Chapter Nine
A Matter of the Heart
Patton was ecstatic! Finally, finally he had a way to save Logan, to help his family! All he had to do was walk through a mirror and he would find him! He'd bring Logan back to the others, and he would know how to fix Roman, he knew everything after all, and after Logan fixed Roman they could figure out what the ghost really was, Virgil and Roman would be able to fight it off because those two were the strongest and bestest fighters ever, and then Thomas would be all better. They could spend the last day or two at their friend's house and actually fully enjoy it, then go back home and start writing and auditioning for plays again. And maybe Patton would even get to tell logan the thing he'd been struggling to say to him for the past two or three years. It would be perfect again. And all he had to do was walk through the mirror. So why was he hesitating? He wanted to just step forward into the glass to find Logan, but he was scared. Something about all of this felt wrong, it was as if Deceit- Judas!- was pressing in on his mind, trying to tell him something while simultaneously Virgil was pressing into him too, begging him to listen. He knew Virgil wasn't really trying to say anything to him. He could always feel Virgil loud and clear when he called. Patton assumed he was just feeling anxious but what about Judas? He'd never felt like that before, and for all he knew, that's exactly how it would feel for Judas to try to talk to him. He shook the thought out of his mind and drew himself up. He was the king. He was the dad. Even if he was scared or confused he had to do what was best for his kingdom… his family. So he jumped through the glass. He had expected it to be like a portal, or maybe feel like he was sinking out or rising up, instead, it felt like he had merely stepped into a different room. Not only that, but he did not expect to be brought to a place like this at all. He assumed that Logan would be trapped somewhere in the dark. Somewhere dangerous that could hurt him or be keeping him there, but he found himself in a grassy meadow full of flowers of all different colors and shapes. The sky was a soft, warm blue and the clouds were whispy and far apart. The grass came up to his knees and was soft. There were mountains far in the distance that were colored a soft lilac color. To his left was a small, calm steam of crystal clear water that Patton was sure he could jump over without even running. There were a few, long, skinny fish that glittered and sparkled pretty golds and pinks. Not far off to his right was a mount of pink, purple, blue, and green crystals that had almost perfect stairs carved into the side. Curious to see why, Patton made his way over to them, stepping gently in case there were mice or rabbits living in the grass that he might step on. He climbed carefully to the top and, to his delight realized the crystal was actually a wall around a deep but clear pond big enough for someone to swim in with lily pads and lotus floating on the surface. There were carp and goldfish lazing around, and a turtle that was currently resting on a part of the crystal wall. A lady bug took off from the lotus petal and flew away. Patton giggled. This place was beautiful. Patton stood straighter on the crystal wall, looking around himself. That's when he saw Thomas. Not really Thomas, but a little version of Thomas. The way he looked when he was four or five. His eyes widened and his lip trembled when he noticed Patton was looking at him. Patton's paternal instincts took over, and he was by the child's side in a second.
"Hey there kiddo, what's wrong?" Patton asked him.
"I missed you." The little boy said. And that's when Patton noticed something. The little boy had a single word stitched into the sleeve of his Rugrats T-Shirt… Innocence. Patton had only been six or seven when he last saw innocence. He had given up on trying to find him a very, very long time ago. After he got older, he assumed that innocence and fused with him, but clearly there was still a little bit of pure innocence in Thomas left.
"I missed you too kiddo." Patton said honestly, giving a big hug to his childhood friend. "Virgil told me you were here before. Maybe I should've listened, huh?" He asked tearfully. Innocence nodded, but started pulling him away from the pond.
"What's up, kiddo?" Patton asked. Innocence pointed to a large house on the side of the mountain.
"Family." He said simply, and Patton followed without hesitation.
"I don't understand how anyone would know anything about Patton's mind." Virgil claimed exasperatedly.
"It's not just his mind we're talking about… it's another plain of consciousness. Another layer to Thomas's mind." Logan replied gently.
"What does that mean?"
It didn't take nearly as long to reach the mountain as Patton thought it would. He felt lighter and faster than ever before. The house was huge. Way larger than Patton originally thought it would be. It was beautiful though, constructed of crystals and flowers. It was tall, and spread across the mountain side, it was a mansion!
"Not quite a mansion, Patton." Patton gasped. It was Logan! He was here! He was okay! "To be a mansion a house must have at least 7,000 square feet of floor space, this is only 6,394 square feet." Patton rushed up to him and hugged him tightly. "Do you like it Patton? I built it just for us."
"You… built this?" Patton whispered.
"Have you ever seen Inception?" Logan asked?
"Why do you keep answering my questions with questions?" Virgil growled.
"Just bear with me for a moment, yes?" Logan asked with a mischievous half-smile. Virgil glared at him.
"No, I haven't seen Inception." He replied.
"It's a movie about planting ideas in people's minds. Dreams within dreams. The basic concept is shockingly similar to what we can do with Thomas."
"Which is?" Virgil demanded.
"Yes I did. And I'm going to build one for roman and Virgil." Logan replied. "I used my telekinetic powers to lift all the crystals out of the ground and reshape them. See, the white crystal is called Danburite, and the blues that I used to frame the doors and windows are Larimar and Sodalite." Patton let Logan's words wash over him. The sound of his voice was calm and serene like it was whenever the two of them had laid down to look at the stars together in the past. Logan always was so smart, he knew everything there was to know about space. He knew all about plants too. He knew how to make things fly, he knew how to lift things off the ground even if they were too heavy for Roman and Virgil. He knew so many things and it was one of patton's favorite pastimes to listen to him talk about all the things he knew. He sighed and let himself melt into Logan's arms, laying his head on his shoulder as he spoke. "The outside of the roof is just regular concrete, but I packed on some soil and planted the beginning of a little garden for you. I'm thinking Roman and Virgil's should primarily be made of black sphalerite and white quartz. That would look something like this." A small blue light began pulsing in Logan's open palm and slowly the flickering image of a very pretty rock was hovering over his hand. Half of it was black and sharp looking with straight sides and short, smooth rectangles jutting out of it. The other half was white and sparkly, the growths were more round and gentle, wrapping around the black like it was giving it a tight hug.
"That's perfect!" Patton said, earning a small, reserved smile from Logan.
"I'm thinking of making theirs different. They both have their own distinct uniqueness to them, I don't see why the home I'm building for them shouldn't be like that too." He explained quietly.
"There are different levels of consciousness, as I'm sure you know. The deeper down you go, the harder it is to understand things. It's easy to become lost, confused, disconnected from what is real and what isn't." Logan explained patiently. "Roman, however, will always return to you, no matter what. A fake won't fool him." Virgil nodded slowly.
"You sound like you know about this first hand." Virgil said quietly. Logan grimaced slightly.
"You have no idea." He gritted his teeth.
"I was thinking that you could help me design it." Logan said softly. "We could build it together, just the two of us. Would you like that?" Patton nodded eagerly.
"Unhand him spectre." Roman had his sword drawn and was pointing it towards Logan.
"Roman-" Patton trailed off, confused. Roman was still grey, but Virgil was nowhere in sight and he had… an expression. A negative, angry expression, but an expression all the same.
"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." Logan said calmly, but his jaw clenched slightly. "Roman, step inside for a moment, I can get your color issue sorted out." Roman straightened a little, as though shocked, and his brave and angry bravado faltered for a moment.
"No." He said after a second. "Patton get away from him, this is not Logan. Logan is safe in the real world with Virgil and Thomas right now."
"Then why am I here?" Patton squeaked, baking away from the side he thought was Logan
"Because I lied to you." Roman bit out.
"Patton…" Logan's voice was soft and gentle, practically dripping with tenderness and concern. "He's lying to you."
"No! I'm not!" Roman barked aggressively. "Patton, I thought you were in my way and I had barely any control over myself as it was. I pointed you in a dangerous direction, I'm sorry, but Patton; Thomas, Virgil, and the real Logan are waiting for us to come back. They need us, they need you." Patton could barely register what was happening. His mind felt all clouded like he was in a hot, steamy, sweet-smelling shower and all of his senses were being overtaken by the smells and feelings. He could barely hear the two of them.
"Come on, Patton, this most-likely isn't even the real Roman. Look at him, he's grey but expressing emotion?" Logan had his arms wrapped around him again, and his deep soothing voice was surrounding him just like the sweet-smelling steam.
"Get away from him!" Roman swiped with his sword making Logan back away. "Patton, this is a dangerously unstable individual you're dealing with here."
"How are you feeling emotion here if you're the real Roman?" Patton asked confusedly.
"This whole place is made out of emotions Patton, it's impossible not to feel, but because I went grey before coming down here, I can see through all the illusions and tricks."
"Patton, look at me." Logan purred, taking Patton's hands in his. "Would I ever lie to you?" His eyes sparkled with sincerity and Patton couldn't help but feel that he was being honest and the feelings around Roman were so cold and hostile. Innocence spoke up.
"Please stay with us. We missed you so much." He looked up at Patton with a little frown and a trembling lip. For a wonderful, weightless second, Patton had made up his mind. He was going to stay here with Logan and innocence and build a home for Virgil and Roman… the real Virgil and Roman, and they were going to be happy and safe forever. And then reality hit him like a speeding train. It was just a flicker of something. A voice just like Logan's. The real Logan's. Barely audible, reminding him of his room. And Patton remembered. The way it felt to be trapped in the nostalgia of his room was nearly just like this. It was sweet and comforting and it wrapped around you, but when you tried to escape, it held on, and the harder you struggle, the tighter it held on, and only realizing that you were trapped would do anything to break the spell. That's when Patton saw it. The landscape around him flickered like the image of the pretty rock fake Logan had showed him, except there was something underneath. The mountains were black, the grass and flowers were brown and wilted, the crystals were- Patton thought he was going to be sick- bones and skulls dripping with blood. Logan and Innocence were… they were… zombies? Not quite. Worse than that. Horrible, disgusting, rotting corpses of what used to be his very best friends. Without thinking, even hesitating, he took off. At first he was running as fast as he could, but he tripped and found himself flying instead. Behind him, he heard the outraged shrieks from the images of his friends and heard Roman calling for him to wait. He stopped in mid flight, turning around to face the mountain. It was nothing like it had been before. The rock was crumbling, any plants were wilting or dried and black. Fire was raging up the side and pillars of black smoke were rising from the top. Patton was about to swoop in to pick Roman up and fly him away from that horrible, awful place when the volcano blew its top. The sound was unbearable, and the smell was even worse. A hot, fowl wind was pushing him backward, scalding ash and enormous rocks pelted him, burning his skin, crushing the arm he had thrown up to protect his face, and he was falling backwards, speeding towards the ground. The rapid change in altitude and the continuing earth-shaking rumble of the volcano roaring in his ears, the sensation of falling and the overbearing smell of rot and sulfur making his stomach feel like it was turning inside out. He couldn't die now… He needed to help Roman, he was in danger! He needed to get back to his son and Logan! He needed to get back to Thomas. But as his head collided with the rocky ground of the nightmarish plain he found himself in, the last thought the flit across his mind was;
"What's going to happen to Thomas if I go grey?"
