AU: X
Ship: X
Prompt: X
Requested by: X
Warnings: Major Body horror, creepy themes, blood, Sympathetic Deceit, let me know if there's anything I missed!
Summary: Roman has a vivid nightmare
F/A/H-C: Horror
POV: 3rd
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Creativity is a double-edged sword. On one end, it's amazing, beautiful and so spectacular. It can create these beautiful scenes, come up with new and exciting ideas! Create such vivid worlds that intern spark the creativity of those that get lost in them. But... Sometimes, it can become a weapon, a terror, a nightmare...

Roman was awoken by the sound of cracking... It was very loud, almost as if it was just outside of his room. Instinctively he conjured his sword, being silent in hopes to tell what the sound was. There was another sound, it sounded like something broke apart... Almost as if someone had broken the leg clean off of an old wooden side table. He glanced over at the clock beside his bed, it was three in the morning, who was up this late and what were they doing??

He stood and slowly walked to the door, the second he put his hand on the doorknob, the sound stopped. Instead, there was now footsteps, quiet footsteps that seemed to grow fainter and fainter. Why was someone outside his door?

He should feel brave, he should feel courageous! He doesn't though, he feels scared, scared of the unknown. Normally in his realm, he was in control of everything, he's faced hideous monsters of gargantuan size, but this wasn't fake, he couldn't snap and make this disappear, this was reality...

He tried to reason with himself, thinking that, well, maybe one of the dark sides is just playing a prank on him, trying to scare him... That gave him the courage he needed and he opened the door.

He quickly realized... he shouldn't have.

At the end of the hallway stood Deceit... He was shrouded in the shadows but Roman could see the tale-tale yellow snake eye always so prominent in his features. Roman rolled his eyes, "Kaa, what on earth are you doing, I am in need of my beauty sleep! Do leave me and the others be!" he snapped.

Deceit said nothing... his eyes seeming to focus on Roman finally. They followed his movements, but Deceit didn't move an inch. Not even to shift or sway in any way that would explain his trance-like behavior. A chill ran up his spine... "Deceit?" He questioned, taking a step forward.

There was another snapping sound, something ripping and tearing. Roman blinked as he flinched back at the loud noise. Now Deceit was closer... His eyes were closer, rather... That was all he could see from the dark side... They were level with his own and staring through him. Roman would swear that he could feel them burning into him like a fire burns through a piece of paper.

Roman was shaking now... He could feel his entire body shake and go cold. Why was he so scared? It was just Deceit... Right? The intense urge to run and seek shelter in his room or one of the other's rose up in him quickly, but he was frozen in his place. Terrified that the second he'd look away Deceit would... He didn't even know! Just something to scare him! Harm him!

It was only then he realized just how dark the hallway was, the mismatched eyes that had still yet to falter from their dull stare at him, or even blink, were all he could see. He couldn't faintly make out the outlines of the doorways. His room was the one at the end of the hall closest to the staircase, if he ran he could make it downstairs then... what?

He didn't care at this point, he just knew, he needed to run.

"...Deceit...?" he asked again, in feign hopes that his shaking voice would somehow stop the dark side from continuing to stare at him like that! Why wasn't he speaking? Mocking him about how pathetic he sounded? Something! Again. Nothing. No response or even a change in his eyes at all.

He tried to muster all the courage he had, fake or not. After what felt like hours to him, he finally quickly turned and began to sprint out of the hallway. Just before he reached the stairs, however, He felt something cold wrap around his waist tightly, pulling him back. He tried to shout and yell for Logan, Patton, Virgil! Anyone! But there was pressure over his mouth the tell-tale signs of being silenced by the dark side.

He thrashed and tried to swipe at his assailant with his sword, but no matter what way he tried to twist or contort to attempt to hit him, nothing worked. He was only dragged closer and closer to the end of the light sides hall. Closer to the door that connected the dark side to the light. Fear. So much fear. He was shaking, he could feel tears welling up in his eyes, if he had not been silenced, he would be sobbing or screaming.

It was only then that he tried to look at Deceit's face closely.

His eyes were still the same, piercing into his soul and grating against his skull, though it was still off. His head was tilted to the side at an inhuman angle. His mouth was the worst... His mouth was stretched open impossibly wide, bloodied handprints across his chin and upper lip, his jaw unhinged as a normal snake would, but the inside of his mouth didn't have sharp fangs and a disgusting split tongue as he assumed.

It was empty, hollow.

He wasn't speaking because he had no tongue.

He could have been screaming this entire time...

Maybe he was...

Maybe he was trying to help...

Maybe it was a warning.

That's when he heard the doorknob on one of the other rooms click and slowly turn. There was a sound from Deceit. It wasn't coherent enough to sound like any sort of word, it was a strangled, strained almost gurgling noise. Like he was desperately trying to say something, but couldn't.

Roman was suddenly dropped as the door opened, it was Patton's room... Roman could tell from the ethereal golden light that came from it. The pressure from his mouth gone, and the door behind him that lead to the dark side of the mind opened and shut with a violent slam.

Instead of Patton walking out of his room, it was Logan who emerged. His eyes landing on Roman, who had yet to get up from the floor, immediately. Logan's expression was cold, emotionless. He said not a word... Roman was too scared to speak at this point... He couldn't not with the amount of blood he could see on Logan's hands...

Blood that looked new... still dripping off of his fingers and onto the carpet. He heard a faint whimper of pain, from Patton's room and his eyes widened. Roman immediately scrambled to get up and yell, but Logan had placed his foot on Roman's chest before he could even blink. A clear threat. "Roman..." He murmured, as he leaned down, his hand coming to cover Roman's mouth, "I would recommend you to be quiet..."

The sound of an alarm thrust him back into consciousness, Roman sat bolt upright, his mind still reeling and vivid images of what he saw in his nightmare coming back and seemingly burning into his mind. He couldn't help himself, he immediately ran to his bathroom to vomit. He was again shaking and crying, barely able to breathe from the intense and overwhelming feeling of nausea and panic he was having.

He tried to remind himself that it was only a dream... No... No not a dream... A nightmare... A horrific, gruesome, heinous, nightmare...

These were the rare days that Roman cursed his ability to create well... as the images still remained vivid in his mind for days following that nightmare, of course, he never told anyone of these, they would just mock him! Say that he was weak and pathetic! So he hid them, every single nightmare he had... No matter how bad they got.

After all... He was the Brave Prince Roman,

He couldn't have such things scare him.