When at First You Don't Succeed - Sanders Sides

Part 12 - Virgil

I heard a door open and then shut, followed by the sounds of laughter. I was in another nightmare and I can only hear them this time. The laughter obviously belonged to Deceit and Remus. Remus' laughter was maniacal, like what I imagine a serial killer's laugh would be while Deceit's was low and booming.

The laughter died down and Wrath's voice filled my ears, "I assume it went well."

"Oh, it did," Remus said, continuing to laugh. "You should've seen the look on Patton's face! He was so scared!"

"But the plan went smoothly." Deceit added.

"Good." Wrath answered. Patton? What did they do to Patton? My mind was flooded with questions, but I was cut off by the talking continues.

"How was your date with Virgie?" Remus chuckled while a low growl from Wrath could be heard. Wrath took a deep breath.

"It was wonderful. I scared him shitless. I doubt he'll come meddling in our business again." My heart was beating in my ears. The silence was killing me. "How about it, Virgil?" Wrath called out. I gasped but covered my mouth, my blood went cold. The darkness of the nightmare started fading and began to swim with light.

I woke up to see my bathroom light on with Roman standing inside, messing with a first aid kit. I couldn't see what he was doing but he was totally zoned out, I knew that look. "Roman?" I called out in a scratchy voice. He looked over with wide eyes before he realized it was just me.

"Sorry, Virgil. I hope I didn't scare you." He said, making careful steps out of the bathroom. I could see now that he was wrapping some gauze back around its cardboard tube to be put away later. "I tried my best to aid to your arm, is it feeling any better?" I was slightly confused but looked down at my arm to see some gauze wrapped around my arm, covering my burn. Despite Roman no longer zoned out, Roman still looked like his mind was elsewhere.

"Roman?" I asked nervously. "What happened to Patton?" He gave me a puzzled look, slowly inching towards my bed and sitting next to me.

"H-How did you know about, Patton? You haven't seen him." Roman protested.

"I...I had another nightmare. Deceit, Remus, and Wrath talking about how 'their plan went smoothly' with Patton." Roman looked surprised but he took a shaky breath and held out his hand to me.

"Would you like to go see, Patton?" He asked. I nodded and put my hand in his. He pulled me to my feet and guided me out of my room. The hallway seemed darker and less lively. That's not a good sign.

Roman twisted Patton's doorknob and lead me inside. I gasped at the sight of Patton and his room. The walls were almost white rather than a light blue and Patton himself looked like a mess. I sat down next to him on his bed, watching his chest rise and fall slowly and on beat. "He's been like that for the past couple of hours..." Roman explained.

"Where's Lo?" I asked, turning to Roman. Roman just shrugged so I turned back to Patton. His dried bloody nose caught my attention first as my eyes wandered from his head to his toes, looking at the damage. I stopped again at the neck, while his neck was bruised, there was something else I noticed. I stood up to get a closer look and Roman did as well.

My hands were clammy as I rubbed my finger over two small dots not far apart from each other on Patton's neck. "What is it?" Roman inquired. I looked back at him with tears in my eyes.

"Snake bites."

"DECEIT BIT HIM!?" Roman questioned. I brushed small tears off my face and nodded. "What do we do?"

"I-I don't know." I stuttered. "Depending on the command Deceit gave him, the trigger to wake him up could be different!" I explained. Roman nodded his head and began to pace from left to right.

"Well, what does Deceit want with Patton?" He asked.

"That's the thing, it's not what DECEIT wants with Patton." I paused. "It's what WRATH wants with Patton. Deceit and Remus are taking orders from Wrath now." I chugged the lump in my throat, my lip quivering and tears spilling from my eyes. Roman took a step closer to me and wrapped me in a hug. I cried into his arms while I was racking my brain about how I could fix Patton. I have to face it, I know the most about Deceit and his poisons. I should know how to fix him. I have to fix this. THEY EXPECT ME TO FIX THIS!

I looked back over at Patton. "I might be able to wake him up." Roman clapped his hands together, grabbing my forearms, bringing us to our feet.

"That's wonderful, Virgil! I'll go get Logan, he'll want to see this!" Roman danced out of Patton's room, leaving me alone with Patton and my dark thoughts. I looked back at Patton and sighed.

"I hope this works."

Roman came back in, dragging Logan behind him. Logan looked awful, his tie was astray and his hair was a total mess. Logan straightened his glasses, giving me a death stare through his thick lenses. "Greetings, Anxiety. Creativity told me you've discovered a way to help Morality." He said, motioning to Patton. I cringed, listening to Logan call us by our "real" names. Logan is only ever like this when he shuts down his emotions so he can focus on other things. Obviously, Patton being in a coma-like state was tearing him apart internally.

"Y-Yeah. I think I can." I said, messing with my hands. Logan nodded and took a step back. Roman did the same and I positioned my body to face Patton. There were a lot of commands it could be, but if I had to guess, "Morality!" I said with a shaky voice, letting my tempest tongue lace my words. "Rise!" I motioned my hand upwards and waiting anxiously. Logan and Roman were on the tips of there toes. My hands were shaking and I swallowed my tempest tongue back down and looked over at Logan and Roman.

It was clear, Patton was not waking up.