The crack had been growing for some time. The pristine walls of the mind warehouse were slowly becoming infected, like a disease where the discolored blood vessels spread like hungry parasites. And there was no mistaking the source of the crack.

The vortex.

Firestorm was there every day, fighting it back while the others attempted to go about their daily business. But it was undeniable that something needed to be done about the decay. The question was, how? And what was causing it in the first place?

They had been falling through the vortex for a long time. Remus was in his prime - the vortex was his life source, after all, and being immersed in it was nothing short of intoxicating. Roman was in a constant battle to not succumb to his brother. Logan was in the best shape out of all of them, able to combat the nightmares of the vortex more efficiently than anyone else. Patton was a mess. Virgil was practically catatonic, the vortex throwing his usual anxiety into a panic attack as the nightmares ripped at him. Through it all they managed to stay together - although they all would've preferred to ditch Remus.

After who knows how long of this, Roman spotted a light in the hurricane. Something other than the ripping and screaming and laughing swirls of purple and green and black. He caught Virgil around the middle and shouted for Logan, who was able to catch hold of Patton, then reached for it -

Firestorm wasn't paying much attention when the Sides spat through into the mind warehouse. That didn't stop the whole warehouse from knowing. In an instant, Pele had arrived, arms crossed and eyes unforgiving. Behind her, Firestorm reared, a wall of hot orange blocking the way into the warehouse. Behind the collapsed Sides, the vortex pulsed and attempted to push itself further into the glowing white dome of the warehouse.

"It's you," she bit, eyes focusing in on Roman, immediately identifying him as the culprit. "Get out." Sama flickered into existence beside her, arms also crossed, but appearance not as sharp. Where Pele was in a minimalist black catsuit, she was dressed in a brown leather jacket and black boots over leggings. Other than that, they looked identical.

""It is them," she realized. "They are the causes of this."

Firestorm roared forwards, as if to consume them, but Sama held up her hand. "Let's hear 'em out." Her eyes flickered down to Virgil, who was still motionless in Roman's arms. Patton was recovering, while Logan was already on his feet and inspecting the three new entities before them.

"Look, we just need to recover," he pleaded.

"We can't have them here," Pele bellowed, though her voice didn't raise. Instead it multiplied, a less feminine tone overlapping hers. Firestorm shifting in time with the pitch. "You belong to the vortex, and we've fought too many battles against it to let it waltz into here now. We know better than that, I know better than that - I'm the maker of hard choices."

"Wait, so, you're just like us?" Patton ventured, his voice cracking. He was still shaking his head, as if trying to clear the influences of the vortex from his head. "Wow - I thought we were the only ones!"

"Pele," Sama said, pointing a thumb at her counterpart. "She's brutality - doubles as our logic. Like she said, she makes the hard choices."

"Pele, like the Hawaiian goddess of lightning and volcanoes!" Logan realized, nodding. "Creative. And also dancing."

"I decide what belongs in this mind or not," Pele inputted. Her arms were still crossed. "I'm the general of Firestorm, our guardian. He burns away anything here that doesn't belong. I'm only the one who makes all the calls."

Sama shook her head. "I'm Sama - adventure. Not creativity. The others - well, it's best that they don't get involved in this any more than they have to."

"We're stalling," Pele and Firestorm said. Before Sama could say anything, Firestorm surged through her and Pele and enveloped the Sides. Sama didn't say anything, even as the newcomers screamed. She swallowed, but crossed her arms and stood next to Pele anyway.

"Wait!" another voice cried. "Wait, stop it!"

The cry of compassion caused Firestorm to surge back, but not towards Pele and Sama - instead, he sat as a wall between the Sides and the Minders, and the Vortex. The flames reached up towards the edges of the infection, burning at the venom. Sama turned her eyes away from the Sides, whose clothes were smouldering. They were all on the ground again. She had seen Firestorm do terrible things to invaders of the mind warehouse. This was only the second time he had pulled away at the command of compassion - or morality, better known as Credesha.

"No!" Pele roared, whirling on Credesha. Again, Credesha looked like her and Sama - short brown hair in a ponytail, a round face with vague cheekbones, dark, almost black eyes. Where Pele's face was hardened and Sama's impartial, Credesha's face was full of compassion. "No, you know we can't interrupt this! Not again! They're just figments anyway!"

"What if they're like Ten?" Credesha argued. Somehow she looked shorter than Pele. Maybe it was the shoes, or maybe it was the four-sizes-too-big, stained and tattered jacket hanging over her shoulders.

"Ten was no different," Pele hissed.

"But consider the potential!" A new voice chimed in - Mel. Sama let out a long suffering sigh as creativity entered the picture. "Think about the potential of this story here, that's unfolding before us! The drama, the suspense -"

"Mel, shut up!" Pele spat, and Mel did as she was told - the same way all the Minders did when Pele left no room for debate. She stepped back, folded her hands, and settled her face. Pele whirled back to Credesha, and their argument resumed. If you could call it an argument. Morality was the only Minder who could challenge Brutality and stand her ground. That didn't stop the argument from sounding like a playground bickering match.

Sama turned towards the Sides, who were mumbling to themselves. Most of the attention was on Virgil, who was only just beginning to come to. She squatted next to him, but kept her hands resting on her knees. "Pele likes to think she's in charge," she said, nodding at the argument going on. "But we all know Credesha's really calling all the shots. As soon as she enters the conversation, Pele's screwed."

"This is a mess," Roman said, shaking his head in his usual eccentric way. "I mean, I'm totally one for adventure, but this -" he waved his hands around, gesturing to the warehouse. Most of the warehouse had been blurred away, with only the closest piles of crates and memories poking through the fog. Mel was standing at the very edge of it, still silenced but obviously looking for an opportunity to poke into the conversation. "This is way crazier than I'm used to."

Sama rested her hand on Virgil's shoulder. His eyes cleared. Logan raised an eyebrow at her.

"I was the first one into the vortex," she explained, pointing at the swirl, barely obscured by Firestorm. "It's been around as long as this palace has. I was young, foolish, Gina's only Minder at the time - actually, Firestorm was there. It was just me and Firestorm."

"Uh - who's Gina, and that's actually a nice sounding name, I'd like to meet her," Patton raised a finger.

"Gina's our human," Sama explained. "Our Thomas."

"This is the part where I wonder how you know so much about us," Virgil grumbled.

"I believe I can shed some light on that part," Logan said, clearing his throat. "These Minders, as Sama here calls them, are just like us, different counterparts to Gina's personality. They run her personality. Pele, which is such a cool name by the way, totally a geek for obscure gods and goddesses - "

"Logan," Virgil grumbled. "Your point?"

"Right. Thanks. As I was saying. Pele appears to be Gina's logic and resolve. Credesha is Gina's morality and compassion, while, Mel, was it? Is Gina's creativity."

"Like me," Roman said.

"Where's your anxiety?" Virgil asked. "I mean, a fraught situation like this, there's gotta be something."

"Right here," Sama said, poking herself in the chest, "and right there." She pointed at the vortex. Virgil just made a face.

"But you're adventure," Roman said, throwing his hands up in confusion. "You're supposed to be all, swords and dragons! And sweeping girls - or guys - off their feet."

"Yeah, we're strictly straight in this palace," Sama chuckled, shaking her head. "But that's a whole nother story. Technically, I'm the oldest Minder. The most developed. Adventure is more of a title, I'm a multi-asset - the recklessness, doubling as anxiety. I'm the closest representation of Gina that you're going to get. I'm - her muse."

"Sama!" Pele barked, whirling away from Credesha. "Stop talking with them."

That was The Foot Down. Sama opened her mouth to say something, but found herself stuck. Her face went blank as she stood and turned away from the Sides.

"My question wasn't exactly answered," Virgil muttered, pushing himself to his feet and throwing his hood over his head. Patton moved to give him a hug, but he sidestepped it, skittering away from the group. Despite this, he didn't stray far from Logan.

"We obviously can't stay here," Logan observed. This was chaos - and the anxiety levels from both Virgil and Sama were beginning to permeate the air.

"Yeah, well we can't go back there either," Roman insisted, jabbing a finger in the direction of Firestorm, and subsequently the vortex. His voice was several octaves higher, betraying his fear.

"How else are we going to return to Thomas?" Patton whined, bouncing on his knees. "I miss Thomas."

"That's true, Thomas isn't present here, and neither is Gina," Logan realized. "This is a meeting of Sides - or Sides and Minders, as they like to call themselves. I wonder if that fact has anything to do with the vortex."

"How did we get into the vortex anyway?" Virgil inputted.

There was a pause.

Roman was the first to say, "I think... We've always been there."

"Okay, moving on," Virgil exploded, "since my brain can't handle that right now, back to the first question, how do we get back?"

" - and it's clearly not going to be solved by destroying them," Credesha was screaming at Pele, bringing the Sides' attention back to the Minders. Sama met their eyes and mouthed a simple, I'm sorry before stepping back into the fog of the warehouse. Mel had disappeared, although her wispy, loose form could be seen bouncing through the fog if you looked hard enough.

"They have to go," Pele said, her voice quiet for the first time since she had arrived. "Or else we'll all be destroyed. Last time the vortex took control, Gina suffered horribly for three days. And there was nothing we could do."

"Least we can do is teach them," Credesha insisted. "Teach them about the vortex."

"Fine." Pele shook herself and fixed her face back into hardened mode. "Sama!"

"No!" Sama said, summoned back into existence next to Pele. "No, nothing about the vortex, no!"

"Try it," Pele insisted.

"No!"

Sama's outburst quieted everything, even Firestorm's dull roar, which had faded into background noise up until then. She fell to her knees and curled her hands over her head. Her back heaved up and down for a moment, then she let out a muffled scream.

Credesha stepped around Pele and kneeled in front of her, placing a hand on her back. Sama released a shuddering breath and leaned into Credesha, who wrapped her arms around her counterpart. Firestorm crackled in the background.

"You weren't there," Sama told Pele, voice muffled by Credesha's worn jacket. "You weren't - there's no learning the vortex. It's everything about the world that is wrong and painful and terrifying. It's the thing under your bed, the whispers in the dark, the screams in the distance. Everything you don't want to be."

Like Remus.

"It's not real."

"Just as real as you or me," Sama insisted, lifting her head. "And we're just as real to Gina as the Sides are to Thomas, as their stories are to the world. Gina and Thomas are storytellers, Pele, that's why they're so vulnerable to the vortex. And I'm just a story. That's why I hurt the most."

"That was - amazingly deep," Virgil commented.

Sama dropped her head back into her hands.

The vortex threads crept their way further into the walls of the dome.

"Well, now we just need to figure out how to fix this," Logan proposed, gesturing with a hand. "Whatever we need to do, we'll do it."

Pele stepped towards him. "It's not that simple, Logan," she said, and when she approached him it became clear that he was taller. "You all were the cause of this breach into the mindscape in the first place."

"What - we couldn't have done this, could we?" Patton squeaked. "We never would've done this."

"We have a bit of a Remus of our own," she began. ("See, that's what I'm talking about, how do they all know who we are?" Virgil asked, but was ignored. "Those videos?") "Temptation. The vortex. To cut to the chase, we have a very different belief system than Thomas and the Sides. Our philosophy relies heavily on self control and logic, hence me calling most of the shots. Our biggest enemy are philosophies that sound true and make sense, but don't conform to truth."

"You're referring to homosexuality, aren't you," Logan said bluntly.

"I was getting there. I could begin an entire debate on it right now, and I'm sure you would love too as much as I, but we simply don't have the time for it right now. We - I - let Thomas' content into the mindscape, believing that Firestorm and I would be able to filter out the things that would destroy us. And the thing is, it's amazing, what he does."

"It really is," Mel called from the edge of the fog. "Can I come back now?"

"No," Pele called back. "There is so much value to the things he has to contribute."

"But we forgot about the big guy upstairs," Credesha said, interrupting the start of Logan's thought. "Pele and I don't call the shots. He does. But it's too easy to forget how little we know, and how reckless that makes us, and how much Gina suffers from that."

"And the truth of the matter is, you're in our mindscape now," Pele said, the sympathy draining from her eyes as she sized up the Sides. "You can't offer any more than I allow you too. Which is why none of you can speak right now."

Logan's eyes widened as he opened his mouth, and nothing came out. Patton slapped a hand over his mouth and jumped up and down in alarm, while Roman tried to talk, his mouth moving but no sound emerging.

"That isn't fair," Virgil insisted, the only Side not being hindered. "This entire situation has been caused by something you disagree with, and your unwillingness to be opened minded!"

"We're not close-minded," Credesha said, pulling Sama to her feet and coming to stand beside Pele. "Well, I guess technically we are. But we live in a day and age where it's all the rage to be open minded, where no one is allowed to stand for their beliefs without being attacked unless they're standing for the popular opinion. Gina is perfectly willing to have a civil conversation with anyone, including Thomas, about the subject and it's virtues and vices. But this is our mindscape, and it's our job to protect it, to have a strong place to stand from in a world that's ripping itself apart."

"We respect you, even admire you," Sama said, locking eyes with Virgil. From one anxiety to another. "But right now, we cannot agree." She took Credesha's hand, and Credesha took Pele's. The three of them stood between the Sides and the mindscape.

"Wait, are you kicking us out?" Virgil asked, voice bordering on panic as Firestorm rolled out of the way of the vortex. The angry swirl looked like an oozing wound.

"Grab hands," Sama commanded. Patton's hand shot out to grab Roman's, and Logan grabbed Patton's. He reached for Virgil's, but Virgil snatched his hand away.

"No, I am not going back in there," he insisted. "I am not doing that again!"

"Virgil, just do it!" Sama snapped. "Trust me!"

He paused, studying her face, then hesitantly reached out and joined his hand with Logan's. Sama reached out and placed a hand on Roman's shoulder, letting out a breath the same way she did when she had cured Virgil earlier, after emerging from the vortex. The Sides' shoulders relaxed, despite the impending nightmare behind them.

"What…?" Logan asked. "That doesn't make sense."

"It's peace," Credesha explained. "From the big guy upstairs. It'll make sure you're not touched in the vortex."

"It's what we use to build the mindscape," Pele admitted. "This dome is peace. The vortex is chaos, sin, fear. We choose to let the vortex in. We have to deal with the fallout."

"Honestly, this is so much better than when Ten, from Doctor Who stumbled in," Sama chuckled. "Same as you did, right into this mindscape. That was right after I had fallen into the vortex for the first time. I was so inexperienced, so sure that I could conquer the unconquerable. And then he busted right through a wall. Gina got tired of him running around in the warehouse and dumped me and him in my own mindscape to figure things out. Sounds tame, but she suffered from debilitating anxiety for three days straight."

"So you're just… protecting her," Logan realized. "From something that we didn't even know Thomas needed protecting from."

"Look at it however you want," Credesha shrugged.

"Okay, can we go now or something because I'm really getting tired of this hand holding thing," Virgil interrupted. They all mumbled their agreements and awkwardly turned towards the vortex.

"Wait, one last question!" Patton interjected.

"What," Pele snapped.

"Will Thomas know about this?"

All the Minders looked at Sama - even Firestorm, in his own weird way. Sama shrugged. "If you choose to tell him. You guys have hidden things from him before, revealed things to him. Or maybe this will be another thing that just comes to light on its own in due time. When Gina placed me with Ten, she had no idea how we finally got him out of the mindscape. If it were up to her, he would've been out immediately. As it was, it took ten hours."

Roman opened his mouth to respond, but Pele raised her hand, which was in a fist. He glared at her. "What?" she asked. "I'm tired of your voice. Now get out of the vortex and back where you belong."

Credesha offered the Sides' a smile and wave while Pele just scowled. "This was amazing to watch!" Mel screamed from somewhere in the distance - jumping up and down on a stack of crates, from the sound of tumbling and yelling. "I'm okay!"

"All things considered, it was a very educational experience," Logan said.

Virgil let out a growl. "Let's get this over with!"

With no further warning, he charged the vortex, dragging Logan - and subsequently Patton and Roman - behind him. Sama laughed as he cannonballed into the vortex, Logan yelling, Patton screaming, and Roman letting out dignified girl shrieks. All the Minders watched the vortex anxiously.

Sure enough, the purple venom shrank down. Firestorm leapt on it, curling down on it while the dome healed itself, the grey scars reforming into white light. The Minders let out sighs of relief.

Only Firestorm noticed the small green and purple spot that remained.

"That was amazing!" Mel screamed from next to Pele, making the stoic Minder jump. Sama let out a long sigh and slumped to the ground, spreading herself out like she was making a snow angel. Credesha sat down next to her and shed her jacket, balling the old fabric and clutching it to her chest.

"That was exhausting," she disagreed. "Though it was so much better working as a team, instead of alone."

"Yay, teamwork," Pele said sarcastically, pumping a half-hearted fist. "I'm gonna go pour myself a piña colada. You can find me on a beach somewhere."

"It leaves scars, same as any mental health problem," Sama observed after Pele was gone.

"Yeah… not the fun side of creativity," Mel admitted, crouching next to Sama and bopping her on the nose.

"This whole thing was your fault in the first place," Sama scoffed, slapping Mel's hand away. "All of it. Go away."

Mel pouted, then poofed away.

"That wasn't very nice," Credesha pointed out.

"You know it's all her fault, though."

"It's totally Mel's fault."