Come Back Home

Chapter 9

Dark

"Virgil!" came a call from downstairs. "Can we speak to you for a moment?"

Virgil didn't bother responding, he just got up and walked downstairs. "Yeah?" He asked as he entered the room.

"Remus and I.. Need to talk with you," said Deceit from the couch. They were sitting side by side on it, looking unusually serious. "Sit down."

Somewhere, in some tiny, hidden away part of his brain, those two words triggered a warning bell, somewhere in the dark, unseen, barely heard. Virgil wondered why.

He sat down.

Remus took a breath. "It's about.. My brother," he began. "My brother and the others."

"Others?" Virgil was confused. Who were the others? Remus and Roman, Creativity. Deceit. Him, Virgil. Depression. Were there others?

Deceit nodded. "They're called Logan and Patton. Logan is Logic, and Patton is Morality. But.. Virgil remember, no matter what they say, they are evil. Them and Roman. They can corrupt you, and they will if they can, turn you into one of them."

Virgil's eyes widened. They could what?

"We didn't want to tell you while Roman was around, because he might've tried to corrupt you, or even..." Remus looked reluctant to continue. Deceit gave him a tiny nod of assurance. Remus started again. "He might've tried to take you away. And then who knows what he would do. We're warning you because we don't want you to get hurt, so remember, stay away from them."

Virgil nodded. He was terrified.

"They call themselves the 'Light Sides' ," said Deceit with an ugly look on his face. "But don't let that fool you. Keep away from them."

Virgil nodded again. He was shaking now, very slightly, but it was still there.

"Hey, hey now," Deceit said, drawing him into a hug. "It's okay, we're gonna keep you safe, okay?"

Remus hugged him too.

"O- okay.." Virgil said shakily into Deceit's shoulder.

Deceit pulled back, effectively pulling Remus back as well, since he had been sitting behind Deceit.

Deceit started to get up. Virgil made small whining noises and reached up his hands toward Deceit.

Deceit smiled slightly and pulled him up with him.

Light

Patton looked at the others. "I haven't been to see Thomas in a while," he said with a falsely cheery note he hated he felt the need to use.

Roman looked toward him from the couch with tear-filled eyes and shook his head, indifferent.

Logan shrugged slightly.

"Okay.." Patton sank down and caught sight of Thomas as he rose up. "No- no! No! NO! LOGAN! QUICKLY!"

Logan rose up almost immediately, looking very worried. "What's wrong? Is it Deceit?"

"No, it's not.. Just look!" Patton gestured toward Thomas, who had been sitting in bed when his Sides had shown up.

He had obviously been crying, eyes puffy, nose red. He was still in his pyjamas, despite it being nearly 1 pm. He was clutching a pillow in his arms like a lifeline, and was hunched at the head of his bed in the same position a frightened child might use.

Logan blanched.

"This is.. This is Depression's work."

Just then, the ground shifted, hard, with a foreboding sense of finality. Logan hit the wall and tried to grab onto it as he fell, Patton fell over and sprawled onto the end of the bed.

Thomas looked up in confusion. He couldn't feel the shift the way the Sides could. He could only feel them through his emotions.

Patton looked at Logan in an unasked question for answers.

He looked so grave Patton was sure someone had died.

"That.. That was the final shift," said Logan. "Virgil... He's gone."

Patton shook his head slightly, eyes filling with tears, and looking like, for the first time ever, he had lost control. He sank to the ground in tears, screaming, "No.. No.. NO! NO! MY SON! NOT MY SON! NOT MY BABY BOY NO NO NO!"

The pain in Patton's voice alone caused a few tears to slip down Logan's face.

Patton sank into the ground. He couldn't handle showing the emotions like that to Thomas.

The hidden emotions.

The ones he kept bottled up and hidden under lock and key, quiet and undisturbed under a pile of ash in the back of his mind.

He rose up again on the floor of the living room, and loud footsteps and a "Pat?!" soon heralded the figure crouching next to him. "What's wrong? Is Thomas okay? Is Logan okay? Are you okay?"

Patton was largely incoherent, but he was coherent enough for Roman to understand. "My.. son.. He's g-gone... NO!" And he sank his entire body to the ground in renewed sobs, lying in a heap on the living room floor.

Roman went stark white and sank to his knees, disbelieving, needing a moment to take it in.

His Virgil, his beautiful Virge, his Emo Nightmare, was gone.

Roman couldn't take it.

He dashed up the stairs as fast as he could, tears running down his face.

Not him, not Virge, anyone but Virgil.