Work Text:
Virgil sighed as he looked through his phone. He was on his bed looking through Instagram when there was a knock at his door. He got up and opened the door. Patton, Logan, and Roman were standing at the door. Patton was playing with his hands, twisting and pulling at them. He looked very worried. Logan had his hands behind his back, his face didn’t show any emotion but his eyes had a bit of disappointment. Roman had his arms folded, he had his foot tapping the floor, and he just looked mad.
“Uh...Can I help you?” Virgil asked.
“Uh, yeah! You can! You can tell us why you keep leaving notes on my door!” Roman yelled.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“What Roman is trying to say is that you keep leaving notes on his door that…” Logan said, trying to find the right word.
“That are mean.” Patton finished for him. Virgil was so confused. He hadn’t left any notes for princey, he was too nervous for that.
“But I didn’t…” Virgil started.
“Yes you did! You are the only one out of us that would do that! So why did you do that?” Roman interrupted, who was still yelling.
Virgil could see that he wasn’t going to convince them that he didn’t do that so he just said, “Well I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” And at that he closed his door.
Virgil didn’t know why he lied, it was probably because he wasn’t able to convince them that he didn’t do anything. The notes were probably fake, but Logan wouldn’t see the logic in lying about that, and Patton didn’t like lying so he wouldn’t lie about it either. So that left Roman who probably wanted more attention to himself. But why lie about that? Why lie that Virgil did something he didn’t? Why even Lie?
That night Virgil stayed up thinking about what happened. And that morning Thomas needed some advice about what party to go to.
“What should I do?” He asked.
“Well you should go!” Roman exclaimed.
“But it’s on Joan’s birthday.” Patton explained. “And they are having a birthday party, and you should go to that!”
“But you always go to that! This is a once in a lifetime chance!” Roman explained.
“Didn’t we already go over this?” Logan asked. “With Lee and Mary Lee’s wedding?”
“Well, that was a wedding! This is a party!”
“Logan’s right, why don’t I just use the same method I should have used with the wedding?” Thomas said.
“Because It won’t work.” Virgil finally saying something.
“And why is that, Negative Nancy?” Roman asked.
“Because what is he going to say to Joan or-” But Virgil didn’t finish because Roman interrupted.
“Why does it matter, I’m sure Logan can come up with something!”
“Yes, I’m sure I can find a way to explain to Joan why Thomas will be missing his birthday.” Logan stated.
“But what happens if-” Virgil was cut off again.
“Oh, I’m sure Joan will understand,” Roman said, glaring at Virgil.
“Roman’s right, I’m sure they would understand. But you should go to their party instead.” Patton added. Virgil nodded, he knew he wasn’t going to be listened to so why try?
“Well I hope you work it out.” He whispered then he snuck out.
When Virgil got into his room he fell onto his bed, and thought about what happened. Roman kept interrupting him, Logan didn’t acknowledge him, and Patton… he didn’t even ask for his opinion. What did he do to deserve this?
After an hour there was a knock on his door. Even though he didn’t want to, he got up and opened the door. Patton and Roman stood right in front of him.
“What do you need?” Virgil asked.
“I was wondering if you were hungry.” Patton answered.
“I’m good, I’m not that hungry.” He said and closed the door.
Just as the door closed he heard Roman say, “Awesome, more food for us.”
“Yep! And I was planning on making seafood.” Patton said. Seafood? The lights knew Virgil hated seafood, which is why they make it at least once a month without Virgil knowing. And when he says that we would have dinner with them and they have seafood he has to have it because they would shove it down his throat if he doesn’t, then they give him more servings when he is finished. So he was glad that he turned it down.
Virgil went over to his bed and that night he didn’t sleep.
In the morning Virgil went downstairs to eat breakfast. He made a bowl of cereal and sat down, Logan was already up and was eating his breakfast, Patton was making pancakes for Roman, who was probably still sleeping.
“Today we will be doing a quest!” Roman said, coming down the stairs.
“Ohhh, what quest?” Patton asked.
“Us three will be saving a princess!” He answered.
“Us three?” Logan asked.
“Yep, you, me, and Patton will be saving the princess, who is Virgil.”
“I’m not doing that.” Virgil said.
“Oh come on Charlie Frown, we need a princess and you will be it.”
“Why can’t Patton be it?”
“Because he is the knight, I’m the prince, and Logan is the royal adviser.”
Before Virgil could say anything Patton grabbed him and they all snunked out. Virgil found himself in a tall tower, he tried to move his hands but found them chained above his head. He tried getting out of the chains but soon his wrists were raw from the metal being rubbed against his skin. Virgil decided to try yelling but just as soon he opened his mouth he found a gag appear in his mouth. He tried to push it out his mouth with his tongue but duct tape covered his mouth. Great. He just had to wait for the others to come and “save” him.
Virgil woke up to rain. Virgil didn’t know how long he fell asleep for but judging on how long he usually sleeps for he would say he had slept for about an hour. Maybe Roman made the journey hard to get to the tower, but Roman wouldn’t do that to him… Right?
While waiting Virgil had time to look around. The walls were made out of bricks, and the only opening to the tower was the window. The window was across the room which was about 20 feet away from him. Even though it was far away it still let a lot of cold air in. Virgil pulled his legs toward his chest and rested his head on his knees while he tried to calm down. He would get out of here. Roman was going to save him along with Logan and Patton.
----
Janus was on the couch reading when he felt a sweet taste in mouth, which was a lie. It was normal for him to feel lies but this one didn’t feel like a normal lie, this one felt different. It seemed familiar but he couldn’t figure out who was lying since everyone had a different taste. So he just shoved it off and continued reading.
The second time he felt the sweet taste he was making dinner. He paused just long enough for Obsession to notice who was at the table.
“Something wrong?” She asked. He just shook his head. And he continued cooking.
The third time was when he was watching a movie with the others. He groaned and sat up. He had it with the lies and not knowing who was lying, why they were lying, and what they were lying about.
Janus kind of had an idea who was lying, it had to be one of the “light” sides since he is around Remus and Obsession and they weren’t lying. It couldn’t be Roman, he lies too much, so Janus that Janus knew what his lies taste like, Logan can’t lie, since he always talks in facts, and Patton didn’t like lying so that left Virgil. Virgil didn’t like to lie so he doesn't do it much but that would explain why he wasn’t recognizing his lies.
“Are you okay Jan?” Obsession asked. The movie was paused and Remus and Obsession were looking at him.
“Yes, I’m okay.” He answered. Obsession and Remus shared a look.
“Lies,” Remus stated, “You just groaned like you had a headache. But not going to lie that was a pretty groan, I would like-”
“Remus.” Obsession interrupted. Remus just shrugged. Obsession turned back to Janus. “There is something wrong, what is it?”
“It’s just there’s someone lying that I don’t know who, and it's very annoying.” He told her.
“Do you have at least an idea who?”
“Yeah.”
“Well then, let’s go!” Remus yelled out, linking arms with Janus and Obsession.
Janus knocked on Virgil’s door, there was no answer. He looked over at Obsession and Remus. Obsession shrugged, as Remus ran off. Not even a second later Remus yelled out, “Roman!” Obsession and Janus ran after him. They found Roman on the couch of the living room and Remus in front of him with his hands on his hips. Logan was standing at the table and by the looks of it, he was sitting moments before. Patton was in the kitchen baking.
“Do you need something Remus?” Roman asked.
“Where is Virgie?” Remus asked as well.
“In the Imagination. Why?”
“No reason!”
“Well, if you're not going to do anything dangerous I suppose we can’t stop you from going after Virgil.” Logan added.
“Have fun, Kiddos!” Patton, called out after the dark sides.
“Did any of them lie?” Obsession asked Janus. He shook his head. “Well I guess we are going to the Imagination.”
----
Virgil arms had started hurting hours ago from the lack of blood they were getting. Virgil tried everything he could think of to get out of this situation. He even tried to stand because he got tired of sitting on the floor. But when he tried to stand, it just got uncomfortable. This was about the time he started to freak out. Virgil was so going to yell at Roman when he got back, maybe even yell at Patton and Logan. But right now he had to focus on not getting too panicked.
The only thing that worked was staring out the window, he tried all his other ways of calming down and none of them worked. So he was staring out the window when a hand shot up and grabbed the window ledge. Virgil would have screamed if he wasn’t gagged. Soon a body was through the window. It was… Remus? And he was helping what he assumed was Deceit and Obsession. When all three of them were through the window they all looked around. Deceit was the first one to notice Virgil.
“Virgil!” He called out. Remus and Obsession look at where Deceit was running to. Remus and Obsession followed him. As Deceit and Remus were taking Virgil’s hands away from the chains Obsession took the duct tape off and the rag out of his mouth. When Virgil’s hands were out of the chains Deceit and Remus helped him stand up. Virgl didn’t know what happened next; all he could remember was ringing and yelling before everything went black.
----
When Janus, Remus, and Obsession got to the Imagination they found out they had no way to track Virgil. So they could only yell out his name and hope he would answer. After about an hour of walking Remus ran into something, a tower.
“Do we climb it?” Obsession asked.
“We should, just in case he’s up there.” Deceit said. Remus summoned some rope and they climbed. Remus was the first to reach the top, he helped Janus then Obsession. When they were all inside they took a good look around. It was bare all except Virgil, who looked quite scared and shocked to see them. His arms and hands were making a Y shape, and he had duct tape over his mouth.
When Virgil was out of the chains and standing, he took a deep breath and fainted. Remus, who was closer, caught him and they all skunk out and into their common room.
----
Virgil woke up to someone one running their fingers through his hair. He slowly opened his eyes to see Janus reading a book as he ran her gloved fingers through his hair. He couldn’t move his head or he would notice but he did see Obsession resting her head on Janus’ shoulder and Remus was sitting on the couch and...floor? His back was on the floor but his legs were on the couch. He looked bored as he looked up at the ceiling.
Virgil groaned when he looked over at the light that was on, and was the only light that was on. Janus, Remus, and Obsession looked up.
“Welcome back emo!” Remus called out.
“You okay?” Obsession asked.
“Yea, I’m fine.” Virgil answered. Janus flinched.
“Are you sure?” He asked. Virgil didn’t answer that. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“What is there to talk about? They wanted to play a game, they forced me to PLAY the game, then locked me in a tower and you found me.”
“Well I would like to know why they left you, locked you in a tower, chained and gagged.” Obsession said.
“I don’t know,” Virgil mumbled, turning so he was facing the coach.
“Well if you don’t know, do you know if you want to watch a movie?” Janus asked.
Virgil smiled and nodded, “That would be nice.”
So the dark sides and Virgil all cuddled together and watched Nightmare Before Christmas. They used to do this before Virgil left for the others and Virgil was glad he had his family back.