-Sander Sides Oneshots-

12.Color

Ship: None
Warnings: humiliation, disease, mentions of character death, swearing, crying, and self deprecation

A/N: This one takes place in a sort of medieval/modern time period where people living in medical housing like cottages and castles, but modern ideas like hospitals and doctors are around. All character still have their mind-scape powers, yet some don't work for reason that you'll find out later on.

Ages: Deceit- 34 Logan- 15 Patton-13 Roman-9 Remus-9 Virgil-3

The sun was shining and it's warm light bathed the imagination's fields. Logan, Roman, and Virgil were all out in the garden attempting to catch some bugs so they could make houses for them. Even Deceit sat outside today, making sure his children didn't hurt themselves, and occasionally conjuring a snake for the kids to catch. Inside their cottage Deceit's second oldest son sat by the window sewing up new clothes for Roman and Virgil(they were the clumsiest of the bunch).

Then there was Deceit's second to youngest son, Remus. When Remus and Roman were born, Deceit knew something wasn't right. The day they were supposed to leave the hospital, the doctors told Deceit and his partner some news. Remus was born color blind. Not only that, but Remus was also born with a disease which made his muscles weak and deteriorated. All Remus' body systems were affected, mainly his respiratory, muscle, and immune system. This meant that Remus had never learned how to walk, and had a hard time talking, breathing, and fighting off sicknesses. At this stage in his life, he had finally got almost all movement in his upper limbs.

Remus sat in his bed, looking out the window, his coloring books to the side. Remus was a skilled artist. He could draw things like they were, every detail captured. But, it upset him that he didn't know about how the colors blended and mixed together. He tried to color one of his drawings once when he was four, after being given crayons for his birthday. He showed it to Roman, practically beaming.

"Look Ro! Did I do good?"
Roman stared at the page.
"Remus, the sky is blue, not red. The trees are green and brown, not orange and blue. And the grass is green, not purple." Roman critiqued, in a rather obvious tone.

After that, Remus never used his crayons again out of humiliation. Roman didn't know that he had hurt Remus feelings. How was the four year old supposed to know he had made his brother feel uncomfortable and upset. Roman hadn't grasped the concept of being color blind yet and neither did Remus. Neither of them knew at the time why Remus couldn't walk, see color, or had trouble talking. They just thought it was normal.

Over the years, Roman had grown apart from Remus. He enjoyed playing outside with Virgil and Patton or going on solo adventures in the imagination. Remus couldn't do any of these things. Remus was never able to bond with his other siblings. So Remus either spent his time alone or with his Deceit.

On this particular day, Remus was lost in deep thought. He had caught a sickness a few months ago, and hadn't gotten rid of it. Everyday he felt worse and worse. Deceit and Remus both knew his end was coming, but they decided to keep it a secret. Their other father( Deceit's partner) had only died about a year ago, and they didn't want to frighten the others.

He wasn't scared of death, but he had started to become curious about what he'd miss out on. He had always dreamed he'd be a father and have a family with that boy down the street. He wondered if the boy had ever considered that as well. He always dreamed he'd be able to walk. He wondered if they would have, one day, found a cure to his disease. But most importantly, he had always wanted to see color. He decided to ask Patton about color.

"Patton," Remus started, still gazing out the window.
Patton looked up from the shirt he had been sewing.

"Yeah buddy? What do you need?"

"What does color look like?" Patton was taken aback. Remus almost never talked about his inability to see color. Come to think of it, Remus barley ever asked Patton a question. Patton wanted to answer one of the only questions his brother has ever asked him, but he was at a loss for words.

"Well it's complicated. All colors look different, yet they're similar too. For example, red. It's...well.. red. But it's usually a bright color that means bad things like danger or stop. But it can also be a good color. It's the color that represents love and rescue. It also has many shades like pink, which is a soft color. It's similar to the color orange but different to the color blue. Does that make sense?"

It really didn't. Remus still didn't understand color, and maybe he never will. But Patton has tried his best.

"Err.. yeah. Sure. Can I ask you another question?"

"You just did, little bro! But yeah, go ahead!" Patton joked.

"What's love like?" Remus asked. His gaze was still out the window, thinking of the boy down the street. Patton was confused.

"What's with all these questions, Remus?" Remus silently cursed. Tears welled up in his eyes. He knew there was no way he could avoid the question, now that he had asked it. Patton didn't let go of things easily.

'Stupid idiot.' He thought. 'Can't even keep a damn secret. Now I'm crying like a dumbass. I'm such a piece of crap. Deceit would have liked it better if I wasn't even born.'

"Remus?" Patton asked, tentatively. He walked over to the bed Remus sat in to find him silently sobbing. Patton quickly gave him a hug and started to rock him in his arms. "What's wrong Remus?"

"I-I'm gonna d-d-die with-without ever walking o-or seeing c-color!" Remus cried.

"Now-now, you're not gonna die Remus! Don't say things like that! I'm sure you'll-" Patton started.

"No!" Remus cried. "I am gonna die. I'm dying soon. I know it. Dad knows it. Don't say it's gonna be okay, because it's not." Patton sat there stunned. Remus was dying, and he couldn't do anything about it.

Just then everyone came inside the twins' room. They stopped in their tracks when they saw Remus sobbing on his end of his bed with Patton in his arms. Deceit knew what happened immediately. He rushed over and pulled Remus in his arms. Patton sat there shaken, tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Dad, this isn't true right? Remus is just..uhh.. overreacting. Right?" Patton asked. Deceit shook his head. Patton started to cry. Logan, Roman, and Virgil looked surprised.

"What's wrong Pat?" Virgil asked, crawling into Patton's to give him a hug. Patton's silence spoke for him. It dawned on Logan and Roman soon enough what was happening.

So the family cried. They cried for Remus' future. They cried for Remus and his feelings. And they cried for each other, knowing they all would never be whole again without him.

Written: 3/1/20-3/3/20
Published: 3/3/20
Words: About 1,000 or something