Chapter Ten

A Crack in the Mask

A/N What? I'm posting again? I'm actually writing again now? Hopefully more chapters will e coming soon.

Ps. Thanks for struggling through grammar mistakes and typos, this is really all just second draft material, none of it is proofread and I have dyslexia lol

Pps. I love you guys thank you for supporting me

"What the hell happened to you?" Nate squawked.

"I could ask you the same question." Logan replied, leaning casually against the door frame of his room. "Oh, nevermind I guess you always looked like that." He grinned.

"Your face is falling apart!" Nate yellped.

"Huh?" Logan reached up to touch his face, a chunk of very clay-like skin fell off in his hand. "Oh, yes I suppose you're right. Well, it hardly matters, I was already quite ugly."

"It hardly matters?" Nate repeated incredulously. "Your skin is falling off!" Logan hummed thoughtfully, turning to look in a mirror on the wall next to him. Where the chunks of his face had fallen away was some sort of solid matter, possibly plastic, in a different color in each exposed area.

"Well, there's something between my skin and everything else so I'm not too worried about it." He said calmly.

"Wait a fucking minute! What the hell is under your skin and why are you not worried about it!?"

"It appears to be a plastic polymer of some kind." Logan told him.

"And that isn't a problem?!" Nate yellped. "What happened? Did one of your experiments go wrong?"

"I'm not sure what happened. I didn't know anything had changed until now." He told him.

"What in the wide world of Thomas's mind happened to you?" Janus squeaked upon rounding the corner and seeing him.

"I'm not sure. Logan mused. He studied himself for a bit. "The absence of skin seems to be displaying itself in a pattern."

"It looks like puzzle pieces." Janus said.

"I didn't do it!" Remus claimed loudly, from behind the two.

"No one was implying that you did." Logan said.

"Except now I'm kind of thinking that you may have." Janus added.

Remus wasn't sure why, but seeing the puzzle pieces in Logan's face made him feel very anxious. And like he was in trouble. So of course he panicked and immediately claimed innocence from the issue.

"I didn't do it!" He yipped.

"No one was implying that you did." Logan said calmly.

"Except now I'm kind of thinking that you may have." Janus drawled suspiciously.

"I have an alibi!" Remus shouted immediately, not really taking into account that the three of them had been together the entire time.

"This entire conversation is extremely suspicious." Janus continued. Remus panicked again and shouted the first thing that came to mind.

"I was fucking Virgil!" He screeched. What the hell did he just say?

"Bullshit." The other three said at the same time.

"I promise I didn't do it!" Remus sobbed. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why he was so scared. He never got scared. Especially not of getting in trouble. He was always in trouble, that was normal.

"Remus, calm down." Janus said, but that made it worse. He was starting to hyperventilate. The puzzle pieces were bad, Janus's suspicion was bad, Nate's tense posture and wary expression were bad.

"Remus, it's alright." Logan's cool, soothing voice filtered through. "Look at me," Remus met his eyes, "See? Everything's okay."

"Oh." Remus murmured, deflating a little. His panic seemed to have poured out of him as Logan spoke, leaving behind the vague awareness that what had just happened to him was extremely weird.

"Are you okay, Remus?" Janus asked quietly. His hands came up to rest on Remus's shoulders. Remus didn't know what to say.

"I dunno, probably not." His mouth seemed to make the decision for him.

"Okay, do you know what just happened?" Janus asked. Remus shrugged.

"I think I might." Logan said softly. "Remus, would you mind telling us what happened last time the dark one became angry with you?"

"Uh- sure… I don't really remember much of it though…" He replied. "Let's see… I think it was about the whole banshee thing, either that or it was because I drank his shampoo. Maybe it was both. He… called me in to talk to him… I think… I don't really remember… huh… what did happen?" He tried to think back to what happened the night he was temporarily exiled. It wasn't like he'd forgotten that night, when he thought back to it, something was there, something just barely out of reach.

"I believe I can help." Logan told him, turning to face his work table mounted on the wall. "Let's see…" He ran his index finger over a row of vials full of colorful liquid. Each of them had a stopper and a label with handwritten names. He murmured the words, "memory replenishment" under his breath as he did so. "Ah, here we are!" He claimed brightly, plucking one of the vials out of the row with a flourish. "One memory replenishment serum with your name written on it!" Literally. Remus's name was written on the label along with a little doodle of a brain with a check mark over it.

"How did you know he would need that?" Janus asked as Remus excitedly took the vial and popped the stopper out.

"Call it intuition, or a hunch, if you will. I suppose I just got the feeling." Logan replied. Remus downed the serum quickly, and then immediately wished he hadn't. It tasted just fine- then again there weren't many things that Remus thought tasted bad- but once he swallowed it, a searing pain erupted behind his eyes, and the sound of shattering glass filled his ears. It was over just as quickly as it began, however, so it wasn't too bad, and thinking back to the night he'd been temporarily exiled, he decided it was definitely worth it.

"Shit bro, that's fucked up. We're in a hell of a lot of trouble." He couldn't help a sick grin creeping its way onto his face.

"What?" The other three asked him at the same time. Remus excitedly began to tell them the story.

Remus had been called into Lucius's throne room, but it hadn't been for drinking his shampoo or releasing a banshee into the meeting hall. It had been because Lucius had gained another ally and, apparently, it was to be Remus's job to keep an eye on him. Remus had been waiting for an assignment like this for a long time. It would put him in the perfect position to finally get one over on Lucius. The dark king had always heard of or predicted Remus's dastardly plans against him before he actually got to pull anything off and that made Lucius, besides Logan of course, the only person Remus had yet to phase. This opportunity was too good. He was also excited to learn who it was that was allying themselves with the dark, or specifically Lucius as the case may very well be. He wondered, perhaps it was a minor side he had yet to meet, maybe it was one of the neutral sides from the chaos rift, or perhaps an old side they thought they had lost, or EVEN BETTER what if VIRGIL was coming BACK!? When the side stepped out from the shadow of Lucius's throne, Remus could hardly believe his eyes.

"Wisdom!?" He squawked. "Holly Balls!"

"Winston, if you would." Winston said politely. "I am so very excited to be working alongside you fine gentleman. Remus laughed.

"Like hell you are! Don't you hate us or some shit?"

"While I often disagree with some of your more… unsavory methods, the dark sides get their jobs done, and quite efficiently I must add. I believe it prudent for my cause to align with yours for the time being." Winston replied softly.

"And that cause is?" Remus prompted, abundantly curious but also very annoyed.

"Logic. I need him out of the way. I don't care how it's done or where he goes, I just want him away from the light sides." Winston replied, his harmless and cheerful mask slipping as his face darkened slightly. Remus's heart froze in his chest. Something about Winston reminded him of the maze. Something in the maze. A creature, an entity, like the hall of mirrors. He was supposed to look away, he shouldn't be looking at him- he was dangerous. Remus shrugged it off.

"And in exchange, he's offered to assist us in seizing control of Thomas's mind." Lucius added.

"Quite right." Winston agreed. "You take care of Logic, and I'll take care of you."

"And why is Logan such a pri-" Remus was cut off by Winston roaring;

"Don't say that name!" His chest was heaving dramatically, and his face was reddening. Something was very, very wrong about what was happening with Winston. This wasn't right. Everything about it was screaming 'Danger'! So Remus poked further.

"Yeah, why not?" He sneered. "Awwwwe Awe you scawed? You scawed big bad Wogan's gonna huwt you?" He cackled. Winston growled, his fury growing further. "You're ridiculous. Why Lucius is even bothering with you, I couldn't tell." For a second, Remus thought that the fury Winston was feeling had been so much that he was literally blowing up (hey they're sides, it could happen, right?) but he soon realized that Winston's face was crumbling apart. Unlike Logan's, it did not stop at colorful puzzle piece shaped holes, his entire face fell away, leaving behind the scaly, armored head of a monster Remus had encountered in the maze. Remus fell backward out of shock. There wasn't a lot that could scare him but this was one of those things. He had nightmares about that creature for years after he first saw it as a child. The creature in Winston's clothes began to grow up toward the ceiling of the throne room, its neck stretching and elongating with horrible cracking sounds. The place where Winston's face used to be was completely blank, covered in the thick scales. The limbs of the monster began stretching outward too, the joints popping as they extended and grew until it was standing on all fours at about seven feet tall. Its skull split open as its long neck snapped downward. An enormous writhing mass of gigantic snakes and worms with human faces came slithering and crawling out of the mouth that had opened up on the head, each of them screaming in agony, begging for help. Remus summoned his morningstar to his hands, he was not going down without a goddamned fight. He rolled to the side as the monster reached out with its bony long-ass fingers, trying to get a grip on him. Remus propelled himself forward, holding his weapon above his right shoulder. He brought it down, ready to strike the monster down, but just as he made contact with the creature, Lucius grabbed him from behind.

"What the hell are you doing you psycho!? It's going to kill us all!" Remus shrieked, struggling against the king's hold.

"Remus what the fuck are you talking about?" Lucius growled. Remus squeezed his eyes shut as he attempted to wrestle himself free of Lucius's grip and when he opened them, the creature was gone. Winston was there, on the ground, curled up with his arms shielding his neck and face. As he was attempting to process the sudden change, Remus was roughly shoved to the side. Lucius extended his hand to Winston who took it shakily, standing slowly. As he stood, Remus could see his face again, the colorful puzzle pieces carved into his flesh in a way that morbidly reminded Remus of some sort of children's toy.

"I must apologise for Remus's behavior, it seems he truly is incapable of behaving himself. He has the mentality of a two year old." Lucius glared in Remus's direction.

"Don't you see the puzzle pieces!?" Remus shrieked. "Something is wrong with him!"

"Remus!" Lucius's voice warped like Virgil's used to. "Another word and I will see to it that you will never walk the dark side again!"

"Surely, that's an extreme measure, I'm a light side." Winston said softly, but his eyes disagreed with his words.

"And you are working alongside us. Similarly, Remus seems to be fond of disobeying me." Lucius replied.

"Your majesty, he's going to kill you!" Remus tried to reason with him. "He's not what he loo-"

"Three months!" Lucius declared loudly.

"Wha-"

"You are exiled from the dark for three months!" He repeated. "You may return then, if you have survived."

"Luciu-"

"ENOUGH!" Lucius raised his hand into the air and Remus found himself in a hall he'd never seen before. It was made of stone like an old castle, it was dusty and dirty with cobwebs everywhere. He strained his hearing but there wasn't a single sound. He could work with this.

"So, Winston is a traitor and a liar? I can't say I'm surprised." Logan mussed. "However the transformation is worrisome at the least."

"But doesn't that mean Lucius will know we're plotting against him?" Janus asked hurriedly.

"Soon, he will, but at the moment he does not. First, we have more important business to attend to."

"More important?" Nate asked, bewildered.

"We are needed in the grey domain, are we not?" Logan asked.

"How did you know that?" Janus asked.

"Later." Logan told him. "Remus, I assume you would like to fight this monster?"

"Uhh, yeah!" Remus sighed exasperatedly. "Obviously."

"Nate, would you mind coming along?" Logan asked.

"Fights are basically tastes of anarchy, of course I'm coming." He replied.

"Very good." Logan nodded. "Janus, would you mind returning to the light domain while we go?" Janus's eyes filled with a stricken sort of sadness while his face remained largely impassive.

"Sir, you don't want me going with you?" His tone was insulted, and Logan took it as a sign of great trust between them that he wasn't immediately met with a sarcastic, defensive wall. He didn't want to destroy that bond the two of them had forged, so he had to tread carefully.

"Janus, Patton isn't a fighter, Roman will not protect Patton right now, and Virgil can only do so much. You must know, better than any of the other sides, what Patton means to me. I am asking you, as a personal favor to me, not as your Reign of Fear or your commander, to protect the one I love." Janus practically glowed with pride.

"I'd be honored to, sir." He replied.