"I apologise Thomas, but I cannot resist saying this…

Story time!

I had never felt more betrayed in my life… well actually I did once, but to be fair Virgil was only acting like he had betrayed us in order to save us all. Now, though, this was all too real. In hindsight, I should've seen the betrayal coming. Remy is a powerful side, probably the very strongest, and technically not really even a side at all. I would have trusted him though, did trust him a lot actually. I had opened up to him quite a lot since I started experiencing night terrors awhile back. Well… that showed just how bad at judgement calls I truly am. Remy was always blatantly honest and always spoke his mind. Brash? Yes. But to me that just made it feel less likely that he would ever hide anything from anyone. I would never have guessed he'd do something like this. Or that he would be involved with Caesar in any way, but here they were. The day I went missing, I had fallen asleep in the living room. That isn't very typical for me, and moreover, I had another nightmare. An awful one. When I woke, Patton had Logan in his arms and they were talking about Virgil, whom had allegedly been attacked."

"Wait what?" Virgil asked, as Roman's arms tightened around him.

"Well hold on a minute, I'm getting to that. I knew that something was off the second I realized "Patton" was harming Kohan. Patton would never hurt a child, or anyone for that matter. I was proven right, just as I usually am, when I had touched the fake Patton's hand. I was subjected to a torrent of horrible visions, but I was able to see through the guise in the blanks. The living room was upside down, grey, radiating cold dread. Kohan was bleeding profusely from his eyes, ears, and nose, but smiling demonically.

When everything went back to normal, I was holding Caesar's wrist instead of Patton's. Caesar was whispering to me about a tower and a maze… something important, I was trying to listen, but I was pulled away by another vision. Patton was laying on the ground, clutching his bleeding arm, crying, begging for something, someone to stop. Roman was standing above him, his sword raised above his head, pointing downward toward Patton's face. Virgil was behind them, tied down onto a throne-like chair set in black and purples, crying and screaming, begging for Patton's life. Remus laid on the floor at Virgil's feet, blood pouring freely from his stomach where his own mace was stuck into his flesh, fragments of what looked like Lucius's crown embedded into his face and scalp. Nate was hanging from the ceiling, a noose around his neck, his eyes open and glassy. A side was sitting in the corner, his face twisted and warped inhumanly, blood seeping from folds and cuts, looking like a more grotesque version of a creature from a horror show series Virgil watched, called the Look See. I could only tell it was Tom because of his bulky, spiky armor. Lucius was stuck onto a wall by a large spike through each of his shoulders, his toes barely scraping the ground, his head slumped over to the side. I watched in horror as Roman brought the sword down, and Patton stilled, small choking noises escaping as the blade first punctured the delicate tissue and brittle bone of his temple, and Virgil let out a bone-chilling scream of anguish and a violent sob, but seemed as all strength had left his body as he slumped over in his restraints, shaking. I had nearly thrown up at that vision, but was brought back to reality with a sharp tug when I heard Caesar speak again, but this time, to Remy.

"We can't do this." Caesar said softly, his hands coming up to rest on Remy's shoulders. "Rethink for a minute."

"It's too late for that babes." Remy replied, looking at him judgmentally over his sunglasses. He made a fist down by his knee and began pulling rope and cloth from thin air. Realizing what was happening too late, I attempted to run; but before I could get my superhuman speed to activate, something wrapped around my legs. A thick, white cord snaking its way around my body.

"I'm sorry Logan." Caesar whispered, and before I could reply, Remy leapt forward wrapping the cloth around my face.

The least they could have done was knocked me out, but no. I was wide awake, unable to move or make any more than a grunt as they slowly, unnecessarily slowly, carried me by my feet and hands to wherever we were going. With no way to struggle free or do anything practically, I resigned myself to trying to keep count of where they were by how far away the stability and safety of my room felt. I could tell that they were traversing through Thomas's mind and not the real physical world. That at least was comforting. If I got free, even if I was too far away from Thomas's consciousness to sink out, I could still follow the pull of my room. But just as that thought settled comfortingly in my mind, I heard a door open and close and the pull of my room was gone. My feet were dropped and I heard Caesar say;

"Be careful, you're going to hurt him." In response, I heard Remy's voice.

"He's fine babes, Logan's tough." My upper body was slowly and gently lowered to the ground.

"Once Five minutes go by without you moving, the ropes will fall away, okay Logan?" Caesar said quietly and softly. I did not respond. Looking back on it, I wished I had. That would've been more interaction. Maybe I could have even been able to convince them not to do this. But I did not.

They left me alone in the room, bound and unable to see. I struggled against the ropes for as long as I could. It wasn't that I forgot what Caesar had said, but I knew it was utterly ridiculous to think that the rope would just fall away, but the harder I struggled the tighter the ropes squeezed around me, and so I gave up. I relaxed my muscles, taking deep shaky breaths, terrified of the situation I had found himself in. My very worst fear has always been not having any sort of control. My mind started to race. Logically, my main focus should be to try to get out of the ropes. To do that, I knew I would need to apply as much force as possible to the smallest amount of area possible. That meant I couldn't do it tired. I decided I would rest for roughly five minutes before returning to my struggle, but my rest would be productive too. I would figure out where to apply the pressure. I would need to be able to pull on an outside cord, the inside parts were wound too tightly, compressed too greatly. Someone of my strength would be incapable of breaking them. I need to pull on the cord with something with small surface area in order to get as much strength from the pull as possible. Preferably multiple small areas of contact. I inwardly groaned as I realized I was going to have to try to pull apart thick ropes with my teeth, but that would only work if I was able to worm my way down far enough to reach the ropes, and then there was the issue of the cloth hood covering my face and the cloth that had been shoved into my mouth. A door opened and closed, and I tensed at the sound of footsteps. They were light, small strides, most likely a child. That was different. Kohan was the only child currently existing in Thomas's mind. If this was Kohan, that would mean Virgil was near. If Virgil was here, he'd cut me free and we could leave. If it wasn't Kohan… than who was it?

"Mr. Logan Sir?" It sounded exactly like Thomas had when he was little. Exactly. Not even a slight difference to it. Where Kohan looked sounded almost nothing like Thomas, this boy did sound like him. I would have wagered a guess he looked like him too. The hood began to rustle and came up off of my face. I was in Thomas's home, the kitchen to be more exact. Though something was slightly off. I didn't see a person anywhere, let alone a child, and there was another problem. There were no doors. I told myself I must have heard wrong and the hood just slid. Just as I thought this, I felt a small hand on my shoulder. I twisted and squirmed trying to see who was there, but there was no one. The ropes tightened around me again and I heard the door open. I looked wildly around for it, but there was none. However, there was Caesar now. He was standing in front of the sink.

"Leave Logan be, he'd almost won the challenge." Caesar scowelled. I once again, ignoring the ever tightening ropes, looked around for the small child that was in there. There was no one.

"Relax, Logan, it's okay." Caesar said gently, kneeling beside him and taking the gag out of his mouth. "The ghost can't harm you here."

"Let me out of here." I growled. "When Virgil finds out I'm here-" Caesar flinched at the sound of Virgil's name.

"He'll kill me." He finished the threat for me. "I know. Logan, this is for your own good. Besides, we're giving you a chance to escape. We won't even try to stop you." He seemed as though he was trying to convince himself that it was an okay thing to do. He looked just as uncomfortable as Patton does whenever Thomas lies. "So long as you don't cheat you'll be okay." He added.

"Cheat? What do you mean cheat?" I demanded incredulously.

"It's a game Logan." Caesar replied.

"I don't want to play a game right now." I snapped, "I should be out there helping look for your lost brother with the others. I don't have time for this." Tears stung at Caesar's eyes.

"Trust me Logan, if I thought you could find Roman, I would let you out, no matter what Remy said."

"Remy's forcing you into this?" I asked, beginning to feel maybe just the slightest bit of sympathy for the ex-dark side. Caesar nodded.

"I don't have another place to go." He replied. "And he promised we wouldn't be hurting you. It's going to be okay. Just a little game." The ropes fell away, and in a puff of smoke, Caesar was gone, and I was alone again. But I could move. I shot up to my feet and practically launched myself at the sink. If Caesar was there when I heard the door open, clearly there was a secret exit there. Hidden from view, Camouflage. I was smarter than any of the other sides. I told myself I could easily outsmart any ridiculous game these two could come up with. It was a minor inconvenience, and that was all. The first thing that caught my eye was the faucet. There was something off with it, but I didn't take the time to try to figure out what. I turned the faucet on, and was immediately sprayed in the chest with water, so I turned it off. There were two holes in the very edge of the top of the faucet, and not only that, but the water that came out correctly wouldn't even land in the sink because it stuck out too much. Clearly this had something to do with the exit. It was the only explanation for why it would be built so dysfunctional. I stepped back, wringing out what I could of my shirt as I did so. As I continued to think about his situation, I realized the holes in the faucet must be specifically to spray me and hinder me from getting out, keeping me away from the exit. Definitely Remy's doing. I rolled my eyes. Hoping that they could hear me, I called out;

"Oh, yes, very mature Remy."

"Lighten, up babes." Remy's voice rang out from the ceiling. "It's a game! Have a little fun, laugh a bit, huh?" I snarled, stepping to the sink again, running my fingers along any cracks or edges that looked even slightly suspicious. I had to beat their stupid escape room so I could get back. I was important to both Thomas and to the search for Roman. I couldn't be out of commission right now. I felt something click beneath my fingers and smirked. I had found it. Any moment now the door would open. I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Then the sink began to rumble and I threw myself back. I expected it to move. Maybe down, maybe up, maybe swinging open like a door, or maybe even splitting apart and opening that way. It didn't. It rumbled for awhile and began to turn green. It was turning green.

"What in the name of-?" I began to murmur, but I was struck dumb when grass and flowers began to grow on its surface.

"Caesar, knock it off!" I bellowed, angry that they were toying with me the way that they were.

"Sorry Logan, it's part of the game." Unlike Remy's voice, Caesar's was gentle and apologetic.

"This is ridiculous!" I huffed. "Grass doesn't just grow on a clean and sturdy sink in 30 seconds!"

"It does here, Babes." Remy's laughing voice said. I rolledImy my eyes. Just great, I was going to have to deal with sporadically growing plants too. The set up of the room was very similar to Thomas's kitchen. So much so that if I put my back to where the door normally was, I probably wouldn't be able to tell that I wasn't there. That scared me a bit. I knew full well how fickle the human brain was and, loathe as I am to admit it, I am human- or, at least I function as one. I knew that if I was trapped in a place just like Thomas's house for too long and got out, that I wouldn't necessarily believe that I got out at first. I might never. So I had to get out quickly. The exit had something to do with the sink, I knew that, so I decided to center my search there. The grass definitely threw me off my rhythm, if grass grew in 30 seconds on a perfectly solid counter, who knows what else those two came up with. I wasn't excited to find out, that's for sure. Searching the tiles and the small stones that had replaced them in the grassy portion, I came across another trigger. I pressed it and jumped back again, unsure of what kind of traps could have been laid. The same rumbling sound happened and the grass and flowers seemed to sink back into the countertop, returning it back to the way it was.

"What the fuck?" I mumbled. I shook my head. I didn't have time for this. It was highly unlikely that they didn't restrict me from being able to sink out, but I had to try. I attempted to sink out twice. It did absolutely nothing.

"Don't bother with that, Logan." Caesar said gently, his voice echoing softly off of the walls. "It won't work." I was pissed now.

"I'm not playing your game, okay?" I huffed. "Let me out now. I need to get back, Thomas will die without me, and that means you will too."

"Nah, he's got Virge, he'll keep him away from dumb shit." Remy's voice said flippiantly. I sat down at the table, crossed my arms, and clenched my jaw. They were like children, I reasoned with myself, they would lose interest in playing with me if I didn't react. If I did nothing, they would open the door and leave me alone. So I waited.

And waited.

And Waited.

I sat there for hours. It hadn't felt like it, but the clock on the wall had said it was, and the second hand was moving in the rhythm of seconds, so it hadn't been tampered with. I've always been stubborn, and right now I was more angry than I have ever been. I could not believe that someone I had dared to call a friend was holding me hostage and keeping me from finding Roman, it was my job after all, I was chief of intelligence, it was my job to find out if the dark sides had done something to him and I was not going to fail because Remy and Caesar were playing some dumbass game I didn't want to be a part of. The clock said it was currently 5:00, it would be PM because I arrived here somewhere around 2:00 PM. 3 hours of doing absolutely nothing when I could be doing any number of productive things, it was ridiculous!"

"Hold on a second." Virgil interrupted again. "This actually happened? Like, they actually kidnapped you and forced you into an escape room you couldn't figure out for almost a month?"

"Yes." Logan replied, annoyed. "It really happened."

"Yeah, it did." Remy nodded, taking a long sip of coffee. "It was for his own good."

"Like hell it was." Virgil replied angrily. "What the fuck is wrong with you two?"

"How about we hear the rest of the story before we begin making assumptions?" Winston suggested, gesturing to Logan. Logan glared at him, but continued anyway.

"As I was saying, the time I had spent in there was starting to wear on my nerves already. It had only been a few mind-numbing hours, but I think we all know how impatient I can be. However, I am also quite stubborn, and since I had dedicated myself to one specific plan, I was not going to abandon it until I was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was not going to work."

"So that's what you were doing that whole time." Remy said. "I thought you were just thinking about it way too hard or something." Logan rolled his eyes.

"How about you let Logan tell his story?" Caesar snapped. "It was your idea, the least you can do is listen."

"For once, I actually agree with him." Virgil snarled. "Shut the fuck up Remy."

"Shut the fuck up Remy." Remy mocked him. Virgil jumped to his feet.

"I cannot believe you're acting like this in this situation. You kidnapped someone and you're acting like you're three years old." Virgil growled.

"Calm down kiddos, how about we jus-"

"I'm sorry Pat." Virgil interrupted him. "But this isn't something that I can just brush off. Remy hurt Logan and he's acting like it was nothing!"

"Virgil, I'm alright." Logan attempted to soothe him.

"Are you?" Virgil challenged. "Because it doesn't seem like it. And it especially didn't when you first saw us by the creek." Roman too had risen to his feet, putting an arm around Virgil's shoulders and staring expressionlessly down at Remy.

"Apologise." It was a monotonous but threatening order. Remy glared back at him.

"Like hell, I have nothing to apologise for." He snapped.

"Can we please stop fighting?" Patton asked.

"Oh, great, look at that, now Patton's upset. Good job Virgil." Remy drawled.

"Oh what the fuck, Virgil didn't even do anything." Nate yelled from the corner.

"Can we please jus-" Judas began as Remy started yelling at Nate. Virgil then sprang to Nate's defence and Patton and Judas tried to quiet down both sides of the argument. This unorganized and chaotic yelling of course riled up Tom and Remus who entered the argument yelling obscenities that were completely unrelated to any topic that had been brought up at both sides of the argument. Caesar was busy lecturing Remy on why he should be behaving himself, and it was clear that Lucius was beginning to be annoyed by the noise. Logan gestured to Winston and Picani to go with him over to Thomas and Anya, who were both sitting on the couch. The five of them all sat together as Picani and Winston worked together and attempted to soothe Thomas out of the panicked and overwhelmed state the argument had worked him into. Logan turned to Anya.

"This is why balance with our kingdoms is essential for Thomas's mental health. If a rule or formality is broken, this is often times the result." Anya frowned.

"This has got to be awful for him to deal with on a regular basis." She said.

"It would be." Logan admitted, nodding his head. "Typically this will not or does not occur. The dark sides and the light sides have only really begun fighting recently. And other aspects that do not actually belong to one side or the other have joined in the fray, like Remy has. It's complete and utter pandemonium now, as you can see, where before one or two sides at a time may be causing a problem, and usually it was unintentional." Anya nodded slowly.

"So what's happening to him?" She asked.

"If I knew that, everyone would be being lectured on it." Logan replied seriously. "I don't think any of us have the slightest clue. And in all honesty, I don't think what's happening to Thomas is natural." The silence after the last words he spoke was thick and tense.

"What do you mean by 'not natural'?" Virgil asked slowly after a long moment. "Do you think he's sick or something?" Logan shook his head.

"I do not. I have reason to believe that outside forces may be at play." He replied. "What I'm trying to say is… Thomas is cursed." Another long, loud silence followed. This time, it was broken by Wisdom.

"That's ridiculous Logan." He said gently. "Do-do you need a moment to lie down? After all, you have been through quite an ordeal."

"I'm fine." Logan snapped moodily, staring suspiciously at the wise trait.

"Lo, I don't think you are." Patton said, concerned. "I mean… magic? Curses? You don't believe in that kind of stuff."

"Opinions change, Patton." Logan replied to him in a voice much softer than he had used with Winston. "Think about it for a moment. We can't be the only ones capable of using some sort of superhuman powers. Caesar and Roman use something akin to magic, and we know it can affect the physical world around us, who's to say we are the only ones like us?"

"I guess it makes sense." Thomas said quietly. "I mean… almost 8 Billion people on Earth and I'm the only one to go through something like this? It wouldn't make sense. Virgil shifted uncomfortably.

"So you actually think that someone else with sides cursed you to be miserable? That's kind of far fetched… ew, why am I doing your job Logan?" He said. Logan sighed.

"Not necessarily someone with sides, who says we're the only creatures capable of magic? And maybe a specific side from a person we upset decided to act on their own? Maybe we didn't even upset them, and that specific side is just malicious and we were an easy or entertaining target. Maybe that's who the ghost is."

"This is a lot of guessing and maybes coming from you, Logic." Winston said, concerned. "Are you entirely sure you do not need to rest?"

"Yes." He replied firmly. "I'm fine." Someone knocked on the door in the distance.

"I'll get it." Anya jumped up. "It's probably Joan." Virgil cringed, shooting a worried glance to the entryway of the room. After a moment, they heard the door open, and footsteps approaching.