Plagiarism

Ch. 22

A tug interrupted the "cheery" conversation Remus was engaged in with Virgil, and his feeling of dread intensified severely.

He rose up, lips already pressed into a thin line. He quietly noted how he had gotten used to rising up.

"Hey, Thomathy! What's up?" Remus asked, putting on his best smirk. Thomas frowned.

"I dunno."

"You...don't know?" Logan asked, causing Remus to jump. He hadn't realized Logan was summoned too.

"My thoughts have gotten kinda...scary lately." Thomas mumbled vaguely.

Remus cursed internally. He was trying his best to give Thomas good thoughts and bad ones (after all he couldn't just abandon his duty as Intrusive Thoughts entirely) but he guessed he wasn't putting enough good in there.

"A lot of blood, a lot of murder. And I know we talked about not paying them any mind, but there's nothing else. There's just too much." Thomas mumbled.

Virgil appeared, with Patton not too far behind. "Should we have a talk with Remus?" Logan asked.

"Remus knows better," Patton chimed in. "Personally, I think this is the work of Deceit."

Logan furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to disagree, but Patton gave him one look and Logan paled considerably.

"Deceit?" Virgil mumbled in confusion. "Why do you think so, Patton?"

"Think about it," Patton began. "Deceit is the leader of their little group of misfits. If one of them acts up, Deceit is almost always behind it."

"I..." Logan took a shaky breath, before steeling himself. "I have to agree with Patton. Deceit is most likely the culprit."

"Kiddo, I think it would be better for everyone if you just stopped lying entirely. That way, Deceit couldn't hurt you anymore!" Patton chirped.

Thomas furrowed his brow, and looked to Logan for confirmation.

Logan nodded, shaking slightly. "Yes, it would be better if you stopped lying altogether."

---

Virgil felt frozen. He wanted to say something. Anything.

---

"Hey little guy," Deceit had smiled at him. "What's your name?"

"V-V-Virgil," He replied, shaking like he was a leaf in the wind.

"Hey Virgil, I'm Deceit."

---

"I-I'm bad, Dee. I'm bad for Thomas. I'm Anxiety." Virgil murmured, staring at the floor. "I'm...dark."

"Well then, we can be dark together." Deceit chuckled, ruffling his hair. "We're the Dark Sides."

---

"Shhh, you're alright." Deceit whispered. "I'm going to teach you something okay, when you're anxious just try to do this if we're not there. Ready?"

Virgil nodded silently.

"Name five things you can see."

---

"Virgil, c'mon. We're family, remember? We're the dark sides." Deceit smiled weakly.

"Family?" Virgil had spat, shaking his head. "I am not part of your fucked up family, Deceit."