No Strings Attached - Sanders Sides

Part Twenty - Roman

"I've made my choice." Patton breathed, looking Deceit directly in the eyes. Anxiety still stood there. He was still like a statue, balancing the blade placed over his heart. To be honest, I don't think there is a good middle ground to this situation. Have Anxiety live in pain? Or kill him and watch Thomas plummet. Patton had a lot of weight on his shoulders, but he was radiating confidence like the sun radiates heat. "He can stay with you."

"WHAT?" Deceit yelled, his voice echoing around the mind palace.

"You heard me. Thomas needs him! As much as Anxiety doesn't deserve to suffer, things will be better this way." Patton sniffled. Logan and I stood in awe. Never did I think Patton would let Anxiety continue to live with that monster, and my brother. But, his reasoning is not wrong. Thomas needs him. This is the only way.

"You don't get it do you?" Deceit mumbled, silver tears streaming down his face. "HE'LL BE SUFFERING! I'LL KILL HIM! DON'T YOU GET IT! HE SHOULD NOT LIVE WITH THE SINS I HAVE DEALT HIM!" Deceit took large breaths, clutching his chest. "I just want this to be behind me. I've done him so much harm. This isn't what I wanted. This isn't what Thomas needs." Deceit choked, grabbed his face with his hand, harshly biting his lip to stop himself from crying.

"I just want this all to go away. And there is only one way to do that!" Without warning, Deceit jerked his hand back as we all watched Anxiety insert the knife into his chest. He made a small squeak before his eyes rolled back and his collapsed on the ground.

Patton rammed into Logan's chest, not wanting anyone to see him cry. I looked back at Anxiety before seeing Deceit again. Deceit took a few steps back, fading into the darkness of the mind. "I'm sorry." He mumbled while his eyes released almost invisible tears.

Once he was gone, Logan and I could remove our hands from our mouths. Patton turned back to Anxiety, holding back sobs. "C-C-Can we he-help him?" He begged Logan.

No words said, Logan rushed over to Anxiety. He placed two cold fingers on his neck, feeling for a pulse. "He's figuratively hanging on. If we rush him home, I could sew up his wounds and help him recover."

"Then we haven't a moment to lose!" I said. Bending down, I gently placed Anxiety in my arms. He had blood trailing for his lips, getting my white suit a coppery red.

Logan and Patton lead the run back to the Light Mind Palace. We kept getting turned around. Everywhere looked the same. I took a risk and ran through a wall, watching the walls light up when I phased through into the imagination.

With Logan and Patton now behind me, we sprinted. Remus was no where to be found. Thomas must've woken up or something. I wonder how this is effecting Thomas. Surely having Anxiety's life on the line isn't good for him.

We made it to the back door. Patton pushed past and held it open so we could rush inside. "Put Anxiety on the table, Roman! Patton! Get some gloves, thread, needles, and an ice pack. Anxiety needs emergency surgery and he needs it now!" Logan instructed.

Patton ran off to collect the items while I placed Anxiety on our kitchen table. Logan felt his pulse again, making sure it was still there. "How is he?" I asked, placing a hand on Logan's shoulder.

"I don't know." Was how he responded.

Patton came back, putting all the items next to the poor side's body. Logan put on the gloves, pushing up his glasses and mentally preparing himself. He placed a towel on top of his wound, getting all the bleeding to stop. Once it did, he grabbed the thread, putting it through the needle.

Placing the needle comfortably in his left hand, he made the first stitch. Patton leaned into me, doing too much crying to be able to hold himself up. I was crying a little bit too. The only thing I was hoping for was Anxiety's well being. That's all I could do at this point.

We stood a save distance away from Logan for the next two hours. We knew Logan was doing his best, but every now and then, he would get panicky. At some point, Logan turned around, throwing the blood soaked gloves off of him. Our heads perked up, trying to read Logan's expression.

"Well?" Patton dared to ask.

"He has a 50% chance of surviving this. To be honest, I don't know what will happen." Logan sighed. He collapsed onto his chair in the living room, absolutely winded. Patton hugged me for what must've been the hundredth time. But I didn't mind. He needed all of those hugs.

"Why don't we take our minds off of this?" I suggested. The two looked at me, lightly nodding. I grabbed the remote off the side table and flipped on the TV. I scrolled through for movies, some sort of Disney or Pixar....or anything really.

I settled on The Princess Bride seeing as it was the only good movie on. Settling into the couch, Patton put his head on my chest. He looked exhausted. I didn't blame him. He cried almost the entire time Logan performed the surgery. I looked back at Logan, seeing he had already fallen asleep.

"You doing okay, Patton?" I decided to ask.

"Yeah just...did I make the right choice? With Deceit and all?" He questioned, looking up at me with puppy dog eyes.

"To be honest with you, Patton, I don't think there was a right choice. Either way, Anxiety was supposed to suffer. Deceit knew that. And so did we, even if we chose to not admit it." I told him. He nodded, wiping more of his tears. I kind of felt bad for Patton. I could tell he felt guilty for the fate Anxiety was dealt. "You do know this wasn't your fault right?"

"But isn't it? I first talked to Anxiety, I went after him, I sealed his fate. You can't look me in the eyes and tell me his blood isn't on my hands!" Patton cried. I sighed, understanding his point. I couldn't deny it, he was right. But I wouldn't tell him that. I didn't want him to feel guiltier than he already does.

The energy drained for Patton's eyes. He took an exhausted breath, closing his eyes. He let his head droop further on my chest. His breathing came to a slow pace as he fell further and further into sleep.

Sleep. That didn't sound like a bad idea. With the sounds of the movie in the background, I gently shut my eyes. Hoping that when I wake up, all this will be okay.