Chapter Fourteen
(The Full Chapter Renamed!)
Sleep Tight
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Lucius drawled. Patton squeaked in fear and took off down the hallway, Roman at his heels. Lucius chuckled darkly and walked swiftly down the hall after them, knowing that the hall was a dead end. Virgil and Nate dropped down to the ground, almost silently, once he disappeared from view. Logan and Deceit took to the shadows, following Lucius down the hall at a safe distance. Tom was already gone in search of Thomas somewhere else, but Virgil was almost sure that they would have kept him in the room Lucius had been guarding.
Patton's breath was coming in sharp gasps now, and Roman had passed him by a smidge bit, but they were almost at the 'end' of the hall. They turned the corner, saw the wall, and turned to face Lucius. He walked into view casually before they even had time to catch their breath, but hadn't he been walking?
"Hello boys." He drawled. "Are you lost?" Roman drew himself up to his full height They saw Logan and Deceit sneaking quietly up behind him.
-Yeety, Yeety-
"Okay, let me explain where we are at the moment. We have no extra help from the past sides. We all have powers. We only have to go up against one side… even though he is the most powerful and corrupting side in existence… and he has dozens of powers and abilities… and he could easily kill us all… but hey! We've at least got a chance, yeah?" He clapped his hands together.
"Perfect, all we gotta do is remind him that he can't walk all over us other sides." Nate said determinedly.
"Fundamentally, yes." Logan replied, adjusting his glasses.
"Why can't we just get rid of him and my no-good brother permanently?" Roman asked, cracking his knuckles. Virgil barely bit back an angry, scathing response, and instead said;
"Logan, explanation."
"Sides like them can't be held back by the mirrors. They'd easily come back again unless there was a side of equal or stronger power keeping them in. For the dark one, there is no one who could keep him away, but Patton may potentially be able to keep him under control with his equal and completely opposite power, mathematically speaking. And, Thomas tends to be predisposed to the light side tendencies so… I'd say we have only about a twenty percent chance of being able to force him into a mirror in the first place."
"So what are we supposed to do about him, then?" Roman demanded. "You're not suggesting that we just rough him up and bully him into submission, are you?" The dark sides and Virgil shared an awkward look with one another. "Oh my god!" Roman huffed.
"What? We can't do that!" Patton cried indignantly. "No matter how mean he is, that's wrong!"
"We're not bullying, so much as… showing him we won't go down without a fight." Tom offered.
"It'll be like this; we knock him down a peg, and the balance returns to normal. He'll still be here, we all will, but the power will remain with the light sides. As much as I disagree with literally everything you and Roman come up with, I recognize that Thomas doesn't and that the dark one's completely INSANE." Nate shrugged.
"Logically, that is the best outcome, and this is the only way to get to that desired location." Logan nodded his approval.
"I see the need… and-" He turned to Virgil, "IguessItrustoo." He said quickly.
"What?" Virgil asked.
"I trust you." Roman repeated, slowing his words to a regular speaking pace. Virgil tensed at Roman's pronouncement, and the tension in the air doubled. The collected dark sides awaited with baited breath.
"Oof." Logan commented. Everyone turned to cast him amazed looks. He was looking down at his flashcards, which were in his hand, and the group gave off a collective, "Ohhhhh". Effectively, Logan had shattered the tense atmosphere.
"Well, alright then. I guess now is the best time to start… It's now or never guys, remember if we screw this up, we're dead and Thomas turns evil."
"Wait a minute… didn't we just discuss this… I'm having a major case of deja vu." Roman interjected.
"Of course we didn't, Roman." Logan said impatiently. "If Virgil had already led us into battle, we'd be fighting right now."
"Yeah, I guess so… but something feels off."
"I agree." Virgil nodded. "But I might be making you feel that way. I'm kind of agitated."
"Maybe." Roman said, clearly not convinced.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Lucius drawled. Patton squeaked in fear and took off down the hallway, Roman at his heels. Lucius chuckled darkly and walked swiftly down the hall after them, knowing that the hall was a dead end. Virgil and Nate dropped down to the ground, almost silently, once he disappeared from view. Logan and Deceit took to the shadows, following Lucius down the hall at a safe distance. Tom was already gone in search of Thomas somewhere else, but Virgil was almost sure that they would have kept him in the room Lucius had been guarding.
Patton's breath was coming in sharp gasps now, and Roman had passed him by a smidge bit, but they were almost at the 'end' of the hall. They turned the corner, saw the wall, and turned to face Lucius. He walked into view casually before they even had time to catch their breath, but hadn't he been walking?
"Hello boys." He drawled. "Are you lost?" Roman drew himself up to his full height They saw Logan and Deceit sneaking quietly up behind him.
"Okay, now I know we've done this before." Roman mussed aloud. Lucius's wicked grin turned into a snarl of annoyance.
"Die, you irksome insects. I have no patience for your silly games."
-Yeety, Yeety-
"Okay, let me explain where we are at the moment. We have no extra help from the past sides. We all have powers. We only have to go up against one side… even though he is the most powerful and corrupting side in existence… and he has dozens of powers and abilities… and he could easily kill us all… but hey! We've at least got a chance, yeah?" He clapped his hands together.
"Perfect, all we gotta do is remind him that he can't walk all over us other sides." Nate said determinedly.
"Fundamentally, yes." Logan replied, adjusting his glasses.
"Why can't we just get rid of him and my no-good brother permanently?" Roman asked, cracking his knuckles. Virgil barely bit back an angry, scathing response, and instead said;
"Logan, explanation."
"Sides like them can't be held back by the mirrors. They'd easily come back again unless there was a side of equal or stronger power keeping them in. For the dark one, there is no one who could keep him away, but Patton may potentially be able to keep him under control with his equal and completely opposite power, mathematically speaking. And, Thomas tends to be predisposed to the light side tendencies so… I'd say we have only about a twenty percent chance of being able to force him into a mirror in the first place."
"So what are we supposed to do about him, then?" Roman demanded. "You're not suggesting that we just rough him up and bully him into submission, are you?" The dark sides and Virgil shared an awkward look with one another. "Oh my god!" Roman huffed.
"What? We can't do that!" Patton cried indignantly. "No matter how mean he is, that's wrong!"
"We're not bullying, so much as… showing him we won't go down without a fight." Tom offered.
"It'll be like this; we knock him down a peg, and the balance returns to normal. He'll still be here, we all will, but the power will remain with the light sides. As much as I disagree with literally everything you and Roman come up with, I recognize that Thomas doesn't and that the dark one's completely INSANE." Nate shrugged.
"Logically, that is the best outcome, and this is the only way to get to that desired location." Logan nodded his approval.
"I see the need… and-" He turned to Virgil, "IguessItrustoo." He said quickly.
"What?" Virgil asked.
"I trust you." Roman repeated, slowing his words to a regular speaking pace. Virgil tensed at Roman's pronouncement, and the tension in the air doubled. The collected dark sides awaited with baited breath.
"Oof." Logan commented. Everyone turned to cast him amazed looks. He was looking down at his flashcards, which were in his hand, and the group gave off a collective, "Ohhhhh". Effectively, Logan had shattered the tense atmosphere.
"Well, alright then. I guess now is the best time to start… It's now or never guys, remember if we screw this up, we're dead and Thomas turns evil."
"Wait a minute… didn't we just discuss this… I'm having a major case of deja vu." Roman interjected.
"Of course we didn't, Roman." Logan said impatiently. "If Virgil had already led us into battle, we'd be fighting right now."
"Yeah, I guess so… but something feels off."
"I agree." Virgil nodded. "But I might be making you feel that way. I'm kind of agitated."
"Maybe." Roman said, clearly not convinced.
"Wait, hold on there kiddos. There was still a pin in the box."
"We'll have to deal with it later, Patton. We know it's not yours, Roman's, Logan's, or mine, so it's probably not a great idea to use it now."
"Indeed, powers for a dark side can be incredibly volatile, and it may hurt the side more than help him if we give it to him under such emotional duress.
"But wait! You don't understand. I mean that it was still in there after everyone got theirs, but now it's not."
"What? That's not possible." Logan declared.
"It's true though." Patton protested.
"We believe you, Morality." Nate said, soothingly.
"I mean you're literally the embodiment of morals, we know you aren't lying to us." Tom reasoned.
"Besides that, I would never know." Judaes added.
Lucius was a very vain side, of course he was, why wouldn't he be? He was perfect. Being the embodiment of greed, he did tend to be… protective over his belongings. Even those that didn't actually belong to him. So when he saw the box he kept the light sides powers in was stolen, he first only felt a blind fury. Slowly, the realization set in. The light sides had their powers.
"Caesar!" Silence and stillness. Caesar did not answer his summon, but there was no way he could have betrayed him, could there be? "Caesar!" He was beginning to get angry now, no one defied Greed.
"Unfortunately, the Duke of dull delusional dreams won't be joining us." Lucius whipped around at the sound of the voice.
"YOU!"
The band of sides arrived at the room Nate had seen Lucius guarding not too long before then, but Lucius was nowhere in sight.
"Where do think he went?" Logan hissed.
"I have no idea." Virgil murmured. Inside the room, they heard Lucius bellow in rage.
"Hold still so I can kill you!" He snarled. The collected sides dropped down from the rafters of the mind palace and rushed the door, forgetting all about their plan. Roman was the first through the door, Virgil and Logan running in after everyone else, purely because the others had jumped the gun.
"Oh my Disney!"
-Yeety, Yeety-
"Remy?" All the light sides gasped upon seeing the rebellious boy.
"No, it's Chuck Norris. Who'd you think it was going to be... Picani?"
"What did you do to him?" Virgil asked, noticing Lucius lying on the floor behind Remy. Remy took a long sip from his coffee before answering.
"Put him to sleep." He answered simply.
"What? How… why… when did you even get involved in this?" Nate sputtered, obviously confused.
"Nate, honey, shut up and let me talk, mkay?" Nate flushed at Remy's condescending behavior. "So I showed up here, because Thomas has been asleep for a long time without me and I wanted to know why, and this piece of trash was running around messing things up. So I drop in on you guys to see what you were up to, but I hung out in the corner so you wouldn't see me… like Virgil does at parties. Anyway, so I saw a pin of a coffee cup in the box and decided it was mine, so I put it on and BANG! I remembered everything… except how to completely use my powers well. So I followed Patton around for a bit, and then this death eater wannabe killed you all, so I turned back time- yes I can do that, I do whatever I want, Logan can go suck jam out of a crofters jar." He looked at Logan over the top of his sunglasses, challenging him to say different. Logan made an indifferent kind of squeak, but did not contradict him. "Anyway, I tried to let Roman kind of remember what had happened so you wouldn't die again, but it didn't work, so I turned time back again and cut Lucifer here out of the picture before he could do anything, but he was stronger than I thought. Hey PatCat, come here and help me clear his mind out… you're like the humble one so I'm sure you'll work for it." Patton cocked his head to one side, confusedly.
"Okay, kiddo. " He complied.
"So you're telling me, we've been doing all of this powering up and planning, and literally all we needed to do is sleep?" Virgil demanded.
"Of course!" Logan sounded as though he could have slapped himself. "That's the number one reason of negative out of character behavior in teenagers and young adults, lack of sleep. We definitely haven't gotten enough sleep lately."
"Yeah, duh, when's the last time you saw me?" Remy asked, examining his fingernails. "I know I'm not reliable, but when you don't see me for eight days, you should know something's up."
"Thomas hasn't slept in eight days?" Logan asked incredulously. "Where were you?"
"Hey, don't blame me for your problems, you should have been paying attention Mr. I-write-everything-down-on-a-too-big-to-be-necessary-calendar." Logan seemed subdued by that, and visibly bit back a retort. "And in anyways, I'm like a vampire. I'm pale, dress in black, I'm only out at night, I'm elusive, my existence is sometimes questionable, and I've got to be invited in. I don't just sneak in… for Thomas specifically though, like sleep for other people… sleep for normal people. Like, you don't even know." Patton snorted.
"Well, this was incredibly pointless." Nate said.
"Nate, my man!" Remy said, obviously just noticing him. "What's the news from the dark side my dude."
"Just having a war fought for us by the embodiment of sleep that also happens to be my best friend." Nate shrugged.
"I thought I was your best friend." Tom said.
"Nope." Nate replied bluntly. "Come on Remy, let's go get coffee."
"Sure, sounds good." Remy replied. The two of them walked out the door, leaving a jokingly sputtering Tom behind in their wake.
"Well, if this is all taken care of-"
"Wait! Come on, there's no way it was that easy. Not even sleep is that powerful."
"Virgil, I know you're like really good at this whole war thing, but don't you think you're being a little paranoid? We can find Thomas on our own, yeah? The dark sides can go." Roman said flippantly.
"Kay, cool." Tom shrugged sinking out.
"Wait, no. What happens when he wakes up?" Virgil stressed.
"It's all right Virgil, he shouldn't be anywhere as rebellious now that we've had sleep." Logan said in an attempt to sooth him. "Thomas isn't in here, so let's go check out the other location, Roman."
"Sounds like a plan." He drew his katana.
"You don't need that." Logan attempted to reason with him.
"Wait, guys. He's still out there! You can't go wandering around the dark domain alone. Even if Lucius really is done, that means the war truce is too. Just because they helped us out once doesn't mean there our friends now."
"Oh, pish posh, they won't do anything." Roman said. "Besides, if they do pull anything, I'll be ready." He visibly gripped his sword harder. With that they left the room. Virgil felt his heart drop into his stomach and his blood ran cold. He took a few deep, steadying breaths. Maybe nothing would happen. But just as that thought crossed his mind, Lucius began to stir. This was not going to end well.