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Alright, here's the next chapter. Once again, remember to read the warnings.

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Deceit hadn't left his room in a while, even though the others kept knocking on his door, trying to get him to come out. Virgil came after him and started the knocking only a minute after Deceit locked himself inside, and someone had been coming by at least twice a day since.

Right when it first happened, Deceit had been upset, and overwhelmed, and that's what he told Virgil. He told him that he just needed some time alone, and at the time, he believed it. He thought he was telling the truth, and that only made things worse because he really didn't feel the urge to compulsively lie like he used to. Of course, as the days passed by and Deceit still didn't leave his room, the excuse of needing time alone shifted into a lie, but it was a purposeful one. He chose to tell the lie because he couldn't convince himself to leave or let anyone in, not because his words got all twisted up.

He wasn't even entirely sure why exactly he felt like he couldn't leave his room. He knew that he could, and he knew that, chances were, nothing bad would happen if he did. But every time he even thought about walking over to the door, of pulling it open, even just for a second, he found himself freezing up. His heart started pounding, and his thoughts started swirling, and then he would just sit there, unable to do anything at all (And this wasn't really new to him, but he hadn't gotten like this in a while, and he never had figured out why he got like this sometimes in the first place). It was better to not try to convince himself to leave because, then, he could at least read a book or something instead of wasting time over-reacting.

Granted, he still ended up wasting time whenever one of the others tried to talk to him through the door. Every time, they would ask him to come out, and most of the time, he almost would before the anxiety would crash over him again.

"Come on, K. K. SLieder, why don't you join us for movie night?"

Roman hated him. He didn't really want him there. He was the villain, and Roman was the hero, so of course he would hate him. He just didn't want to pity the bad guy.

"Janus, I understand that you are distressed, but we cannot help you if you hide yourself away."

Logan hated him too. He had the right to hate him. They all did. He just needed Deceit to stop throwing a tantrum so Thomas wouldn't be affected.

"Deeeeeeeeee, why won't you come out? I have so many things to show you!"

Remus was better off without him. Deceit is the one who stopped him from making himself known to Thomas for so long. Maybe if he hadn't done that, Remus could have been accepted already. Maybe Thomas wouldn't have been so afraid of him.

"Jan, please… I… I'm afraid for you…"

No, Virgil wasn't afraid for him, he was afraid of him. And he should be. Deceit had been terrible to him for so long. Hell, he even lied to Anxiety when they first met. He had always lied to him. He lied, he manipulated, he controlled. No wonder Virgil grew to hate him.

"Kiddo, I made dinner. Do you want to eat with us?"

Patton. Patton, Patton, Patton. Patton hated lying, hated him. He was glad that Deceit stopped lying. But he was still a liar, still lied.

"I'm really sorry, Janus. I didn't mean to upset you… I thought… I…"

Maybe Patton only accepted him because he hoped Deceit would stop lying, stop being Deceit. Maybe, once he realized that Janus was still Deceit, would always be Deceit, he would want him gone again.

"I… If you don't feel up for coming down, I can bring you something, okay? I… I know you have a kitchen, but…"

Whether he responded or not, they would all eventually leave him alone to wallow in his room.

Now alone all the time, Deceit saw little point in trying to hold back his impulse to pick at his skin. He no longer stopped himself from rolling up his sleeves, from pulling off his gloves. He let his eyes roam over the blemished expanses of skin, let his nails dig into the imperfect flesh, let crimson blood well up from wounds that shouldn't have even been there.

What if he was losing his abilities as Deceit? What if he wasn't important anymore, and he was going to start fading away? What if Thomas didn't need him, didn't want him? No, Thomas already didn't want him. No matter what he said, there was no way Thomas actually wanted him around. Would everyone be happier if he did fade away? If he was gone? Would they be better off without the lying, deceptive snake around?

Sometimes, instead of anxiety, he felt anger.

How could they drive him away? He was a part of Thomas, and Thomas needed him, needed his functions. If he had ducked out like Virgil, Thomas would have turned into a fucking mess. They needed him, even if they didn't want him, and they had no right to villainize him for all these years. Looking back, it had been such a stupid argument. They abandoned him over a damn. Cookie. He had just been trying to do his job. He had just been trying to protect Remus, protect Virgil, protect Thomas, protect himself. Why couldn't Patton have seen that he was just trying to help? Why hadn't any of them seen that? Why hadn't anyone gone to find him after he ran off? Had they all really wanted him gone? Didn't they feel bad at all, didn't they miss him? How could they drive him away? How could they drive Remus away? Or Virgil? And why had Virgil been so desperate to fling himself into the Light Sides' arms when he knew what they did? Was Deceit really so awful that he would rather run back to the people who abandoned him than stay with the people who cared for him when he was cast away? How dare he abandon him like that…

Other times, he felt regret.

Why did he become the villain? Why did he have to become the very thing they thought he was? Was he destined to turn into the villain all along, or could he have turned out differently if he had done something else? Could he have acted differently, been different, been good? Should he have tried to return after Roman drove him away? Would they have forgiven him, welcomed him back? Would they have apologized? Should he have apologized? Should he have stopped doing his job? Would everyone have been happy if he had just sucked it up and went along with what everyone else wanted? Would Remus and Virgil have been driven away if he had still been there? Could he have spared them the pain of abandonment?

And intermingled with all the anxiety and anger and regrets, there was guilt and pain, and Deceit didn't even know which feelings were justified and which weren't. How much was his fault, and how much was theirs? What was real, and what was imagined? What was the truth, and what were the lies?

He wasn't even entirely sure why such a little thing had set him off like this. All it took was Patton saying one little thing for everything to come crashing down again. It only took a handful of words to plunge Deceit into a perfect storm of emotions that made him feel like he was drowning- and he didn't know what could even pull him back out of the water.

Deceit thought he had gotten over this already. Hadn't they all had a hundred heart-to-hearts? Hadn't they already talked through all of this? Hadn't they already forgiven him, and hadn't he already forgiven them? Everything should be resolved.

So why was he still so afraid of them?

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