Sanders Sides BROTP One-Shots

The Pain of Assignment (Rewritten)

-----Important Author's Note-----

No one specifically asked for this rewrite, but I feel that I have greatly improved in my writing since the original was uploaded. I have gone back and read the previous version and felt as if I skimmed over some rather important points. Since it is my most popular one-shot, I wanted to rewrite it with the love and detail it deserves!

 It is also important to note that any of the activities or scenes left out from the original ARE CANON TO THE REWRITE!!!

Hope you enjoy!

-----

Traits were never born with their hosts, instead they were assigned. When a child was brought into the world, a unique combination of four main aspects was appointed to them for the entirety of their lives, creating each individual's personality. The passing of the host however would return the facets to the Astral Plane where they would wait for reassignment, and the cycle would repeat.

The sides themselves were immortal, but the longer they lived the darker they became, and as time went by, they would develop a much harsher outlook on life. All of the personifications knew the quote, "You either die a hero, or live long enough to watch yourself become the villain," which summed up the aging process of a trait surprisingly well, even though their immortality made it impossible for them to die. Unfortunately, that meant they would all eventually become "the villain," so to speak. Using that order, it made sense that morality was the youngest phase, which started when an aspect turned twenty-one, followed closely by creativity. The creative stage started after a facet had had three hosts, and they would remain that way until the eighth human they were a part of passed on. Then once they became logical they were required to have another ten hosts before they would fall into the inevitable darkness that each would become. That was the final, longest, and worst part of their immortal lives, when they finally became a negative character, overall disgusted with life.

There was one way to prevent such a fate, but it was an honor that was rarely bestowed upon any to say the least. Some of the alignments of the moral, creative, logical, and negative sides worked better together that most others and that would result in a particularly fulfilling and selfless life for the human they were a part of. This allowed the embodiments to be granted the gift of Elysium by the Council of the Astral Plane, and when the traits reached the perfect haven that was Elysium, their aging process would come to a halt, and they would be permitted to live the rest of eternity in peace.

If the four manifestations failed, when the person passed on, their soul would go to the Fields of Asphodel, and the aspects would simply be paired off in a different alignment, and they would be assigned to another child. They would be given a way to remember the one they had lost however, a symbolic mark comprised of elements that had been instrumental in the life of, or important to the human they would never see again. The more the host had meant to them, the closer the resting place of this mark would be to the heart, sometimes seeming like an open wound as it reminded them of the grief they felt.

Patton, Roman, Logan, and Virgil had grown particularly close not only to their host Thomas, who had been one of the few people to ever be aware of his attributes, but to one another as well, considering the other three to be family, which was uncommon among most facets. It was interesting that the online personality had used the videos he made to help them come to a better understanding with one another without knowing about what would happen to any of them later down the line. Not only that, but the same videos influenced him, his followers, and those around him to be better people and make the world a better place.

Days, months, and years passed in a blur, and before they could process all that had happened, one-by-one, the sides came to the heartbreaking conclusion that the time they had left with Thomas was limited. Eventually he was hospitalized, and each of them struggled with the knowledge that he would never return home, and the traits themselves would be soon be separated, with great odds of never seeing one another again. The thought caused emotions to run high, and they all channeled them differently, Patton spent most of his days in tears, and Logan grew quiet, hardly speaking a word to anyone. Virgil, as the eldest had been though the process the most, and took up the position of trying to console the others despite his own grief and worry which shown clearly behind his eyes, and Roman searched desperately for a way to grant them all more time.