Trigger warning: verbal fighting, nightmare, crying.

Camille's P.O.V.
I may not have been as excited for Valentines Day as Owen was, but I was still really excited. Now, I didn't wake up on that day thinking that I would enter the ballroom like Cinderella. I didn't think I'd turn everyone's head as I elegantly stepped down the stairs toward Milly, and that she would suddenly decide I'm the most beautiful person she had ever seen and dance the night away with me. At no point did I think anything even remotely close to a fairytale would happen to me on Valentines Day, but I sure didn't think I'd end up crying into Patton's dress.

So, how did I end up going home alone after crying into Patton's dress? Well, it started when the clock stroke nine and I went to the dance floor. I started out doing a dance (but I really don't even know, a shimmy?) with Owen, then very slowly Owen went off with Anthony and I was with Milly. I savored the first good bit of the dance, simply taking in the joy of spending time with her. Just as I was about to drop the bomb, Roman initiated the partner dances, and Milly and I sat back down. Fine, I thought, not what I planned, but casual reveals work too.

"Milly?" I said, around two minutes before the first song ended, after I had mustered up all my courage and went over what I wanted to say.

"Yeah?" she replied, looking at me curiously.

"I was wondering, do you want to dance together for the second song? As Valentines?" Milly's eyes went wide with shock.

"V-Valentines? You mean, like, friend Valentines, right?"

"Well, actually, I kinda meant the.. more than friend way." Suddenly, after a short pause, Milly broke out in a fit of nervous laughter.

"Camy, you're hilarious!" she exclaimed through laughter.

"I'm not joking Milly, I'm serious." Her laughter abruptly stopped, and seemed almost as though the whole world went silent with her.

"You can't be," she said, suddenly very serious. "That's not possible."

"It is possible. I like you, I really do, and I would like you to be my Valentine and share this dance with me."

"Camille, you don't understand, you can't like me."

"Well why not?"

"It's complicated—"

"I'm Curiosity, I'll figure it out."

"No, really—gah! Look, you don't understand. Just leave me alone, okay? I don't want to talk about this. Not here, not now, not you." At that moment, the song ended, and Milly stood and ran as fast as she could to Virgil. Part of me wanted to run after her, drag her away, and demand she tell me why she was being so rude. The rest of me wanted to run away. But I couldn't decide on just one, so I ran to Patton.

I asked if we could dance, and he happily agreed. We got into dancing positions, and I buried my face in his chest. Next thing I knew, I was crying. He quickly asked me if I was okay, to which I simply told him that Milly and I got in a fight.

"Oh, kiddo," he replied, pulling me into a tight hug. "It's alright. Fights happen all the time, you just have to give it time and effort, and everything will get better, okay?" I nodded. "How about we talk about this some more tomorrow? That way we don't make a big deal of this in public and you have some time to think things over tonight. Is that alright with you?"

"Yeah. Thanks Dad." So, yeah, by that point in time I called Patton 'Dad.' I don't know, there's just something about calling him Dad instead of calling him Patton. It's like he's suddenly not just a Side, he's not just Morality, he's not even not just Patton. It's like he's suddenly become this sort of blanket. He's gonna protect you from the darkness of your bedroom late at night. He's gonna keep you warm when you're shivering from the cold. He's gonna wrap around you when you feel so alone and just need to feel something around you. Suddenly he's your dad—a friend, a protector, a caretaker, a mentor, and a loving blanket, all wrapped into one.

So, after the dance was over, I spent the rest of the night sitting at the table. I didn't do anything on my phone, I didn't talk to anyone, I didn't dance. I just sat there, lonely and silent at the table. I watched as the clock ticked on by. Thomas left, then Owen and Anthony left, apparently only telling Milly beforehand. A while after that, Logan and Virgil excused themselves for a few minutes. They got back, then Logan and Patton left to go on their date. As soon as they were gone, Roman and Virgil excused themselves as well, leaving Milly and I alone together. Upon realizing this, she immediately left without a single word. Ten minutes later, Roman returned. He didn't come back to sit at the table, and instead talked amongst others at the party. It seemed to me that Virgil had left. I decided that there was nothing left for me at the party, and I left.

At home, once I had finally gotten ready for bed and gone to sleep, I had a dream. I knew it was a dream from the beginning, but that didn't take away from how real it felt. I was back in the ballroom, sitting in my seat at the table, but nobody else was there. All around me, in the darkness that I could just barely see through, it looked as though a hurricane had come through there. Tables were flipped on their sides, chairs had been thrown across the room, broken glass and porcelain was scattered on the floor. This isn't real, is it? I asked myself. This is just a physical manifestation of how I perceived the night to be, right?

I decided to look around. Carefully, I stepped over the shards and the furniture and made my way around the room for any clues as to what may have happened. I found nothing, and left the ballroom. I found myself walking up to one of the castle's turrets. At the top I found a red rose, flattened and broken, and a necklace with a yin on it. I kneeled down to pick up the flower, and I caught a glimpse of my hands. But they weren't my hands anymore. They were solid black again. I looked down at myself, and my clothes and hair were gone. All that was left was my black, lightless body.

A voice began to echo through the air, saying something I couldn't quite understand. But the sound was deafening, and eventually the words were loud and clear. "The mission was successful, we've got him. Prepare the illusion."

I screamed, sitting up in my bed and immediately checking my hands. They were my hands again, and the echoes were gone. I breathed a sigh of relief as Patton came running into my room, but I continued to cry heavily.

"Camille?" Patton yelled, running into my room. He quickly seemed to recognize that I had had a nightmare and ran to my side. For the next hour, he held me while I cried and muttered some things about my dream and, eventually, fell asleep in his arms.

Roman's P.O.V.
As soon as Patton and Logan were out of earshot, I asked if Virgil would speak with me privately. He seemed scared, which only fueled my anger. I led him away to the northern turret, and spoke at last when we reached the top.

"What's going on, Virgil?" I questioned him. He looked at me with a blank and confused expression.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You've been sneaking away a lot. To your room, to the Enchanted Forest, to this turret. So what's going on? Are you hiding something from me?"

"What? No, I'm not hiding anything from you, Roman. I do have other things in my life except you, you know." Virgil was clearly joking when he said that, trying to lighten the very tense mood, but I wasn't getting it.

"Alright, look, there's no point in me trying to be subtle, so let me just get to the point. Why are you sneaking away with Logan so much?" Virgil's eyes went wide.

"That's what this is about, Logan? What, you don't think I'm cheating on you, right?" I said nothing. "Right?" he asked again, his voice shaking this time.

"Well, I didn't want to," I said. "But what else am I supposed to think when you're sneaking away with Logan everyday, and then I find you holding his hand up here after sneaking away again?"

"Y-You.. you saw that?"

"So you are cheating!" Virgil's face went dark red, as I saw even through his makeup. "I can't believe you!"

"Roman, I'm not cheating on you! I don't care what you saw or what you think, I'm not cheating on you!"

"Then what are you doing?"

"I'm spending time with my best friend and helping him impress his boyfriend. Did you even think about that? Did you think about Logan? Even if you really thought that I was cheating on you—"

"Which I do!"

"—shouldn't you take a moment to think about Logan? He loves Patton, he loves him more than anyone or anything. He would never do that to him."

"Then what about you? Would you do that to me?"

"No, you idiot, I wouldn't!"

"Then why are you being so defensive?"

"Because you're a halfwitted moron who didn't bother to think anything through and jumped to the conclusion that I'm cheating."

"Halfwit is what Logan calls me. But, alright, alright, fine. He's your best friend, he loves someone else, you love someone else. But why would you sneak away if there was nothing to hide?"

"There was something to hide!"

"What?!"

"We're Logan and Virgil! We don't do public affection!"

"Public affection is a term used for physical intimacy. You're admitting to cheating on me!"

"No I'm not! I just..." Virgil stopped himself, then yelled angrily. "You know what? I don't even give a damn anymore. Im tired of your arrogance, your idiocy, and your recklessness. I'm done."

"Your done?"

"Yes, I'm done."

"Done with what?"

"I'm done with this!" Tears began rolling down Virgil's cheeks.

"I'm done with this stupid necklace!" Virgil took off his necklace and threw it to the ground. "I'm done with this flower!" He took the rose I gave him out of his bag, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it. "I'm done with this party, and Valentines Day, and I'm done with you! If you don't have enough faith in this relationship—no, not even this relationship, but in me—that you just jump right to the conclusion that I would cheat on you with my best friend, then I'm done! Goodbye, Creativity." I grabbed his wrist as he began to leave.

"Where are you going to go?" I asked.

"Wherever you aren't." Virgil answered, his voice and entire body shaking, tears flowing down his face, his voice echoing slightly, and a furious fire in his eyes. We stared each other in the eyes furiously for a few seconds, then I let go of his wrist.

"Fine," I said. "Leave, get the hell out of here. Goodbye, Anxiety." And just like that, he left, crying and mumbling to himself. I stood completely still, not even turning to watch Virgil leave. I didn't want to see him leave—I didn't want to see him at all. All I could think was that I had every reason to believe he had been cheating. He was the one that was wrong to lash out, not me.

After being still for a few minutes, replaying the fight over and over, I stepped towards the edge of the turret and looked out over the vast horizon. In the distance, I could see the movement of shadows. I guessed it was the creatures of the night, which would normally be a somewhat alarming and terrifying sight, but I shrugged it away and turned to the other movement I saw. A horse was galloping towards the Enchanted Forest, a figure sitting on its back. I knew, even though I could only barely make out the figures' outline, that it was Virgil riding away on horseback.

With a sigh, I turned away and went back to the ballroom. Upon entering once more, I realized most of the people had left—fifty or sixty remained, including the orchestra and chefs. Trying desperately to keep myself distracted, I made small talk with a couple different people. If I'm being honest, I don't really remember who or what I talked about, because I still couldn't keep my mind off Virgil. With every passing second, I realized more and more how bad I had messed up.

But, I never made any effort to go find Virgil. He called me Creativity, and I called him Anxiety. At this point where everyone knows everyone's name, calling someone by their representation for any reason other than factual statements is a rather serious insult. Besides, if Virgil runs away, you shouldn't expect to find him until he wants you to find him.

Finally, at midnight, there were still about fifty people left, the orchestra had stopped playing, and the only thing being served was wine and champagne. It seemed that everyone was either tired, drunk, or both. I was simply tired, as I had chose to stick with nothing more than one glass so I didn't end up intoxicated in front of my subjects. But, of course, I could not leave my own party until it was over, and it was planned to go on for as long as one in the morning. I checked my phone over and over to see what time it was so I could go home, but the clock wasn't going fast enough for me.

That's when things start getting fuzzy. I was trying to stay awake, and then there was a roar. I remember grabbing my sword and running at something, but I don't remember what. The very last thing I can recall is a burning pain on the side of my face and then a sharp pain on the back of my head. And then that's it. Everything went black, and my memory cuts off there.

A.N.
So, there's no sugarcoating it anymore, my writing is far behind. I've got to do something about it, but I also don't want to take a break. So here's the deal: the next two updates are just gonna be collections of pictures that I found online that will give you a really good visual of all the different things from the Valentines Day chapters. After that, we'll be back to normal updates and you'll get chapter six.

Thankfully, school's almost over. In just a couple weeks I have E.O.G.s and final exams, which may put me back even more in my writing, but then after that I'll be on summer break. Summer break means I get an actual sleep schedule (not just any sleep schedule, but a healthy one too!) and that sleep schedule gives me more nighttime hours, which is when I'm more productive, which means I'll get more writing done.

Alright then, at this point I'm just rambling on about being a night owl and getting to have a healthy and consistent sleep schedule (but really, I'm ecstatic), so I'll end this here. Adiós guys, gals, and non-binary pals.