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Roman rose up into his room and slid down to the ground with his back against the door.
This wasn't an uncommon occurrence after videos with the other sides, the princely side was used to The others' painful words that tended to show up during videos. However this time it was different. And in a worse way.
Roman sighed, his voice shaking. A few tears slid down his face. He got up, walked over to the bathroom and stood in front of the sink, staring at his reflection with a mix of sadness and anger on his face.
It wasn't fair. The one time he got any chance to be listened to turned out horribly. And now the other sides probably hated him even more now. Heck, even Thomas probably hated him now.
Roman opened up a drawer in the sink, inside there were a few items, one of which being a utility knife. Roman took it out and rolled up one of his sleeves. His arm was bandaged, if any of the other sides ever saw the bandages he told them that he had gotten some injuries in the imagination while fighting. But that was far from the truth.
Roman set the utility knife on top of the sink and took off a few of the bandages near his wrist. The now uncovered part of his arm was covered in self-harm scars. Some looking like they'd been there for months, others looking more recent. Roman grabbed the knife in his hand and made a cut in his arm, wincing a bit at the pain.
He deserved this. He deserved worse. Roman looked up at himself in the mirror, horrible thoughts zooming through his head.
And suddenly, he got an idea.
"That's it!"
Roman quickly bandaged his wrist again and pulled down his sleeve before running into the main area of his room.
"Now, where the hell did I leave that extra paper?"
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Janus and Patton rose up into the living room of the mind palace. Janus covered his eyes from all the light in the room.
"Holy shit, is it always this bright in here?!" Patton chuckled and walked over to one of the brightest lamps in the room, quickly turning it off. Janus uncovered his eyes.
"My apologies, I can't remember the last time I've been in here." Patton smiled at the other side.
"It's fine! Virgil needed some time to get used to being around all these lights too."
Janus smiled a bit.
"You should probably go check on Roman."
"OH SHOOT, yeah I almost forgot!" Patton headed over towards Roman's room and Janus sat down on the couch, relaxed.
"Hey Janus?"
"Hm?"
Patton walked over to Janus holding a folded sheet of paper.
"I found this sitting in front of Roman's room. I think it's for us."
"Well open it then!"
Patton did as Janus said and unfolded the paper. Janus jumped off the couch and looked at the paper from over Patton's shoulder.
'My dear friends, I guess I messed up worse than normal this time right? I doubt any of you are going to forgive me and honestly I don't blame you. I haven't forgiven myself for my actions in a long, long time.
I want you to all know I care about you. I love each and every one of you. But unfortunately, I don't love myself, and I'm not going to put you through any of my shit anymore.
You'll all be fine, You've got each other, and you'll all end up forgetting about me really soon anyways, so what does it matter.
I've been through so much I feel like I'm on the verge of cracking. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough for you. I'm sorry I'm not good enough for you. But know that this is my curtain call, and It's the end of my story. Farewell my friends, signed, Roman.'
Patton started reading the note out loud but Janus quickly scanned through the page and ran towards Roman's room before Patton even got to the middle of the note.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"ROMAN'S GONNA GO KILL HIMSELF!" Janus runs into Roman's room and Patton speeds after him, following close behind.
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After Roman had finished writing his suicide note, he folded it up and slid it out from under his door. Roman stood up and smiled.
"Goodbye my friends." He turned around and walked into the imagination. He knew what he was going to do, and he was ready.
Roman summoned a tall building that looked like a hotel, and a lake right smack up in front of it. He walked in through a door at the back of the building and headed up the stairs, soon reaching the top. Roman opened the door at the end of the stairwell and walked out onto the roof of the building.
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Janus and Patton quickly ran into Roman's room.
"Where the hell is he?!?!" Janus said, running around Roman's room.
"He's probably in the imagination!!!" Patton gestured to the portal standing in the middle of the room. Janus nodded and sped through the portal with Patton following right behind him.
The two of them popped up in the imagination and looked around. Janus saw the building Roman had summoned. It was pretty out of place compared to all the other buildings in the imagination, due to the fact that every other area looked like something out of a fairytale, and the building looked like it came straight out of a modern city.
"THERE!" Janus pointed at the building and the two of them ran towards it.
They quickly reached the building and ran inside, speeding up the stairs.
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Roman smiled as the wind blew against his face. He walked forward towards the ledge, pulling up his sleeves and tearing up all of his bandages there, thus revealing all of his self-harm cuts and scars. He twirled around on the roof of the building, prepared for his end.
He stepped onto the ledge of the roof just as Janus and Patton threw open the door behind him.
"ROMAN!!!" Roman didn't look at them.
"Roman come on, don't do this please!" Roman chuckled as a single tear falls down his cheek.
"Goodbye." Roman turned towards them, held his arms out and stepped backwards off the ledge, now falling down towards the lake.
"ROMAN NO!!!" Patton yelled, crying out for the prince.
Janus immediately turned around and sped back down the stairwell, jumping on the rail beside the stairs and sliding down, Patton jumped on the rail as well and sped on after him.
The two of them reached the bottom of the stairwell and Janus busted open the door out and then ran to the other side of the building. He quickly took off his hat, gloves, and caplet and threw them towards Patton, as to not slow him down. He took a deep breath, and then dived into the lake.
The water around him was dark and cold. Luckily, he was still able to see Roman sinking down deep into the water. Janus swam down after him and grabbed onto Roman tightly before swimming back up to the surface.
Once he reached the surface Janus gasps for air, and hurredly swam towards where Patton was sitting on the land. As soon as Janus reached him, he lifted up Roman towards Patton. Patton grabbed onto Roman and lifted him onto the ground as Janus climbed up onto the land himself.
Janus shook his head, flipping his wet hair around and spraying water everywhere. He then turned towards Patton and Roman and quickly scooched over to them.
Janus listened for Romans breathing, but couldn't hear any. He pushed down against Romans chest and Roman started coughing up water. Soon Roman was able to breathe again, but he was still unconscious. Janus and Patton sighed in relief.
"He's gonna be alright." Janus said, smiling in relief. Patton smiled at Janus with gratitude.
"Janus, thank you so much! If I had just continued reading that note aloud, I don't like the idea of what would've happened." Janus picked up his caplet, hat, and gloves.
"Neither do I." Janus stood up. "We'd better get back and get Roman dry and warm." Patton nodded and stood up.
"Mind holding these things for me? I'll carry Roman back." Janus said, holding his caplet, hat, and gloves out to Patton.
"Sure thing kiddo!" Patton took the items from Janus. Janus then picked up Roman bridal style and started walking towards the portal back to Roman's room, Patton walking next to him.
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Roman snuggled into the covers on his bed. Patton had said that he would watch over Roman while Janus went ahead and took a shower.
Janus opened the door to Roman's room and headed inside. He had changed into different clothes while he let his normal attire dry, this outfit being a yellow turtleneck and grey comfy pants. He still had his usual gloves and hat though, since those were still dry.
Patton looked up at him. "Hey Janus!" Janus gave Patton a smile.
"Hey Patton." Janus stood beside where Patton was sitting.
"You should probably tell the others what happened."
"Oh I will." Patton got up from his chair. "I'm also gonna be making some food for Roman for after he wakes up."
"Alright, but you should *definitely not* stick to making a treat if anything. I *definitely wasn't* informed about your infamous pasta." Patton chuckled.
"Don't worry, I'll just be making a fruit pie. And I'm gonna bet that Logan'll be willing to help make a meal for Roman after he hears about what happened."
Patton walked over to the door. "Oh, and Janus?"
"Yeah?" Janus responded as he sat down in the chair that Patton was originally in.
"Thank you." Patton said, smiling. "For everything." Janus gave Patton a smile.
"Of course." Patton headed out of Romans room and into the mindscape's kitchen.
Janus sighed and looks over at the sleeping prince.
"You've been through so much, haven't you?" Janus was quiet for a moment. "I guess I can understand a bit of your confusion and bitterness towards me. You were told so many times that I was bad that when you finally accepted it, I became part of the group. Not only that, but I realized I might've gone a bit too far at some points...I guess what I'm trying to say is...I'm sorry, Roman."
There was a bit of silence for a moment.
"I'm...sorry too." Janus glanced at Roman in surprise and saw Roman's eyes were slightly open.
"You're awake!"
"Yeah...I am..." Roman sat up a bit and looked around. "What happened?"
"Well...After you jumped off, me and Patton *didn't* run down to the lake, and then I *definitely didn't* jump into the lake and bring you back up." Roman thought for a moment.
"Why did you save me?"
"Why?"
"Yeah, why'd you do it? If I were you, I wouldn't be willing to forgive something like what I did so quickly."
"...Because you don't deserve to die." Roman looked at Janus in suspicion.
"How do I know you're not lying?" Janus held up his hand.
"I swear on my life that I'm not lying when I say that you don't deserve to die."
Roman thought for a minute, then smiled, before going ahead and hugging Janus.
"...Thank you..." Janus hugged Roman back.
"Of course."
The two of them soon let go of each other and Roman leaned back.
"So...where are the others?" Roman asks, prepared for a bad answer.
"Well-"
Suddenly the door busted open and Virgil sped inside, soon followed by Logan and Patton, who just walked inside the room calmly. Virgil ran over to Roman and shook him by his shoulders.
"ROMAN. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"
Patton put his hand on Virgil's shoulder. "Kiddo, you probably shouldn't," Virgil quickly stopped shaking him, and then a clearly dizzy Roman fell back against his pillow.
"We're all very glad You're ok Roman." Logan said. "And we also, all wanted to apologize." Roman didn't say anything for a moment, still getting over the shaking, but then sat up again with a surprised look on his face.
"You all want to apologize...to me? But I-"
"We never realized how much our words hurt you." Virgil said.
"And we're all extremely sorry for our treatment of you." Patton continued.
Roman stared in amazement at the other sides, and a few tears escaped his eyes and fell down his cheek. Patton sat down on the bed and hugged Roman, soon followed by Virgil, then Logan, and then Janus.
"Thank you all so much." Roman says as he continues to cry. "Thank you so much."
The group of them stayed like that for a while, but after a while they stopped, and Roman wiped the tears from his face.
"Me and Logan are gonna go make you some food! Right Logan?" Patton said, looking at Logan. Logan sighed.
"Of course." The two of them headed out of the room towards the kitchen. "But to make it clear, I'm gonna be making the meal." Logan said.
"Sure thing!" Patton agreed, as their voices start fading out of earshot from Roman's room.
Virgil gave Roman another quick hug. "I'm gonna go make sure Patton and Logan don't mess up dinner. See you in a bit, ok?"
Roman nodded and Virgil headed out the door after Logan and Patton.
Janus looked over at Roman and smiled. "I guess we're both pretty lucky to have such a loving family, right Roman?" Roman smiled.
"Yeah, you're right."
Janus sighed. "You should probably rest some more, that water was really fucking cold and I'm gonna hazard a guess that you don't want to get sick."
"Yeah..." Roman leaned back onto his bed and laid his head down on his pillow.
"You're gonna stay here while I sleep right?"
"If that's what you want."
"Yes please." Roman paused. "And be sure to wake me up when dinner's ready." Janus chuckled.
"Sure thing Ro." Roman smiled and snuggled into his blankets.
"Thank you Janus."
"Of course Roman."
Roman drifted off to sleep, and Janus smiled at the sleeping prince, happy that the prince's troubles were finally starting to ease up.