Chapter 9: Forbidden Fruit
Thomas was humming to himself as he was drawing with his crayons. He was making a big and colorful picture. However he had been unable to find any paper and he was using the wall. It was his bedroom wall so it was good. His mind was just buzzing today with thoughts and images he couldn't wait to get them out. "Thomas!" His Mother's voice jolted him from his imaginary world he was drawing on the wall. "What do you think you are doing young man?!" She asked in a tone that clearly said he was in trouble.
"Drawing….." He answered, arms dropping to his side. He looked to the bloody battle ground that he had been drawing. "A battlefield…." He finished.
"And who told you it was okay to draw on the walls?" She demanded.
"Um, nobody." Thomas answered, not knowing how to answer the question, because no one told him to draw on the walls.
"Then you better stop listening to nobody, or their going to keep getting you in trouble! Now march and grab a rag, your going to clean all of this up!" She scolded.
"Yes, ma'am!" He nodded quickly running from the room to appease his transgression against his mother.
Meanwhile in his brain, Remus was having too much fun to stop drawing on the walls. "Aww.. Come on Tommy! Its art!" He shouted to the tv, where he could see through Thomas's eyes. While Thomas had been drawing a battle field with minimal blood splatter, Remus was drawing a corpse mangled and torn apart hanging in a tree, with the head on top. And if the body looked something similar to Roman, well it was the only way he could show how he felt about his brother at the moment, since Roman had beaten him in the battle they had when Remus had tried to leave for the back of the brain with Deceit and Virgil. So, he was making a point of not looking or speaking to his brother.
Roman was sitting in front of the coffee table drawing on a piece of paper of something similar to what Thomas had been drawing only more focused on a valiant knight that was posing heroically in the midst of battle. He was would sometimes check on his brother, waiting for one of the other two sides to come in a lecture his twin, since Remus was not going to listen to anything he had to say. He had such a hard time subduing his brother he hadn't had the time to check the imagination about that apple that almost lured his unicorn away. It wasn't that he thought Remus would hurt Logic or Morality, but more so that he didn't think Logic and Morality could handle Remus. "You got him in trouble again." He accused.
"Mommy dearest just doesn't know what good art is when she sees it!" Remus tutted, crayons changing into marker. Grinning the young Duke took the marker and drew a mustache on his own face. "Thomas is going to be an artist after all!" He said. Acting like he was playing with the mustache.
"Is that a permanent marker?" Roman asked noticing the ink was not smudging.
"Yup! I gonna suggest Thomas do the same thing." Remus grinned.
"Good luck getting the other to agree to that." Roman huffed, gathering up his art supplies and ran up the stairs to his room. "Don't forget we have to create some daydreams today!"
Remus watched him go, his grin splitting wider. "Who says I have to ask permission?" He cackled. Turning to the tv, where he could see what Thomas doing. "Look in the junk drawer for a marker." He suggested to the tv, and watched with glee when Thomas did, grabbing a black sharpie from the drawer. "Now draw mustache on yourself," He said, excitedly, watching as young Thomas did exactly that. Remus pumped his fists in the air in victory. "Yes!" He cheered, running to his room. "Bleh!" He gagged, as he passed his brothers door.
The little Duke stopped momentarily in front of Moralities door and summoned a red bucket full of sand, with a little sign that said, dig. He had a nice little surprise in their for the Heart. Cackling with mischievous glee Remus entered his room. He opened the steel door that was the entry way to his side of the imagination and practically ran through it. He wasn't about to stay with the Lights Sides by himself, and who better to come join him than his best friend.
"Dee!" He bellowed, when his door deposited him where the imagination split. He could feel his friend somewhere in the land, it was just the matter of getting the imagination to tell him where. He and Romans were still working out the kinks. Well, Remus had been trying to add a few new interesting kinks, to liven it up. Morningstar materializing in his hand Remus started treking through Roman's side of the imagination, trying to focus so to pinpoint where Deceit and Virgil could be at.
(Roman)
Prince Roman's door opened up to a room within his castle in the imagination. It was a small room and with round table that held a crystal ball in the middle and a nice looking witch that sat patiently as the Prince walked up. She was his seer and would allow him to scan his side of the imagination. He could what has happened or is happening and pinpoint on a certain situation of interest.
"Welcome my Prince. How can I be of service?" The Witch greeted.
"I want you to scour the Land and search a boy in a block oversize hoodie." He demanded.
"Yes, my Prince. Anything else?" The Witch asked with a smile, hands going to the crystal ball.
"Yes I want to see what he did yesterday." Roman nodded. He had not forgotten about the incident with his unicorn and its claim of smelling an apple on the suspicious looking boy. He had to be up to no good trying to lure his unicorn away and spying on them.
"Of course my Prince. Look into the crystal ball and see what you desire." The Witch smiled, magic glowing from her hands causing the magic within the crystal ball to react.
Roman watched closely as the suspicious boy appeared in the image, showing the darkling sneaking into his village and hiding amongst his villagers and conning a poor unsuspecting woman into buying him an apple. Roman grew angry seeing the darkling pocket the fruit and then climb over his wall to trespass in his garden, and walked straight to his unicorn. The boy then proceeded to spy as Logic and Morality entered the garden. Roman watched intently, looking to see if the apple would fall from within the pocket of the dark strange boy, but it didn't. The escaped from the imagination with the fruit still in his pocket and Roman was beyond upset.
"I knew it!" He shouted banging his fists on the table. He had nothing from his side of the imagination must leave and that rule had been broken.
"Anything else your Highness?" The Witch asked.
"No." H said, walking from the room. "Saddle up my horse!" He demanded to the nearest servant, his orders being followed as fast as possible. He was going to have words with those so called friends of his brother. By the time he was out the doors of the castle the his white pony was saddle and ready for him to jump on its back to gallop away and consult with his brother. The dark boy could not get away with his thievery. Surely his brother would see to it that the crime was punished.
(Deceit and Virgil)
Virgil cringed as he paced several feet from Deceit, who was sitting on a picnic blanket in the grass, his eyes glazed over slightly as if he was about to fall asleep in the sunlight. It was Virgil's idea to come ot the imagination today. Every since Remus failed to return from the Light Side, things had been quiet in their side of the brain which mostly meant Virgil and Deceit stayed in their respected rooms for the day until it was time for Thomas to daydream. They had resorted to sneaking back into the imagination through Remus's brothers room. During which they had to quietly get past the twins who had been coloring in the Lights common area. Even if Remus was welcomed there, Deceit and Virgil were not and did not want to find out what would happen if they were caught.
"Virgil your pacing." Deceit mumbled, as his body rocked slightly on the ground in a calm like circle.
"No, I'm not!" Virgil countered.
"Lies." Deceit said, his eyes flicking open.
Virgil immediately started biting at the mail on his thumb in a nervous habit, leaving one hand in his pocket and gripping the apple that he had taken yesterday. He hadn't meant to take it from the imagination and honestly as soon as he had realized that the fruit was even still in his hoodie, he had panicked so bad that he threw Thomas into a panic attack with him. It had taken both Deceit and Thomas's mom to calm him down and even then he could not bring himself to confess his crime from taking something from the imagination. He and Deceit stared at each other in silence for a few long minutes before he broke. "ItookanapplefromRoman'svillage!" He blurted quickly taking the apple from his pocket and shoving it forward to show Deceit. "I didn't mean to!" He defended. "If I put it back it should be okay right?" Virgil asked.
"What?!" Deceits mismatched eyes widen as he stood up. The apple that Virgil now held out to him, was already changing and not like the apples they have all seen turn brown because Thomas didn't eat them in time. No. This apple looked like it was melting. Like it was made of wax. And the color was changing to a black color. The Snake halfling didn't think it would be alright if they just put it back, but he wasn't about to tell Anxiety this. "It should be fine." He lied. "Let me have it." He said, taking the apple from Virgil. Remembering finding him with the Prince of Creativity chasing the Anxious side, it wouldn't do to have that happen again. Deceit didn't think Anxiety could handle that happening two days in a row.
Virgil happily complied and sighed in relief now that the incriminating fruit was no longer in his hand. "What now?" He asked.
Deceit wasn't sure what to do now. He just knew that he didn't want Virgil to be caught with it. "We leave it here. On Roman's side. It should be fine." He said, looking around to find a place to place it. Somewhere not in the open where he would be seen. "Go and play. I will be back." Deceit said, starting for the divide in the imagination. He wanted to dump the apple in a place where he would not be seen. It would be alright if they gave it back to the imagination. As he walked he kept glancing at the melting apple in his gloved hand. The color was changing again taking on a yellow bruising look as tiny bubbles started forming on it, like it was getting hot, without getting hot.
Worried Deceit started walking faster, looking for the best place to put the apple. Maybe he should bury it somewhere. No. That wouldn't work. He soon walked up to apple orchard. The trees full of different types of apples. Walking further into it he decided that the best way to get rid of the apple was to hide among the other apples of the imagination. It was a weird transition seeing healthy and vibrant color trees and then right at the split of the imagination you could see the trees start to gradually change into dead trees and while some did keep their fruit. The fruit did not look appetizing and some even looked poisonous. It amazed Deceit how different Romans and Remus's side of the imagination were so different from each other. Deceit had wandered ever since the split why it had to happen in the first place. But he could feel no imbalance within Thomas and so wasn't really bothered with the new additions that would help make Thomas, Thomas.
Humming to himself now to try and distract himself from the deforming apple in his hand as he search for the right place to put it. The deforming fruit seeming to warp slightly now.
"Oh Dee~!" Remus's manic call rang through the imagination and Deceit groaned in annoyance.
It wasn't that he didn't like the self proclaimed Duke, it was just that he was very energetic and right now Deceit wasn't in the mood. He was already stressing about fixing Virgil's mistake. So, stuffing the apple under his hat the Snake Halfling started running deeper into the orchard. He didn't want Virgil to get in trouble and he didn't want Remus to get in trouble with Roman. And now that he was thinking about it he hoped that the deforming apple now hidden in his hat on his head didn't do anything weird to his hair. He guessed he was moving away from the young Duke since his voice was starting to move further away. Of course the further he moved through the orchard the thicker the trees grew.
"Halt!"The voice of the other Creativity shouted and Deceit paused in his hurried walking with a roll of his eyes.
If it one Creativity he was trying to dodge it was the other on. That being said, the Prince of Creativity appeared on a white pony, face full of determination. "You're one Remus's new friends aren't you?" Roman stated.
Knowing he would not be able to outrun a pony, Deceit hid himself in the shadows of the orchard trees to hide his serpentine side. Going by how Prince Roman reacted to Virgil, Deceit got the feeling this creativity like to judge a book by it cover first and he had enough harassment due to his half human and snake appearance from King Creativity and the others. He was not in the mood to get stabbed for something couldn't control. "Who wants to know?" Deceit scoffed. He already didn't care for this Creativity's attitude.
"The ruler of this land. Are you aware you now trespassing." Roman announced, as he approached on his white pony. "One of you took from my side of the imagination. You were warned not to take anything from the imagination."
Deceit feigned ignorance at this. "Oh? I was not aware. But then with there now being two Creativities. I do believe Remus has a say as to who is welcome and who is not as well, Your Highness." He said in a sweet tone that was dripping with honey, and he knew it.
"That is Remus. What he does on his side is his business. We are talking about my side of the imagination. I demand that the apple taken be returned and the thief who took it be punished." Roman demanded.
"I'm afraid. I have no idea what you are talking about." Deceit said, fixing with his gloves. He couldn't let the Prince he now held the apple. Speaking of the apple he could feel it in his hat, it shape less round and he would swear that it was moving.
Roman quickly dismounted his steed and proceed to approach the bowler hat wearing boy that was half hidden by the shadows. He didn't understand the Sides his brother seemed to be hanging out with. They were weird and acted suspicious. And now the boy was acting like he didn't know what he was talking about when he had been there and helped the boy in the black hoodie escape. "Don't try and lie to me. I know you were there."
"I was where?" Deceit asked, backing up into the shadows more, the closer Prince Creativity got.
"Here! In the imagination! On my side!" Roman said, getting irritated.
"Never been here before in my life." Deceit defended cooly, acting offended at the accusation as one of his extra arms forming where Roman could not see and very easily slipped the accursed apple from under Deceits hat and placing it in the tree that was the Snake Halflings shelter or the moment. Hiding the warping fruit in the leaves of the branches.
Roman growled at the blatant lie. He knew what he had saw and this slippery fiend was denying it. "Lies!" He shouted and lunged for the other boy.
Deceit could only describe himself as very lucky, even though for him the events before him happened too quickly for him to see. For when Prince Roman had decided to charge him, the snake boy had pushed away from the tree that was helping in hiding his snake-like features, in which from behind him he heard the sound of wood being splintered and very familiar manic very scream "Gotcha Snakey!" Although Deceit was very aware that he was not caught and was still running away. So he had opted to look back and behold the sight of Remus dropping from the tree tops and smashing wooden crate down on top of Roman trapping the Prince of Creativity inside. The coincidence of that even happening pulled an amused chuckle from the Snake Side as he ran to grab Virgil and leave the imagination.
"Remus! You idiot!" Roman raged kicking the inside of the crate.
The young Duke peered into the crate. "Hey, your not Dee! Where's Dee?" He asked and proceeded to sniff the air like one would expect a dog.
"You let him get away!" Roman accused, snapping his fingers and the crate disappearing.
Remus eyeballed his brother. "And why were you speaking to my yellow noodle? You have your own friends, leave mine alone." He threatened.
"I don't want anything to do with your so called friends. I want what was taken from my side." Roman shouted.
"You mean the apple?" Remus asked.
"Yes I mean- Wait! You knew?" Roman asked flabbergasted.
"Well duh, shits for brains. I rule the imagination too." Remus said, sticking his tongue out. "Still doesn't give you the right to mess with my friends especially Dee." He grabbed his twin by his red sash and pulled him close to where they were nose to nose. "I mean it Roman, Deceit is off limits!"He snarled out in a vicious smile showing off his sharper teeth.
Roman pulled a disgusted face and shoved his brother away. "Whatever. We need to get that apple." He said, getting back on track.
"You can look for you poisoned apple. I don't care. I have better things to do." Remus shrugged, turning to walk the way he seen the Snake halfling run.
Roman grabbed Remus by the back of his shirts collar. "Nuh-uh. This is both of our problems now. And I hope you realized that those so called friends of your is banished from the imagination, my side at least. We can't have a part of it get compromised in such a delicate transition. Thomas needs a healthy balanced imagination."
Remus could agree with the last part of Roman's little speech but there was no way he was going to ban his friends from the imagination. He was just being overly dramatic about the whole thing. Before he could say as much both twins felt a tug of a summons. The pull, pulling both twins from the imagination and into the Lights Common Room placing both of them in front of the tv.
Logic and Morality were both there. Logic holding the bucket that Remus had placed in front of Morality's door, The Heart was trying not to cry so ended up looking like a sobbing mess. "Care to explain this?" Logic asked presenting the bucket to the two creative sides.
Said bucket was filled with the skeletal heads of different animals. "Its my present to Morality." Remus grinned speaking up. While Roman made a gagging sound at the sight and smell coming from the bucket. "Morality said he liked animals. Now he can make himself one!" Remus cackled.
"But their dead." Morality sobbed sadly.
"Yeah!" Remus smiled. The tv behind the twins turned on as Thomas was getting scolded by his mother for drawing on his face. The other three sides looked at Remus who still had his markered on mustache on his own face. "What? He looks good with stache if I do say so myself." He shrugged with a grin.
Logic huffed and Morality ran tot he tv, spouting apologizes out to Thomas's mother and resolving the trouble that Thomas was in. "Remus I know your new, but you mustn't put Thomas in trouble. That is not what we do. Our goal is for Thomas to grown into an exceptional human being."
"That sounds boring." Remus booed. "I'm going back to the imagination." He said, running up the stairs and to his room.
The other three sides watched him go, hearing him slam his door close. Logic held the bucket out for Roman. "Roman, do you think you could do something about this?" He asked.
Roman snapped his fingers and the contents of the bucket changed from dead animals to vibrant flowers of different colors. Morality made a noise of contentment at the beautiful flora.
"Thank you." Logan said, placing the bucket one of the coffee tables. "I must say you were not exaggerating when you said Remus was different." He said. "It is most intriguing to me."
"Yeah well..." Roman shrugged. Conjuring forth a some paper and crayons. "I tried to tell you."
"Maybe we just have to be patient." Morality suggested.
A loud farting sound filled the room when Logic sat down on the couch to read a book that he had sitting out. Everyone watched as he reach under the couch cushion to reveal a woopie cushion had been hidden there. Logic looked to Roman, who held up his hand in a gesture that said it wasn't him who had placed it there. Arching a brow at the Prince of Creativity, as he opened book Logic let a painful sound seeing that all the words were gone. Logic slammed the book shut and hopped off the couch. "Whatever you say, Morality in the mean time I will be confined to my room." He said departing away from the others. "i don't need to be here for all these pranks. It is a waste of my time."
Morality wrung his hands together. "I guess I will start cooking. You okay by yourself Roman?"
"Yeah, I start brainstorming some ideas for our good King Thomas." The Prince of Creativity said, already drawing on the papers in front of him. From the kitchen there was a loud 'ka-boom!'sound that had him and Logic running to go and check on Morality as the fir alarm started going off.
TBC
A/N: I know this is posted late and I apologize for that. I haven't been feeling well. I just been tired lately. Anyway I hope you like the chapter. I can't wait to hear what you all ought of it.