Us

Remus

"Remus!" The child heard the host call.

Was this a new game!? Remus loved new games! Maybe it was like hide and seek!

"Catch me if you can RoRo!" Remus laughed, running away from the voice.

The six year old heard Roman chasing him through the trees.

"Remus no! It's not a game!" Roman yelled, "Something bad happened and we need to get back to the others!"

Remus giggled, "I know! But I wanna play!"

"Remus, it's not time to play! This is serious!" Roman growled.

"Catch me big brother!" Remus ran out of the trees and down to the beach.

Roman felt a spear of pain in his heart.

"You're not my brother!" Roman huffed, walking down to where Remus was playing in the waves, "now let's go."

Remus shook his head, "I still wanna play!"

"I know Remus, but Janus and everyone else is waiting for us!" Roman insisted.

Remus just smiled, splashing some water at Roman, "Come swim with me Big Bro!"

"You're not my real brother Remus!" Roman grit his teeth, starting to get irritated with the child.

"Of course I am!" Remus giggled, "I'm your little brother!"

"No you're not!" Roman yelled, "My brother died twenty years ago! You're just an alter my mind made up to cope with him dying in front of me! And now we're in a coma and who the hell knows how we're going to get back to Virgil, and his system, and Patton, and Logan! So shut up and just listen for once!"

Roman was shaking by the time he finished talking. His eyes were fixed on the ground, glaring at the memories that kept invading his thoughts.

"Roman..." Remus sounded older.

Roman looked up to see Remus standing in front of him. He was an inch or two taller, and had a mustache to frame his sad smile.

"You haven't been in a coma for a long time." Remus whispered.

This man stared at him, shocked, "What..?"

"Time moves different in a headspace I guess." Remus shrugged, "it's been weeks since your accident. You died the moment you found Little Remus."

Roman felt a little hand grip his. He looked down to see his little alter smiling up at him.

"W-whats about everyone else?" Roman asked quietly, "Prince, Remy, Janus..."

"They're all waiting for you." Remus smiled.

"A-and Virge and the twins..?" Roman looked at his brother with pleading eyes.

"They'll be okay RoRo." Little Remus giggled, "Big me said you can watch over them! And I can watch too!"

Roman choked on a laugh, "Alright."

"Are you ready Roman?" Remus asked, holding his hand out.

Roman gave him a smile and took his hand, "yeah, I'm ready Remus."