Chapter 2

The castle was even more beautiful and luxurious in person. Patton marveled at the beauty and craftsmanship from Roman that showed in each carefully crafted archway and wall. Of course, it wasn't Patton's first time in the castle but it still managed to take his breath away. A couple of fairies that were sunbathing by a pool of crystal blue water nearby waved at him and the fatherly side waved back excitedly as he crossed over the bridge and stood at the door.

"Good evening sir." A suit of shining armor stepped forward and approached Patton. "Welcome to the castle of Prince Roman. How may I be of assistance to you?"

"Oh! Hey there!" Patton smiled, brushing off his surprise at the sight of the clearly empty suit of armor speaking to him. "I'm here looking for Roman. I know he's been busy lately and figured I'd come by and help him out in any way I can! Do you know where I could find him?"

"Guests are brought to the throne room to speak with the prince. I will send word to him of your arrival and take you there!" The suit of armor spoke and performed a 180 degree turn before leading him down the halls towards the throne room.

The walk was fairly short and they arrived to a large set of wooden doors where the suit of armor stepped back and opened the door for the morality side to step through.

"Please wait here. I have sent for the prince and he will be with you shortly."

"Thank you." Patton said, smiling at the suit of armor one last time before turning to face where the throne would sit at the end of the room.

He gave a small confused frown at the sight.

Last time he was in Roman's castle, while granted was quite a while ago, he could remember the throne room only having one glamorous throne. Tall and golden with a scarlet red cushion on it and it sat dead center on the small stretch of floor that had a two step up and a long red rug that ran along the center of the room to the door.

This time was slightly different.

There were two thrones. One looked almost exactly like the original with it's golden trim and red cushion but it was smaller and sat next to another throne that had a dark wood finish and bright purple cushions. Patton stepped closer to the throne in curiosity. The throne looked very similar to something Virgil would have if he designed a throne, even if it was a bit more disney esk considering it was in Roman's realm.

"Hello."

Patton looked up in the direction of the voice and his eyes widened at the sight.

It was Virgil.

"Can I help you? Are you here to see Prince Roman?" Virgil asked, stepping forward, his eyes full of curiosity as he walked over to the darker throne, his throne, and sat down.

"Hey, kiddo." Patton found his voice, giving a fatherly smile as he stepped forward, slightly concerned by the lack of recognition in Virgil's eyes. "What are you doing here? I thought you would be looking over Logan's plan with him at least until dinner time."

"I'm sorry, who?"

"Logan? Logic? Wears glasses like me and neckties?" Patton asked, lost as to what was going on. "Kiddo? Don't you know who Logan is? Do you know who I am?"

"I'm sorry. I don't. I've lived here all my life and I've never met you or Logic before." Virgil said, moving to sit sideways on his throne as he watched the morality side look at him with pleading eyes.

'Well that doesn't make sense!' Patton thought as he pondered. He knew the look on his self proclaimed son's face. He wasn't lying. He truly thought that what he was saying was true. 'I just saw him this morning. He was having breakfast with me, Logan and Roman.'

Taking a moment to look over the anxious side, he noticed something he hadn't before. This wasn't the same Virgil he had seen this morning. As he looked over the boy, shock slowly grew over Patton's face, realization setting in.

This wasn't their Virgil.

He wore the same outfit with his purple patched hoodie and looked exactly like their Virgil except for some slight differences. This Virgil was slightly tanner and didn't look as tired with slightly less darkness to the circles under his eyes. His hair still had the vibrant purple hue to it that the original Virgil had when he first dyed his hair. Of course, the original's hair had faded and was in need of a redye by now but Patton was slightly grateful since it made it easier to see this wasn't the real version of his dark strange self-proclaimed son.

"Patton?"

He turned to see Roman, standing by the main doors and staring at Patton in shock. The prince wore a look on his face of fear and nervousness as his hands clenched and unclenched anxiously. The fatherly side starred with a blank look Roman walked toward him, his pace as if he was approaching a lion. Earning his character, Patton crossed his arms, giving off a very 'disappointed father' feeling.

"Hey, baby!" Patton took note that the copy Virgil's voice was slightly smoother, less gruff from lack of sleep, as he called to Roman and sat up with a large smile on his lips.

The pieces finally fell into place as Patton noticed the look of complete and utter adoration on this Virgil's face as he smiled very cutely (a look rarely seen at this level on the real Virgil's face) towards the prince who had stopped and stood beside Patton.

"Hello, my love." Roman said, feigning the look of relaxation and seemed to be trying to avoid looking at the fatherly side beside him. "Do you think you could give us a second? There are some things Patton and I need to discuss."

"Alright." the copy Virgil nodded and stood, practically bouncing over to the prince and planting a quick kiss on his lips before sending the two sides another smile and leaving the room.

Roman was hesitant to look at Patton but when he finally did look at the dad, he held a look of several different emotions.

"Patton, I…"

"Just one second, Roman. Let me try to figure this out." Patton said, crossing his arms, slipping into serious dad mode. "You went and made a copy of Virgil in your realm that is clearly very much in love with you when you could have just confessed your feelings to the real Virgil. This is very inappropriate and wrong. Why? What could possess you to do something like this?"

His voice was almost pleading towards the end as his hands flailed. As the dad was just so lost and confused that he was surprised by this information flooding out of his own mouth.

"I created this version of Virgil not long ago." Roman said, his voice coming out more calm than he felt as his heart raced. "He was created as soon as I realized my feelings for him. Discovering my feelings, I began to fear the… the possibility of rejection and in order to deal with that fear of rejection, I created this form of Virgil, who loves me. Please, Patton, you can't tell him. You can't tell anyone."

"Roman, this isn't ok. What if the real Virgil finds out and ends up thinking we're trying to replace him? That we don't love him anymore because of this copy you made that clearly adores you?"

"I would never let Virgil find out!" Roman exclaimed, holding a hand to his check in princely offense.

"Let's hope he never does. This would hurt him so much…" Patton crossed his arms.