The Light Sides all gasped simultaneously as they rose up in Thomas's imagination. Instead of the usual sunshine and rainbows, the imagination was almost completely empty. There was nothing here except a flat gray plain with completely normal laws of physics.
"This is... unexpected," Logan said quietly. He couldn't think of any words to describe what he was seeing- well, any real words. The imagination was... kerfluffajigged and shnogabup and blad.
"I don't see Princey anywhere," Patton whined. The fatherly facet worried that his creative son may have already been corrupted and he'd never see the poor kiddo again. No! That can't happen! If we lose Roman, Thomas will never be able to be an actor- and then he may never be happy! Patton was about to panic from all his rushing thoughts when Balance interrupted them.
"That's because we're not creative enough to see everything here and the Imagination isn't currently strong enough for everyone to see it without help." Balance closed his eyes and sighed. He started to glow as the Imagination started to appear around the Sides.
Virgil nearly jumped out of his skin. Too bright, he thought, how could anyone put up with this? All the colors and noise- is that a pink flying whale with three eyes and a snake tail?
"What is it, Virgil?" asked Logan.
"Everything is so bright and bouncy!" Virgil replied, squeezing his eyes shut and grabbing handfuls of hair.
"What do you mean? It's just a flat grey plain," Logan protested, confused. He couldn't see anything special, bright or bouncy.
Virgil looked at Logan sharply. "What do you mean?" he asked incredulously.
"Logan can't see what you and Patton see because each of you have at least some kind of imagination, so you can at least comprehend what is happening around you. We'll just have to hold his hand and hope he doesn't trip," Balance explained, grabbing Logan's hand.
Logan made a face that looked like he'd just bitten into a lemon.
Patton snapped a picture of said face with his phone and giggled.
...
After some time walking through the imagination, and Logan falling over a dozen times, the Sides stopped a few meters away from a cave with purple smoke print out from the entrance.
"Are we there yet?" Patton asked.
"For the last time, Patton, n- oh, yes, this is it," Balance replied irritably.
"What? Where?" Logan still couldn't see anything.
"It's a cave," grumbled Virgil, tired of Logan not knowing everything.
"So... how are we going to get Princey?" Patton looked at Balance the way he usually looked at Logan for answers.
"I assume we just walk in here and hope for the best. No one really came up with a plan, we just decided to get here as fast as we could; I'll admit, it wasn't very smart for us to leave the swords behind," Balance mused, stroking his chin thoughtfully.
"This is a horrible plan," Virgil grumbled.
"Well, Virge, if you don't want to help then you can just wait outside," offered Balance. Virgil didn't know if his friend was joking or not.
"No, I was just-" Virgil sighed. I can't back out now- what would Logan and Patton think? "Let's go, I guess..."
The inside of the Dragon Witch's cave was almost pitch black, save the occasional gold coin or bioluminescent mold. As soon as the Sides walked in, the opening they had just come through closed with a bang. Everyone except Logan flinched, Virgil jumping several feet into the air.
"What was that?!" Patton yelped, beginning to hyperventilate.
Balance sighed. "This is not going to end well."
"What happened?" asked Logan, not nearly as afraid as he probably should have been; because at that very moment, the Dragon Witch appeared in a puff of smoke.
In a voice as smooth as silk yet sarcastic as a thousand of Virgil's lines, she drawled, "It's good to see you again, Ba-" The Dragon Witch started coughing vigorously. "Darn stupid smoke! *cough* It's good to see you again, Balance."
"Good to see you too, DW," Balance replied, completely indifferent.
Suddenly, the Dragon Witch lunged at Balance, teeth bared. Balance rolled to the left, then jumped right back up and tackled the Dragon Witch to the ground.
Patton and Virgil flinched. Logan cast a questioning glance towards the other Sides, only to be ignored.
"Patton, let's go find Sir Sing-a-lot," Virgil whispered as Balance and the Dragon Witch continued to fight. "Logan, you stay here."
It had only been a few minutes since the father figure and the anxious aspect set out to find their fanciful friend, but Virgil was already starting to panic. What if I can't find him? What if he's already gone? What if the Dragon Witch catches up to us?
Patton was also worried that he'd never find the Prince, but he his his fears in an attempt to make Virgil feel less anxious. Together, the two Sides searched room after room, hallway after hallway. Not in here, not over there, not back that way.
Suddenly, an ear-splitting shriek echoed through the cave Patton and Virgil were in the process of searching.
"It came from there! C'mon, let's go!" Patton started to sprint down a hallway to the left.
"Wait, Patton,I thought it came from over there," Virgil said, pointing down the hallway to the right.
"What? No, it definitely came from over there," Patton argued, jerking his head to the left.
"Maybe it's a trick to stop us from finding Princey," Virgil mused, "Why don't you go left, and I'll go right?"
"I don't want to go alone..."
"Okay, maybe... How about we search each room in this hallway first?" Virgil may not have been good at solving problems, but he was always the best at delaying them.
Patton nodded and started to make his way down the hall, staring into each room for a few seconds before sighing and moving on. He was three fourths down the hall when he looked into yet another room, gasped, and yelled, "Virgil! I found him!" at the top of his lungs.
"Patton, that's too loud! The Dragon Witch-" a deafening roar rattled through the cavern- "...could hear us..." Virgil sighed. "Let's just get Princey and leave."
Patton rushed into the room holding the romanic side captive. Roman was tied to a chair in the center of the cave, seemingly unharmed (except for his ego). "Patton, get me out!" he whined.
"I'm trying," Patton replied desperately, tugging at the bonds holding the creative facet.
"Let me try," Virgil said, having entered the room only moments earlier. He skillfully untied the knot holding the prince in place. "Okay, let's go before the Dragon Witch comes."
"How did you do that?" Patton asked.
"I taught myself how to untie lots of knots out of the fear that I might one day be kidnapped," the anxious side admitted. He then walked to the doorway, only to jump back with a yelp.
"Eek! Dragon Witch," Patton and Roman shrieked simultaneously as the Dragon Witch stalked into the room, teeth bared and wings flared.
"Stand back," Roman said bravely, his voice steady, "I'll handle this."
"Roman, you can't handle the Dragon Witch without a sword! Even Balance and Logan couldn't defeat her," protested Virgil.
Roman simply winked and Virgil and, without warning, leapt at the Dragon Witch with all the strength he had left in his body from struggling against the ropes that had held him to a chair until a minute ago.
The Dragon Witch dodged left, spewing green fire at the spot where she saw her nemesis standing the instant before. She twisted to find the prince again, only to be met with a fierce kick to the jaw. Flinching, she swung her right claw at the annoying little creature who ruined her life in that one video and was then called a hero. The Dragon Witch smirked as her blow hit its mark.
Roman knew he would be hurt in this battle, but even he couldn't have imagined it would hurt this much- no, he could, he just couldn't let himself imagine it. If he did, he might not have the courage to face his enemy and the sides he cared about might be hurt... and it would be all his fault. The creative side poured the remaining amount of anger he felt into every blow he swung towards the Dragon Witch, some attacks successful, some only serving to sap his energy until Roman was exhausted. He was so drained, he didn't even notice when an unknown figure snuck up behind the Witch.
She had heard a sound behind her, but didn't think much of it- until she found herself on the ground, unable to move. How had that unimaginative little Light Side managed to defeat her? He couldn't even see anything.
"We need to leave. Now," Logan commanded, offering no explanation for his apparent ability to see what was happening.
Patton, Virgil and Roman, too shocked to say anything, silently followed the logical side. They sprinted through many tunnels, the scene around them starting to fade into a flat grey plain. Nevertheless, they continued until they reached the same area that Balance and the Dragon Witch had been fighting before Patton and Virgil left to find Creativity. Logan picked up Balance, passed out with a trickle of blood flowing from his temple, and rushed in front of the other Sides out the front of the cave- sinking out just as the Imagination faded completely.
"That was way too close for comfort," Roman stated as he rose up in Thomas's living room, rubbing his aching head.
"No kidding, Romano, you need to be more careful," added Anxiety.
"On the bright side, we survived," Patton offered, unsure of how to lighten the mood as he couldn't think of any relevant dad jokes to use.
"What should we do with Balance?" asked Logan, feeling uncertain of himself after almost being unable to help his fellow counterparts.
"What happened to Balance?" Thomas shrieked. All the sides jumped; they hadn't registered Thomas's presence.
"He fought a Dragon Witch," Logan replied.
Thomas gingerly walked up to Logan and placed a hand on Balance's forehead. Balance shifted slightly at the contact.
"Well, he's still alive at least," Thomas said, flinching at the tremor in his voice.
"No kidding. Hey, I can take care of Balance, if Patton helps," said Virgil, dragging his focus from the oh-so-fascinating carpet to the logical sides' face.
Patton nodded enthusiastically.
"I suppose it's settled, then," Logan replied, his confidence back. "When Balance wakes up, we should make a not to thank him for helping us."
A side of Balance's mouth twitched upwards.