Welcome to the next part of this fic series!

This one is technically a flashback? It's more like reminiscing about the past, but at a point before Trick or Treat even happened. (So, timeline-wise, this chapter takes place before the first part of the series, but the actual chapter content takes place even farther in the past)

Also, I'm honestly not paying too much mind to exactly what is developmentally appropriate in terms of language skills and stuff. I'm not gonna sit here trying to figure out exactly how children are supposed to talk 'cuz it depends on a lot of stuff. So, they're just going to talk a bit more childlike, and I tried my best.

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It had started around the time that Thomas was eight. Or maybe nine. Seven? It was hard for him to pinpoint when exactly the others started to hate him. Once, they had all been friends- Self, Heart, Thoughts, and Creativity. But that was before Self- representing Thomas's desires, his self-preservation, and his self-interest- started shifting into Deceit- deception, lies, and immorality. It was before Heart became Morality, before Thoughts became Logic, and before Thomas's sense of right and wrong was particularly concrete. Of course, it wasn't like Thomas had no sense of morals before that point, but as a young child, he couldn't exactly be expected to have a very strong moral sense outside of what his parents imposed upon him.

But eventually, that changed.

As Thomas grew older, he started believing in the morals his parents and other adults taught him as more than just things he should listen to because adults told him to. He started understanding why he should listen to them. And that was great, Thomas was on track to grow into a good person- but it wasn't great because one of those morals Thomas learned was 'lying is wrong.'

At first, that realization didn't affect his relationship with the other sides as much. It was fine until slowly, slowly, Self and Heart started to disagree on how Thomas should act. Heart would argue for what was the right thing to do, while Self would argue for what was the right thing for Thomas. And sometimes, that meant lying, mostly lying to get out of trouble.

But ironically, it ended up causing a lot of trouble.

Before, lying was just a way to act in Thomas's self-interest, a way to try to get him what he wanted. Him and the other sides didn't really think it was bad. But once Heart became Morality, and Morality started believing that lying was always a bad thing, Self started to shift as well. Self started to become Deceit, even though he was still more than that. He still wasn't exactly sure why his personality and function became so dependent on what likely wasn't even his most essential aspect, but it happened. He suspected that it may very well have been because of the fighting, though. Maybe, as Deceit fought with Morality, that further cemented the idea that lying was wrong and simultaneously cemented him as the villain, and the two became synonymous with each other. Or maybe he was just so good at lying that he could lie to himself about being anything but a conglomeration of lies.

Regardless of why he became Deceit, however, he did. And as he did so, he slowly, slowly started filling this new role until it fit like a glove.

Until it all fell apart.

"See! I told you lying is bad!' Morality shouted, his voice high. "Now Thomas is in trouble, and his mother is mad at him! We should have just told the truth!"

"Thomas wouldn't have gotten in trouble if you didn't make him feel guilty and have him tell the truth to his mom!" Deceit argued back. "She wouldn't have known if you didn't do that!"

"But Thomas should feel bad!" Morality shot back. "He did something wrong, and then he lied about it!"

"So what?!"

It was the same argument they had that was becoming more and more frequent. It wasn't like Deceit wanted Thomas to be a bad person- he just wanted Thomas to be happy. And he didn't get what the big deal was if Thomas took an extra cookie. It was only one cookie, and there were plenty more! It wasn't even like someone else would go without because he took it. Who did it hurt? What was so bad about getting an extra cookie? The others used to be happy when Deceit helped Thomas get things like that. Why should Thomas feel bad and get in trouble over something that wasn't a big deal, something that didn't even hurt anyone?

"So what?!" Morality exclaimed in disbelief. "Thomas can't just take whatever he wants! Now he's going to become a criminal and go to jail forever!"

Deceit knew that Morality was exaggerating. No one went to jail because they took an extra cookie. Thomas's mom wouldn't call the cops on him for something like that. But Morality was crying and screaming, and Deceit had no one on his side to back him up.

"Why do you always make Thomas do bad things?!" Morality questioned. "Why did you become bad?!"

And that comment was what drove Deceit over the edge to anger.

"I'm bad?!" Deceit shouted. "All you do is make Thomas feel bad about himself!"

He stepped closer to Morality, getting close to his face, though not quite touching him.

"Why do you always get to decide what Thomas does?! Who put you in charge?!"

Deceit didn't notice just how loud he was yelling or how much he was encroaching on Morality's personal space, but he was upset and holding back tears. In the moment, he just felt this blood rushing in his ears and tears prickling at the corners of his eyes.

And then Morality fell back, losing his balance when he tried to step away from Deceit.

And then Deceit felt someone roughly grab his shoulder and shove him away, making him fall to the ground as well. Surprised by the fall, it took Deceit a moment to realize it was Creativity who was standing over him with a glare.

"What's your problem, Deceit?!" Creativity yelled. "First you get Thomas in trouble, and now you hurt Morality?!"

Deceit wanted to correct him, say that he hadn't actually done anything to Morality, hadn't even meant for him to lose balance, but he found a sword pointing at his face, the blade only an inch in front of his nose.

"We're all sick and tired of you doing this stuff!" he continued. "We're sick and tired of you- you- you- you villain!"

That hurt. Creativity might as well have already hit him with his sword, because the pain was already making tears start to roll down his cheeks.

And then Creativity really did use his sword, using the flat side to hit his feet.

"Just leave already! Get out of here! Away from us!" the other side continued. "We don't want you here anymore!"

It took Deceit a few tries before he could stand back up. He was scared now, and his legs were shaking. Apparently, he took too long, because Creativity swiped his sword in a wide arc in front of him, only just barely avoiding touching him with its sharp edge.

And then Deceit was running, running back to his room and away from the others.

He would spend a few days in his room alone, crying, before he so much as opened his door. It would be even longer- a lot longer- before he would go anywhere near the other sides again.

And when he did, he found that his new role- the villain- would suit him just fine.

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