Chapter Eleven

Delusion's Domination

Everyone was gathered around in a big circle, Virgil sitting as far away from Roman as possible. They'd all been filled in on what happened with the mirrors, and Logan had suggested that Virgil's change had been due to the crack in the frame of the looking glass. Everyone agreed. He also suggested that the side that came out of the mirror may have been Delusion. Virgil didn't agree, but said nothing. Tom had been collected at some point, or perhaps he just showed up, nobody really remembered, they were sitting in numb shock and disbelief because of what Virgil had just said;

"Do any of you know what's in this box I had Nate bring to us?" He had asked them. None of them did. The other dark sides weren't supposed to know about it, the light sides couldn't remember. Virgil had known and expected this much. He took a deep breath, he steadied himself and said; "This box holds memories. Memories and powers. From us. Lucius stole them from us in hopes that it would make him more powerful. He was right, in a way. I don't think we can put the memories back. I wouldn't know how… or at least, I can't remember if I did know, but Lucius accidentally showed me how to give all the light sides their powers back." Logan had been the first to begin to recover from what had just been said.

"We used to have powers?" He asked. Virgil nodded.

"All the dark sides have at least one, I'm assuming it was the same for the light sides. You've seen Judaes's at the very least. He's used it on you, Logan. He can stop you from speaking unless Thomas says differently. I have powers too, that I just got them back from the dark one… you don't really want to know what they is. I probably won't use them, I don't really want to."

"What's your power?" Patton asked curiously. Virgil took a deep breath, and looked up at all of them, weighing the pros and cons of keeping his power a secret.

"One's called the shock ability." He said after a minute. "I can deliver an electric pulse of the correct frequency to force someone into a sporadic panic attack if I can touch them on the forehead, chest, or the bottom of the upper arm. The other is called mass panic. I can cast an aura that makes everyone that crosses it fall into a level of anxiety ranging from mildly nervous all the way to a complete blind panic that can cause them to pass out." Patton blinked, and Logan scooted a bit farther away from him. Virgil sighed, of course Logan didn't trust him.

"Those are pretty cool powers, kiddo." Patton said. "Scary, but cool." Virgil gave him a half smile.

"Do you know what our powers are?" Roman asked.

"No." Virgil admitted. "But, I have an idea." He opened the box slowly and lifted a pin up out of it. It was a red shield engraved with a golden castle.

"Wait- but… our logos are a newer addition." Logan pointed out. "So why would they be in this box that's been around since before we lost the power they supposedly have in them?" He sounded suspicious and wary.

"So you think I'm lying right?" Virgil growled. He heard his voice just as it was, a rasping, metallic, unearthly, low grinding that was barely identifiable as words. The dark sides all looked determined to not join in on the argument and were all pointedly looking in different directions. "Why would I lie about this? Even if I wasn't on your side? What would I have to gain from this, a good laugh? I can't believe you momentarily trusted a long time peer about a matter of life and death. Ha freaking ha. Get over yourself and listen." Logan blinked as though he were not prepared for Virgil to make a logical argument, which would make sense. Virgil inwardly smirked. He'd used logic against logic. "And in answer to your question, I don't know. Do I look like the dark one to you?...Roman, if you say yes I swear I'll punch you, you already made me feel really uncomfortable earlier and I'm surprised I didn't deck you then and there." Roman flinched, his grin flickering. "Here, put this on your shirt, it'll dissolve when you secure it to the fabric." He handed the badge to Roman, then gave the other badges to their rightful owners. "Before you put them on, I want to warn you, this will change your appearance a little. Probably nothing like mine, my powers are a lot darker than yours are." They all nodded and started to pin their badges to their clothing. The dark sides were now all watching them with rapt attention. Roman went first. He grew a few inches taller, and he became a bit more muscular.

"Wow!" When he spoke his voice was more lofty than it usually was, which was saying something, but it definitely hadn't changed like Virgil's had. Logan went next. His eyes turned a deeper shade of brown and his hair darkened as well, but it seemed that he'd lost an inch or two. Thomas would be ecstatic.

"I just got even shorter, didn't I?" His voice was deeper, more commanding. Patton finally got the pin unhinged and clipped it to his shirt. He began glowing faintly for a moment, a faint blue aura engulfing him, then turning to a blinding white. It cleared to reveal him looking almost completely different. His face seemed to have rounded slightly, or maybe that was just the expression he had. His hair had curled slightly and lightened considerably. He'd obtained a large amount of freckles and his eyes had turned bright blue.

"What do I look like?" He asked excitedly. His voice sounded the same really, but it carried a more calming feel to it, even Virgil suddenly couldn't remember why he was worried about facing off with Lucius for a moment when he heard him.

"Here, Patton." Nate handed him a mirror.

"You're revolting." Judaes complimented him.

"Dang." Tom shifted awkwardly. "Wish my powers had been that nice to me."

"How would they know how to use their powers if they don't know what they are?" Nate asked.

"Oh, easy, I know what they are." Patton said. "I don't know why I know, but I do."

"What's mine then, Pat?" Roman asked, standing up. The rest of them followed his lead and stood.

"You can create illusions and stuff like that." He replied. "Just stick your hand out like this-" He put his arm out in front of him, "think about the image you want to cast-"

Roman copied him, closing his eyes, "flick your wrist and say ochite kuru hana." Roman did as he was told and a shower of cherry blossoms fell from the ceiling. When they cleared a large, handsome, pure white unicorn was standing there.

"Yes!" Roman called victoriously. "Is it solid? I hope it's solid. I want to ride a unicorn!" He approached it cautiously, and touched it's muzzle. It tossed its head dramatically and leaned into his touch. "Guys, I have a unicorn." He said excitedly.

"What about me, Patton. What kind of power could I possibly have?" Logan asked, straightening his tie.

"Super speed and telekinesis." Patton answered simply. "I think you have telepathy to."

"So psychokinesis?" Logan said.

"Sure, I guess." Patton smiled. Logan's eyes narrowed, he made a pushing movement with his hand, and Roman toppled over onto the ground. "And I can do this." Patton called. He closed his eyes, and suddenly he was lifting off the ground, only a little at first, but he took off soaring through the air, nearly brushing the ceiling.

"Patton, you're going to hurt yourself!" Okay, maybe Virgil was slightly partial to Patton, but he panicked a little when he thought he was going to hit the ceiling. Patton only landed gently by Virgil's side and smiled calmingly at him.

"Will you help me demonstrate my other power?" Patton asked innocently. Virgil swallowed, about to say no, but reminded himself that Patton would never hurt him, and that Patton's power was probably gentle.

"Sure whatever." He replied with a shrug. Patton put a hand on Virgil's shoulder and pointed at Virgil's face with the index finger of his other hand and began tracing patterns in front of him. A thin line of pink light followed his finger. After a second, Virgil felt his heart rate slow considerably, and his breathing evened to a slow, steady pace. He felt calm, truly calm, even more so than he did whenever he was able to fall asleep. He let out a breath of relief.

"And I can make people fall asleep." He said cheerily.

"Nice, we've got four kick-butt superheroes and three bumbling light sides with powers." Nate said, leaning against the wall. Judaes rolled his eyes at him and Tom might have as well, but his face was covered by his helmet. "What's up next, fear-all leader?" Virgil crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing, clearly unimpressed.

"Well, we don't have the extra help, so plans are changing. Before we make any real moves, I'm going to go find Roman's brother and try to talk him over to our side. He's powerful, and we don't need him fighting against us, even if he won't completely turn against the dark one." 'Besides, I don't think I could fight him.' Virgil found himself thinking. 'I love him too much to hurt him.' Everyone nodded.

"Virge, hey, uh… what do you plan to do with the rest of us dark sides, once the dark one is out of the way, I mean." Nate asked, uncomfortably. "You're not going to banish us too, are you?"

"I'm not going to banish anyone." Virgil replied. "I'm trying to restore balance in Thomas's mind, not turn him into a pacifist. I'm going to put everything back to the way it was before all this started happening… best case scenario. Realistically, we're all going to end up in one of the mirrors, banished for all eternity, and Thomas is going to literally be lord Voldemort as a muggle."

"Very reassuring." Judaes said.

"I know, right?" Virgil asked sarcastically. "I'm the best at motivational pep talks." He turned and walked down the hall, not knowing exactly where he was going, but well aware that it didn't matter. Caesar would come to him no matter where he was so long as he called. 'That is if he hasn't decided to toss me out like the trash I am.' He walked for quite awhile, and decided on what he was going to do. He had to get Caesar on their side. He had to, or he didn't know what he was going to do. How could he choose? He found a dark corner, took a pocket knife out of his pocket, cast aside his hoodie, and flipped the blade open. He bit his lip and steeled himself, sliding down into a sitting position against the wall and lowered the tip of the blade to his wrist. He froze. Could he really do this? He didn't have to, he didn't want to. This would make Caesar listen to him. It would make even Logan pity and worry about him if he saw him like that. He took a deep breath, and pressed the knifeblade into his skin, biting back a hiss of pain, but allowing tears to slide down his cheeks. They would help later. It took him a remarkably long time to make five, shallow cuts on each wrist, because he kept having to stop and wait for some of the pain to ebb away. When he was done, he dropped the knife, and allowed himself to let some of his emotion out. He cried. Audibly. Perhaps sobbing would be a better way to describe what he was doing. "Caesar!" He cried, his arms wrapped around his legs, his face buried in his knees.

"Virgil!" Caesar was already there, kneeling by his side. "Virgil, baby, what's wrong?" He wrapped his arms around Virgil's shoulders, and Virgil allowed himself to melt into his embrace. "Virgil, baby, come on talk to me."

"I'm s-sorry!" He sobbed. "I'm s-so s-sorry! Y-you d-deserve so m-much b-better than me." He buried his face in the v his neck and shoulder made.

"No, Virgil that's not true." He said gently. "What made you think that? Why do you have a bloody knife- did you cut yourself?" Virgil gave a violent sob, clinging to the front of his shirt. "Come on baby, let me see them." He instructed gently. Virgil extended his arms and turned them so he could see the cuts. Caesar took his hands gently, looking down at the cuts sadly. "Virge, tell me what's wrong. I'll do everything I can to fix it." He cupped Virgil's chin and kissed him softly.

"I couldn't do it, I couldn't hurt them, I lied to you." He sobbed dramatically.

"What do you mean? What couldn't you do?" Caesar asked calmly.

"I didn't lock them up, I let them go, I couldn't do it. I lied to you and, and the dark one's going to banish me into the mirror and I'm never going to see you again!" He cried.

"Hey, hey, Virgil, calm down. What are you saying? You disobeyed the dark one because you love them?" Virgil nodded slightly, then something happened that he was not expecting. Caesar growled in anger, and pinned him up against the wall by the wrists. Virgil cried out in pain, his knees nearly collapsing out from under him.

"Caesar! P-please st-stop. You're hurting me!" He tried to twist out of his grasp, but in this position, he couldn't over power him. Gripping his wrists tightly in one hand, his other hand reached down and painfully grasped his jaw. A drop of blood fell onto Virgil's cheek beside his eye, and slid down to the floor with his tears.

"You're mine Virgil." He snarled. "You're not allowed to love them more than me."

"Caesar- I don't-" He cried out in pain again when Caesar applied more pressure to his wrists. "Caesar, please!"

"Get away from him!" Roman was running toward them, a sword in his hands. Caesar had to let go of Virgil to avoid being impaled by the blade.