"Umm, this isn't a room?" Patton said in confusion. He'd never been to where Balance resided before.

"Balance is very claustrophobic," Virgil replied confidently, "He made his home look like Dartmoor because walls make him think of when he was captured by the Dark Sides."

"Oh." Patton felt vaguely guilty that he brought up Balance's past.

"Really? I was under the impression that the reason why his room looked like Dartmoor was because he liked animals," Logan said, surprised.

Virgil was about to reply when a figure landed in front of them with a gust of wind. The Side was wearing a black shirt with blue and silver accents, and due to his posture, he stood a tiny bit taller than the other Sides.

"Balance!" Patton squealed, running into an invisible wall as he tried to hug the new Side.

Balance flinched. "It's good to see you too, Patton, but there's a reason why I keep a shield around me at all times," he said. His voice was a mixture of Logan's and Virgil's- slightly deeper than the other Sides' and completely devoid of emotion.

"Oh- why is that?" asked Patton.

"In case you try to hug me," replied Balance with a wry smile.

Virgil smiled- Balance was usually indifferent to any Sides he met, except Patton and Virgil. Despite the anxious side's edgy personality, he found it kind of cute how his friends Balance and Patton interacted. It really was too bad, how Roman and Logan made Patton stop visiting Balance when-

"Hey Virge, how've you been? Still wearing eyeshadow I see," said Balance with a wink.

Virgil flinched inwardly. "I'm fine, I guess," he said.

"Balance?" Logan interrupted.

"Yes?" Balance didn't even try to mask his anger at being interrupted.

"Have you seen Princey?"

"I haven't seen any of you since three years ago," Balance replied, eyes narrowed.

"Well, could you help us find him?"

"And why should I do that?"

"Because he's missing and we can't find him!"

"So?"

"Balance, please!" Patton whined, "I know you don't care about Princey, but- but you can't just leave him with the Dark Sides! You're the only one with access to the core. Only you can find him!"

Balance looked at Patton for a long while, seemingly indifferent. Then his eyes softened. "Fine..."

Virgil smiled. He knew that Balance wouldn't have helped them if Patton hadn't been there- Balance didn't believe in taking sides, and on top of that, he and Roman had a history of strongly disliking each other.

The Core, the room in the center of Thomas's mind, was very dark. Balance said that was because Princey wasn't doing his job, and Thomas had no hope or creativity to light up his core. In the middle of the room was a small rainbow cylinder.

"This should be able to find Princey, as long as he still exists," Balance murmured. The other Sides gaped as Balance tapped the top of the cylinder and many rectangular screens appeared around the group. Balance flicked his fingers and the screens started to move around the group counterclockwise in a circle. Every time a screen passed him, Balance studied it for a moment and then moved to the next one.

"How does it work?" whispered Patton, mesmerised by what he was seeing.

"Each screen shows a corner of Thomas's mind. I'm checking each one to see if Princey's there," replied Balance, staring a little longer at one screen. "The good news is, he's not in the shadow prison."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The shadow prison- where all the captured Light Sides go. Since sides can't die- unless Balance kills them- the Dark Sides needed a place to put the Light Sides that got in their way. It's heavily guarded. If Princey was there, I doubt even Balance could get him out, Virgil thought with a shiver, of course, there's a light prison too, but it's much less scary... probably because I've never been there.

Balance interrupted Virgil's train of thought with a cry of "There!" and a satisfied grin which he quickly covered up.

"He was kidnapped by a... Dragon Witch?" Logan queried, peering over Balance's shoulder.

"Dragon Witches are real?" said Virgil, remembering when Princey fought a Dragon Witch in the Valentine's Day Sanders Sides video.

"Yes and yes. The Dragon Witch from the Valentine's Day video survived and has been angry with Princey ever since."

"But how did it survive? I thought Roman stabbed it!" Patton said.

"She was stabbed in the spleen by a samurai sword. She's still alive because it makes a better plot than if she'd died, and this is Thomas's imagination. Literally anything can happen- the only thing is that, without Princey in the mind palace, Thomas's imagination is falling apart," explained Balance.

"Wait, doesn't that mean the Dragon Witch is going to die?" Virgil queried.

"Yep. She's not very smart," Balance replied, "But it also means that Princey could become corrupted, so you should probably go save him."

"Ok, bye, Balance," Logan said hurriedly, eager to get away.

"One more thing."

"Yes, Balance?" Logan asked tentatively.

"I'm coming with you. The imagination is falling apart already, so we can't risk you guys becoming corrupted. I can hold a small part of the imagination together for long enough for you to get Princey, but only if I'm there with you."

"... fine..." Logan groaned.

Thanks again for taking the time to read my fanfiction. It means a lot to me. Please review it if you have time- I'd love to hear your opinion, good or bad- but if you don't have time then that's fine too. Have a wonderful day. Or night. Or noon or dawn or dusk. Or any other time. Have a wonderful whatever time it is.