Don't Let Me Be Gone

Ninety Eight

TRIGGER WARNING : mention of suicide, angry danger noodles, angry snek, MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH

Deceit POV
I sat limply in the chair. I haven't moved at all since the video first ended.

Tears were caked down my cheeks. Despite it being hours now, I haven't stopped crying.

Quinn can't be dead.

But yet he's dead again.

I think I'm in shock or something. There is no way that Quinn could've survived that.  I watched him stab himself in the heart...multiple times over again.

I have no one to blame but myself.  I should've been there for him.  He's dead because I let Corruption use me again. 

I just want to go home. 

Slowly, I raised my head.  I watched the video through one more time.  It'll probably be the last time I'll get to see his beautiful face, his body has probably already disappeared and been replaced with a new Doubt.

But not Quinn.  Not my Doubt.  A new one that wouldn't know me and wouldn't care about me.  It's probably been days since this happened, so his memory orb has probably already been destroyed.

I summoned my other arms and slowly started working on undoing all the nots.  In less the five minutes, I was out of the chair.

I feel numb.  I don't feel angry.  Just empty.  And very, very sad. 

I walked around the screen and saw a wooden door.  I made my way over to it, tentatively pushing it open.

But instead of standing in a hallway, I was outside now.  I looked up to see, well what I guessing, is the dark mind palace.

Except now, it actually looks like a palace.  A huge stone, midevil style castle.  Large black roots of sorts were growing all over it and into the ground.  Slowly spreading outwards.

The parasite...

I turned and quickly started heading towards the light mind palace.  It will take me a while but I'll get their eventually.

I have to cross through the rest of the dark mindscape, then the subconscious, then the trait complex, and then I'll finally be in the light mindscape. 

Thomas's mind is a confusing mess.

After about a half hour of walking, I could finally see the light mind palace.  My pace increased.

I started hoping and praying to whatever god was out there that Quinn wasn't dead or dying or hurt in any way.  That what Corruption showed me wasn't real.

I walked up to the door and knocked before entering the house.  Almost instantly, I was bombarded by Patton.

"OH MY GOODNESS!" Patton screamed, hugging me tightly. "DEE! YOU'RE HOME!"

I pushed Patton off me and held him at arms length.

"Where is Quinn?" I asked, fear filling me as I watched Patton's happy expression shift into a sad one.

"Dee..."

"Deceit!" Roman said happily, coming down the stairs. "It's amazing to have you back!" A limping Virgil followed after him.

Virgil looked pretty banged up. Skinny beyond belief, bruised and limping. He looked at me suspiciously.

"Prove you're the real Deceit," He said. "That it's actually you, with your memories, and not Corruption in disguise."

I paused and thought for a moment. A little shocked that Virgil started with that. Guess Corruption's been busy while I've been in his grasp.

"When Thomas turned 14, you first appeared. You were terrified out of your mind and having a horrible panic attack. Considering Remus and Ignorance were incompetent to help someone like that, I did. And I remember you saying that you hated yourself for being so sensitive when all the other dark sides were so much stronger. I told you that being sensitive was a wonderful thing to be because it meant you were capable of being better than the rest of us. That you could do good for Thomas." I told him, pausing for a second. "That was the day you asked me to teach you how to play Cancer on the piano." I said with a small smile, watching as Virgil nodded happily along. That was one of the few good memories from back when Virgil was a dark side.

Everything was so much better when we were children. It was easier back than. I wish could turn back time...

"Yeah...that's the real Dee," Virgil mumbled, wiping a tear of his cheek.

"Where is Quinn?" I asked again.

"Oh yeah," Virgil said as if coming to a realization. "I didn't see him at all yesterday when I got back home."

Roman and Patton looked at each other uneasily. That only caused my worry to increase.

"He killed himself didn't he?" I whispered, literally feeling my heart break all over again.

"No, no, he didn't do that," Patton said comfortingly. "Well he tried...it didn't work, thank goodness, but he's still in critical condition I guess. That's what Logan said at least."

"Yeah, I was watching over him before Virgil came back," Roman said. "He's in and out of consciousness. He's in a lot of pain, but he's alive at least."

"Is he upstairs?" I asked. Patton nodded. It didn't take anything else for me to go quickly up the stairs.

I neared the room, only to hear hissing and Logan yelling. Shit...

"Get off him you stupid snake!" I heard Logan yelling. "I'm just trying to help him! Oh my fucking god! Get off him!" Loud hissing came in return.

"Shit," I grumbled, quickly bursting into the room. I recoiled slightly upon seeing Quinn in the bed, but the more dire situation needed attention.

Kaa was poised and about to strike. He was sitting on Quinn's chest. Fangs bared and hissing.

"Kaa! Down!" I yelled at him, walking over and grabbing him right as he lunged at Logan.

"Many thanks Deceit," Logan mumbled. "Your extremely overprotective snake will not let anyone near Quinn."

"Odd, he and Quinn didn't get along." I mumbled, mostly too myself.

"How long has he been like this?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Five days, seventeen hours, and fifty-two minutes." Logan answered. I sighed, looking over Quinn. Kaa wound himself up my arm, resting his head on my shoulder.

Quinn was deathly pale. His lips blue and skin almost see through. I watched his chest, not liking how much time was between breaths he took.

He seemed smaller then I remembered. If that's even possible. Noodle was wound around his left hand, looking up at me.

"Do you want some time alone with him?" Patton asked gently.

"Yeah," I answered, my voice cracking. I hadn't even registered that I had started crying. The four sides left the room quickly.

I moved to the other side of the bed and laid down. I slid my hand into his. He felt deathly cold. I ran my fingers over the bandage over his heart.

I kissed his forehead gently, some silly part of me thinking that Quinn would magically wake up because of the kiss. Of course he didn't.

Why Quinn? Why?

As if I'm response, he started stirring a bit. His hands were shaking, causing Noodle to move up his arm to his shoulder.

"Quinn?" I mumbled, both hope and fear filling me. His head turned a little towards me, as if he heard me.

But then...he stilled. Completely. He wasn't breathing anymore.

"Quinn?!" I yelled, instantly sitting up. He wasn't breathing anymore. He entire body was completely still.

I quickly looked for his pulse, only to not find one.