Not Needed

One

Roman had never wanted this. Sure, he had wished that the side would leave them alone sometimes, but that was before he had truly known the trait for who he was, rather than what he was labeled to be, and now, standing here staring at the ground before him, listening to Patton in the background crying out in pain and grief...he just wanted Virgil back.

While he knew that it was impossible, that Virgil was gone, that saving him was never going to happen, he couldn't help but feel an awful need to at least try, if not for Virgil's sake, then for Logan's.

But he couldn't. If he tried to venture into the subconscious and retrieve Virgil, the likelihood of them both becoming trapped was high than the slight chance that he would manage to successfully rescue Virgil and return them to the mindscape.

Besides, as soon as he left Thomas' conscious mind, the mindscape would immediately stop recognizing him as a side, and begin reintegrating him, if not outright forcing him to Fade as well. It wasn't worth the risk, as much as it pained him to admit it.

He had failed Virgil in the end after all.

.....

Fading was a death sentence, and everyone in the mindscape knew it. Once you Faded, there was no saving you. It was even worse than being reintegrated, because that just meant that Thomas had absorbed you into the mindscape temporarily, and you could, potentially, come back from that if you truly wanted to.

However, if you Faded, it meant Thomas no longer needed you. You were nothing, and the mindscape was pulling your very core, destroying you from the inside out. It was a long, painful process, and the Sides had been extra careful to keep doing their jobs with even more vigilance than before after Pranks (who Faded after the Disney Pranks With Friends videos came to an end) and Missy (who Faded after the Misleading Compliments videos were discontinued) had been pulled back into the mindscape...for good.

Virgil, though....how could they have possibly stopped needing him? He was so precious to all of them...and Logan...Logan was going to be crushed by the news. The two sides hadn't been together long, just a month or so at most, but in that short time, they had formed a close bond, and Patton knew better than anyone that losing Virgil was going to shatter the logical side like glass.

He dreaded telling him, and selfishly wondered if he should have Roman do it for him, even as he raised a hand to knock on Logan's dark blue door. Too late to back out now. The logical side had heard his footsteps as he came slowly down the hallway, and opened the door before Patton had a chance to call out or knock.

.....

Logan stood as Patton's halting gait stopped at his door, which he flung open immediately, fully prepared to scold the moral side for not being in bed and asleep at such a late hour. The words he meant to say jammed in his throat the moment he saw Morality's heartbroken expression. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, and he looked horribly small and lost, hunched in on himself with what Logan could only identify as grief.

"I don't...what's happened?" he asked, stumbling over his words in his shock. He had no idea what could have possibly happened to put Patton in such a state, besides one of the others getting hurt or Thomas going through a breakup of some kind.

The second option was impossible, as Thomas had been single for some time, which left only one possibility that made any sort of logical- "Virgil," he gasped. "Where is he?"

Patton wailed at the question, throwing himself at Logan and breaking down in his arms, tears soaking the front of Logan's shirt. Logan could care less, he could get a different shirt. But...as for Virgil...he didn't know what he would do without Virgil. The anxious trait had done so much for him, and even the mere concept of his death pained Logan.

But he couldn't run from this, and he knew it. None of them could, not anymore. Sooner or later, it would hit them. Logan planned to avoid it. You can't have an emotional breakdown if you refuse to accept emotion as a part of you...right?

....Right?