Storm Clouds (Sanders Sides)

Family Reunion

Hey! Welcome baaack! 

Hope we're ready for some answers after the last chapter's little treat of a cliffhanger. ;)

{Author's POV} 

     Patton had never seen somebody run as fast as Roman had after his eyes scanned his phone. It did, however, catch everyone in the room off guard. Tristan moved first, followed by Brennan, and then Patton finally decided to move. However, he was stopped by Logan. 

    "What are you doing? Something is wrong!" 

     "Patton, I am sure whatever it is that is happening can be adequately handled by those three. You, however, just went through a terribly stressful ordeal and I refuse to allow you to run off into more trouble that would only serve to cause you more harm. I apologize, but I must insist you remain here," Logan explained. 

     Patton huffed, but knew he had a point. He still felt a light throbbing at the back of his head, and when he stood up he had to shove down the feeling of nausea, but it was coming back with a vengeance and he knew he had to sit down. Logan seemed to notice the swaying and gently handed him over to Janus, instructing him to get Patton comfortable on the couch while he went into the kitchen to make him some soup and tea. Janus did as he was told and settled himself onto the chair beside Patton, his chest wound starting to irritate him. 

    Meanwhile, Roman and the other two sides on his heels had ran up the stairs...

    Down the hall...

    Virgil's Room...

    The Forest...

    The scene they came upon was a nightmare. 

    Remus's dogs that stood guard outside of the building were on the ground. It wasn't until Roman stepped closer, turned, and gagged and Tristan and Brennan knew it was too late for them. Roman hadn't noticed in his mad dash into the Imagination, but he thanked Disney that Patton hadn't come along. He had no idea what kind of effect seeing two dead dogs and feeling Roman's fear and sadness at the sight along with his own would cause, but he did not want to find out. Each dog's fur was matted with blood, and one had a broken neck. Upon closer examination, once he had calmed down enough to assure he was not going to vomit, Roman noticed that it appeared as though that dog had been thrown violently into the wall behind it, leading to the broken neck.

     "What happened here?" Tristan asked, taking note that the door to the building was also partially torn off its hinges. Roman noticed him staring and, swallowing back his fear, led the journey into the complex, working from memory to get down to the basement where the cells, Virgil, and Remus were kept. 

    "Is that...?" Tristan stopped as they reached the bottom of the stairs and stepped into the basement, trying to peer into the dark. 

     "No, no, no! Remus!" Roman shouted, sprinting down the short hall to his brother's side. Remus was face-down on the ground, blood slowly dribbling from a gash across the back of his head, his hair matted down with drying blood. His skin was pale and his breathing shallow, but he did have a pulse, sending a wave of glorifying relief through Roman's body. He's OK, Remus is OK.

     "Wait...Where is Virgil?" Tristan spoke up, gesturing to the cell that previously held the eerie side and his other half. The door was thrown open, similar to the front door upstairs. What caught Roman's attention was that it was empty. 

    "Ugh, Ro...?" Remus groaned, cut off mid-sentence with a hiss of pain. 

    "Hey, bro. Don't try to move too much, OK? We've got to get you back to Logan?" 

    "No! Roman, he...he's gone. The other one, he took over. He's gotten really powerful, Roman. He attacked me and I think he...He's going to find his brother, Roman, you have to stop him. If they merge-" 

    "He hasn't been able to find out how to re-merge them, though. None of us have," Tristan argued. 

    "That doesn't mean he won't try, and now that he has Virgil, he can cause much more harm to Thomas. He's growing in power." Brennan sighed. 

    "Wait-" Remus interrupted, turning to meet his brother's eyes as he came back from examining the empty cell, "How did you know to come?" 

     "You. You texted me, remember? You said 'Help me'," Roman answered, pulling out his phone and showing his brother the text. 

     "Roman, I didn't send that."  

     "Wait, so...it must have been Virgil? But was it our Virgil or the other one? Why would he ask for help?"

     "Yeah, it doesn't make sense. Unless Virgil broke through for long enough to get a message out," Brennan suggested. 

     "Either way, that's not what matters now. What matters is that Virgil is in danger, and that means we're all in danger. We need to get back to the Mindpalace and make a plan, and get that head wound looked at," Roman directed, as he lifted his brother into his arms. A hiss slipped past Remus's teeth as Roman's cuff brushed the wound on his end. He whispered an apology to his brother and quickly made his way upstairs, willing the prison and poor dogs to disappear. Brennan and Tristan followed, and they jumped through the portal back to Virgil's room. 

     Logan, Patton and Janus were certainly caught off guard as the three raced into the living room with a severely injured and unconscious Duke. 

{Author's POV}-Dark Mindscape

     With the Duke and Deceit gone, it had grown far too quiet within the walls of the Dark Mindpalace. Not that he minded, it was far easier to focus without those two around. 

     "It's been too long." the familiar voice called from behind him. He rose from the mat he had been sitting on and turned to face his new guest. 

     "Indeed it has.  While I pity the circumstances, it is good to see you again. We have much to talk about, and unfortunately, I do not have a lot of time. Therefore I am sad to say-" he struck out with one hand and launched a shadow ball, throwing his guest into the wall behind him and knocking him out. 

     "-our catching up shall be a bit rushed, brother." 

Well, well. Did you enjoy that? I know, it's kinda bleak, but I wanted the big things to come in the next chapter, so I left it a tad suspenseful. Plus, I have so so much on my plate right now, and I'm trying to work extreme overtime, so please bear with me and I thank you for your understanding :)

If you did enjoy this chapter, a like/comment is always greatly appreciated. 

I love each and every one of you and I hope you have a great day! Thank you and I will see you soon! <3