P.O.V.: Patton, First Person
Timeline: Present Day

A jolt of pure terror went right through me just as Logan started to explain about the cookie incident. I gasped sharply and my hand flew to my heart as sinking despair sunk over me like a heavy blanket.  It hurt SO BAD and I felt my eyes start to water.  I didn't breathe, as if nothing breathing would stop the pain, which it didn't.

And then it was gone.

Logan cut off mid-sentence, concerned, but before I could even try to explain a loud scream cut through the air like a knife.

And that was all I needed.

I turned and just threw myself over the counter. I heard a gasp of surprise from behind me, but I paid it no attention and the moment my feet hit the ground I was running, running as fast as I could towards the sound.  The pain in my chest had started again, however much more bearable than before, a minor discomfort in comparison.

Oh.

Oh no.

Anxiety was curled up against the wall, sobbing his heart out. His hands shaking as they tried to cover his ears.  His whole body was just sinking, curling in on himself.

I dropped to my knees next to him, suddenly unsure of what to do. Should I try to comfort him? Should I keep my distance?

Anxiety must have noticed me so close and he gasped, stumbling blindly backwards crashing into the small table in the hallway, which had a vase of flowers - plumerias - and I winced as the vase shattered far too close to Anxiety's head for comfort.

Thankfully, he didn't appear to have been hit. I grabbed Anxiety's arm tightly and slowly pulled him away from the broken glass.

For a moment, he kinda let me, stumbling in the direction that I led - well, it was more of a crawl to be honest, as he was in no condition to walk - but he didn't argue.

Well, for at least the first five seconds.

The smack took my completely by surprise as I blinked, not even sure what just happened.  Anxiety yanked his hand back, cradling it to his chest.  My eyes watered, but not from the pain on my cheek, where he slapped me, but from the hurt that was coming off him in just WAVES, just WAVES of pure  pain.

I don't really know if I mentioned this before, but I had this... I guess what would be considered a super power.  It's called Empathy and I've had it for as long as I remember.  And because of that, I can sense the emotions of Thomas and the others sides.  Most of the time it's uncomfortable, to be frank, to sense the others emotions. In fact, I don't do it intentionally. It makes me feel guilty, invading something they expect to be private.

But sometimes it's just out of my control, like right now, which explain the tears bubbling over my cheeks for no reason.  I shivered suddenly, the air suddenly too cold and I realized that my body temperature was actually rising. I wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead, and noticed that Anxiety looked the same, bangs stuck to his forehead.

After a moment, Anxiety slumped to the floor, remaining motionless, and I immediately sensed no emotions coming from him. Gosh, had he fallen unconscious?

I shook my head, losing the string of Anxiety's emotions and I returned back to normal, but... something still felt off.  But I couldn't put my fingers on it just yet...

"Roman and I will take Anxiety to the couch.  Logan, I need you to go check on Thomas. Make sure he's okay," I ordered. I wasn't usually the one to run these kind of operations - that was usually Logan's job - but I knew something was dreadfully wrong somewhere.

I just hadn't figured it out yet.

Please don't let it be Thomas, I prayed.

Logan nodded and I didn't bother to look to see if he left or not. I turned back to Anxiety, who was still lying on the floor, unconscious.

I threw one of Anxiety's arms over my shoulder to find Roman standing there stunned. His mouth opening and closing in shock. I guess he hadn't quite felt so useless in an imperative situation before.

"Come on, Roman. Take the other side," I grunted a little, struggling under Anxiety's weight.

Roman snapped out of his head and rushed over, throwing Anxiety's other arm over his shoulder.

Together we somehow managed to get Anxiety over to the couch.

He hadn't moved.

What was that smell.... OH!

THE COOKIES!

"I'm going to take out the cookies real quick - they're probably almost done if they aren't already and we don't need the kitchen catching on fire," I informed Roman.  He nodded slightly, his eyes not leaving Anxiety.

I was as fast as I could, pulling the cookie out and placing them on a cookie tray to cool. They smelled good. I grabbed a toothpick to check and see if they were done.  They were actually a little overdone and I breathed a sigh of relief that I had remembered to take them out.

I grabbed the cookie jar, carefully noting that it was actually the chocolate chip cookie jar.  I pulled out the few oatmeal raisin cookies inside and tossed the still warm cookies inside instead.  They were still a little warm to the touch, but they were actually cooling nicely.

I grabbed a cookie and took a bite... oh my gosh, these were so good! Even a little overdone they were better than my usual! I would have to ask Logan about the maple syrup thing... 

I grabbed the Oatmeal Raisin Jar and brought it over to the couch.  He nothing had seemed to change much, as Roman and Anxiety were both in the spots since I'd left.

Slowly, I pulled an Oatmeal Raisin Cookie and pressed it to Anxiety's mouth, just under his nose.

"That smelling stuff isn't good so I thought this would be a less harmful solution," I explained.

"How do you know all about this stuff?" Roman asked, his voice unnaturally quiet. I guess he felt guilty because he wasn't as helpful as he would have wished.

I smiled softly. "I don't know, really. It was just... instinctive.  Any parent would do the same to protect their child, kiddo," I smiled again.

Roman knelt down next to me, his expression unreadable.  He pressed a gentle hand to my back, eyes sad and I knew that he understood I was more worried than I would dare to confess to.

I gave him the biggest smile I could, under the circumstances, before rising to my feet.

"Here," I said, handing Roman the cookie I was using to wake Anxiety up and set the cookie jar on the floor next to him.  He looked up at me, eyes wide.  "I want to go check on Logan," I said. "He's been gone too long," I murmured but as soon as I said it, I knew Roman heard me.  His eyes got more worried and his eyes flicked momentarily over to Anxiety, but he said nothing.

"Okay," he answered finally.

And sunk out, not sure what to expect.

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Well - long time to see!
I've been working on this a lot lately, and I hope to upload a bit more frequently than I have been lately, but no promises, as Why I Run (Prinxiety) is the bigger priority.
Don't worry, lovelies - I'll be back soon ;)

-Max :)