The King - Sanders Sides

Chapter Four

Logan perked up from down the stairs, lowering his newspaper at the subtle sounds of a high-pitched scream. Virgil seemed to hear it too, even through his sound-proof headphones that began blasting music upon removing them from his head. Janus, as well, acknowledged the noise from his spot in the kitchen. It made the nerd feel a little better knowing that he at least didn't make it up.

"W-Was that Patton?" Virgil pondered anxiously, looking at the staircase the fatherly figure had recently disappeared up.

"I believe it was," Logan answered apprehensively.

"Wasn't he going to Roman's room?" Janus remembered. The three shot each other scared glance. They knew Roman was angry but not to the point of yelling at the side he once called a "puffball."

Logan stood up, the other two sides had eyes locked on him as he walked up a few of the steps of the stairs. He extended his neck to try and see Roman's room from his spot. To his confusion, he could only catch a glimpse of a black door where the creative side's room was.

"Patton? Roman? Is everything okay up there?" Logan called out.

Through the magic of the mind palace, a crack of laughter could be heard. It was bone-chilling, going as far as to make Logan step down a few stairs. The three confused sides lashed their heads around the room, Virgil standing up tense and Janus approaching him as they tried to find the source of the laughter. It sounded like no one they had ever heard before. No one they ever knew-or thought they knew.

The logical side's head turned back to the stairs, his body running cold when he saw who was on top of them. Virgil and Janus tracked his eyes, gasping at the side standing there. It was Roman; at least it looked like Roman. An all-black suit with red accents and a dark crown that was cracked and jagged.

More than anything, they were staring at Patton. The usually perky side was on his knees, head fallen forwards with Roman's hand on his shoulder. His shirt was ripped, hands tied behind him, and glasses cracked with a black eye above his blood-dripping lip.

"I heard you were looking for me?" Roman smirked with a deep voice. With no remorse, he let Patton go, the others helplessly watched him tumble down the remaining stairs. He didn't even fight, just rolling like a log until he fell into Logan's arms at the bottom of the staircase.

"Roman, what the fuck did you do?" Virgil seethed, his words echoing in rage while Janus summoned his staff.

"What? I was just showing one of my 'most loyal' subjects what happens when he disobeys his king," Roman growled.

"This is unlike you, Roman!" Logan snapped, tightly clutching to Patton's form.

"And to take it out on Patton of all people!" Janus exclaimed, catching the King's attention at last, "He did not deserve this, I know you know that!"

"Ah yes, and you're right. After all, it was you that brought this upon everyone else!" Roman pointed fingers, the snake looking taken back.

"What did I do to you, Roman?"

"You know exactly what you've done! You've turned them all against me! You've crowned yourself the ruler of the mind when you are nothing more than a frail peasant!" The king snapped his finger, shackles locking themselves around Janus' wrists that were connected to his neck. The weight of it dropped Janus to his knees, struggling to fight it.

Virgil leaned over to try and help Janus. While the snake fought his restraints, Virgil struck a look at Roman. "What has gotten into you, dude?! This isn't like you! I know you were mad but this isn't you!"

"Like you know who I am! You're too deep in your own 'personal growth' that you don't know anything about anyone else. You haven't changed a bit since the moment we first met! You're still a crazy little kid!" Virgil snarled at the comment, darting up the stairs in a blind burst of confidence to attack the king. It was worthless.

Roman snapped his fingers once more, Virgil immediately being wrapped in a straitjacket. The side fell to knees in shock, rolling back down the stairs as well with Logan barely being able to move Patton out of the way of the side's barreling body.

"Roman, that is enough!" Logan shot, his glare doing nothing to fear the empowered side.

"It's worse than I thought. He's corrupted all of you!" Roman accused, finger pointed at Janus.

"What are you talking about?" The snake fired back.

"You've turned them all to dark sides! They all believe in you now when they know good and well that I'm the most important side! I keep order! I keep Thomas happy! And all you do is keep him dishonest and weak! He's pulled the wool over all your eyes, but not me! I will make Thomas everything I know he can be!"

"Roman, that's fine, you can do that all damn day if you want, but this isn't the way to do it!" Logan tried to reason.

"No! This is the only way to do it! This is the only way to get Thomas to listen to who is truly right! I don't need any of you! I'll make you all see that I'm right!" The King paused, thinking for a moment, "Buy say, aren't we missing a side? Perhaps...my brother?" Roman noticed, not seeing a dash of green anywhere in the room. Janus' eyes widened as the side howled at his thoughts.

"Don't you dare!" Janus threatened.

"Oh, imagine the power I could have if I can convince my brother to come back to me? To fuse with me once more?"

"NO!"

"If they fuse there will be a power influx in the mind palace! Our availabilities will be overrun and sway over Thomas will be diminished!" Logan warned.

"Oh, how fun and tempting would that be? I suppose I have a side to find." The King then vanished into the darkness of the shadows, echoes of his voice running around the room. Not wasting a second, Virgil continued to fight against his jacket. Grunting, and growling with every movement he couldn't tell if it was getting tighter or looser.

Janus did the same as Logan settled his hand on Patton's swollen cheek. The side was slowly starting to stir, eyes hardly opened with a groan and a small sob of pain. "Patton? Can you hear me, Patton?" Logan asked, smacking his cheek lightly.

"R-Roman..." Patton spoke with blood mixed in his spit. "Where's Roman?"

"He's gone, Patton. You're okay."

"H-He hurt me...my kiddo...he hurt me," Patton began to cry more, Logan pulling him into his chest as blood and tears stained his shirt.

"As glad as I am that Patton is awake and okay, we need to find Roman and Remus," Janus advised, still struggling against the cuffs on his neck.

"Surely we have a little bit of time, right?" Virgil questioned between breaths of struggle. "Remus is resilient, stubborn, and tough. If Roman tries to break him it won't do much for a long time."

"Maybe before Roman was consumed by whatever power has enveloped him, but Roman isn't the same person we used to know. He's been taken over by his own dark thoughts which gives him more sway and power than we realize. I mean, you two haven't even broken your restraints yet!" Logan pointed out.

"The nerd's right," Janus agreed, unfortunately. "He has more power than he ever has before and even Remus has his breaking point with power. Restraints or not, we have to go after him or else we'll lose both of them forever!"