Chapter Four
Illogically Logical
A/N: A large part of this was written between two and three in the morning on a Sunday. Don't judge please.
October 7th, 2019
Roman completely disappeared yesterday and we've all been looking for him. I can't help but feel like he'll never return to us… and it's honestly terrifying. I have no idea what's happening to him, and every time I think about it… well, it's bad. Kohan seems to be getting more and more attached to me. It's kind of cute, but obviously I'm not gonna say that in front of the other sides. He kind of reminds me of myself. He's scared and worries about everything, but he still wants to trust and be loved. I'm glad he likes me so much, having him with me is actually helping me a lot.
October 10th, 2019
Thomas had us call a light conference today. Wisdom even showed up. You know it's bad when he thinks he has to help. Kohan cried when he saw him and said he didn't want to leave me, so I kept him with me through the meeting. I know what it's like to worry about stupid stuff. Besides, when he was freaking out, he even called me dad. I couldn't make him leave after that. Logan told Patton that he'd have to start making decisions soon, something I had said a little while ago. Pat agreed and he appointed Winston advisor to him, which made Logan pissed. He was fine after Patton gave him the position of Chief of intelligence though. I don't think Patton knows what that really entails, but it's a good decision either way. I'm a general now… it's weird, because that's the light equivalent to Chief Reign of Fear and that was my position under the dark one. I know Pat doesn't know that. I mentioned that Roman may have been taken captive by the dark sides as a covert act of war, and surprisingly, no one shot me down. I almost wish they had… because if Logan and Winston agree, that means it's probably right. Winston suggested that Logan attempt to see if he could gather rumors circulating from the dark side, and Logan said that he would be doing so. He also suggested we should try to reach out to the more elusive light sides that aren't typically used on a day to day basis and Patton volunteered to do it. I have no idea what to do, but I hope we find him soon. Something tells me we won't.
October 25th, 2019
There's still no sign of Roman, and Thomas is suffering. He hasn't finished a single project or started any new ones since Roman left. Not only that, but Thomas started neglecting his appearance and he's stopped being able to feel confident. It worries me, because Roman should still be affecting him, even if we don't know where he is. Unless he either chose to duck out, or something happened to him. Either way… it's not good. Truth be told, I'm really worried about him. He's my friend. And… I almost wish he was more than that. I miss him a lot, and I feel really guilty. Maybe if I had apologized to him after Kohan let go he wouldn't have stayed gone. Maybe if I'd admitted I liked him, he wouldn't have been so sad. Maybe if I'd trusted him, he'd have had a reason to trust me. And maybe he'd have told me what was wrong. Maybe I could have helped him.
I hate myself for it.
I'll never forgive myself. And the worst part is…
I'll never know if I have a reason to be so disgusted with myself.
I'll never know if it would have changed anything.
-6 days to Halloween-
Logan walked into the living room to sit down with a good book, but stopped dead in his tracks.
"Virgil! What happened in here?" Virgil appeared next to the television at Logan's summance with a sleeping Kohan on his hip. He seemed even more disheveled of late, like he wasn't sleeping at all. Logan had chalked that up to him having to take care of a child, but he was aware Virgil may be having an emotional response to the "haunting" that was happening in their house and the disappearance of Roman.
"What?" He asked, clearly in a bad mood.
"This," Logan gestured to the wall before them. "A child clearly did this." There was paint on the floor and on the wall in patterns that looked like finger paint. And there were smudges in the doorway and hallway in the shape of small fingers and hands.
"Well, it must've been the ghost." Virgil snapped. "Kohan didn't do it, he slept the whole night through." Logan put his hands on his hips.
"I doubt that highly." He said stoically.
"I would know if he was out of bed, I haven't slept at all since I crashed on the couch three days ago." He growled, shifting the little boy's weight so he could hold him in a more comfortable position. Even so, Kohan's eyes flickered open.
"Daddy, what's Mr. Logan mad bout?" He asked, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and yawning.
"The ghost drew on the wall, and he's trying to blame you for it." Virgil replied bluntly. The little boy's eyes opened widely.
"I didn daddy! Pomise!" He gasped.
"It's okay, I know you didn't." He said. "I'm gonna make you breakfast and then help him clean it up, okay?" He asked, feeling his worry in his gut.
"Kay daddy." He replied sleepily, snuggling closer to him. Logan raised an eyebrow.
"You rarely ever offer to clean up a mess you didn't make." He said. "In fact, I don't think you've ever agreed to it."
"What, you think I did it now?" Virgil snapped.
"No, the hand and finger prints are much too small." Logan replied. "I'm merely wondering about the change in attitude." Virgil shrugged.
"I'm trying to set an example for the little guy I guess?" He said.
"Logan, kiddo, can you help me with something please?" Patton asked.
"Yes of course, Patton, what do you need?" Logan asked, raising his eyebrow.
"There's a stuffed animal stuck on the ceiling fan that Kohan was trying to reach, and I can't get it down. I figured since you have your telekinesis thing you might be able to help." He answered.
"Of course, Patton." Logan stood, closing his book. He frowned though. "Which ceiling fan?"
"The one in the kitchen." He replied, leading Logan toward it. Virgil looked up, taking one side of his head phones off. Kohan was sitting on one of his knees watching a TV show with white earbuds in.
"What's going on?" Virgil asked.
"Logan's going to get Kohan's stuffed dragon down from the ceiling fan in the kitchen." Patton replied with a small smile.
"Is that where it is?" Virgil's brow furrowed. "How did it get up there?"
"Maybe it was the ghost?" Patton offered. Logan realized something was off immediately. If Virgil didn't know it was there, how could Kohan being trying to get at it? He never left Virgil's side for a second since Wisdom showed up for the light conference.
"Patton?" Logan said uncertainly. "Why are you lying to us?" Patton's eyes widened with innocence and shock.
"I'd never!" He gasped. "You're my best bud Logan, and Virgil's my dark son. I love you guys, I'd never lie to you." Logan raised an eyebrow and Virgil frowned. "And in anyways, I don't think I can lie at all." Patton added.
"You lied when you felt sad." Logan pointed out.
"Ohp! Yeup I did, scratch that then." He laughed a bit.
"Patton? What's going on?" Logan demanded. Patton huffed a deep sigh.
"The truth is, I was trying to get you out of the room so I could talk to you about something private without embarrassing you."
"I don't get embarrassed, Patton." Logan said cooly, raising an eyebrow at him.
"So the amount of times you've been embarrassed is infinitesimal, right Logan?" Virgil poked slyly.
"Seriously? Again with this? It was one time!" Logan huffed. He stopped his complaint when Patton's hand suddenly grasped his wrist. He looked up at Patton's face and watched his eyes fill with fear and nervousness. Virgil shifted beside them, likely due to Patton's emotional state.
"This is really important, Lo." He whispered. His voice quivered with fear and tears flooded his eyes. Patton was never one to clearly project negative emotions, even if he wasn't purposefully hiding them anymore. Clearly this was important. If Patton didn't want to say anything in front of Virgil, it may be about Roman or a dark side. Or if Patton was trying to avoid saying anything in front of Kohan, any number of things could be in play.
"Very well Patton, I will acco-"
"Logan, I don't think you should. Don't go off alone with him." Virgil cut across him.
"Virgil this is Patton we're talking about." Logan replied, rolling his eyes.
"I don't think it is." Virgil stares suspiciously at the side behind him.
"Don't be ridiculous. There's nothing bad that could come of stepping into the next room." He said, irritatedly.
"Tell that to Roman. Oh wait, that's right, no one knows where he is." Virgil snapped. Kohan looked from him to Logan in worry.
"What happened with Roman was a freak accident. It's sad and worrisome, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen to me. You're just being par-" Virgil's expression made him rethink his wording. "Expressing an unhealthy amount of concern. Thank you for being on guard, but right now, it isn't necessary." He finished softly.
"Logan," He stood, holding Kohan on his hip. "Please stay here." He was pleading now. Virgil never sounded like that. For a split second, Logan doubted himself, then he made up his mind.
"I'll only be a moment, it'll be fine." He said quietly, starting to take a step forward. Kohan, however, did not seem to like the situation and began to cry. Virgil was attempting to console him, but Kohan wouldn't explain his predicament.
"Patton, do you know why he's crying?" Logan sighed. Patton stepped toward the distraught child, but as he did, Kohan started to scream, and Virgil backed away a few steps. The door to the hall swung open and someone stepped in… it was Patton. His hair was tousled and his face shone with worry. Allarmed, Logan looked up to the side he originally mistook for Patton. He was staring into the twisted, gnarled face of a creature like none other. Dry, rough skin that looked like bark warped in unnatural directions with two, lopsided holes where small, red eyes were perched. Teeth like chipped shells or bits of bone were jetting over it's bottom lip. He attempted to pull his hand out of its grasp but found that vine-like tentacles were wrapped around it instead of fingers.
"Logan!" He heard Patton's voice calling out to him while the beast dragged him toward the kitchen entryway. The door to the kitchen opened. There were massive spider webs covering corners from ceiling to floor. Blood and some sort of slime dripped down the walls and pooled on the floor. Where the sink usually was, was a giant, gaping hole.
"Logan, teach, wake up!" Patton cried again. Wake up? He was awake. Clearly he was because he could feel the thorns digging into his skin. And all of a sudden, he became aware that he couldn't feel them. There were no thorns, no kitchen of horrors, no creature. He awoke with a start, looking up into Patton's worried face.
"Oh thank goodness, I was so worried you wouldn't wake up." He sighed.
"What happened?" Logan inquired. He never fell asleep in the middle of the day. Ever. Patton only pointed toward the other side of the room. There was nothing there. He was holding onto Kohan, who was struggling to get out of his arms, and was attempting to scramble toward the kitchen door with teary eyes. "What's happening?" He demanded again.
"Virge asked me to hold Kohan for a second and said he heard something. He went into the kitchen, and then he screamed and the door slammed shut and I don't know what to do. I don't want Kohan to get in there but Virge could be hurt, and then you started shaking like you were having a seizure or something and you scared me so badly. Lo, what are we supposed to do?" Patton sobbed, holding Kohan tighter. Logan sprang to his feet and was at the kitchen door in two strides. He was reaching for the handle when something occurred to him. He'd been in nearly the exact same position as he was now in his dream when Virgil begged him not to follow "Patton" into the kitchen. That was perfectly within character for him. Going into said room alone and unarmed to check out a strange noise was not. Something didn't add up. He stepped away from the door and turned to face Patton again, but now they were nose to nose.
"Aren't you going to go in and check on him for me?" Patton asked. His voice didn't sound right. Kohan was still struggling to get out of his arms, but Logan, now not in shock from the dream and his unceremonious awakening, noticed that Patton was covering his mouth with one hand.
"Patton, let go of him, I don't think he can breathe properly." He said.
"He's fine." Patton snapped, tightening his hold on the struggling child. Something was definitely not right here. Logan reached out to pry Patton's hand away from Kohan. When their hands met, a seeping, cold sensation swept through his entire body, and his vision went entirely grey. Not only that, but everything seemed to be flipped upside down. He looked up at Patton, almost half expecting the creature of his nightmare, but instead was met with the visage of something… someone far worse.
"You son of a-"
"Kohan!" Where the heck could that kid be? He left him alone for hardly a moment and he all but disappeared. Virgil's breath started to come in quick, shallow gasps. He didn't even attempt to deepen them while he searched Thomas's mind for the small child.
"Panda!" He heard the little voice coming from somewhere near his hall. Finally, a deep sigh punctured his short, gasping breaths. "Panda! Daddy!" He started to run toward Kohan's voice, sure that whatever was scaring him so badly must be about to kill him. Someone caught him by the arm. It was Logan. His hair was sticking up in all directions and his glasses were askew. He was holding Kohan.
"Take him and go." He commanded him. "There's something in your hall that shouldn't be."
"What are you talking about?" Virgil demanded, holding the shaking child close to his chest.
"Just go, I'll explain when I see you next. Get out into the physical world, I don't think it can follow us there. I'll lead it off." With that he was gone down one of the numerous corridors of the labyrinth-like Anxiety Hall. Virgil had little choice but to head his instructions, and he ran toward where he was sure the main part of the mind palace was. The only problem was, in his panic to find Kohan again, he didn't pay attention to where he was going, and even to him all the walls looked the same. He broke out of his hall, only to find him in Deciet's. He set off again trying to figure out where in Deceit Hall he was, but his corridors we're even more confusing, because they changed specifically to entrap someone within their walls. Fortunately, Virgil was used to their tricks. He knew that so long as his luck held, he'd just have to run in a straight line and not look back or to either of his sides. He broke out of Deciet's hall and found himself in the court room Deceit had created for a video a while back. He skidded to a stop, throwing open one of the doors, wondering where he could possibly be. His stomach dropped. Beyond the door was… nothing. A deep, cavernous darkness, and a feeling of all consuming dread. He slammed it shut again, turning around and taking some time to calm himself.
"Panda, we lost?" Kohan whimpered.
"Yeah." He replied bluntly. The child gave a little cry of fright and his face in his hoodie. "Wait no, we're fine." He said, suddenly remembering a key detail he had overlooked. He mentally cursed at himself. He sunk out of the court room once, why wouldn't he be able to do it again? He appeared quickly in the physical world, on the couch next to Thomas.
"What's going o-" Before Thomas could even finish, Virgil cut across him.
"There's something wrong with Logan." He said.
"What?" Patton, who apparently was sitting on the other side of the couch, dropped his thankfully empty mug of whatever he'd been drinking and jumped to his feet. "What's wrong with him? Is he okay? Where is he?"
"I don't know where he is." Virgil replied. "He was somewhere in my hall when I last saw him, and he took off in the direction of the dark domain's meeting hall."
"Why was he there?" Thomas asked.
"I don't know!" Virgil replied shrilly.
"I do!" An overly obnoxious voice declared in an off-putting mix between excitedly and reagally.
"You have got to be kidding me." Virgil groaned.
