Chapter Two

Moody Princy

A/N: Wow, so I don't have wifi where I live in the summer, so posting is kind of not an option. I'm so sorry of gone this long without posting. I haven't given up, I promise. Roman won't let me.

The group dashed out the door, heading in the direction of the scream. They came across Remy in the hallway, who was looking rather pale.

"Remy…?" Virgil started cautiously, wondering what on Earth could scare Remy.

"This is gonna sound really weird, but I think the house is haunted." He said in response. There were a few crayons on the floor next to him, and a half-drawn something on the wall. "Either that, or crayons learned how to levitate… are you guys messing with me? If so, it's funny, if not, I think we should leave."

"See, Remy agrees. Let's go!" Virgil growled.

"Don't be ridiculous Virgil." Logan said calmly. "Even if this wasn't a tasteless form of distraction by the dark sides, crayon drawings and singing poses no threat to our well being. There is no reason to leave the apartment…"

"Oh yes there is!" Remy interrupted.

"I never knew you were afraid of ghosts, Remy." Thomas said.

"I'm not afraid of them… okay maybe I am a little bit, but what sleep side isn't. No one ever sleeps after encountering a ghost. And in anyway, we just started being haunted, which means we did something to upset it, which means it's angry-"

"And we're gonna die." Virgil finished for him.

"Exactly." Remy replied.

"Or, the dark sides are trying to off set us." Logan huffed, clearly annoyed at being ignored.

"Wait, wait, shh, listen." Virgil put a finger to his lips. The group paused, and they were able to hear a muffled voice that was clearly yelling.

"Who else would be doing it?" The voice paused as though it were listening to a response. "This is my one chance here, I'm not going to mess it up." The voice had gotten closer, and was now easily discernible as Roman's. He walked around the corner, scowling into a hand mirror he was holding.

"Princy…" Virgil began cautiously. "Were you just yelling at your reflection?" Roman looked up, clearly startled at the hallway having people in it. He flushed scarlet, and tucked the mirror into a bag he'd been holding.

"Like you haven't done that before." He snapped irritably. Virgil, however, did not seem embarrassed by this, nor was he phased in the least.

"And you aren't a self-disgusted edge lord. Cough it up, what's going on?"

"Are you okay kiddo?" Patton asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Roman replied. "Logan, do you know of a good book I can distract myself with?"

"Try reading Ink Heart if you haven't already done so." Logan replied. "Why do you ask? It seems something must be wrong if you want to lose yourself in a fantasy world of someone else's creation."

"I'm just trying to draw inspiration, that's all." He replied.

"Falsehood, you just specifically asked for a book to distract yourself with." Logan countered smoothly. Roman huffed, frustrated.

"What's eating at you?" Thomas asked, concerned.

"Excuse me for being a little out of sorts after something that scary just happened." He snapped viciously. Patton could just feel Thomas's guilt at having upset Princy so much. With that, Roman slumped out of the room with a posture reminiscent of Virgil's defensive one.

"Now we know something's wrong." Patton said gently, putting a hand on Roman's shoulder as he passed him. He shrugged it off to continue to walk down the hallway, but Remy blocked him.

"Dang Roman, I assumed you'd be the one to listen to the king." He said jokingly, but with a touch of concern behind his voice. Roman turned again toward Patton.

"Forgive me, your majesty." He bit out sarcastically.

"Patton wasn't even the one that brought that up." Logan pointed out, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, back off princy." Virgil growled.

"Roman, talk to us kiddo." Patton said, concerned.

"Is that an order?" Roman challenged.

"You know I wouldn't force you to." Patton sighed.

"Then forget it." He pushed past Remy, more violently than necessary, and stalked off down the hall.

"Who the heck peed in his coffee?" Remy glared at him, rubbing his shoulder.

"I don't know, but it seems important that we find out." Virgil growled.

"What do you mean, Virge?" Patton asked.

"I mean that the last time Roman was in a bad mood, Caesar came around and the dark one tried to take over Thomas's mind. Now he's being even more of a jerk, and he's being secretive about it too." He replied darkly.

"Yes, and don't forget the ominous warning he left us with not too long ago." Logan added.

"Caesar is the least of our worries." Thomas quoted.

"I can grab one of my buddies and we can draw out what we need to know from his dreams." Remy offered.

"We can't do that!" Patton squeaked.

"Why not?" Virgil challenged.

"Because it's wrong." Patton sighed. " And you know Roman wouldn't let us do it to you, Virge."

"I don't have dreams to spy on." Virgil mumbled, moodily.

"It seems like a reasonable enough course of action to me." Logan said.

"Ultimately it's your decision, Thomas." Virgil pointed out.

"Well, if it'll help us help him, I don't see the harm." Thomas mussed out loud.

"The harm is, we'll be breaking the trust he has in us, and it might make him feel worse." Patton reasoned.

"He broke the trust we had in him, and I'm the only one who seems to remember that." Virgil pointed out.

"Come on, kiddo, don't be like that." Patton begged him. He gave him a teary puppy-eyed look and Virgil huffed out a huge sigh.

"Look, Pat, I want to be able to trust him too, but we can't. It's plain and simple. He betrayed that trust and has done nothing to earn it back." He said slowly.

"Going off of that logic, we shouldn't trust you either." Logan pointed out. Something flashed behind Virgil's eyes as he turned to face Logan.

"Fine." Was all he said before he began to sink out.

"Virge wait! Logan didn't mean that, did ya teach?" Patton cried.

"I never say things I don't mean." Logan replied tonelessly as Virgil disappeared.

"Wow, Logan, that was rough. Even I wouldn't have said something like that to him." Remy raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, that was low, Logic." Thomas agreed. It was a testament to the tense atmosphere that Patton made no pun about Logan being low.

"I wasn't trying to upset him, I was trying to show him that his logic was faulty. We can trust him well enough, we should be able to trust Roman." Logan explained.

"Well, unfortunately, that's not how Virgil interpreted it." Thomas sighed. "You've got to remember how insecure he is. He already thinks he doesn't belong with us, you can't say stuff like that to him."

"It seems you can't say anything to Virgil." Logan rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Teach, don't be like that." Patton said. "I think we're all just a little on edge after what happened. How about I go talk to Roman and Virgil and we all have some coffee or hot chocolate together?"

"Sounds good to me." Thomas said with a yawn.

"Sorry Pat, if I hang around any longer, Thomas will fall asleep. Maybe some other time." He smiled and sunk through the floor.

"It sounds pleasant enough." Logan agreed.

"Awesome!" Patton said. "I'll go get them." He closed his eyes and willed himself to follow the feeling of dread and anxiousness he knew would lead him to Virgil. Not surprisingly, when he opened his eyes, he found himself in front of Virgil's room. He knocked gently

"Hey kiddo, can I come in?" Patton asked in the voice he reserved specifically for his favorite dark son.

"No." Virgil's voice came out muffled through the door.

"Will you come out to talk to me then, son?" He tried again.

"No." Patton's heart broke at the tremor in Virgil's voice.

"Please? I want to make sure you're okay." Patton said.

"I'm fine." But it sounded like he was fighting against tears.

"Okay, kiddo, you don't have to talk if you don't want to… will you at least come have a cup of cocoa? We've got the dark chocolate mint still, I know it's your favorite. We can even add the little purple marshmallows." The door slowly opened to reveal a slightly puffy-eyed Virgil with a watery smile.

"That sounds nice, your highness." Virgil replied with a slight laugh. Relieved, Patton giggled and took his hand to lead him out of Anxiety hall. "Will Princy be there too?" Virgil asked, following behind Patton without hesitation.

"I sure hope so." Patton replied. "But I won't ask him to come if it makes you too uncomfortable."

"No, no, I want him to be there. I have an apology to make to him." Virgil replied, rubbing the back of his neck with the hand Patton wasn't holding.

"Awe! I'm so proud of you Virge." Patton gushed. Virgil smiled slightly and Patton beamed at him. "I'm sure Roman will appreciate it too."

"I sure hope so." Virgil mumbled.

"Thomas and Logan are making coffee I think, so I'll drop you off there, grab Roman, and come back, is that okay?" Patton asked gently.

"Sure Pat." Virgil half smiled. They walked up out of the mind palace, entering the physical world again to see Roman already there, talking to Thomas and Logan.

"Oh, hey kiddo! I didn't think you'd be up here already. Do you wanna stay and have coffee and cocoa with us?" He hadn't noticed the tense and worried expression on Logan's face until he'd said it. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing at all." Roman responded without turning around. Even though Patton couldn't see his face, he knew there was something off about his response. Virgil stiffened next to him, and Patton knew that he could sense it too. Roman stood, still with his back facing them. "I'll make some cocoa for you guys, okay?"

"Uhm, yeah, thanks Ro." Patton replied, leading Virgil to the table.

"Of course your highness." There was no trace of mockery in his voice, in fact the way he said it was more reminiscent of the way he had earlier when they were scrubbing crayon off the walls. Patton smiled and laughed, though he was still a little uneasy.

"You feeling any better Princy?" Patton asked conversationally. Roman was already spooning cocoa mix into two different mugs.

"Yes, actually, I'm feeling quite a lot better. Thank you for asking." He replied. "I'm sorry for the way I acted toward you earlier, I was just upset."

"That's okay, kiddo, I understand how that gets sometimes." He replied gently, as Logan caught his eye. He was clearly trying to tell him something, but Patton didn't know what. Thomas too was trying to say something to them, but he kept glancing over his shoulder at Roman. Virgil shot him a nervous, worried look. Patton tried to smile back reassuringly, but he was worried to, and he knew Virgil could feel it. In a moment, Roman turned to face them, and handed them each of them a cup of hot chocolate. Patton looked up at him, with a thank you ready to be said, but what he saw made the words die in his throat. Roman's eyes were bright green, and his pupils looked like slits. Seemingly oblivious to Patton's fear, Roman smiled at him. A smile that reached too far across his face. A smile that showed too many teeth. A smile that showed fangs. A smile that chilled Patton's blood. A smile that looked like a death sentence.