XXX Chapter 5: The Revelation

When he woke up that morning, Patton had never imagined that this would be what happened. Even after Remus showed up, and even after he started feeling worried, he hadn't considered that the situation would actually be this bad, and he doubted any of the others (with the possible exception of Remus) would have thought so either. Normally, even if one of them got hurt pretty badly, they also started to heal quickly, and if Deceit had been missing as long as he apparently had been, he really should have woken up even before he'd been found. Sure, he may have still been hurt after something like falling off of a cliff, but he should have been able to wake up and get help.

But he hadn't woken up, and he was still unconscious, and he was hurt so badly, and those cuts…

Falling off the cliff hadn't been an accident, had it?

Patton wasn't as naive as he seemed sometimes- he knew what those cuts were. And they were part of a picture that Patton hadn't wanted to have seen painted, but there it was in front of him: the court debacle, the wedding, Deceit locking himself away, behaving strangely, then disappearing, falling off a cliff at the edge of the imagination, and red cuts lining his wrist.

Maybe Deceit… hadn't wanted to wake up. Maybe, whatever the reason he wasn't healing as quickly as he should be, maybe it was intentional. Maybe Deceit, knowing they couldn't really die, had done something to delay his healing.

He didn't know. He didn't know, and that killed him because he wanted to help, but Logan had sent him away with the others, and even if Logan said it was for their sake, Patton knew that Logan was trying to protect him, too.

At least he could do something, though. While part of the reason he'd been sent away was almost definitely to protect him from seeing any more, the others really did need someone to hold them together for now. Remus, of course, was distraught. His friend was badly hurt, and he'd been worrying about him for who knew how long. He couldn't imagine what it was like to have something like this happen to your best friend, and clearly, not even Remus's propensity for the… darker side of things had prepared him for something like this. And both he and Roman had been the ones to find Deceit.

Even though Roman had been extremely hurt by Deceit and his manipulations during the trial, he knew that the princely side was still upset by all this. He and Deceit had always had a strange relationship- Roman ate up the man's praise like a puppy, and even though Deceit always seemed to be toying with him, Patton felt like it wasn't as simple as that. He could catch some genuine compliments thrown in when Deceit didn't think anyone else was around (which was more often than one might think, seeing as Deceit usually talked to Roman in 'secret').

And then there was Virgil, whose relationship with Deceit was even more turbulent than Roman's. He had the sense that Virgil and Deceit were close back when he was still a Dark Side, but now, they almost hated each other. Patton thought of it as 'almost' because, in addition to Virgil's clear distress about the situation, Patton could sense the hurt that came when either of them insulted the other. They still cared about each other, but whatever fight they had made them so angry and bitter that they still hadn't been able to put it behind them.

Patton… didn't really know how he himself felt, despite being the one who was supposed to be good with emotions. It wasn't that he didn't feel anything- he did, he was extremely worried- it was just… he hadn't really had much of a relationship with Deceit at all in quite a long time. They hadn't gotten along well when they were children, and as they grew older and the divide in the mind deepened, they had little reason or opportunity to talk to each other until Deceit starting appearing in Thomas's videos (and even then, he had only appeared in a few before he stopped showing up after the court debate). So, it wasn't that he wasn't worried or that he didn't care- it was just that he wasn't hit as hard by this as the others were.

And that's why he had to help them, even if comforting all three of them was going to be difficult.

"How about we all sit on the couch for now, okay Kiddos?" Patton suggested, gently encouraging each of them to sit down.

He started getting out a few blankets and wrapped the three with the thick cloth, reminding Virgil and Remus about the breathing exercises while he did so. He wasn't sure what to do for Roman because the man wasn't panicking. He'd been pretty blank-faced before, but now, he was just crying quietly. So, he gave the prince a firm squeeze of the shoulder before continuing his efforts.

"Why don't we watch something for a bit, hm?" Patton said gently as he picked up the remote. "Just… something else to focus on for now."

He could see Roman move his head to look at him, but he didn't say anything. So, Patton just clicked the television on and flipped the channel to a light-hearted cartoon. He didn't think it would do much, but maybe it would act as something for them to hold onto, something to pull them out of the fear and panic and numbness a bit. Or, he thought, maybe it could serve as a bit of a distraction to keep them from thinking about Deceit too much, even though he knew that was likely just wishful thinking.

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By the time Logan was finished treating all of Deceit's wounds, he could feel the stress of the situation weighing down on him. It had taken well over an hour to do what he could, and even though it wasn't exactly physically-taxing, he felt exhausted. He had to set the broken bones in Deceit's arm and wrist with a splint and wrap his chest (only as tightly as he dared) in case his rib really was broken (even though he couldn't tell for sure). The break in his ankle had been worse than he'd originally thought, and he hoped that he'd treated it correctly (thankfully, the fact that they were imaginary usually allowed them to bend the rules on medical treatment quite a bit). And he did, in fact, have to sew up the deep gash on the back of Deceit's head, as well as a few concerningly deep cuts on his arms.

Now, wrapped up in bandages, Deceit continued to lie still in the bed, and Logan felt so tired. He wasn't a doctor- none of them were- but he was the closest they had. Usually, his role as the mindscape's occasional healer wasn't too big of a problem because they didn't really get badly hurt very often, and even if they did, they would usually heal within a few hours. The worst injuries he'd dealt with before were from Roman's adventures, and none of them were as bad as all of this. Logan wasn't qualified to deal with something like this, but neither were the others, and they were in far more distress than he was. No one had said as much, but they were counting on Logan to help Deceit, and he didn't know if he succeeded.

And now, Logan was going to have to talk to everyone, tell them that Deceit still hadn't woken up, that he hadn't healed at all since they found him, that Deceit had very likely done this to himself. How was he supposed to do this?

He didn't know, but he had to do it anyway, and so, after as long a moment as he could take, he slowly left his bedroom and went to meet the others.

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Virgil had managed to calm down (as much as he could, anyway) a while ago, but all the worry and anxiety immediately flooded back as soon as Logan came into the room. The look on the logical side's face was enough to tell him that the situation wasn't good. And how could it be? Janus was hurt really bad, and it wasn't like Virgil liked him all that much now, but… well, they'd been close before. It was hard not to care in this sort of situation.

"… Is Dee okay?" Remus asked softly, his voice still scratchy with the tears that had only just dried.

"… I treated his wounds as best as I could, but…," Logan spoke, a hesitance that Virgil hated to hear threaded throughout it. "The situation is… less than ideal."

"Just stop beating around the bush, Glasses," Remus hissed, the bite missing.

Logan's shoulders drooped.

"Deceit was injured pretty badly, and as far as I can tell he isn't healing, or at least, nowhere near as fast as we usually do," Logan explained. "Hopefully that changes now that he's gotten treatment, but I can't guarantee it. He also hasn't woken up yet, and he didn't react at all, even when I had to sew up some injuries. And…"

Logan paused, and with every thump of his heartbeat during the deceptively brief silence, Virgil's mind came up with another worst-case scenario. What if Janus was dead already? Were they going to have to wait for him to reform? What if he broke his spine, and he was paralyzed? Would he want them to make him reform then? What if Janus's injuries never healed, and they never even knew why? What if Janus woke up, and he was in terrible pain? What if, what if, what if…

"I found something… rather upsetting while I was treating his other injuries," Logan continued. "There were wounds already present before Deceit fell."

"… What."

Virgil hadn't even realized he'd said anything until he felt Patton put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

What did that mean, what did that mean, what did that mean? Had Janus been attacked, maybe even pushed off of the cliff? By what? Did something in the Imagination go rogue?

Logan fidgeted with his tie and adjusted his glasses, going silent again.

"Lo, I can tell them if you can't," Patton offered gently.

Patton knew? Why did Patton know, when he'd been out here with them the entire time? How could he have the information Logan needed to share?

He looked conflicted, but after a minute of deliberation, Logan gave the fatherly side a short nod and sunk into the cushions of the couch, letting out a singular, long breath. Patton then took a breath in himself.

"Alright, Kiddos…," Patton started. "Logan found something while he was taking off Deceit's clothes, and I saw it when I went to give him the supplies. That's… That's part of why Logan asked me to take you all out here."

Virgil was staring at Patton in suspense, so he didn't know exactly how the others were reacting, but no one had interrupted yet.

Patton looked down at the floor, avoiding everyone's gazes. Even still, he didn't dance around the words any further.

"Deceit… He… He has cuts on his arms, and they… they look self-inflicted."

And with those words, Virgil felt himself freeze.

No.

No, no, no.

Deceit wouldn't do that. Janus wouldn't do that. Janus was strong and prideful and- wasn't he supposed to be a big part of self-preservation?! There was no way Janus would do something like that. It went against his core functions as a side.

"Tell me you're lying," Remus ordered flatly, his expression twisting into a demented smile that seemed far more familiar than the other expressions he had worn today.

"Remus, I can't-"

"TELL ME YOU'RE LYING!"

The darker side of Creativity stood as he yelled, quickly closing the distance between himself and Patton, only stopping once he was close enough to grab the man by the shirt. Patton flinched even before Remus screamed in his face:

"TELL ME!"

Virgil was too shocked to move, but luckily, Logan had already stood and was putting a hand on the enraged man's shoulder.

"He's not lying, Remus," Logan told him, voice sad but stern. "We both saw them. Now, we can't say that's what they were for certain considering how many injuries he has, but… there were scars, Remus, and the cuts were too straight and neat to be from the fall."

Remus started shaking his head, but he still released Patton.

"Remus…," Patton tried.

But Remus wasn't listening anymore, only shaking his head and backing up.

And then, suddenly, he spun around and punched the wall, breaking through the plaster with his fist.

"Remus!"

"FUCK! I should have known! I should- I should have known!"

"It's not your fault, Kiddo," Patton tried to reassure him. "People hide this kind of a thing more than you think, and I'm sure Deceit was even more secretive about it."

Then, Remus let out a loud, bitter laugh.

"Except he wasn't!" he argued, pulling his hair again. "I fucking told you, I knew he was acting weird! Dee- Dee always liked privacy, but he didn't leave his room for weeks! And I didn't do anything! And- And when he started coming back out, I thought he was okay again, but he was still acting weird, and I should have known!"

He growled, pulling harder, and Virgil just kept sitting on the couch. He didn't know what to do, about any of this- not what they'd been told, and not Remus's reaction. Was there really anything he could do? Janus had already hurt himself, and now, he wasn't even conscious, and he hadn't done anything except panic about it. And Remus hated him now, and outside of this situation, Virgil still hated him too (did he?). Even if he intervened here, would he just end up making things worse?

What was he supposed to do?

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