"Has anyone seen Roman lately?"
Virgil pulled one of his headphones out and looked up at his Popstar.
"Nah, he's probably off fighting Remus or slaying a dragonwitch in the Imagination if I had to guess. Don't worry about it, he's probably fine."
"Lo? Have you seen him?"
"I'm not entirely sure of his current whereabouts, however, I did see the library light on last night at an unreasonable hour."
"So you admit to being up late!" Patton whipped around and pointed an accusing wooden spoon at the side.
"I never said that, but I suppose you could infer  it. I was up because I ran out of melatonin and forgot to resupply myself." The rational explanation calmed Morality and he turned back to his cooking.
"Can someone go check the library for him? It's almost time for dinner and I'm sure he's hungry."
"I guess I'll go. See if Remy will bring us some melatonin tonight and if not, I'll let you use mine. I have a few leftover."
"Virgil... have you not been taking it?"
"Only on Sundays."
"VIRGIL ANXIETY SANDERS," Patton whipped back around and glared," you know you're not supposed to skip on it!"
"But, Patton, MCR came back and I was too excited to sleep!"
"Not an excuse! Take it tonight or so help me Thomas-"
"Patton, please, I'm trying to read."
Virgil used this distraction as an escape and slipped out of the room unnoticed. He sighed, replaced his headphone, and headed towards the library with the two older sides bickering in the background. The anxious side opened the door and leaned against the frame as he watched Roman in confusion. Papers were everywhere- which wasn't unusual with his ideas- but there were certain letters circled in their names and it seemed like he was trying to solve a puzzle.
"Hey, Princey, whatcha doing?"
Said side jumped three feet up and turned around to face him, however his hand continued to write. Weird.
"Just trying to figure something out. Why?"
"Pat said dinner's almost done and asked me to come get you. Plus, he's worried about your self-care recently. I'd let him know you're doing fine so he doesn't go on a care-for-yourself rampage like he did last week." He watched as Roman turned back to his most recent project.
"Yeah, I suppose I should. I'll be down in a minute." He mumbled.
"Alright. Hurry up though, or Remus will eat all it..."
"I'm coming!" Virgil smirked when he heard the creative one fall in step beside him and looked up at him," so what's this project about?"
"Well, I had a very strange dream recently where my hand decided to write on its own and I heard a voice much different than any of ours trying to speak with us. I wanted to see if maybe that burnt out name might belong to someone that was once part of Thomas but no longer is."
"How would that even happen? How could a host lose a part of themselves?"
"Well, I'm no Logan, but my theory is that this specific trait was once extremely important to Thomas' growth as a person but now that he's an adult, he doesn't need them anymore. Similar to how Remus and I split years ago when Thomas started learning what was accepted in society versus what was not."
"Are you sure you're okay? That sounds way too sophisticated for you to come up with by yourself."
"Hey! I can be smart too!"
"I doubt that." Virgil smirked mischievously and bolted away from the annoyed, playful, boy behind him.
"Get back here, my chemically imbalanced romance!"
"Nah, don't think I will." He slid into the dining room and onto his chair right as Roman burst in and was glared at by Patton.
"Roman! What have I said about running in the house?"
"It's not even an actual house! It's just imagin-"
"No excuses! Sit down for dinner."
Roman pouted and plopped down opposite a smirking Virgil. He kicked his leg under the table and was rewarded with a glare.
He managed to get through dinner without throwing his garlic bread at Virgil, and he was proud of it before a quiet whisper caught his ear and reminded him of his quest. Roman excuses himself and went back to the library, back to the multitude of papers recording everything that he had gleaned and everything this mysterious voice had told him.
So far, his list included:
Opposite-with a note of 'whom?'
And
Pretty much nothing else. He assumed the side was shy or couldn't communicate much due to their state of being so he took another- his 68th?- sheet of paper and wrote out his questions.
What's your name?
Approximately how old are you?
Have you been here all along?
Why can't we see you?
Do you like Disney?
Normal questions. However, he didn't expect to see answers written from his hand, in a different script.
I'd rather not say yet
Older than Morality
Yes, but only recently gained enough consciousness to communicate
I'm a ghost of my former self
Disney? What's that?
He gasped," as soon as I return you to your former glory, we are watching all of them!"
"Sounds good, Creativity. If you can bring me back... I don't know if there's a way..."
"I'll make one! I'm sure I can! Just let me talk to Logan and Patton first. They're the oldest, minus you, and would know how, if possible."
'Okay... good luck.' And suddenly, his hand was his again. He picked up the sheet of paper and took it back to his room, pinning it up next to a picture of his famILY. He'd make sure this side was returned. It was his duty now.