Chapter Eight

Walk Between

Roman wasn't entirely sure what to make of the scene before him. The Dark king had somehow upset Virgil to the point of making him react violently and cry. That just wouldn't do. Whatever he had done, Roman would amend and punish the evil king severely for. Perhaps sending him to the grey domain was punishment enough. Depending on what he'd done it may not be. His hand slowly went for the sword at his hip, and he was just about to draw it when he heard Virgil shout No at him. No? Why no? Surely Virgil wanted the king to suffer for whatever crime he had committed. In a flash Virgil was by his side, murmuring,

"No, no, no, no, no." Virgil's hands came up to cup his face. "Roman what happened to you?" He cried.

"I believe he identified himself as your younger brother." Roman replied.

"No!" Virgil stumbled back away from him, but another side caught him before he fell. Roman wasn't entirely sure who that side was, but if he was looking out for Virgil, he supposed he was okay. The side was wearing a blue polo, a grey cardigan, and black glasses. He looked harmless enough.

"You're not supposed to be able to be here." The side wearing the dark crown spat. "You should be trapped in the grey domain." Roman drew his blade and leveled it with the king's chest.

"Perhaps, but Virgil is out here, which means here I am as well." Virgil gasped slightly behind him, and Roman let himself believe it was a pleased one. Virgil was flattered that Roman cared so much of course. "I'm not sure what you've done, or why you think you have the right to do so, but you've hurt Virgil, which means you've picked a fight with me, capiche?" The king sneered at him.

"A noble sentiment for a dead man." Roman moved the tip of his blade to touch the king's throat, who promptly backed away.

"A sharp tongue for a coward." He replied. Virgil shifted behind him. Hopefully he was impressed and not scared.

Virgil felt tears stinging his eyes as he watched Roman threaten Lucius without a single expression. This was what he had asked for, he supposed, Roman was back. But he also wasn't. This wasn't the guy he knew. He'd never met this side before. This side was terrifying. He had Roman's face. Roman's voice. Roman's posture. Roman's hair. But all the color was gone. It was almost as if he was a pencil sketch of him in varying shades of grey and muted black, but the expression was all wrong. The look on his face would make Logan look wild and out of control. There was no light to his eyes. He was dead. He watched in horror, not really hearing Roman's words as he deftly sliced at Lucius's neck, nearly taking his head off. Lucius retreated and Roman sheathed his blade, turning to Virgil once more. He slowly walked forward, his expression not changing in the slightest. He reached out and cupped Virgil's face in his hands. Virgil flinched violently when he felt Roman's hands, but he didn't back away. Roman was back. He should be happy. He shouldn't feel this way. He should be smiling, welcoming him back, telling him he missed him, contemplating whether he should tell him how he truly felt about him, yelling at him for being so stupid, doing anything but nearly dissolving into tears like he was. Roman leaned forward and pressed their lips together, and Virgil was too scared to move away. Roman was a grey side now, and they were known to react extremely violently to the smallest transgressions. If he wanted a kiss, Virgil was just going to have to let it happen, but just as soon as that thought had fully formed, Roman was straightening up.

"I thought you liked me Virgil." Roman said. Virgil would have preferred violence at this point. His voice was empty, and hollow. It was hardly recognizable as Princy's anymore, but while Roman was holding him close like this, Virgil could see in his eyes something he couldn't before. They were brown, not like they always were, but they were brown. Not grey. Brown. But as Roman let go of him, apologizing tonelessly, the little saturation it had bled away, and Virgil started to panic. Touching him helped Roman! It had started to bring him back! He'd just pushed him away. He grasped Roman's hands as they slid away from him, pulling himself into Princy's arms.

"I do like you!" Virgil assured him. "You surprised me." He looked into Roman's eyes again and was relieved to see they had turned back to a pale brown He offered him a weak smile, as he felt his arms tighten around him.

"You don't mind if I kiss you?" He asked.

"Not at all." Virgil said, nodding his head. Roman closed the gap between their lips a moment later, this time Virgil made sure to kiss him back. Roman ran his fingers through Virgil's hair as he pulled back again and Virgil, trying his best to convince himself that Roman really did like him, and that everything was okay, turned his head slightly to look at Patton. He was crying, tears were pouring down his face, his hand was clasped over his mouth. Virgil made to walk toward him, but Roman directed his face back to his and leaned in to kiss him again. He stepped out of Roman's grasp, twisting a bit to shake off his left arm, grasped his right hand, and awkwardly put his unoccupied arm around Patton's shoulders in an attempt to comfort him.

"It's okay dad." He said, not really believing himself. "Roman's here, we can help him now, it'll be okay. Right Roman?" He added, desperately hoping Roman would agree.

"Of course, my love." Virgil's heart froze. Why was it that the first time someone he actually really liked said that they loved him, they were dead?

"I'm sorry, V-virge, Ro, ofc-course I'm happy you're back. It's j-just with Logan still missing… what if someone killed him too?" And Patton collapsed back into tears on Virgil's shoulder. Virgil let go of Roman's hand for a moment to consol Patton, somehow feeling like he had made a grave mistake in the process.

"It's okay Patton." He murmured, though truthfully he was terrified of that prospect too.

"Virgil, do you love Patton?" Roman asked suddenly, gently directing Virgil away from the Morality side.. Virgil knew this one. Caesar had done this to him too. He had said yes, and Caesar hurt him for it. Grey-Roman would surely do the same, but what could Virgil say? He would NOT deny loving Patton, Pat was his dad, and it would destroy the little puff ball.

"Yes…" He started timidly, but then added a hasty "But not the way that I love you."

"Of course, Virgil." Roman said, sliding his arm around his shoulders. "I understand. I only wanted to make sure it would make you happy if I helped him."

"Help him? What do you mean help him?" Virgil asked. He realized that Roman was helping to make HIM happy. Grey sides didn't do that. They had one specific goal or dream they clung to and that was it. Virgil's heart dropped at the realization of what his thoughts meant. Roman loved him so much that when he died, VIRGIL'S memory was all that was left. No one else. "Patton, what if I told you I knew how to get Logan back?" Patton's head shot up, his eyes widened and filled with a different kind of tears.

"What do I do?" He said immediately.

"We'll have to send you through the light mirror-" Roman began. Virgil felt his stomach lurch.

"No! You can't send him to the grey domain! Not alone!" He yelped.

"I would never." Roman said in the same flat tone. "You go through the grey mirror to get to the grey domain. The light mirror will take you to wherever you are needed most, the dark mirror will take you to wherever you least need to go or wherever is most dangerous for you, and they grey mirror takes you to the grey domain."

"What if Pat goes through the mirror and it brings him back here?" Virgil asked nervously.

"Then he is more needed here than he is with Logan, which we must assume means that he is not in need of help. So either way, it's a win win, correct?" He said.

"So I can either save Logan, or find out that he doesn't need saving?" Patton clarified.

"Indeed." Roman replied.

"How do I find the mirror?" Patton asked.

"Hold on a minute, what makes you think you're going alone?" Virgil asked.

"Because if Patton goes wherever Logan is, he will no longer affect Thomas, and the same for you. You cannot allow Thomas to have no natural flight or fight response. It will get him killed." Roman replied.

"That was surprisingly logical." Virgil pointed out. Roman tightened his arms around him again.

"Perhaps Logan is closer now than we thought." Roman said. Patton beamed brightly.

"So it'll be easier to help him!" He said excitedly. "Right?"

"Absolutely." Roman replied.

"How do I get there?" Patton asked.

"Allow yourself to be pulled by your own feeling." He said.

"What?" Patton seemed to be confused, and Virgil definitely was.

"If you concentrate hard enough, you can feel the others that still affect Thomas." Roman began to explain.

"Right, that's how I keep track of my kids when I can't see them." Patton nodded in agreement.

"Concentrate harder, search deeper, and you will be able to feel your own emotions. Those will always be just slightly in front, behind or to the side of you until you find the mirror room. Then just walk through the mirror." Roman finished.

"Okay!" Patton closed his eyes.

"Pat wait!" Virgil called out. He stepped forward out of Roman's arms and into Patton's. "Be safe okay? Don't you dare leave me too." Patton squeezed him tightly.

"It'll be okay kiddo, I'm an adult. Don't worry." He squeezed him again, and Virgil stepped back.

"Come back quickly, okay?" Virgil asked, fighting against the emotion welling up inside of him.

"As quickly as I can." Patton promised. His eyes fell closed and shimmered for a moment before he slowly started to sink down through the ground into Thomas's mind. Virgil let Roman pull him into his arms again, murmuring words that would have been comforting if there was any emotion behind them.

He was basing from the water He would return to it every ten minutes until he determined the stability of the chamber. He did not want to lose himself again, he'd come so far! If he ended up in the kitchen again… or worse the tile room… He'd lose it completely. He was playing the game the way it was meant to be played. He was following the rules, spoken and unspoken. He was doing what they said, he even took the da- He heard voices and for the first time in a while he found himself truly angry at the sides who had put him in there. He marched to the clearing where the creek was, drawing a short dagger from his pocket, uncovering it and brandishing it forward toward the projections.

"I already know you're not real. I've killed you all once and I'll do it again." He yelled at them. He took in The pale complection of one of them, and the muted, grey complection of the other. Logan looked upward, yelling because he knew they could hear him.

"You're fucked up! You swore you wouldn't do this to me again! I'm playing by the goddamned rules, why won't you?"

"Logan? Is- is that really you?" The pale projection had walked towards him, the grey projection had done the same but had drawn a weapon. "Are you okay?" Logan steeled himself, lunging with his dagger, pinning the armed projection against a large rock with a foot to the chest.

"Logan!" The pale projection shouted, allarmed. This armed one didn't beg like the other ones had, and for some reason it was that that made Logan realize that he had beaten the game. He'd escaped, He was free. But Roman, if Logan's theories were correct, had failed. He backed up away from Roman letting his dagger fall to the ground.

"I- I made it out. I'm free." He mumbled.

"Logan… Logan!" Virgil had grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him. "What's going on?" Logan could barely process what was happening. He was free. He got out. He won. "Snap out of it man!" Virgil's voice was shrill and worried, shaking Logan from his stupor.

"Virgil!" He gasped, pulling him into a very brief hug. "Good to see you! Where's Patton? What happened to R-" And just like that his joy vanished. He turned to look at the deceased side. "Oh my god, Roman." He whispered weakly. "What-" He looked up into Roman's face, his expression was chillingly blank, but there was a hue to his eyes. Logan almost couldn't see it, but it was there. He felt himself snap back to his professional self as he turned to Virgil.

"We can still save him." He informed him confidently. Virgil's eyes lit up.

"You can?" He asked excitedly.

"We can." Logan corrected him. "But we'll need Patton, where is he?"

"He should be arriving back here any minute now." Virgil said uncertainly.

"What do you mean?" Logan asked.

"I sent him to the light mirror." Roman explained.

"No!" Logan shouted. "You didn't!"

"I did." Roman replied. His voice was flat, like he was reciting memorized information, like he felt nothing about the words he was speaking, like it meant nothing. "You though, you're too smart to trick. I'll just have to dispose of you out right."

"WHAT?" It was Virgil who yelled, Logan had already known that was coming. If Roman was outside of the grey domain, his one goal or dream was only achievable out here. Likely, knowing him, it had to be about a person. Roman looked to Patton as a father figure, and Roman had expressed his will to only be friends with Logan a few years ago when Patton had asked about them. Roman despised, or perhaps he was afraid of, any and all sides that recognize Lucius as King and therefore Virgil was the clear logical choice. If he viewed Virgil's affection toward Patton and his respect for Logan as obstacles he wouldn't think twice about disposing of them. But Roman had already pointed something out. Logan was much smarter than him.

"Roman… It's not like you to overlook something so crucial when it comes to Virgil." Logan replied coolly.

"I don't understand." Roman stated. But even so he had put his sword back in his sheath.

"It's simple really. You see Patton and myself as obstacles, but Virgil doesn't see us as competition with you. He's quite fond of us, you see. Getting rid of us will hurt Virgil, and damage your reputation as a suitable partner for him."

"I've hurt him." Logan could tell it was supposed to be a question, but it sounded like a statement. A flat, unconcerned statement. Roman crossed to Virgil, placing his left hand on his hip. His right hand came up to cup his cheek.

"Forgive me, Virgil. I can fix this. I will fix it." Virgil was looking into Roman's eyes as though searching for an answer.

"What did you do to him, Roman?" He asked quietly. "Where did you send him?"

"The Afterwards." Roman replied. "I'll go in after him. I'll bring him back."

"Roman…"

"I want you to stay here with Logan. I know he'll watch out for you, he's as sharp as his dagger-" Logan felt a rush of pride- "Please mind him, and stay safe while I'm gone." He leaned toward Virgil, kissing him, and then stepped backwards. "I love you Virgil, I'm doing this for you." When Virgil didn't reply for a few moments, Roman sunk out.

"Logan…" Virgil began. "If sides go grey when they die, how do you get sent to the Afterwards?"

"By fading." Logan replied grimly. "Sometimes Thomas loses things he can never get back."