Unfamiliar

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Anxiety had wanted to go alone, but the others had refused to let him. Patton had been working overtime to keep Thomas happy yet he still forced Virgil the let him go to the forest with him, and after he said Patton could come Logan and Roman refused to remain in the house. The presence of the others was somewhat comforting yet it also caused waves of panic.

He knew what was wrong and he didn't want them to get hurt if... something happened. But they came and everything seemed to be okay. Until there was the sound of leaves being walked over and faint footsteps heard throughout the dying forest.

"Oh god, oh god, I'm so stupid stupid stupid!" Anxiety yelled to himself as he frantically looked around him, paranoia seeping into his bloodstream. He was paralyzed with terror, his mind running far too quickly for his body to even begin to comprehend how to move with it. So he didn't. Instead he stood still, unblinking, as he waited for the footsteps to approach him, for his nightmares to come true. "I shouldn't have let you come, oh god!"

"What's wrong?" Patton asked him gently, sensing the dread and fear that hung in the air around them. He didn't want to admit that it scared him too, but instead he focused on sending as much joy and positivity into the forest as he could so that Thomas could recover from this sudden bout of sadness that crashed through the mindscape.

"He's here, oh god I never should've..."

"Who is where, Anx?" Roman asked, keeping his voice low so that he wouldn't draw whoever the younger trait was afraid of near them.

"De-"

"Hello," a man said as the footsteps stopped and Anxiety's heart stopped, "I believe you have something that belongs to me."

"Who the fuck are you?" Prince asked, trying to distract the terror-inducing man before him as he slowly placed himself in front of Anxiety.

"Name's Depression, though you can call me Debby.... or most of you can," the man said with a dramatic show of straightening his back so he was taller that the frozen sides - and somehow the dramatic gesture seemed far more threatening than it would have been if it was Roman who had done the exact same thing.

"Let them go, this is between us," Anxiety suddenly spoke up, pushing Roman out of his way as he stepped towards the icy man in front of them all. His legs knocked together and his hands trembled, yet he held his head high as he spoke. His blood turned to ice, his breathing getting faster, yet he held his ground - protecting the others.

"What did you just say to me?" Depression yelled as he stormed towards the four sides, anger replacing anything that remotely resembled an emotion on his face.

"I..I'm sorry sir, I just meant that you can punish me but they had nothing to do with it," Anxiety stuttered out as he cowered before the furious man before him, all his previous confidence gone. His mind was reeling again, though this time it was going backwards as it dragged him through memories he would much rather forget. His surroundings seemed to grow darker, the forest dying even quicker every time his knees knocked together or his fingers pressed against each other.

"Are you telling me what to do, you pathetic little disorder?" Depression screamed as he stopped right in front of the once-again-paralyzed teenager. His eyes lit up with a sadistic sparkle as he fed off the negativity his Anxiety fed him, as he slowly started to return to his former strength - the strength he had almost been at again before the sides took his source of misery.

The others where frozen in shock, was this Anxiety's old 'caretaker'? Was this the man that terrified, abused, traumatized, their youngest family member? Was this the man that had raised the teenager who constantly shook like a leaf and expected to be hit, to be screamed at?