When at First You Don't Succeed - Sanders Sides

Part 2 - Roman

I pondered Virgil's nightmare as I rose up into Thomas' living room. I let go of his nightmare for a while as the normal surroundings of Thomas' apartment started to come into view. I looked to my left and right. The others weren't here. He...just summoned me? That's odd. 

I saw Thomas steps towards my spot in front of the TV. He beamed happily at me, taking my hands and pulling over to the couch. I was barely walking on my own feet at this rate. He sat me down on his couch and I watched him plop down next to me. I looked around.

Thomas' apartment was still and neat. It's never usually like this. Was a guy coming over or something? Are we filming today and I just forgot? I focused back at Thomas who now had his hands in his lap, he was nervously fidgeting. Uh oh. That only means that Virgil isn't doing so good back in the mind.

"Are you alright, Thomas?" I asked, slightly nervous for his response. He sighed, slumping his shoulders as if so much weight were removed. 

"I-I mean, I've felt more...heightened anxieties lately. But, I know Virgil isn't really 'back to normal' yet, right?" I just nodded my head. Out of all the sides, I considered myself to be one of the better listeners when it came to personal stuff. Call it my ego talking, but I think it's true. "That's why the apartment is so clean." Thomas continued.

"Stress cleaning?" I asked. Thomas nodded silently. I chuckled. "You get that from Patton." Thomas chuckled in return.

"He does the same thing?" He asked. I nodded. That and/or baking, I thought to myself.

We sat in silence for a couple more seconds causing my mind to wander. My mind kept crawling back to Virgil, no matter how hard I tried, I knew I needed to give Virgil his space and let him rest. Virgil...that got me thinking. "Why did you summon me instead of Virgil?" The question seemed to catch Thomas off guard. 

"I-I just thought, last time I summoned him, he when missing." Thomas rubbed the back of his neck nervously. His forehead growing shiny.

"Oh Thomas, you know that wasn't your fault, right?"

"I-I know...well, maybe I don't know. I know it scared him when I mentioned TWO anxieties but, I never expected he'd go missing afterward." Thomas explained, tentatively his fidgeting fingers.

I took in a large breath, letting it out slowly which made Thomas do the same. As long as Thomas was calm out here, Virgil was calm in there. I put my hand on my hosts' leg and he looked up at me with hopeful eyes. "Him going missing and you explaining your issue are two completely different things. However, both were caused by Deceit and Remus." 

"O-Oh." I could tell, Thomas was trying to refrain from panicking too much. My brain was working in overdrive, trying to think of something that could distract Thomas for the time being. 

I suddenly beamed as an idea came to mind. "How about we start writing the next script!" His face lit up, similar to mine as Thomas ran upstairs to grab his laptop. 

Thomas came back soon afterward, laptop in hand. He sat back down, opening and logging into it. He turned to me and we began brainstorming. "Okay, what if we turned your experience with Deceit, Remus, Virgil...basically, all of the dark sides and made that a video!" Thomas suggested. I tried to not let my face drop as Thomas mentioned, 'dark sides.' Virgil hates that name for them, mainly because he was one. He thinks the name is too judgmental and harsh which, he's not wrong. He was a dark side but now, he's one of us. He's living proof that not all dark sides are as cracked up to be.

Thomas was snapping his fingers in front of my face. I guess I zoned out. I shook my head and gave him a smile, his face was riddled with nervousness. "Sorry about that, Thomas." I cleared my throat. "I think that we could make that idea work. We'd just have to be careful. Virgil is still pretty sensitive about the topic."

"I understand." Thomas nodded. He began to type on his keyboard when I started zoning out again, Virgil's nightmare coming back to mind. I'd love to chalk it up to be PTSD and have Logan, Patton, and me be there for Virgil as he gets through it, but something tells me, there is more to the nightmares than what Virgil keeps dreaming about.

"Okay!" Thomas said, once again snapping me from my thoughts. "So, what exactly happened?" I was kind of caught off guard. Did Thomas really not know? I mean, he hasn't seen Virgil since his return, but that was probably because of Thomas' connection between him summoning Virgil and him disappearing. And, I guess we don't share memories so, Thomas wouldn't know. 

"Well, Deceit and Remus kidnapped him, chained him to a wall. Uh, Deceit bit Virgil and that returned Virgil back to himself before he became a light side but h-he ended up beating Deceit's tricks and we were able to bring him back to the mind palace!" Thomas just stared. Wide-eyed and afraid.    

"D-Deceit really did all that? With the help of Remus?" I nodded with a large frown. I couldn't believe it myself sometimes but, I can't deny it. 

"The past is in the past, Thomas. And sometimes...we have to live with that." Thomas nodded, staring at his feet. "Or, we could let it go," I mumbled with a smile. Thomas had a new spark of life to him as well. He socked my arm playfully and laughed.

"Are you only made of Disney jokes and references?" He said, gasping for air from laughing.

"What can I say?" I smiled. I walked back to my spot in front of the TV. I struck a dramatic pose and watched as Thomas slowly faded and I returned to the mind palace. 

When I popped up in our living room, no one else was there. This made me feel calm. Everything was normal for the time being. Everything was still. I sighed happily and made my way up to my room and sunk into my bed. Hoping that in the morning, Virgil's dream would make some more sense to me.