Running from My Past

Never One of You

I could feel myself being carried, slung over someone's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. My hands were bound by a rough rope that dug into my wrists. My mind started to clear as I blinked my eyes open as many times as it took to get them used to the lighting or the lack there of.

My mind raced, trying to figure out where I was. The last thing I remembered was being in my room. Patton had come to talk to me because he was concerned, only it wasn't really Patton. It was Deceit, which meant that he had Patton and Logan. Panic rolled through me. For once I despised my creativity.

I tried not to move too much so I didn't alarm whoever was carrying me. Maybe if I could find out where I was, I could escape. But I didn't have my sword and I couldn't just leave Pat and Logan.

There was a long creak as we continued forward and as we passed I could see that the source of the noise was two giant, grand doors but in a dark foreboding way. All deep navy, purple, and black. The whole place seemed to follow the same decoration theme, like it was Halloween but not fun Halloween colors but the dark, creepy ones.

We stopped abruptly and I was thrown unceremoniously onto the ground, landing hard on my hip. I groaned and looked up. The room shocked me in its similarity to my throne room back in the castle. The same vaulted ceilings, wide windows, and of course a throne, this one seemed to curl and move like a cloud.

"Roman!" I whipped my head towards the cry to see Patton just a few feet away from me, Logan beside him. Both of their hands were tied like mine but they seemed unhurt. I closed the gap between us in seconds.

"Are you guys okay? Did they do anything to you?" I needed to know that they were fine. I needed to reassure myself.

"Yes we are fine," Logan answered. His glasses were crooked and cracks spider webbed over the right lens. "They said something about waiting for the others. I'm assuming that meant you two. They want all of the main sides for some reason." That made sense, as the main sides we held the most power in the mind but what would they possibly want from us?

"Wait. If they want all the main sides.... that means they'll go after Virgil, we need to do something." I couldn't stand seeing him here but I imagined he wasn't much better off now. He was alone and if he didn't know it yet he would soon. What if they already had him?

"That's the thing, Roman. I don't think that they want to capture Virgil because he's..."

"Now, now. The room is getting too loud. I can't even hear myself think." I jumped at the unfamiliar voice and my eyes found the speaker by the window, covered in the shadows. His back was to us but I could see his dark sweatpants and hoodie. His hair was a mess, sticking up in random spikes and he slouched, uncertain of himself. He turned around and I gasped.

"Virgil?" I asked. His face contorted with anger and he balled his fist at his side. 

"No. I am not that fear controlled coward. Though we are closer than most." I could now see that he was very different from Virgil. We of course all had the same face and he shared Virgil's taste in eye shadow but his were streaked down his cheeks, almost like black tears. He wore baggy sweatpants and an overlarge hoodie with one sleeve slightly revealing a scarred arm. "Your little nerd friend is right though. I don't need Anxiety, although I'm sure he will turn up sometime. He failed his duties, he has no use to me now. Not since he was corrupted by you but soon he'll see the error of his ways and come crawling back."

My blood chilled at his words. Crawling back, Virgil had lived here? But it was so dark and depressing. This was the opposite of what someone with sever anxiety needed. It was cold and lonely and....... so discouraging. 

I had never prodded him for answers on where he had come from. We had all just kinda assumed that he had been manifested during a dark time in Thomas's life created for his purpose.

"No." My voice wavered a bit and I repeated myself louder and clearer. "No. There is no way Virgil would abandon us just like that." He gave a harsh, hoarse laugh.

"Abandon you? He was never with you. He is a dark side just the same as me. He may seem all good and buddy-buddy with you but he never really was. He was never on your side."

"That's impossible. Virgil was one of us. He is part of our family," I continued.

"Oh please. He's way more my family than yours. It's this unique skill called acting, Creativity. I'm sure you've heard of it. Anxiety was, is, and never can be a light side, there is nothing that he helps to build, all he does is destroy. Just like me." 

Black clouds started to snake in from under the door as his voice rose higher and higher. It curled around my legs and feet, chilling me to the bone. Deceit, who had been standing by the door looked panicked. 

"Are you.." he started but the other dark side cut him off with a wave of his hand and a smile.

"Looks like he's just in time. I know how he hates being late."