Chapter Text
Remus wasn’t like the other sides, and not just in the way you’d imagine. See, being one half of a whole idiot did have its drawbacks. Well being the one who wasn't all sunshine and rainbows did.
You see, Remus was the unloved brother. He wasn’t given his own room (he had to make one himself in the imagination after 2 months of waiting on a very uncomfortable couch for his own to spawn, Janus could only put up with so much of his weirdness in the mornings after all.)
He didn’t get to play happy families with the lights. (Not like he needed daddy Patton trying to censor big scary Remus with his dangerous thoughts and naughty language.)
The cherry on top of the shit Sunday known as his life was that he had the delightful problem of spontaneously glitching out of existence. At least that’s what he likened it to. Not like he had anyone around to prove it.
You see the nerd was right, repression was bad and it hurt like a bitch, and not in a nice getting you off kind of way. It’s like your whole being is being ripped apart atom by atom until *poof* there was nothing left. The added fun was that he got to do the whole thing in reverse when he snapped back. Joy!
And maybe since Janus got accepted and practically lived up stairs shilling his self care routine like a Karen with a pyramid scheme, it may or may not have gotten a tiny bit worse. Well at least on the bright side Remus now had free reign of the dark side, oh what fun he could have!
A chandelier made of bones and entrails sounded perfect, boring old snakey wouldn’t let him touch the common room. Something about them all having to share the space and gore not being to their taste. What a bore!
Maybe he could replace all the furniture covers with human skin? Explosions, lots of explosions, ooh, or maybe a zombie out break? Always a good time, the world was his oyster and he would gladly rip it open and expose its gooey insides.
There was one minute detail that may or may not have cropped up lately, the teensy weensy problem of not being able to properly use his powers. They were kinda on the fritz. Sure, he could use them ... to an extent. The results, however, varied on whether what he wanted to summon was actually what he intended to summon.
Plus, there was a little extra bonus that came with utilising his powers too much; he got to take a lovely impromptu 24 hour nap. Oh, and the aforementioned excruciating pain that would kick in the moment that he woke up.
Another absolutely delightful drawback was the fact that, with no true outlet, the thoughts were getting a bit out of hand. He was used to creating everything that popped into his brain, not having to pick or choose between ideas. It started to feel like tiny ants were dancing round his grey matter trying to gnaw their way out of his skull.
Remus swore it was like an illegal rave in the dark side when the glitching started, with all the flashing lights. Maybe he should conjure up a DJ, oh a zombie dj and if it got to excited maybe his arms would fly of and hit him in the face hah. Then his DJ could help Remus fight his zombie brethren. Ooh, they could get a t-shirt cannon. Remus had always wanted a t-shirt cannon. Or maybe a t-shirt that was a cannon ... this would totally be worth the pain and, hey, free nap!
Bad bad idea Remus, whelp at least if he died this time it would be with his kick ass song in the background as his new zombie dj shot civilians right in the face with highspeed t-shirts.
Turns out, maybe a DJ was not worth it in the long run. He didn’t even know how long he was out for, he wasn’t exactly known for his time keeping. As the world slowly came back into focus Remus started to regret his life choices.
Well, if he feels like shit, may as well cause the light sides some havoc. That always cheers him right up.
Heaving his aching body off the floor, he proceeded to pop up in Thomathy’s living room, where he was promptly greeted by the sight of the other sides working through this week’s drama. With ample bickering, you know, the usual.
“Am I too late to join the party?” He cackled, crawling out from inside the Tv. Samara would be proud!
“Great you’ve summoned the Duke.” Virgil scowls, crossing his arms like the lovable teenage dirt bag that he was.
“Aww you know that you love me emo." Grinning, with a little wave, he turns to Thomas, who looks about ready to have a heart attack.
“ Now we’re all together again, I vote that we should all have an orgy. That’ll get everyone talking. I mean, what better way to give your viewers a good sex education than that?”
The deafening cries of “God no, why would you even say that, I cannot get the image out of my brain, we’re all sides of his personality, how would that even work? " Was almost drowned out by his maniacal laughter.
“Remus. Enough." Janus did not look happy to see him. (It didn't hurt Remus at all.)
“Cant I have a little fun with Thomas without you guys being party poopers?” He pouted.
“We’re trying to have a serious discussion about Thomas’ mental health, you may stay present as his wellbeing effects us all, but please keep the distractions to a minimum.” Logan states adjusting his tie “Now Thomas let’s try this again how do you ....”
Remus had drowned them out at this point, he wasn’t sure why he was bothered by the looks of disgust on the others’ faces. It was his whole shtick to pop up, blurt out something that makes the others squirm, then leave. He wasn’t supposed to be nice, his whole being was wired to be intrusive.
So, in defiance for the lack of appreciation shown towards his brilliant idea, he tried even harder to distract Thomas. Making the lights flicker, screaming ,harassing his brother (he should have knocked him out again, that was a good time), and trying to make Patton flinch as much as possible until...
“REMUS!” Janus yells and, well, Janus never yells. He had seen him furious plenty of times - usually after an unsuccessful pranking attempt - but no matter how mad he had been, how much he looked like he was gonna explode, he had never actually yelled at Remus. Until now.
Freezing in place, he slowly takes in the room, as if seeing it for the first time. Logan was trying to console Virgil who was on the edge of a panic attack. Patton was starting to look green though, whether he was stress frogging again or just feeling sick Remus couldn’t tell. He was tempted to keep prodding until one scenario or the other happened, until he remembered what had made him pause his tirade. His eyes flickered over to Janus.
“Remus leave.” He didn’t even yell this time, it was more of an exasperated plea, but it was like some one had shoved there hand through Remus’ chest in order to squeeze his heart.
“Bu...” He didn’t have a chance to get the word out before...
“No Remus” with the tone of a parent that had had this conversation a million times previous.
“We gave you a chance to stay up here. If you had behaved at least a little bit, maybe you could have stayed. We’re now back at square one because of you and your antics. He could practically see the venom drip from his words.
“Brother... you’ve done enough for one day.” Roman sighed. Remus hadn’t even noticed his twin standing next to Thomas, a comforting hand on the shaking man’s shoulder.
Then he felt it as soon as Thomas looked up at him, he knew what was going to happen. “I’m sorry Re but .....”
Like a coward Remus sunk out before hearing his host tell him how much he hates him, how little his contributions were valued. How he was nothing more then a disease plaguing his life.
And then the pain arrived. Collapsing to his knees as his body convulsed and sputtered, he could see his arms going in and out of transparency. Distantly, he could almost make out his screams over the roaring in his ears like a television left playing behind a thick pane of glass.
The attacks had never lasted this long before. He couldn’t think, couldn’t move, as shock waves of pain rattled his body to the core. He wanted to beg and cry for mercy though his voice had long since faded out.
He didn’t have a grasp on how long he was stuck there. It could have been days, weeks, months. Time had no meaning under the onslaught, but eventually his arms slipped out from under him, resulting in his head bouncing off the wooden floor of the living room.
At last, the darkness rolled over him, like the black clouds of an oncoming storm.