping it to the side, then cleaned his teeth and grabbed his backpack, heading downstairs. It would only be him and Remus, he presumed, so he didn't do anything else to make himself look nice. He took his sketch pad from the living room, however, thinking that if they were heading down to the lake he'd have a good chance to try out some landscapes.

"You going somewhere?" a voice asked, as Roman's hand hovered over the doorknob. He spun around, coming face to face with Patton.

"Oh! Morning, Dad," he said. "I was, uh, Remus and I were gonna head out for the day. He just popped down to the shop, we were gonna-"

"Where are you going?" his dad asked.

"Oh, uh, y'know, just in town. Maybe to the fields, we were gonna have a picnic."

His dad frowned. "Alright, be back before dark."

Roman smiled. "Of course! Thank you." He turned again, heading out the door before his dad could change his mind.

~*~

Logan trailed after Janus and Virgil as they walked into town, along the footpath next to the fields. Although Janus did have a car he could theoretically use to drive into the main town area, he had insisted on walking, stating that it would be nice, and also would allow the brothers to learn the way into town when they wanted to go without access to a car. As if they couldn't figure it out themselves.

"Any shops you want to go to in particular?" Janus asked, as they stepped into the town.

Logan and Virgil were both silent.

"Right, of course, you're new," Janus remembered. "Uh... The clothes you brought with you last night are all you have, right? Like, you don't have any more boxes coming?"

"Well, it was a little difficult to get any of our possessions after our house fucking burned down," Virgil mumbled, staring down at the floor.

"Oh. Yes. I'm- I'm sorry-"

"Don't be," Logan quickly said. "We did buy some things after we first moved out, but nowhere we've lived so far have been all that bothered to buy us loads. Virgil and I do have some money of our own, however, so-"

"Logan, you don't need to worry about money," Janus said. "I'm not expecting either of you to buy essentials with your own money, I can handle that." Virgil and Logan exchanged a glance, but said nothing more. Janus continued, "For today, we'll just visit our local clothes shop, and perhaps another day we can drive out to the mall and have a good look around. After that I suppose we should see what kind of food you two would like, and I'll let you two have a wander if you want, check out some of the smaller shops whilst I get some business done."

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Business?"

"I just need to have a chat with someone who lives in town, no big deal."

Despite him saying that, Logan desperately wanted to know. Did it have anything to do with that he saw yesterday? Was there some sketchy going on? Or was it just a mundane problem, or a simple catch up, was Logan thinking too much into this?

Either way, he let Janus lead them around town, finding it best not to argue with Janus. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he'd be able to explore the forest more.

~*~

By the time that Remus had made it out of the shop, Roman had already caught up, now looking wide awake. Remus' backpack had been filled to the brim with snacks, most of which he'd brought with a tenner he'd found on the kitchen side but some of which came into his possession in a not-so-legal way, as well as some other 'equipment' in the bottom - knives, nets, a picnic blanket, just in case.

"You got up quick," Remus noticed. "Thought you'd spend a little more time brushing that perfect hair of yours."

"I'll have you know, my hair is already perfect, I don't need to brush it for hours for it to look this way." Roman smirked. "Although, maybe you should give it a try."

Remus stuck his tongue out, then spun around on his heel, heading deeper into town. Frowning, Roman ran a little to catch up with him.

"I thought we were heading to the forest?" Roman recalled.

"Well, yeah, but if we walk back down our street Dad will get confused. And then we'll have to explain. Plus, I stole a tenner off him, so-"

Roman blinked. "Where'd you get it?"

"The kitchen." Remus shrugged. "It was just there, lying by the sink, all in its own, abandoned by the world."

"Are you fucking kidding me, Remus," Roman groaned. "That was mine."

"You really should take better care of your money, Roman."

"You owe me ten."

"I don't owe you shit, I'm your twin brother, we share things. As Dad would always say, sharing is caring."

"I don't think I've ever heard Dad say that."

"You know that he thinks it all the time, though."

Roman sighed. "Okay, yeah, you're right. Doesn't mean I'm gonna let you off."

"You'll forget eventu-" He froze. "Holy shit, is that those kids from yesterday?"

Roman frowned, then followed Remus' gaze. It was. The two teens they'd met the day before were walking around town, following Janus. Their uncle, right? Yeah. Remus grinned and ran up to them, tapping the older one - Logan - on the shoulder. "Hey!"

Alarmed, Logan spun around, getting into a fighting stance, before noticing Remus and relaxing. "Oh. Hello, Remus."

After catching up with him, Roman said, "What are you doing out here?"

"Shopping," Logan said, "obviously."

Janus turned around and looked at Remus, humming. "Ah. The Prince twins. How are you doing?"

"We're good!" Remus said, grinning. "We were gonna have a picnic. Can Logan and Virgil come with us?" He ignored the confused stare from Roman.

"I don't see why not." Janus turned to the brothers. "How about you two finish up your shopping with the twins, then I'll meet you back home tonight."

Logan looked down at Virgil and something happened between them, some sort of secret communication, before Logan looked back up at Janus. "Yes, that sounds good. I'll see you tonight, Uncle."

Janus smiled. "Stay out of the forest, yeah?" Logan nodded, then he took off, leaving the four teenagers alone on the street.

Once Janus was out of sight, Remus said, "Well, Roman and I were planning on heading into the forest, so I hope you're not one to listen to the adults."

Logan breathed out. "That's what Virgil and I were planning to do as well."

Virgil frowned. "No, actually, I-"

"Awesome!" Remus grabbed Logan's wrist and began to drag him down the street, the other two following. "Anywhere you need to go first?"

"Is there anywhere I could buy a notebook of sorts?" Logan asked.

Remus nodded. "Yeah, there's a stationary place at the end of the high street. C'mon."

~*~

As Janus did his weekly food shop, something gnawed in his chest, a feeling that his nephews were about to get in a whole lot of trouble again. He'd been so stupid the day before, forgetting that they were coming in and then allowing them to run straight into danger, without even being able to tell them it was there.

There was something going on in his town, and Janus had spent the last few years living here trying to figure it all out. He didn't want Logan and Virgil to be getting caught up in all of that. He remembered how when he was younger he'd dragged his brother into mysteries with him, and he knew that had only harmed him, emotionally and physically, and in turn caused their relationship to break down. He didn't want that for his nephews. He wanted them to be safe, he needed to keep them safe.

And if that meant hiding a few things from them, keeping them from exploring the forest, then so be it. He needed to come up with some sort of excuse about the dragon, because they really didn't seem to buy his usual lies. It wasn't difficult to convince others in this town that all they saw was an illusion, a dream, but these boys were smarter, they could tell fantasy from reality, and they knew this was reality. Just like Janus did. And just like the twins.

As far as Janus was aware, the twins had never actually seen anything like the dragon yesterday, nothing entirely real, but they had told him about some things they'd found in the forest, skeletons of long dead mystical creatures, weird equipment lying around - his equipment, mostly, but he tried not to tell them about that - small clues to suggest the existence of the extraordinary. He knew all about their self proclaimed 'monster hunting' business, and didn't want to attempt to sway them from that, of course he wanted them to have interests, but... he did worry, sometimes. And he definitely didn't want Logan and Virgil to be getting caught up in all of that. They'd both already been through enough.

After paying for his shopping and leaving the store, Janus pulled out his phone and called Patton, who picked up on the second ring.

"Janus!" he greeted, happily. "How are you doing? The boys settling in okay?"

"I'm quite fine, Patton, thank you," Janus said. "Logan and Virgil are alright as well, I hope. They've just met up with Roman and Remus, actually."

"Oh, have they?" Patton sounded just a little confused, but tried to mask that with his usual happy persona. For the longest time Janus had wondered why Patton always did that, always hid his emotions, until he thought about how much he lied to keep the secrets of this town secrets. He sort of understood. Perhaps Patton just didn't want anyone else to be upset. "They didn't tell me that."

"Well, I'd imagine they're just happy to have some friends," Janus said. "I don't know them as well as you do, of course, but... I've never seen them with anyone else."

"Yeah." Patton sounded a little sadder there, his mask beginning to fade. "I think Roman's had a little trouble fitting in at school, and Remus isn't going to abandon him. They'll have your boys soon though, at least. I'm glad they've made friends."

"Yes, yes, of course." Janus glanced up and down the street, but didn't see any signs of the kids. Perhaps they'd already left town. "Did they tell you where they were going, by any chance?"

"Roman mentioned the field," Patton said.

"Alright. Okay, yeah, that's good." Janus sighed. "If you see them, keep an eye on them, okay? They've been through a lot, and-"

"Don't worry," Patton said, his usual chipper voice returning. "I'll make sure they're safe."

Janus let out a breath. "Thank you."

"No worries." Although he couldn't see him, Janus imagined that Patton was grinning. "I've got to go, though, washing the dishes right now."

"Yeah, of course, sorry. Goodbye, Patton."

"See ya!" Patton hung up. Janus stared at his phone screen for a while, before sighing and beginning to walk back home.

~*~

"Logan, this is a bad idea," Virgil murmured, tugging on his older brother's sleeve. "Uncle Janus literally told us to stay out of the forest."

"Since when have you ever listened to what the adults say?

"Since when have you ever broken a rule?"

"What's so bad about the forest?" Remus asked, spinning around and beginning to walk backwards, as the four of them approached the forest.

"Our uncle said it was dangerous."

"Yeah, duh." Remus rolled his eyes. "It's a forest. There's probably, like, wolves and shit."

Virgil froze.

Roman just laughed. "What, so you're afraid of a little wolf but not of that literal dragon?"

"I'm fucking terrified of the dragon!" Virgil snapped.

"Calm down, Virgil," Logan said, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. That did make Virgil feel a little better, he had to admit. "We'll be fine. The dragon's dead, remember?"

"We don't know that the dragon's dead," Virgil said, "and we also don't know that there isn't more of them."

Remus groaned. "No one is forcing you to come, you know? If you're gonna be a stick in the mud just go back home."

Virgil just clung onto Logan, as Logan pulled tighter. He wasn't leaving without Logan, that was for sure. He refused to go anywhere without Logan.

"Alright then." Remus shrugged. "It'll be fun, anyway. Trust me, you aren't going to die. Not today, at least." He backed up into a tree, and let out a short cry of pain, before spinning back around and kicking the tree, glaring angrily at it. "Who the fuck put a tree here?"

"We're here." Roman grinned and picked up the pace, heading deeper into the forest. Sighing, Virgil broke away from Logan's grasp and followed, eyes darting around nervously for any signs of danger. He put his hands in his pockets, clinging onto his phone just in case they got themselves into danger - who he would call, Virgil hadn't figured out yet, but it was better than nothing. Hopefully, by the time they reached the cave the dragon will have disappeared, perhaps it really had just been a figment of their imagination in the first place. They were having a picnic soon as well, right? At the very least, that was something to look forward to.

"So," Roman said, walking next to Virgil as Logan and Remus forged ahead, beginning to exchange theories on the dragon. Virgil wasn't really surprised at Logan doing that, but it was weird to see Remus that way, acting just as much of a nerd as Logan was. "What brings you to town?"

Virgil frowned, glancing down at Roman. He was just a little comforted by the fact that Roman was shorter than him, despite being older. Not much shorter, but shorter nonetheless. "I'm living with my uncle now."

"Yeah, but, like. Why?" Roman said. "Why here? Literally anywhere else would be cooler."

Virgil blinked. "Uh. My parents died. I didn't really have much of choice."

Roman's eyes widened in realisation. "Oh, shit. Uh. S-Sorry-"

"Don't be." Virgil sighed. "It was a while ago. I'm... over it." He wasn't, not really, but he didn't need to tell Roman that. It was something he was still working through - he had been seeing a therapist about it a few months ago, but had to stop after moving too far away. But that was fine, he was fine. He still had Logan, at least.

"Still," Roman continued, "that must be, uh, hard. I-I can't even imagine what that would feel like."

"Eh." Virgil shrugged. "Seriously, don't worry about it. Logan and I are just here now because... Janus is all the family we have left, I think. Took him a while to find us, but we're here now, so... yeah."

Roman gave him a sad smile. He didn't seem to quite know how to respond. Which was fair enough, really. He looked vaguely uncomfortable.

"What about your family?" Virgil found himself asked, wanting to steer the conversation away from himself.

A real smile grew across Roman's face. "It's good. Just me, Remus and Dad. We... have family elsewhere, I think, but never really talk to them. Janus is... also basically family, he's almost like a second dad to us."

"What about your mum?" Virgil asked, immediately regretting it afterwards but finding no way to take it back. It wasn't as if he could travel back in time - could he travel back in time? If dragons were real, then who's to say that time travel wasn't?

"I never knew her," Roman said. "She split up with Dad when Remus and I were young. Dad got full custody."

"Oh. Did something-"

"Nothing bad happened," Roman cleared up. "They just weren't really a good match, what with Dad being a flaming homosexual and all. She didn't really want anything to do with him when she found out."

Oh. Oh. Virgil had never actually met an adult who was gay before. Children, yeah - he'd been to plenty schools with out queer kids, a few of Logan's old friends, including himself, were gay, and Virgil was... not straight, possibly bi, he wasn't quite sure yet. But that was cool. Nice to know that Patton would be... accepting.

"Were you and your parents close?" Roman asked, to which Virgil was half tempted to punch him in the face because who asks that but held himself back.

Instead, Virgil just shrugged. "I guess. I mean, I do miss them, but..." He breathed in. "Like I said, it's been a while. I don't... I don't really want to talk about it."

Roman was silent for a moment. "Okay. Sorry."

"It's okay." Virgil sighed. "It's fine. Just don't have the energy today."

"I-I get it." Virgil seriously doubted that he did, but didn't say any more. The group had reached the cave now, which meant he had far greater things to be dealing with. Like making sure that his brother and possible-friends didn't get killed.

As the group stepped into the cave, Virgil's heart began to pound, as the events from the day before suddenly came flooding back. This cave was creepy enough on its own, with the dim, blinking lights and the quiet whirring of distant machinery, but knowing that there was possibly a dragon running loose was an even worse feeling. What if they weren't so lucky this time? What if they didn't make it out? What if they got caught exactly like they did last time and nobody came to save them?

"Hey," Remus whispered into his ear, causing Virgil to jump back, somewhat startled. Something was gently lowered into his hands, something sharp and metallic, before Remus stalked away. "Just in case."

Virgil looked down at the object in his hands, frowning for a second before completely freaking out, almost throwing the object across the room. "What the fuck do you want me to do with a knife?" Knowing that his original plan to throw the knife away could result in someone getting injured, he instead held it out at arms length.

Logan sighed, turning around to Virgil and taking the knife out of his hands. "Remus, please don't give my fourteen year old brother a knife. Why do you even have knives in the first place?" Logan placed the knife in his own pocket, and Virgil tried his best not to think about its presence.

"We could be fighting a dragon soon!" Remus defended, his loud voice echoing through the cave. "We need to be prepared!"

"Yeah, but giving a child a knife isn't the way to do that," Logan said.

"I'm not a child," Virgil argued. "You're only two years older than me."

"Yes. That makes you a child."

Virgil stuck his tongue out, then charged forward, going to walk next to Remus instead. Perhaps to annoy his brother, or perhaps because he was the one with the knives, so if they were attacked he would be able to defend them. The group arrived at the smaller tunnel from the day before, where they had originally found the dragon. Only to find it completely empty.

"Huh," Logan said with a frown, walking past Virgil further into the tunnel as Virgil stopped, allowing himself to fall back to the back of the group. The same mistake he'd made the way before, before coming face to face with a fucking dragon, but he didn't exactly have any other options. "What happened?"

"Maybe we just dreamt it, like Uncle Janus said," Virgil suggested.

"No, it was definitely here," Logan muttered, crouching down onto the ground. He looked ahead at where the door had been, to find it open once more, then back at the ground, placing a hand on the rocks and feeling around.

"Maybe it flew away!" Remus said, crouching down next to Logan.

"No, it was injured, it couldn't have gotten far," Logan countered.

There was silence for a while, and Virgil was half tempted to turn around and walk back home, leave these weirdos alone to deal with the missing dragon, but still he stayed, not wanting to leave his brother alone. If the dragon really was real, and it had escaped further into the cave, or even got out, he didn't want to risk leaving Logan alone in here with it. Even if he was with the twins - Virgil still wasn't sure what to think of the twins, they seemed to be the type to run into danger for the fun of it and Virgil did not vibe with that at all.

Eventually, Roman performed a dramatic gasp, and ran over to his brother, gripping his shoulders. "Remus, you know what this means?"

"Please don't say 'monster hunter time'."

"Monster hunter time!"

Virgil blinked, stepping forward. "Uh, what's monster hunter time?"

"Remus and I are monster hunters!" Roman said, with a grin.

"Roman is a monster hunter," Remus corrected. "I am a person who searches for creatures of mythical or illogical origin."

"Yeah, exactly, a monster hunter."

"Shut up, Roman."

"You're the one who started the monster hunting thing-"

"Yeah, and I wanted us to the called 'the cryptid catchers' but you said that was dumb, so..."

"It is dumb."

"Alliteration isn't dumb."

"Can you both just shut up and explain what you mean?" Virgil snapped.

Roman sighed. "Yeah, yeah, okay. Remus and I have a hobby of coming into this forest and looking for weird shit. We've never found anything alive, but now we know there's a dragon somewhere, so we're gonna hunt it down."

There was a pause, before Virgil said, "Do you want to get us killed?"

"Yes!" Remus shouted. After Roman nudged his arm, he corrected, "No!"

"C'mon, Virgil," Logan said, rising up off the floor. "It might be fun."

Virgil just stared at him like he was insane.

"If it gets too much, we can head home," Logan promised.

Virgil let out a long, long sigh. "Okay. Fine."

~*~

A few hours after leaving the boys, Janus found himself in Patton's kitchen, running his fingers through his hair and trying to figure out why this was already taking such a toll on him. He knew that Logan and Virgil were okay, they'd been through a lot worse than just having a picnic with the twins, but they'd been out for a while now and he hadn't so much have received a text from either of them or seen them in the fields and he'd promised himself that he'd take care of them, what if they were hurt, what if-

No, no. He'd also promised that he wasn't going to be too protective of the boys. Obviously he wanted to protect them from his work, keep them safely in reality, keep them safe from any harm, but at the same time they were both teenagers, who were smart enough to take care of themselves. They needed to have independence, he didn't want them to feel as though he was trying to control them. He wanted them to live their own lives, make their own decisions. Even if those decisions could potentially put them in danger. Obviously he'd try his best to prevent that, but...

"I'm sure they're fine, Janus," Patton said, placing a cup of tea down in front of him and sitting down opposite him. "Roman and Remus are both quite independent, and also... somewhat sensible, they'll be keeping them safe."

"I've had them for less than twenty four hours and I'm already terrified that they're going to get hurt," Janus said, staring down at his tea.

Patton gave him a small smile. "That's just what comes with being a parent, Janus. You'll always be afraid that your children are going to get hurt, and you'll do everything in your power to protect them, but you need to let them go as well. No matter how scared you are, you'll always have faith that they will eventually come back safe."

Janus sighed. "This is why I didn't want children."

There was silence for a moment, until Patton quietly asked, "Janus, why did you decide to take them in?"

Janus took a long gulp of his tea, trying not to show how much it burnt his tongue as he put it back down. He opened his mouth to speak, before deciding to take another gulp. Procrastination at it's best. In truth, he didn't quite know why he'd decided to take them in. He could have just left them to continue to be thrown around different foster homes, until they eventually both aged out of the system and went to live their own lives. He hadn't talked, even wanted to talk to any of his family in years, and now...

"Because they're all I have left," he eventually said. After seeing Patton's confused expression, he continued, "Both of my own parents are dead, and I stopped speaking to my brother years ago. So then when I found out he died, I... I don't know, I felt like I should have tried better. I never really engaged with my family, kinda just got out of there as soon as I could, but... yeah. Then I find out that my brother had two kids, and that they were all alone in the world, so I reached out and tried to get them. I wanted them to be safe."

Patton looked at him for a while, considering him, before smiling. "I think that's nice of you. Virgil and Logan deserve to have a family just as much as you did."

Janus scoffed. "Yeah, no, I don't blame my family for never trying to connect with me again. You don't know this, but I was kinda shitty person back then. Abandoned my family because they deserved better, and... I don't know, I wanted more out of life. Made a lot of mistakes, talked to a lot of people who didn't make life much better, and... now I'm here, just trying to make the most of things."

"I'm sure you weren't-"

"You don't know anything about my past, Patton," Janus said, perhaps a little too harshly, judging by the way Patton flinched. He immediately felt bad about that. "Sorry, I... That's all behind me now, y'know? I... You're probably closer to me than any of my family ever was."

He tried not to focus on how Patton blushed at that. And definitely didn't blush himself.

"I'm just... worried about the boys," Janus admitted. "They're all I have left and-"

"It'll be okay, Janus," Patton reassured him, "they'll be okay."

~*~

The further the group traveled into the cave, the more excited Logan became about all of this. Machinery was scattered all around, in little rooms and on the walls of tunnels, blinking lights and buttons with weird symbols. It took all of Logan's strength not to go up and push the buttons, just to find out what happened. He held himself back simply because he didn't want to press the wrong button and get himself killed, but God was he curious.

"Who do you think made all of these?" Logan wondered, stopping by one of the machines and crouching down, trying to get a better look around it. He could see a small hatch on the side with a keyhole, and desperately wanted to open it to look inside, to see what was going on.

"Probably some government place," Roman said. "These machines have always been here. I don't think they really do anything."

Logan hummed, reaching towards the hatch and attempting to pull it open. It was locked, which really shouldn't have shocked him. "Do any of you guys know how to pick locks?"

"Oh!" Remus exclaimed, jumping down next to Logan. "I do!"

Virgil seemed just a little alarmed by that. "Should we be concerned?"

"Nah." Remus looked at the lock for a moment, before taking a pin out of his pocket and beginning to pick the lock. A moment later, the hatch swung open. "There!" He moved away, allowing Logan to get a closer.

There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Just wires and cogs, and clear glasses showing some sort of energy source, Logan presumed - a neon green liquid. He tried not to think about that. After staring at it a moment longer, he closed the hatch and stood back up, continuing to follow the others deeper into the cave.

Every now and then, he'd stop by a machine and take out his new sketchbook (which he planned to turn into a journal of sorts) and doodle some of the symbols, mostly to make a note and see if he could research them later. He was intrigued to find out what they meant, although most just seemed to be random shapes - then again, he did spot a couple Greek letters, perhaps the ones he didn't recognise were something like that?

They heard a noise from further down the tunnel, and stopped. A moment later, the noise disappeared, only to start back up again. Logan glanced at the others, trying to figure out if they had any idea what was going on. It didn't sound... aggressive, or even particularly terrifying, but it was different than the quiet whirring of machinery, and seemed to echo around in the tight space. Plus, knowing that it was highly likely that there was a dragon on the loose didn't make things much better.

"Maybe we should just go back home-" Virgil quietly suggested, trying to turn back only to be physically stopped by Roman.

"It's probably nothing," Logan said, half to reassure his brother and half to reassure himself. He continued to walk down the corridor, slower this time, towards the source of the sound. It sounded... well, not dangerous, not really. Peaceful, probably quiet if it wasn't for the echo. At the corner where the noise was at its loudest, Logan stopped, pressing his back against the wall and peaking around. "Oh, no, okay, that's a dragon."

Virgil's eyes widened. "You're kidding, right?"

"I'm gonna pet it!" Remus said, a little too loudly, as he surged forward, a little too fast. Logan grabbed his arm just before he made it around the corner, pulling him back.

"Remus, that is literally the worst idea you've come up with all day," Logan said, monotonously.

Remus pouted. "But, like, that was my entire reason for hunting down the dragon-"

"Remus, I don't know how to explain to you how much of a terrible idea this is."

"Well maybe if you let me try you'd see that it's actually a good idea-"

Logan opened his mouth to argue more, but stopped as he saw Virgil walk past them, heading straight towards the dragon. Shit. He let go of Remus' wrist and followed Virgil, trying to stop him as well, but it was too late. Virgil was right by the dragon's side, crouching down. "Virgil, come-"

"Shh," Virgil said, reaching a hand towards the dragon. "It's sleeping." His hand connected with the scales on the dragon's head, and he began to slowly stroke it, the dragon staying completely still.

Remus turned around the corner, slowly followed by Roman, looking incredibly disappointed. "Why is Virgil allowed to pet it but not me?"

"He's not," Logan said, folding his arms, but still softening his voice a little. The dragon did look peaceful, happy, and it wasn't... attacking them, or anything. Plus, if Logan wanted to get a drawing done and study it, having Virgil keeping it calm like this would be good. Eventually, Logan moved further into the room, sitting down with his back to the wall and taking out his journal, trying to draw the dragon to the best of his ability.

Remus seemed to take that as an excuse to go pet the dragon as well, whilst Roman went to sit down next to Logan, observing the situation and chuckling every now and then. After ten minutes or so, he turned to look, frowning at the drawing on the page.

"That sucks," he said, simply.

Logan glared at him. "I'm not exactly an artist."

"Yeah, but, like. It's right in front of you."

"You think you can do better?"

"Yup." Roman took the journal out of Logan's hand, pulled a pencil out of his bag, and began to draw, glancing up at the dragon every few seconds. And Logan had to admit, it was good. Roman had very clearly had a lot of practise when it came to art, and... Christ, yeah, it was pretty realistic. "See?"

"Okay, yes. That... is a lot better than mine."

Roman grinned.

"I'm, uh, I was actually planning on drawing out any creature we come across," Logan told Roman. "And also keep more scientific notes about them on the same pages. Do you- Would you be willing to draw everything for me? You are... very skilled, I have to admit."

Roman smirked. "Sure. Does that mean you'll be a monster hunter as well?"

Logan hesitated, before slowly nodding. "If you two are willing to let me tag along. I think it will be... interesting, at the very least."

"What about Virgil?" Roman asked. "Seems unfair if you come along but not him."

"Yeah, I don't want to die, thank you very much," Virgil said from the other side, still stroking the dragon, utterly entranced.

"You say that, and then you're the one stroking a dragon," Logan said.

Virgil paused, before continuing to stroke it. "Fair point. Okay, I'm in, or whatever."

Logan stood up, approaching the dragon and beginning to examine it. It looked... real, alive, it's chest slowly moving up and down as it breathed. Red scales, reptilian, similar to that of a snake. It looked... almost exactly how he'd expect a dragon to look, like it was straight out of a fairy tale. It was that detail that made Logan question just how real it was.

It could very easily have been a piece of machinery, just like everything else in this cave, perhaps something that had gone haywire. But at the same time, it was breathing, and the scales felt real, and... well, Logan guessed that he wanted it to be real. He wanted something... cool in his life, something extraordinary, something to prove that his life wasn't meaningless.

Perhaps living in this town wouldn't be so bad. As much as Janus was... well, as hard as Logan found it to trust Janus, he had certainly been better than... pretty much every other 'home' they had been in, although they had only known him less than a day. Roman and Remus were nice, at least, and Logan was excited to be able to work with them, to try to solve the mysteries of this town. The mysteries that Logan was sure existed, because, goddamnit, he was going to find them. With Roman and Remus around, he figured that probably wouldn't be hard.

Logan ended up stroking the dragon's tail, a wave of calmness rushing over him. This was nice. Things were nice. And... well, Logan could certainly see himself returning to this cave for more research, perhaps to study those machines more or even just to check out the dragon again. He wanted to know things, to learn things, and this seemed like a pretty good way to do that, to discover the secrets of the world.

~*~

Patton was a little worried about Janus, to say the least. He'd left his house a while ago, returned home to wait for his nephews, but he'd been acting a little... odd. Janus wasn't usually so open about his feelings, and his past, and... anything, really. Even to Patton, Janus remained a total mystery.

A good mystery, Patton had found. He always enjoyed Janus' presence, probably a little more than he should have. He almost reminded Patton of his ex, before she... well, before things got bad between the two of them. Patton had loved her, that much he knew, but they hadn't been a good match. He hadn't loved her in the way she wanted him to love her. She had never wanted a family, just wanted someone to screw around with, really. Patton had wanted something long term, and... well, thinking back he probably saw her as more of a friend. He'd have been happy spending his life with her, but in a platonic relationship rather than romantic or sexual. He wasn't even into girls, although he didn't know that at the time.

Janus, however, was just a little different. There was that same feeling of wanting to spend the rest of his life with him, wanting to build up to the world with him in mind, but it was... stronger. Patton wanted more than just friendship with Janus, and... perhaps he did too. Patton hoped so, anyway. Only time would tell, though. It could have just been a silly crush, for all Patton knew, he'd had plenty of those in his lifetime. And Janus probably wasn't even interested - he had his own life to be focusing on, always busy with 'work' (whatever that was), and now he had two kids to be looking out for as well. It wasn't the right time, not just yet.

Patton sighed as he stared out the window, looking across the fields whilst washing the dishes. He had an alright life, he supposed. A nice town, a stable job, two brilliant children. There wasn't anything to complain about, not really. Still, a part of him wanted more.

~*~

The four 'monster hunters' (they'd have to think of a name for themselves, but that could wait for now) gathered around a lake in the middle of the forest, sitting near the edge. Roman sat with his sketchbook in his lap, his pencil gliding gracefully across the page as he drew the scene in front of him, the ripples spreading out across the water and the little trees in the distance, the few fluffy clouds in the sky. The rest of the group were sat around eating, looking fairly happy with themselves.

"Is this going to be a regular occurrence?" Logan asked, looking back and forth between the twins.

After a moment of silence, Roman shrugged, and said, "If you want it to be. Re and I come down here all the time, you're more than welcome to join whenever."

"No, I mean..." Logan sighed. "Exploring the forest. Finding weird things."

Remus grinned. "Yeah! We come out here almost every day!"

A small smile spread across Logan's face. "Alright. That is... satisfactory."

"If you end up getting me or my brother killed," Virgil said, "I'm going to murder you. I hope you know that."

"How can you kill us when you're dead?" Remus pointed out.

"Shut up."

"No one's going to die," Roman promised. "We know the forest like the backs of our hands. If anything does go wrong, we can just call Janus. He took down the dragon that first time, remember?"

Logan and Virgil exchanged a glance that Roman couldn't quite decipher, before Logan slowly nodded. "Yes. Of course."

Roman smiled. The other three smiled back. He looked back out across the lake, and sighed, feeling the wind brush his cheeks and smelling the freshwater in the air. Things were going to be great, he knew it. 

#sacary village #thomas sanders #sanders sides #virgil sanders #logan sanders #roman sanders #remus sanders #janus sanders #patton sanders #my fanfic #my writing

[gaylotusthatexists]

Hey can I be tagged in Sacary Village stuff, maybe?? I really love it so far!

of course dude!!! thank you so much :D