Pitiful Children

Chapter 3

(Part A)

Virgil could feel the shift echo through the mindscape. The balance between the sides, different. What had Deceit done?

"What was that V?" Sleep slid his shades down slightly, his eyes barely peeking over. "Whatever it was, it didn't seem good."

"He did something. Deceit, he did something to one of the others. The balance...it's skewed. This can't be good...we have to hurry." Virgil bit his lip, trying to work out a plan.

"Balance?" Sleep sighed, this was almost too much

"Um...yeah, it's normally three and three. Three positive sides and three negative. But something happened, and the numbers have shifted. We have to balance it...if not..." Virgil trailed off, biting his lip.

"What happens?" Sleep didn't know why he cared so much, he's never given a f*** about the sides before.

"It'll mess up Thomas. Too much negativity, could cause him to act very different. It could make him a totally different person or drive him to a dark place mentally. There's something I could do but...it's really stupid and dangerous. And I don't know if I could fix it after...which would screw everything up later. But...it might be the only way...it's such a stupid idea, I really shouldn't do it..." Virgil hated doubting himself like this, it would help Thomas...but...

Sleep rolled his eyes, "Oh god you're as bad as Anx when he needs to make a decision. Let's take a breath and talk it out. What are you going on about? And how can I help?" His voice was calm, and he hoped he could talk this out like he did with his Anxiety.

Virgil bit his lip, "Well...we need to restore balance. And how would we do that?" Sleep made a small noise of understanding, so Virgil continued, "But, when it's over, we'd have to find a way to fix what Deceit has done. And I don't know how to do that, or if it's even possible. And if we can't, it might throw off Thomas slightly. Not as bad as if he was off balance, but-"

"Then we do it." Sleep interrupted, "It's the lesser of two evils, and you sometimes got to do scary things to save people you care about." Sleep spoke in a slow, calm tone. "We can figure out how to fix it after we deal with the more...pressing issues. Now, what do we need to do?"

"We need to go into the subconscious. And hope we're not making the worst mistake possible." Virgil looked at Sleep and bit his lip nervously, "Ready?"

"Let's go then."

Virgil took a slow breath and led Sleep to the entrance to the subconscious. He paused at the door, "I'm going to let you know, there's nothing there. Like, at all." He grabbed the handle and stepped inside, pulling Sleep along with him.

The subconscious of Thomas was blank. Nothing was there, but it seemed to be lit with a sickly yellow light. The emptiness didn't mean it wasn't functioning however, the place seemed to be buzzing with a negative energy.

Virgil stood completely still, taking in the room once more. "This is where I was formed. I was just a fragment, an impulse. I...I didn't think I'd be anything more....I was fight or flight, the same thing every human had...but I...i was too strong for the subconscious...I needed to be...more...i never thought I'd be back...and for a reason like this..." Virgil sighed, taking a few steps away from Sleep. "I'm probably going to pass out after this, and you'll need to get me to my room as quick as possible. Got it?"

Sleep nods, and Virgil moves a bit further, tilting his head back slightly, his eyes half closed. He holds up his arms slightly, as the light starts to change from yellow to purple. Pretty soon the light was the dark purple one would associate with the anxious side. Virgil closed his eyes completely, and the light glowed brighter. It surrounded him before changing to a softer shade of purple. The light filled the room, before everything went dark for a couple of seconds.

Pretty soon the light returned, this time a bright gold color. Sleep looked over at Virgil, and like the formerly anxious side had said, he was on the ground, unconscious. Sleep grumbled to himself, he wasn't very strong, but he had agreed to this. And he wasn't sure what happened if a character, or even a side, stayed in the subconscious for too long. He didn't want to find out, so he scooped up the passed out side, and headed back to the mindscape.

(Part B)

Deceit felt the balance restore, and honestly was shocked that Virgil went through with it. He didn't think Virgil would have been that stupid. He laughed a little, this was finally getting interesting.

Logan stirred in Deceit's arms, his eyes fluttering open. "What...what just happened?" Logan slowly sat up, turning to face Deceit, "What did you do to me?"

Deceit smiled, "I did what I said I would. I fixed all of your insecurities and all of your doubt. Thomas will listen to you now." He grabbed his tie and pulled him close, "You're one of us now. How do you feel?"

"Oh, I feel wonderful now." He loosened his tie slightly as he sat back up, a new wave of emotions hitting him, causing him to smile at Deceit.

"Who are you now?" Deceit put his gloved hand under Logan's chin, lifting his head slightly. "you're not logic, but...I can't quite tell who you've become."

Logan smiled slyly, his eyes lighting up, "I'm exactly what our humble little host needs. Arrogance. Our little Tommy needs to realize how fucking wonderful he is, and Princey is doing jackshit to show him."

Oh, this was great. Virgil didn't stand a chance now, not that he ever did. "Oh that's perfect Poppet."

Logan laughed a little, leaning close to Deceit, "I'm going to get changed, this...style doesn't fit me anymore. Too...plain."

He got up, disappearing to his room. Deceit smiled to himself. Everything was falling into place, and no one would be able to stop him.