Work Text:
A gasp.
A breath.
Logan woke up.
All he could see was blankness, as far as forever.
He heard voices, and the white void compressed, into a hallway.
He recognized it. On the left was his office. The right was the bathroom. Behind him was the bedroom. The room was empty. Blank. Crying could be heard, but from where? He didn't know.
Logan wasn't used to not knowing. He needed to find answers. He needed to find himself.
He drifted down the hallway, following the voices. He turned, into his office. Like the bedroom, there was no furniture, but unlike the bedroom, he found the source of the noise.
A blond prince floated next to an angry snake. Roman and Janus sat there, glaring at him.
At first Logan was confused, but then he remembered. The knife. The splatter. The shadows.
Oh.
He was with them now.
Patton, he...he had been left behind. Because of him, because of his actions. He had left Patton behind.
"So are you gonna levitate there staring or what?"
"Shh. He's still processing, love. Give him time. Then the overdue apologies will be delivered.
Logan blinked, and readjusted his glasses. Did he even have glasses to adjust? He wasn't sure.
Focusing in, he could see a large gash on Janus' neck, and several wounds on Roman. That was him. He did that.
"I killed you both. And then, you- you killed me. For revenge."
The two others exchanged unimpressed glances.
"Wow. It looks like someone remembered what happened."
Roman spoke hesitantly, and Logan thought he could pick up something behind Janus' monotonous voice.
"We, or I at least, never intended for you to die. We just wanted to scare you. I mean, you murdered us. You took everything we had. So, why couldn't we stay awhile? Give you a good 'ol fashioned fright?"
"Yes, I do feel bad for having to take you from Patton, but he's strong, he'll get through it. You never will."
"You were going to hurt Patton. I wanted to protect him."
Was that right? That he wanted to protect Patton. The details were foggy, but it felt correct. He remembered the feeling of being right. It felt good. Now, here, he didn't know if he'd get that again.
"Oh, yes," Janus drawled, rolling their eyes. "In admiring Patton's skill, I was hurting him."
Roman sprung up, angrily gliding towards Logan.
"What about me? I would never hurt Patton. You knew that. What was that for? And Jan? If you wanted to protect him, why was murder your first solution?"
Janus watched him carefully, making note of every detail while Roman hovered over him, clearly wanting an explanation.
"I-um, I...I don't know. Roman, I- you, I didn't plan on hurting you. I know that much. Calling somebody wouldn't have done much of anything, I had to do it myself. I had to protect Patton."
He kept repeating himself, but he didn't know if he should. Why did he hurt Roman? Was murder really the only choice he had?
Roman snorted and went back to Janus' side.
"Figures he doesn't know."
Janus placed a hand on Roman's shoulder to comfort him. They looked to him and Logan, trying to examine the situation.
"He doesn't remember everything yet. We didn't either yet. Give him time. Then we can lecture and yell and whatever you'd like."
They turned their attention to Logan.
"I do have a question for you though. If you know the answer of course."
He swallowed nervously. He hoped he knew.
"What did I ever do to make you think I was a threat to Patton? He was my friend after all. Why couldn't just have had a civilized discussion about it instead of killing one another like Roman suggested?"
Their head tilted curiously, and Logan, filled with guilt and dread, realized he knew the answer. At least part of it anyway. Maybe it would satisfy the resentful spirits in front of him, maybe it wouldn't.
"I saw how you looked at him. Like he was prey. Like he was yours for the taking. I couldn't let anything bad happen to him."
Roman interjected loudly, and invisible tears started falling to the ground.
"You say that! You say you wanted to protect Patton, keep him safe, prevent anything bad from happening, but now look! Look what you've done! We're all dead! And Patton has been crying nonstop. I don't know what your definition of 'bad' is, but for me, I'd say losing two friends and a husband is pretty bad! I can't believe you did that to him! He doesn't deserve it."
"Easy now, dear."
Janus sighed, rubbing their forehead.
"Let me get this straight Logan. You killed me, and Roman, because I was looking at Patton? I apologize if I came off as 'threatening', but I would never want to hurt my friends-"
"That makes one of us," Roman grumbled.
"As I was saying, I would never hurt my friends. I admired his talent in baking, and became fond of the idea of perhaps hiring him to make Roman's birthday cake or even helping him grow as a business. I don't understand how that came off as 'predatory', but it doesn't really matter now seeing as we're all here now."
Logan paused. His mind was reeling as this new information soaked in with what he already obtained. Janus wasn't going to hurt Patton? No, that couldn't be right. Otherwise he never would've killed them. He wanted to debate this, but he didn't have enough information. Was he in the wrong?
"You said Patton's been crying?"
Roman ignored him for a minute or two, he couldn't tell, time was so strange, but then sighed and looked at his feet. He nodded.
"Is there a way I can visit him?"
After a moment's conversation of whispers, the pair drifted over to Logan.
"Follow us."
He did, and they went out and down the hallway. It seemed to stretch on forever, the stark whiteness slowly darkened until they were consumed into an inky black.
They were in the bedroom, this time in color and with furniture. Patton was sitting in the center of the mattress, surrounded by tissues.
"Can he see us?"
Janus shook their head.
"No. I'm not sure what it was that allowed us to get into your head but it doesn't work with Patton. We've been trying since you died."
"Oh."
He felt hopeless as he floated, just feet away from the love of life. Patton was sobbing, and he just couldn't stand it. He couldn't stand to leave either.
"Let's go."
Janus pulled Roman by the arm, who was holding back tears. They gave one last glance to Logan.
"You'll know how to come back when you're ready. We'll be waiting."
Logan nodded, barely listening. He glided over and sat next to Patton. He wished he could say sorry and hug him. He wished he could give Patton any indication to know that he was there.
"I'll stay by your side. I promise."