(Logan's POV)

I appeared first in Patton's room, still weary of waking up Virgil. Theoretically, our experience put the most strain on him, so I decided to grant him the small mercy of 5 extra minutes of sleep. I turned my attention to the Side sleeping peacefully a few feet away from me. He was curled up around a teddy bear, blankets piled high, snoring softly. His hair splayed out on his pillow, looking as if it was floating in water. I studied Patton for a moment, marking the tension in his shoulders. Wonder what that was about. 

'Tension during sleep patterns often point to overtaxed muscles or seizing the day or days prior. It can also signal an uncomfortable 'dream' taking place during REM sleep.'  The little voice in the back of my head butted into my thoughts, answering a rhetorical  question. I really hated it sometimes, but it did come in handy every once in a while. The voice always answered whatever question I had, so long as Thomas learned about it at some time or another. I really never questioned it, I supposed I possessed the ability to access all of Thomas' knowledge, and that was that.

Patton's breathing hitched, and he rolled over. That movement brought me back to reality, reminded me of my task. Mentally kicking myself for how easily I was distracted, I walked to the side of the bed, and shook Patton's shoulder lightly. He let out an ado- he groaned, fighting the beckoning call of consciousness. Like we all do, he succumbed, opening his eyes and blinking blearily up at me.

"Lo... gan~?"

My heart rate did not  increase. Anybody who says otherwise is spouting falsehoods and nonsense.

"You have to get up. Thomas is... out of sorts, and Roman and I have no idea what is happening."

That woke him up quite effectively, it seems, as he sprung upright, all traces of grogginess gone.

"Is Virgil-"

"Virgil has nothing to do with this. He is currently unconscious in his own room, and that is arguably the most distressing thing about Thomas's behaviour."

"Ah." Patton's eyes turned to steel, strongly contradicting the worried frown that twisted his mouth. "I see. I'll be there in 3 minutes, ok? We'll see what's up with my s- Thomas."

I nodded, turning from him and teleporting away. I could have sworn he muttered something under his breath, but before I could ask him what he said, I was already gone. 

___________________________________

(Virgil's POV)

___________________________________

My body hit a wall, and I slid to the floor, groaning in pain. A foot kicked my ribs, agony exploding through my side as it connected again and again and again. My vision went dark, leaving everything blurry.

"Urrgh..."

A pair of rough hands hoisted me up by my shoulders, lifting me off the ground. The action set my probably dislocated shoulder on fire, prompting me do bite down hard on my lip. They wanted me to scream, and that was a victory I wasn't going to give them. Even if I usually lost... 

"Doing alright there Anxey? This is fun, isn't it? We're all having fun here, right?" 

Somebody purred in my ear, their voice almost childlike in it's cheerfulness. I tried in vain to find enough energy for a witty response, but I couldn't. The sudden fist to my stomach made sure of that. I struggled to get breath down into my lungs, gasping like a beached fish. 

"What's that? You're too lonely to have fun? Well here!" The cheerful voice turned cold. "Have some friends~" 

Whispering erupted around me. It was almost like one of my breakdowns, but I knew- thought they weren't from me. They were everywhere. In my head, around me, talking, whispering screaming- 

They grew louder and louder, taunting me, mocking me, insulting me. I struggled to raise my hands to my hears, but I couldn't. They wouldn't work. I flailed around, needing  it to stop. A  curse briefly cut through the voices when I connected with something, and I was released. I crashed to the floor, immediately curling up into a ball, hands clenched tightly over my hears in a desperate attempt to block out the damned voices. 

"Having fun?" 

"This is nice"

"You're worthless, you know that?"

"Can't even do your job right."

"Such a softie~"

"Weakling." 

A louder, solid voice cut through the noise. "Quit it already! You're gonna break him, stupid." 

"Yeahhh- I want a turn! Why do you get all the funnnnn?" a different one whined. 

The cacophony quieted down, but it turned more malicious, almost angry.

"Because I'm second in command, and stronger than the both of you combined." That was the first voice, the cheery one. 

A growl ripped through the air. "Wanna bet?"

Laughing, the first answered, "Any time, any place doll~"

"Then let's do this. Right here, right n-"

"Enough."

A fourth person cut off the angry one. Everything quieted down, including the mass of noise plaguing me.

"Sorry boss~ just keeping everyone in line."

"Mmm. And what have we here?"

I felt more than saw his intense gaze turn towards me. I immediately started shaking. A foot nudged my bruised ribs. 

The whiny one answered his question. "This one here refused to do his job again. That's the eighth time this week sir." 

"Is it now? Well, let me see if I can remind  him exactly what happens when you disobey." 

I risked opening my eyes a tiny bit, just a crack. A hand reached out towards me, the blurry shape seeming to leak black smoke. 

"Virgil?"

It was going to touch me, it was so close. I tightly shut my eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

"Virgil."

 His fingertips grazed my shoulder, I was getting sucked in- 

"Virgil!!"

I shot upright, smacking my head on a wall. A weight fell on my legs, but neither impact registered. My breath was coming in short bursts, making it difficult to focus. I was still there, I had to be. I never escaped after all, I was back- suddenly, the weight on my legs shifted forward. I stiffened when I felt something wrap around my body, bracing for pain. 

"Shhhhh- you're going to be okay. It was a dream."

I relaxed the tiniest bit when I realized this person wasn't trying to hurt me.

"Here," they said, rubbing my back, "this should help." 

A warm feeling slid over me, comforting and friendly. It was reassuring, yet unwavering. "It wasn't real," it seemed to say, "you're safe now. Open your eyes, you'll see that you're back to reality. This is what's real."  The feeling subsided, taking nearly all of my tension with it. The person squeezed me a little harder, and I finally melted into their embrace, not caring who it was. When I began sobbing into their shoulder as the full impact of my dream hit me, they just held me, making comforting noises, rubbing my back, running their hand through my hair. I clung to them like a lifeline, desperate for comfort after that terrifying dream. I had forgotten how bad they could be, how deeply they still hurt. That nightmare was particularly vivid, and at the time, I chalked it up to me forgetting what they were like after such a long time. Only later would I realize that it was a warning, that certain things were beginning to stir. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Happy new year everyone! I hope y'all are ready to leave 2018 behind and pretend like 2019 might be better. Did ya like this chapter? Because in all honesty, I wasn't that happy with it, but I figured to hell with it. It's been a while since you had a new chapter. I'm not that great at writing emotions, I tend to overexplain things. But maybe you feel differently, I don't know. Hopefully you guys don't absolutely hate me for making Virgil suffer, even if it was a dream. Who were those guys? Does anyone have any ideas? And who do you think was comforting him at the end? I'd absolutely love to hear any theories you might have, your excitement or interest is what drives me to update this book. Annnnnnd I'm not going to apologize for the blatant  Logicality in this chapter. I ship them so hard. You have no idea. I ship another pairing even harder, but this one is a close second.

 Anyway, I'll try to get another update up soon, but tomorrow is the last day of my Christmas break, and I have exams in a few weeks. Plus, since I take a drama class, we're doing a play for our final exam, and I was just given a second understudy part on top of my main part and my other understudy role. Hello, pressure! Nice to see you again. So basically, writing is going to take a backseat for now, but I'll be back! Sometime soon, if I can help it. Okay, that's everything. See you in the next chapter! (Whenever that is.)