Chapter 3

"Hey Logan?"

The logical side looked up from his notes at Virgil, who was holding another one of his notebooks but with the look of concern on his tired eyes, it was clear that the information in the notebook was far from his attention. Logan raised a brow, gesturing for Virgil to hand him his notebook so he could use his fidget cube and keep his hands moving. The anxious side gave a grateful nod and began fidgeting with the small plastic cube as he spoke.

"Do you think Roman is ok?" he asked, glancing in the direction of the prince's door.

"I'm sure he's perfectly fine." Logan nodded and adjusted his glasses. "Patton let me know he was going to go check on him after breakfast. Surely, he'll know how to help Roman with anything that's taking up so much of his time. With Patton with him, Roman is in good hands."

"I'm sure he is. I'm just worried."

Logan nodded. It had become a habit for Virgil to confide in the logical side. While Logan couldn't exactly help with handling the more emotional concerns or the over imaginative possible life ending scenarios from the anxious side, he was able to help with adding logic to the constant dilemmas. While this was also the case when it came to Virgil confiding in Patton, Logan's more factual tone helped the anxious side with not feeling like Logan was judging him. Sure, Patton would never want Virgil to think he was judging him, it was still more of a possibility in the anxious side's head.

And while Logan helped Virgil with his nerves and anxious thoughts, Virgil helped him with more emotional stuff or at least, the romantic stuff. Sure the darker side wasn't a self proclaimed casanova like Roman was, but he still knew a bit more than Logan and that was enough since for the logical side, Virgil was a lot easier to handle than the prince. Of course, Patton was adorable and patient and very understanding when it came to emotional stuff with Logan since he didn't really understand much about emotions and somewhat prided himself on his more robotic mindset. But the logical side wanted to keep trying to help make Patton feel special and attempted to reciprocate the feelings in creative ways.

"Well we could always go and check for ourselves. Perhaps even offer our own help as well." Logan suggested, moving to organize his notebooks back in their spots in the drawers of his desk.

"Maybe. But what if they get upset? What if we get kicked out because we're not welcome and we end up ruining their progress? O..Or they're doing something secret and we'd ruin everything if we just showed up and found out their secret? Like how they didn't want us coming into Patton's room before Christmas because they were secretly working on those Christmas sweaters they were making for us. What if we upset them so much that they yell at us and kick us out and never speak to us again?" Virgil ranted, his eyes showing more and more panic as he fell deeper into his pit of self doubt.

"Virgil." Logan adjusted his glasses, his voice very to the point and factual as he caught the anxious side's attention. "If they didn't want us to help, Patton would've said something about having a surprise for us or something. He's not very good at keeping secrets when it comes to gifts for us. It's similar with Roman as well. He would've been dropping hints with every sentence the last few days."

"Y...yeah, that makes sense." The anxious side wrapped his arms around himself, still not fully convinced by Logan's words.

"I didn't notice any hints or excitement from either of them. Did you?"

"No. I don't think so."

"And another thing. If they did have something planned. From past experiences, they would be in Patton's room, not Roman's. Since Patton likes the more handmade form of surprises and doesn't often appreciate Roman's spontaneity when it comes to creating gifts."

"But what about the sweaters they made for everyone? Those had to have been made by Roman. I don't know if Patton would spend that much time making those sweaters for us." Virgil claimed, his self deprecating nature kicking in.

"I believe it was a partnership. Patton made the base of the sweaters while Roman added the extra details." Logan recalled, having asked Patton a similar question after receiving his sweater. "Those two can be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to teaming up."

As the anxious side began to chew on his bottom lip, Logan decided on another approach, knowing Virgil would still worry.

"If it helps, may I suggest another option?" Virgil looked up at Logan as he spoke. "If it worries you so much and yet you fear getting scolded for looking into your worries, I will step in and check on them myself. If it's a surprise planned for us, my reaction won't be any different if I were to discover it early. And I don't fear getting scolded by Patton or Roman. I'll step into Roman's room, check on them and return to you and let you know afterwards."

"No it's ok. I'll just-" Virgil started only to be cut off by the logical side.

"I am concerned as well. It would be no problem for me. You sit and listen to one of those audiobooks I got you. I'll return before you know it." Logan stood and gave a very small smile, he hoped it conveyed support, before turning and heading toward Roman's door.

—

And now he was lost. Logan hadn't been in Roman's realm often. He preferred his organized office over the nature-esk landscape of the Disney wonderland. It was too extravagant and wild in the logical side's opinion. He had started toward the castle as soon as he arrived but somehow got lost in the forest that surrounds the castle. Pushing past the idea that Patton could also be trapped in this forest, he made his way toward the direction he thought would lead to the castle.

Only to come back to the exact same spot he had been in before.

Letting out a huff of annoyance, Logan removed his glasses and began to clean them using his handy glass cleaning cloth, figuring the added clarity would at least provide some kind of assistance.

"You must be Logic."

Recognizing the voice, Logan turned to look at a blurry figure by the tree. What was Virgil doing here? He had left the anxious side back in the common room. Pulling on his glasses, he looked over the emo nightmare.

"Virgil?" No, this wasn't their favorite anxious side. It was a copy. A fake version.

Logan's intelligent eyes scanned over this version of Virgil, noting the small differences. While this was clearly a copy created by the creative side, it wasn't perfect. His eyebrows were perfectly shaped. While that was a trait for Romans face, it wasn't for Virgils, who had a small scar running over his eyebrow that left a sliver of skin that didn't grow hair. His bright purple hair was also shorter and neater, a trait of Roman but not of Virgil.

"That's me." the fake smiled. "You're here for Prince Roman, right? After Patton showed up, I figured there'd be others. Don't feel bad, no one else can walk through this forest without getting lost. I can lead you to the castle."

Oh Roman definitely had some explaining to do.

"That would be appreciated. Thank you."

The copy nodded before turning and walking back in the direction Logan supposed he had come from. A small hit to his pride that it was the opposite direction that the logical side thought he was supposed to go.

"What are you doing in the forest if Roman and Patton are in the castle?" Logan asked, following the copy cautiously through the root covered ground.

The fake Virgil hopped across some larger vines as if playing hopscotch. This definitely wasn't their Virgil.

"Prince Roman asked if I could leave him to speak privately with Patton so I decided I'd take a walk. I really love it here in the forest." The copy Virgil explained. "It's very peaceful."

"Really now?" Logan raised a brow at the fairly un-virgil-like answer but continued on behind him as he was led to the castle.

Before they had arrived, the Virgil copy sent a raven ahead of them, claiming it was to let Roman and Patton know of their arrival. Logan was curious of the nature behind using a raven and how exactly the raven would send the message but left it alone due to the fact that Roman had more than enough questions to answer.

The castle was glorious as always, but the logical side paid it no mind as he approached the drawbridge. Now that he had been led out of the forest, he picked up his pace, no longer needing the Virgil copy to lead him.

By the time he saw Roman and Patton standing in the hall, he unfortunately let his anger get the best of him. Paying no mind to the copy Virgil falling behind him as he picked up his pace, Logan grabbed Roman, who had realized he had arrived a few seconds too late, by the collar and delivered a hard punch to his cheek. Not waiting to give the creative side the chance to catch his balance, the logical side grabbed his collar again and held him up.

"Forgive me as rage is not an emotion I favor using, however, I am completely outraged not only by the fact that you deemed it appropriate to create a copy of one of us but you also were careless enough to let him wander throughout your realm." Logan hissed, the angry tone coming from the usually stoic side sounded alien to all present as Roman watched him with wide eyes.

Patton hesitated for a second before deciding that since he and the logical side were so close, that Logan would never be able to hurt him. This silent mantra echoed in his head as the morality side managed to find his voice and spoke up with a calm enough tone to dissuade the situation. Stepping forward, Patton set a hand on Logan's shoulder, gripping the tense muscle slightly.

"Let him go, Logan." The fatherly side prided himself silently on how Logan relaxed under his hand almost instantly at his words. "I already scolded him about what he's done. Neither of us have the right to get upset with what Roman does in his realm. But we are going to try to figure out what to do about this."

"Do you understand how disrespectful this is? What if Virgil found out? Do you have any idea how Virgil would act if he found out? Knowing him, he'd think we were trying to replace him." Logan spoke with his stoic tone once again but there were still hints of anger in his voice as he gave Roman a final shove as he let go of his collar, his words not unlike Patton's had been hours ago.

"Logic, if you're going to go shoving Prince Roman around, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." the Virgil copy growled, moving to stand between the still recovering Roman and Logan and Patton.

None of them had seen Virgil look threatening before. Of course there were times where Virgil had claimed that he had needed to be the bad guy in order for Thomas to listen to him but those taunting remarks and cautious words were nothing in comparison to this. Logan felt the fatherly side grab his hand as the logical side felt what he would guess was fear. This version of Virgil was dark. The circles under his eyes darkened and the whole of his being seemed to be surrounded by darkness that sucked up the surrounding light. This sudden change caused Logan to take a step back and move protectively in front of Patton, whose other hand had flown to his mouth in shock.

"I-It's alright, my love. Logan was just upset. I am at fault here." Roman said, setting a hand on the Virgil copy's shoulder, instantly calming the copy.

The change was as instant as flicking a switch and the darkness vanished as quickly as it had shown up, making them question if it was even present in the first place. Roman gave the Virgil copy a smile as he huffed, crossing his arms as a cute pout formed on his face.

Logan blinked. Patton squealed.

"Awwww you even got his little pouty face down!" Patton exclaimed, fangirling out as Logan rolled his eyes and adjusted his tie.

"Why, of course!" Roman beamed as the copy gave Patton a confused look. "It's one of my favorite faces my love makes."

Seeming to forget the confusion and acknowledging the attention the prince was giving him, the Virgil copy turned and wrapped his arms around Roman's waist, burying his face in the prince's chest. Roman smiled and wrapped his arms around him, the small bruise forming on his cheek pairing surprisingly well with the lovestruck look in his eyes.

"So what is your plan?" Logan asked, becoming impatient at the apparent inability to stay on the topic at hand.

Roman looked down at the purple head of hair resting on his chest, seeming to debate for a moment as he studied the kitten-esk look on the anxious copy's look before hardening his eyes and nodding to Logan.

"Love, I believe the fairies in the hollow invited us to come by for lunch today. I'll need to stay with Logan and Patton but the fairies would be insulted if neither of us went. Can you go without me and send them my apologies?" Roman asked, getting the copies attention.

The copy gave a worried look before glancing at Logan, clearly nervous about leaving his prince at the apparent mercy of this side that appeared fairly irritated and had already shown violence.

"Please, my love. Neither of them will hurt me. I'll be fine. The fairies said they had some new sweets recipes they want you to try." Roman coaxed.

The Virgil copy nodded, excitement flashing in his eyes before he leaned up and kissed the prince. He gave a loving smile as he pulled away and out of Roman's arms.

"Of course, baby. Don't work too hard. I'll need you later." the copy gave a smirk before leaving.

"I fear I may not have the vocabulary necessary to describe just how inappropriate that is." Logan sighed.