Chapter 6:

Roman had started pacing his office.

Logan and Patton had long since left his realm, taking the real Virgil with them, but the princely side's mind was still uneasy. He had to figure out what to do. Virgil was going to find out. Especially since Roman learned just how often the anxious side chose to come into his realm. But he couldn't just delete the Virgil copy. He'd never be the one to permanently destroy any of his creations. No matter who or what they were. He'd never even permanently destroyed the dragon witch since in all honesty, the thing wasn't a real threat to him. Roman had made the dragon witch as a villainous character but the creature wasn't trying to actually kill him or destroy his realm. It was all just in good fun.

The prince's mind went back to the hall earlier when Logan had punched him. The overwhelming aura that formed around his copy of Virgil had formed and then vanished within seconds. It was stronger and darker than the dragon witch's, who was created to be the main villain in Roman's realm. He couldn't remember creating the copy with such an aura.

So where had it come from?

He had made the copy with the darkness he thought had fit the real Virgil and made it so the copy liked staying in the dark forest but he had been wrong. The real Virgil hated the forest. He preferred the large lush grassy fields.

But that aside, he had very few ideas on what to do about the copy. Which was new for the creative side. Removing him was out of the question. And he had formed enough so that the copy wasn't able to be changed. Maybe he could sit the copy down and explain everything to the copy and try to help him understand everything without telling the real Virgil.

But that aura made him uneasy…

It had appeared out of nowhere. So suddenly and with so much hidden strength that had surprised them all. The darkness had felt familiar but much more horrifying than it was before. It felt heavy and destructive. With all of that strength and energy, he was afraid that if he had made a wrong move, it wouldn't be Logan that that aura would be aimed at.

Which is why he had started pacing.

Maybe he could talk to Virgil, the real one, and explain that the anxious side shouldn't come into his realm anymore. Make up some reason for why it wasn't a good idea for Virgil to spend time in his realm. No. He couldn't do that to Virgil after finding out the side preferred to sit in his field to help calm himself down.

"Hey, baby."

Roman looked up from where he was staring at the bright red carpet that sprawled through the office and turned to look at the doorway where the Virgil copy stood. His eyes held a look that made the prince pause. It was hesitant and empty, almost untrusting.

"Yes, my love. Is something the matter?" Roman asked, trying to stay calm as he took a step toward the copy.

"Those two that were here earlier; why did they act like they knew me? And why did they get so upset with you when they saw me?" The copy asked, his voice cold and accusatory.

"Well, you see-" Roman started.

"And." The copy cut him off, his form not moving but suddenly reminded the prince of a snake readying itself to strike. "Why did they talk about doing something to get rid of me?"

The prince was speechless. His usually idea filled mind was blank with shock. He licked his lips in an effort to moisten his suddenly very dry mouth.

This was very very not good.

—-

An couple of hours or so after they had returned from Roman's room, Logan and Virgil sat at the table in the common area as Patton bustled around busily in the kitchen, putting together his infamous pasta for dinner. The anxious side glanced over to Romans door nervously.

"Does Roman know it's time for dinner?" He spoke up as Patton brought out the large bowl of pasta and set it on the table.

"Oh I'm sure he's just lost in the creative flow. We can all get like that sometimes. Getting lost in our own work." The fatherly side waved it off, taking a seat next to Logan. "Eat up, kiddo. Roman will come out when he gets hungry and we'll have a plate ready for him when he does."

Virgil nodded and turned his eyes down at his plate, serving himself his own pasta. He didn't notice the look that passed between two other sides at the table. For some reason, since they got back from the realm, Virgil had began to feel a very cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. It wasn't enough to really worry him but it definitely had caught his attention by how suddenly he had felt it. He ended up just brushing it off, feeling as if it wasn't too different from his usual anxious feelings.

"How about this?" The anxious side raised his head at Patton's words. "I'll head into his realm and check on him after dinner, how about that?"

It was clear that this made the anxious side feel a lot better. Virgil gave a nod and a small smile before lowering his head back down to look at his food. His shoulders were less tense now which gave the sign that he was better.

"So did you get to work on anything today, kiddo?" Patton asked, his paternal habits making themselves known as he went about serving both Logan and himself a portion of pasta.

"Not really…" the anxious side shrugged, sticking the fork in his pasta and beginning to spin the utensil in the noodles.

"Falsehood." Logan interjected, taking a sip of his coffee. "Virgil, you helped me with some of my notes today. I very much appreciated your input on finalizing more of the plans that Roman had sent me."

"Oh that's awesome, you two!"

"Yeah, I guess…" Virgil shrugged again.

Patton's large smile lessened slightly and he leaned forward against the table to look at Virgil. His supportive father mode kicking in. The side always knew exactly what to do to help Virgil feel better. Since Virgil had told them his name, he and Patton had developed a closer emotionally supportive relationship between them.

"You got some work done, helped Logan and got some relaxing done today. I think that's a pretty good day." Patton sent a curious glance to the logical side, as if asking permission. "And I know we're not supposed to do this until tomorrow because of our schedule but since today has been such a good day, how about we finish it off with a onesie movie night?"

Virgil seemed to perk up at Patton's words and his suggestion and Logan nodded in agreement. The sides always enjoyed movie nights. After they decided on a schedule of who got to pick the movie, the movie nights became even more enjoyable without the conflict of who got to pick the movie. Though after some time, Logan had suggested setting up a schedule of when to have the movie nights since it had started affecting how much work got done.

"That sounds nice." Virgil nodded.

"Well then how about we plan to meet in the living room in our onesies in an hour? Does that work?"

"I think that sounds perfect." Logan nodded, standing and picking up his now empty plate. "Virgil, do you suppose you could help me with cleaning up?"

"Oh Logan, you don't have to. I can handle it myself." Patton stood, attempting to stop the logical side.

"Nonsense. You made dinner. I'll clean up." The logical side shook his head, taking Virgils and Pattons empty plates and stepping into the kitchen. "Virgil, could you grab the leftover pasta as well for me?"

"Oh, sure!" The anxious side jumped up and, bringing the mostly empty large bowl of pasta, followed the logical side to the kitchen.

While he sat at the dining table, now alone since the other sides were in the kitchen, Patton sent a worried glance towards Romans bright red door, worry building more and more in his chest. Virgil was right. Roman was rarely ever late for dinner. In the past, all of the sides had been sure to show up at the dinner table on time for dinner, every night, even if they were hard at work doing their jobs. They usually fended for themselves for breakfast and lunch but Patton always made sure that they had a plentiful, nutritious dinner every night.

The fatherly side stood and headed toward Roman's room, giving a small knock on the red wood before letting himself in.