September 9th, 2019
Requested by lpsgaming
There are many rooms in the Mind Palace. Some bring about feelings of happiness and nostalgia, like Patton's. Others bring about feelings of anxiety and self doubt like Virgil's. Individual Sides' rooms typically pass on the feelings that the inhabiting Side is most know for being responsible for. However, there are other rooms in the Mind Palace that belong to no in particular Side.
One afternoon, Remus thought of a hilarious prank he could play on the Light Sides. He hadn't intended to get Virgil involved too, for the joke wouldn't work on him, but he overestimated the number of Sides in the room when he performed his trick.
This "trick" transported Patton, Logan, Roman, and Virgil to the room he liked to call the "playroom". The others referred to it as the Room of Nightmares.
Virgil blinked as he regained awareness of his surroundings, having felt himself be transported but uncertain of who had done it. He hadn't teleported himself and he was just sitting in the common room when everything started to swirl together.
There was a chill in the air and the room was dark around him. He closed his eyes and listened; if he let his other senses work for a bit, his vision would become accustomed to the dark. He could hear breathing somewhere close by which told him he wasn't alone. The sweet smell of cookies was wafting from his left and a more masculine scent was coming from his right. It only took him a moment to place the scents as the smell of Patton and Roman respectively; the moral Side had just been baking cookies and the prince never didn't have cologne or perfume on.
The only Side he wasn't sure about was Logan. He was going to have to listen or see him to be sure he was there too. Fortunately, when he opened his eyes again, the gloom of the room had lessened a bit to him and he could make out the outlines of the other three Sides as he looked around.
They were sitting up, looking around in a bit of a daze. "What happened?" Patton asked, confusion evident in his voice. "I don't remember teleporting anywhere."
"Neither do I," the logical Side agreed with a frown.
Roman looked himself up and down and then gasped. "I recognize the faint traces of my brother's magic," he huffed. "He must've teleported the three of us as a practical joke! I'll whoop his butt for this!"
"First of all, there's four of us," the anxious Side said, making them turn toward him in surprise. "Second of all, calm down Roman, I'm sure it's not a big deal."
As he finished speaking, the room around them seemed to change. A spotlight shone down on each of the Light Sides present, making each of them flinch.
Virgil frowned. No light had landed on him. It was odd in the Mind Palace for a room not to acknowledge all of its current inhabitants, unless it was specifically designed to not affect certain Sides...
"Oh wait," he muttered, eyes widening. "Oh, shit."
If the room wasn't acknowledging his presence, it had to be a room that only affected Light Sides. There were almost no rooms in the Mind Palace that strictly affected Light Sides that weren't negative. This had to have been Remus' intent if Roman was right about the Duke sending them here.
In front of each of the Light Sides, an image appeared. It was impossible for anyone other than the person directly in front of it to see and it was immersive to the point where they ignored their fellow Sides.
Virgil walked toward Logan, a worried frown on his face. The logical Side's breathing was unusually uneven and he was muttering to himself. "Logan? Are you okay?"
He received no response from him. The anxious Side hurried forward, looking over his shoulder to observe the image he was being shown. He saw Patton, Roman, Thomas, and himself. They were all laughing at him. His eyebrows furrowed together in confusion; what was so bad about the four of them laughing?
"I'm not a joke, I-I'm not a j-joke," he heard Logic say.
His eyes widened in realization. This had to be the Room of Nightmares. It showed the Light Sides their worst nightmares, but Dark Sides were immune to its effects.
Logan's worst nightmare was being seen as a joke by his friends and loved ones, whether he admitted he felt love or not.
Virgil gripped his shoulders and stepped in between him and the image, trying to free him from the room's hold. "Logan, listen to me," he said, receiving only a blank, glassy stare. He growls and focused his powers of influence into his voice, making it echo as he spoke in his tempest tongue. "Logan, you must listen!"
This made the logical Side jump and focus on him more clearly. He eased off of his tempest tongue as he continued. "You are not a joke to us," he said calmly. "You are the coolest Side in the whole Mind Palace because you're smart, organized, and determined to keep us all on the right track. Don't think for a second we don't take you seriously."
Logan blinked a few times as the words sunk in and he began to break away from the room's influence. "Wow... thank you, Virgil," he said, rubbing his forehead as though it hurt. "I appreciate your assistance."
"No problem, now get out of here while I help the others," he instructed, quirking a smirk.
He headed over to Patton next, heart racing in his chest upon the sight of the moral Side trembling. He had tears running down his cheeks. Virgil quickly moved behind him to view the image he was being shown. His throat closed off as it registered.
Patton's worst fear was losing his loved ones, hence why his nightmare vision was showing him his fellow Sides, Thomas, and Thomas' friends and family dead.
He thrust himself in front of the moral Side, frantic to spare him from the torture of seeing the horrid images. "Patton, take deep breaths, none of that is real," he said. The moral Side was trembling and shaking his head, unable to listen to his calming words. Virgil grabbed his hand and pressed it to his chest. "Patton, listen to me. I'm alive. You can feel my heartbeat. I'm okay. Everyone is okay."
"I can... I can feel your heart," he sighed with relief, beginning to calm down. He squeezed the anxious Side's hand as he looked up with still glossy eyes. "Thank you Virgil."
He nodded in understanding. "You're welcome, now go before the room takes you back under," he instructed. "Logan should be waiting."
Patton made his way toward the exit as he turned toward the final victim he needed to help. The prince was rigid as he stared at the images he was being shown. He could see the muscles of his arms tensed and his shoulder muscles were taught underneath his suit. "Roman?"
He flinched slightly but didn't turn toward him. Virgil wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing that he could hear him even through his daze.
He swirly walked toward him, looking over his shoulder to see what his nightmare was. He was surprised to see himself. Freezing in place, he stared at it in shock. What was he doing in Roman's worse nightmare?
That's when he heard his own voice. "Everyone hates you," the image of himself said with a look of disgust in his eyes as he turned away.
It shifted to Patton, who looked sad and disappointed. "You've disappointed me, Roman," he said without sympathy. "You're not the prince I thought you were."
"He's right, you lack all the qualities of a prince," the image continued as it changed to Logan. "You're not courageous, brave-"
The anxious Side had heard enough. He took his shoulder and turned him around to face him. Roman wasn't crying; he had a somber expression of defeat on his face, like he believed the words of the nightmare.
"Roman, you need to listen to me," he said. He pulled him to look him in the eye. Virgil's expression softened and he smiled a little. "No one hates you."
Realization dawned in the prince's eyes as the nightmare's influence began to crumble. He relaxed and seemed to snap out of the daze. "I'm okay," he said, looking himself over. "I'm okay..."
He looked toward the anxious Side who had stepped back with a slightly awkward expression as he shifted on his feet. "You rescued me, again," Roman said, smiling a little. "Thank you, Virgil. You are most certainly a hero."
"Th-Thanks," he replied. His face flushed a bit with embarrassment as the creative Side left the room.
He looked around the dark room and sighed under his breath. Doubt settled like a stone in his stomach. If he was a hero, why was it that he hadn't been subjected to the same torment the true Light Sides had been?
"Virgil? Are you coming?" Roman called from the door, making him turn in shock.
The three of them were waiting expectantly directly outside the doorway. They were waiting for him.
Relief washed over him and the doubt dissipated. He knew he'd never fully be able to shake the feeling of not belonging, but he wasn't going to let it hinder him anymore. Virgil smiled a bit as he headed for the door to follow his family.
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