Chapter Text
Thomas was having yet another pleasant dream, courtesy of Roman. He was up on a stage while the audience was cheering and clapping and throwing roses at him. He had just performed another great show, and now he was basking in the applause.
A sudden clap of thunder startled him, and the stage began to crack and collapse. Thomas scrambled to the side, trying to flee, but something grabbed him around his middle and pulled him back. Looking down, he yelped when he saw it was a bright green tentacle. He was pulled closer to the crack and then spun around.
Bright green eyes glared at Thomas, and he saw it was Remus. The tentacle was part of a swarm, and they had sprouted from Remus’s back.
“Do you know how long it took me to get into your dreams?” Remus growled, his voice loud and demonic much like Virgil’s got sometimes. “This is my brother’s realm! And now it’s time to leave...”
He swung his morning star, and the scene cracked and shattered like glass, plunging them into darkness. Remus let Thomas go, and his tentacles slithered back within him.
“Wh-what’s going on?” Thomas asked. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here,” Remus tapped his nails against his weapon, “because of you. You haven’t been lying lately, have you Thomas? Trying to be a good little boy for your Daddy Patton? And you have no idea what the consequences are, do you?”
“Uh...” Thomas searched for an answer. “It makes me feel better because I’m honest?”
“YOU IDIOT!”
Thomas stumbled back as Remus roared. Shadows began to swirl around him, and a wind blew between them. Thomas had thought Remus was scary before, but now he was terrifying. He grabbed Thomas by the front of his shirt and lifted him into the air.
“The phrase ‘Use it or lose it’ doesn’t just apply to your dick!” Remus continued. “What do you think happens when you don’t use us as often as you should? We fade! We die! And then your mind is thrown into chaos because you broke the balance!”
“The balance?” Thomas repeated, gripping Remus’s wrists in panic. “What... no one told me about a balance.”
“Of course not,” Remus said. “Those goody two shoe sides are so determined to keep us locked away that they don’t even realize there’s a balance to keep! And right now poor Dee is... actually, why don’t I show you and really drive the message home?”
He dropped Thomas into the darkness, and Thomas screamed as he was swallowed by the shadows. He felt like he was suffocating, unable to breathe or see or hear, and then it suddenly lifted as he fell into a familiar living room. Thomas gasped for air as he looked around. It was just like the place where he talked to his other sides, but it looked so much darker and felt colder.
“Welcome to our home,” Remus appeared next to him. “This is where our little group stays in your mind. Lovely, isn’t it?”
“It’s... so cold,” Thomas shivered as he wrapped his arms around himself.
“You get used to it,” Remus deadpanned. “Except for Dee. Poor thing is cold blooded. You never wondered why he wears so many more layers compared to the other sides? And Virgil’s hoodie wasn’t always just something for him to hide in.”
His eyes had calmed from bright green back to the dark color they usually were, but Thomas could tell he was still upset. He was confused over what was going on, but from what Remus had said something was wrong with Deceit.
“Follow me,” Remus lead him up the stairs. There were a few doors that had been sealed off with planks of wood, and the windows were all heavily curtained. Remus took Thomas to an ornate black and yellow door.
“Go in,” Remus folded his arms. “Go in and see what you did.”
Thomas gulped nervously, slowly reaching out for the door handle. It creaked loudly as he turned it, and the door creaked even more as he opened it. Something in the back of his mind said the door should not sound like that.
The room inside was messy and covered in dust and cobwebs. Deceit’s hat was lying on the floor and his cape was hanging off a nearby desk chair. Thomas stepped inside, feeling that something was very very wrong, and he noticed the lump under the blankets of the bed.
Thomas stepped closer and had to stifle another scream. Deceit was lying so still that Thomas would have thought him dead if Remus hadn’t already said he was still alive. He looked deathly pale with dark rings around his eyes, his scales were flaking, and dried blood had crusted around his mouth.
Deceit’s eyes suddenly opened, and Thomas could see they were both milky white. Deciet stuck out his forked tongue as he struggled to sit up, but all he managed to do was flop onto his side.
“Who’sssssss there?” Deceit hissed. His voice was a strained whisper. “Thomasssss? I ssssssmell him. But he abandoned usssssss...”
Deceit weakly rolled back over, pulling the blankets back up. Thomas saw how thin his wrists and arms were, and his guilt only increased.
“Liesssss,” said Deceit. “Trickssssss. Thomassssss issssssn’t here. He would never come to ussssss.”
Thomas covered his mouth again as his breathing became erratic. He couldn’t watch anymore of this. He couldn’t stand to see Deceit like this. He couldn’t... he couldn’t...
Thomas rushed from the room and down the hall, needing to get out of there. He tried to wake himself up, but a tentacle once again grabbed him and held him in place.
“Don’t go running off now,” Remus said as he descended the stairs. “Aren’t you proud? You’ve been so honest lately. Such a good boy for your other Sides. I bet you didn’t think about poor Dee at all, did you?”
“I didn’t...” Thomas tried to control his breathing, feeling tears well up in his eyes. “I didn’t know. I didn’t know I was hurting him. I just...”
“You just... didn’t care,” said Remus. “You only thought about what Patton was telling you. You never once thought to consult Dee. You never once thought of him as a part of you, did you? You think he’s some parasite. You think we’re both parasites, but you created us. We’re here because of you. Did you never think there was a reason for that? Why would your brain create something that wants to hurt you? We don’t. We never did.”
The tentacle let Thomas go when he was breathing calmer. He wiped the tears from his eyes, at a loss for words. He was no expert on himself, and he had relied on his other Sides for guidance. They had always expressed their distaste for the Dark Sides, but... Virgil had been one. And Thomas had seen the good in him. Had he really been so blind to not think that there was good in the others too?
“How do I help him?” Thomas asked. “I don’t... I don’t want him to die. Or fade. You’re right, he’s here for a reason and it’s not to hurt me. I just... I never took a moment to think about that.”
“Well...” Remus smirked. “I hope you enjoyed riding that high horse of yours because now it’s time to dismount and cut the legs off at the knees. You’re going to have to lie. A lot. You’re going to have to lie that sweet ass of yours off until you grind your pelvis into dust. It’s the only way to save Dee now.”
“I have to lie?” Thomas asked. “That’s it? Well... that doesn’t sound so hard.”
“Oh it will be,” Remus said. “Because you’re going to have to fight your Daddy about it every single time. Any lie will help, but the bigger and more emotional the lie, the better. So get to lying, Thomas. The clock is ticking. And if you let Dee die... I will make you think thoughts so horrifying that no shrink on this earth will be able to help you.” His eyes once again glowed green as his voice sunk into it’s demonic echo. “Tick tock, Thomas...”
He swung his morning star into the floor, causing it to shatter. Thomas once again fell into the crushing darkness.