C.W. Big sad times, crying, swearing.
I wouldn't listen to the song before the fic...
~~~
Logan stood in front of the mirror and adjusted his tie for what felt like the millionth time that morning. He sighed and reached to do it again, but stopped himself when his door opened, revealing a very upset Patton.
"Patton," Logan said, voice laced with empathy. He held out his arms for Patton to go to, and Patton did, immediately wrapping his arms around his boyfriend.
"I'm not ready, Lo. I don't want to," Patton sobbed into his shoulder.
"I know, Patton, I know. It's not our choice, though. We knew this would happen eventually."
"But not so soon! I'm not ready yet."
Logan held Patton to provide all of the consolation he could, but he knew Patton would not be eased. Logan led him through the sea of boxes littered around his room to get to his bed, lying down and letting Patton curl onto his chest. Still faintly crying, but somewhat calmer, Patton became very tired and cuddled further into Logan. All Logan could do was run his fingers through Patton's hair and hold him.
Not much later, Virgil peeked around the doorway, seeing Logan and Patton on the bed cuddled up to each other. Worried about disturbing them, he started backing away, but Logan opened his eyes before he could escape.
Logan took a moment to take in Virgil's appearance. His eyeshadow was smudged from crying and he looked completely worn down. Logan barely had to think before he offered, "Virgil, would you like to join us?"
Virgil nodded and lay down on the side of Logan that Patton wasn't occupying. Logan let go of Patton with one arm and lay his hand out out for Virgil to take. Virgil's free arm went over Patton and Logan, letting Patton know he was there.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Logan asked, feeling Virgil shake his head. He kissed Logan's temple and tucked his head into the crook of Logan's neck.
"I'm just scared. I'll miss him."
"We will too, Virgil, but we'll have each other."
"You don't know that."
"I hope that. Isn't that enough?"
Rather than arguing back, Virgil submitted and sighed. He remembered going into Roman's room.
~~~
Roman was sitting at his desk, carding his fingers through his hair with no remorse.
"Roman? Are you okay?"
Roman growled. "No, Virgil, I'm not fucking okay!" he said, bringing his voice from a mutter to full shouting in a matter of seconds.
Virgil flinched back. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to see if you wanted comfort." Muttering, he added "or if you could comfort me."
"Virgil." Roman stood up and stalked over to Virgil, taking a firm grip on the door. "I don't have time for this. I need to stop Thomas before he makes the most stupid decision of his life! I don't need comfort, I need help."
"There's no point, we can't do anything to stop this."
"But I'm his creativity, there must be something I can do."
"Roman, I promise you there isn't. Now, will you calm down so I can spend the last day of my life with you?"
Roman scoffed. He paused for a moment, staring down at the ground, trying to find a reasonable way to respond. When he looked back up, fire burning in his eyes, a scowl plastered on his face, he was met with Virgil's terrified expression. Before he could change his mind, he slammed the door, almost hitting Virgil with it, who managed to jump out of the way in time. He locked the door and returned to his desk, feeling only a smither of guilt.
~~~
"Virgil? Hey, it's okay." Virgil was pulled out of his thoughts by Patton's calm voice and his hand on his cheek. Virgil had started crying again at the memory and not even realised it.
"I- Sorry. I- uh." Virgil didn't want to tell them about his argument so he just stayed quiet.
"No need to apologise, Virgil. We're in this together," Logan said, offering Virgil a gentle smile.
They all felt a tug. It was time.
Patton gasped and grabbed onto his boyfriends, starting to sob again. "I'm not ready, I'm not ready, I don't want to, I love you, please, please, please," he chanted, over and over again.
Logan held them both tighter, trying and failing to hold back his own tears. He didn't even dare look at them, knowing the second he saw either of them, he'd lose control entirely.
Virgil was frozen in terror, eyes wide and staring at Patton. His grip on Logan's hand was loosening and his arm around Patton had retracted his hold his own shirt.
They appeared in Thomas' living room in a similar state. Patton was gasping for air and still crying, holding himself as tight as he could. Logan was quickly wiping away his tears so Thomas didn't see. Virgil had managed to come to his senses and had his hands stuffed in his pockets, hood up and silently crying with his head down.
Roman was looking as bedraggled as he was when Virgil checked on him, but somehow worse. His eyes were red and he was breathing strangely.
Thomas was upset too. His eyes were bloodshot but he didn't seem to have been crying yet. He had decided that for the final Sanders Sides video, he would talk about his experience with the series and have some of his friends talk about their experiences and get all of the sides in one video.
"Are you guys ready to go or do you want a minute?" Thomas asked.
They all looked around at each other for a moment, no one moving. Virgil looked up at Patton, who was still freaking out, and made his way over to him, wrapping him in a hug. Patton clung to Virgil for dear life, desperate to have any sort of comfort. Virgil gently shushed him and whispered consolations in his ear.
Logan glanced at Roman, seeing the longing expression on his face while looking at Virgil.
"Roman?" When Roman looked up at him, Logan held is arms out, but he shook his head. He deserved to be alone in this moment. He deserved the isolation he felt from shouting at Virgil. He deserved to be alone in his last moments from not managing to stop Thomas from ending the series.
After several minutes of the only sound being Patton's muffled cries and occasional sniffs from the others, Virgil whispered something to Patton. Patton nodded and Virgil turned to Thomas.
"You can start the video. Patton wants me to stay."
"If you're sure-" Thomas paused for confirmation and then continued- "then let's get this done."
He turned the camera on and started the video a lot more downbeat than usual.
"What is up everybody. Welcome to the last Sanders Sides episode ever. I, as much as you amazing viewers, don't want this to end. The Sanders Sides series has been going on for 10 years now, and today, on the anniversary, I would like you all to think back to the earliest episodes. It feels like so long ago that it was just me, standing in my living room, talking to myself, to make a video that was 10 minutes long at the most. But today it is so much more. It has created a community of incredible individuals that have completely changed my life. If it weren't for you, I might not be standing here today, delivering this video.
"You are all so talented with the thousands of pages of fanart and comics, millions of words of fanfiction, months worth of edits, thousands of cosplays and so much more. Even people who didn't do any of those things and watched the days worth of videos over and over again and bought the merch and followed the social medias, you are just as important and valued.
"We have made a community of people, 8 million strong, that are accepting and kind and valid and validating. I'm so thankful to have even been able to be a tiny part in this world that we have build together."
Thomas went on, giving a history of the series and sharing some funny videos and pictures along the way. Patton had managed to calm down again and Virgil returned to his space, continually checking up on him.
Soon enough, it was time for the sides to give their closing statements, starting with Logan.
"Firstly, I'd like to thank the viewers for being so attentive when I teach you things. You are all incredibly intelligent and I hope you will carry on learning as you grow and apply the knowledge to somewhere that allows you to make a difference to this world, no matter how significant. I'd also like to thank Thomas and all of his friends for even allowing me the opportunity to teach you all and for creating the series. Finally, I'd like to thank my fellow sides for making Sanders Sides an experience I will remember forever. Though we had our ups and downs, you have all made an incredible impact on my life and I will never forget you."
The others had to use all of their willpower not to run up and wrap Logan in a hug. They were all moved by the power of his words and the poeticness of it all.
The camera moved to Virgil, who cleared his throat. "I won't speak for as long but thank you to everyone, sides and viewers, for accepting me as a light side. It means a lot to me and I'll miss you all so much."
Roman's turn was much more personal. "I probably shouldn't be doing this on camera, but we can cut it out if need be. Virgil?"
Virgil looked up at Roman, the first time he had since the argument.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier. I don't know what came over me but I was acting incredibly foolishly and I feel awfully guilty. Our relationship has been interesting and crazy and I hope I have redeemed myself from when I hated you before. You mean so much to me, and so do all of you." Roman turned back to the camera, but subtly slipped his hand into Virgil's.
"You helped me combat a lot of my issues and I am so grateful for that. I hope I have taught you all to be brave and to face your fears head on whenever you encounter them. And Thomas. Good luck with that boyfriend."
Thomas blushed and chuckled, "Thank you, Roman."
As the camera turned to Patton, he wiped his eyes and sniffled for a while.
"I- I don't really know what to say." His voice was hoarse from all of the crying. "Thank you all for everything you've done for us. It's lovely to see you all supporting each other and I hope I've been a fitting internet father for those of you who wanted one."
The jokes fell flat when passed through Patton's pained smile. "Thank you to my other sides..." He glanced around at them, feeling his eyes sting. "You all mean so much to me. The journey we've been on together has been amazing and I couldn't wish for better boyfriends."
Everyone froze at the confession. The viewers had gone the whole series without finding out about their relationship.
"Sorry, I had to tell them," Patton said with a weak smile. None of the others seemed upset at all so Patton felt very little guilt.
Thomas smiled fore turning the camera back on himself to give his closing statement. "Well, and with that-"
"-wait, what about the dark sides?" Virgil asked.
"They did theirs earlier. I figured you guys would want to be alone when we did this."
"Touché."
Thomas continued his speech. "-we have to say a final goodbye. No matter what you're doing next, whether you stay in this fandom or move on to another one, I love you. Keep drawing, writing, editing, cosplaying and any other wonderful thing you do within our community. For the last time, take it easy guys, gals and non-binary pals. Peace out."
As soon as Thomas turned the camera off, all of the sides ran into the middle to embrace, sharing kisses and kind, comforting words. Joan pulled out their phone to record their final moments, but Thomas gently pushed their arms down.
"This is for them."
Slowly, the sides faded, saying "goodbyes" and "I love you all"'s. Thomas and Joan watched as their creations, their friends, dispersed into non-existence.
~~~
I guess I should write a closing statement too...
This book (though it lasted much longer than it should have) has been such an incredible experience for me. At the time of writing this, this is my most popular book and I am beyond thankful for every comment, every vote and every read. 3K doesn't sound much to a lot of wattpad authors out there, but to me, that is absolutely massive.
I have had my moments of doubt, my writer's block, my lack of motivation with this book. I've watched as the days slipped away, from panicking at being one day behind, to not posting in weeks. Now, in this moment, I am so proud of us. I say 'us' because every single time I get a notification that someone has voted or left a comment on my story, my heart fills. You all mean so so so much to me.
Thank you all for coming with me on this journey, but now, I must leave you. Goodbye.
(Cheeky promo: if you like my stuff, I'd recommend reading my Sanders Sides One Shots book as I'll be continuing writing over there (EchoInFadingLight))