XXX

"Wait, Deceit ducked out?!" Thomas exclaimed.

"Yeah, ugh- Fuck!" Virgil cursed. "I wasn't-"

Thomas could see that Virgil was distressed, so he figured that the anxious side probably wasn't going to be the clearest source of information. Shifting his gaze, Thomas saw that Patton was sobbing, and Roman was trying to comfort him. So, he turned to Logan, hoping that the logical side would be able to explain.

"Guys, what happened?"

Logan let out a small sigh before he began.

"It seems that Deceit has disconnected himself from the rest of the mindscape, just as Virgil did in the past," he began. "Roman and I weren't in the room, but it seems that he and Virgil had some kind of argument, and Deceit was scared when Virgil used his Voice."

Virgil was fiddling with his sleeves in agitation.

"I didn't think he'd fucking duck out!" Virgil hissed. "I was just mad! Fuck!"

"Try to calm down, Virgil," Logan instructed. "Thomas, we need you to get into Deceit's room."

"Um. Alright. So, I have to think about lies, right? I can do that."

But before he could start, Thomas felt the arrival of another side.

"WHAT DID YOU BUTTHOLES DO?!"

And then he had to dodge a throwing star.

"Holy shit!"

"Ah. The Duke's here again."

"DEE'S FUCKING- HE!" Remus shouted. "WHAT. DID. YOU. DO?!"

"Bro, chill it!" Roman scolded.

"HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CHILL WHEN-"

"Remus," Logan cut in, his voice even. "We are currently in the process of trying to solve the issue. We need Thomas to get into Deceit's room."

They could see Remus gritting his teeth, appearing to be holding back another shout or violent impulse.

"Fine," he growled. "Let's get going then, fuckers! But if anything happens to Dee, I'm gonna throw you all in a pit of tarantula pigs!"

Thomas had to take a few deep breaths to calm down from Remus's sudden appearance. He didn't want to end up in Virgil's room, after all. But, once he was as calm as he could get under the present circumstances, he filled his mind with all the lies he could remember telling.

And then he felt a pull, and they were standing in the middle of a room Thomas had never seen before. The walls were a pale yellow, and the floor was covered in a shaggy, white rug. Most flat surfaces in the room were covered in potted plants, with vines snaking around beams on the ceiling.

Janus was laying in his bed, curled up under the covers.

"DEE!"

Remus charged forward and jumped onto the bed, causing the figure within the blankets to immediately shoot up.

"HOLY- Remus, what are you doing?!" he yelped.

"WHAT AM I DOING?!" Remus exclaimed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Janus looked down toward his sheets, avoiding Remus's gaze. He clearly hadn't noticed that Remus wasn't the only one in his room.

"I..."

"You can't do this, Dee," Remus continued. "I can't lose you."

"Wh-"

"Deceit."

He flinched as he heard the voice, looking up momentarily before averting his gaze again.

"Um. I…," Janus mumbled, his voice small.

Virgil stepped forward, and Janus huddled in toward himself.

"De-Janus. I..," Virgil ran a hand through his hair before shoving them in his pockets. "Look. I didn't mean to yell at you like that. I'm just… still… upset about what happened in the past."

Janus allowed his eyes to look up toward Virgil, who was shuffling awkwardly.

"Which, I guess… you don't even remember…," Virgil huffed. "Just… we can deal with all that later, but… this isn't the way to solve anything."

Now, Janus tilted his head up to look at all of them directly, though he looked confused. Thomas stepped forward too.

"Nothing good comes out of doing this, buddy," Thomas told Janus. "You're a part of me, and we need you, even if we don't all get along sometimes.

As a chorus of agreement came from behind them, Janus blinked at them. He looked at each of them before opening his mouth.

"I… um… That's… nice, I guess?" he spoke slowly. "But I don't know what you're talking about? I've only been in here for like, a day?"

At that, Janus found them all staring at him.

"What?"

"... Dee, you ducked out," Remus told him, his voice shakier and quieter than any of them had ever heard it.

But Janus was still confused.

"What does that mean, though?"

And they all just stared at him again.

"Seriously, what did I do?" Janus questioned, starting to feel like he was being accused of something.

And then Virgil's shoulders fell.

"Oh, thank fuck, it wasn't on purpose…," he mumbled.

But he still didn't know what was going on.

"Deceit, when we refer to 'ducking out', we're describing a side deciding to disconnect themself from the rest of the mindscape," Logan explained finally. "When Virgil did it, Thomas stopped feeling any anxiety at all, and it caused… some problems. We noticed it more quickly this time, however, so the inability to lie hasn't started to affect Thomas too much yet."

"...Oh."

They watched as Janus's gaze lowered itself yet again.

"...But… What's the big deal about that…?"

XXX

(Okay, so, I like the head cannon that, if a side stays 'ducked out' too long, something bad happens- like they start fading away, or the others can't enter their room anymore and they're trapped there or they like hibernate or something. So, that's why everyone's freaking out so much. I left it vague about what exactly would happen, though)