Fear Will Be Your Enemy

Nothing Else Matters

Oz was more than a little relieved when he saw the campsite again.  He wasn't sure if Patton was still of his trail or not, but he was sure that he had been lost in the rain. the sides had put up a large tent, and the instant the Oz burst in he was overwhelmed with relief. "Holy frick, you guys," Oz panted, flopping down on the doormat.

"Where the hell is Honesty?" Logan's voice snapped first. He reached down, yanking Oz to his feet by the front of his shirt. 

Oz's head swam a little. "That's your first question? Not 'hey Ozzy, my dude, where've ya been?' to which I would respond 'aww, thanks for asking, I was kidnapped by Honesty and Patton and forced to hear their homoerotic bedroom talk and diabolical plans.' But noooo," he spat.

Logan let go of him, and he was immediately scooped up in a hug by Janus. "Oh thank gods you're back," Janus sighed. The deceitful side smiled, summoning a big fluffy towel for him and pulling his cape from Oz's shoulders. Oz snapped himself into dry clothes.

"Have you seen Pride?" Nero asked, from where he was playing cards with Virgil and Lust. "He wandered off, we haven't seen him, and we can't look in this bad of a storm."

Oz nodded, going to sit down by the others, but it did not escape his attention that Logan looked uncomfortable when Pride was mentioned. "We heard screaming and Honesty went to check it out; he said that it sounded like Pride, and that's when I got away from Patton."

"This is ridiculous!" Logan hissed. "He must be lying! Patton would never do that, he's just bitter about the fact that-"

"What, that he murdered me?" Oz said dryily. "Why do you refuse to believe me, despite all this evidence?! You're supposed to be logic!"

Logan bit his lip, fuming, and sat down in the opposite corner. Janus walked over, kneeling by Logan. "Lo, I understand why you don't want to believe it. We haven't talked to him and heard his side of the story yet, so there's that. But you have to be willing to understand all angles-"

"If it were Remus, would you believe it?" Logan said, his voice cracking. "Would you believe that he, he ripped out Pride's eye and forced it into his mouth? That he was working with Honesty? That he was a murderer?!"

Janus sighed, summoning a new pair of glasses for Logan, who still wasn't wearing any from before. He helped Logan to his feet, and straightened his tie as Logan sobbed into his hands. "Logan, I know I wouldn't want to believe if it were Remus. But if it were true, then we're the ones who have to stop them, you know this."

Logan nodded shakily, and turned and apologised to Oz quietly, leaning against the door. "Patton and Honesty want to kill all the dark sides except Pride, Virgil and myself, thought they haven't decided whether to kill Apathy yet or not. Obviously, they want to bring Logan back with them. I really don't know if this was Patton's idea or if Honesty tricked him into it, or maybe a little of both, but they think this is what's best for Thomas."

Virgil paled considerably. "Why do they want us three dark sides alive?"

Oz tugged at his scarf awkwardly. "Well, I'm going to imagine for two reasons. Being that we might be used to scare Thomas into listening to them, and that, well, Honesty and Patton, you know, like us." (Which was really the nicest way he could say it, but Virgil still looked sick.)

Lust sighed heavily, and it was clear he was glad not to be on the list of dark sides that Honesty and Patton wanted to keep around. "So we need to go get Pride from them."

Logan shook his head. "It's pouring rain and dangerous out there. If Pride is still in the vulnerable state that he was in before, it would be incredibly stupid to go before tomorrow, when it will hopefully not be dark and stormy."

"But they could be hurting him!" Lust shouted. "You know what happened last time! He's my friend, I can't just leave him with Honesty-"

"Oh shut up Lust, you all spent over a decade with him, I don't see how twelve or so hours could make such a difference," Logan said, rolling his eyes.

Lust stood quickly, his arms crossed tightly around his torso like he was trying to keep his intestines in. "Damn, you just refuse to get with it, don't you? Pride was with them for like, seven hours and Patton ripped his eye from his skull!"

"Oh please, you need to calm down. Pride was his favourite, right? I doubt Honesty will do that much-"

"Are you forgetting that he shot Pride in the chest?! Or what he did to the rest of us?"

Logan shook his head. "Of course not, Lust, I don't intend to belittle your experiences, I'm sure it was less than ideal."

"Less than ideal?! You know what, Logic?! I'm done with all this shit! You are so fucking lucky you've never been through half of what we've had to deal with!" Lust shouted, biting back his lip to keep from crying. "I never wanted to use it as some sort of competition, but you need to stop being such an asshole just because you found our your boyfriend isn't so great! Litterally every single person in this room has had a hell of a lot harder of a time in just the last year than you've had to deal with your entire life! So you do not get to tell me to 'calm down' when in this situation, I know better than you!"

Silence. The room was filled with silence. Logan stalked out, the mud thick but the rain starting to lighten slightly. Nero stood up, walking over and slowly putting his hand on Lust's back, rubbing soft circles into it for a moment until Lust turned around. He was upset, clearly. "Hey," he said softly, cupping his hands around Lust's chin and tilting his face up. "You're not going to make him understand, Lust. I'm proud of you for telling him off, but there's nothing you can really do to change a person's mind."

"I know," Lust murmured. "I shouldn't have yelled at him. I'm probably only making it worse."

"You're allowed to have feelings, you know. I bet you're hella tired of people not listening to you," Nero said softly, and Lust nodded. Nero moved one of his hands to grab one of Lust's locking it in a pinkie-swear. "I promise I'll always listen to you."

Lust suddenly leaned forward and kissed him. Nero was clearly a bit startled, but after a half second he was kissing back. Lust smiled against Nero's lips, feeling wonderful. This was his first truly romantic kiss. Nothing forced or awkward, just purely kind.

Someone cleared their throat. "Hey guys, we're still here, you know," Oz laughed, and the two jumped apart. Janus was smiling, and Virgil looked uncomfortable. "So either get a room or, you know, tone it down a little?"

Nero grinned, running a hand through his hair. "I'm going to check on Logan, be back in a few."

Lust sat down quietly, a smirk on his face. He turned to Janus. "The rain sounds like it's not as bad as it was before. Can't we just go with Umbrellas?"

Janus nodded, yawning and stretching out to watch Oz, Lust, and Virgil play cards. "Of course, let's just wait for Nero and Logan to get back first so we can tell them we're leaving, I doubt it'll be more than a few minutes."

It was more than a few minutes.