Roman was being dragged down a corridor he never wanted to visit again. It was dark and damp and dusty. He could still see the glint of Janus' smile in the darkness.

"Why now? Why do this now?"

Janus ignored the question and kept dragging Roman down the corridor.

"Janus! Why make me go back now?"

Once again, the question was ignored.

"Janus! Answer me!" Roman yelled. Janus let out a low, sinister laugh.

"This is why, Roman. You were getting too comfortable with the Light Sides. Did you forget what we sent you there to do?"

Roman hadn't forgotten the task. He had just put it off for as long as possible. "I'll do it next episode" or "I didn't have time. I'll try next time." He never did. It was a weight on his mind and every day he spent with the Light Sides, the weight of the betrayal weighed even heavier.

"I didn't forget." Roman muttered. "I never wanted to do it in the first place."

Janus stopped and turned to look at Roman, glaring at him in the darkness.

"You seemed more than happy to bring the Light Sides to their knees when you signed up for the task. What changed?"

Roman didn't answer and looked down. Janus laughed. "Oh, I see. You've gotten soft. You can't bring yourself to-"

Roman's temper snapped and he cut Janus off by putting his sword against his neck and starting to press down, drawing little beads of blood from Janus.

"Now listen here you snake." Roman hissed, his eyes alive with anger. "I have not grown soft. I do not care about the Light Sides and I most certainly do not care whether I kill you now or whether I do not."

Janus started laughing. Quietly at first but then slowly getting louder until the sound echoed around the Dark Mindscape.

"Oh dear, dear Roman." He said, grinning evilly. "This is the whole reason I brought you back here. You're growing unstable." He hissed in Roman's ear. "The Light Sides wouldn't have been able to handle you. Now, come along. There are some people I want you to meet."

With that, Janus pushed Roman's sword away from his neck and led him into the Dark Sides' Common Room.

***

The Light Sides and Thomas were all in Logan's room, to help aid logical thinking. Logan was pacing, Patton was worried but trying not to show it and Virgil was trying not to have a panic attack.

"Guy?" Thomas asked, getting the attention of the three Sides. "Is anyone going to explain to me what happened to Roman?"

Patton and Logan looked towards Virgil who shook his head.

"I don't know. This is the worst time to bring Pride back. I don't understand why Janus would bring him back now."

Logan's brow furrowed in thought.

"Virgil?" He asked. "Am I correct in believing that you and Roman were sent here to do something?"

Virgil nodded and sighed. "Janus wanted something. I don't know what it was, I was way too anxious to sign up for whatever the task was. Roman wasn't. He was arrogant and he didn't care about anyone but himself. He signed up for whatever Janus wanted just for personal glory. Well, he changed his look and his name and left. Time passed. Lots of time passed and Roman didn't come back. That's when Janus sent me. To... check on him, he called it. And he was here as Creativity. He had been accepted by you guys." Virgil smiled bitterly. "I can't imagine that was the task at hand."

Logan made a 'hm' noise then grabbed a book out of thin air.

"What's that, Logan?" Patton asked, curious.

"It is simply a book I keep of all known Sides, Light and Dark." Logan muttered, flicking through the book before closing it with a snap. "Nothing. There is no record of Pride in here at all. It appears Roman is smarter than we all thought."

Virgil sighed. "Logan, can I have a quick look at that book?" He asked.

"Um, sure. I do not know what knowledge you could glean from it but here." Logan said, handing the book over to Virgil who flicked through it a little.

"Here." He said, turning the book to Logan and tapping the place where some pages had been ripped out. "Some knowledge is missing."

Logan grabbed the book from Virgil and inspected the rips closely. "They don't look too recent. If we had Roman here, we might be able to tell whether he was the one who ripped the pages out or whether it was someone else."

Virgil grabbed the book much to Logan's protest and looked at the rips closely. "It was Janus." He said, snapping the book closed and handing it back to Logan. "What?" He asked, looking around at the other Sides. "I've lived with Janus, Remus and Roman for years. I know what Janus' gloves are like and what sort of imprints they leave."

"Um, well," Logan pushed his glasses up his nose, "we need to find these pages so we can learn about Pride's strengths and weakness-"

Virgil shook his head. "No. That won't work. If the others are one thing, they're thorough. Janus will have burnt the facts about Pride. Don't you have, like, a backup?"

"No. I didn't think I would need a backup. Maybe if you had told me when I started the book-"

"I didn't even know that you had started a book!"

"Well who's fault is that?"

"Yours! You were the one-"

"Kiddos!" Patton yelled. "Let's not fight. Okay?" Logan and Virgil nodded sheepishly. Patton took a breath. "Logan? Do you have any ideas for how we could get Roman back? Thomas can't survive long without his creativity."

Logan nodded and pushed his glasses up his nose again. "I think that... if we were to go to the Dark Mindscape and... convince Roman to come back, then we could keep Thomas as, well, Thomas. Virgil, do you think that would work?"

Virgil's eyes darted to Thomas before back to Logan. "I'm not sure. But I guess it's the best plan we've got."