Anxious is to Anxiety

//1\\

"Liar."

Virgil, as he stood near the staircase in Thomas's apartment, felt the word ringing in his ears- the word that he and Roman had repeatedly called Thomas just hours ago. And for what? To get him to stop finding ways to deal with those awkward situations?

"Oh, ease up, Gerard Gay! No need to worry right now! Thomas actually didn't pass up this amazing opportunity! And you helped!" The usually anxious one jumped and the sight of Roman jumping in front of him.

He's right, we don't need to worry now. "I know, right?" Virgil felt a wave of excitement crash over him once again. Thomas had just gotten the chance of a lifetime, and he didn't pass it up! "I wonder what's going to happen next with Nico! Where will their next date be?! You said something about a place in France, right? Perfect romantic setting!"

"Exactly!" The princely one was bouncing on his toes, he was so excited. And Virgil was just as excited as him! He was looking towards the future, as always, but this time he saw the positives as well.

"Oh, we should start picking outfits! We could..." as Virgil let himself ramble on and on, he felt a sort of... shift. It was almost too small to notice, and if he'd been any less vigilant, he wouldn't have caught it at all. Actually, it was as if he were more vigilant now, rather than just overly anxious like usual. There was no nervous pit in his stomach, yet he was still just as aware.

Wait.

Come to think of it, this 'switch' in his mind felt familiar. Virgil stiffened as he realized what it was. The switch in his mind wasn't just in his mind, and it wasn't just figurative. He took a few deep breaths, calming himself down, before telling Princey he had to go. As soon as Virgil was out of Roman's line of vision, though, he bolted to the nearest bathroom, the nearest one being down that hall. Glancing in the mirror, his dreaded suspicions were confirmed.

Purple eyeshadow stood in place of where his black eyeshadow had once been, fading into a sort of lavender at the edges. He lunged back from the mirror in terror as if by moving away, he could change it back, reverse it somehow. This wasn't supposed to happen twice. It wasn't even supposed to have happened once.

But something in the back of his head, buried in a rushing river of thoughts, said, this feels right. This shift, somehow. Virgil squeezed his eyes shut, trying in vain to stop the tears threatening to fall. This might change everything, and Virgil didn't want that.

~~~

Janus didn't know how it happened. One minute he was walking down the street with Logan and Thomas, talking about rearranging some schedules, the next minute he was falling, lower and lower, faster and faster, more and more shadows encompassed him, until he was thrust into complete darkness. He hit the ground with a thump and probably a rather large bruise on his left arm.

Holding his arm to his chest, the deceitful trait stood up and realized with a start that this was the Dark mindscape. His eyes were adjusted to being in light, so hardly anything was visible yet- only some vague shapes of the furniture. He hadn't been down here in months, since Remus had been 'welcomed' into the light sides (well, he said welcomed, it was more like Janus didn't want Remus left to be forgotten down there), shortly after himself.

"Hello?!" called a familiar voice from... somewhere.

"Hello! Who is that?!" Janus yelled back, successfully keeping the panic out of his voice. Having someone to be with could be dangerous, but it could also be beneficial.

"Wait- Janny?!"

There was only one person who called him that. "Remus!" yelled the snakelike one, "follow my voice!"

The two found each other less than a minute later by tripping over the same piece of furniture and crashing into each other. After greeting and hugs, the eventual question was asked by Remus. "Do you think Virgil's here too?" asked the darker version of creativity.

Janus's face darkened. "No," he said, looking down. "He's one of them now, remember?" The dark-turned-light side had confirmed his 'lighter' position by opening up about his past to Thomas. By embracing his past, he'd cleared the way for his future - his future as a light side. He was up there with the other Light sides, probably enjoying being one of them.

Wait, wait a second... Janus looked over to Remus, who seemed to have just had the same revelation he had. Only the 'switching' of a side's role could cause such a shift.

"Wait, remember what happened in my episode?!" Remus cried, waving his arms. "He told Thomas about his past! Some- something must have happened to him, we have to check!"

"Remus..." Janus hesitated before continuing. "You know that the light sides... aren't very fond of you at the moment." It was true; after revealing himself to Thomas, even while being unknowingly accepted, no one had been very welcoming of the darker Creativity. "I'll go check on him, is the bond still active?" Janus asked. Remus said nothing but nodded.

The two dark sides had established a sort of mental bond, a connection not unlike Remus's 'twin telepathy' thing with Roman (A/N: like an empathy link, for my PJO fans out there). Janus promised to contact Remus should anything have happened to the anxious side before sinking out and reappearing in the Light commons.

He was surprised when there was nothing there. "Virgil? Patton?" Janus called, as those two sides seems the most important to the current situation. Upon receiving no response, the deceitful side decided to check the real world, in Thomas's living room.

"What are you doing here, snake?!" came a shout from beside Janus as he appeared. Looking over, he saw that it was Roman.

Typical, thought Janus, and he decided to just get right to the point with the princely side. "Have you seen Virgil or Patton?" he asked.

"Yes, actually. Virgil just ran into the bathroom a few minutes ago. But how did you-"

"He did?!" Roman was surprised at Janus's reaction. Did Janus know something that the princely side didn't?

"What are you talking about, you sneaky schemer?"

"I just..." Janus wasn't quite sure how to respond. He wasn't sure how Roman would react if he knew, and what he didn't know couldn't hurt him. On the other hand, he'd been with Virgil all day, so he would know if something had happened to finally trigger a full switch. Janus decided to play it safe, asking a few only slightly ominous questions without giving the situation away, and attained the knowledge he needed. "I just need to talk to him. Is he okay? How long ago did he run into the bathroom?"

Okay, looking back on it, that might have sounded more than a little ominous. Roman eyed him suspiciously, asking, "Why do you need to know?"

The snakelike trait took a deep breath and swallowed his pride. "Please, Roman. I know that you don't have a good reason to trust me, but this is important."

He could see the princely trait visibly hesitate. "...he looked panicked when he left," Roman finally said. "It was a few minutes before you came."

Janus couldn't even begin to voice the gratitude he had for Roman at that moment. Luckily he didn't have time to, he was already going towards the bathroom, debating what he was going to say. 

Does anyone ever get that rush of excitement at making a new book?