Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a day like any other. Nothing special or note-worthy about it. The weather was a bit cloudy but there was no storm, no thunder, just a light breeze and some clouds that dimmed the light of the sun slightly.

Virgil was walking on his usual route to school, the familiar sights doing nothing to ease his nerves. 

He didn't know why he felt so anxious, his eyes kept darting around as if expecting some creature to jump from the bushes or… something. And no matter how much breathing exercises he did, his breath kept hitching and there wasn't enough air in his lungs-

"Virgil?" 

He suddenly feels a hand on his shoulder and jumps a few good feet in the air before he realizes it was only Janus.

Wait… Janus? When did he…

Virgil blinked, looking around, he spotted Janus' house a few feet behind them… he didn't even notice he walked past it, never mind that Janus joined him in their usual meeting spot in front of it…

Janus puts his arms up in surrender. "Sorry, you just seem a bit jumpy today." Janus says gently, Virgil's shoulder slumping after his initial panic.

He grabs his left arm with his right, nails digging into the sleeves of his hoodie trying again to do his breathing exercises. "Yeah… sorry, just one of these days…" he mumbles. "I got this vague feeling that something bad is coming…" he trailed off, it sounds so stupid when he says it out loud…

Janus raised a skeptic eyebrow at that and Virgil wanted to kick himself for saying anything. It's obviously just his stupid anxiety acting up for no reason, he should know better than to listen to it.

But still…

 "I know it sounds stupid but-"

"Oh heavens no! I think you're right! Look, behind you!" Janus points behind Virgil.

Virgil rolled his eyes. Of course Janus would mock him for it, what else did he expect? He should have kept his mouth shut… 

"Very funny Janus-" but he's tackled to the floor before he can finish his sentence.

His entire body immediately tenses up even more than before and he feels his lungs being crushed by the weight above him as he struggles to breathe, clawing and writhing on the floor in a desperate attempt to get away, to run from the unknown threat, to-

"Sneak attack!" Remus shrieks in delight.

He slumps in relief and exhaustion when he realizes it's just Remus and his annoying sneak tackles… really, how many times did he need to explain to him that these are not fun for someone with a high functioning anxiety like him?

Virgil groans, struggling to breathe under his weight. "Remus… we talked about this…" he chokes out.

Remus giggles, crushing Virgil even more as he uses him as leverage to get back on his feet, offering his hand to him once he's up.

Virgil glares at him before ignoring his hand and standing up on his own. "You gotta stop doing this, man, I'm jumpy enough as it is." He folds his arms over his chest, hugging himself tightly. That attack did not help his nerves, if anything it made them tense up more.

"Sorry, V, couldn't help it." Remus grinned apologetically at their anxious friend. "Why are you jumpy anyway? Nothing special is happening, just a boring school day." Remus shrugs.

Virgil rolls his eyes at the question. He stopped counting the amount of times he tried to explain to his friends how his anxiety works, they just never seem to listen. The fact that there's nothing happening nor anything to be worried about doesn't mean he won't worry. 

It just means his brain will come up with things that might happen and make him worry about those , which is honestly worse than having one, clear and specific thing to worry about.

"He says he feels like something's about to happen" Janus snickers.

Virgil flushes, he again regrets voicing his imaginary concerns to Janus. "Hey! I was right a few times before!" He protests, tacking his hands into his hoodie pocket. His anxiety isn't always wrong…

"You were also wrong a lot of the times" Janus points out, because of course he did. "Just breathe, Virgil, you're safe, we're all safe, ok?" Janus says soothingly.

For now…

Virgil thinks then sighs. "I know but-"

"Great! Boring talk over! Now let's get to the good stuff." Remus rubs his hands together in anticipation.

Well… those words coming from Remus' mouth never led to anything good, maybe his anxiety was right today…

"Ah, surely nothing bad will follow this statement." Janus smirks, gesturing for Remus to continue.

"Today's a very special day!" Remus starts excitedly.

Virgil frowns as the three of them started walking again towards school. What's special about today? Was he missing something or is Remus just making stuff up for fun? Wouldn't be the first time..

"Tuesday?" Janus raises an amused eyebrow.

Remus pouts. "No silly! It's my birthday!" He says, complete with jazz hands.

Virgil frowns. "Isn't that in two weeks?" He asked as he looked at the date in his phone to confirm his question. It wasn't any of them's birthdays, what is Remus talking about?

Remus shrugs. "Potato tomato, it's the same thing!"

"It's really not…" Virgil tried to say but was interrupted by Remus' annoyed groan.

"Ugh you two are so boring! Let's just skip school and have a fun time together! You know, to celebrate." Remus looks at his friends hopefully.

Virgol huffed, he's not boring, he's cautious . There's a difference, why would they risk getting in trouble for nothing?

"Celebrate what? It's not your birthday yet darling." Janus pointed out.

Remus shrugs again. "It's someone's for sure! So let's celebrate them!"

Remus is being weirdly insistent about this…

Janus chuckles. "That's not how this works."

Remus pouted. "What are you, birthday police? C'mon, let's get out of this stupid place and have some fun!"

Janus was still chuckling, shaking his head. "Sure why not, not like any of my parents will notice anyway… or care, I'm in." 

Not surprising, Janus' parents were usually either too busy arguing or trying to best the other in everything than to actually pay attention to their son and his behavior. Suffice to say, holidays were a nightmare. And Virgil should know, since Janus made him accompany him for some for moral support, he couldn't blame the guy for needing it.

Remus whooped in triumph and they started walking in the other direction.

Did they even think about waiting for his response? Or did they just assume he'll follow them like a puppy?

Virgil froze in place. "W-wait, skip school? My parents will kill me!"

Unlike Janus' parents, Virgil's parents micromanaged every tiny detail in Virgil's life. They weren't too strict like Remus', but they knew everything about everything concerning him and his actions at any moment… or at least tried to. 

Janus and Remus helped him get away with some things in the past, but it wasn't an easy task. The fact that he's diagnosed with an anxiety disorder makes them even more protective of him than any other protective parent he's seen.

Don't get him wrong, Virgil loves his parents to bits… he just wished they'd give him some room to breathe every once in a while…

Janus rolled his eyes, going back a few steps to look Virgil in the eyes. "No one's going to know, ok? We'll fake sick letters from our parents so the teachers won't tell them, it'll be fine, don't you trust me?"

Of course he does… that's not the point he's trying to make. They didn't think this plan through enough… his parents will surely find out…

Virgil hesitated. "Of course I do, I just… I'm worried-"

"You alway are, Scare Bear! Now let's go! School's for losers!" Remus shouted in delight as he ran forward.

Janus sighed. "And now we have to follow to make sure he's not breaking anything… or anyone." He snickers to himself before running after Remus.

Both of them leaving Virgil no choice but to follow.

Virgil looks back in the direction of the school for a few seconds, before shaking his head and following them. Not like he can face school alone anyway.

"What are we doing at a grocery store again?" Janus asked, faking a yawn to show how bored he was. "I thought this day would turn out to be exciting."

Virgil was standing awkwardly next to them, trying his best to look like he's supposed to be here and not like a guilty student who's skipping school. He wasn't sure he's doing a very good job…

There were a few grown ups browsing the shelves, some of them eying the three of them suspiciously… though it might just be in Virgil's head.

"It will! I just need to find… ah ha! Gotcha!" Remus snatched something off one of the shelves and showed it to his friends.

Janus smirked at the sight but Virgil shook his head violently.

"Graffiti? Seriously? Remus, we could get in serious trouble for this, let's just go to the arcade or something." Virgil insisted, looking around fearfully.

What is he thinking? Does he want to end up in prison?

"Ugh you are sooo boring! C'mon it'll be fun, don't be a buzz-kill! Here, I found a purple spray bottle for you!" Remus shook the bottle in front of Virgil's face.

"Yeah Virgil, come on, we won't get caught if we'll be cautious." Janus piped in, picking a yellow spray bottle from the shelf.

"You don't know that! What if someone sees us? What if a cop walks by? What if-" he, once again, tried to get some sense into his impulsive friend. But he was cut off… again. Why does he even bother?

"Virgil, my guy, relax, we're not planning a murder just some silly writing on walls! We can table murder for later." Remus slang his arm around the back of Virgil's neck, grinning wildly.

Relax? Relax?! How is he supposed to relax when his friends seem determined to break so many rules today? And drag him down with them?

You don't have to go with them, you can go back to school and make up an excuse for being late. They're the ones that want to do this, not you…

"No murder, Remus, ever." Janus sighed then turned to Virgil. "If you don't want to join us, you don't have to, but we want to have fun with you too, it's your choice."

Virgil scoffed, there was no choice, it's not like he can go home when he's supposed to be in school, and he can't show up this late to school either, and wondering the streets alone is out of the question.

"Whatever…" he mumbled, taking the purple spray bottle from Remus.

He sighed as he turned the spray bottle in his hands, why is it so hard for him to make himself be heard?

"That's the spirit! Let's go!"

"If we get caught I'm killing both of you and then myself." Virgil said as they paid for the spray bottles and walked out of the store.

"If you're trying to threaten me you're doing it wrong, that sounds like fun!" Remus laughed.

….

"Hey, you! Stop right there!"

Virgil froze, his hand still up in the air with the spray bottle, in the middle of spraying his drawing on the wall.

He knew it! He fucking knew it! This is it, they're all going to jail, their parents will bail them out but then ground them until they're 30! How did he let himself go with this stupid, pointless, risky plan?

He would have stayed there, frozen, if Remus hadn't grabbed him by the arm and pulled him effortlessly with them as they ran before the cop saw their faces.

They stopped after a few blocks to catch their breath and Virgil wasted no time punching Remus in the arm. "I fucking told you! Idiot, we could have been arrested."

"But we didn't."  

"But we could have."

"But!" Janus jumped in. "We didn't, so let's stop this annoying arguing hm?" 

Virgil sighed. "Can we just go to the Arcade now? You know, like every normal kid does when they skip school?"

Remus grinned. "You got it, V-man! But you bet I'm cheating to get all the tickets and buy the coolest prize!" He giggled.

Virgil shook his head. "It's like you want to get in trouble…" but he followed his two friends anyway.

Janus slowed to walk beside him while Remus walked at the front, smirking as he watched their wild friend.

"So, what do you think he's hiding?"

Virgil frowned. "What?"

Janus raised an eyebrow. "Oh please, don't tell me you didn't notice, he's been acting weird all day."

He hesitated. He did notice something was off about Remus' behavior today. He seemed way more insistent and careless than usual but… hiding something? Remus is always so blatantly honest, what would he feel the need to hide from them?

 "It's Remus… he always acts weird." Virgil pointed out, refusing to admit Remus might be hiding secrets from them, making Janus roll his eyes.

" Different weird, trust me, there's something he's not telling us, something he tries to avoid thinking about. I bet his super strict parents punished him again or something. He always acts out in protest when they do that, what do you think?" Janus explained, seeming to enjoy speculating about their friend's personal life, which wasn't surprising.

He remembered one time, he was being more quiet than usual and Janus was utterly delighted when his endless probing finally broke Virgil and made him confess about his fight with his parents the other day.

Virgil shrugged. "How should I know?" He tried to end this conversation as quickly as possible, he didn't like talking about Remus behind his back… literally.

Janus shook his head. "It's not about knowing , the fun is in speculating, c'mon, just guess something." He urged him.

"Ah… I don't know, secret crush or something?" Virgil tried, hoping that's satisfy Janus.

Janus snickered at that. "Maybe, now that will be an interesting development."

"This is stupid, he's right here, why don't we just ask?" Virgil asked, slightly confused. Janus always does this, making things overly complicated instead of just being direct.

Janus looked at him like he just said the dumbest thing ever. "Where's the fun in that? Besides, he could have told us all day but didn't so obviously if we confront him about it he's just going to deflect and get defensive." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 

He's also insanely good at reading people and predicting their reactions, it's honestly scary sometimes.

"How have we been friends since forever and you two still manage to confuse me?" Virgil mumbled.

Janus snickered. "It's part of our charm." He said easily.

Virgil huffed a laugh. "Calm down Charming."

"Hey! Are you two done flirting?" Remus joked, "because it's time to get your game face on! We're here!" He gestured to the Arcade dramatically.

Janus and Virgil rolled their eyes with a smile and followed Remus inside.

The Arcade was as loud and colorful as Virgil remembered, with endless beepings and sounds emitting from the hundreds of games that lined up the place, the colorful lighting moving around and changing constantly.

The three friends looked around with growing excitement, looking at all the games and weighing their options.

"Hey! Janny! Check this out!" Remus suddenly shouted, pointing excitedly at the DDR game at the center of the Arcade. "Bet I can still beat you to the ground at dancing!" He grinned provkingly at Janus.

Remus was all talk, no one ever has been able to beat Janus at dancing, in DDR or not, his graceful way if moving his body was unbeatable.

"Now, Remus, I know what you're trying to do…" Janus started, "but we both know, you have never beaten me in the classic game of Dance Dance Revolution, and you never will." Janus smirked at Remus smugly.

"Oh yeah? Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and show us what you got?" Remus challenged, grinning wildly.

"Hm gladly, just you watch and learn, my parents didn't put me in dance lessons for nothing, see how a true master does it." Janus said, walking towards the game with his chin up.

Virgil and Remus watched him go. "You just love provoking him, don't you?"

"Virgil, buddy," Remus put a hand on his shoulder, "it's my reason for living."

Virgil snorted, "you're awful."

Remus grinned at that. "Why, thank you Vee, I try my best. You have to admit how entertaining he is though." He jerked his head in Janus' direction, already deep in his dancing, eyes glued to the screen and legs gracefully going for the right arrows, clearly smiling.

Remus sighed contently, patting himself on the shoulder. "I know how much he loves dancing, you're such a good friend Remus! Why thank you, Remus!"

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Dork…" he muttered.

"Hey! I heard that!" Remus punched his arm playfully, making Virgil laugh.

They then heard a faint ping coming from Remus' pocket and he fished out his phone to check what it was.

As he read whatever message it was, his expression started to change to… something Virgil never saw on him before, and something he quickly decided he didn't like at all. After a moment's hesitation, he tapped Remus lightly on the shoulder.

Remus jumped as if he got zapped by lightning, quickly locking his phone and turning around sharply to face Virgil, looking at him as if he forgot he was there.

"You okay, Re? Who messaged you?" Virgil asked with a frown of concern, he had never seen him act like it before… maybe Janus was right and he was hiding something…

Remus blinked a few times then grinned his usual grin, though it felt… off. "Eh, nothing important, just some stupid chores my parents asked me to do when I come back from 'school' "

"Um… okay? You just seemed a bit-"

"Know what? Changed my mind, this place is boring ! I have a better idea, let's go!" He went to grab Janus and dragged him outside with him, Virgil worriedly trailing behind them.

What aren't you telling us, Remus?

…

"Remus, why are we at your house-"

"Shh" Remus shushed, "no one can know we're here, we're supposed to be in school remember?"

Virgil rolled his eyes, "you said that way louder than me but okay mister Stealth."

Janus snorted quietly at the comment as they continued to walk towards Remus' house.

But when they neared the front door, Remus took a sharp turn, going around the house instead.

Virgil and Janus exchanged worried glances behind Remus' back as they followed him.

"Remus, dear, you know how much I love sneaking around but… what exactly is your plan here?" Janus whispered to him as he stopped in a seemingly random place in their back yard.

"Do you know what my dad's job is?" Remus asked, turning to face his two friends.

Confused, they both shook their heads.

"Yeah neither do I, but I do know how to get inside his secret office, no one is allowed in there but my dad, which is why today we're gonna pick inside." Remus explained excitedly, rubbing his hands in anticipation. 

Every part of Virgil's brain and body screamed at him to not do exactly what Remus just suggested, his mind already came up with at least 30 things that could go wrong and quickly going up to 50 scenerios.

Virgil bit his lip in hesitation, "I don't know Re… maybe it's a secret for a reason, what if there's something dangerous inside?"

"Oh c'mon, it's my boring ol' dad! It's probably just some personal stuff he's ashamed of or something." Remus dismissed Virgil's worries, like always… Seriously, why does he even bother? 

"What do you say, Janny? You're usually not as boring as Emo over here."

Virgil huffed at that as Janus considered this. He then shrugged, "I must admit, I am curious to see what your father's up to, though I doubt it'll be too interesting, or even close to dangerous. Remus' dad is… many things, but exciting is not one of them." 

"Yes! Knew you'll be on board, now." He turned to the wall of the house, considering it for a moment before pressing on random places on it. "Saw him do it so many times." He explained when he was done.

For a moment, nothing happened, then a soft beep of approval was heard and a section of the wall sunk down to the floor, revealing a hidden passage.

"That's… kinda overdoing it for just personal stuff you're ashamed of…" Virgil pointed out as he looked into the passageway. Bad potential scenarios are up to over a hundred now.

Remus groaned, "fine, stay here as a look out or something, me and Jay will check it out, I heard chickens like it outside more." Remus teased, making Janus snicker and Virgil roll his eyes.

"Well sorry for being cautious, geez." He tacked his hands into his hoodie, watching Remus walk inside.

"You really want to stay here? Alone?" Janus raised an eyebrow at him.

Virgil hesitated for a moment, glancing at the passage then out in the street… where anyone can walk by… and think Virgil's weird and suspicious for standing in someone else's yard for so long…

He sighed, he can't believe he's actually letting them convince him to do this… But if there's something he hates more than this dangerous plan… it's being alone.  

"...whatever."

Janus smirked and walked inside, Virgil soon following, the 'door' closing behind the three of them. Making Virgil jump and turn towards the once open door… that's not a good sign…

They all walked in silence, trying to be as quiet as possible, and taking in the strange, secret passage they found.

They soon came into a bright lighted room, full of strange looking devices and various tools scattered around each of them, it almost looked like-

"A lab?!" Remus screeched in bewilderment, "I've had a secret lab in my house this whole time?! I should have snuck down here a lot sooner, damn!"

Janus shook his head, "what happened to 'be quiet, no one can know we're here'? " he asked with a smirk.

Remus just shrugged, "there's a limit to how long I can stay quiet and did you see what we found?!" He grabbed Janus' shoulders, shaking him in excitement, "my dad's a secret scientist! How freaking cool is that!" 

Janus broke away from his grip, "apparently cool enough to forget what personal space means." He huffed, straightening his clothes, "but I admit this is… not what I was expecting, I wonder what your dad is researching."

Remus nodded at that looking over the various devices curiously.

"Holy shit, is this for real? …we should probably not touch any- Remus!" Virgil said in a panic when he saw Remus pick up a strange watch, "put that down! We don't know what it can do-"

A secret lab is like, horrible scenario number 122, complete with them accidentally activating some sort of doomsday device and bringing the end of the world!

"Geez, calm down, will ya? Nothing happened!" Remus huffed, putting the watch down.

"Yet.." Virgil added quietly, "this place gives me the creeps, let's get out of…" he trailed off, tilting his head as he looked at a full body-sized mirror… that didn't seem to reflect the room they were in, "...here." he finished quietly, frowning.

Virgil tilted his head, looking at the strange 'mirror' more closely. Its frame had strange carvings and drawings on it that looked like they're depicting battles. At the top of the mirror there were three small figures and a sentence in a language Virgil has never seen anything like it before…

"Vee? Everything- wow what is that ?" Remus came to stand near Virgil, staring at the strange mirror and reaching a hand towards it.

Janus stopped him, "idiot, what do you think you're doing?" He growled at him.

Remus shook his head, seemingly waking up from something, "s-sorry, I just had the weirdest feeling…" he mumbled.

"Okay, this place is crazy, I'm leaving-" he paused, looking around in confusion, "ah… guys? Where's the passageway?"

They all started to look around, but all the walls seemed solid and closed with no openings. Janus and Virgil turned ro Remus, looking at him hopefully.

"Hey! I only saw him get in! I didn't think-"

"Yeah that's the problem! You don't think and somehow you always manage to convince me and… now we're stuck here! We don't have any food and no one knows where we are… I knew I had a bad feeling about today, but you two never listen to me!" Virgil yelled, breath becoming shallower with every word until he was panting.

He's tired of doing things he doesn't really want to do, he's tired of always following his only friends around and feeling as though it's his only choice…

And he's tired of constantly being scared of everything .

"Virgil, you need to breathe-"

"No! I have a right to panic, stop telling me to fucking calm down! News flush, telling someone anxious to calm down is not calming!" Despite that, he tried catching his breath without much luck.

"I'm…" they both turned to Remus at the sound of his unusually weak voice, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

Virgil reached his hand to try and ground himself… and realized a second too late he wasn't leaning on a wall… but the strange mirror. His hand suddenly sunk into it, like it was made of water, and he cried in alarm when it started sucking him in.

Janus and Remus grabbed at his free arm, trying to pull him out, but nothing worked.

Before any of them realized what happened, the three of them disappeared into the mirror, leaving the lab quiet and empty.

Chapter Text

Virgil groaned as he came back to awareness, expecting to feel sore from the… fall? Did he fall? From where? What happened?

But… he didn't feel anything but the soft grass he was lying on, he blinked open his eyes, getting blinded immediately by the bright sun of… wherever he was.

As his eyes adjusted, he rubbed them to make sure he wasn't imagining what he was seeing. 

This place looked like it belonged in a fairytale book, or someone's imagination or… really anywhere other than reality.

He seemed to be in a clearing in a strange forest. The trees were in impossible colors of light blue, purple, yellow… all the colors of the rainbow, the bushes too… actually, Virgil realized it was all the plants. The sky was bright blue without a single cloud and the sun shone brightly. This entire place seriously hurt Virgil's sensitive eyes.

The plants weren't where the strangeness ended though. He saw fairies flying around, elves walking about, unicorns. He even spotted some dragons flying around.

This place is crazy!

Or maybe… he's crazy! Is this all in his head? Is this a dream?

He pinched himself, trying to wake up, but nothing happened.

What the hell…

"Holt!" 

a harsh voice suddenly yelled from somewhere nearby before he had time to take everything in

He jumped at the commanding tone, looking around for its source and freezing in place when he saw a tall, armored centaur glaring down at him, spear in hand.

"Ah… hello? W-where am-" he tried to ask the ah… guard? Is this what these things were here? It certainly looked that way…

"Show me your seal." It said simply and Virgil frowned. What in the Emo is he… it? Talking about? Seal? Like… the sea creature or like a wax seal?

"My what?"

"You're going to need to come with me for questioning." The centaur said in response, aiming his spear at him threateningly.

Virgil may not know what this place is, but he knew to recognize when he was in trouble. Without thinking, he boulted away from the centaur, running as far as his legs could take him and in to the strangely colorful forest.

"We've got a runner!" He heard from behind him, followed by the sound of hooves chasing him.

He ran faster, going in the direction where the forest was getting thicker, thinking the trees and plants might be able to hide him. Even though his dark clothing made him stand out in the colorful surroundings.

He took a sharp turn into a bush, staying close to the ground and hearing the swarm of hooves run past where he hid.

He catches his breath as quietly as he could, trying to figure what the heck is going on without panicking. Janus usually helps him.through his panic attacks… 

Janus… where is he? 

And Remus?

Virgil felt a surge of anger at the thought of his wild friend, it was his fault they ended up in this mess… why does Virgil always let him convince him to go along with his nonsense despite his better judgment? And Janus, always scheming, always manipulating him, he means well most of the time but it doesn't change how frustrating it can be at times. 

Virgil shook his head, no, he doesn't need them, he can calm himself down, he can make rash decisions, he can find a way back home.

He jumped at the sound of rustling from behind him and span around to face it. He caught only a glimpse of another armored centaur's face,before he felt a powerful smack to the back of his head and passed out.

…

"We found him in the woods without your seal of approval, sir, what should we do with him?"

Virgil groaned softly as he woke up in a strange place once again in the span of a few hours… Virgil hoped this wasn't becoming a routine…

"Leave him with me, I shall question him, you may go."

He was dropped on a chair none too gently and he heard the centaurs walking away, leaving him with the mystery figure.

"I know you're awake." They said simply after a while.

Virgil let out a breath and opened his eyes slowly, finally getting a clear view of the one he was stuck with for now.

It was a knight, their armor was golden, a red cape hanging from their neck and an impressive sword strapped to their belt. If that wasn't enough, his skin seemed to be almost glowing.

How charming .

Virgil thought to himself as he regarded the man.

"So, how did you get past my gates?" They began, looking at him closely.

"Your what?"

They slammed their hands on the table in front of Virgil, making it shake violently. "Don't play dumb with me, Dark One , no one gets past my gates without my approval, I advise you to start talking."

Virgil swallowed nervously, "look man, I don't know anything about gates or seals… all I know is that I woke up in this place for two seconds before some centaurs started chasing me and now I'm here, being questioned by a glowing knight." Virgil bubbled, barely realizing what he was saying.

The knight sneered at his words and opened their mouth to reply when they suddenly seemed to notice something. They leaned closer to Virgil, inspecting him closely before frowning. "...you have a physical form."

Virgil frowned, "ah… thank you? You too?"

The knight sighed, cursing under his breath, "you're human aren't you?"

"Um… yeah? Is that bad?" Virgil asked nervously.

"Well… you're not really supposed to be able to come here… physically I mean." The knight explained.

"What the hell does that mean?! Is there no way back? Are we stuck here-"

"We?" They cut him off, "there's more of you?"

"Don't change the subject! How are we supposed to go back?" Virgil yelled, panicked.

"Well, first you need to calm down." The knight said in slight amusement, Virgil didn't understand what was so funny to them.

He looked around at the various weapons on the walls, then back at the glowing knight with the huge sword, "easy." He huffed.

The knight sighed again, "very well, we shall go to my place and there I'll explain everything. Now come along, human." They said as they opened the door and waited for him.

With no other choice, Virgil got up and followed them, "I have a name you know." He huffed as they started walking down the stone hallway.

"Well I have yet to receive it then, human." The knight grinned in response, winking at him.

Were they… flirting with him?

"I'm Virgil… What's your name?" Virgil asked hesitantly.

The knight smiled as they finally reached the end of the hallway and went outside, starting to walk down the path that winded through the woods, "I'm sir Roman, but you can just call me Roman."

Chapter Text

The first thing Remus sensed was a strong smell of rot, which, at first, made him think he was back in his room. But, as he slowly blinked his eyes open, he realized that assumption was very very wrong.

The last thing he remembered was sinking into a strange mirror in his dad's secret lab after… after he made Virgil upset.

He swallowed the bile in his throat at the thought and jumped to his feet to inspect his surroundings.

Everything was either black, rotting brown or grey, the sky above were dark and the clouds were rumbling as if stuck in an eternal storm. All the plants were either dead or dying, and various skeletons, zombies, monsters and any abomination Remus could think of roamed the place.

In short, this place looked like it belonged in someone's nightmares. Or, in Remus' case, his horror movies fanfiction.

Remus grinned, walking around the strange place with growing excitement. He wished Virgil and Janus were here to see this… where could they be?

He suddenly bumped into something and fell on his ass on a puddle that could be dirty water, or blood, Remus hoped it was the latter.

"Watch it!"

Remus looked up to see a skeleton with pieces of rotting flesh still stuck to its bones, glaring at him. "Can't you walk?"

Remus considered the question, hoping back to his feet, "well, most of the time, but I do get distracted easily, at least that's what Janus says- wow! What's that?!" He finally looked behind the skeleton, seeing a long line of monsters and scary creatures and right at the start of it… a giant wall that seemed to go on forever and stretching above the clouds, hiding completely what was behind it.

"What are you, new or something? Those are the Gates Of Creation, obviously." The skeleton explained imaptiently.

"Sick name, why are we in line towards them? And why do they call gates if it's just a solid wall?" Remus asked eagerly. He has no idea where he is but this place was incredible!

"You ask a lot of questions, why don't you find someone else to pester?" The skeleton asked, annoyed.

Remus grinned, "great idea! Thanks buddy!" He began to run further down the line, looking for someone who will give him answers.

"We're not friends!" 

He heard behind him and snickered in response. Even in a nightmare-ish world, he still got it.

He walked around for a while, asking random monsters and creatures about this place, but everyone refused to answer him.

He was getting frustrated, and tired… and very hungry. He eventually drifted off from the long line and giant wall, instead heading towards a dead forest, thinking he might try and explore the place and find the answers himself… and maybe bump into his friends…

After a while of walking his legs were starting to feel sore and tired and he went to sit down went he suddenly spotted a tall, shadowed figure up ahead.

Curiously, Remus went to get a closer look, wanting to know who… or what, that is.

"Hey there! Who might you…" he trailed off when the figure turned to him sharply, head doing a full 180 to look at him before turning the rest of its massive body in his direction, four extra arms suddenly appearing from its sides. It let out a deafening roar before starting to charge towards Remus.

Remus froze in place in shock, before letting out a horrified shriek and bolting in the other direction.

This place is not cool anymore! It's scary and depressing! He needs to find Virgil and Janus and get the heck out of here! Who knows what kind of creatures they encountered here?

He was starting to get short of breath and looked behind him quickly to see if the beast is still chasing him.

Unfortunately, the answer to that was, yes.

He picked up his pace for a bit before hiding behind a wide, dead tree trunk, breathing heavily.

It took him a second to realize he's not hearing the beast chasing him anymore… did it give up so easily?

He risked poking his head from behind the tree and looking back to where he last spotted the beast, only to see it tied up in veins on the ground, a cloaked figure standing in front of it.

Curiously, Remus walked closer to it, realizing it has a notebook in hand and seeming to be studying the creature it presumably defeated.

"Hello!" Remus greeted it, making it look up from his notebook and stare at him, "thanks for the save! Who are you… or what are you?" He reached a hand for it to shake.

The figure looked at his hand, then at him, before reaching out its own hand to shake his. "I need to thank you for drawing the beast's attention, I had many attempts trying to capture it for research purposes and they all failed until you distracted it." It said in a serious, monotone tone.

Remus grinned, "you're welcome! You going to take off that cloak, stranger?"

The figure looked around as if making sure it was just the two of them, "very well, but you must be discreet, no one can know I'm here."

Remus nodded, "sure! Discreet's my middle name!"

"Is it really? That's a rather unique name… but alright." It reached out its hands and slid the hood off its head, revealing a humanoid face, glasses around the eyes, and skin slightly glowing. "Now you know my identity, I ask you not to tell my brothers or their guards I'm here-"

"What? I don't know who you are, I just woke up in this place like 3 hours ago, you a celebrity around here or something?" Remus said honestly, looking curiously at the man.

"Ah, I see, you're new. Though you're the first creation I've seen that is human, typically humans imagine anything but their own kind, it's quite fascinating really- wait a moment." He adjusted his glasses, looking at Remus closely, taking out a flashlight and aiming it towards Remus' hands. 

"...your skin is not partially transparent… could you be… no, that's impossible… are you real?" He asked, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"Um… I hope so? You're not?" Remus frowned at the question.

"Well, technically speaking, nothing here is real, it's all a manifestation of the human imagination." He explained, still looking at Remus with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

Remus stared at him, "ah.. what? This whole place is imaginary ? But… it feels so real, how?"

"The actual mechanics are quite complicated but if I were to say it simply, it feels real because you're currently in here, but this place is not another dimension, it's a different plane from the physical reality you're from. 

"For example, if you found a way back to your reality and you took something from here with you, it will not pass through, it'll simply go back here. This is because, in your plane of existence, everything here is nothing more than pure imagination. 

"But since now you found a way to this imaginative plane, you're able to touch, feel and interact with all the things that found their way here." The man at last finished his explanation, looking rather pleased with himself.

Remus, on the other hand, felt completely lost. And given he just woke up in a strange nightmare-ish world, that's saying a lot. "...you call that putting it simply?"

The man let out a tired breath, "every time…" he muttered, "it feels real as long as you're here, when you're not it's just your imagination."

"Ohhh I get it now! So this is like the spirit realm or something, cool!" Remus looked around again with new found excitement… that quickly died down, "so… if this is where everything anyone ever imagined ends up… why is it so dark and creepy?"

Something like shame seems to flash in the man's eyes at the question. "Oh… well, that would be my brother's doing… more or less, he just has a very distinct idea of what should or shouldn't enter his kingdom, the place on the other side of The Gates Of Creation, I mean."

Remus looked over at the giant wall again, then at line of different creatures and creations standing in line for it, "you mean… here is whoever can't get to your brother's kingdom?"

The man nodded, "yes, that's right."

"Then why are you here? Sounds like the other side-"

"We call it the Light Side, if you want to be accurate."

"Whatever, beyond that wall sounds a lot nicer, why choose to come here?" Remus asked with a frown.

The man let out another breath that sounded even more tired than the one he let out before, "because there are only creations hand-picked by my siblings… there's not much to explore there. How can I learn about human nature when it's so censored and controlled to look like one specific thing?" The man then looked Remus in the eyes and he could see endless seas of curiosity he felt like he could drown in those eyes. 

"But here! Here is where the most fresh and most raw creations of the human mind end up! This place have endless things to research, new places to find, so much variety!" He looked down at the ground, "but my siblings don't understand so… you can say I'm… running away from them, in a way."

"Why do you care so much about human nature?"

"Oh dear, I just talked on without introducing myself. I'm the manifestation of curiosity and exploration, you can call me Logan."

"Oh wow, so basically a mega-nerd, nice. I'm Remus." Remus cackled at Logan's slight frown.

"I'll… take that as a compliment. Now, we should go to my hiding place before any guards find us and bring me back to the boring side of The Imagination." Logan said and started walking.

"And to hide from the terrifying beasts here too, right?" Remus asked hopefully as he timidly followed the nerd.

Logan looked back at him, "no, why would we hide from those? Let us hurry, this is getting closer to being the longest I've ever been away from my siblings!" He said with slight excitement before clearing his throat, "but enough about me, how did a human like you find his way here?"

Remus bit his lip, "oh… you know, just the classic-"

He didn't get to finish when he heard the sound of hooves and then Logan grabbed his arm as they started to run.

Chapter Text

Janus woke up on a cold floor, groaning softly as he opened his eyes to look at where he was.

He seemed to be in a dimly lit, stone hallway and he could hear faint footsteps indicating someone was coming his way.

He quickly got up, trying to think of what to say to this stranger that he's about to encounter. Wherever this was couldn't be anywhere near his home so he's probably not supposed to be here and can get in serious trouble if anyone were to find out.

The words died in his throat, however, when he saw who… or should he say, what, that was.

It was… a dog… and it was standing on two legs… and wearing a butler's suit.

What in the world…

"Excuse me sir, but who are you and what is your business in king Patton's castle?" 

…and it can talk too… of course.

"Um… My business here are… highly confidential, I'm afraid. Very… very sensitive stuff you know? Can't just talk about it to any um… dog-butler I encounter." Janus said, hoping it sounded convincing.

"I see, you'd probably wish to discuss this with the king, then, I'll escort you to him-"

"No!" Janus protested quickly, "um… because I… already talked with the king and was on my way out!" 

"No you haven't, the king hasn't seen anyone all day, I'm responsible for escorting his guests to him. Don't be shy, he's really nice! Follow me!"

Janus groaned in frustration and reluctantly followed. He obviously can't meet the king of this weird place! He'll be killed, or thrown to prison or… something ! He needs to escape without arousing suspicion… but how?

"Stop! I cannot allow you inside." They were stopped by… a human-sized fairy? What is this place?

"This guest wishes to discuss important matters with the king." The dog-butler countered.

"The king wishes to be left alone, he's too worried about his missing brother at the moment." The fairy insisted.

"I understand, I'll return at a more convenient time then-"

"No, no, you see this is exactly what he wants to talk to the king about! He has knowledge on his whereabouts!" The dog cut him off.

"I do?"

"Of course! That's what you meant by sensitive stuff, right?" The dog looked at him hopefully.

"Well? Do you know something or not?" The fairy guard asked impatiently.

"Oh, he knows all right! He's just being shy!" The dog said before Janus had time to replay. Janus could strangle it right now.

The fairy sighed, "very well, you may enter the throne room."

And, before he knew it, he was shoved into the room, the door clicking shut behind him.

You can do this, Janus, you tricked your headmaster into letting you off gym, you can trick this king too.

He looked around the room, in front of him was a throne but it was currently empty… is the king not here?

But then he spotted a man leaning on one of the windows, looking lost in thought as he observed the view. A golden crown with bright blue gems the color of the sky sat in front of him, he was wearing a bright blue shirt with paw prints on it, and a striped cape of blue and gold.

Not something he would expect a king to wear but then again, he never thought about dog butlers and fairy guards.

The king didn't seem to notice him yet, so Janus cleared his throat awkwardly. Might as well start talking his way out of this one as soon as possible since the door he came through seems to be the only way out of this room.

The king jumped and finally turned towards him. "Oh shoot, how long have you been waiting there? I'm so sorry… I told my guards not to let anyone in but I'm sure they had a good reason! …I'm just um… a bit distracted right now.." he cleared his throat, putting the crown on his head, "so, what can I do for you?"

"Are you… okay? Your highness?" Janus asked hesitantly, not knowing how to address the guy.

King sighed tiredly, "just Patton's fine… I just… he always does this but he's usually back by now! I mean… what if something happened to him like me and Ro always try to warn him about? What if… he's not coming back?" He shook his head as if trying to clear his mind, "but you don't care about all that huh? Tell me, why did you come here?"

"Me? I… came here to um… help you!" Janus tried to come up with something. "You see I'm… also looking for someone so I thought we could help each other out."

The king frowned, "help me? How?"

"I… know where your brother is?" Janus tried.

"Oh my gosh you do? So he's okay? Why didn't you just say so from the start oh that's such a relief! So where is he?" The king suddenly looked at him hopefully, he looked remarkably similar to his dog butler that way, how cute.

"I'll tell you where he is… if you help me find my friends first." He wasn't sure if bargaining with the king is the best plan, but it's not like he had other options at the moment.

The king frowned again, "why won't we look for my brother while also looking for your friends?"

"Well… how do I know you won't trick me-"

" Trick you?" The king said incredulously, "where do you think you are? The Dark Side? My task is to make sure all my subjects are well and cared for, if your friends are lost it's my job to find them. I have no intention of tricking you, Kiddo."

Kiddo? Just how old is this man?

Janus raised a skeptic eyebrow at that, "sorry but I just met you and I find it hard to believe you care so much about my friends that you never met over your own brother."

"Oh, I didn't say that , I care equally!" King Patton smiled warmly, "now c'mon, tell me what you know and we'll get to searching!"

Janus hesitated, "um… What did you say about trickery?"

"Oh! We don't do that here! Anyone who enters my kingdom is either kind, loving, helpful or all of the above! You need not worry about yucky stuff like lying and deceiving, me and my sibling are very careful about who we let in here." King Patton smiled reassuringly.

Janus swallowed nervously, "and if, hypothetically, you find out someone here did lie to you.. what would you do, hypothetically of course." 

The king frowned at the question, "well.. theoretically they shouldn't have been able to pass the gates in the first place but.. in any case they did I guess I'll be forced to get them back to the Dark Side where they belong… why? Did someone do something to you? I promise I'll take of them if they did-"

"Nope, just a hypothetical question…" Janus chuckled nervously.

Patton shrugged, "if you say so, so where is my brother?"

Janus' mind was racing, trying to come up with something that wouldn't reveal him as the liar that he was.

"Well… actually, your highness-"

"Patton." The king chimed in with a smile.

"...Patton, my information is based mostly on rumors so it might not be true…" Janus started hesitantly.

Patton's face fell, "oh… those rumors… I tried ignoring them but… if you heard them too then that must mean something ." He looked over at one of the windows again. "I just don't understand why he would want to go there, there's a reason we built the gates, it's dangerous out there…"

He turned back to look at Janus, offering him a small smile, "thank you for telling me, we'll find your friends and my brother… and we'll bring them home. In the meantime, you're welcome to stay here. Ro's busy and usually my brother is here in his lab but… anyway it's pretty lonely here lately." 

Janus started feeling a little bad for the guy, and he found himself nodding. After all, if they're about to work together to find their missing people, it only makes sense they'll stay close. And it's not like Janus has anywhere else to stay anyway.

Patton smiled at that, "great! Oh and I didn't catch your name."

"I'm Janus." Janus said.

"Huh, that's a unique name. Well, nice meeting you, Janus, I hope we'll become great friends." The king smiled again and Janus returned it.

I will find you, Virgil and Remus, no matter what it takes, then we can get out of this weird place…

Janus’ smile slowly disappeared as he was escorted out and led to his temporary bedroom. Everyone here may look nice, the king especially, but that doesn’t mean Janus was buying it. He can’t afford to, if he’s ever to find his friends and go home with them. Whatever this place is, he will find a way out.

Chapter Text

“Are you hungry? I can make us something.” The knight offered as they entered through the large double doors.

Virgil hesitated, sure he was starving, but he just met this man and he has no idea what kind of foods they eat here. What if they try to poison him? Or… maybe they’ll do that by accident by giving him food he can’t digest?

“Virgil?”

He was probably silent for too long since Roman was giving him a weird look, “did you hear what I asked?”

Cheeks burning, Virgil nodded, “yeah.. yeah, sorry I just… I’m ah.. not sure what I can eat here…” He admitted.

“Well, what do you like to eat? I can make whatever you want, I’m very skilled, I'll have you know.” Roman winked at him again, why do they keep doing that?

“Oh… I don’t know, don’t wanna bother you too much I mean… more than I already do.” Virgil chewed his lip nervously, trying to distract himself by finally looking around at the knight’s place.

Red and gold seem to be Roman’s favorites since they were everywhere. The walls, the furniture, even the various artworks on the walls. Artworks that all seem to be depicting, well, Roman. Roman fighting a dragon, Roman saving a village, Roman holding his sword out in a dramatic pose, you get the idea.

The room they entered seemed to be the living room judging by the couch and different armchairs thrown about the room.

His gaze suddenly locked with Roman’s and he froze at the weird look they were giving him. “Do you often think of yourself as a bother to other people?” He then asked softly.

Virgil didn’t know what to say to that, “um..”

“I invited you here, I offered to make you whichever meal you want, why would you think taking me up on those offers will bother me?”

Virgil shrugged, “I don’t know, people sometimes offer stuff because they think they have to to not be jerks, that doesn’t mean they expect you to take them up on those offers, sometimes they even hope you wouldn’t…” Virgil trailed off as he saw Roman’s frown getting deeper the more he talked.

“...If I answer you about the food thing, will you stop looking at me like that?”

“Like what?” Roman asked with a small smile.

“Just… make us pasta or something okay?” Virgil grumbled, tacking his hands into his pockets.

Roman saluted, “right away, Worry-wart sir, sauce preferences?”

“Just tomato sauce’s fine…” Roman was definitely teasing him now, for how long is he stuck with this guy?

“Coming right up.” Roman gave him his usual wink  before snapping his fingers and walking towards where Virgil assumed was the kitchen, “you’re welcome to join and help if you want, you seem a bit fidgety. I don’t mind doing it alone though if you don’t want to.”

They called as they started walking. Virgil started following them, feeling awkward about sitting alone in someone else’s house, and it’ll make him feel more useful instead of a spoiled guest who expects everything to be done for them.

“Sure I’ll help… Not the best cook though.” He warned as he walked beside the glowing person.

Roman chuckled, “don’t worry your pretty little head about it, that’s why you have me. Do you mind if I change to something more comfortable before we start? Armor’s great but not the comfiest.”

Virgil’s cheeks felt a tad bit warmer as he shrugged, “it’s your house, do whatever you want… you don’t need my permission or anything.”

Roman smiled, “simply making sure it won’t make you uncomfortable.” They stopped in place, unbuckling their sword and lying it against the wall before snapping their fingers.

There was a blinding flash of golden light that made Virgil immediately close his eyes against it, and when he opened them again he saw Roman standing in front of him in a loose red t-shirt and golden sweatpants.

Roman sighed in relief, “ah, much better, now-”

“What the heck was that?!” Virgil asked in shock.

Roman looked down at themselves, “oh, that’s just my comfy outfit, you don’t like it-”

“Not that ! The glowy, snappy fingers thing you just did!” Virgil gestured towards them frantically.

“Ohhh that! I’m the embodiment of creativity and we’re in the imagination so I can pretty much conjure up whatever I want!” They explained simply.

“You… You’re what?”

Roman put their fists on their hips in a dramatic pose, “I am sir Roman! The embodiment of the humans’ creative thinking and the lead protector of The Imagination!” He declared proudly.

Virgil shook himself from his initial shock, “...this place is getting weirder by the second.. C’mon, Lord Of Delusions, enough chit chat, I’m starving.” He huffed at them.

“Hey now, teasing nicknames is my thing!” Roman whined as they resumed their walk to the kitchen.

Virgil stared in shock when they entered the kitchen as he saw all of the exact ingredients they would need for a tomato sauce pasta already arranged on the counter. “H-how did…” he trailed off when he saw Roman snap their fingers and after another flash of light, they were wearing an apron over his clothes. “...Right, almost forgot.” He huffed.

“But wait, if you can conjure food too, couldn’t you just have made us an already cooked pasta and tomato sauce? Why just the ingredients?” Virgil asked, annoyed. His stomach was rambling.

Roman shrugged, “I do that sometimes too, but I find the process of cooking relaxing. So after long days, I like to cook the food myself, helps me unwind, you know? Do you want an apron too? You can also take off your hoodie, it’s pretty warm here.”

Virgil clutched the front of his hoodie protectively, “...no, I’m not taking it off.” He insisted, despite starting to sweat a little.

Roman frowned, “are you sure? You’re starting to swe-”

“I’m sure.” Virgil cut them off sharply.

“Okay… apologies, I can turn down the temperature a bit here.” They snapped their fingers again, “now let’s get to cooking.” They rubbed their hands together as they both took a spot in front of the counter, “you’ll slice and I’ll cook, sound good?” Virgil nodded and they got to work.

They worked silently together, at first, aside from the occasional instruction from Roman. Until Roman ruined it by attempting to engage small talk with him.

“So how are you processing everything so far?” Roman asked as they tested to see if the pasta was ready.

Virgil shrugged, “trying not to think about it too much until I get some answers about what the heck is going on and how to get out of here.” He gave Roman a pointed look.

They chuckled lightly, “fair enough, you’ll get them soon. Say, has your style always been this… gloomy?” Roman gestured vaguely at him with the wooden spoon they were using to stir the sauce.

“You got a problem with my style, oh mighty knight? Say it to my face.” Virgil challenged, bringing the knife down on a tomato a little too roughly.

“Wow there, calm your horses, you can wear whatever you want. I’m just thinking you can use some… color, that’s all.” Roman raised their arms in surrender though they didn’t seem really scared. Which makes sense given they’re a glowing knight with a huge sword and Virgil would probably be dead by now if they wanted to.

“Black is a color.” Virgil countered.

“A depressing one…” Roman mumbled under their breaths.

“Exactly, I like my clothes to represent my current mood, and it seems like it’s working.” Virgil said, moving over to slicing the onions.

“Okay well, it makes you stand out here. You know, where everything has colors , mostly bright and cheerful ones .” Roman warned.

Virgil rolled his eyes, “really, genius? How do you think your stupid centaurs found me so easily? Why would I need to hide anyway? Isn’t everything here bright and cheerful and friendly?” Virgil huffed, eyes stinging a little from cutting the onions.

“I didn’t say you need to hide, I said it makes you stand out. I may barely know you but you don’t seem like the attention-seeker kind. And besides… Not everything’s friendly here unfortunately.” Roman said, tone shifting over the last statement.

Virgil’s heart skipped a bit at that and he swallowed fearfully, “w-what do you mean?”

Roman must have catched Virgil’s growing fear as he said, “Fear not, my gates keep all those nasty creatures out of this territory. You’re safe, little human.”

“That’s comforting…” Virgil mumbled, finally finishing slicing everything and adding it to the sauce cooking on the stove.

Roman stirred it silently for a while before turning it off and pouring it over the pasta, letting out a tired sigh, “we try our best to keep them out, we made up a system so only the worthy creations would be able to get past the gates and it was working for a while now but…” they handed Virgil a bowl of steaming pasta, looking disturbed all of a sudden.

“What is it? What are these creatures?” Virgil asked nervously as he took the bowl from their hands, not feeling as hungry anymore.

“Well, as I said, this place is The Imagination, it’s where all the things humans imagine wind up. Some of those are pretty and nice and colorful… While some… aren’t and pretty dangerous too. Before the gates me and some volunteers would fight them off but they were getting more and more fierce by the day. So we came up with the gates system.” They explained.

“Okay… sounds good, why do you sound so worried then?” Virgil asked, sitting himself on the counter and starting to finally eat the pasta they made together.

Roman frowned at him, “there’s a chair right here.” They gestured to a few chairs around a dining table next to them. Virgil just shrugged and didn’t move from his spot. “Okay…” they shook their head, “I’m worried because the gates are meant for creations only, not my brothers… and not humans either.”

Virgil froze as the knight’s words registered, “s-so you’re saying my friends can be-”

Roman nodded grimly.

He started shaking his head frantically, feeling his lungs constricting, “no, no, no, no, no…” he kept repeating, breathing heavily.

Roman picked up on his distress quickly, “hey, hey, breathe. Just breathe, I’m sure they’re fine-”

“You don’t know that!” Virgil yelled at them.

Roman grabbed his shoulders, making him look at them, “Virgil, look at me, we will find your friends and get them to safety, I swear to you on my honor and all that I hold dear, do you hear me? you’re all going to get out of here safely.”

They sounded so certain Virgil actually felt himself calm down slowly, breathing getting slower and slower until he finally felt like he could breathe normally.

“H-how are you doing that?” Virgil mumbled after a moment of tense silence and Roman letting go of him.

“Do what?”

Virgil let out a breath, chancing another glance at Roman, "be so sure things will be okay? Be… I don't know, sure of yourself? I've never felt sure of anything really…" he chuckled in an attempt to ease the tension.

Unexpectedly, Roman grinned at that after a moment of thinking. "Know what? How about I'll just show you?" They said excitedly, gesturing to Virgil to follow them as they started walking out of the kitchen.

Curiously, Virgil followed them.

Chapter Text

Remus was gasping for breath soon after they started running from that skeleton horse they heard. But the nerd didn't seem tired at all, not even a drop of sweat on his forehead. Maybe it was related to the glowing skin he has going on for himself.

And Remus, while often describing himself as vibrant, did not have glowing skin, just a regular skin.

Luckily, Logan noticed his heavy breathing and spotted a place for them to hide, pulling Remus towards it and giving him a chance to catch his breath.

"Since when are nerds so athletic?" Remus panted.

The mega nerd, Logan, shrugged, "me and my siblings don't usually get tired, sorry about that, I've never met a human in person before and I forgot about your… physical limitations." He apologized. "Hm… we should probably find you things to eat and drink as well…" he tapped his chin in thought.

At the mention of food, Remus' stomach rambled. "Yes, food, please!" He agreed eagerly, "where can we find food here?"

Logan seemed apologetic as he started to explain, "well, if Roman was here they could have conjured you a cooked meal with a snap of their fingers… I, unfortunately, don't possess this kind of ability. And everything here is rotting and decaying so I doubt we'll find anything edible on this side…"

Remus frowned, "so what do you eat here?"

Logan shook his head, "we, meaning me and my siblings, don't need to eat. We can, of course, but we don't need it for survival. We're not real, after all."

"So how do I not die of starvation here?" Remus whined, "did you seriously remind me how hungry I am just to tell me there's no food here?"

Logan shook his head again, "no… there's food…" he said carefully.

"Great! Where is it? Let's go there!" Remus eagerly went to start walking away, when Logan yanked him from the back of his green shirt.

"Wait, it's… it's on the other side…" Logan said, making Remus slump in disappointment.

"So I'm dead, 'died from starvation at the age of 15' , that's a sucky tombstone." Remus grambled, kicking a rock on the ground.

"Don't worry, I got a plan." Logan said, sounding determined. 

Remus grinned at that, "nerd! I didn't know you're in the scheming business! Suddenly you're not as boring as I thought."

Logan blinked, "um… thank you? Does all humans tend to shift moods so quickly or is it just you?" He questioned, reaching for his notebook.

Remus shrugged, "I donno, probably just me, I am pretty unique. Anyway, plan to get me some yummies?" 

Logan frowned at him, "what?"

Remus groaned, "food! Nerd! You said you have a plan to get some! I'm literally dying here!"

"I doubt you're dying, Remus, you seem perfectly healthy save for a little sweaty and short of breath. And, technically speaking, humans can last from one to two months without food." Logan explained proudly.

"Just say your plan, 'Teach', no more lectures please." Remus groaned, stomach rambling again.

Logan huffed, "you're starting to sound like Roman…"  he let out a sigh, "but very well, I'll tell you. My plan is simple…"

"Simple! Yes! That's what I like to hear-"

"We'll get caught." Logan interrupted him, dragging him out of their hiding place and to the open air before he had time to process.

"Wait… what ?" Remus asked in shock, "but you-"

"There he is!" They heard someone shout, and they were surrounded by skeleton horses before they had any chance to move farther.

" That's your brilliant plan? Didn't you say these creatures are your brother's guards on this side?" Remus asked, confused, as they were being led towards the gates, that still just looked like a wall to Remus.

Logan nodded, "yes, exactly, they're going to get us past the gates and then…" Logan paused to whisper in Remus' ear, "...And once we're there, I'll use my special ability so we'll escape. We'll get enough food for you and I'll get back here. You can come with me, of course, but I won't force you, I know the other side is in much better shape than this place." 

Remus frowned, "special ability? You've been holding out on me, have you, nerd?"

Logan opened his mouth to answer when one of the horses escorting them spoke up.

"You know, King Patton and sir Roman are really worried about you, sire." It said.

Logan huffed, "well, they should know by now that I can take care of myself."

"I'm sure they know that, sire, but that doesn't mean they don't care about you. If you don't mind me saying, sire, you shouldn't run away like that." It continued.

Logan looked down at his feet, "I don't want to… but they never listen! I can't help but be curious, it's quite literally what I was made for, I'm not meant to sit around in a castle reading books and fooling around in a lab. I'm meant to go out and explore, find the answers I seek for myself… if they would just hear me out…" Logan let out a sigh, "sorry… I'm rambling aren't I?"

…listen…

Why won't they listen?

If they would just hear me out…

…

"Shoplifting?! What has gotten into you?!" His mom yelled, furious.

Remus whimpered, "I didn't know… they-"

"Not a word out of you, mister! No phone for two weeks! I can't believe you would do such a thing!" His mom cut him off, dragging him away from the police station by the wrist.

…

There was a moment of silence as the three of them thought on what to do for their group project.

"Oh! I know! How about we do frankenstein! I can be the doctor with loads of blood on my face and Virgil can be the monster with a green skin and we'll paint stitches all over-"

Janus snorted, "Remus, c'mon, be serious, how about this…"

Remus slumped, "I was being serious…" he said quietly as Janus continued to lay out his idea.

…

"Moving?!" Remus jumped to his feet, "we can't move! My only friends live here! What am I-"

"Don't be a baby, Remus, you'll make new friends. And the decision has been made already so throwing a tantrum won't help you." His mom cut him off.

"But mom! My entire life is here-"

"That's enough out of you, young man, now go to school, we'll begin packing as soon as you get back." His dad stepped in, piercing him with a disapproving glare.

…

They never listen…

"...us? Remus? Can you hear me?" He was pulled out of his thoughts by a gentle touch on his shoulder. He jumped and turned to see Logan, looking at him strangely. "Are you alright? You've been silent almost all the way to the gates, it's the longest I've ever not heard anything from you… is something the matter?"

Remus bit his lip, not knowing what to say to him. Then a part of what he said registered in his mind, "the gates?" He looked forward and saw that they were indeed only inches away from the giant wall.

"Still don't get why they're called gates if it's just a wall." Remus said.

Logan gave a small smile at that, "well, it's both."

"How is it a wall and gates?" Remus frowned.

Logan pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, "well, as you know, not everyone can pass the gates. But do you know how someone does pass them?" Logan asked, to which Remus shook his head. "Me and my siblings thought about this a lot when planning the gates. Of course I was the one to come up with the solution." He said proudly.

When he didn't elaborate, Remus pressed on, "what was the solution?"

"Oh, I can explain it to you, of course, but from the little I know about you, I think you'd rather see it in action." Logan explained.

Remus suddenly thought of something, "wait… what if I'm part of the ones who can't pass them?"

Logan shook his head, "that's not possible, we designed the gates to keep out certain creations. It doesn't work for me and my siblings, and it is for sure not going to work on a real, living human such as yourself."

Remus' eyes widened, "so… we're free to go wherever here? Oh that's sick man!"

Logan frowned, "what's sick? We don't get diseases." He explained.

"No, it's like another way to say cool." Remus said.

"You think being sick is cool?" Logan's frown deepened.

"Well… I mean, it gets you out of school so-"

"We're here." One of the horse guards cut off their awkward conversation and they stopped right in front of the giant wall.

"Are you ready to get your questions answered?" Logan asked excitedly.

"Um.. I think so, what do I-" he trailed off as Logan suddenly took his right hand and placed the palm directly on the cold surface of the stone wall, placing his own palm next to his as well.

For a moment, nothing happened.

"The centaurus are waiting for you on the other side, sire, they'll ensure you'll get to sir Roman safely." The guard said.

And then, suddenly, the stone wall in front of them dissolved into nothing, like an illusion, like it was never there. Instead appeared…

Remus gasped, two huge, golden gates took form in front of them that swung open to reveal a brightly colored landscape filled with magical creatures.

"Ohhh! I get it! The wall turns into gates to anyone that can pass! Fucking brilliant!" Remus said excitedly as they stepped into the other side, gates closing behind them and turning back to a stone wall as centaurus surrounded them both.

"Okay, what's the plan now?" Remus whispered in Logan's ear.

"Just follow my lead." Logan whispered back and cleared his throat to catch their guards' attention. 

"I'm sure you noticed my… Unique companion here." He said to the guards and they exchanged looks. "Ah, I see you thought the same thing as I did. He doesn't seem like the gates should approve him, huh?"

"Hey!" Remus whined, but Logan ignored him.

"You see, I've had worries recently that there are growing problems with the gates' mechanisms, and he is a prime example of that being true. I ask you, so as not to cause panic across The Light Side, that you'll let me continue researching this and not inform any of my siblings that you have found me." Logan lied, voice remaining as neutral as ever.

The guards exchanged looks again, then nodded. "Very well, sire, we trust you. You always know what's best for our kingdom."

And just like that, they were left alone by the gates.

"Nerd!" Remus shouted excitedly, so suddenly that Logan jumped, "that was amazing! I never thought you'd be good at bluffing! You're just full of surprises aren't ya?" He nudged his ribs with a wink.

Logan blushed at that, "oh ah… it wasn't much… I just-" he stammered.

"Now where's that food you were talking about?" Remus ignored him, looking around eagerly.

Logan shook his head, "right… the food. Well, it's all around you, Remus, nothing here is poisonous, all the fruits and berries on the plants here are all safe and quite delicious." Logan explained with a smile.

Remus laughed at that as he started plucking off berries from bushes and squashing them into his mouth, making juice leak from the corners of his mouth and cover his hands.

"Hmm, I thought humans would be more… civilized." Logan observed.

"Not when we haven't eaten all day, hunger makes us crazier the longer it lasts." Remus said between mouthfuls.

"Interesting, I assume that's due to the body missing essential ingredients to make it work properly." Logan pulled out his notebook from inside his cloak and muttered to himself as wrote.

"Besides," he swallowed another mouthful of fruit, "being 'civilized' is boooring , I tend to avoid bordiness."

"You mean 'boredom'?" Logan corrected.

"Nope!" Remus grinned, face smeared with all kinds of juices and teeth painted a reddish purple from the berries.

Logan snorted at the sight despite himself, "you're an.. odd specimen, Remus, I must say. I'm starting to feel a bit sad that we'll be parting ways soon."

Remus swallowed again and frowned at the nerd, "parting ways?"

"Well, I'll be heading back to The Dark Side soon." Logan said, as if that explained anything.

"So?" Remus asked.

"So, I think it's rather obvious you'd want to stay on this side, anyone would, it's only natural." Logan continued.

"Natural my ass, I still haven't found my friends. And, according to you, they can be on either of the sides of these gates. I first appeared at the Dark Side, maybe they appeared there too. So, like it or not, I'm coming with you." Remus said, surprising himself a bit with his reasoning.

"...Oh." was all Logan said in response. "I ah… I never had a companion with me on these explorations. I figured our relationship was based solely on me getting you to safety, I didn't think-"

"Well think again, Calculator Watch, you're stuck with me. Just let me put some of these delicious fruits in my bag and we'll be off." Remus cut him off, taking off his school bag and opening the zipper.

“Oh! Fruits aren't the only thing that grows on plants here.” Logan said, directing Remus’ attention to the taller trees that grew vegetables and some even had cooked meat hanging from the branches, “put as many as you can in your bag it won’t go bad.”

"Meat grows on trees here?! That's fucking incredible!" Remus said excitedly as he put them all in his bag. "Alright, let's go-"

"Don't forget water." Logan said quickly, pointing at a stream.

"Ugh fine, mom ." Remus rolled his eyes as he went to fill his water bottle, "yes, I know you're not my mom, nerd, it's called teasing." Remus said over his shoulder as he filled the bottle.

Logan huffed as Remus came back from the stream, "I know what 'teasing' means."

Remus patted him on the back in mock reassurance, “sure you do, nerd, let’s go.”

He's got no clue where his friends are or why they got separated in the first place, but at least he's got cool company to help him find them.

Chapter Text

Janus didn't sleep, he couldn't. 

He had no idea where he was, he couldn't trust anyone here and he had no idea where either of his friends were or how he's going to find them while also avoiding suspicion from the king and everyone in the castle.

They can't find out he's not from here, he doesn't know how they'll react if they do. They could lock him up, kill him, torture him, cast him to that 'Dark Side' place they were so scared from. None of these sounded great.

No, he needed a plan. It was all down to him. Virgil is great but he's not very good in stressful situations such as this, he probably spiraled the minute he gained consciousness and got caught by someone. Remus is brave to the point of stupid and reckless which probably caused him to get into trouble here as well.

 The only one who can bring them all together and find a way out, is him.

…And he will .

Finally giving up on sleep, Janus decides to go out and explore the castle a little, maybe find some food and water too.

He tried his best to stick to the walls and shadows but gave up on sneaking around when he realized no one was patrolling the castle at this hour.

He walked for a while, trying to open random doors but most were either locked or just empty rooms like his was.

Suddenly, as he walked down a corner, he heard whispers and faint sobs. Curious, he followed the sounds until he reached a massive library, filled with books up to the incredibly high ceiling, comfy chairs and tables with lamps scattered all about the large room.

The sounds getting closer, Janus walked around a bookshelf and froze at who he saw sitting in one of the chairs, his knees folded and hugged to his chest, and sobbing quietly.

It was the king.

No longer wearing his cape and crown, just plain, bright blue sweatpants with a different t-shirt with cats on it.

He tried backing away before he noticed his presence, but the king looked up from his knees at that exact moment and they locked eyes, both freezing with surprise.

"S-sorry, I'll leave-" Janus started to apologize as he continued to back away.

Patton shook his head, letting his legs fall back to the floor, taking a deep breath and wiping his cheeks. "No, it's fine, it's actually nice to see someone." He said shakily, patting the seat next to him in invitation.

Janus bit his lip, "I really should go…" he tried protesting politely.

The king looked a little disappointed but nodded, "oh… okay, I won't force you then."

Somehow that made him look even more sad and Janus let out a sigh as went to sit next to the king. "Suppose I can stay for a bit. Is it about your missing brother?"

Patton nodded, "yeah… I don't know what gotten into me, I just…" he trailed off, "I don't know…"

"You'll find him." Janus said, trying an encouraging smile towards him.

"That's… what I'm worried about…" Patton said quietly and Janus frowned in response.

"You don't want to find him?" He asked, confused.

"Of course I do!" He said quickly, "it's just… everytime he comes back from… there , he starts getting these… Ideas and insist upon them for months and it causes endless arguments and I just… I'm just scared of what's going to happen when we do find him… does that make sense?"

"You're afraid he's going to change things." Janus said quietly, more to himself than to the king, he didn't even realize he said it out loud until Patton nodded.

"Yeah! Exactly, how did you know?" Patton asked curiously.

Janus bit his lip, thinking back on those faithful, short moments right before they all got sucked into the mirror.

…stop telling me to fucking calm down!

…you two never listen to me!

Virgil acted so… so differently than he expected he would. He's had panic attacks before but he never lashed out at them like that… 

And that scared Janus, he thought he knew everything about his two friends, he thought he had a handle on the only two people in his life that were constant, that… that he had control over.

But that moment, he felt like a little kid again, helpless as his parents' endless arguments led to them eventually separating, not knowing what's going to happen to him now.

Remembering this now, he felt as though he was back at the edge of a cliff, nothing but the dark unknown waiting for him at the bottom, and with no way to stop his fall towards it.

Janus shook his head, clenching his fists in determination, "no." He said sharply, making the king's head turn towards him. "Nothing is going to change unless I- I mean, you, say so." Janus said.

Patton tilted his head curiously at that, again, making him look like a puppy in Janus' eyes. "How do you know?"

"Well, you're the king of this place, aren't you? You make the rules around here." Janus answered what he thought was pretty obvious.

Patton shrugged, "technically, yes, but it's really all three of us that rule this place, as the foundations of human imagination. We don't really decide stuff alone, all of us need to agree." He explained.

Janus frowned, "then why are you the only one who is king?"

Patton opened his mouth to answer when Janus' stomach decided to announce its emptiness.

Janus flushed in embarrassment as it rumbled, "...I might be a little hungry." He admitted.

Patton frowned, "hungry?"

Thinking it was a joke, Janus chuckled, "you know, hungry? Need food?"

" Need food? Why would you need food?" Patton laughed as if it was the most obscure concept in the world.

Now it was Janus' turn to frown, "um… so my body won't die?"

"...die? But-" he stopped himself squinting his eyes at Janus.

Janus swallowed nervously, feeling as though he said something wrong but unable to figure out what.

Without warning  the king aimed the lamp on the desk in front of them directly to his face, blinding Janus and making him close his eyes with a hiss against the bright light.

The king gasped and shot upright, looking shocked as he dropped the lamp.

"Y-you're not imaginary… but, that's impossible I… how is this possible?" The king started mumbling, holding his head in his hands.

Janus frowned, imaginary? What the hell is he talking about?

The king suddenly stopped his mumbling, looking at Janus with a dark expression, "you lied to me." He said, in a very very different tone than the pappy one he came to expect from the king.

Janus swallowed again in fear, getting up as well and starting to back away, preparing to make a run for it. "N-now, let's not be hasty here, I simply-"

"Why didn't you say anything? How did you even get here? Why did you come here?" Patton began throwing questions at him in a rapid pace, walking closer to Janus as he tried to back away. "Who are you, really?"

Janus' back hit a bookshelf, allowing the king to close up on him. "I…" his mind was working hard, trying to think of what to say. But he was tired and hungry and scared and so so frustrated that he couldn't think clearly.

"I don't know!" He screamed in frustration, feeling tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. He slid to the floor at the kings' feet, hugging his knees, "I… don't know anything anymore. I don't know where I am, I don't know where my friends are… I don't even think I know my friends like I thought I did…" he trailed off with a sob, feeling pathetic and helpless.

"Oh gosh you're crying, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you, I was just surprised um… here." 

Janus lifted his head and saw the king's hand in front of his face, he looked higher and saw the king's worried face. He sniffed, "you're… not going to do anything to me?" He asked quietly and suspiciously, eyeing the hand.

Patton sighed, shaking his head, "I worried at first that someone from The Dark Side sent you or something, lying is not an instinct people in my kingdom have, but you're a human and… you seem genuinely confused, I won't do anything to you but try and help okay?"

If he was back home and just lost somewhere and some stranger would have said to him the same thing Patton just did, he would have probably smacked his arm away and ran as far away as he could.

But here, now, so tired and hungry and scared, desperate for something familiar or comforting, he found himself clinging to those words.

Wordlessly, he nodded, taking the king's offered hand and letting himself be pulled to his feet by him.

Patton smiled slightly, "I'm really sorry I made you cry but… I promise you can trust me, okay? I want to help you… I know what it's like to be alone and confused."

Every sensible part of him screamed at him to not trust this man who he barely knew and seemed ready to throw him in some dark hole just moments before. But he was just too tired to care, he wanted to eat and pass out on a comfy bed without needing to move for weeks.

He looked Patton in the eyes that seemed brimming with sympathy and kindness, those blue eyes seemed to stare into his very soul taking his walls apart brick by brick and enveloping what's inside in comforting warmth.

He knows that his usual self would have rejected this man, or would have at least played along while still keeping his guard up. But, to his surprise, Janus found that he couldn't.

"I trust you, Patton."

Chapter Text

"Virgil can you- would you please stop- ugh! Stop laughing!" Roman whined, stomping their foot like a little kid that's being made fun of.

Virgil was doubled over with laughter, clutching his belly and desperately trying to catch his breath.

Roman huffed, "I don't understand what's so funny."

"Y-you want…" Virgil started saying between laughs, "to teach me swordfighting ?!"

"Yes! Why is that so-" they were cut off by another laugh from Virgil. They huffed again, "why is that so funny?"

Virgil finally calmed down, wiping some stray tears from his eyes as he caught his breath, "have you met me?"

"Obviously, I invited you here, remember?" Roman said, still annoyed from Virgil's reaction.

"First thing to know about me, mister Flashlight, I'm not a fighter." Virgil explained, folding his arms over his chest as he looked over the fighting ring they were standing in front of.

"Everyone can be a fighter with the right motivation." Roman shrugged, "and, mister Flashlight? That's the best you could come up with, Jack Smelington?"

Ignoring the reference to one of his favorite movies, Virgil shook his head, "thanks but I'm good."

"You wanted to know how I'm so sure of myself, this is how." Roman continued.

Virgil raised an eyebrow, "sword fighting, really?"

"It's more than that." Roman said as they stepped into the ring, snapping his fingers to summon his sword and starting to demonstrate some basic maneuvers with it. "It's about practice, learning how to trust your instincts, and listening to your gut. Sword fighting is more than just fighting, it's an art." Seeming proud of himself, they looked over at Virgil expectantly.

"Nice speech, still no." Virgil said stubbornly.

Roman sighed, "why not? Are you afraid?"

Virgil threw his arms in the air, "yes! Have you not being paying attention? I'm scared all the time, about everything! Which is why, I don't think swinging around a sharp and deadly weapon is going to help me in any way!" He yelled. "I'm not a fighter, I'm not brave and I never will be, okay? I'm just… scared." He looked away, clutching his arms tightly.

Roman laid their sword on the ground and walked to stand in front of Virgil, putting a hand on his shoulder gently. "You're wrong, fear is not a weakness, it's a motivator. It's what spurs us to act more often than not, being brave doesn't mean not being afraid, it means overcoming our fears and not letting them paralyze us. I won't force you, of course, but I do encourage you to think about it. You may not see it, but I know there's a great warrior inside you." They ended their little speech with a smile.

Virgil blushed slightly, "do you have these speeches written in advance or something?" He laughed slightly, trying his best to hide from Roman's intense gaze.

Roman just shook their head with a smile, "I see we're not practicing today, oh well, it has been a long day for you I suppose. Come, I'll show you where you're sleeping tonight."

"Um, we're not practicing, ever." Virgil corrected as he followed Roman.

Roman chuckled, "whatever you say, your Lord Grampiness."

Virgil huffed at the name but didn't say anything in response, Roman was right, this was a long day for him, he needs rest asap.

Roman showed him his guest room, where Virgil will be sleeping for the time being. It was pretty standard, bed with red sheets, bathroom linked to it, a small work desk and a chair.

He was just about to go to the bed and just crush when Roman spoke up, "I can make some comfy pajamas for you if you'd like." They offered.

Virgil hesitated, that did sound appealing but… he still didn't feel comfortable taking off his hoodie.

Roman seemed to read his mind, "maybe just pants? You can keep your hoodie on." 

Virgil nodded, and after another snap of his fingers, Roman handed him a pair of dark purple sweat pants.

"Sleep well, my gloomy friend, if you need anything my room is right down the hall. No worries about waking me up, I don't really need sleep, just find it relaxing." Roman smiled before turning to leave the room, "goodnight!"

"Night." Virgil said quietly as the door closed, leaving him alone… with his thoughts. Quickly changing, he crawled into the bed and fell asleep immediately.

…

Virgil was suddenly pushed off the swing, landing painfully on the harsh ground of the playground and hearing Remus hit the floor beside him. Whimpering in pain, Virgil rolled on his back to see the two older kids that pushed them off the swings.

"Hey!" Remus protested, getting back on his feet quickly and getting ready to charge.

Adrenalin muting his pain, Virgil got up as well to stop Remus. "Re, don't." He pleaded, Remus was about to argue when-

"Leave them alone!" 

They both turned around to see another kid their age, standing straight as if he was looking down at the two, much older kids on the swings, despite being half their size.

The kids snickered, "what are you going to do? Call your mommy?"

The other kid smirked and swung at them with a kick… that they easily avoided. He landed on the ground behind the swings to the sounds of the older kids laughing. They got up and walked away, "stupid kids." They mocked.

Virgil and Remus exchanged looks before running to see if the other kid was okay.

"You alright there, pal?" Remus asked, reaching a hand to help him up.

The kid took it, huffing in annoyance, "they were lucky I went easy on them…"

Remus snorted, "I'm Remus, this lil' shy ball is Virgil." He introduced them, Virgil gave him a tiny glare in response to his description.

The kid smiled, "my name's Janus."

…

"Where's your little friend now, huh?" Derek sneered, pushing Virgil against the lockers, his other two friends trapping him from all directions.

Virgil froze in fear, his limbs refusing to listen to him and move. "I-I um…" he tried to say something but nothing came out.

Derek laughed, closing his right hand into a fist and preparing to swing it at his face. "Coward, can't even stand up for himself without that cocky bastard."

Virgil could do nothing but close his eyes and try to brace himself against the upcoming pain.

But the hit never came.

Tentatively, Virgil opened his eyes, and saw Janus in front of him, stopping Derek's fist just inches from his face with his hand.

"You called?" Janus smirked at Derek who growled in anger.

"This is between me and the coward, you cocky-ass freak." He said angrily.

"Aw, was I not invited to the party?" Janus asked mockingly, "well, sorry to break it to you but you can't really have a party without the main event. I mean myself, in case your slow brain didn't get that."

Derek freed his fist from Janus' grasp and huffed, "whatever, be careful, coward, you're not always going to have your friends around to save you." He threatened and motioned for his friends to follow as he walked away.

…

Virgil looked around, confused. Everything around him was pitch black… this didn't seem like another memory…

He suddenly heard echoes of laughter coming from all directions.

"Coward…"

"Nothing without his friends.."

"Can't stand up for himself…"

He tried to shake his head and banish the echoes but they wouldn't go away. In fact, they seem to be getting louder, quickly becoming screams that yelled at him.

He tried to cover his ears against them but that only made it worse as they were now coming from inside his head.

"No… stop, please…" he whimpered. "Janus… Remus… help…" he felt a hand on his shoulder and then everything was quiet.

He turned around to see Janus smiling at him. He smiled back, relief washing over him, "Janus! You're here, you're okay!"

Janus just shook his head, not saying a word as his hand fell from Virgil's shoulder. Then he started walking away, and the screams were back, getting louder the further away he got.

"No, no… no." Virgil tried moving towards Janus but his legs wouldn't budge. "J-Janus! Come back, please!" He yelled desperately, but Janus vanished into nothing, and the screams were back in full force.

"Coward!"

"Loser!"

"Virgil! Wake up!"

…

Virgil gasped as he was shook awake, blinking rapidly and gasping for breath.

"Are you alright? You were screaming in your sleep…"

It took a long moment for Virgil to catch his breath and remember where he was, looking at the glowing, worried face of Roman. He shook his head at them, "f-fine." He said shakily, still feeling rather disoriented from his nightmare.

"Bad nightmare?" Roman asked, to which Virgil nodded silently. "I don't mean to pry so don't feel obligated to answer but… who's Janus? You were screaming for them in your sleep."

Taking another shaky breath and hugging his knees to his chest, he answered, "he's… one of the friends I'm looking for I… I'm just not used to being away from them I guess… or at least to not knowing where they are…" he explained hesitantly. Saying it out loud, it did sound pretty clingy… was he really that pathetic? He's 14! He should be able to be by himself without freaking out for at least one night!

Roman nodded, "I see, anything I-"

"Teach me how to sword fight." Virgil interrupted sharply.

Roman blinked, "right now? It's the middle of the night I don't-"

"Yes, now, let's go." He got up, still in his hoodie and the pajama pants Roman conjured for him.

"Um… okay I guess." Roman said, still surprised, and started leading the way back to the fighting ring.

…

"You sure you don't want to go back to sleep and do this in the morning?" Roman asked as they handed Virgil a wooden, practice sword.

Virgil bit his lip, considering. But flushes from his nightmare still haunted him and he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep now anyway. And besides, Roman said it'll help him be more confident so it's at least worth a shot, right?

"Well, I'm never really sure of myself but the sleep train is already long gone anyway." He answered.

Roman chuckled, seeming more excited by this as the minutes passed. "Fair enough, shall we begin then?"

Virgil nodded and they stepped onto the center of the ring.

"Now, we're going to start with basic parrying and thrusting. Swing your sword at me." Roman instructed.

Virgil tried for a rather awkward swing that, predictably, Roman parried. "This is how you parry, you watch your opponent's weapon and anticipate its route, then you aim your sword to disrupt that route, got it?" Roman explained.

"I… think so?" He said, though it came out as more of a question.

"Alright! Now let's see you parry me!" Roman said and prepared to swing his practice sword, "ready?"

Virgil gulped, "no!"

With a grin and a chuckle, Roman swung lightly and, without thinking, Virgil parried, blocking the swing. He stared at their joined swords in shock.

"That was perfect!" Roman said proudly, grin wider than ever.

Virgil smiled back, blushing, "I guess… you weren't even trying though…" he mumbled.

Roman patted his back, "of course not, I'm just showing you the basics! But you gotta master the basics before you get to the fighting. And as far as beginners go, you did great! Wanna try that again?"

He was surprised to find that he did want to go again. Despite knowing Roman was going easy on him, he still felt a swell of pride over blocking their thrust successfully. It felt good, natural even.

They tried that a few more times, Roman thrusting and Virgil parrying. Some thrusts he miscalculated and missed, but most of them he was able to block and, by the end of it, he was grinning.

"You're really getting the hang of it! Feels good doesn't it?" Roman smiled at him after another successful parry.

"Yeah." Virgil agreed, panting slightly, "it really does."

"Okay, now let's work on your stance a little more, I see you copied mine from the start and it's pretty good, but there's still room for improvement, here." Roman walked to stand behind him. "A good stance is one that keeps you balanced and rooted to the ground. This is very important, you can be the best at sword fighting but if your stance allows your opponent to push you to the ground, chances are you'll lose." They warned. "Always remember, stance wide," he used his feet to push Virgil's feet further apart, "body lowered." He used light pressure on Virgil's shoulder to push him down slightly.

Roman stepped back, tilting his head as he examined Virgil's stance, like an artist admiring his painting. He gave Virgil an experimental push and smiled with satisfaction when he didn't budge. "Perfect, now, remember your exact position, go back to standing and try to fall back to it, you need to be able to fall into this stance automatically."

Virgil nodded, standing back up and falling back into stance, correcting himself until he got a nod from Roman and standing back up again. This part was more boring than parrying but it was over pretty quickly after Virgil got the hang of it.

"Doing great so far!" Roman encouraged, "need a break or are you ready for the next level?"

Virgil hesitated, "that depends on what the next level is." He said eventually.

"Well we covered parrying and thrusting plus stance, so I think the next step is some light sparring. We each try to lay a hit, nothing too aggressive, not that it'll hurt much anyway with this light wood." Roman said, indicating their practice swords.

"Sparring? Already? …Are you sure?" Virgil asked in surprise.

"Hey, no need to get nervous, it's just me, we'll start slow okay? Though we can keep practicing like we just did if you don't feel ready yet, it's your call." Roman soothed, smiling softly at him.

Virgil swallowed, "no… I want to be able to fight for myself… I just never done this before…" he admitted.

"Well obviously, that's why I'm teaching you." Roman said lightly.

"No, not sword fighting… I mean, fighting in general… standing up for myself I… never really needed to thanks to my friends… but I'm sick of depending on other people, I want to do this." Virgil said, gripping his practice sword tightly.

"Nothing wrong with needing others' help, you know." Roman said, "but okay, as I said, we'll start slow."

Virgil took a breath, closing his eyes for a moment, then opening them again, resuming the stance Roman taught him, "I'm ready… I think…"

Roman smiled, "for now, let's just see you try and land a hit on me, remember that your practice sword won't do much damage no matter how hard your hit is so don't worry about hurting me, okay?" Roman reminded him.

Virgil nodded, raising his wooden sword and taking another breath before swinging it in a wide arc towards Roman's shoulder. It was easily blocked by Roman. He took another breath and tried again, this time thrusting towards their chest, blocked. 

He thrusted again.

Blocked.

And again.

Blocked, easily. Roman even had the nerve to chuckle in amusement at his attempts.

Virgil growled in frustration, "oh come on! Seriously?"

Roman chuckled again, "try and be less predictable about where you plan to score your hit."

He groaned, "what the hell does that even mean? How am I suppose to aim somewhere without aiming there?"

"By not aiming there right away." Roman said, making Virgil even more confused.

"Make your opponent think you're aiming one place, and quickly aim to where you actually want when they try to block." He explained further.

"Sounds complicated…" Virgil sighed.

"Want me to demonstrate?" Roman asked.

"Ah…" Virgil hesitated.

Roman chuckled, "I won't hurt you, promise." They said reassuringly.

Sighing, Virgil nodded, preparing to try and block Roman's thrust. They thrusted, and Virgil aimed towards the predicted end of the thrust, but their swords never touched as Roman changed their thrust in the last second, ending up tapping Virgil lightly on the shoulder with their wooden sword.

Virgil blinked at Roman's quickness and they chuckled at his look of surprise, "I… don't think I'm at that level yet…" he said slowly.

"Giving up so easily? You didn't even try!" Roman said, looking at him encouragingly.

Virgil then yawned suddenly, feeling his lack of sleep and the few hours of training beginning to take their toll on him, "I think that's enough for tonight… Getting tired…" he rubbed his eye with another yawn.

Roman looked disappointed but nodded, "fair enough, feel free to use the shower connected to the guest room, I'll wake you up in the morning and we can start looking for your friends then-" they were cut off by a sudden, frantic knock at the door.

They frowned and went to answer it.

"What? Are you sure? Ah huh, yeah of course, I understand, thank you."

They came back after a few minutes, looking very concerned.

"Who was that?" Virgil asked, feeling his overthinking brain begin to work as Roman didn't say anything. They just summoned their sword and seemed to be headed back towards the door. "Roman? Where are you going? What's going on?"

Another flash of light, and they were back in their armor.

Frustrated by Roman ignoring him, he stomped forward to stand in front of them, "hello? Remember me? What's happening? You're freaking me out!"

Roman blinked, as if suddenly remembering Virgil's existence. "Sorry, human, but you'll need to stay here for this, for your safety." They said, easily walking around Virgil and opening the door.

Utterly confused by the sudden change in the man, Virgil jogged to catch up with them, "what do you mean by 'this'? What's going on? At least tell me!" Virgil was getting frantic now, what Roman said was freaking him out!

Roman turned around, looking at Virgil with the most serious look Virgil has ever seen on their usually smiling face. "Invaders from The Dark Side. Stay. Here. I mean it." They said warringly and stepped outside, locking the door behind them.

Chapter Text

"You know, this place gets even creepier the second time." Remus said as the gates closed behind him and Logan.

"Given the little I know about you, I thought you'd like creepy." Logan said in response.

"I liked it here at first but… I don't know, gets old kinda fast I guess, now it's just straight up depressing." Remus shrugged, walking beside the nerd.

"Well, as I said, nothing is stopping you from going back." 

Remus huffed, "nice try, can't get rid of me that easily." He grinned.

"I wasn't trying to- oh… you're teasing me again, aren't you?" Logan shook his head.

Remus cackled, "mayyyybe…" 

Logan huffed, as if annoyed, but he was smiling which kinda took away from that effect. "Oh well, guess I am indeed stuck with you for a while, a shame."

Remus gasped, "Logan Nerdio the first! Was that sarcasm?!" 

Logan laughed, "perhaps.."

Remus then noticed they were just next to the long line of monsters hoping to get past the gates, and he suddenly locked eyes with one of them.

Remus froze. The creature had big, black eyes and its entire body seemed to be made purely out of gray slime that leaked endlessly at the sides of its figure. It blinked at Remus for a moment, before sliding away from the line and towards them.

"Ah… Logan…" he barely had time to warn the nerd before the creature was before them.

"You came through." It said, in an oddly squeaky voice for a rather dark and monstrous figure.

Remus was terrified of it but Logan seemed purely fascinated by it. "Remarkable!" He pulled out his notebook again, "what are you?"

"You can open the gates." It said again, ignoring Logan, looking directly at Remus.

"I guess…" he hesitated, nudging Logan in the ribs, "I think we should run…" he whispered in his ear.

Logan looked at him in confusion, seemingly not comprehending the potential danger.

"Hey!" The creatures' voice suddenly boomed in the air, catching the attention of all the horrifying monsters in line. "These two can open the gates!"

Well fuck…

In a split second, an endless amount of every horrifying creature the human mind ever imagined was racing towards them.

"...yeah running might be a good idea-" Logan started to say when he suddenly noticed he was stuck. The slime creature glued his legs to the ground.

"Logan! We gotta go!" Remus shouted frantically, the horde of monsters getting ever closer.

"I can't move! Go! I'll be okay, I can't die. But you have to get to safety, I'll find you later, I promise." Logan explained quickly.

"What? But-" he started to protest.

"Go!" Logan cut him off.

Shaking his head with tears, Remus started to run, "I'll come back for you!" He shouted as he ran for his life.

He reached the dead forest after a while and hid behind a tree to catch his breath. Damnit why does he keep losing friends?!

He stood there for a while, trying to sort through what just happened. It happened so fast. One moment they were laughing and bantering and the next all the monsters on this side were after them. He really underestimated how dangerous this place can be…

Okay Remus, think, how are you going to save Logan?

He racked his brain but nothing came to mind. Ugh, where's Janus and his clever plans when you need them? 

He looked back towards the gates to try and see what's going on, but he was too far away and all he saw was the huge knot of monsters by the gates. Logan must be somewhere in there… shit, what are they doing to him?

He needs to get a closer look, but how the hell is he supposed to do that without getting killed by these creatures?

As he watched, the gates suddenly opened and the creatures were beginning to swarm into the other place ah… what did Logan call it? The Light Side.

Fuck, fuck, this is bad. Like, really really bad. End-Of-The-World kind of bad. What the fuck is a middle-schooler like him supposed to do?

He closed his eyes, trying hard to think. But he was never good at planning, not even on normal conditions, and this is the exact opposite of normal! It's completely nuts!

In his panic, he didn't notice anyone getting close, until he felt a hand on his shoulder and jumped right out of his skin. Instinctively, he aimed a punch at the stranger but it was quickly stopped… by a human, glowing hand.

He looked up in shock, "Logan?! H-how- what-" he stammered, then frowned and jabbed his elbow unto his ribs, "idiot! You scared me into a complete panic mode!"

Logan had the absolute nerve to chuckle, "I apologize, I was stuck for a while but after they made me open the gates I was able to escape, they weren't paying much attention to me after that."

Remus grumbled, "you're weirdly calm about this, how are we supposed to stop them? You got a plan, Mega Nerd?"

Logan tilted his head, seeming confused, "why would we want to stop them?"

Remus stared at him in shock, "what?!"

Logan let out a breath, "okay so, I was scared at first too, when they forced my hand into the wall to open the gates, I thought that surely nothing good will come out of this… but.." he trailed off, biting his lip.

"But what? We don't have time, Lo!" Remus said impatiently.

"But… the moment the first creature stepped into The Light Side I… I can't really explain it but… it felt right ." Logan explains, clutching a hand over his heart, "and I can't shake this feeling off… so maybe it's not bad for them to go through the gates, maybe there shouldn't be gates at all!"

Remus kept staring at the glowing human. The most reasonable and logical person Remus ever came to know… and he was talking about putting lots of people in danger based on a feeling ! 

"Seriously? That's it? A feeling ? You want to put your side in danger for the sake of a feeling ?!" Remus yelled.

Logan sighed, "it's different for me. You see, as Curiosity, I know the inner workings of this plane and all its inhabitants, the ones I could study at least, and for a very long time now… I got the sense that something here isn't working right. I looked everywhere and studied everything I could on my side to figure out what was wrong, but couldn't find anything.

"That's when I started sneaking off to this side, I thought that the answer must be here, it's the only place I haven't looked into yet. True, I may have gotten… distracted by studying the creatures here but, my point is, now I finally know the answer!" Logan finished with an excited grin, "it all makes sense now!"

Remus was utterly lost, Logan was talking so fast he barely catched one full sentence, "what makes sense? What does it have anything to do with-"

Logan then grabbed him by the elbow and started dashing towards the gates, "no time to explain, we have to make sure Roman and his guards won't stop them from getting through."

He lost his marbles…

Remus stopped running with Logan, making him stop as well as he was still holding his arm, "what. The. Actual. Fuck , is wrong with you? You actually want to-"

"Remus." Logan cut him off, tone somehow firm and pleading at the same time, "please, I need you to trust me on this. Listen to me when I say, this is for the best, this is right ." He insisted, looking Remus straight in the eyes.

Listen…

Listen to me…

They never listen…

Remus sighed, "can't believe I'm actually doing this… fine, let's go help horror monsters invade paradise…" he grumbled.

Logan took his hand, a single tear running down his cheek, "thank you, Remus… I don't think you grasp how much this means to me." 

Remus flushed, "ah… you're welcome?"

Logan chuckled, "come on, we need to hurry, Roman and his guards are probably already here, we have to stop them." He said and started running again, Remus at his heels.

…

They arrived to absolute chaos.

Normally, Remus would thrive on that, would be the one who started it… you can argue that he did this time too.

But in this case, it was a whole other level.

Centaurs and monsters were fighting left and right, howls of pain and splashes of all kinds of different colored liquids - Remus assumed it to be imaginary blood - were all over the ground. It was a battlefield.

Swallowing hard against all the violence, he turned to Logan, who was inspecting the scene critically. "How do we stop the guards from attacking?" He asked, hoping the nerd had a plan before rushing in here.

" We don't," he started, "we need to find Roman and convince them to stand down, they're the leader, the guards will follow their orders." He explained.

Remus looked at the horrific scene again, "...and how the hell are we supposed to find him in all of this?"

Logan smiled a bit, shaking his head, "trust me, the finding is the least difficult of our tasks. They have… how do I put it? A flare for the dramatics." He said with a chuckle.

Before Remus could ask what that meant he saw an armored man with glowing skin walking forward, raising their huge sword.

"Faul beasts! You dare try and invade our home? We shall exile you once more to the dark hole you crawled out of! We do not fear you!" And, with a battle cry, they charged, striking down the first monster that came their way with one, single thrust.

"...I see what you mean." Remus said, stunned by the display.

Logan ran over to them and Remus followed. "Roman! You need to stop this fighting." Logan said loudly in order to be heard over all the noise.

Roman froze in place, before a big grin stretched his face, "Lo! Oh my lord you're okay! We were worried sick about you, Specs!" They seathed their sword and squished Logan in a tight bear hug.

"Happy to see you too, but listen-" Logan started as soon as they released him.

"Not now, Logan, I'll clean this mess and we can talk later." Roman cut him off, pulling their sword out again.

"No, wait, you don't understand-"

" Later , get to safety." Roman insisted.

Logan huffs in annoyance, "just listen for once!" He yells, making Roman freeze again. "You need to let them through." He finally said, looking at Roman's face carefully to see their reaction.

They suddenly burst into laughter, "oh my! You've gotten better at humor, dear brother. But this is serious stuff, get somewhere safe okay?" And they started to walk away.

Growling in annoyance, Logan stood in front of them to block their way, "I am serious Roman! We were wrong to keep these two sides apart! They need each other in order to be complete! Please understand!" He yelled desperately.

Roman's expression darkens, "this isn't funny anymore, Logan. For the last time, do as I say and get to safety while I sort this out." They said slowly and threateningly.

Logan's gaze hardened, "no."

"What?! No? Logan! It's dangerous here!" Roman responded in shock.

Logan clenched his hands into fists, "this isn't right , I won't let you do this! If you refuse to listen… then I'll make you." 

"Don't be ridiculous, Logan, you've never been much of a fighter. Let's just talk about this later okay? We're all on the same side here!" Roman said desperately, seeming confused from Logan's sudden aggressiveness.

Logan allowed himself a little smile, and Remus recognized it as Logan having thought of a plan.

"I don't need to fight you, Roman. You forget, I'm the one who knows the gates' inner workings best… you think you and your guards could handle all of the other side at once? I think not." Logan said seriously.

Roman stared in shock and fear, "y-you wouldn't…"

"I will unless you and your army stand down." Logan continued.

Roman looked at Logan helplessly, "you know I can't do that… it's too dangerous, Patton always says-"

Logan sighs, "then you leave me no choice. I'm sorry, Roman, but this is for the best, I promise." And with that, he turns away, and starts walking back towards the gates, "come on, Remus, I could use your help with this."

Remus was unusually quiet this entire time, focusing on not being killed in this crazy battlefield as he listened to the brothers fighting with each other. He started following Logan, when he was suddenly stopped. He turned around to see Roman grabbing his arm.

"Who might you be?" They looked him over carefully, "are you one of the humans that found their way here?"

Remus swallowed, "ah… yeah? How did you know?"

"Well I- watch out!" They suddenly lunged to stand in front of him and deflected a blow from a monster, "saints I hate these things… you okay?" they turned their head to look him over.

Remus nodded, "fine, thanks. What were you going to say?" He asked hopefully, could it be that they saw Virgil or Janus?

Roman smiled, "I'll tell you later, unlike anyone here, you can get killed, I'd rather that won't happen. Find a place to hide okay?" They said before taking off after Logan.

Remus stood there, unsure if he should go help Logan or find safety like Roman said.

A narrowly missed blow from a guard's spear convinced him to find a place to hide, Logan will be fine, he needs to stay alive.

He started running, looking for a safe place to hide or just to get as far away from the battle as he could.

After a while, though, he tripped and fell painfully on his face, grunting in pain. He was about to try and get up when he heard something approaching.

Panicking, he scrambled to get to his feet but he was too late as he heard an animalistic roar and felt an impact incoming. He covered his face instinctively in anticipation.

But then he heard a clunk of a metal and a growl of pain from the beast.

He finally managed to get to his feet and stared at the scene in front of him. A figure with golden armor and a fencing sword stood with its back to him, fighting a creature that seemed to be just a weird, random assembly of different limbs and body parts.

As Remus watched, the figure landed one, final slash at the monster and it faded from existence.

He frowned, didn't Roman say nothing can die here?

Before he had time to think about this more, the figure turned to face him, and he couldn't help the huge grin that tagged on his lips as he rashed forward and tackled him to the ground.

"Janus! Holy shit! It's you! It's really you! I actually managed to find you! Well, you found me, but still! I can't believe it! I-"

"Remus…" Janus choked under his weight, "breathe…"

Remus quickly got off of him, "whoops, got over excited there." He chuckled as Janus got to his feet again.

"Pro tip, don't tackle the guy with the very sharp sword." Janus said with a smirk as he dusted himself off.

Remus laughed, "what are you doing here? And where did you get that armor and sword? And how did you find me? And-"

Janus chuckled, "I'll tell you everything, but there's something I need your help with first, it's the reason I got sent here." He explained.

Remus frowned, "sent here? …by who?" He noted Janus' fancy looking armor and fencing sword that doesn't seem to be easy to come by…

"King Patton, I woke up in his castle and I made a deal with him so he'll help us get home! Isn't that great?" Janus said excitedly.

Remus grinned, "wow really? That's awesome Janny!" He matched Janus' excitement, "but… what kind of deal did you make?"

Janus waved his hand dismissively, "nothing serious, he and his brother have had some… arguments and I said I could help convince his brother to agree with him, child's play. I do it all the time in school." Janus smirked, "I just need your help in finding him in all this chaos." 

Remus frowned, it's true that Janus can be pretty convincing, but why would king Patton want to settle his personal fights with a third party? … and when he's not even present himself?

Janus' smile vanished when he saw Remus was not excited anymore, "what's wrong?"

Remus hesitated, "I just… I don't know, this smells kind of funny, isn't it?"

Janus wrinkled his nose, "yeah, those monsters could use a lesson or two about showers." 

"No, I mean… a king sending some stranger he just met to 'convince' his own brother or whatever? Doesn't that sound weird to you?" Remus said carefully.

Janus looked down, "oh… I see. We've been apart for too long and now you don't trust me anymore…" he sighed, "I get it, it has been a while…"

Remus' eyes widened, "what? No! I… of course I trust you! It's the king I don't trust…" he said frantically.

"But I trust him, and you said you trust me… so just help me do this for us, okay?" Janus met his eyes.

Remus bit his lip, hesitating. Then let out a breath slowly, nodding, "okay… which brother are we looking for?"

"Names' Logan, wears glasses… carries a notebook around, have you seen someone like that here?" Janus said, looking around the battlefield.

"I think so… you're just gonna talk to him, right?" Remus asked, eyeing Janus' sharp sword.

Janus nodded, putting a hand over his heart, "I promise."

After another moment of hesitation, Remus started going back to where he just came from, "follow me."

…

"Logan! Please… let's just talk about this, okay?"

They arrived at Roman pointing his sword at Logan with a shaking hand, Logan standing with his hand hovering over the gates, looking him straight in the eyes.

"Oh, now you want to talk!" Logan said angrily, "up until now, every time I tried telling you or Patton that something was wrong, you just dismissed it! Why can't you just trust me when I say that this is what's going to fix everything?" 

"Because there's nothing to fix! Everything's fine." Roman countered.

"What? Of course there-" Logan stopped himself, studying Roman's face, "...he didn't tell you, did he?"

Roman frowned, opening his mouth to say something, but that's when Janus decided to step in. He approached Roman and said something in his ear that made him step aside. Then, he raised his fencing sword towards Logan.

"I think… you need to learn to shut your mouth, Logan ." Janus hissed at the man.

Logan frowned, "and who are you ?"

"Not important, your brother sent me, you've been causing a lot of trouble lately." Janus said, making Logan huff.

"I'm the only one doing anything around here. And would you put that sword away? You know I can't die, I'm-"

"I know, I know, you're not real." Janus cut him off and sheathed his sword. "Look, Logan, I'm trying to help you here. Patton is… on edge, with you. You've been spending so much time with them ," he gestured to the various monsters around them, "that he begins to question where your loyalty truly lies. All you have to do to earn his trust again is nothing! Just let things stay the way they were, simple right?" 

Remus already knew what Logan was going to say before he even said it.

Logan sighed, shaking his head, "I can't do that, things can't stay that way."

Janus shook his head, "fine, I tried it the easy way, you leave me no choice."

Remus didn't like that tone at all, he approached Janus and tapped his shoulder to catch his attention. "Janus, what are you doing? You promised you wouldn't-"

"Remus, trust me, I know what I'm doing, now back off." Janus hissed and Remus withdrew his hand as if he's been burned. Looking down at the ground in defeat.

"Now, remember that you brought this on yourself." Janus turned his attention back to Logan, bringing his fingers to his lips and letting out a shrill whistle.

In an instant, more guards swarmed around them… all pointing their spears towards Logan.

"Logan of the three, I hereby arrest you by the order of king Patton!"

…

Remus and Logan both froze in shock.

"What?!" Remus shrieked, staring at his friend in disbelief, "Janus! What the hell are you-"

"Remus," Janus hissed, "I'm doing this for us, so for once in your life, shut your mouth and let me handle this."

"But-"

A piercing glare from Janus made him clamp his mouth shut and look down at his feet again.

Logan witnessed the two 'friends' talking and felt a painful pinch in his heart at the look of shame and helplessness in Remus' eyes. This was one of his friends that he was so worried about finding? He didn't seem to treat Remus in a very friendly manner…

"Good, now let's get a move on, the smell of these creatures is making me sick." Janus said, wrinkling his nose before he turned around and gestured for the guards to follow.

Remus fidgeted where he stood, he had to do something! He can't just let them lock Logan somewhere!

Something on the floor caught his eye… it looked like a morningstar, someone must have dropped it during the fighting.

"You heard him, traitor, start walking!" One of the guards nudged Logan with their own spear.

Remus felt anger burning in his chest and, before he knew it, the morningstar was in his hand and he used it to smash the guards' spear, "he's not going anywhere."

Everyone was staring at him now. He heard a sigh and turned to see Janus shaking his head, "Remus… what are you doing?" He asked in a tone that said, quite being stupid.

"You can't arrest him! He's trying to fix this messed up place!" Remus said in response.

"I don't care! And you shouldn't either! This place is not even real! But we are, and we have a life to get back to. So stop being so difficult about this!" Janus said in frustration.

Remus met Logan's eyes and he gave him a tiny smile of encouragement, Remus grinned back and turned to look at Janus again. "I won't let you take him… I'm sorry."

The guards started moving towards him but Janus stopped them with a hand gesture, "I'll deal with him, make sure these… monsters are not bothering us." He ordered and they formed a ring around them.

Remus, raised the morningstar shakily.

"Oh would you put that thing away, you're embarrassing yourself." Janus said and, seeing that Janus still hadn't drawn his sword, Remus lowered the weapon.

"I know why you're doing this." Janus said, his tone suddenly became soft.

"You do?" Remus asked in surprise.

Janus nodded, "you're scared, you don't want to go back home. I get it, bullies at school, strict parents… it's a lot. And now you finally found an escape from it all and you're not ready to leave it." Janus smiled at him, "but it's okay! You'll still have us! Me and Virgil, and we'll help each other like we always did. It'll be okay, nothing has to change as long as we stick together." 

Stick together…

We're moving for your dad's job…

Tears welled up in Remus' eyes, he didn't have time to think about it up until now but… when and if they go back… he'll still have to move away from the only friends he knew.

"Remus? What's wrong? Is there something I don't know about?" Janus said, voice laced with worry.

"Remus." Logan's voice caught his attention and they met eyes again, "whatever's waiting for you when you go back… I have no doubt you'll be more than capable of handling it, you're the strongest person I ever met, don't forget that." He smiled at him again.

Remus didn't know what to say, he just looked into Logan's deep, blue eyes, hoping his own conveyed his gratitude for the man's words.

"Remus?" Janus asked again.

"Not like this… we'll find another way home, Jan, I know it." Remus smiled at his friend.

But Janus growled in response, "he's just some imaginary manifestation, Remus! He doesn't matter !"

You're the strongest person I ever met…

Remus gripped the handle of the morningstar tightly until his knuckles turned white, "he's not just that.. " he lifted the weapon at the same time Janus drew his sword, "he's my friend!" He swung and Janus blocked gracefully, a metallic sound echoing from their weapons clushing. 

"Your friend?! You've only known him for, what? A few days?" Janus growled, glaring at Remus, "haven't everything I did since we knew each other was to protect and help you and Virgil? What do you think I'm trying to do now?"

They both drew back, looking into each others' eyes. Remus shook his head at Janus, "this isn't the way… what if fixing this place is the reason we got here in the first place? Maybe that'll get us home."

"You don't know that-"

"And you don't know if the king is telling the truth! So why is my way always wrong and yours is always right? Why do you never listen to us? Why do you have to be in control of every little thing?!" Remus yelled, thrusting his morningstar again in anger.

With wide eyes, Janus barely blocked the blow, suddenly looking scared. "I…" he trailed off, swallowing hard and looking around at all the guards watching the scene, "I do listen to you…" he said weakly.

Remus sighed, shaking his head as they drew their weapons back again, "you don't… you never have."

"But… I was just trying to help… you know that, what's… What's gotten into you, Re? I'm your best friend, I know you." Janus was shaking his head violently, "this isn't right, this isn't you !" 

He slashed his sword at Remus so suddenly that he narrowly got out of the way, earning himself a shallow scratch on the cheek from the sharp tip.

Remus felt a sharp pain and warm blood trickling from the wound and he froze in shock, staring at Janus, his supposed friend .

Janus was shocked too when he saw the blood on Remus' face, dropping his sword and bringing his hands to his mouth, tears welling in his eyes.

Suddenly, there was a deep rumble and they both turned to see the gates starting to crumble, Logan stepping away from them and running to catch Remus' hand.

"This is our chance, we have to run now !" Logan yelled over the noise of the gates falling down in chunks. But Remus was still clutching his cheek in shock with the hand that wasn't gripping his weapon in a white-knuckled grip. So Logan started dragging him away towards what used to be The Dark Side, but is now no longer separated from The Light Side, making the Imagination as one. At long last.

Remus got a glimpse of Janus' face, confused and scared and shocked, before he turned away and started pulling his own weight and running with Logan.

There was no looking back for them now, they are officially wanted criminals of this kingdom.

Chapter Text

Virgil was pacing in the strange Knight's house, mind racing with endless scenarios and heart thumping in his chest. He's counting repeatedly, trying to keep his breathing in check but that was harder than it ever was for him.

He doesn't know what's going on out there, if Roman is okay, if his friends are okay and where they are even. The way Roman rushed out in a panic had him on edge.

He considered finding a way out of this house and go and find out himself, but he'll probably get lost or get hurt in the fighting even if he does find his way there… there's nothing he could do but wait… and it's driving him crazy !

Time loses its hold on him as he sinks further and further into his panicked pacing and fidgeting and he jumps practically out of his skin when the lock is turned and the door swings open, Roman stumbling inside and nearly collapsing on the floor.

They look terrible, scratches and mud on their golden armor, cape torn in vicious slices, bruises all over their body and face.

Virgil shakes himself out of his stupor and rushes to help them.

"Roman! Holy shit! What happened?!"

They groan as Virgil helps them lay down on the nearest couch, catching their breath, "it's okay… I'll heal in a minute. I just need to… relax" they said between breaths.

"That's not what I asked." Virgil pointed out.

Roman closed their eyes, as if afraid of what they're about to say, "the gates are gone…" they said weakly.

Virgil's heart-rate immediately went from 100 to 400 in under a second.

" What?!" He yelled, not wanting to believe it, "what does it mean? What's going to happen now? Are we doomed ?!"

Roman winced, "I… I don't know…"

"Not helping!" Virgil screamed, trying hard to breathe but his throat seemed to be clamped shut and he couldn't get enough air to his lungs.

"Okay, okay, things will be okay." Roman said quickly when he noticed Virgil's panicked breathing, "we-we've dealt with this before, when we didn't have gates. My guards and me just need time to regroup and we'll force these creatures out in no time!" Roman said, sounding as though they're trying to convince themselves more than Virgil.

But they sounded confident enough for Virgil to relax a tad and be able to breathe normally. "I-I guess… how did it even happen?" He asked instead.

"Logan destroyed them somehow… I'm not sure how but he's the one who was in charge of their construction so it makes sense he knows how to reverse it…" Roman said, mumbling a little to himself.

"Wow, back up. Logan? Your brother? Aren't you all on the same side? Why the hell would he-"

Roman sighed, "I don't know… I finally find him after weeks of him being missing and he starts acting… weird, talking about 'fixing' stuff and refusing to let me clean up the mess, saying I should just… let them go like it's nothing! I mean, can you believe it? I'm right there and he's siding with the monsters ! Patton's right, he is spending too much time with them, trying to study them like they're some harmless lab rats…" Roman started ranting.

"You said he wanted to fix something? What's there to fix? Isn't this a literal paradise of all the good and nice creations?" Virgil asked, confused.

"That's what I said! But then he said…" Roman trailed off, "h-he said…" they swallowed, "did he mean Patton? N-no… that's impossible… he won't lie to me! He hates lying! Logan doesn't know what he's saying! He completely lost it!" They were talking to themselves now.

"Ah… should I… give you privacy with… yourself?" Virgil asked hesitantly.

Roman stopped, "sorry… just that Logan said something weird before I was ordered to step away… he said, 'he didn't tell you, did he?', And… I don't know what he meant or who he meant…" they explained.

Okay… this was officially too much information in one go for Virgil to process properly and he sat down on the couch's armrest next to where Roman was lying and catching their breath.

"So… Logan, your brother… is a criminal basically?" Virgil asked after a while.

Roman didn't look happy with that phrasing, "I… guess… but I know him, he doesn't just do stuff for the heck of it… there's a thought and reason behind his almost every move I… there has to be a reason to all of this."

Virgil frowned, not knowing Roman nor Logan enough to have a comment on the matter. So he decided to focus on the one crucial thing he needed to know most to finally calm down, "so what do we do now?"

Roman thought about this for a long moment before their face became determined, "now… I'm going to have a chat with the king." They said decidedly.

…

"You sure you saw them? Both of them?" Virgil asked for what he was sure was the millionth time, but he had to be certain. After all this time of worrying and wondering about their whereabouts… Roman saw his friends, both Remus and Janus. He even said Janus is working for Patton, the king himself, so he must be safe.

Unfortunately… that meant Virgil now gas to accompany Roman all the way to the castle, which could have been nice - and much less terrifying - when the gates were still… you know, existing.

Now , however, not even Roman, who said they walked that path many many times before, doesn't know who or what they might encounter on the way.

It was all very relaxing for Virgil as you can probably tell… pacing around and fidgeting with his hoodie is totally something a relaxed person would do… that's why he was doing it! Because he was sooo relaxed and-

"Virgil… hey, we'll be okay." Roman said, "you have me," they reminded him, then smiled proudly, "and your sword training." They winked.

Virgil huffed, "right, one night of training and I'm suddenly a master huh?"

But Roman shrugged that argument off, "there's only so much you can learn only in the ring anyway, a large part of fighting and learning how to swordfight is being in real life-death situations and training your battle instincts." 

Virgil's eyes widened in fear at Roman's words… life or death situations?!

"I mean… not that we'll even come close to these situations…" Roman chuckled nervously when they noticed their poor choice of words frightened Virgil further, "we'll be totally fine and safe." They smiled, a smile so strained that you could barely call it that.

They're scared too…

Virgil realized. So they're both in the same boat for once, both not knowing what to expect of this journey. There was something comforting about it.

They geared up, Roman conjuring light armor and a sword for Virgil, who felt kinda nervous about holding a real sword for the first time, but he also didn't want to go out there without a weapon so he didn't argue.

At last, they were both ready and stood in front of the door.

"You ready?" Roman, who was now fully healed and looked refreshed, asked him.

"As I'll ever be, I guess…" Virgil answered, gripping the hilt of his new sword tightly.

They nodded at him and, together, they stepped outside and into the unknown, the door to the house locking behind them.

I'm on my way, Janus .

Chapter Text

"Remus?"

Despite the shallow cut on his cheek already closed, Remus could still feel it, burning and stinging. He could feel it as if it was as fresh as it was when he got it, that painful moment engraved in his memory.

His mind was still reeling from it all. Sure, he was prepared to squabble with Janus a little before he managed to calm him down but… he didn't expect him to… to actually… 

"Remus!" 

Remus was startled out of his thoughts and he blinked, taking in his surroundings for the first time since the fight.

They were back in, what at least used to be, The Dark Side of the Imagination. Though it seemed a bit… different. The smell of rot wasn't as thick and some color and life seems to be returning to parts of the ground and plants, faded colors, but still more than they had before.

Logan was looking at him with concern, "apologies but you didn't seem to hear me." He said softly, "are you alright?"

Remus wanted to laugh, he wanted to cry, he wanted everything to go back to the way it was! He wanted… he wanted those stupid , dark thoughts to leave him alone and stop making him feel as though their entire friendship has been a big, fat lie this whole time!

He wanted- no, needed everything to just stop !

"N-never been better…" he said shakily, hugging himself tightly as they walked.

With a sigh, Logan stopped in place and Remus followed suit, "I'm… not much of an expert when it comes to human relationships but, are you sure that Janus kid is your friend?" Logan asked, seeming to search something in Remus' eyes.

Remus closed his eyes tightly, trying to prevent himself from crying, "...I thought he was…" he whispered quietly. "I don't know what to think anymore…"

There was a long moment of silence between them that seemed to last forever.

"...do you think I'm your friend?"

The question was sudden and Logan said it so quietly that Remus would have missed it if they weren't standing so close.

Remus blinked in surprise, he said as much during the fight, didn't he? 

But you also said that about Janus…

The doubts creeped into his mind and suddenly he didn't know how to answer. He wanted to say yes, Logan was the first person he met who truly seemed to hear him out. But what if Remus was fooling himself again? What if he was clinging to another person only because he doesn't have anyone else again?

"I…" he started, swallowing as he met Logan's hopeful gaze. "I'm starting to think that… I don't really know what friendship is…" he blurted hesitantly.

To his surprise, Logan smiled slightly at that, "oh, good, I have yet to understand the concept as well. We could research it together, if you'd like."

Remus snorted before it turned into a full on, desperate laugh, letting the whole storm of his emotions out. It lasted forever, making Remus' stomach hurt, but he couldn't stop.

"Y-you could just say you want us to be friends!" He said when he finally started to calm down, "you don't have to be all science-y about it!" He shook his head. He was still pretty upset about everything but… there are worse people he could have been stuck with than this adorable mega-nerd.

Logan looked confused by Remus' behavior, which was pretty normal for him, "I thought that's what I said, was it not clear?" He tilted his head slightly.

Remus patted his back teasingly, "whatever, nerd, let's just keep moving, we're criminals on the run now thanks to you, remember?"

Logan huffed at that, "we're not 'criminals', we did nothing wrong." He protested, but kept moving like Remus suggested.

"Well… your siblings seemed to disagree on that so… yeah, criminals on the run, kind of exciting if you ask me." Remus grinned, nudging Logan slightly as they walked.

Now that Remus finally looks around and not being stuck in his own head, he realizes that all the creatures that used to roam this side are gone… it was just him and Logan… 

They're probably all on what used to be the other side, The Light Side. They were all trying to get across for so long…

"...they're not really dangerous, Remus, I know it." Logan said, as if reading his thoughts, "I won't deny that they can be a bit aggressive, but I suspect that being set apart from the rest for so long only made them more violent and mindless. Now that the barrier's gone, they should be back to normal." Logan said, sounding like he was talking to himself more than to Remus.

Remus shrugged, "yeah, sure, whatever you say." Because he really didn't think of anything else to say to that.

Logan sighed, "hopefully Patton and Roman would realize it too… in time." He looked back for a second, then shook his head and turned his head forward again, "until then, we need to lay low."

Remus hesitated for a second before asking, "you ah… you doing okay there, buddy?"

Logan glanced at him, "of course, I'm always okay, I always… I always know what to do." He swallowed, "l-lets just keep moving." His voice broke a little but Remus decided not to push it.

"Eh, knowing what to do is overrated, I just go with the flow." Remus said with a grin as they walked on. He could have imagined it but he spotted Logan's shoulders slacking a little, a bit of tension leaving him.

"Heh, maybe I should try that too-" Logan started saying but cut himself off with a yelp as he suddenly tripped on something and Remus thought he heard a squeaky cry of pain that definitely didn't come from Logan.

Remus giggled as he reached a hand for him, "you're so smart and yet you don't watch where you're going." He tatted with a smirk.

With a huff, Logan took his hand and let him help him to his feet, "I was looking, something… appeared…" he looked down at the ground, seemingly searching for something.

"No need to be embarrassed, nerd, it's honestly kinda… cute…" Remus started saying but trailed off when he saw what Logan was looking at.

It was a small creature, only a little larger than Remus' palm. It had a shell on its back with swirling, almost hypnotizing, patterns and its body seemed to be made of pure darkness and shadows, save for the beady red eyes that glowed brightly on its face.

"Ouch.." it groaned in a squeaky voice and Remus and Logan exchanged glances. It looked up at them and then around at the place, seemingly confused, "where… Am I? W-what…" it mumbled.

Logan gasped softly, "you're new… a new, fresh, creation! Oh this is so exciting!" He immediately took out his nerdy notebook and began to furiously write and sketch in it.

"It's so… Cute!" Remus grinned, crouching down to be at an eye-level, "what are you?"

The creature shied back from Remus' gaze, "I… I think I'm a… shadow demon?" It said hesitantly.

Remus' grin widened, "awesome! Hey, nerdio, are there more like this cutie? I want one as a pet!"

"Hmm?" Logan hummed as he looked up from his notebook, "no, I've never seen anything like it… but I have seen new creations before on this side… and they never behaved this way! Remus! Do you know what this means?" He said as his eyes lit up with realization.

"That… shadow demons are… better?" Remus guessed.

"No!" Logan said excitedly, grabbing Remus' shoulders, "it means I was right ! The 'dark' creations were only acting this way because of the gates! Now that they're gone, everything's fixed!" He explained giddly, glasses bouncing on his face as he shook Remus.

Remus opened his mouth to say something but Logan beat him to it, "we need to get this demon to Patton, now ! Let's go!" He went to grab the little demon but it scrambled away in fear.

Remus laughed slightly at Logan's confusion, putting a hand on his back, "calm down, Professor Nerd, It just came into existence, It's scared."

"And besides," Remus continued, winking at the small demon before turning back to Logan, "I don't think going to him is a good idea, I should know, I'm an expert at bad ideas, practically invented the term." Remus said proudly.

Logan frowned, "you're… what? Ten years old? I doubt that's true… but you do have a point…"

Remus made an offended sound, "ten? You think I'm ten ?! Excuse you, I'm thirteen, practically a teenager, not some 10yo baby!" He protested, throwing his hands around for emphasis.

Logan put his hands up non-threateningly with a light chuckle, "right, sorry, 13 then, I still doubt you invented the term 'bad ideas'. But we have to show this to Patton, this is proof that all three of us have been wrong about everything! We can start changing things around here." Logan said, his excitement back.

Remus bit his lip in hestation, "Logan… Patton ordered your arrest … Do you really think we should be running back to him with our hands up and ready to put in shuckles?" He asked, as gently as he could.

Logan looked at him for a moment, then let out a sigh, "you're right… What am I thinking? He never listened to me before, why would a single demon change that?" All of his excitement left him and he slid to the ground beside Remus and the shadow demon. "I lied, earlier… I have no idea about what to do, I'm used to always knowing, but now… that knowledge eludes me, and I'm…" Logan trailed off with a sob, curling in on himself.

"Helpless." Remus completed for him in a quiet voice, making Logan look up at him, "you feel helpless and scared."

Silent tears streamed down Logan's face as he nodded, "h-how did you…"

"Because I am too… have been from the morning of the day my parents told me that…" he trailed off with a sigh, "that we were moving, that I'm about to lose everything I know… that I'll be living far away from the only people who seemed to accept me for who I am! That nothing will be the same anymore!" Remus pulled at his hair as he finally let out those feelings he's been bottling up since that morning. 

"I've been scared ever since… After they told me that, I tried going to my dad to maybe talk him out of the whole deal, but I ended up overhearing his phone call about his work. He said some stuff about going to other worlds or other dimensions… I wasn't thinking! I didn't mean for any of this to happen I just… was scared of being alone…" Remus trailed off with a sob of his own, the guilt he's been carrying all this time spilling out of him in a rush.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to meet Logan's gaze. Remus steeled his nerves, "it's my fault… I'm the reason Janus and Virgil got trapped here with me… I was stupid and selfish and… and maybe I deserve being alone if that's the way I treat my friends." And then, Remus told Logan what happened, how he dragged his only friends to his father's secret lab which ended up with them going through the strange mirror that put them here.

Logan was deep in thought by the time Remus finished, "a mirror you say… A mirror that doesn't reflect will bring the boys who will have an effect…" Logan mumbled.

Remus frowned, "ah… what? What does that mean?"

"It means… I may have an idea on how the three of you can go home." Logan said with a proud smile, standing up and looking towards the castle in the horizon, "the only problem is that we need to get in the castle to do it."

Remus wiped his tears with the sleeves of his shirt, there might be a way out… he can still fix this. He grinned, feeling determination gripping on his heart and he stood up as well, looking at the castle, "so that's where we're going."

Chapter Text

The journey back to the castle was a blur to Janus, he barely registered it when they passed through the magical landscape. 

He was in a state of shock, arms trembling as he held his sword in front of him, the tip still a little bloodied from Remus' cut… the cut he made.

What was wrong with him?

He offered this deal to Patton to find his friends and bring them all home… how did it end up with him hurting one of them?

What kind of a friend is he?

Up until now, all he did was protect Virgil and Remus… now, however… he did the opposite…

Why ?

You weren't thinking, you let your fear control you…

Remus was acting… different, they've been apart for only a few days and yet he already managed to… to change. Why? Why did he change so quickly? This was exactly what Janus didn't want… what he feared.

He was falling into the darkness below…

Falling, with no stability, nothing to hold onto… he had no one…

"...nus?"

A voice echoed as if from a distance.

"Janus!"

Arms holding him by the shoulders, shaking him.

"Janus, look at me!"

Blinking ever so slowly, Janus looked up into deep, blue eyes filled with concern.

Patton.

His mind supplied sluggishly.

It's Patton… does that mean they're back ? When did they reach the castle?

"Oh gosh, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Ugh I should've sent more guards with you, I knew it! C'mon, I'll take care of you okay?" Patton fussed over his figure before pulling him along gently, Janus' mind still struggling to take it all in.

He was set down on a comfy matress as his armor was removed, Patton's fingers skimming over his skin gently for sign of any injury. He wrapped bandages on the ones he spotted and then, at last, sat down in front of Janus.

"What happened? I thought you said you can talk sense into him-"

"I know what I said…" Janus said quietly, voice raspy and broken, "I know I failed you… I'm sorry…"

"Aw Kiddo… it's okay." Patton pulled him into a hug, something he was getting used to since meeting the king, "you haven't told me what happened yet, though, you look like you've seen a ghost or something." He whispered gently in his ear as he held him.

Janus didn't hold Patton back, his arms lay limp by his sides, feeling too weak to move. "Logan wasn't alone…" he started.

Patton pulled back to look at him, frowning, "what do you mean, he was with one of those monsters?"

Janus shook his head, "n-no… he was… with Remus…" he said.

"One of your friends? That's good right? Did you bring him with you? I didn't see anyone-"

"No." Janus said sharply, an empty chuckle slipping from his lips, "I didn't bring him with me… he ran away from me…" Janus trailed off with a sob, arms finally moving so he can hug himself tightly as the memory of Remus' terrified face was brought back into the front of his mind. "I hurt him…" he buried his face in his hands as the tears started spilling uncontrollably from his eyes and down his cheeks.

Patton pulled him into his arms again, not saying anything and letting Janus cry himself out. He shakily and slowly told Patton everything that happened from the moment he ran into Remus until the moment where… It happened.

There was a long moment of silence as Patton processed what Janus told him and Janus took that time to wipe his tears and compose himself somewhat.

Patton broke the silence with a sigh, "I see… he really is too far gone… I was afraid of this…" he sounded tired and sad, but resolute, as if he already made up his mind but he didn't like it.

Janus frowned, his emotions still in a storm but something in the king's tone didn't sit right with him, "too far gone? What does that mean?" He asked, voice still hoarse from the crying and sobbing just moments before.

Patton grimaced, meeting Janus' eyes again, "I… haven't told anyone this but…" he trailed off with another sigh, "I guess I should tell you, so you'll understand what we're up against." He paused for a moment, seeming to collect his thoughts.

"The creations I'm trying to keep out… they're much more than scary and disgusting creatures… they're the very embodiment of evil. I know that… because I once fell for their charms, to this day, it is my biggest regret." Patton closed his eyes, as if merely talking about it is bringing him immense pain.

Janus didn't respond, wanting to hear Patton's story and needing more time for his mind to settle after recent events. So, he just sat there, and listened.

Patton took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he began speaking, "no one knows but… I was first of my siblings to come into existence. I knew where I was and that I'm the leader but… well, I had no experience in ruling of course." He chuckled. But it sounded weird and empty, nothing like his usual goofiness Janus came to know.

"In short, I went to explore my new kingdom to hopefully become a good leader and… maybe find a friend or two. I just felt so alone in this huge and mostly empty castle." Patton opened his eyes slowly, meeting Janus' gaze briefly before turning away as if burned.

"Well… be careful what you wish for, they always say. I found a friend, he looked a bit odd and scary but he was so nice to me and charming and cool and… confident. I knew immediately that he can help me be the best, most confident king that ever was." Patton hugged himself tightly, sniffing softly.

"I was wrong." He said sharply, voice laced with anger and regret, "so very wrong. I asked for his help, I listened to his tips. He quickly became my advisor, I felt I couldn't make any important decision without him… in the end, I realized how much damage I caused by blindly following him… but it was too late, my kingdom was in chaos, the ones I'm responsible to getting hurt left and right." His voice was shaking now and Janus wanted to give him a hug of his own, but sensed Patton wanted space, so he stayed put.

"I tried my best to fix it, putting my deceiving ex-friend behind bars and trying to undo it all, but it was done, creations got hurt and everyone were scared… when Roman and Logan came into existence, I blamed the mess on all the creations that were like my ex-friend and, together, we figured out a way to keep them out… but I swore to myself to never make that mistake again, to never let myself be deceived by his kind again!" He stood up, stomping his feet in a show if determination.

Patton turned around and held Janus' gaze, "I feared Logan would repeat my mistakes, and what you told me just confirmed that, he's too wrapped up in their lies, Janus, just like I was. But unlike me, he has someone who can save him from himself. First, we need to get rid of those nasty beings again. For that to be possible Logan needs to stay out of the way." He explained, sounding resolute yet regretful.

"You mean… imprisoning him." Janus clarified and Patton nodded darkly. "What about… Remus?" Even saying his name hurt like a punch to his gut.

Patton let out a sad sigh, "I'm afraid Logan convinced him too… he'll need to be put away as well until we clean this mess. We won't harm them both, of course, we want them safe. Once we clear this up we'll find your third buddy and send you all home like I promised. Sound good?" 

Janus hesitated, this didn't seem like the best way to go about it… but this place is weird and he supposes Patton knows it more than he does. And it's not like he had a better idea…

How about talking to him about what happened instead of chasing him down?

Said a small part of him, but Janus quickly dismissed it… there's no way Remus would listen to him now, he burned that bridge…. All he can do now to keep him safe is put him away, help clean this mess, and bring him home safely where he can continue resenting Janus to his heart's content… it's fine, he deserved it.

Janus nodded to the king slowly, "okay… I guess that's as good of a plan as any."

Patton smiled in relief, "thank you, Janus, for your help and understanding… It means a lot." He looked down, then. "I was afraid that… if I told anyone, they wouldn't understand and blame me for my foolishness. But you don't think that, do you?" He looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

Janus shook his head, "I don't… I understand what it's like… to not know what you should do… and trying to do the right thing, only to end up being wrong." He said quietly, looking up at the king.

Patton's shoulders relaxed visibly and he nodded, "I'm glad, get some rest now, kiddo, you've been through a lot." He patted him on his back softly before exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

…leaving Janus alone with his thoughts…

Oh Remus… What have I done?

Chapter Text

Virgil was… fine. He was fine ! Totally not freaking out with every step, and definitely not looking around every corner to try and spot any dark creatures lurking about.

Obviously he wasn't, what are you even talking about?

No, Virgil was perfectly calm as he walked alongside Roman in an uncharted territory that just became dangerous and unpredictable. What was there to worry about?

He jumped a good few feet in the air as he heard a sudden rustle in a nearby bush, and immediately unsheathed his new sword and pointed it awkwardly towards the sound, heart beating so frantically in his chest he was afraid it'll burst outside of his ribcage.

But all that came out of the bush was a tiny fairy that quickly flew away.

Virgil sighed in relief and let his sword fall to his side.

"Someone's jumpy." Roman said teasingly, laying a hand on Virgil's shoulder.

" 'm fine… let's just keep moving." Virgil grumbled and continued on ahead, sheathing his sword back as he did.

"Hey, Worry-Wart, it's ok to be afraid, you know." Roman said, his voice is more gentle now, easily keeping pace with Virgil despite him trying to keep Roman behind him.

Virgil gripped the hilt of his sword, "I'm not -" he started to say, but Roman cut him off, looking around with narrow eyes as if he sensed something's coming. Virgil tensed once again, looking around as well.

After a tense moment, Virgil heard Roman chuckle and turned around to face him with a sigh, "really? That's not funny."

Roman smiled, "agree to disagree my gloomy friend. Now come on." They said as they kept on walking.

"You think you're so great, I know you're scared too…" Virgil grumbled beside them.

"Obviously, it's a scary situation." Roman said easily.

Virgil blinked, "well… you don't act like you are.."

Roman shrugged, "I guess that's just how I deal with it, you should try it." They said as they casually sliced some plants out of their way.

Virgil rolled his eyes, "try what? Act all cheery and carefree?"

Roman chuckled again, "well yeah! You don't have to be gloomy all the time." They patted his shoulder.

"Agree to disagree, gloomy takes the least energy, which I have next to nothing of anyway." Virgil said with a shrug, tagging his hands into his hoodie pocket.

Roman shakes his head, "okay, Sunshine." Was all they said in response and they continued walking in silence for a while.

Something was… off. The gates are gone, dark creatures and monsters can roam free now, there should be chaos and destruction everywhere… but so far everything's been… quiet.

He expressed that observation to Roman after a long while of nothing happening.

Roman frowned, nodding, "yeah… it is weird…" he trailed off, lost in his thoughts.

They continued in silence for a few more miles until they decided to rest for a bit.

That is, Virgil decided. Roman didn't seem the least bit sweaty or even tired… Do imaginative manifestations get tired? It surely doesn't seem that way… boy this place is weird.

He settled down on the dirt to catch his breath, this is the most exercise he's ever done in his life, and he hated it. A lot of people, especially his parents, recommended exercise to 'help release his nervous energy' or some bullshit. But that often requires going outside… where people are… people that can see you and judge you and make fun of you and-

Distant screams cut off his spiraling thoughts and he jumped back on his feet, sword already drawn out and pointed towards the noise.

"What?" He looked over at the way Roman was watching him.

"You got good instincts, my friend." Roman said with a proud smile.

Virgil huffed, "thanks, it's the anxiety." He rolled his eyes, but Roman was still looking at him in that weird way of his, " what ?" He asked again, annoyed… and a little flustered.

Roman shook themselves, clearing their throat, "oh, nothing… anyway, let's investigate." They said and led the way towards the screams they heard.

They emerged from the colorful forest into a small village, noticing smoke coming from further ahead. They exchanged worried looks and ran to see what the fuss was about.

"...look, I don't mean any-"

"Shut your mouth, monster !"

As they arrived at the scene, they spotted two of Roman's armored centaurs pointing their spears towards, what was undoubtedly, one of the dark creatures Roman warned Virgil about.

It had wings and sharp talons, eyes bloodshot and it was extremely big, easily towering over the highest tree from the surrounding forest.

But then Virgil noticed something even weirder… it wasn't attacking. In fact, it even looked scared , putting its massive hands in front of its body defensibly.

"I was just passing by, please." Said the monster, voice bordering on whimpering.

"Don't bother, the king told us all about your tricks." Said one of the guards in response, stepping closer with his spear threateningly.

Virgil glanced at Roman and saw them frowning in confusion, "something's not right…" they mumbled.

"What is it?" Virgil asked, feeling just as confused as Roman seemed.

Roman looked at him, "I fought them before, Virgil, many times. They were always… well, beasts. They never spoke and they only seemed to want to destroy everything mindlessly I… never like this !" They gestured frantically to the giant, cowering creature in front of them.

Virgil frowned, "so what does that mean?"

Roman shook their head, "I'm not sure… I-"

"Sir!" The guards finally noticed them, "Sir Roman! Perfect timing! Help us get rid of this monster!" One of them shouted, excited over Roman's presence.

There was a pained roar as the guards landed a hit on the creature.

"Stop!" Roman commanded them, and they both froze in surprise, "can't you see it's… different?" Roman asked, stepping closer, Virgil following timidly behind.

One of the guards relaxed at that, "oh, don't worry about that, king Patton warned us they might be using weird tricks on us, this monster is just like any we fought before!"

Roman didn't look convinced, "I don't think it's a trick… why wouldn't it defend itself? Something's wrong here…" they looked over at the creature, straining their neck to look at its face.

Virgil followed Roman's gaze, seeing the creature's eyes water in pain, its hands shaking with fear.

"Why would they suddenly change?" Virgil wondered out loud.

Roman's eyes widened, "change… the only thing different is… the gates." Roman said, looking at Virgil.

But before any of them could do anything, one of the guards threw his spear and it landed directly at the creature's heart. The creature vanished.

"What? I thought things don't die here!" Virgil shouted in alarm, searching Roman's eyes for answers.

"It didn't die, its form was radically disrapted, it'll come back eventually." Roman explained like it was the most obvious thing.

Virgil let out a tired sigh, "this place is weird.."

He didn't have time to say anything more before they heard an angry swarm of footsteps coming their way, making the ground shake.

"I think your guards made the rest of the creatures mad.." Virgil said timidly, looking expectantly towards the intimidating sound.

It took him a moment to realize Roman didn't respond and he turned to face the knight again. Only to see their eyes open wide in a panic, gripping the hilt of their sword so tightly that their knuckles went white..  and seeming to be frozen in place.

"R-Roman? Snap out of it!" Virgil tried, his voice shaking with fear, trying to snap his fingers in front of their eyes to get their attention… but Roman didn't even blink.

This is bad… very very bad, the guards were running away, the entire village was, the swarm will be on them in seconds! 

"Please.." he pleaded, "Roman… we need to run.." he tried pulling on the knight's arm but they wouldn't badge. He was on the verge of tears, fear and desperation overwhelming him and he couldn't think.

The swarm of dark creatures emerged from the colorful trees, trampling them in their rage, they were all armed and the first one went directly towards Roman, swinging its big ax at the defenseless knight.

Time seemed to slow down suddenly around Virgil as he saw the weapon come down on the first person that truly believed in him.

He saw black, and the next thing he knew he was standing in front of the knight, sword raised and blocking the creature's ax.

He… he parried, just like Roman taught him. But this time, no one went easy on him… he did it for real… him!

The sound of the two weapons clashing finally seemed to snap Roman out of his shock and they immediately disarmed the creature as they took in the scene.

Their eyes scanned the creatures running towards them, then, finally, looked down at Virgil and smiled proudly, "you parried." They said.

Virgil flushed, "I… I honestly have no idea what that was." He admitted.

Roman's smile softened and they put a hand on his shoulder, "bravery." And with that, they went to fight a few creatures at the front to give them time to escape.

It was Virgil's turn to be stunned now but he didn't have much time for it as he was easily dragged away from the violent crowd by Roman.

Chapter Text

“Remus, no.” Logan repeated, sounding exasperated.

Remus, however, grinned to himself as he laid on his stomach, hands holding his chin as he looked at the adorable shadow demon they came across. “Why not? It’s soooo cute!” Remus pointed out again.

“It can’t come with us, it’s too dangerous.” Logan explained, looking around anxiously to make sure there weren’t any guards around.

Remus blew a raspberry at that, “it’s a literal demon, Specs, I’m sure it can take care of itself. Now what should we call it?” He wondered out loud.

“It’ll slow us down, it can’t come.” Logan tried again.

“Shadow? Nah too obvious and boring…” Remus ignored him.

“Remus…”

“Sam? Ugh that’s even more lame… come on, Remus, think. How do you name a shadow demon?” Remus watched as the demon started playing with the little grass that started to sprout from the ground.

“Nothing; we’re not naming it because we’re leaving it here!” Logan, stubborn as ever, tried again.

Remus suddenly jumped to his feet, grin ever wider, “I got it!” He whooped in triumph. “Say hello to our new member of our group, drum roll please… Nyx!” he gestured excessively to the demon on the ground.

It looked up at them, “Nyx?” It cocked its head, “I like it!” It jumped in place a little.

Logan buried his face in his hands. “Aww, c’mon, Doctor Nerdio, what harm could it do?”

Taking a deep breath and shaking his head, he finally gave up, “fine, whatever. we need to start moving.”

Remus giggled as he picked up Nyx, “they all break eventually.” He said as they finally started moving towards the castle.

As they walked, Remus started to notice that the land that used to be dead and decayed was starting to recover, grass was starting to sprout from the ground and the plants seemed to be getting more healthy and regaining their colors. It looks like the nerd was right after all, the gates were damaging the Imagination.

“Hey,” Remus started to get Logan’s attention, “why did you make the gates in the first place? I mean, the so-called ‘dark creations’ seemed to be harmless without them.” Remus asked curiously.

Logan smiled in a way Remus never witnessed before, it made him feel a tad bit warmer, “what?”

“Nothing, good question, Remus.” Logan said, “In truth, the only reason we even made the distinction between ‘dark’ and ‘light’ creations was because of the state this place was in when we first came into existence.” He started.

Remus frowned at that, “what do you mean?”

Logan grimaced, as if he wasn’t too happy about recalling this, “it was chaos, creations frightened left and right, destruction everywhere. Patton blamed the creepier, scarier of the creations in this mess and when we asked around that all but confirmed it. So, from then on, we fought and tried to come up with a system to keep them all at bay.”

Remus nodded, “yeah that makes sense… but then.. How come they’re harmless now? What changed?”

Logan suddenly froze in place.

“Lo-Lo?” Remus looked at him in concern.

He swallowed, “I… I actually never considered this… But it’s such an obvious hole in this logic… How could I have missed it?” He mattered to himself. “Could it be that… That they’ve always been harmless? Were we wrong the whole time? But then… Who is to blame in the chaos that was present at the start? It’s a clear fact that things have been calmer once they were removed…” He put his hands over his head, “what am I missing?”

Remus put a hand on his shoulder and opened his mouth to say something when-

“Over there! I see them!” 

The sound of hooves running towards them was heard and Remus spotted about three centaurs coming their way.

“And that’s our cue to leave, c’mon!” Remus said, grabbing Logan’s wrist and running away as fast as he could, Logan joined him shortly, Nyx running by their heels.

“Lo?” Remus panted as they ran, Logan turned to look at him, “please tell me you have some brilliant plan? Some place for us to hide or lose them? C’mon, you know this place better than anyone!”

Logan nodded, “right, follow me.”

Remus grinned, “to the ends of the earth, Nerdio.”

Logan laughed, “I don’t think your human body can run that far.”

Remus noticed that they were heading towards the dead forest - which didn’t look as dead anymore - the place where they first met. “I wouldn’t be opposed to being carried.” Remus teased and rejoiced over the tiny blush that appeared on the nerd’s face.

“...That would be highly unproductive… We’re close, get ready.”

Remus looked around but saw nothing but half-dead trees all around, the centaurs were growing closer. “You sure about this?”

Logan nodded, “trust me.” He pointed to a particularly large tree a few feet away from them “over there.”

Remus frowned, “... That’s a tree-”

“Just do it!” Logan said.

Remus was still skeptical but nodded, the tree was getting closer and they were running straight towards it, one of the guards now close enough to try and grab Remus by his shirt.

“You lot are coming with us.” He growled.

Logan smiled, not slowing his pace despite how close he was to run into the tree. Nervously, Remus did the same, closing his eyes to embrace for impact. “Not today.”

Just when they were supposed to hit the tree, darkness surrounded them and Remus heard the guards making confused noises.

“Where’d they go?”

“Did they go through the tree?”

“That’s impossible!”

And, after a short while, Remus heard them trotting away and let out a breath of relief.

Logan took a deep breath, breathing in the musty smell of his hideout, "I missed this place." He said wistfully.

Remus finally opened his eyes to inspect the new place. It was a bonker, larger than hevwould have assumed considering they were inside a tree. There were old chairs thrown about, a few work tables filled with notebooks and papers with notes.

"Welcome to my personally crafted hideout, where I recorded my research on the Dark Side." Logan said with a smile.

"Cozy." Remus commented, taking a seat on a nearby, squeaky chair as Nyx started sniffing the ground and exploring the place. "Are we inside that tree?"

"Hmm?" Logan looked up from reading his old notes, "oh, yes and no, the tree is kind of a disguise for this place. It's not entirely real or rather, it's real when I want it to be… As much as stuff can be real here, that is."

"Did you get any of this?" Remus asked Nyx, they shook their head.

Logan let out a tired sigh as he sat down by his work table, "why do I even bother?"

Remus cackled, stretching his legs over a chair in front of him and putting his hands behind his neck. "Say, why did you decide to research this depressing place anyway?"

"For multiple reasons. For one, I'm the embodiment if curiousity so I always feel the need to research and explore, two I think what you humans imagine says a lot about you and I wanted to learn as much as I can to try and understand… but those weren't the main reason." Logan said as he read through one of the notebooks.

"So what was the main one?"

Logan looked up, looking at Remus very seriously, "to find a solution, to stop the Imagination from dying."

Chapter Text

Janus woke up with a gasp, heart racing. He barely remembered what he dreamt about but he was still feeling the traces of terror from that nightmare.

He put a hand over his eyes to shield them from the harsh light of day coming from the window… but the light barely dimmed.

He stared at his hand as he put it to the light… the light was going through it… his hand was partially transparent.

He wrestled with his comforter before he was able to get up and run to find the king.

"Patton! Patton!" He called in a panic, stumbling into one of his butlers in his terrified haze, "where's the king? It's urgent!"

"In the throne room, is everything-"

He didn't stay to hear the end of it before he rushed there.

The guards let him through, now familiar with him and the mostly free reign Patton granted him around the castle. Patton was looking very frustrated, talking to three centaurs.

"What do you mean, you lost them? How could you lose them? Do you have any idea what's at stake here?!" 

"But, your majesty, they disappeared! We-"

Patton put a hand to stop him, "I don't care! Find them! Dismissed"

Swallowing nervously, the three centaurs trotted away.

Patton started pacing, mattering to himself until he spotted Janus and his face melted to a smile. "You're up!"

Janus ran up to him and put his hand up to the light, "look." Was all he said.

Patton's smile turned into a worried grimace, "well that's not good.."

"You think?! What's happening to me?" Janus asked, a pathetic whine slipping from his lips.

Patton swallowed, "I'm not sure… but if I had to guess, it looks like you're becoming a part of this place…" he said carefully.

"I what?!" Janus started pacing "no, no, no… this can't be happening… How did this happen?"

Patton put his hands up, "I don't know! No human has entered here before you and your friends… maybe being here too long causes this… or maybe it's something else… I don't know!" He said again.

"Well who would?" As soon as the question left his lips he knew the answer, they exchanged looks.

"Logan." They said at the same time.

"Where did your guards last see them?" Janus asked.

Patton hesitated, "Janus… Are you sure that's a good idea? Logan has proven to be… unstable, lately."

"What choice do I have? You want me to just sit here and wait for… whatever this is to spread through my entire body?" Janus said, the helplessness clear in his eyes, "I have to at least try…"

Patton sighed, "I get it… at least take one guard with you. I don't wanna see you get hurt."

The care in his voice almost made Janus choke and his heart swelled a little, "fine." Was all he managed before going to his room to get ready.

And what makes you think they'll want to help you of all people?

"Shut up…" Janus mattered weakly to the voice in his head… he had to figure out what was going on, not only for him, but to find out if Remus and Virgil are going to be affected by it as well.

…

Later in the day, the guard Janus was riding on stopped in front of a large tree, its colors were faded and it looked nothing close to the brightly colored trees near Patton's castle.

"Why are you stopping?" Janus asked with a frown, looking around.

"This is where they were last sighted, sir, the ones that saw them said they disappeared into this tree." The guard explained.

Janus hopped off the centaur's back, walking closer to the tree to inspect it. He walked around it, trying to find a secret handle or lever or… something. Slowly, he brought his hand to touch its trunk and found it was solid. "Odd…"

Feeling foolish, he knocked on the tree, "someone in here?" He put his ear on the wood, trying to listen for any sound of movement inside. "...It's Janus… I just want to talk, please, I mean you no harm." No response came.

He sighed, what was he doing here? Talking to a fucking tree… they're probably long gone, far far away from the castle… from him. He slid to the ground and leaned back against the tree, feeling his eyes water as tears began to trail slowly down his cheeks.

"You're probably not even here… I just… I don't know what to do! I thought I finally figured it out after waking up in this weird place, but now I'm thrown off guard again. I am sick of not knowing what's going to happen!" He wailed, folding his knees and tacking his head between them, sobbing.

"Everytime I think I'm in control and know what to do… it blows up in my face… my parents… Virgil… Remus, now this whole transparent arm thing I have going on. I just… I'm scared all the time and the only thing keeping it in check is being in control." Janus sniffed, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand before standing up.

"This was pointless, they're not here, let's just go ba-" he started saying to the guard when he heard a voice behind him.

"Janus?"

He span around and his heart ached when he laid eyes on Remus, the guilt surging into the surface of his mind once again. He looked down at the ground, unable to meet his former friend's eyes.

"Remus I…" he trailed off, closing his eyes, "I'm sorry…" he choked, bringing his hands to his face, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… I-" a warm hand suddenly took one of his from his face and he looked up at Remus.

Janus' eyes fell on Remus' cheek where the cut that he gave him was starting to heal into a scar.

"What happened? You sound scared…" Remus said, concern evident in his voice.

Janus raised his left hand and aimed it towards the sun. Remus gasped, "oh… Janny.."

"I thought… maybe the same thing was happening to you and, well… here I am." Janus explained, voice trembling. "But… you seem fine so I guess I'll just-"

"Can I take a look?" Logan emerged from the tree as well, looking curiously at Janus' hand that was still held up to the light.

Janus nodded silently and Logan moved closer, inspecting the hand closely.

"What's happening to me?" Janus asked quietly.

Logan was silent for a long moment.

"Lo?" Remus asked with worry, "can you help him?"

Logan turned to look at Remus, then at Janus, his expression unreadable.

"What is it?" Janus asked timidly, "is it bad?"

Logan let out a breath, then looked suspiciously at the guard that came with Janus. "Get inside, all of you. Now!"

Remus grabbed Janus's arm and pulled him with him, they ran into the tree together and, to Janus' surprise, they went through it into some kind of bonker. Just as Logan came in after them they heard it.

A swarm of hooves hitting the ground and shouts from all around them, there must have been more than fifty guards surrounding them by the sound of it.

"It was a trap." Logan hissed, looking angrily at the wall they just came through. "I never thought he would stoop so low…"

"I don't understand…" Janus said, trap? What did he mean by trap? By Patton? There's no way… what about his hand?

He held it up again and his eyes widened… It was suddenly normal. "What…" he shook his head, disbelieving. "No, no, no… he wouldn't…" he turned to look at Logan and he looked back at him with a sorrowful expression. "How?"

Logan sighed, "he temporarily suppressed your connections to the physical world you came from… guessing that wasn't hard considering you and Remus' recent falling out…" he explained gently. "I'm sorry…"

"No." Janus said firmly, "I'm sure he had a good reason… let me go out and talk to them…" he put his hand on the wall they came through but it was solid. "Logan… let me go." He pleaded, this was all a big misunderstanding… it had to be.

Logan shook his head, "I can't let you do that."

"But he cares about me! I know he does! Let me go out there… please… He wouldn't hurt me." The tears were back in his eyes as he scratched the wall like a pathetic animal in a cage.

"Jan…" Remus touched his shoulder lightly, "Patton tricked you."

Janus shook his head vigorously, "no! He wouldn't! I know him! He would never!"

"Jan." Remus said again, more firmly this time as he pulled him away from the wall and into his arms, "it's okay, you're with us now… I forgive you."

"B-but-"

"Come out with your hands in the air!" One of the guards yelled from outside.

"We should be safe here, no one and nothing can penetrate this place without my permission. You two should rest, I'll keep watch." Logan said.

Remus nodded and pulled Janus with him onto the couch at the far edge of the bonker.

Janus was barely processing any of it… Patton, the first person he ever truly trusted… He… Betrayed him…

He made a mistake again, misjudged someone again… when is he going to learn?

He turned his face and buried them in Remus' chest, letting the tears run freely down his cheeks and soak Remus' shirt, "this is all my fault…" he wailed as Remus wrapped his hands around his shaking form silently.