Erased - Analogical

[Chapter Twenty-Two]

|POV Patton|

I didn't even know what to say.
Under the pressure of Regret and Repression, Roman had confessed everything to me and Remus. About how he forced Virgil to stay with us as Light Sides and forbid him from even talking with Remus and Janus. And it didn't take a genius to piece together that Virgil was currently missing because of the fights he had with Janus, the fights that were caused because of Virgil switching over to the light sides.

I had always believed it. Believed that Virgil simply couldn't take the stress of being a Dark Side anymore and wanted to stay with us. Never in a thousand years would I have guessed that he was being forced to stay with us. Plus, if it was true that Virgil opened up to Logan about his past and why he left the Dark Sides, that explains why Logan became more distant to Roman awhile after Virgil showed up. So many unanswered questions were getting pieced together now. And I had no clue what to do.

Roman was facing the floor in shame and Remus had a similar expression to mine, simply full of disbelief . No one knew what to say. I looked up to see what Repression's reaction to this whole thing was, but shockingly, he was actually gone. Checking behind me, I noticed Regret was also gone so there was no longer anyone blocking our exit from the alley. They'd probably accomplished all they wanted to do now. I guess the Dark Sides really did all still have Virgils side in one way or another.

"T-thats not true... is it..?" I managed to mumble out, still in disbelief trying to process everything.

"I-it is..." Roman assured as I noticed a single tear drop fall down his cheek. Well of course I knew Roman felt regret over this, that's the whole reason why Regret had actually shown up in the first place. But, I can't just forgive him so quickly, just like with Janus, he needs to make up for this. "Remus I-... I'm sor-" Roman gazed up at his brother with tear glazed eyes before Remus spoke over him. "Don't bother," his voice was almost empty as he said it, "just... hurry up. Logan and Janus will be wondering where we are."

As Morality, I like to consider myself an empath most of the time. I mean, being able to sense when others are sad or need help is a big part of who I am. And just being near Remus... it was heartbreaking. Even if he didn't show it, I knew in my heart that he was in pain right now. Remus always seemed to believe that there was a good reason for Virgil leaving them, but finding out that the reason his best friend was gone was because of his own brothers want to befriend him must have taken its toll on him.

"We need to go," Remus spoke again , turning his back to us and facing out of the alley, "we need to get Virgil back..."

I nodded in response as Remus begun to walk out of the alley, I trailed behind him and waited for Roman to catch up. Roman seemed to be avoiding any eye contact, keeping his eyes locked on the floor and keeping his distance behind me and Remus. Despite this, Remus insisted we keep our pace up and hurry through the village, reminding us that Janus doesn't really know his way around Remus' imagination.

The entire walk back was silent as the rest of the town was completely empty. For whatever reason, the Minor Dark Sides were no longer showing themselves. The village really did have a striking resemblance to ours, which probably was no coincidence.

But eventually, we caught up with Janus and Logan who were already in the Dark Mind Palace and about to enter Remus' imagination.

"Patton, Roman, Remus, I'm not glad you managed to return in time," Janus gave a thankful nod before raising his eyebrow, "is something the matter? You three don't look... tense."

Remus was quick to be the first to respond, "we're fine. We just need to hurry up now. We've wasted too much time stalling."

Remus' sudden insistence to stay on topic definitely tipped off the two sides. Logan and Janus exchanged small confused glances with eachother before they seemed to just shrug it off. 

"Lead the way, Remus," Logan nodded his head at him and took a step away from the entrance to his imagination. The entrance was a large, dark green door that resembled one in a medieval castle, it had intricate carvings in the frame around it, many of which containing depictions of stories i'd heard Remus mention in the past or ones that shared a striking resemblance to stories Roman had told me before. It was sweet to think they're all carved after experiences he'd had.

"Just follow behind me, i'm not gonna be running after you guys if you get lost this time," he gave a brief glance over to me and Roman as he said it. I nodded to tell him I understood while Roman didn't give any response, he seemed zoned out in looking to the ground. Remus didn't care to wait for a response though as he pulled open the door and lead the way in, followed by Janus close to his side, after that was me and Logan and then Roman slightly behind us.

As we begun our way through, i could hear Janus' and Remus' silent mumbling to one another but was unable to understand what exactly they were saying. But apart from that, the silence was suffocating . I felt like I was about to drown in the confusing and overwhelming thoughts about Virgil and Roman.

Why did Virgil never come to me and tell me about what Roman made him do?

Why did Roman never confess?

What was Remus gonna do now? 

"Hey..Patton?" Someone spoke to me. Removing myself from my thoughts, I turned and saw Logan looking at me with slightly confused eyes, "why do you, Roman and Remus look so apprehensive after returning from the village?"

Should I tell Logan what happened? Well he might already know and it's not really my place to say it, but also he deserves to know, "well.."

Before I could even continue my words, he spoke again, "did you three finally find out the reasoning behind Virgils joining of the Light Sides?"

"Ah.... so you do already know," I sighed softly, glancing back at Roman who now had deeper guilt on his face hearing that Logan already knew. He had known this whole time.

"Of course I do, Virgil told me years ago, but it was never my place to say anything, under request of Virgil himself," Logan ever so slightly adjusted his tie as he spoke, "and for the record, Roman, despite any negative emotions I felt towards you, after hearing the story, Virgil never held anything against you."

"R-really..?" Roman finally spoke, his voice sounding broken and distraught.

"Yes," Logan assured, "he insisted to me that I leave the past be the past and that despite how much he missed Remus and Janus... he was glad he had a family in the Light Sides too."

A family...

[1230 Words]

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Just a very brief thank you for all the support and reads, seriously, it means so much to me that people are reading and enjoying one of my first ever fics!

-MM