Escaped - Sanders Sides

Chapter Eighteen

(POV: Virgil)

I slowly walked around in the darkness, doing my best to keep my footsteps quiet as to not alert Elden or Janus.

Janus. What happened to him? I thought he was my friend. The gardens, showing me my powers...did that mean nothing? Or is there something I'm blind to? I didn't know, but I just wanted to be back home. With Patton, Logan, and...and Roman.

I really screwed up. He came here to save me and yet, Remus and Elden pulled the wool over his eyes. He became Romulus, and with him and his brother being one in the same, I don't know if my Roman is gone yet. And that idea really scares me.

I still had to find them regardless of Roman's current state. We had to get out of here and fast before anyone else got hurt. I had to save my friends.

As soon as I had reached the outskirts of the Dark Sides's realm, I saw a large shape up ahead. In an instant, I recognized it to be Romulus. I sprinted as fast as I could toward them shouting "Roman!" at the top of my lungs.

Romulus turned around in shock causing the two sides to separate. Remus and Roman collapsed where their fusion once stood, gasping for air. They began talking to one another, but they were too far for me to hear anything.

"Roman, oh my god. Please be okay," I pleaded silently just before I reached them.

"Virgil!" Roman cried, rushing over to see me.

Before he could say another word, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled the princely trait in for a hug. I could feel his hands on my back and his heart pounding in his chest. I quickly pulled away and hid the faint blush on my cheeks.

"Roman, is everything okay? Are you hurt?" I asked worriedly.

"I'm fi-," he began before the click clack of heels rang out behind us.

The three of us turned toward the sound and squinted into the dark. It was almost impossible to tell who it was from so far away. That was until I spotted the familiar yellow lining on the man's cloak.

"Janus," I hissed, leaping in front of Roman and Remus as some sort of shield. I began balling together my power as he got closer.

"Virgil, Virgil, wait," he insisted. "Please let me explain."

"What is there to explain?" I growled. "That you lied again? After everything..."

I could feel Remus and Roman's stares of confusion behind my back. I must be the only one that knew about the things that Elden and Janus had done.

"I came here to get Remus. Elden... he's planning on taking over all of us. He wants to rule over Thomas's mind."

Remus jaw dropped. "Woah, you just now realized that? Congrats, Jan."

Janus snarled at the nickname. "It wouldn't have been helpful to know that earlier. I don't understand that what I did was wrong, but you can't trust me. Please, Virgil. For your sake and the others."

"Hah, yeah. How about NO?!" I shot back. "Why the hell should I trust you of all people? I fell for that shit more than once and I'm not gonna do it again. I trusted you, Janus. Right when I thought you might actually care about me even the slightest bit, you tricked me and trapped me in my room again."

"Virgil, please let him talk. I get that you're angry with him right now, but just hear him out," Roman said, staring deep into my eyes. His look sent a shiver down my spine, and I turned away to face Janus once more.

The deceptive trait clenched his eyes shut and mumbled something under his breath. He took deep breaths in and out through his mouth for a moment before opening his eyes again.

"Virgil, I-I wasn't in control of myself. Elden has gotten stronger. Stronger than any of us believed he could. He can take over someone's mind and control them like puppets. If he gets any stronger, he'll be able to control us all at once. Back at the garden, I tried to fight him, but he took control, forcing me to make you fall asleep. This isn't the truth." Janus winced, steadying his breathing again. "I promise."

"It's true," Roman sighed as Remus nodded in agreement. "He's telling the truth. We noticed that if Elden is controlling someone, their eyes change color."

I stepped back and looked at each of the sides before me. When had they all started working together? How did I not know about all of this?

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked Janus, my eyes narrowing. "You could have told me and we could have tried to stop him. But you did nothing!"

"Virgil," Janus whispered, staring at me in fear. "Breathe. In and out."

I looked down at my hands and saw black and purple orbs floating above both of my hands. Dark smoke was swirling around all of us. I yelped and the orbs bounced off of my hands and shot off in different directions, exploding just moments after.

"V-Virgil, what was that?" Roman stammered, eyeing the smoke that began fading away.

Janus quickly explained to the twins about the recent discovery of my powers. He left out a few minor details about how it was still quite out of control when I was too stressed. He did tell them that if things did get bad, they needed to get me to calm down and take slow breaths. The creative sides nodded and glanced over at me.

"Fucking rad, dude," Remus chuckled. "I can't believe snake man over here actually managed to-"

"Shut it, Remus," Janus hissed before relaxing. "Anyway, we need to come up with a plan on how to stop Elden. We don't have much time left, so we have to hurry."

"Janus...Janus is right," I finally admitted. The words felt like poison in my throat after everything I had just stated. But Roman is also right. His eyes weren't glowing anymore and he seemed genuinely scared.

"Thank you, Virgil. Really," Janus said, patting my shoulder. I gave him a small smile and a look that said, 'don't push it.' "Anyway, Elden isn't almost at full power. And when he is, our minds will be his to control. Then, he isn't planning to take over Thomas while we aren't powerless to stop it!"

"So, what can we do to stop his magic? Even if he isn't at full power yet, Roman and I are still a bit weak from fusing, Virgil's powers seem unreliable and Janus, you're growing stressed. Nothing is going to work with all of these conditions combined!" Remus yelled out, making hand gestures for emphasis.

"We have to try! Maybe we can get a warning to Patton and Logan! We can tell them to shut Thomas down for a while. Then, if Elden does get through, he can't do anything!" Roman suggested.

"Shut Thomas down? That just puts him in a coma until we wake him up again! And what happens if Joan or someone comes in uninvited, they'll flip out!"

"Do you have a better idea?!"

"I don't," Janus piped up, turning us all in his direction. He quickly cleared his throat, trying to swallow back the stress and his constant lies. "No offense, but I know Elden better than any of you right now. For the past couple hours, I was able to overpower his control over me so I could fully understand him. And it seems like he's dead set on this plan working."

"So what does that mean?" I asked.

"It means, if we somehow throw a wrench in the system-"

"He won't know what to do, giving us a chance to strike!" Roman cheered.

"Exactly. So here's what I'm thinking. Remus, I like your idea of getting a message to the other two. Maybe Roman, Remus, and I can distract Elden long enough for Virgil to run to the others to get a plan going with them."

"Surely there has to be a way I can fight too?" I suggested, giving odd looks. "I know I don't understand my powers super well, but I still want to help!"

"Getting Logan and Patton a message is helping, Virgil," Roman assured me. I gave a soft smile and tiny blush before we all heard the sounds of pounding footsteps. "And right now, it's the best plan we got!"

We all stood up, Janus flaring his powers while Roman and Remus summoned his sword and his mace. I know I was supposed to run, but I got my powers ready too.

Elden was way too close and powerful for me to run off freely without him trying to get me back. And as the manipulative side came into light, we swallowed our fear and charged.