Chapter Text
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Roman groaned.
Woah.
Where was he?
How had he gotten here? He didn’t remember leaving his room, or at least- he didn’t think he did?
Honestly he felt too dizzy and confused to care that much at the moment.
He sat up rubbing his eyes. He realized his throat was aching. When had he last drank anything?
A glass of water sounded like a good idea right now, if he could only know where he was currently-
He was in a small room, sparsely decorated, plain white walls and almost blinding light.
Certainly not his room, and he couldn’t recall a white-themed Side.
But that may be due to his head feeling like it was practically exploding-
It may have been the headache, but he found he couldn’t recall where he had fallen asleep- or when.
In fact, he couldn’t remember much of anything at all…
Everything felt hazy, sort of… dreamlike
Not concerning in the slightest.
“Roman!”
He turned.
Patton stood in the doorway.
He was smiling sweetly, seemingly relieved to see Roman.
“How are you feeling?” He asked, a slight frown slipping onto his face.
“fiNe.” Roman coughed out.
Geez, he really needed that water.
“Good, good,” Patton’s smirk returned.
Smirk? Why would he be smirking?
Patton’s *smile* returned, “I was worried you wouldn’t wake up,” He admitted softly.
“The others haven’t yet. I thought I would be alone all day.”
Roman cleared his throat, “erm… I am awake, however I don’t quite feel myself yet.”
“Oh- that makes sense, after last night..”
“Patton? What happened yesterday?”
Patton looked uncomfortable.
Maybe he should just drop it, Patton looked upset-
“Never mind Patton, I’m sure I’ll remember soon enough!”
“O-ok… I’ll tell you later, I promise!” Patton looked sheepish now.
He probably felt he’d done something wrong… “Padre-“
“Anyway!” Patton interrupted, “I’ll get you some water!”
“Ah, thank you I could certainly use that.”
He smiled. Patton did too, then he turned and left.
Roman noticed the uncomfortable look pass over his face again as he left,
had he done something wrong?
The door clicked shut, Patton must have locked the door-
“Patton..?
No response came.
He must’ve been too preoccupied to notice he locked it.
Eh, he’ll come back soon enough.
Roman sighed.
What a strange start to a day.
He may as well get ready- there wasn’t much else to do.
He summoned his classic Princely outfit, red sash and all, slipping the top over his head.
He had noticed there weren’t any mirrors on the room, he would have to make do without.
He did his best to fix his hair, sure that it wouldn’t look quite right but he would deal with that later.
After he was ready he waited.
How long could Patton possibly take?
….
A long time apparently
He was sure that at least a couple hours passed while he sat there in the bed.
Eventually giving up on waiting, checking the door again, and eventually deciding to redecorate the room.
It was after all dreadfully colorless and dull.
He couldn’t break out though, it was impossible to break through the walls door or ceiling if the rooms in the Mindscape.
(It was just one of its quirks- luckily, otherwise the rooms would constantly be under repair due to Logan’s experiments or Remus being himself or someone else making bad decisions (all of which happened a lot.))
But he could settle for this, it was a nice blank canvas for practicing on.
At least until Patton let him out-
Surely it couldn’t take this long to get a glass of water.
…
He was just finishing up conjuring up some new furniture for the previously nearly empty room when the door clicked open.
Patton stepped in
“Oh, hello!” He greeted.
a flash of- annoyance? Crossed Patton’s face.
But again, it was gone too quick to be sure it was ever there. Only it sure seemed like it was…
“Hey Kiddo.” Patton smiled softly.
Looking down, Roman couldn’t help but to notice the obvious lack of… well, the reason Patton had left in the first place.
Oh- well he probably was checking on the others and simply forgot to bring water.
Then Patton clicked the door locked again.
“…hey padre? Why do you keep locking the door?” Roman questioned uncertainly.
Patton approached Roman, laying a hand on his shoulder.
“I can’t let you get hurt. Besides, you certainly aren’t feeling your best at the moment so you should stay here and rest!”
“Pat- what happened? Seriously, I need to know. Are the others okay? Did something attack us?? Why can’t I remember?!”
Patton frowned, seeming to consider the idea.
“Well… I guess I should tell you-“
He paused, cleared his throat, and thought for a moment.
“Well… a sort of… power surge occurred last night. It didn’t directly effect anyone, but it did increase your powers to a rather overwhelming amount-“
Roman stiffened, out of control powers? Him? He could do basically anything already- what did he do while in that state??
“Hey, kiddo. KIDDO! Relax, no one got badly hurt! I fixed them up real quickly :)”
“Badly hurt? Did I actually harm someone? Patton, don’t lie to me!”
“Well- you did kinda end up losing control, and you got carried away with reshaping the Mindscape- it’s still pretty messed up- but you only slightly disabled Virgil & Logan, Janus has a sprained wrist and Remus is still passed out…”
Roman could vaguely register that Patton hadn’t stopped talking, the room was sliding in and out of focus, his breath caught in his throat. He felt like he was drowning.
He… he hurt them. His family. He probably hurt Thomas…
He was good creativity!
He was kind and controlled, witty, fun, whimsical even!
But this… this wasn’t… what…?…he wasn’t supposed to be…
Cruel…
Patton looked over at Roman,
“Oh- Yeah, well… it sounds pretty bad…
…Roman?”
-Just like Remus just like Remus just like Remus just like Remus just like Remus justlikerrmusjustlukeremusjustlikeremus-
“-Kiddo??”
“-huh?”
Roman jolted back to reality.
His breathing was still uneven, the world flickered
“Are you… crying?”
Was he?
“You shouldn’t cry Roman, it’s fine. Everyone is safe.”
He nodded
He must look pretty pathetic right now- curled up on the floor shaking and crying like a child who just fell off their bike- seeking comfort when in reality his situation was of so much less concern than… and oh… he was spiraling again
He looked up
Patton was there
He hadn’t moved
He was just staring, watching, waiting,
And oh… why was he so on edge?
It was just Patton, Padre, the dad figure!
Geez, he couldn’t seem to get it into his head that what he was doing wasn’t important- he was fine.
And Patton had told him the others were okay.
Patt never lied, therefore the others needed no assistance.
he took a moment to catch his breath
In… out…in…out…
He was okay
Patton was still watching, silently waiting for him to calm down
“…Ahem, alright padre. Is there… anything else or… is that all that happened?”
And he still couldn’t quite shake the feeling that Patton was… irritated. Annoyed- or maybe even angry?
Again, it was understandable- if he had hurt the others- (and Patton never lied, so surely he had…) but he was… silent… do unlike himself it made Roman uneasy-
“Patton… you said you were protecting the others, You only mentioned the surge previously effecting my powers- why am I still here?(and again, where are we??)”
…
Patton? I need to know, i- I’m serious now. please, just talk to me-“
“-it’s for the others safety.”
Patton’s reply was quick. harsh.
“What?”
“You were out of control! Unstable! I had… have! to keep you… out of the way- I’m… sorry.”
His voice fell back to a hollow sort of emptiness, devoid of any emotion Roman could read
“Oh.”
Okay. Right. He was being contained here- Locked away. Is this how Remus felt, he wondered, bring locked out of sight, where you couldn’t ‘inconvenience’ the rest of the ‘good’ sides?
No, this was nothing in comparison-
Plus it made sense, this was the logical thing to do. Most likely Logan’s ruling, to keep him here until he was stable.
Was he stable now?
He felt… normal
“…well, how long do I need to stay here before I’m… safe… for the others?”
…
“I don’t know.”
Oh come on-
“Don’t you trust me, padre? I feel fine! I was using my powers a bit ago and it was fi-“
“You were doing what?!” Patton frowned, “you could have seriously hurt yourself! Or the others if you had gotten out! You cannot use your abilities properly!! Do you even realize how dangerous that could be.” He stated in a lower, almost dangerous voice.
And oh- Roman hadn’t expected that…
Patton was hardly ever upset… or well, angry.
“Oh, no- I mean yeah? Well… I can control it though!”
“Oh, really?” Patton… mocked?
“Patton… I wouldn’t lie to you.” Roman’s voice sounded pleading to his own ears. He wanted Patton to understand- no… he needed him to understand.
“You think I don’t know what’s best for you? I raised you. And still you try to lie to me, what happened to your honor-?”
Patton- Patton said- patt… he… what-? Why- and oh, why was he upset? Roman hadn’t said anything wrong- had he?
Maybe he did
Maybe Patton really was finally tired of giving him second chances…
He knew this tone, he had only heard it once before… used on… deceit.
“… I understand… I’m sorry, padre. I won’t try until I’m fully back to my prim and proper self!” He stated, forcing a smile onto his face.
It would be hard not creating anything for a while, but if Patton said no, Roman wasn’t going to try.
Instantly Patton’s entire demeanor changed.
he smiled, a sort of tired smile that Roman had seen a thousand times, one that wasn’t quite happy, but meant that he had gotten his way again.
“I knew you would understand!” Patton clapped his hands together, fully smiling now. “Anyway, I need to see if Logan is up. I’ll check in on you in a while, ok, kiddo?”
The hair on Roman’s back prickled uncomfortably
“Sure padre!” He prayed his smile didn’t seem too fake.
Patton waved, exiting the door again.
*click*
Roman was concerned