Virgil's P.O.V.:
Timeline: Present Day

My hands were shaking with nerves. I shouldn't have told him, I shouldn't have told him a single thing, I should've guessed his reaction. This was exactly what I was afraid of when I decided to tell him, oh gosh this was bad, this was bad, this was so bad-

I yanked my headphones over my ears, trying to lose myself in the constant thump of the beat and trying to imagine my world centering around that steady constant beat.

After a while, it was clear that the music was not working. I threw my headphones away from me with a strangled cry, dropping to my knees and pressing my hands harshly against the top of my head.

I forced myself to take slow breaths, which were shaky but slow, which was progress. I needed to keep this under control. I couldn't have a panic attack. Oh please no.

I gritted my teeth and the panic grew inside me, flying through my veins like fire. No. Please no. An anxiety attack I could afford. An anxiety was better than the alternative. I couldn't have a panic attack. Not here. I needed to get myself under control before it grew beyond my limits.

I stumbled my way into my recording studio – being sure to close the door behind me. I fell and started crawling my way into the booth, as fast as I could. Hands shaking and vision blurring I carefully opened the large box on the floor, just inside by the door. I grabbed a large pillow and quickly tucked in under my head as I hit the floor and the scream was ripped from my throat as a supernova burst from the behind my eyelids.

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Roman's P.O.V.:

I hesitated, glancing back into my room one last time to make sure I hadn't left something behind. My gaze landed on the door, and a small round of hurt hit my heart. Maybe... maybe I could still ask Virgil if he could come with me...

I snapped my fingers and teleported right outside his door. I lifted my hand to knock but...

I hesitated.

He hadn't even given those sides who lived in the Imagination a chance for justice. I didn't need him, not for this. He'd had his chance to come with me and he'd decided he'd rather do nothing.

I couldn't do that.

I had to do something.

Something - anything - for all those sides...

I winced and close my eyes, turning away from his door as I snapped my fingers, appearing at the front gates of the Mind Palace.

I glanced behind me at the large castle behind me, something I didn't see very often. It looked like the Disney castle, with tall with white pillars and a lot of gold accents. But instead of it's traditional blue rooftops the Mind Palace roofs were a bright red – a stark contrast.

I eyed the door momentarily before turning back around and heading out through the gates.

I didn't even glance in the direction of what used to be the village, not needing to see the destruction for a second time.

I slipped on my gold headphones, tucking one headset behind my ear, to keep my ears open for any potential danger. I pulled out my samurai sword, and slowly made my way to the woods, bracing myself for the speech I was going to give the murdered who order the attack on all those innocent people.

Right before I killed him.

-----------------
Virgil's P.O.V.:

I groaned as I woke up, feeling light headed and exhausted. I raised my arm, moaning as the room suddenly slanted and it took all my willpower not to puke right then and there.

"Oh my," a voice said, and I twisted around as fast as I could, trying to find where it was coming from. "Just – Just stay still for a moment, okay? I'm going to grab Logan real quick, okay kiddo? I'll only be gone a minute at tops."

Patton.

I nodded numbly, exhausted.

Before I could blink Logan and Patton were both at my side, kneeling down next to me in the booth.

"Virgil, can you hear me? Please don't panic, it's just me and Patton," Logan's clipped tone cutting through the fog that was my mind right now. "You've – you've had another seizure and I'd like to move you to my room, but I won't move you until you say that you're ready. Okay? You don't have to respond until you're ready, just stay awake for us okay? I know that it's hard, but we need you to stay awake at least until we move you. Can you see me? It's me and Patton..." he continued, repeating himself – his calm voice giving me something concrete to focus on to keep me awake...

After a few minutes of this, I completely opened my eyes, blinking slowly at the nervous faces in front of me.

We... We were in Logan's room.

"Don't try and sit up too fast," Logan said softly. "Just take your time. Your body has been under a lot of trauma recently and you need to give yourself time to heal."

"Wha-" Geez, my voice sounded awful.

"You had a seizure, a couple days ago," Patton jumped in, voice abnormally quiet and serious. "You've been out of it ever since."

I suddenly shivered, cold. I glanced down and-

HOLY HECKITY HECK WHERE WAS MY HOODIE?

I was lying down on a long, cold metal table, my knees hanging off the end of it. My arms were strapped down to the sides and not only was I missing my hoodie, but my shirt as well and tons of monitors and wires were pressed against my skin and a loud beeping noise filled my ears –

"Hey, hey, hey – it's okay, Virge, everything's fine – you're okay," Patton was saying hurriedly but it was hard to hear him out the loud beeping.

And then everything went silent. I was momentarily confused and twisted to see Logan had placed his own noise-cancelling headphones over my ears. He looked at me with a questioning expression, as if to see if that made things better or worse. I felt the remains of my panic start to recede a bit, and then Patton came, holding a thick blue fuzzy blanket, placing it over me.

I didn't say anything since I couldn't hear myself, but clutched the blanket tightly, grateful.

"What happened?" I croaked.

"Patton came in to talk with you and found you mid-siezure in the booth. He stayed with you during and once you finished he quickly came a brought me. You passed out and we brought you here. You were out for a long time. When you woke up, sometime yesterday, you... freaked out and had another panic attack.  And... then we were here," Logan finished lamely.

"W-Where's Roman?" I grunted, falling back on the pillow tucked underneath my head.

Logan and Patton shared a nervous glance.

My stomach knotted.

"Roman left for The Dark Side of the Imagination the day you had your seizure. We haven't seen or heard from him since," Logan said. "He... didn't tell you?"

I closed my eyes, waves of guilt rolling over me. Of course he didn't ask me. After our fight, why would he?

"Please, we need to go after him," I choked out, yanking against my restraints uselessly.

"Patton and I can't afford to go," Logan countered. "And you're in no condition to."

"When I recover you're letting me go," I growled, leaving no room for argument.

Logan hesitated, but conceded.  "Now that you're not trying to kill us, how about we move you to the Common Room, shall we?"
__________

I was in my usual hoodie and black jeans, resting on the couch - headphones returned to me and resting on my collarbone, MCR blasting through the speakers.

Patton was resting on the floor, coloring in a Peter Pan coloring book.  Every once and a while he'd glance up to check on me before resuming his coloring.

But it didn't take long for me to figure out something was wrong.  Patton was too quiet.

"Hey Patton... Can you come here?" I asked.

Patton jumped, surprised before all but running to my side.  "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" I blurted out.

Patton opened his mouth to response and then slowly shut it.  He avoiding my gaze, fixing his eyes instead on the light peering through the window shades.

"You're not blinking," I whispered. "You're not blinking... because you're trying not to cry."

Patton let out a small, weak laugh as he blinked, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. He tried to wipe them away quickly, but I stopped his hand, letting them fall.

"You said that you'd tell us when you were covering up your feeling," I said, voice low and stern. I swear there was nothing I wouldn't do to protect Patton, and whoever made him cry will be very sorry. Was it Logan? I swear if it was Logan I was going to –

"It- it's silly, really," Patton said, avoiding my eyes. "It's stupid."

"Your feelings aren't stupid," I deadpanned.

Patton twisted his fingers together, picking at his nails nervously. "Really, kiddo. I'm sure it's nothing."

"That statement sure made it sound like a something."

Patton didn't answer for a bit, only making me more concerned. "I – I've been having nightmares," he confessed finally. "They're... pretty bad. So if I haven't been acting like myself... that's why. I... I haven't been sleeping much," he admitted shortly, not meeting my eyes.

"Well... would... would a... sleepover help?" I croaked out, wincing even as the words left my mouth.

Patton eyes widened in surprise, jaw dropping a little at the suggestion. He didn't say anything, as if he was waiting for me to deny it. "Wait, you're serious?" he stammered when I didn't take it back.

"I'd do anything for you, Patton," I replied, snapping my fingers. Instantly, my pillow and fat fuzzy blanket appeared on the other end of the couch. I frowned and snapped again, summoning my cat head plush. I snapped one last final time, magically in dark purple plaid pajama pants and my hoodie. "But don't expect me to cuddle with you or something," I added frowning at his fangirl expression, crawling underneath my blankets and tucking my cat plush in my arms.

Patton nodded rapidly, looking excited and... relieved?

He quickly summoned all his things and set them up on the floor of the Common Room. I frowned at that.

"Okay, when I said I wasn't cuddle with you, I didn't mean you had to sleep on the floor."

"No, I woulda chosen the floor either way, kiddo. I usually end up on the floor anyway," he grinned, glasses dorkily crooked.

I internally shrugged. If he wanted to sleep on the floor, then I wasn't going to be the one to stop him. "Tap me if you need me," I said, slipping in my earbuds (I can't sleep with my headphones on obviously - though I totally would if I could) and slowly drifting to sleep.

I woke up to silence, considering that my playlist ended several hours ago. I winced at how bright it was – I forgot that the Common Room reflects the actual time – rather than my always dark room. From the sunlight baring into my eyes, my guess it was roughly seven or so in the morning. I winced, trying to fall back asleep before I woke up completely, before I noticed something very wrong.

I peered closer, blinking away the remains of sleep. Was...

Oh no, Patton was crying.

It wasn't loud, it was actually quite quiet – I was partly amazed that I had noticed it at all. He wasn't even shaking his shoulders, like most people do. He just laid there, curled in fetal position, face pressed too harshly into his pillow for him to be doing anything other than crying, to muffle his cries with his pillow.

I slid down, gently kneeing next to Patton, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. Patton immediately tensed at my fingers, not moving his face from the pillow.

"Pat?" I questioned. "Did... Did you have a nightmare?" I asked gently, trying not to press too harshly.

Patton slowly came up, face blotchy and wet with tears. He nodded wordlessly.

I grabbed his arms and pulled them around my stomach, forcing him to hug me. Patton accepted the embrace, holding me tightly as he pressed his face into my shoulder, letting his tears rest there instead.

I rubbed his back gently, trying to do my best to comfort him. I didn't even hug Roman often so this was a little new to me. Not... bad, just new.

After a couple minutes of this, I pulled back and got to my feet, pulling Patton along with me, who was trying to wipe away the remainder of his tears. I settled Patton down on the couch, before veering off and grabbing some cookies from the kitchen. I came back and handed Patton the whole jar.

He laughed at little when I held out the jar to him, but accepted it nonetheless. "You can't even begin to imagine how many cookies I've had recently," he teased after a moment, popping open the jaw and grabbing his first cookie.

I shrugged, taking a bite out of my own cookie, Oatmeal Raisin as usual rather than Patton's chocolate chip. "So do you want to talk about it? I didn't want to ask you last night because I didn't want to upset you, but seeing has it happened anyway..." I trailed off, hoping that Patton would pick up where I left off.

At some point while I grabbed the cookies Patton had grabbed his glasses, and was not blinking quickly, finally able to see clearly. "Not really," he admitted. "It's bad."

I didn't say anything. I wasn't going to be the bad guy and force him to tell me.

Patton started fidgeting restlessly and he finally caved in front of me.

"It's dark, wherever it is. Not like I-can't-even-see-dark, but more just haunting lights. It- It's you and Roman in this place. And I don't know why, but it's more like I'm just watching everything happen – like I'm not there. And - And," Patton burst into tears. Sobs ran through his entire body and I leaned forward, pulling Patton into another hug. I stayed silent while he cried, fighting back tears of my own.

"You – you don't have to put yourself through this," I whispered. "You don't need to give me a reason, Patton. If you need help, please don't hesitate to come for me. How long have these nightmares been going on?"

"A week," he sobbed. "This has been going on all week," he repeated, gripping my jacket harder as he cried.

"Dad," I whispered, making sure I held him closer.

It would never be enough.

I promised I would do anything to protect him, protecting him from the world. But there was nothing I could do about this, no way for me to protect him here.

And for that I would never forgive myself.

____________________
2497 WDCT.
*mic-drop*

So Roman's been M.I.A. - what do you think happened? Why isn't he back yet? And what are Patton's nightmares about? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm ;)

I'll republish with the voters tomorrow but I just wanted to get this out tonight :3

HOPE YOU LIKED IT :3

- Max :)