Ashes to Ashes

I Destroyed Our Family

Enough was enough. Thomas couldn't take it anymore. He'd lost count of how many anxiety attacks he'd had in the past three days, he was sick of not being able to leave the house without doubting everything he did. He needed all of this to stop and if no one else was going to fix it he would.

"All of you please get out here now." he snapped, standing in his living room. Logan and Patton appeared at the same time, looking surprised at Thomas. Logan was the first to notice the cameras weren't set up and they weren't filming. Thomas looked around, noticing the absence of Roman and Virgil. "Roman!"

The fanciful side could hear Thomas calling him, tugging him to the outside world. He looked back to Virgil's door, leaning his head on it. "Look, we have to go. Please come out and talk to us." He said in barely a whisper before releasing his grip to the mindscape. He appeared in his normal spot, not smiling like normal, not rising up in his signature pose. "I'm here."

"Where's Virgil?" Thomas asked.

"I'm right here." Virgil said in a small voice. The others look to see him sitting far back on the stairs. His hood pulled over his head with his headphone tightly fixed to his ears. His bangs fell further into his eyes than normal and he was wearing over extensive amounts of black eye shadow.

"Virgil, kiddo?" Patton started but stopped as soon as Virgil turned in his direction, he sank.

"Look I'm sorry Thomas. I'll try to tone it down, alright? Can I go back to my room now?" The anxious trait shifted in place. Thomas shook his head in response.

"No, we're going to talk about this now."

"I don't feel like talking right now." Virgil hung his head lower.

"We need to talk about it."

"I said NO."

"Why?"

"B̸̕͜E̵̸̡̨C҉̵̨̛̕A͜͞͝U̕͡S͡Ȩ̷̸̶̕ ͟͜Í̴͞'̨͡Ḿ̡͢͟ ̨́҉A̶̛͟͠F̸̴R̡͟A҉̷͢Ì̧͟͡͠D̨̀͟͢!҉̷̨̧" Virgil shouted, his voice echos and deep. more demonic than anything else. He lifted his head, anger and sadness showing relevant on his face. Tears brimmed his eyes. The corner where he stood grew darker and his eyes glowed purple as the darkness started to spread out over the room. "I͝͠'̷͏̢̛͟V̶͢Ȩ̕͟͠҉ ̛̀̀͜͡Ŕ̕̕͝Ư̸͟͠҉I҉̨̛͞N̡͝E̵̡̡͠͠D̨̛͜͜ ̛͢҉̧̕E̴̵V͘͜͏̶̀È̷̵́͟R̨͠͡͝Y̢̧͞͡͠T͢͝͝͠Ḩ̸͢͜I͢͜͜͝͝Ǹ͟͢͢҉G̷̸̸͡!̸̷͠ ̸͏I͟͝ ̶͢M̷̴͘͡Ą̸̴̕͠D̕҉E͠ ̶ P̡҉̢͟A͢T̷́͘͝T̸͜O̷͟Ǹ̷̢̛̕ ̴̵͡H̷̸̛́Ą̀͏T̸̛͡͝͝E̸͟ ͠M̧̀͢͜E̴̢̨̕͜!̵͏͞ ̸̨̀́͢I̸̵ ́̕M̷̢̀A̢̡̨̨͠D̸E̕͏͡҉ ̶̡Ļ̢͟O͢͟G̨̀Á̵̡͟͝N̵̴͘̕͞ ̨̧̕L̴̢̛͜E̵À̴̵̛͝V͏E̶̡͟ ̸̨́͢͠M̢͢͡Ȩ́!̷҉̢͠ ͡I͢҉ ̢̕͞B́͜͜R̴̡̕O̸͡K͝É̵҉͠ ̕͝ R̢͡͝O͟͟͡M̶̀͟A̵̛͜͡͞N̵̡͢ ́'͡҉͟͞S̢̀̕͏ ̀͞͡͏̀H̵͏͘͜È̴̶̸͡A͜͡҉͏R̨̨͜T̸̡͘͢҉!̢̢͘ ̛́̕͝A̶̴͘͞N͡͞҉͜҉D͝͞ ͘͠I̢̧͜͞'̛͜͟͡M͏͠͏̵ ̶̧͞҉M̢͝͞À̢K̷͠I̷͟Ņ̛͜G̢̛̀͠ ́́͞Y̸̡͞O͜͏̷̛͜U͞ ́M̴̡̨͘͡Í͡S͞҉͘E̴̕͟͡R͢͝͠A҉̕͡B̀̕L̶̷̀͟͞É̷!̧̡"

The room grew more silent than it had ever been. Everyone stared with broken, hurt expressions. Watching as a tear fell from Virgil's eye. He quickly dabbed it away with his sleeve, making sure not to rub of his make up. "I҉̷̷̨ ̡̀͜Ḑ̸̡È̵̀S͏̧̛Ţ̵͘͜royed Our Family." he breathed as his voice returned to normal with the room. After more silence he let out a broken half-hearted laugh. "I guess you're all scared of me now?"

Patton left his spot, walking over to Virgil. He stopped and stood in front of the darker side. Virgil lowered his head, closing his eyes, ready for whatever they would all do to him. "Virgil?" Swiftly, Patton wrapped the other in his arms, pulling him as close as he could. Virgil was shocked to say the least. "I could never hate you, I love you so much." Patton whispered.

His voice broke and he started to cry on Virgil's shoulder. At the moment the dam broke and tears spilled from Virgil's eyes as he hugged Patton back. After a moment they pulled away. Virgil's make up was running, some was on Patton's shoulder. The father just smiled back.

"Virgil?" Logan stepped forward, this caused the anxious trait to stumble back a bit. Logically, Logan stopped his advancement. "I'm sorry for all of this. I shouldn't have been so careless in my actions, but none of this is consequence of your own actions." he tried to be more emotional in his words, though still coming off as intimidating to Virgil. "I... I still care about you and that won't change. I just hope that I can fix things between us for the sake of our friendship."

Virgil slightly smiled, nodding softly at Logan, who in turn, smiled back. Patton used the sleeves of his cardigan to wipe away the tears and make up from Virgil's face. After the make up was removed everyone could see evidence of the damage done to him. there were spots under his eyes where the skin had been rubbed away, scabs that started to form from the wounds caused by friction.

Virgil covered his face, talking through muffled sleeves. "Don't look at me please, I don't want you guys to see it." Roman smiled sweetly. He stepped forward and pulled Virgil's hands away, looking his straight in the eye. He didn't say anything, Virgil remained frozen for a moment.

Roman leaned forward and kissed the spots under Virgil's eyes. "All I see is the man I love." he whispered hugging Virgil tightly.

Thomas smiled, just watching the story unfold. 'Maybe I don't need to know everything that happened.' he thought to himself. He walked to the couch and sat down, pulling his legs up next to him, resting his head on the arm. 'As long as they are happy.'

He felt better, less anxious, more aware. Suddenly all those nights without sleep caught up to him. All the thoughts that plagued his head vanished. And he quickly fell into a state of wonderful dreams that he had missed for so long. Finally, he was able to rest.