Chapter Text
February was getting colder, and the gentle tapping of rain on his windows was once again inviting Thomas to cuddle up on the sofa in a blanket and doom-scroll, and this time - the first in a while - he actually indulged himself.
Glancing at a candle on the side, he thought to himself for a moment before walking over to the kitchen and grabbing a safety match to light it. A small flame danced around the wick, slowly melting the candle wax around it as Thomas picked up the candle gingerly and placed it on a coffee table in front of the sofa. Smiling softly as he hummed the tune for ‘Wait for It’ to himself (he was stuck singing Hamilton again), he grabbed a blanket and his phone, sitting on the sofa and inhaling the subtle scent of vanilla wafting from the newly-lit candle.
Snuggling in the blanket, he turned on his phone and started scrolling on Instagram, looking at all the new Percy Jackson Series posts. The series was amazing, and the actors were portraying the characters quite well - he'd know, he read the books - and he wanted to support them where he could. He remembered all the times he dreamed of being a demigod or some sort of hero, having those cool powers and being able to fight monsters.
He heard a dreamy sigh somewhere next to him and glanced over to see Roman, the Creative Side's hair regally combed to the side and his amber eyes glinting with excitement at the idea of fighting monsters. The prince winked at Thomas and conjured his samurai sword, standing up and slashing at the air.
“You know, Thomas,” he started, slashing at invisible opponents with a grin on his face. “I think it'd be truly marvellous if we had our own adventures! Our own monsters to fight, with some handsome young prince to save! And-”
“Woah, slow down Princey.” Thomas shook his head and smiled. “I think I'd love to just sit here and take a break from all of those monsters. Don't you think that's a good idea?”
Roman sulked and pouted, his lips slightly jutting out sadly.
“But…adventure awaits us! There are dreams to follow! Monsters to fight-”
They both heard a mischievous giggle from the other side of the room as a voice spoke.
“That's not all we can do with the monsters~!”
Remus was leaning against the wall, his eyes shining as he grinned widely at both Thomas and Roman, wiggling his eyebrows with no subtlety in sight.
Thomas groaned and grabbed the nearest throw pillow, using it as its name suggested as he hurled it at Remus’ head. Remus - being a figment of Thomas' imagination - didn't get hit, but a lampshade behind him did. Thomas grimaced and sunk deeper into the sofa, sighing. There goes his relaxing day off, apparently.
Remus raised an eyebrow and grinned, looking at the throw pillow and then back at Thomas.
“Kinky! So, what are we doing today? I have a few ideas-”
“Nope! We're not doing anything you suggest today. This is supposed to be Thomas' day off!”
Patton had risen up, his brown hair messy and glasses slightly lopsided. He frowned at Remus and shook his head, then turned to Thomas and smiled widely.
“Hey, kiddo! You have fun and enjoy your day off, ok?”
“Hey Pat, and thanks, I appreciate-”
A familiar throat clearing from another side of the living room interrupted the little reunion.
“Thomas. As much as a day of relaxation may be desired today, you very well know that you have a bunch of chores piling up and that you need to get them done.”
Roman groaned loudly at Logan's statement and booed at him. Patton, smiling slightly at Roman's reaction, looked at Logan and gave his own opinion on the matter, his cheery voice lighting up the atmosphere of the room.
“Logan, buddy, Thomas needs a break! He worked so hard yesterday, he deserves this. He can do those chores later-”
“Indeed! Today's the day to fight monsters and save princes or princesses!” Roman butted in, stabbing his sword at invisible threats. Remus giggled and opened his mouth to say something, but Logan cut him off.
“Thomas didn't work that much yesterday. We, no, I made a list of things we needed to do yesterday, and Thomas only finished half of the items on that list. It is in his best interest that he finishes those tasks instead of procrastinating again.”
The room darkened, shadows condensing in a familiar shape as they bent and shifted colour, adding purples to the black. After a second, in the place of those shadows stood Virgil, piercing milk chocolate-coloured irises with lilac flecks framed by the dark eyeshadow beneath his eyes. He glared at Remus and then looked at Thomas.
“Hate to say this man, but I agree with Logan. You're behind on stuff, and you basically left out half of the things on yesterday's list. If you don't do anything today, well, face it, what's the point of your existence?”
Patton's face fell and he turned to Virgil.
“Kiddo…that- that's a little much, don't you think? I'm sure it's not that bad!”
Virgil looked to the floor and muttered under his breath. “Isn’t it, though? Things aren't exactly improving around here, Patton. And distracting himself isn't going to make anything better.”
Roman gave the emo nightmare a concerned glance and hesitantly walked over to him.
“Well…recently, you've been…better? I think, at least.”
Virgil flinched away from Roman and looked away.
“Yeah well maybe something's changed. Or, nothing's changed.”
Roman looked…hurt. The Prince's face fell and he looked at Virgil, trying to find the right words to say. But before he could say anything, Remus laughed maniacally. As they all turned to see him, his eyes subtly glowing green as he turned to Virgil and put his hands on his own face, as if in shock.
“Aw, Virgey-”
“Don't call me that.”
“-please tell me you're planning on rejoining the Dark Sides?”
“No.”
Virgil's voice echoed through the room, sinister undertones causing everyone except Remus and Logan to shiver, and Thomas' breathing quickened slightly. Morality, worried for Thomas now, tried to crack a smile and calm everyone down.
“Hey! Deep breaths everyone. And no, Remus. Virgil's good, he's one of us now! He's part of the group!”
“Sure he is, and I'm straight! Oh wait, I'm not. And Virgil's not exactly one of you, either! He was a Dark Side. Like me.”
Remus grinned, his eyes twinkling as his silver bangs fell slightly over them. Logan, who had been trying to speak for a while now, cleared his throat, annoyed now.
“Thomas, please. You need to-”
“Ooh! you know what? We can't have this party without my little snake friend! Ohh, Ja-nus!” Remus called out, completely ignoring Logan's attempt at getting the group back on track. “Would you like to join us?”
There was a slight humming sound as a low chuckle filled the air and Janus appeared, his deep black capelet covering his shoulders elegantly. His golden eye shone as he nodded at Remus, who clapped his hands with a wide grin.
“Now the party can start!”
Janus smirked and rubbed his gloved hands together, eyes darting to everyone in the room. Roman pointed his sword at Janus and yelled as loud as he could, startling everyone there.
“DECEIT!”
Snapping a finger near his ears as if to test his hearing, Janus rolled his eyes at the Prince and clapped thrice, each sound slow and mocking.
“Wow, everyone seems so happy to see me here! I feel so welcome.”
Virgil hissed at him.
“We get it, you're here. And definitely going to make things worse.”
“Oh yes, and it's definitely not you that's the problem.”
Growling at Janus, Virgil looked absolutely prepared to fight him, shoulders tensing.
“I'll show you who's the freaking problem, snake-”
As they continued arguing, with Patton trying to calm them both down and Remus annoying Roman, Thomas stayed quiet. He was just trying to relax, but with Virgil feeling like that… Thomas' anxiety escalated, and he closed his eyes and tried to breathe in slowly through his nose, inhaling the sweet smell of vanilla. There goes his day off, but he still didn't feel up to doing those tasks he had left over from yesterday. Admittedly, thinking about the huge pile of clothes he had to sort and long hours of video editing that he had ahead of him didn't seem too tempting at the moment. Though trying to block out the yelling proved to be severely difficult when Virgil punched Janus in the face, and the snake-man yelled and retaliated, punching him back.
“Boys, stop!” Patton cried out, eyes brimming with tears as he saw Virgil fighting. Meanwhile, Remus was laughing loudly and randomly swinging his morningstar at Roman, who dodged and countered the attack with a stabbing motion of his sword. The fighting got louder and louder and Thomas frantically looked over to Logan - he was usually the voice of reason. But Logic was looking down at the ground with his hands clenched, knuckles white. Thomas watched in silent awe as Logan's hands started glowing with a slight orange colour before he looked up, an expression of pure anger and frustration on his face.
“EVERYONE, STOP.”
Logan's eyes glowed a bright, blazing orange as long orange chains made from what looked like links of fire erupted from his hands and proceeded to wrap themselves around everyone except Thomas and Patton. The chains tightened around the remaining four sides, coiling around their bodies and covering their mouths. Roman looked at Logan, a look of confusion and frustration on his face as he struggled against the fiery bonds, unable to talk as the ones around his mouth turned into a blazing muzzle, akin to the ones on the other Sides’ faces. Virgil struggled in his chains, a look of recognition flashing in his eyes. Logan's eyes, which had always been a shade of deep blue, now burned with the same orange as the flames around the room.
Patton, who had been frozen in shock, snapped out of it and screamed out to Logan, even if there seemed to be a look of recognition mixed with horror in his eyes.
“P-please, Logan, stop! How are you doing this? Please, let them go!”
Logan - was it still Logan? - looked over Patton and grinned. Grinned. Logan never grinned! Those orange eyes shone, and the person - whoever they may be - tilted his head to the side and spoke in a rough, low voice.
“Well, Sunshine-” Not-Logan smiled at Patton, toying playfully with the chains holding Virgil and Janus. “-since you asked so nicely, I'd be happy to.”
The chains relented their tight grip and the sides were released. Remus clapped his hands together excitedly and smiled widely at Not-Logan.
“Oh good, you've made it! You're so much more interesting than boring old Logan!”
Janus rubbed his wrists, still sore from the chains. He glanced warily at those orange eyes and took a small step backwards, a look of confusion quickly erased off of his face and replaced with a neutral one.
“Well, look who’s here. Didn't miss you at all, too. So... how have things been going, Anger?”
Roman gaped at Janus for a moment, gaze flitting between him and Not-Logan. Anger… another side? An orange side? Grasping his sword, he took a stance and pointed the Samurai blade towards the orange-eyed side.
“Who are you, and what did you do to Logan?!”
Virgil looked towards Anger and then at Patton.
“Are we just gonna ignore the fact that this guy just called Patton Sunshine?”
Since everyone else was fairly distracted, they did, in fact, ignore it.
Anger glanced at Roman's sword and laughed carelessly, the sound off-putting coming out of Logan's mouth.
“Oh, I'm just borrowing Logan for a bit. He's been pretty, let's say, pissed at most of you for quite a while now, and I just wanted to help the poor guy out! See, I'm not that bad.”
It was safe to say that these words were not the most convincing they'd ever heard. Virgil hissed at Anger and took a step forward, darkness pooling in his hands. Thomas glanced at it in shock. Everything was…changing, so quickly. He was feeling so many emotions at once. Worry, anger, a very heightened anxiety, and confusion. All of the fighting, which to Thomas was just internal conflict, was close to figuratively driving him insane. Logan had some weird orange side (with really powerful magical abilities, apparently) hiding inside him? And Virgil could control shadows? All of this was starting to give him a really bad migraine. Thomas looked at Not-Logan and spoke, his voice barely audible.
“Please leave Logan alone. Just…don't use his body anymore. Please.”
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