The Impossible Death

CHAPTER 5- CATCHING UP

After nearly ten minutes of soft reassurances and hugging, Deceit had finally stopped crying.

He knew he should back away. He knew Virgil didn't want to be hugging him and comforting him.

He felt bad that Virgil ever had to put up with him.

Even though he craved to be touched in his moments of vulnerability after a nightmare, he jumped out of Virgil's arms and retreated inside his blankets, covering his head.

He closed his eyes as he tried to remember what was happening.

Surely Virgil hadn't heard him screaming through his sound proof barrier. Maybe he'd come to visit him?

No, Virgil wouldn't come to visit him. He hasn't in almost ten years, so that wasn't it.

While Deceit was trying to figure out what was happening, he felt the blanket being slowly removed from his head.

Opening his eyes, he saw Virgil removing the blanket and everyone else standing around him in Thomas's living room.

He wasn't in his room.

Was he summoned? He must have been. Why else would he be here?

Something was different though. Rather than all the hateful glares he usually got when he appeared, he could feel an overwhelming sense of pity being directed towards him

That couldn't be right. Why would they pity him?

"Dee." Virgil said softly and Deceit turned his wide eyes to him.

"Do... do you remember how you got here?" Virgil asked timidly, though his voice was still soft. Too soft. Almost like he was afraid he'd break something if he were too loud.

Deceit thought for a moment before just simply shaking his head no.

He didn't really trust his voice to not waver or crack.

Logan and Thomas shared a quick glance with one another before turning to look back at the events unfolding before them.

"Well, you got summoned here." Virgil said slowly, looking Deceit in the eyes.

Well, he'd figured out that much already.

"And, well, then you passed out I guess?" he continued, looking to Logan briefly for confirmation before turning his gaze back to Deceit.

Deceit looked around, the sympathy and pity that was filling the room was almost too much to bear.

Also, still completely unexplained.

Clearing his throat with a small cough, Deceit finally decided to voice his question.

"Why aren't you all looking at me like that?" he asked, his voice hoarse and scratchy but still understandable.

"You should drink some water first." Logan said, grabbing a water bottle from the counter and handing it to Deceit.

He took it gratefully and chugged half of it in a few seconds.

"That's so much worse now." he said breathily, enjoying the feeling of his throat functioning smoothly once again.

As he thought about it, he realized he couldn't remember the last time he had anything to drink.

Hell, he couldn't even remember what day it was.

"What day is it?" he asked, standing up from the couch and stretching a bit.

"Are you sure you should be standing? You seemed pretty tired earlier." Patton asked gently, arms wrapped around his midsection as he looked at Deceit with worry written all over his features.

"Yeah, I'm not fine." Deceit said slowly, looking around again and taking in their worried expressions once again.

"Okay, seriously though, what isn't happening here? Why don't you guys keep looking at me like that?" he asked again, going to cross his arms over his chest but he stopped.

Looking down, he saw himself wearing his sweatpants and t-shirt and... Virgil's hoodie?

Picking at one of the sleeves, he could only wonder in what situation he would have put on Virgil's hoodie.

Or have had it put on him, if he really was unconscious earlier, like they said.

Then it clicked.

If he were summoned here without warning and he was wearing a short sleeve shirt, that means they knew. That they saw his arms.

He prayed that they had only seen his arms. If this is how they were acting after seeing just his arms though, he really didn't want to see how they would react to the rest of it.

Looking up from the hoodie to Virgil, he could see the knowledge in his old friends eyes.

The knowledge he'd tried to keep from all of them for so many years.

"I think I'm not gonna head back to my room." Deceit said, picking up the water bottle and draining the rest of it.

"I don't think you should, Dee. We have to talk about this." Virgil said, moving forward to grab Deceit's wrist to stop him from leaving.

He quickly flinched back and curled in on his body, suddenly fearful to be touched or approached by anyone or anything despite having wanted to be held and coddled just a few minutes ago.

Virgil stopped moving and pulled his hand back.

"Sorry. But please stay. We're just gonna follow you to your room otherwise." Virgil said, going to mess with the cuffs of his hoodie but instead putting his hands in his jeans pockets upon remembering he didn't have his hoodie on.

Deceit slowly uncurled and tried to put back on his mask of cool indifference.

"Well... Maybe it would be worse if I didn't stay. However, I don't need to change quickly." Deceit said.

"That's okay." Thomas spoke up, gaining the attention of all the other sides. "Just come back, okay?"

"Doubtful." Deceit replied, sinking down into his room.

He gave a long, tired sigh as he sank onto his bed and rested his head in his hands.

How in the world did he get himself into this situation?