Sunsets in Paradise (Sanders Side's Simulation AU)

Water.

Roman sighed, his eyes drooping. They were only on their third Disney movie and he was already exhausted, with Virgil on his lap and fast asleep, the night shining through the curtains, and a blanket around the two.

It was warm.

Not too warm, but warm enough for Roman to fall asleep. His kind was unusually calm, ideas and thoughts sweeping out of him as he took a deep breath.

Virgil shifted beneath him, and he smiled a little as he ran a hand through the other's hair. He'd never noticed how similar they were, how their bodies and faces looked so alike... it was... weird.

Something hisses at him about it, scaring him a little when he though he saw a figure in the dark. Thomas. His mind was telling him it was just Thomas. But he didn't know a Thomas.

This was all so weird. Virgil had asked about a Thomas before, and Roman could've sworn the name was familiar.

Another shift in the dark, but Roman was already asleep before he could see it. If only he could just... reach it....

Roman woke up in a white world. It was moving, shifting, and as he though of a setting it created it. "What the...?" Roman said, as the white world shifted to create a palace.

'Welcome back, Roman.' A voice said, making Roman jump. 'It's been a while. What would you like to create?'

Roman shivered. "Where am I?" He called out, jumping when a faceless, blank man that looked eerily like him appeared. "Who are you?"

"You're in the imagination," The faceless man spoke, but no noise came from him. Roman wished he had some sort of mouth to freak him out less, and then the man had a mouth. "I'm your subject."

"My... subject?" Roman was so confused. He could've sworn the man was faceless before, but now he had a neat little mouth on him. "But-"

"Don't be scared," the figure spoke. "It's understandable you're confused. This is the first time in a while you've come back. We missed you."

Roman was shaking now. "I don't-"

"Sshhhh," the figure's finger, blank like the rest of him, brushed Roman's lips. "Just think about it. Thomas called you here."

Roman shook. "Thomas?"

"Your host." The figure's hand was on his shoulder now, icy cold and sending electric currents through Roman. "Thomas."

Roman took a step back, throwing him off. "I wanna see Thomas." He said. "Show me Thomas."

The figure's unnatural lips curved to a frown. "Don't you want to be here?" They asked, hand falling to their side. "You seem scared."

"Of course I'm scared!" Roman could've sworn the figure was displaying emotion now. "I don't know what this place is!"

The figure's frown turned back to a thin line. "It's the imagination." He says. "Thomas asked for you-"

"To be here, I heard." Roman was yelling, hands in his hair, shaking. It felt like hands were all over him, and they were. Holding him up. "I want to see Thomas."

"You can see him." The figure said.

The hands over him disappeared. He was falling. Sinking, of you would, and then he was in a place again. It was black, with words all around it. When he read them, they seemed like... nonsense.

"Are you Thomas?" Roman called our to a black figure in the distance, grabbing a handful of his hair.

"Yes." The black figure said, turning to him. "Roman?"