(Prompt ⬆)

Tw: swearing, self harm technically, Remus obviously just look down a tiny bit, snek

Remus' P.O.V

"I respect your decision, Virgie. But Deceit really needs help right now. His determination to stop shedding as quickly as possible lately is kinda... scaring me."

Virgil's eyes widened. I'm never this serious. Nor am I ever scared. But, Deceit has been so adamant on not shedding even though it's a monthly thing that we can't control.

"It's just, he scratches his scales so much that he starts bleeding. He's ripped his scales out of his skin a few times. On his arm mostly. The scales didn't grow back. I'm scared he'll think about ripping his scales out on purpose."

"W-well what do you want me to do about it?" I didn't really know. I've tried a lot. Including handcuffing him to my bed so he couldn't move his hands or feet. He looked kinda sexy though. Shut the fuck up you deranged whore.

"I don't know! Whatever you did before you left! You think I payed attention to that shit? I was more focused on his a-" I slapped my hand over my mouth before I finished that sentence.

"Fine. I doubt it'll work now anyways but I'll try." I grin and grab his arm, teleporting us to the subconscious palace.

*time skip*

"I mean... It's working." I watch with a smirk as Virgil runs from a pissed-off Deceit. I could stop Deceit in return for Virgil helping.. but this is really entertaining. I hear a thud and Virgil starts screaming.

"Remus! Get the snake off me!" I ran in the empty room only to see Deceit sitting on Virgil's lap with Virgil's hands above his head. kInky sTAhP

"That's hot." Deceit quickly jumped off Virgil and hissed at me best he could. The cone covering the majority of his face kept him from being very threatening. 

"Aw come on De~ have a little fun with our widow for me~" I silently curse myself as Virgil looks away from me, blushing profusely. I know I was the reason he left. I know that as much as Deceit does. I know Deceit was the one who got Virgil out of here. He started going after Virgil again because we thought we got me under control. 

"Don't ignore him. He hasn't been doing this recently. I don't think he gets freaked out when I shed and doesn't lose control over his thoughts." Did he just....fake lie? Who is he trying to lie to? Me or Virgil? 

"So he really has been getting scared..." Virgil drifts off for a second before something seems to click. 

"Let me see your arm." Deceit hesitates a moment before slowly rolling his left sleeve up, showing dried patches of blood scattered across the scaley part of his arm. There are more than when I left. 

"Wait- have you actually been ripping out your scales!? I thought Remus was over-exaggerating! Deceit what the fuck!?" Deceit shrinks down slightly and wraps his arms around his torso. If not for the cone he'd probably look like an abused puppy. You seriously need to stop whatever that is.

"I'm not sorry, Virgil, but you know how it feels to have your animal features showing all the time. You have an idea just how much it doesn't hurt to have people be afraid of you just because of something you can control."

Virgil's expression softens slightly and he quiets. I've always felt bad about that but there's nothing we can do so he might as well get over it.

"Well I do. My animal features may not show all the time but everyone's always either afraid of me or disturbed by my presence just because I can't control what I say or think sometimes. We may not be able to control it but it's who we are so we just have to deal with it."

Even with the cone I can tell that Deceit is watching me. Deep down I think he knows that I'm not dealing with it. It's not that you aren't dealing it's that you're insane

"Remus.. I think the others would be less afraid of you if you only said weird things. Acting on them scares Patton and Roman's a prick to everyone. Logan isn't scared of jack shit and.. we all know the reason for me." I look down and feel guilt wash over me. You know what they say about guilty pleasures.. shut the actual fuck up. 

"I'm.. just gonna go take a shower. Don't let Deceit out of your sight." I sink down into my room and let out a sigh.

Virgil's P.O.V

Remus sinks down and I look over to Deceit, who is radiating worry and fear.

"Deceit, what's wrong with him?" Deceit turns his head toward me.

"I'm the only one with destructive tendencies. When Remus doesn't take a shower, he doesn't end up staying in his room for days. His room doesn't become quiet and there's nothing saying he's even in there. His door isn't heavily locked so I can never get in, but the one time I didn't get in he was still in the shower, just sitting there. He looked dead. I freaked out and shook him awake but all he did was look at me. His eyes weren't grey."

"Wait so does that mean that he let his trait completely take over? He does understand how dangerous that is, right?" Deceit nods and cracks his knuckles, a nervous habit he's had since I've known him.

"I don't think he knows. Ever since he... you know.. he hasn't been afraid of his trait. He doesn't mean well. It isn't hard for him to control what he does. Right now he might not be in trouble so we don't have to help him." I nod and grab his hand, causing him to jump slightly. I haven't been here in a while but I was here long enough to know where everything is. I think about where Remus's room is and sink down, dragging Deceit with me. We appear in front of a faded green door. If we weren't figments of Thomas's imagination I would say it was worn down with time. But not only are we parts of Thomas's imagination we're also in a book so obviously something is horribly wrong.

"Does his door look dull or is it just me?" I look at Deceit and smirk as he crosses his arms. I may not be able to see his expression but I know that he's pissed off.

"I would normally slap you but if his door isn't dull then we have bigger problems than how much of a bitch you are."  I chuckle and summon a lock pick, using two month's worth of practice to unlock Remus's base lock. The other locks mean nothing if you were given special access. Aka neither me or Deceit are strong enough to kick down the door and we have to get in for plot purposes. 

I grab Deceit's hand again and open Remus's door, only to be met with a foul smell and the sound of rushing water. It's not irregular like a shower is when someone's moving around. Instead it's constant. Most likely there for noise more than to get clean. I look around the room, not seeing Remus anywhere. I walk in but get stopped short as I feel a tug on my arm pulling me out of the room. 

"I can't go in there." I look back at Deceit with a questioning glance. 

"Why not?" Deceit puts a hand over my eyes and when he removes it I notice a bunch of sigils I hadn't noticed before. 

"Don't tell me those are-"

"Nope" I curse under my breath and sigh. Remus has drawn multiple devil's traps around the room. He probably did it so that when he let his trait take over the trait couldn't get out. Deceit can't go in because him and his trait are on mutual grounds while I could go in because I have my trait completely under control. But it is dangerous for me to go in alone.

"Alright so I'll just go in and see what he's doing. I owe it to him to at least try." He's been here trying to change and I wouldn't even talk to him. I owe it to him to try now.

"You don't owe him anything. He understands why you left. He wouldn't have let you be gone for so long if he didn't think it was best." I just nod and walk inside the room, almost running out at the sight of blood splattered everywhere. I hear nails scraping against a chalkboard and instinctively cover my ears. I look around and see Remus in a corner grating the tips of his fingers against a chalkboard, blood slowly covering it more and more. 

"Remus!" His head snaps toward me and he has this insane look in his eyes. His trait is in control. He smiles and tilts his head

"Oh it's so good to see you. Especially after our last encounter. Tell me, you didn't come here just to experience it again, did you?" I hate this. I just want to run back outside. But I have to do this for him. He's not ok.

"I didn't. Let me speak to Remus." He laughs and tilts his head more until there's a loud pop. He lifts his head back in it's original position.

"Oops. Sorry he's not here right now. I guess you'll just have to talk to me. Of course that's no fun, though. Want to do something else?" I keep myself from growling at him and instead just take a deep breath. 

"No. You need to let me talk to him." He rolls his eyes and stops for a moment, before grinning wider.

"Come closer and I'll give him control" no way in hell. 

"No. Absolutely not. Give him control or I will burn you." He faltered for a second before shaking his head.

"Ok then. Get over here or I'll rip out my own heart. He wont survive that. So get your sorry ass over here now." I stiffen for a second before slowly inching closer. I can't just let him die. I stop right in front of him. He looks me over and smiles. It's not as creepy as it used to be. That's progress I suppose. 

"You've lost weight, haven't you? A little skinnier than I remember. Are the others feeding you well?" Technically, yes. But I have to maintain my figure somehow.

"Yeah I just occasionally skip out on meals. Wait why am I answering you?" He smirks and licks his lips, coming closer to me. I keep myself from moving away and just glare at him. 

"You answer me because you want to. Also you shouldn't skip out on meals. You're much more beautiful all nice and plump." I know he's insane right now, but he's actually kind of better. Last time he just kind of latched onto me without second thought. Now at least he's making conversation. 

"Why are you so interested in me?" He smiles gently and runs his hand over my arm in a soothing motion. 

"Why wouldn't I be? I know you have such a bad image of yourself but that doesn't mean that you aren't beautiful. Most gorgeous side Thomas has, actually." I know he's bad, but he isn't as bad as before. That's something at least. But why is he being calm? Why isn't he doing anything?

"You have a lot of questions, I know. But I can't give you the answer. You have always been one to question things, huh?" I just nod, even though that raises more questions. Why is there only one answer? Why can't he say?

"You're so beautiful V. So very beautiful. I just wish you could be mine. But we both know how that went over last time. So instead I'm just sitting here being tempted. So tempted.." His eyes seem to get clouded over as a mystified look overtakes his calm one. He smiles and his face takes on a blush.

"Such dirty thoughts. Do you believe that Roman likes you at all?" I feel myself blush and make a grossed out expression. 

"What the hell is wrong with you twins?" He laughs and shrugs, just watching me.

"We both know the answer to that. Well, I'm going to head out. Remus is going to have fun tonight." I look at him questioningly before realizing what he means and letting out an annoyed sigh. Remus's eyes close for a minute before opening again. He immediately looks down at his hands and hisses slightly.

"That's not healing any time soon..." He looks up at me and panics immediately. 

"Please don't tell me I didn't hurt you. I'm sorry. Whatever I did or said I'm sorry." I shake my head and smile.

"I'm fine. You just stood and talked." He looks confused and I just shrug. 

"What did we talk about?" I just shrug again and grab his arm, dragging him out of the room. I look around but don't see Deceit anywhere, and his cone is laying on the ground. 

"God dammit" I sigh and pick it up again, taking another look around.

"I'm worried about him too but what did we talk about?" I just look back at Remus and wink with a smirk before dragging him out to the dead room. Don't ask. Deceit named it.

"Stay here. I'm going to go find Deceit before he does something stupid." The front door burst open and I jumped behind Remus, who held up his mace. 

"FOR THE LAST TIME REMUS WE DO NOT WANT YOUR SNAKE. NEXT TIME HE APPEARS I AM THROWING HIM INTO A TRASH BAG AND SELLING HIM" I recognize Roman's voice and bite my lip, hoping he didn't see me.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SELLING HIM YOU SHORT SHIT" I keep myself from laughing and hear a small growl.

"I'M THREE CENTIMETERS SHORTER THAN YOU SHUT UP" Why did they measure that? There's a hiss and then a high-pitched screech. 

"WHAT THE FUCK GET IT OFF HOLY MOTHER OF ZEUS" Remus rushes forward and I notice the snake is biting down on Roman's hand. I start laughing, knowing that my cover's already blown. Remus grabs the snake's head and it- er, he... let's go. Roman massages his hand and looks up at me.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY! And what are YOU doing here? I thought you hated the dark sides!" I watch Remus looking around for where to put the snake, who looks close to attacking again, and I laugh harder as he throws it onto the couch in a panic.

"WHY ARE YOU THROWING JEN?!" I look over to Deceit, who's standing at the stairs with a really pissed off look. 

"IT'S A GIRL?!" "NO!" "HE WAS GONNA BITE ME!" "WELL HE BIT ME!" "YOU THREATENED TO SELL HIM!" "YOU DID WHAT?!" I walk over to the couch and sit down, the snake coming up and curling on my lap, probably seeking comfort. The others just continue fighting while I stroke his head. He looks up at me and sticks his tongue out at me, which I obviously mimic. I notice the others stop yelling and I look up to find them all staring at me.

"....what?" Deceit looks to be in awe, Remus is just smiling, and Roman's face is red with an adoring expression.

"Normally I'm not the only one who he trusts. I suppose he likes you." I smile and look down at him so I can rub his head again. 

"Whatever. Just go Roman we'll handle it from here." I look up at Remus and Roman and see them glaring at each other.

"Fine but Virgil comes with me." What the fuck? I do what I want bitch.

"Uh, how about Virgil be with snake, because fuck you."  Roman looks over at me and glares slightly. I glare back with a stoic expression and he sighs.

"Fine. Stay here with these dark sides then. But I am selling that snake if I see it again."  Roman sinks down ungracefully and I just look down at Jen with a saddened expression. He looks up at me and seems to hold the same expression.

"I'm sorry V. He's an asshole. It's alright, I won't let him sell Jen." I just nod and Jen wraps himself around my finger loosely. I smile slightly and continue petting him.

"Why doesn't he just stay here and every now and again you can come and hang out with him. Or we set up times for you to take him to your room so you can hang with him there." Well there's an idea. Except that Roman likes to come in my room randomly.

"Roman likes to come in my room randomly to annoy me. But Logan doesn't seem to mind Jen so I could see towards that." Deceit nods and comes towards me, reaching out his right arm for Jen to go on. It only reminds me about his left arm and how my solution was disregarded. Once Jen is safely attached to Deceit, I sink out and pop up in Logan's room screeching. 

"HOLY SHIT" He jumps up from his desk and turns to look at me all in one swift motion. My screeching turns to laughing at his terrified expression and he glares at me.

"That didn't happen. Got it?" I nod and calm down a bit. 

"Ok. Well I was wondering if every now and again you'd let me hang out in here with a snake because Roman hates snakes and he comes into my room a lot." He gives me a confused look and then seems to understand.

"Oh. You mean Deceit's snake. I suppose you can come in here with the snake whenever you so desire so long as you don't screech like that again." I thank him quickly and sink down again, heading back to the subconscious to steal Jen from Deceit so that he'll stay near me and I can keep an eye on his shedding.