The Aftermath

Everyone fell silent. I could only guess what they were thinking about, but my mind was racing a mile a minute. I didn't know what they were gonna say, or if I should take them farther into my memories. I already felt incredibly exposed and vulnerable after showing them this much.

The room started flickering, like an unstable tv connection. The others jerked out of their thoughts and turned to me, alarm spreading across their faces.

"Virgil? What's going on kiddo?" Patton inquired, obviously trying to keep any panic out of his voice.

The other two just kept their mouths shut, but their eyes betrayed them, Roman especially. They were terrified. And they should be. I knew all too well the effects of what had just happened, and the fact that everything was destabilizing wasn't helping.

Patton asked his question again, and I realized I hadn't answered, just stared at him.

"Oh. I think my memories are pausing. I can take you further into my past, or we can return to the present."

I was alarmingly calm. Well, I dunno if calm is the word for it. It was like, I was so completely devoid of emotions, there wasn't anything to feel. Just nothing. It made sense, and I knew what had caused me to feel this way. I guess witnessing his might, even through the lens of a memory was enough to wipe everything away. I was just that used to it.

I hadn't even noticed that the room had faded completely, and we were floating in an endless black void, each of our respective glows only traveling a few inches before being consumed. Roman floated over to me, slowly and carefully. He put a hand on my shoulder, so gentle he was barely even making contact.

"What's um, what's going on in your brain right now pal? We have to know how you're feeling to make that decision."

I looked at his hand, then at his face. I was a robot, moving so mechanically that I questioned my "humanity."

"I'm scared."

Black.

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(A/N: What's this? I'm finally doing a god damned POV swap? Scandalous!)

Patton's POV:

"I'm scared."

That's what he said, right before everything faded to black. Well, I say faded, it was more like getting hit with a brick, in the face, and you pass out immediately. That kind of fade. There is something seriously wrong with him, I know it. I don't mean he's bad, I mean something screwed with him, and he's got some serious emotional damage happening. I don't want Virgil to suffer, hell knows he suffered enough before he came to us. Ah, but let's get on with the story, shall we?

I woke up in Virgil's room. Everything hurt. Head, arms, chest, legs, everything. The first thing (second thing, I groaned first. Pain hurts.) I did was check my arms to see if I was solid. I was both happy and sad to see that I was flesh-me again. I looked around, seeing if anyone was with me. All three of the others were in the room, but all of them were passed out. In some pretty funny poses too. Logan managed to get on top of a bookshelf, and one of his legs was dangling off the side, glasses on his foot.

Roman was almost better. He was on the floor, kind of. He ended up back on his bean bag, but only his bottom half. His legs were sticking straight up in the air, and his top half was sprawled across the floor. One arm on his forehead, the other on his chest, he almost looked as if he was posing on purpose, if it wasn't for his sash covering more than half his face.

I snapped a 'mental' picture of both of them, filing them away for later. Virgil, who I had thought was out cold, was in a concerning state. He was half-conscious, curled up into a tight ball on his bed. I only knew he was awake was because he had tears escaping from underneath his eyelids, taking black eyeshadow with them. I stumbled over to him, and saw that he was shaking really hard. I plopped down on the bed next to him, careful not to sit on any part that belonged to his body. I steadied myself, taking deep breaths to hopefully get some sort of strength back. Our little field trip drained me, but I have no idea why. All I knew was that it had to be worse for Virgil, who actually took us into his memories. I was still reeling from that by the way. It was crazy. Wait! I'm getting off track again. I rubbed my hands together, blew into them, and set them on Virgil's exposed side. They started glowing, faint at first, but then it grew and grew until my entire arm up to my elbows were covered in a soft blue glow. The glow slowly crept onto Virgil, steadily enveloping him until he was a giant nightlight. He stopped shaking, and relaxed his posture. The occasional tear still leaked out, but his breathing was even, so I assumed he had fallen asleep.

I stood up- and immediately fell against a bedpost. I stayed there for a moment, gathering myself again. Everything was spinning like a pinwheel, and I did not feel so good, Mr. Stark. I shook my head, and somehow it helped. My vision was back in focus, and I slowly pushed myself up to standing. After making sure I was steady, I leaned over and carefully maneuvered Virgil's body so I could get his covers over him. I slid a pillow under his head, and once I was satisfied, decided I should help the other two. Logan was on top of a bookshelf, after all. My walk was not graceful at all, and I knew that as soon as I got back to my room, I would be out cold. But the others came first.

I went to Logan first, knowing that he would require more effort to move without hurting him or waking him up. He was still in the same position as he had been when I left him, except he managed to get his leg back up. Great. Grabbing his glasses off the floor, I studied him for a minute, trying to figure out how in the heck I was supposed to get him down. He gave me a solution a few seconds later, when he shifted ever so slightly, letting his arm down. I could reach his arm now, meaning I could teleport him into his room. Teleporting is hard. I knew I needed to be as conservative as possible with how much energy I spent on teleportation. I had access to Logan's room, I've had that privilege for a while. I'm able to get into any of the Side's rooms, just in case they needed me. So, I didn't need to worry about that, thank goodness. I grabbed Logan's dangling arm, and willed us to disappear.

When we popped back up, we were inside Logan's room. I managed to catch him midair, as he was still in the same position he was in when we started. Shuffling over to his bed (which was inside of a huge bookcase that took up three of his walls), I accidentally knocked over a pile of books, files, and papers that was stacked on his floor. I winced, hoping the loud noise didn't wake the sleeping Side. Thankfully, it hadn't, and I set him down on his unmade bed, loosened his tie, and put his glasses on the built-in shelf at the foot of his little alcove. I moved his sheets so they covered him, and he snuggled into the new warmth surrounding him.

I stood there for a second, just watching. He always looked so peaceful when he was asleep, unlike the other two. I've seen all of them asleep before, when they were sick (yes, we can get sick), had a bad nightmare (Roman was notorious for those), or just needed somebody there so they felt safe. Virgil never looks happy when sleeping, he has this... disturbed look on his face. I guess it might be understandable, after what I saw today. Roman, well he's a very expressive sleeper. He never stays still, and I've found him in a number of strange positions in the morning. He'll sleep talk, sing, and even scream. Nobody sleeps much when he's screaming.

Logan turned over, jarring me out of my thoughts. I sighed, knowing that I had to go back and get Roman. Fighting off the heaviness that threatened to overtake my limbs, I teleported back to Virgil's room.

I popped back up, wobbling a bit. I glanced at Virgil, making sure he was okay. He wasn't crying anymore, and his body position was more relaxed than it had been. I'd have to talk to him tomorrow, make sure he was okay. Aside from the potential damage to Thomas, Verge being unstable isn't a good situation. He's more powerful than he wants to admit. But then again, so am I.

Turning my attention to Roman, I found him in an even more ridiculous pose than the last one. He somehow managed to flip around, with his face smushed into the bean bag, legs in a half split, and one arm trapped underneath his torso. Shaking my head, I crouched down next to him, about to grab his arm to teleport. I paused.

"Logan had been in the same way he was when I teleported him, so if I teleport with Roman, he'll fall. "

I picked up Roman bridal style, very, very carefully, and gathered my strength for one more teleport. We popped up inside of Roman's bedroom, almost on top of his desk. I looked at his room in dismay. You could barely see the floor, because of how covered it was in stuff. This was going to be tricky.

A few minutes, several near-misses, and quite a lot of breath-holding later, I made it to his bed. He had a queen size, refusing to downsize or even upsize because "a queen needs a fitting bed." This one was actually made, with a ridiculous amount of pillows. Luckily, it was big enough that I could set him down on one side, uncover the other, and roll him onto the unmade side. I tucked him in under the star-flecked duvet, and shuffled some stuff away from the bed so he didn't step on it in the morning. Several medals, two certificates, three trophies, and a katana found a temporary home underneath his bedside table. Satisfied, I rallied myself for one final jump.

I popped up in my room, and fell to my knees, forehead on the ground. I laid there for a moment, gasping for breath. Now my lungs were on fire, adding to the heaviness in my limbs, the pounding in my head, and general pain consuming my whole body. I thought about just falling asleep there, but ultimately decided against it. Groaning, I pushed myself up, and stumbled up the stairs to my bedroom, relying heavily on the railing.

"Patton, you idiot, you pushed yourself too far again," I thought, entering my room. It was true, but it was because the others needed my help. Forcing myself to get into pyjamas, I contemplated why everyone else was out cold, but I was still able to function. I came to the disappointing conclusion that either the memory trip took a harsher toll on the other two (of course it was hardest on Virgil, that's undeniable.) or, I was indeed more powerful than them. That idea scared me a bit, I never wanted to be the biggest deal.

"I'll just come up with some excuse if they ask, and everything will be fine."

Not exactly happy, but okay with that idea, I crawled into my fluffy bed, checking that my stuffed walrus was in there. I leaned over and turned off my lamp, plunging the room into a temporary darkness, until the room came alive, little stars twinkling in the air. I loved my little night sky, it always calmed me down.

I lied there for a while, going over the days events. When I woke up this morning, I did not expect to go through some of Virgil's potentially traumatic memories. His face flashed in my memory, scared and utterly vulnerable. Whoever that person in his memories was, I'd bet that they had something to do with Virgil's pain. I needed to know who they were, if only so I could kick them all the way back to hell for hurting my so- Virgil.

I rolled over, finding a comfier spot. All of the strain finally made itself known, everything in my body going numb. I sighed, knowing it would hurt like hell in the morning. My eyes drifted closed, and the last thing I saw was a certain person, a small smile on their peaceful, sleep-smoothed face.

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Hello~
I'm baaaaaackkk! It's been another month, but I'm proud of this one! I'm still sorry for the wait. Did you like the POV switch? I think I'll do that more often, explore what the other Sides are like. Who knows? Maybe there'll be a Dark Side POV switch. But I'm just thinking aloud here. Have fun, see you next chapter!

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