We Won't Let This Be the End

Part 2: Chapter 5

(Trigger Warning )

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When Patton finally returned to the Archives, Roman and Logan had set up the common area by pushing furniture back a little and setting up a white board that they already had some notes written down on.

"Ah, Patton! You've returned."

The two greeted him as he set out their dinner on the coffee table. When deciding what to grab for them to eat he had some trouble, not because there wasn't any food in the fridge (there was), the trouble came from the fact that he wasn't really feeling hungry. In the end he settled on some spaghetti that he had made the night before. He heated it up, wrapped it in a towel to keep warm, packed some plates and utensils, and made his way back.

Patton served himself some spaghetti and sat down in the corner of the couch. "So what were you guys talking about before I got back?" He questioned before taking a bite out of his food.

"We were just writing down the information that we have already acquired." Logan answered him while he followed Roman to get himself some food.

"We can talk about that in a little bit though. Let's eat! Can't go making any rescue plans on an empty stomach." Roman exclaimed. He served himself up some food and moved to sit on the couch. When he got to the couch he sat down next to Patton. Logan pulled the armchair over so that it was near the others and started eating himself.

Patton was curious about why the two were sitting so close to him, but at that moment he wasn't going to complain. He unconsciously snuggled into Roman's side as he took another bite of food, while focusing on his food he missed the small smiles shared between Roman and Logan.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, each thinking about getting back into the Darkscape. Eventually they all finished their food and pushed the dishes off to the side. They all turned their attention back to the whiteboard that Logan and Roman had set up in the middle of the common space.

Roman and Patton were still sitting on the couch while Logan stepped forwards towards the board, holding a blue expo marker, "So what do we know about rifts that will help us to find them?"

Roman was the first to answer, "Well, Virgil did mention that the rifts appear in plain sight." Logan nodded then wrote this down.

"There is also something that indicates where the rift is? Like how the rift between the field and the forest was the cracked rock." Patton added in after Roman. Logan thought this over and then added this to the board as well.

"So, if the rift would be in plain sight with an indicator, where would it be in the Archives? This place is huge." Roman questioned. He gestured to the wide space that was the Archives, endless rows of bookshelves lined the seemingly endless room.

"My best assumption is that the location would be somewhere that we frequent here in the Archives." Logan answered back to him.

"So somewhere like here in the common space?" Patton asked.

"That would be a safe guess."

"Haven't we thoroughly searched through here already?" Roman asked, annoyed. He huffed and leaned back into the couch.

"Obviously not in the way that we should be." Logan stated

"What does that mean?" Patton questioned.

"Well, we need to look in plain sight. Which means we need to look right in front of us." Logan took a few steps away from the board and slowly started to look around him at the common space.

Roman stood up and walked over to stand next to Logan. Placing his hands on his hips he asked, "So what do you suggest we do?"

"We look from where we stand." Logan answered, gesturing towards the ground.