It's Always Worked Before

WARNING: Suicide, self harm, angst

This one shot was suggested to me by my best friend Patton Palace :)

Roman had always been different.

He'd known that for years.

He had healing powers.

His parents had made sure he kept them hidden from most people, only telling those who really needed to know, those he could trust.

He sat on his bed, painting a watercolour picture.

It was a picture of him, his boyfriend Virgil, and their best friends Patton and Logan.

He was making it for Virgil's upcoming birthday.

Roman was planning on telling Virgil about his powers on his birthday, and he smiled as he remembered all the times they had worked.

"Woah!"

There was a loud thud and Roman turned around to see his best friend on the ground, crying.

"Thomas?"

"I f-fell off the s-swing.." Thomas sobbed, clutching his knee.

"Can I see?" The nine-year-old made his way to his friend, who uncovered his knee.

There was a bright red scrape, and there was a tiny trickle of blood coming from it.

Roman put his hand over it. "Don't tell anyone I can do this, okay?"

"Wh-what?" Thomas asked. Roman ignored him.

"Flower, gleam and glow

Let your power shine

Make the clock reverse

Bring back what once was mine."

Thomas looked up at Roman as his knee glowed gold and he wiped his tears away.

"Heal what has been hurt

Change the Fates' design

Save what has been lost

Bring back what once was mine

What once was mine."

Roman removed his hand and looked at his friend. The cut was gone.

"Does that feel better?"

Thomas flexed his knee and nodded. "Thanks RoRo."

"It's okay. But remember, you can't tell anyone."

"Okay!"

The pair continued playing.

Roman was walking into the classroom as he saw Valerie wave at him.

He waved back, and she cried out in pain.

She hadn't been looking at her hands and had cut her finger open with the scissors she was holding.

"You good?" Roman asked, making his way over. Valerie held up her bleeding finger. "Here."

Roman took her hand in his and looked around. The teacher wasn't looking and they were early, there was no-one else in the classroom. "Don't tell anyone about this, okay?" He whispered.

Valerie nodded, completely nonplussed.

Roman began the incantation as Valerie watched him, feeling her finger stitch itself back together.

He finished the incantation and released Valerie's hand, and she pulled it back to look at it.

There was no sign of the cut.

"How-"

"I've always been able to do it," Roman shrugged. "It's just something I can do. But please don't tell anyone about it."

Valerie nodded. "Thanks."

There had been plenty of times like that, and everyone had promised to keep his secret. About five of his old friends knew, and even though he'd lost contact with them, he trusted them to keep his secret.

Roman finished the painting with an over-the-top stroke and and placed it down to dry as his phone rang. He picked it up.

"Hello Patton!"

Patton was in tears. "R-Roman! Get to Virgil's house, NOW! He- he committed-"

Patton didn't need to finish the sentence. "I'm coming right now."

"P-Please hurry.."

Roman hung up the phone and grabbed his wallet and keys before rushing out the door, locking it behind him and driving as fast as he could to Virgil's house.

He barreled through the front door and ran up the stairs, hearing Patton's crying and Logan talking on the phone with what sounded like an ambulance.

He burst through the door and took in the scene.

Virgil was lying on his bed, unconscious and not breathing, cuts all over his arms and a red mark around his throat.

Patton was sitting on the floor crying and glancing up at Virgil every few moments.

Logan was standing in the corner, face paper white and phone to his ear as he relayed the situation to the ambulance.

There was a chair lying on it's side on the floor in the middle of the room, and there was a rope hanging from the ceiling fan that had clearly been cut. The noose itself was cut in half and lying on the floor.

Patton looked up as Roman came in. "Roman!"

"Patton what happened?"

Patton began to talk very fast. "Well I wanted to come over so I texted Virgil to ask him but he didn't reply and I was kind of confused because he almost always replies and I called him and he picked up laughing hysterically and saying he was going to kill himself, and then he hung up and I immediately called you and Logan."

Roman nodded. If there was ever a time for his healing powers, it was now.

Roman sat down on the bed next to Virgil, checking his pulse.

He didn't have one.

Roman placed his hands over Virgil's heart and began to sing.

"Flower, gleam and glow

Let your power shine

Make the clock reverse

Bring back what once was mine."

Patton looked at Roman like he was sure he had gone insane, and Roman just shook his head in reply.

Virgil's chest began to glow gold, and Roman continued, ignoring Patton's quiet gasp and Logan's small "What?" from behind him.

"Heal what has been hurt

Change the Fates' design

Save what has been lost

Bring back what once was mine

What once was mine."

The glow faded, but Virgil didn't move.

Roman blanched instantly, checking his pulse again.

Still nothing.

Tears began to stream down his face.

It didn't work.

It didn't work.

His boyfriend, his beautiful Stormcloud, was dead.

"No... No..." Roman was getting more and more frantic as Logan resumed his conversation with the ambulance. "No... It didn't work... But it always works.. It's always worked before.. It always works- It has to work!" Roman screamed as tears came thicker, faster, blurring his vision.

It didn't work...

His Stormcloud was gone.