Probable Theorem

The Next Day Part 2

Warnings: Cursing, panic(mild), yelling(mild), kidnapping (Ya know, the usual stuff)


The entire journey home, Patton could feel Virgil's emotions bubbling over.

Anger. Panic. Desperation. It all burned inside Patton, twisting around and mixing with his own feelings so furiously that he could barely tell them apart; a concoction of anger and worry and panic brewing inside, try as he might to quell it. The morning had been quite the ordeal already, and Patton's racing heart and shallow breaths were making it rather difficult for him to focus on anything.

He had managed the entire journey home by focusing his breathing and sending calming waves out in an attempt to soothe the others. He'd seen Virgil relax enough to make it home, though he was worried about how much his mind was panicking and how deep he would spiral by the end of this. As for Logan? Patton could feel the anxious energy radiating from him, but it was unsettling how calm and collected Logan appeared to be despite that. He seemed to be pushing down his feelings about what had transpired to be the level headed one of the group. Patton couldn't imagine that was going well for him, but he let it slide for the moment.

Once they made it home, Virgil raced forward to get inside first as Patton felt his anxiety spike. Distance made calming him down near impossible at this point, though, so as Virgil moved further and further away, Patton couldn't help but start to worry about himself. He'd already been struggling to put himself at ease; trying to send those calming waves to the others at the same time was becoming impossible.

By the time they all entered the apartment, Virgil had already begun pacing and Patton couldn't focus on his thoughts anymore. With all of them now together in private, they finally had a chance to process what happened.

Roman was gone. Attacked and taken in the early morning despite their best efforts to rescue him. Virgil was stressing over how he had failed Roman. Logan was struggling to hold himself together for both of them. And Patton himself was concerned about what the kidnappers could do to Roman, and what if they were too late to rescue him, and–

"Please step out of the room for a moment while I try to calm down Virgil. Do those breathing practices like you taught me, okay?" Patton looked up to see Logan staring at him distressed. He turned to glance at Virgil who was even more panicked than he was, then back to Logan.

Nodding, Patton turned and headed for his door without another word, focusing on getting away from the swirl of negative emotions storming in their living room. After accidentally slamming his door behind him, he turned his focus solely to himself and the hurricane of emotions that had built up from the walk home. The separation between himself and the others seemed to be helping already as he promptly managed to settle his thoughts. As he started counting to himself, he could feel the anger and desperation melt away. Not entirely but enough to be notable. In the silence of his room with the muffled voices barely drifting through his bedroom door, Patton calmed down. It was almost startling how quickly he had managed to clear his thoughts with the distance from the others' emotions. It felt like so long ago since that day he sat down with Logan and discussed the possibility of him being an empath. Now he was nearly an expert on his newer skill.

With a much clearer mind, Patton could relax and gather his thoughts. With a few ideas in mind, he had come up with a plan but he knew that Virgil and Logan wouldn't approve of it. He didn't want to lie or hide anything from them, but part of him knew that keeping it secret would motivate him to just do it and get it over with. Patton was convinced that this was their best chance at finding Roman as quickly and as safely as possible. "Sorry, guys..." he mumbled to himself as he shut his eyes, hoping the others wouldn't notice the flash of light from under his door.

As soon as Two had made his appearance, he looked at Patton and sighed. "You're sure about this?"

"Well, don't you think it's worth a shot?" Patton turned towards his dresser as Two glanced away. "You'll go with Logan and Virgil and I'll start getting ready for work."