There's No Such Thing As Happy Endings - Book Three of the Why I Run Series

Chapter Twenty-Three

Point of View: Logan, First Person
Timeline: Present Day, Virgil and FG are mid-hallucination, Ollie and Daisy are M.I.A

It took all of my self-control to not run forward and yank Patton away from the topaz gem, holding my breath as I watched Patton reach out with both hands and clamp his hands around it and blinding white light forced me to look away, trying to quickly blink dots out of my vision.

When I could see again, all I saw was Patton lying on the floor, wincing and cradling his wrist.

"Patton!" I cried out, stumbling to the stop at his side, breathing heavily. "Oh my goodness, are you okay?! You - You just dropped," I managed, scanning his face to see if he was really okay.

Patton didn't look hurt, other than his wrist, he mostly seemed shocked. It was only then when I noticed that I had one hand resting on his cheek, and just how close I had gotten. I was close enough to see the tiny light brown sparkles in his eyes, the almost impossible to see freckles on his cheeks -

I jumped back, breathing a little harder than normal and trying to control the trembling in my fingertips.

"U-Uh, yeah, I'm okay," Patton finally responded, seeming slightly distracted.

"M-Morality?"

Patton's face scrunched up, confused, as he turned and looked behind him.

Oh my god.

In my concern for Patton, I hadn't even noticed the other side in the room.

The side, like Patton, was sprawled out on the floor, cream-colored sweater rumpled and crooked revealing the bright yellow t-shirt underneath. His cream colored glasses were half-off his face and his purple hair falling over his eyes.

"Morality? Is - Is that you?" the side asked, cautiously. His voice was soft and shy, and he leaned forward, taking a moment to fix his glasses. He blinked a couple times, adjusting as he waited for Patton to answer.

"Pax?" Patton asked, jumping to his feet only to kneel down right next to him. "A-Are you okay, kiddo?"

"I - I'm Loyalty... I'm Thomas Sanders's Loyalty," Pax repeated, a small smile stretching across his face. "I remember."

Patton grinned, a bright, bubbly smile as he helped Pax to his feet. Patton asked him a couple questions, which Pax answered with a smile....

Thankfully, Sparks broke that awkward silence, bouncing over to Pax and playfully sniffing his leg. Pax flinched a little, freezing until he realized that she was just curious and had no intention to harm him.

Then abrupt, loud static that filled my ears and I jumped a little in shock, wincing and raising my hands to cover my ears but it didn't seem to help. I couldn't hear anything. It was - was too much, I took a step backwards, not sure what to do. Was it Pax? Was he doing this to me?

"Logan?" Patton frowned, concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I - " I tried to speak, but it was almost like I short-circuited and I couldn't say anything.

"Lo?" Patton asked, but I still couldn't hear him, I could only tell by watching the shape of his mouth. He took the opportunity to take a concerned step towards me, hand outstretched on my direction.

I - I could barely think, the static was so loud - it - it was almost like something was - was blocking me...

Blocking me...

Someone... ugh... s-someone is blocking me. Who would -agh- try and - and -

Deceit.

"Thomas," I tried to say. I couldn't hear myself so I had no idea. "Something... wrong," I tried to say, wincing as the static only got louder.

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Point of View: Patton, First Person

Logan was shaking his head, hands raised over his ears. "Lo?" I tried, reaching out my hand cautiously. "Are you okay?"

Oh no, I've done something wrong, I've done something wrong. I hurt Logan, I should've just listened to him, he was right, oh God what -

"Tomess," Logan slurred, though his voice sounded... funny. "'ometh' wong," he tried, before his eyes screwed shut in pain and he dropped to his knees, hands desperately pressed against his temples.

Tomess? ... Tom... ess...Thomas!

"Something's wrong with Thomas?" I asked, but Logan didn't seem to hear me, face twisted in pain and hands trembling.

A sharp gasp came from behind me and I turned, terrified, to see Pax's face had gone super duper pale. "W-Where's Will? Is he out already? Where is he?" Pax asked.

"I - I don't know - "

"Please, please Morality," Pax pleaded.  "You have to get him out."

I shook my head. "I'm sorry but I need to help Logan and something is wrong with Thomas -"

"Okay, sorry, sorry I'm not helping," Pax interrupted gently.  He paused, taking a slow deep breath. "You take care of Logan, I'll check in on Thomas," he instructed sinking out.

Well I didn't need any further convincing.  I dropped to my knees next to Logan, trying to pry his hands from his head. Logan let out a small, whimpering cry - eyes squeezing shut and hands trembling.  His cheeks were flushed and feverish looking.

What could have caused this all of a sudden? I don't understand.  Oh Lo...

Pax suddenly popped back up. "He needs Will," he informed, eyes frantically scanning over all the gems.

"What? Who is Will?"

"There!" The cream colored side pointed towards a small collection of gems floating near the door. "He's right there, the green one, the emerald, I know it," Pax said firmly.

I hesitated, gently reaching down and squeezing Logan's hand tightly, reassuringly.  Logan was lying completely on the floor now, shaking and I carefully rested Logan's head on my lap as a makeshift pillow. "You'll be okay," I mumured, gently running my hands through his fading purple hair.  "Just hang in there, Lo," I whispered.

When I looked up again, Pax was already there, hand reaching out towards the green gem -

"Wait!" I called out. "Don't try and touch him, you don't know what might happen."

Pax just smiled. "It's going to be okay, Morality. I got this one, okay?" Pax coaxed quietly. "Besides, you don't have the energy to bring another side back.  Just be ready, I'm probably going to be a bit winded," he explained and before I could get another word in Pax reached forward, gently pressing his hands along the outside of the bubble...

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Hi guys, Max here and guess what I made it through the semester! Whoo! Next chapter should be coming soon!