Chapter Eight

Something Evil This Way Comes

(The fact that I'm still writing Christmas chapters means I really have poor time management skills and forget about things way too easily you'd think I'd do more in quarantine but noooooo)

TW: This chapter involves some very harsh words and insults of a sexual nature that may be triggering to some people, because Winston sucks. Read with caution, xoxo

P.s Comments really do motivate me ;p

Remus was right, the roast goose Patton had prepared smelled delectable. Logan's mouth literally started watering when they opened the oven door and the tantalizing smell made its way into the sitting room. Everyone was sitting around talking and laughing as though they had never had any bad history between them. Virgil was leaning heavily against Nate as he struggled to breathe through his laughter. Nate in turn, was leaning against Virgil to keep himself upright through his mirth. Roman was doubled over, roaring with laughter and occasionally pounding his fist into the arm of the couch. Winston was also laughing loudly, his head thrown back in a carefree way that caused Logan to be physically struck with the fact that he too was human. Patton and Janus, having finished setting the table, were supporting their weight on the walls. Janus was covering his mouth in an attempt to stifle his laughter, but was failing. Logan allowed himself to smile but forced his laughter deep down. Remus was standing on the table, but for once he wasn't causing trouble. He was recounting the tale of an epic adventure that had taken place within his side of the creativity. Apparently some character named Magnus Dareheart and his apple juice obsessed friend named Katrina ended up on the wrong side of Sommara- the spirit of trickery and insanity. Katrina was eventually replaced by Sommara in secret and she spent thirty days trapped inside the crystal atop her own staff. She spent those thirty days attempting to drive the spirit of insanity crazy by keeping up a constant stream of asking the spirit if it would like some apple juice. The spirit eventually broke, screaming that it hated apple juice, prompting Dareheart to realize that this was not Katrina. After that, they picked up a friend called blue who was an ex. court jester and now traveled the world murdering rich people and delivering money to poor people. While elements of the story were unnecessarily dark, it was mostly very humorous and light-hearted. After everyone had calmed down, Patton ushered them all to the table to eat. It had been magically expanded to fit all of them. Apparently, Virgil had alerted them to darkside customs likely in fear of offending them again, because the table was set up in a slightly similar way Lucius had set up the meeting hall table. There were two larger chairs at the head and foot of the table. They were almost exact carbon copies of one another besides that one was decorated with a light blue and the other with a deep indigo close to the color of Logan's vest. To his immediate right was a smaller chair decorated with yellow, a direct mirror to the light grey one on Patton's right. The chair to Logan's left was in green. The one on Patton's left was red. Next to Janus's chair was an orange one, a purple chair directly across from it and next to Roman's. As the dark and light sides took their seats, Logan noticed that though the other sides had regular drinking glasses, Logan had been provided with an ornate chalice, similar to the one Lucius used whenever they actually ate together, which was rarely. The plate and silverware he was supplied with were also particularly fancy. He noticed the light sides were looking at him nervously, so he gave them a reserved smile and nodded his approval. The light sides let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief. Following the dark side customs for formal meals was something Logan, as the highest ranking side there, found very uncomfortable. Logan wasn't supposed to serve himself or pour his own drink. It was supposed to be considered a privilege and an honor for Judas to be allowed to do that for him. Though Logan felt selfish and guilty for having Janus serve his food and pour his drink, he knew three things that comforted him. One: Janus did see it as an honor to be the one at his immediate right and therefore the one to serve him. Two: Janus would take it as an insult and would be ashamed if Logan told him not to in front of the light sides as that specific "privilege" was considered a symbol of trust between the two of them. Three: If Virgil saw or heard Logan reject a symbol of trust between Janus and himself, he would latch on to that as a sign that either A) Logan was being harmed or coerced into staying in the dark sides or B) Janus was evil and Logan himself was afraid Janus might hurt him in some way. Neither would be good or true. Janus had a faint blush over the human side of his face as he put food on to Logan's plate, what for Logan was unsure. He noticed that Janus had chosen one of the weaker wines to pour for both of them and for that, Logan was grateful. He was in a delicate state already and alcohol was not going to help much with that. The other's also waited until Logan took the first bite of his food before beginning to eat. Logan was pleasantly surprised that Winston was respecting their customs, he expected him to ignore or make light of them. As the sides ate, they chatted and laughed. Janus was perfectly charming as usual and was proving a great conversationalist. Logan could practically see Roman and Winston being drawn in. He couldn't blame them. Janus had a personality that practically forced people to like him if they had even one civil conversation. Remus behaved himself very well and though Logan could tell there were hundreds of things he was practically bursting to say he restricted himself to the more palatable jokes and ideas he had, many of which were genuinely very funny. Nate was rather rude, foregoing table manners and chugging his beer, but it seemed only Virgil noticed. Logan subtly caught Virgil's eye and nodded vaguely in Nate's direction, rolling his eyes. Virgil cracked a smile and Logan felt that they had succeeded in what they had set out to do. He hoped the rest of the night continued like this.

"So Logan," Winston spoke up. Damnit, there goes that hope. "Or would you prefer your title?"

"Logan is fine." He replied politely. Winston smiled giving him a slight nod.

"How are you settling into your new position? It must be difficult to have that big of a responsibility right off the bat." He asked pleasantly. Logan saw his chance to talk up the other dark sides to the lights and decided to snatch it.

"You would think so." Logan agreed. "But these three have made the transition incredibly easy for me. They were very accepting and kind and I was pleasantly surprised that none of them harbored any ill will against me for having such a high position right away." Winston looked almost surprised to hear Logan praise the others over himself.

"Well that's wonderful. I'm glad to hear you all are getting along." Winston's small smile widened. Logan gave a small silent nod, hoping that would end the conversation. Unfortunately, it seemed Winston had more to talk about. "And how have the three of you been adjusting to the change?" He asked the others softly.

"Quite well, Logan is the best Reign of Fear we've ever had, eh- no offence Virgil." Janus replied. Virgil smirked.

"None taken. I hated my job." He rested his arm on the table as he leaned forward. "It's a difficult job, how do you do it? I'm the embodiment of anxiety and fear and I couldn't get the others to listen to me." He asked Logan.

"I feel that fear is a powerful weapon that should not be employed amongst allies and friends if it can be avoided. I prefer to establish a bond of trust and respect to keep order, it seems to be working." Logan explained.

"That's really cool Logan!" Patton chirped.

"Everything he does is cool." Remus butt in. "You may not have noticed but he's a badass."

"We didn't notice for awhile." Nate added.

"You said that fear is a powerful weapon in your opinion." Winston directed Logan's attention back to him. "Why is it that you haven't deployed any on us during your time as Reign of Fear so far?" Roman cleared his throat.

"Winston, I thought we agreed not to bring up politics tonight?" He said, his posture stiffening. Virgil and Patton seemed tense too.

"You're right Roman, I apo-"

"It's alright." Logan raised his hand slightly, signalling for silence. "There's no need to be so worried. I have made the decision to not weaponize fear against you because, as I stated previously, I believe it should not be used against friends and allies. For clarity's sake, I do not see you as enemies. We dark sides have had a shift in objective, one that should have happened long ago. Each of us sides have our own way of looking out for Thomas and protecting him, as such we have come to the agreement that caring for our host's mental, emotional, and physical health should be top priority. We've moved away from trying to "seize control" as that would be counterproductive to our objective."

"W-what are you saying?" Roman asked quietly. All the light sides had wide, surprised eyes.

"We don't want to hurt anyone, we want to help. For them it has always been this way." He gestured to the other dark sides. "The dark one supplied them with false information and bad priorities."

"And you were able to change his mind?" Virgil asked incredulously.

"Oh, hell no." Nate barked.

"Yeah… we don't really take orders from him anymore. He's technically the king but like fuck him." Remus was a bit preoccupied with stabbing a particularly large piece of turkey. "With Logan and Janus smooth talking the dark one all the time, Logan's basically in charge." Logan nodded in agreement.

"All it took was a slight amount of deception on our behalf to put an end to this ridiculous war." He added.

"You… used lying to… do the right thing?" Patton asked, confused.

"Isn't that a bit ironic?" Winston asked.

"Irony is the highest form of comedy." Janus answered without missing a beat. "And as you can see, none of us are laughing." Logan had to crack a smile at that.

"Really, the only difference between dark and light sides, for the most part, is that we focus mainly on the end result and less on the means of transportation." He explained to them. "You summed it up perfectly yourself, your majesty," Patton blushed prettily and smiled a bit "We are willing to do things like lie in order to make the right thing happen. Take Nate, for example. He is rebellion, and though rebellion often lacks in moral standards-" Nate choked on his beer, "it is also what leads to changes like abolishing slavery and racism and the right to same sex marriage." There was a general murmur of agreement and understanding from the light sides. "Or Janus; while lying and general deception may be seen as wrong a lot of the time, it can be used to protect others or put an end to something that may cause pain and suffering in the future. While you may not agree with our methods, I believe you will agree with us when we say we do not want any more pain and suffering to continue." The light sides all nodded.

"Eh- no offence, but what exactly is Remus's positive contribution? Is there a good side to intrusive thoughts?" Roman asked.

"Roman!" Patton squawked. Remus's grip on his fork tightened but he clenched his jaw and said nothing. Logan could not have appreciated that restraint more. He knew it was something Remus struggled with and he knew Remus was only doing it so Logan's plan would go well.

"Back off, dude." Nate set his beer down and crossed his arms. "Remus is trying his best and h-" Logan raised his hand to cut Nate off, though he did see a small light of respect in Roman's eyes. Perfect.

"Indeed, he is doing his best." Logan agreed. "And there is good in what he does." Remus looked confusedly at Logan. "Intrusive thoughts come in many forms. Some of which are not helpful and serve only to disturb, however there are some which are directly beneficial as well as some that are just random and almost quite humorous. For example, have you noticed that when holding something delicate such as a small animal or a child, Thomas often has disturbing thoughts of dropping or hurting said animal or child? In turn that causes Patton and Virgil to react and cause Thomas to take very special care to not harm the creature he is holding."

"Hey, yeah!" Patton agreed suddenly. "That's true!"

"Hey! I help!" Remus claimed excitedly. "Yay!" Winston regarded Logan cautiously.

"Cunning, may I speak to you in private?" He asked in a polite voice. Logan wasn't fooled. Winston only didn't call people by their names when he was upset. Janus and Virgil seemed to pick up on it too, but they didn't say anything.

"I don't see why not." Logan replied in a falsely cheery voice. "Excuse me for a moment, your majesty." He said to Patton as he stood and gave a shallow bow. He and Winston walked back through the living room where all the giant stuffed animals still were and just barely into the hall connected to it.

"What do you think you're playing at?" Winston spat venomously at him.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." Logan replied calmly.

"Yes you do. You're planning something and if that something hurts my Patton, you will regret it." Logan's heart stopped beating when he heard Winston use the words my Patton.

"I said exactly what my plans were. To stop fighting with the light sides and to help Thomas be more balanced." Logan replied as evenly as he could with a figurative dagger in his chest.

"And all that bullshit about how the light and dark sides aren't all that different?" Winston pressed. "What the hell was all of that supposed to do? Do you think we'll ever accept you evil pieces of shit again? Because you're wrong. You're broken and tainted and disgusting. Patton could never love something like you." Logan's vision was turning red, and tunneling in on Winston. All he could see there was a threat. A threat to him. A threat to his dark sides. And a threat to Patton. "Don't think I haven't seen the way you look at him or blush when he laughs. You might as well just get on your knees and beg him to fuck you. That's all you want him for right? You can't feel love, you're just a dirty slut who wants to taint him." Logan gritted his teeth and said nothing. He refused to be the bad guy here. He was not going to rise to Winston's bait. This night would go well for Patton. And for the plan. Mostly the plan. It was for their objective. It wasn't for Patton. It was for Patton.

"I think we're done here." Logan said quietly. "Please get out of my way, I would like to leave and return to the dining room." Winston growled under his breath, stepping closer to Logan and putting one of his arms up on the wall and locking Logan in place.

"What are you going to do, attack me again?" WInston demanded. Logan was trying to breathe through his anger. Then he got an idea. He dropped the cloak away from his feelings of anxiety. Almost immediately he heard a chair scrape against the floor in the dining room.

"Please allow me to leave." Logan asked again as Virgil neared them.

"I don't think I will. You may have convinced Virgil that you aren't a monster but I know the truth. I want you to leave and never come back to the light domain again." Winston spat.

"Winston what the fuck?" Virgil yelled. "Are you insane?" He grabbed Winston by the hood and pulled him away from Logan. "I am so sorry about him, Sir." Virgil said nervously. "Please believe me when I say that we did not know of or okay this."

"Of course I believe you, General. There is no need to be so formal." He offered him a small smile.

"Right back at ya." Virgil replied, sliding easily back into his usual behavior.

"Virgil, you've seen first hand how dangerous he is." Winston bit out. "You know what he's capable of and he himself said he doesn't care about the means to his ends."

"Winston! You are twisting his words and you know it!" Patton said, literally and figuratively putting his foot down. Patton, Roman, and the dark sides came after they heard Virgil yelling.

"Damn, I told you it was a bad idea to come to this party." Nate huffed.

"I think we should leave." Janus agreed. He had his hand over Remus's mouth who was struggling to get out of his grip and screaming about god knows what, clearly trying to get at Winston.

"Unfortunately, I agree." Logan said quietly, adjusting his cape front.

"I am so sorry, Logan. I never thought that he'd do something like that." Patton whimpered. As tears began to collect in his eyes.

"Like what? Make him confront the truth?" Winston barked. Janus threw his hand out violently, forcing Winston's hand over his own mouth.

"I would never hold someone else's actions against you." Logan assured Patton. "It was good to see you all." He nodded to the light sides. "Do take care." Logan levitated the large stuffed animals Remus had gifted the other three with them as they left. Once they reached the Dark domain Remus was able to wrench his hand away from his mouth.

"That fucking bastard!" Remus's ungodly screech was what finally broke down the walls Logan had built himself, and the resulting tidal wave of emotions was enough to spill out of his eyes. He cast his gaze to the ground, hoping the others wouldn't see his tears or would at least just mistake them as makeup. They respected him, he didn't want them to see what he was.

"Logan," Janus began softly, "It's okay if what Winston said hurt your feel-"

"He didn't hurt my feelings." Logan snapped. He didn't care that Janus could tell that he was lying, if he didn't deny it Winston won. "I'm angry that I was treated with such disrespect but my feelings were not hurt." Janus reached out to him.

"Loga-"

"Don't touch me." Logan spat. He strode toward his room quickly, cape billowing behind him as though it were trying to reach back to Janus and apologise itself.

"Hey! Janus didn't do anything!" Nate barked at him. Logan ignored his shout and locked himself up inside of his room. The second he slammed the door shut he dropped to his knees and allowed himself to truly cry. They had cared about him. They had really, truly cared about him and he went and fucked it all up. He pushed them away and he yelled at Janus for trying to help. He was the worst kind of person. His gaze fell upon the dull gray crown Patton had handed to him when he had first clawed his way up out of the maze and something suddenly occurred to him. The impossible situations, the emotional and psychological pain, the fact that problems seemed to be endlessly generating, the fact that the pills made everything better. Maybe he was still in the maze. Maybe he had never really gotten out. His sobs dissolved into hysterical laughter. He wasn't playing the game right. He was doing something wrong. He needed to figure out the pieces of the puzzle he was missing.

Janus was cuddled up on the couch with Remus and his new stuffed snake. He didn't blame Logan for snapping at him the way he did. With the pungent odor of the lie Logan told, Janus could tell that Winston's words had cut deep, and this was definitely not the first occasion. They'd been home for about an hour, Logan was in his room which had been sound proofed and locked. Remus was spitballing ideas on how to get Logan to come back out, getting increasingly more absurd as time went on. There was a knock on the entrance to the dark side and Nate answered it. Roman was standing on the other side looking significantly more dull than he had before. Janus shot to his feet.

"Roman! You're losing color again!" He pointed out.

"Yeah, I know." Janus had never heard the prince speak in a more defeated voice. "This cure Logan created doesn't work properly. It lasts for twelve hours. I have until midnight." Janus gasped, covering his mouth.

"Oh shit." Remus breathed.

"Look, I didn't come here to freak you guys put or make you feel sorry for me. After talking with all of you tonight, I realized I made a mistake. I think you three can help us. There's something here that doesn't belong." Roman said quietly.

"Like Kohan?" Janus asked.

"Exactly like Kohan." Roman replied. "He was just the beginning. A decoy. He deceived all of us, made us believe what he wanted us to believe, and you couldn't smell it. Janus, think for a moment. Has there ever been times where you haven't been able to smell someone's lie?" Janus nodded.

"It happens sometimes. I never knew why." He told him.

"I can't tell you why." Roman replied. "I don't fully know. But it has to do with the grey sides."

"Grey sides? There are more?" Nate yellped.

"Yeah." Both brothers said together.

"There are tons of them. More than there are of the rest of us." Roman elaborated.

"There is no Afterwards. It's just the grey domain." Remus added.

"And there is something down there that shouldn't be. I don't know what it is. It was the thing that killed me. Virgil's brother… he's still alive. He's down there though, trying to keep that monster away. He won't last forever." Roman said.

"Logan can help him!" Janus claimed.

"He's super hella strong and he's smart as fuck, he'll know what to do!" Nate agreed.

"I hope he does, because I'm no use to anyone right now." As Roman said this, even more of his color drained away.

"Are you going to be okay?" Remus asked.

"I don't know." Roman replied.

"How do we fix you?" Remus practically screamed.

"I don't know." Roman replied again. He stepped forward and embraced his brother. "I love you Remus." Remus didn't move when Roman hugged him. He stiffened and seemed to choke slightly. Roman released him and backed up. "You guys want to restore balance? You have to destroy whatever is causing all this chaos." And he left without another word.

"We're not getting him back, are we?" Remus whispered, staring out the open door.

"We will." Janus tried to soothe him. He really didn't think they would. Right now, they needed Logan. Logan had to know what to do. He always knew what to do.

Logan popped a pill. Someone had delivered a fresh bottle to him every time he ran out. He didn't know who was doing it, so he chalked it up to "the maze really do be like that though". As he waited for the numbing feel of the drug to overtake him again, he thought. This maze was created by Caesar. Caesar liked to play games. So, most likely, the maze was a game. All games had solutions. If it's a luck based game you need only play long enough or enough times to win. If it's a strategy game you need only use the rules against your opponent. In this case his opponent was the maze. He needed to keep an open mind to what he saw around him. Perhaps he would be offered a quest or a challenge like he would be in a video game. Perhaps he just wasn't letting himself see them before, or he was too busy giving himself his own. It took him a minute to register that someone was knocking on his door, Pounding on it would be a more accurate description. Logan opened it to see Nate, who stopped moving immediately, jaw dropping open.

"What the hell happened to you?"