Prideful

1.1

Word Count: 854
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Logan opened his eyes staring at a younger version of himself reading on his bed. Logan looked around the room and noticed how little it had changed. Everything was exactly the same aside from the smaller bed.

Logan looked back at his younger self-reading. He was wearing a smaller version of his unicorn onesie. Logan was immediately interrupted by a knock on the door. The young Logan snapped his fingers to change his clothes before calling out, "Come in."

Another boy walked in. Nothing particularly strange about him aside from his glowing orange eyes. "Oh Logan, I was just wondering how your feelings betrayed you again because I'm such a caring friend."

"Apathy you are physically incapable of caring," young Logan said plainly.

"Oh please, we both know I'm a lot more than just apathy. So could you please tell me what betrayal you've faced this time."

Little Logan closed his book, "I tried to tell Romulus his idea was bad and we started fighting, then Patton took his side."

"You really care about Romulus, don't you?"

"... Yes."

"Well, the problem is you keep letting feelings get in the way my dear logic, and that's very illogical. I'd recommend hiding them, and no one would ever get hurt."

Young logan curled up into a ball before quietly saying, "I guess that makes sense..." Apathy smiled before leaving.
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Remus opened his eyes. Looking straight forward his saw two boys standing there. Neither one looked anything like him, but he felt a strong pull towards the taller one. The shorter one had a menacing smile that reminded Remus of his own, but there was more behind this one.

"So Romulus are you ready?"

"...Yes," said Romulus closing his eyes and nodding his head.

"Just hold still, and I'll make you perfect," This shorter one raised his hands. They stayed like that before glowing orange magic came from the shorter ones' hands. The magic grabbed onto Romulus and he screamed in pain.

"Wait! DAMION STOP!" Romulus screamed out. Damion didn't stop. Instead, he seemed to be enjoying Romulus' pain. Then there was a shine of bright light. Remus blinked a bit before he was able to get a new look at the scene in front of him.

Two boys that looked identical sat six feet away from each other. One was pale and had glowing red eyes. The other was more tan and had green eyes. "It worked!" Damion exclaimed before running to the one with green eyes, "You got rid of the bad! Let's go tell the others!"

"What about me?" asked the one with red eyes.

Damion looked over and glared, "You'll probably die, but that doesn't matter. You're the mistake anyways." Damion then grabbed young Roman and lead him away from young Remus.

Remus sat watching his younger self cry until he heard movement from the shadows. Younger Remus also noticed and looked up from the ball he'd curled up into. A shadowy figure emerged and Remus could see one yellow eye, "Who are you?"

"I think I'm Romulus, but I'm not," the younger Remus began crying again as the figure moved to kneel in front of him.

"I'm sorry for crying, but I'm really confused. One minute I was just Romulus and all a sudden I was cut off. Does that make sense?"

"My name is Janus, and I can help you. Do you want me to get rid of the sadness?" Tiny Remus nodded continuing to whipe his eyes. Then the memory ended
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Remus opened his eyes and looked around the room in front of him. Janus had his hand on Patton's back and was saying something. Logan was writing on a note pad. Remus wasn't paying attention to anything. He was having a bit of an existential crisis.

It had nothing to do with how he 'missed his poor brother'. No this had nothing to do with that. He was wondering who he truly was. Remus was always sure he was, you know, Remus, but the old him seemed so unsure. He knew the split had left him a bit broken, but not like this. Was he really himself or was he just a piece of Roman.

Remus' unsettling thoughts were interrupted by gloved hands snapping in front of his face, "Earth to Remus, you need to pay attention." Remus blinked and looked up to pay attention to the conversation.

"Damion isn't just Apathy, he's a force that exists only to ruin Thomas' mental health, and as you can see we work against each other," Janus began.

"Wait, how do you work against each other?" Patton asked.

"I'm not just deceit, I'm also self-preservation, and I care about things like mental health. Damion wants Thomas' mental health to be terrible so he can be more powerful," Janus answered, "Do any of you know if Roman made a deal with him?"

Every mumbled no, but Remus kept think. There was always a link between him and his brother, maybe he could figure it out using that link, "I think I know how we can figure it out."
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