Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Roman sits at his desk, staring at a blank piece of paper. His floor is covered in half-baked ideas. He just can’t seem to come up with anything. But he has to! Logan is expecting ideas for their meeting tomorrow with Thomas, and Roman has nothing. 

Remus crawls in between Roman’s legs from under his desk. “Hey, Ro-bro.” 

“Jeremy Cricket.” Roman pushes his rolling chair back. “Remus!”

Remus cackles as he gets up. “You make it too easy.”

Roman groans. “Leave me alone. I have work to do.”

Remus looks around the room. “I can see that.” He picks up a crumble-up ball and tosses it at Roman. 

Roman swats it away. 

“Maybe I can help. I am Creativity.”

“Not in your most twisted dreams, thot. I can do this. I just need to focus.”

“You’re going to burn yourself out,” Remus teases.

“I’m fine.”

“Uh-huh.” Remus can feel the ground shake. “But seriously, take a break.”

Roman looks at his notebook again. “No. I need to get—” he finally feels the ground shaking below him. Roman’s heart stops. He looks towards Remus. “You need to get out.”

Remus smirks. “And miss all the fun?”

“Remus, I’m serious. I’m about to—”

The ground cracks and breaks, causing the two sides to fall into the darkness. 

…

Roman groans as he sits up. He looks around the emptiness of the subconscious. Whenever Thomas gets a creative block, Roman falls here and has to crawl his way back to the conscious mind. It’s annoying, but it’s the brain’s way of getting Roman to shut up. Though, he’s never brought another side with him before. “Remus?”

Remus sits up. “Well, that was fun.”

Roman looks at his black and white brother. Colors in the subscape are weird. Everything is black and white in this part that Roman calls the beginning. Then, as they get closer to the mindscape, they get more colors added to their pallet. “Remus, you shouldn’t be here.”

Remus snorts. “Bitch, please. You’re not the only one who gets sent to the subconscious during a block. Hell, sometimes I come down here for the fun of it.”

Roman blinks. “Seriously?”

“Yup. Come on, let’s find Morals. We need him to navigate his side of the subscape.” Remus starts walking.

Roman picks himself up and follows Remus. “I know that.” The subscape is an ever-changing maze. No matter how many times Roman goes through it, the layout changes. The only way out is to find the keeper of the land. 

As they walk, Remus summons his morning star. This surprises both of them.

“How are you able to summon things?” Roman questions. Whenever Roman falls down here, his powers don’t work. 

“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because you are the one with the block, and I’m just your add-on.”

Roman huffs. “Lucky me.”

They come up to a castle. Remus opens the door and mockingly bows. “Ladies first.”

“I am a queen.” Roman walks into the castle with his head held high. 

The castle is colored only in a glowing blue. The same blue covers the twins, giving them their first color. 

Remus puts his hands around his mouth and yells, “Yo, Morals, get your ass over here.”

“You are as rude as ever, Intrusive Thoughts.” A figure appears before them. This figure is translucent blue. He holds no pupils in his eyes, and he looks like Patton. 

This is the first keeper of the subscape. The “sides” of the subscape are water-down, bare-bone versions of the conscious side. They manage the subconscious needs that the others don’t need to focus on. They don’t have much of a personality. 

“Good evening, Morals.” Roman bows.

“Creativity,” Morals greets. “Follow me.” He starts moving towards a large staircase. He glances at Remus. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“I get that a lot.”

“Is something wrong?” Roman asks.

Morals start walking backward. “He’s still active. You’re not supposed to be active. This puts you in danger.”

“Danger?” The twins question in two different tones. One excited, one cautious. 

“Intrusive Thoughts’ influence here will make the subconscious dangerous. Creatures from his thoughts will manifest and hunt down the intruder. Creativity, your powers don’t work here. Any damage you take won’t heal until you get out. Intrusive Thoughts, you will have a target on your back.”

Remus grins. “Cool.”

“Not cool! This is serious.”

“The creatures will hunt you down and try to keep you down here until you fade out of existence,” Morals explains.

Remus’ grin falls. “Oh.” Fading out is the only way to kill a side, and as much as Remus plays with his life, he knows he can’t die, except for right now.

Morals leads them up to a door. “This is where we say goodbye. Protect each other. You are both needed to make Thomas whole. Either one of you not making it would be disastrous.”

Roman nods. This trip just got a whole lot more dangerous.

Chapter Text

Roman opens the door, and they walk into a purple forest. The color purple is added to the twins’ body. 

“So, how long do you think it will take us to find Survival?” Remus questions.

“I don’t know, that dude can never sit still.” Roman looks around the forest. “Summon me a sword.”

Remus raises a brow at Roman.

“Come on, you heard Morals. We’re in danger. Give me a sword.”

Remus smirks. “Nope.”

“What do you mean no? Remus, this is serious.”

“Relax. I told you. I come down here all the time. Those creatures are nothing I can’t handle. I’ll protect you.” Remus bats his eyes at Roman.

“I don’t need protection. I am fully capable of protecting myself.”

“Then you don’t need a sword. Besides, this wouldn’t have happened if you just listened to me.”

“The day I listen to you is the day Disney goes bankrupt.”

“Now that I would love to see,” Remus laughs. Truth be told, Remus has never been down here besides when he had a block. He just said that to keep Roman from panicking and being a whiny bitch the whole way. Though it looks like that failed because Roman is always a whiny bitch. Anyway, how scary can this be? They both fight monsters daily in the Imagination. 

A fog starts to wave in at their feet. 

Roman looks around. “This isn’t good.”

Remus swings his morning star over his shoulder. He wonders what they are going to see. He hopes it’s some Eldritch horror. Or a black shadow monster. A sharp pain shoots through Remus’ head. Remus has suffered many injuries throughout the years, but this takes the cake. He sucks in a breath as he squeezes his eyes shut.

Roman looks over at his brother. “Remus, what’s wrong?”

Remus doesn’t hear his brother’s words as the pain continues banging in his head. Then he hears something in his mind. 

Intruder. 

Remus’ eyes snap open as he looks around— a ringing in his ears. 

Roman grabs Remus’ shoulder. “Remus.”

Everything snaps back to focus as Remus looks at his brother. Before he can respond, they hear a roar in the distance. Remus grabs Roman’s hand. “We need to move.”

Roman lets Remus drag him as he looks around. He’s never seen Remus freaked out by something. And that concerns Roman. He looks behind him as a smoky figure emerges from the trees. It’s about 10 feet tall, a black silhouette with fangs and long claw-like fingers. “Remus!”

Remus looks behind him to see the figure, and for the first time in Remus’ life, he feels fear. Remus’ tentacles come out of his back as he grabs Roman into his arms. He lets his tentacles carry him away from the beast.

Roman looks at his brother. He has never seen Remus this scared before. He didn’t even know Remus could get scared. 

The beast roars as he reaches out. His arm stretches and grabs onto one of Remus’ tentacles. 

Remus throws Roman out of his arms as the creature drags Remus towards it.

Roman rolls across the ground. He looks up as the shadow drags Remus away. “Remus!”

Remus kicks and thrashes to get freed. The ringing starts back up as his heart beats so fast Remus thinks it might explode. 

Then, a purple translucent figure appears. The man designed after Virgil flies towards the shadow and kicks it in the head.

The shadow lets go of Remus as it flies back into the forest. 

Survival lands on his feet and looks at the twins. “Go, I’ll catch up.” Then, in a blink of an eye, Survival rushes deeper into the forest.

Remus lies frozen on the ground, his breathing fast and short.

Roman grabs Remus’ arm and pulls him to his feet. “Come on.” He drags his brother away from the scene. They run behind a rock wall. Roman looks behind it for any sign of the creature. “What is wrong with you? You just completely froze.” Roman looks back at his brother.

Remus is clutching his chest. It feels like he can’t get enough air into his lungs. He just gasps.

“Are you having a panic attack?”

Remus slides down the wall. 

“Shit, you are.” Roman kneels. “Hey, it’s okay. Just breathe.” 

Remus shakes his head. He doesn’t know what is wrong with him. This has never happened before. Is he dying? Is the subconscious eating him now?

Roman takes Remus’ hand and puts it to his chest. “Re, look at me.”

Remus’ eyes snap to his brother. He sees Roman’s determination. Yet it’s also soft. Disgusting. 

“Follow me.” Roman takes a deep breath in. 

Remus follows because he has nothing better to do. His heart starts to calm down as he follows Roman’s breathing. 

Roman smiles as he puts his hand on his shoulder. “You back with me?”

“What the hell just happened?”

“A panic attack, from the looks of it.” Roman pulls away.

“That doesn’t make sense. I don’t panic.”

“That’s because you’re in my lands.” Survival appears in front of Roman and Remus. 

“Fuck.” Remus flinches and summons a ninja star, throwing it at Survival. The blade goes through Survival’s head. 

“What do you mean?” Roman questions. 

“Intrusive Thoughts is still active. Being here is heightening parts of his subconscious. Right now, his survival instances are heightened. His flight or fight response. And that response comes from an increase in anxiety.”

“Great.” Remus crosses his arms.

“So, each level we go up, something else will be heightened?” Roman questions.

“Correct. Now get up. The creatures won’t stop until they capture Remus.”

Roman gets up and offers his hand to Remus. 

Remus looks at it before slapping it away and getting up himself. 

Roman huffs. “Rude.”

“If you plan to bicker, at least bicker and walk. Keep up.” Survival starts moving. 

The twins follow after the Virgil look-a-like. 

“I didn’t realize bringing an active side down here would be so dangerous. It’s never been this hostile before.”

“You are seen as part of the subconscious, Creativity. You’re deactivated. Intrusive Thoughts is not. Thus, he is seen as a threat.” Survival leads the pair to a cave. “Here is the end of my land. You know what’s next. Stay safe.”

“Thank you, Survival.” Roman bows before heading into the cave.

Remus looks at the cave and then back around the forest area. He has a sinking feeling in his chest. 

“Intrusive Thoughts,” Survival calls out.

Remus looks down at the man. 

“While Creativity is not seen as a threat, he can still be collateral damage. Keep him safe.”

Remus’ mouth forms a thin line. He doesn’t like the idea of Roman being in danger. Not real danger. 

“Remus, get your stinky ass over here!” Roman calls out from inside the cave. His voice echoing off the walls. 

Remus looks away momentarily at the sound of his name being called. When he turns back, Survival is gone. The bastard could never sit still. Remus huffs and goes into the cave.

Chapter Text

Roman waits for Remus to catch up. His brother finally comes out of the cave and into the indigo library. The color is added to his pallet. “What took so long?”

Remus shrugs. “Survival had some last words to give.”

“Which where?”

“Don’t die.” 

Roman rolls his eyes. “Typical. Let’s just find Memory. Knowing him, he’s lost in a book again.” He starts walking deeper into the library. “How do you feel? Now that we’re out of the survival forest.” 

Remus shrugs. “I don’t feel that different.”

“Good, now stay focused. We don’t want to get distracted by…” 

Remus doesn’t pay attention to the rest of what his brother is saying. He hears laughing and sees two small indigo figures running around the rows of bookshelves. They look like younger versions of Roman and Remus. Remus can’t help but be drawn to follow them. Call him curious. 

“And whatever you do. Don’t open a book. Remus?” Roman looks around but can’t find his brother. “Remus?” He runs back, seeing Remus as he pulls a book off the shelf. “Remus!”

Remus opens the book, then he is sucked into it. The book falls to the ground. 

Roman groans. “He never listens.” He runs over and picks up the book. “Alright, here we go.” He opens the book and gets sucked into the pages.

…

Roman opens his eyes to see an open field. He knows these plains. This is a memory from the imagination. Roman finds Remus staring out over the hilltop. He makes his way over. “Remus, we’re you not--”

“Look,” Remus interrupts as he points down the hill. 

Roman looks down the hill to find their younger selves. 

Younger Roman holds up a wooden sword. “Come, brother. We must defeat the dragon witch!”

Younger Remus beams as he holds up a hammer. “Yeah!” 

Roman and Remus watch them run off to play pretend. 

“That’s us,” Roman says like he almost can’t believe it.

“Yeah,” Remus agrees in the same tone. 

“I can’t remember the last time we played together like that. What happened to us?”

Remus makes a sour face. “You know what.” 

A younger Patton rushes over. “Roman, come on.” He gasps as he sees Remus. “Roman, come here.” 

Younger Roman frowns as he walks up to Patton. 

“What did I say about hanging out with… him ?”

Younger Roman looks back at Remus. His brother has a frown on his face. “But he’s my brother.”

“He’s—”

“Evil?” A new voice says as a younger Janus appears behind Remus. Putting his hands on Remus’ shoulders. “That’s what you were going to say, right, Morality?”

Patton pulls Roman behind him. “Deceit, we mean no trouble.”

“I think you do.” 

“I don’t!” Patton denies. “I’m just going to take Roman, and we will be on our way.”

“But—” Roman tries to object. 

“No butts.” Patton drags Roman away. “You can’t trust them. They’re bad news.” 

Younger Remus’ eyes fill with tears. “Why does he do that?”

Janus puts his arm around Remus as he leads him away. “Because Morality is cold-hearted. Come along. You can play with Anxiety.”

“That is what happened,” Remus answers.

“Right.” Roman frowns at the scene. “We really were pulled away from each other.”

Remus laughs. “But of course! Because you were good and I was evil. It was our destiny to be enemies. Fighting to see who would be on top. But don’t worry because good always prevails.” 

“Remus,” Roman reaches out for his brother, but Remus slaps his hand away.

“You made your choice a long time ago.”

“Now that’s not fair. We were kids—”

“And what are we now? How are we any different than from back then?” Remus goes down the hill. 

Roman follows after him. “Well, you didn’t exactly make it easy either. With all of your terrible ideas.”

“Terrible ideas? I had great ideas. At least sometimes, but it didn’t matter. You never listened to me. No one listens to me except for Janus and sometimes Logan if I bug him enough. I have so many ideas, but they will never be ‘as good’ as yours.”

“Okay, name one good idea you had.”

“The skirts.”

Roman gaps. “How dare you. I came up with that.”

“No, you didn’t. I whispered that in your ear when you were asleep because that’s the only way I can get you to listen to me. When your fucking unconscious!” 

“You did not. There is no way—”

The scene changes to Roman’s room. Memory-Roman sleeping in his bed. Memory-Remus fights back a giggle as he whispers into Roman’s ear, “Wouldn’t it be great if we all dressed up in skirts?” 

Memory-Roman mumbles, “Skirts” in his sleep as he rolls over. 

Remus gestures at the scene. “I told you. It was my idea. But I knew no one would do it if I said it. So I had to feed it to you.”

Roman looks at the scene, shocked. “I never knew.”

“That was the point.”

“But why?”

“Jan always said we worked better in the shadows. And I said, you would never have agreed if I said it.”

Roman frowns. “What else did you—”

Before Roman could finish, Remus felt another sharp pain in his head. He hisses as he holds his temple.

“Remus.” Roman grabs his brother. The last time this happened, one of those creatures showed up. 

The scene changes to one in a swamp. Remus’ head pounds. Then the voice appears again. 

Intruder. 

Remus opens his eyes. “It’s back.”

A shadowy figure of a dragon witch appears in front of them and roars. 

“Run.” Roman holds onto Remus as the two run through the swamp.

Remus notices that he’s not as scared as the first time. Instead, he’s rather curious about the figure. Why does his head hurt before it appears? What factors result in the form it takes? What abilities does the creature have?

“Remus!”

Remus blinks as he sees they’re now hiding in a cave. When did they get in here?

Roman relaxes, finally getting through to his brother after carrying him here. “You blanked on me. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking.”

“Thinking?”

“I have a lot of questions.”

Roman groans. “You’re curious. Of course. Well, cut it out. We still need to find Memory and get out of here.”

“Survival showed up soon after the creature did. Maybe Memory will, too,” Remus offers.

“I hope so. Can I have a sword now?”

While Creativity is not seen as a threat, he can still be collateral damage. Keep him safe , Survival’s words play out in Remus’ mind. If Roman has a sword, he will surely go into battle. If Roman doesn’t have a sword, he can’t protect himself and can get hurt. What would happen to Roman if he got hurt? If he lost a limb here, would he get it back once they leave, or would he never get it back? Morals said that any injuries wouldn’t heal until they got out, so that implies they would heal once--

“Remus!” Roman snaps his fingers in front of his face. “I really need you to focus.”

Remus rubs his eyes. “I like to see you focus with a hundred different thoughts going through your mind simultaneously.”

“I’m Creativity. That’s my job.” 

“Well, it’s mine too.”

“It never seems to surprise me to find you two arguing.” 

The twins look over to see a translucent indigo figure designed after Logan stands before them. 

“Huh, I was right.”

“Where’s the dragon witch?” Roman questions. 

“Still looking for Intrusive Thoughts. And catching up. We must move.” Memory starts walking.

The twins follow after him.

“Hey, you’re smart. Why does my head hurt before one of those things appears?”

“The subconscious is going through your thoughts to create a foe it believes can stop you. Turning your thoughts into reality,” Memory explains. “The process seems to be painful. As you get closer to the exit, the creatures will get more powerful in their goal of stopping you.”

“I’ve fought the dragon witch multiple times. I can handle her.”

“This isn’t the same dragon witch you have encountered, Creativity. This one is born from Intrusive thoughts’ mind. It doesn’t follow your or his rules. I advise not getting cocky.”

Memory leads them through the swamp.

A roar interrupts them. 

Memory looks up. “I was not designed for fighting.” Then he disappears.

“Coward,” Remus huffs. 

“Get down!” Roman tackles Remus down as black flames shoot past them. 

“Right, okay. Focusing now.” Remus gets back up. 

“Sword, Remus!” Roman orders.

“Okay, fine.” Remus waves his hand and gives Roman a sword. 

The dragon witch lands on the ground. 

Roman charges the beast and swings his sword at the creature’s legs. The blade goes through her body, unscathed. “We can’t hit it.” 

The dragon swings her tail and smacks Roman with it as he flies into a tree, the wind knocked out of him. 

“Roman!” Remus growls as he grips onto his morning star. He charges with a battle cry. 

The dragon gets ready to breathe fire at Remus.

Roman looks at his brother. Time seems to slow down as Roman pushes himself up. “Remus!” He tackles Remus out of the way of the blast. Black flames ignite Roman’s leg and the left side of his body. Roman cries out as he tries to put himself out. 

Remus looks up at his brother. “Roman!”

Memory appears again and rips a hole into reality. “I’ve opened a portal to the next level. Go, I can’t hold it for long.” 

Remus doesn’t waste any time getting up and grabbing Roman, who manages to put himself out. Remus uses his tentacles to get through the portal just before it closes. 

Chapter Text

Remus and Roman land in a yellow house. 

Roman winces in pain, with Remus landing on top of him. 

Remus pushes himself off of Roman as he looks down at his brother. Yellow has been added to their pallet, except for Roman’s left leg, up half his left side, and spots on his hands. Those areas have turned back to black and white. Remus hits Roman. “Why the hell did you do that for?”

“You mean saving your life?”

“I can still heal, dumbass! You can’t.”

Roman sits himself up. “I wasn’t thinking, okay? I saw you were in danger, and I reacted.”

“When will you learn to care for yourself properly, Creativity?” A translucent yellow figure designed after Janus walks up to the bickering twins.

“Hey, S.C.”

Remus looks at Roman. “You call him S.C., too?”

“Well, yeah. Because—”

“Calling him Self-Care all the time is annoying.” The twins finish together. 

“Glad to see you two getting along somewhat.” S.C. kneels next to Roman as he looks him over. 

“Why is he black and white again?”

“The creatures are trying to destroy you, correct? This is how.” He lifts Roman’s leg and then drops it. It falls like a rock. “Can you move that?”

Roman grunts as he tries to move his injured leg. “No. I don’t feel it now that I think about it.”

Remus bites his thumb. 

“That’s what I thought. Consider it non-existent.” S.C. looks at Remus. “You were warned to protect him.”

“Yeah? Well, he doesn’t make it easy.”

“If I hadn’t done anything, you would have been gone forever.”

Remus looks away. Would that be so bad?

S.C. smacks Remus upside the head.

“Hey.”

“None of that, Intrusive Thoughts. Not in my land. You two play a valuable part in making Thomas function. We need both of you. Preferably working together, but we make do with what we have.”

The twins look at each other.

“Help me up,” Roman orders as he offers his hand.

Remus takes it and pulls Roman to his feet. Although Roman ends up leaning on Remus. 

“We need to get you two out of here before the creature shows up. Follow me.” S.C. goes upstairs. 

Roman and Remus look at the stairs before looking at each other.

Roman groans. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Remus helps Roman get up the stairs. “I could carry you.”

“Nope. I got it.” Roman has to manually pick up his leg with his hands to get it up the next steps. 

Remus rolls his eyes as he scoops Roman up and uses his tentacles to climb the rest of the stairs. He smirks at his brother as he sets him down. “Now, was that so bad?”

Roman huffs. “I could have done it.”

“In 15 years.”

Roman opens his mouth.

“Enough,” S.C. calls out. “We don’t have time.”

Roman closes his mouth. He looks at the ground as Remus helps him walk. “The skirts were a good idea.”

Remus glances at his brother before looking away. “I know.”

“What exactly do you… manage?”

Remus raises a brow. “Seriously? You don’t know?”

“Just remind me.”

“I’m his intrusive thoughts. But I’m also kinda like his impulse control. I have no shame. I want Thomas to be able to explore things. I don’t really care about social norms. So what if Thomas wants to put on a dress and slay? Let him. It’s 2023, who gives a rats ass? What if he wants to try pole dancing? One of my favorite ideas to get through. Are all my ideas great? Obviously not, but I shouldn’t be ignored. I have a voice, too.”

“Yeah… you do.”

Remus burps. “Ugh, that was gross. What was that?”

“You’re coming to terms with your value. In response to being in my land,” S.C. answers. 

“Great, so I’m sincere?”

“Insightful,” S.C. corrects. 

Remus rolls his eyes before the pain comes back to his head. This time, it hurts more than the last two times combined. Remus curls up on himself and cries out.

“Remus.” Roman holds onto his brother.

S.C. turns back to look at Remus. “It’s too late.” 

A shadow figure moves too quickly for anyone to decipher before it rams into S.C. and takes him away. 

“S.C.!” Roman looks back at Remus. “Remus, we need to move.”

The pain lingers on; the subconscious isn’t done fucking with him yet. Remus presses his hands against his head as he screams.

Intruder.

A shadowy figure appears. It looks like Roman. 

“Seriously?” Roman complains.

Remus picks Roman up as he books it down the never-ending hallway. 

“We need to find S.C.”

“I need to hide you.”

Roman looks at Remus. “What?”

“You are not getting hurt again.”

A shadowy figure appears in front of the twins. This figure looks like Remus.

Remus looks behind him to see the Shadow Roman catching up. “Two of them? Seriously?” A few tentacles attach to the ceiling as Remus swings over his shadow copy. 

The shadow throws a ninja star that slices through one of Remus’ tentacles. 

Remus cries out as he falls to the ground, no longer having enough tentacles on the ceiling to hold up his and Roman’s weight. 

Roman pushes Remus off of him and blocks a swing of the shadow’s morning star with the flat end of his sword. 

Remus looks at his cut tentacle. It has gone black and white. He looks over at Roman, pushing against the morning star of his copy. “Roman.” He summons his own weapon and swings at the shadow. 

The shadow gets knocked back. 

Remus grabs Roman’s hand to pull him up.

Roman looks behind Remus, his eyes widening. “Behind—”

A shadow blade goes through Remus’ side. He looks down to see his colors consumed by a spread of black and white. 

Roman gets up enough to tackle the shadow. The blade is pulled out of Remus. 

Remus feels cold, frozen from the wound. 

A door appears next to Remus. S.C. appears, and using some extra hands, he grabs Roman and Remus and shoves them through the door. 

Roman and Remus lay on the ground for a long moment. Roman looks at his brother. “Are you okay?”

The monotone color recedes as the wound heals. “I’m okay,” Remus assures as he sits up. They are in what looks like Roman’s room. 

“We got our asses handed to us,” Roman complains. “We need a plan.”

Remus stares at the ceiling. His mind wanders. “All the facets keep saying that we need to work together.”

“And?”

“Well, they’re boring. That means they talk straightforwardly. If we are going to get out of here alive, we need to work together.”

“Okay, but how? I’m a leg down, remember.” Roman thinks. “Wait, your powers still work. You can fix my leg.”

“I can’t heal you. That’s not in my wheelhouse.”

“No, but you can transform me. You have always been better at that than me.”

“What did you say?”

“You can transform me.”

“No, after that.”

“You have always been better—” Roman catches himself as he glares at Remus. “You heard me.”

Remus smirks. “I can’t believe you would admit to me being better than you at anything.”

Roman huffs. “Will you transform me or not?”

Remus cracks his fingers before winging them at Roman. 

Roman looks down to see his left leg replaced with a robotic one. He blinks at it.

“What? Did you really think I would give you a boring old leg?”

“No, I like it. It’s cool.” Roman stands up. “This is perfect.” He tests out his leg. 

Remus softens. Roman likes his leg.

“Okay. We need to get back out there and find S.C.”

Remus grabs his morning star. “And let me be the meat shield.”

They exit the room and look down the hall. Everything is quiet for now. 

“Hey… you didn’t set this leg to blow or anything, right?” Roman asks.

“As funny as that would be, now didn’t seem like the time to plant a bomb in your leg.”

They sneak down the corridor, keeping an eye out for shadow creatures. 

Roman sees a movement in the shadows and pushes Remus away as Shadow Roman swipes at them with his sword. 

Remus rights himself as he swings his morning star at the shadow. 

The shadow gets knocked back, slamming into the wall. 

The twins run down the hall, opening doors to the recreations of the side’s rooms. “S.C.?” They call out. 

Roman opens the door to Remus’ room. Then gets hit in the chest with the morning star. Roman stumbles back from Shadow Remus as he coughs. 

Remus looks at his copy over Roman and sees red. He rushes at his shadow and swings his morning star down on it. Then he keeps swinging it down and down on the shadow. He will turn his copy into shadow soup. 

Roman looks up as his shadow gets closer to Remus. “Re, behind—”

Shadow Roman stabs Remus through the back and out the chest with its blade. 

Remus gasps as he drops his morning star; his colors quickly fade as he stands there.

“Remus!” Roman tries to get to him, but his robot leg disappears, and without the support, he falls over. “Remus!”

Shadow Roman pulls the sword out of Remus’ body. 

Remus collapses as he rolls onto his back and stares at the shadow version of his brother. This isn’t how Remus thought he would go out. He always thought there would be more blood and guts and screaming. Maybe his body getting eaten by a hungry wolf or torn apart limb by limb. He feels cold as he stares at the shadow. Some part of his mind fills into the silhouette; the image of Roman being the one to kill him seems poetic. Good conquers evil. Remus’ eyes close.

Roman watches his brother stop moving. “Remus!” he wails as he crawls his way towards him. 

S.C. appears as he shoves Shadow Roman away from Remus. He uses his extra hands to pick up Remus and open a door. He throws Remus inside before grabbing Roman and tossing him in as well. 

Chapter Text

Roman rolls across the floor before he hits a wall. He looks up to see he’s in a red tower. The walls are covered in artwork. He looks at Remus, still unmoving on the ground. “Remus!”

Roman drags his way over to him. His chest has lost its color. “Get up.” Roman shakes Remus. “Wake up! You don’t get to die on me, you hear? You can’t die. You can’t leave me like this.” Roman blinks back tears. “I’m sorry! Okay. You were right. You were right about everything. I tore us apart. I shunned you. But you can’t leave me. You can’t leave before I can make things right. Please. I’ll be a better brother. Just give me another chance.”

The color starts to crawl back as Remus’ wound heals. 

Roman lets out a breath. He’s healing. He’s going to be okay. Roman dries his eyes. It’s not too late to fix things. Roman looks around the tower. It’s like the Memory Hall; all the fun is in the pages. But which art piece is the door out of here? “Passion? Could really use your help, buddy. Preferably before those creatures catch up.”

A translucent red figure designed after Roman appears in front of him. “Creativity.”

Roman relaxes. “I can always count on you to show up quickly.”

“Of course, I am the most reliable one,” Passion gloats. Out of all the facets, Passion has the most personality. As in, he has a huge, massive ego. You can see where Roman gets it from. “You two have been doing a great job getting here.”

Roman leans against the wall. “Hardly. We keep having to be saved by the other facets. I’m down a leg, and Remus—” Roman looks at his brother. “I almost lost him.”

Passion sits next to Roman. “That would be bad. But you are making it out. It’s just one more layer after this one, then you’re home free.”

Roman relaxes. “It’s good to hear some optimism after the day we have been having. All I wanted to do was come up with ideas for tomorrow’s meeting, and now I’m in a life-and-death situation that could alter Thomas for the rest of his life if I failed.”

“We.”

“What?”

“If we fail. You are not alone here, Creativity. As you said, the facets have been helping you. And as for video ideas, I can’t think of a better person to help you than him.” Passion nods toward Remus. 

Roman looks at his brother. “He’s Creativity, too. Sometimes, I can’t see through my ego to admit that.”

“You two have evolved to be separate beings, but you are stronger when you work together. What is Creativity than different viewpoints? Good, bad, right, wrong, Yin and Yang. You two are a duality. You need each other to balance out.”

“What if he doesn’t want to work with me? What if I lost my chance?”

“You haven’t,” Passion says simply. 

Remus groans, “What the fuck fucked me this time?”

Roman almost laughs as he grabs onto his brother. “You’re okay!”

Remus blinks as his vision clears. “Well, duh. Of course, I’m okay. Who do you take me for?”

Roman does laugh now. Remus is okay. “Oh, great. Now you have an ego.”

Remus smirks, “What do you mean now? I’ve always had an ego, bitch.”

Roman shakes his head, not bothered by being called a bitch. It’s not too late. He can still fix this. They can still fix this. “Remus,” Roman hesitates. A hundred different ways of saying this goes through his mind. “I promise. When we get out of here, things will be different.”

Remus rolls his eyes, clearly not believing it. But too tired to really argue about it anymore. He just wants to go home and take a nap. He’s all about pain and torture, but he’s exhausted. Two almost-death experiences are one too many, in his opinion. “Whatever you say, Ro.”

Roman will have to put a pin in it for now. They need to focus on getting out of here. “We have one more level left. Your level. Compulsion will be hard to track down. He’s like Survival, can never sit still.”

“He’s probably in his lab. You know he can’t help but test crazy theories. I like hanging out with him when I get sent here. Sometimes, I just chill with him for hours before leaving.”

“I am not surprised by that.” Roman scans his brother’s face, seeing the exhaustion in his eyes and how his eyeshadow looks darker. His hair looks more greasy from sweat. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” Remus coughs into his hand. “Two small stab wounds don’t bother me.” 

“He’s fine,” Passion assures. “Tough as nails, that one.”

Roman glances at Passion. He would say that even if they were dying. Passion refuses to show any weakness in himself or in others. 

Remus looks at Passion and blinks. “How long have you been here?”

“The whole time. Now get up. I’ll get the door open for you.” Passion stands up and jumps into one of the pictures. 

Roman looks at Remus. “I need my leg back.”

Remus stands up. “On it.” He snaps his fingers, giving Roman back his robot leg. He feels a throbbing pain in his head. This one is more normal than the piercing pain he’s been having all day. This is the type of pain from using too much energy at once. He ignores the pain as he pulls Roman to his feet. This is no time to be a bitch. Remus has done much more with less before and now is no different. 

“We really need to think of a plan for the next level. I’m getting tired of these creatures kicking our asses.”

“What are you thinking? Because plans aren’t really my thing. I usually leave that to Double Dee.” 

Roman paces as he thinks. They’re not working together. They’re acting as individuals in a fight instead of as a unit. It’s all they know how to do. Both of them are fighters who do combat by themselves. The others don’t join Roman in his adventures, and they sure as hell don’t join Remus on his. Roman had to learn to rely on himself and only himself. Remus is most likely the same in that regard. So, how do two individuals come together? 

Roman stops to look at Remus, who is growing bored and waiting for Roman to hurry up. “We keep throwing ourselves at each other to block attacks. Which leaves that person open for another attack. We need to stop pushing each other to the ground. Make us shields, and then we use those to block. Then, while you’re blocking, I can go around and strike.”

Remus snaps his fingers and summons two shields—one green and one red, of course. He has to keep with the theming. The throbbing spikes like his head is being squeezed by an iron press. He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment but refuses to make a sound. He is not weak. 

“Are you okay?” Roman looks around. Whenever Remus shows pain, one of those shadows shows up. 

“I’m fine.”

“Are you fine, or is that your massive ego talking?”

Remus growls as he shoves Roman’s shield into his chest. “Take your damn shield.”

Roman takes the shield. “Seriously, are you—”

“I said I’m fine. It’s not the shadow pain.” Remus summons a sword for Roman and his morning star for himself. 

Passion comes back and snaps his fingers. One of the drawings slides down and transforms into a door. “There you are. First class ticket to the laboratory.”

“Thank you, Passion.” 

Passion waves Roman off. “Anytime. But seriously, don’t do this again.” He disappears. 

Roman looks at Remus. “Ready?”

“I was born ready.” 

Roman and Remus go through the doorway—one more chapter left in their adventure.