Trigger warning: mentions of previous non-consensual kiss.

Milly's P.O.V.
I heard a door slam, someone run down the hallway, a voice shout Virgil's name, another door slam, then silence. That night, in the last hours of Tuesday, March fifth, I had been wide awake, thinking about my conversation with Rossane however long before. When I heard those sounds out in the hallway, though, that conversation couldn't have been farther from my mind.

Who heard that?! I texted Camille, Anthony, and Owen on our group chat.

Was that Roman yelling? Owen asked.

That was Virgil running down the hallway! Camille announced.

We have to figure out what's going on, Anthony said. But no one leave their room, it could be dangerous. I ran to my door, my phone in hand, and snapped my fingers, making it so that I could see out but no one could see in. I could barely see from the angle I was at, but it looked like Roman was knocking—no, banging—on Virgil's door.

Of all the nights for Patton and Logan to go on a date... Camille texted, earning a few nervous laughs. Then, outside in the hallway, Roman suddenly fell silent, along with everything else. He slowly walked back to his room, shutting the door softly behind him. There were no lights on in the hallway, just glows from under a few doors, and in the darkness, Roman looked absolutely terrifying.

Is he gone? someone texted. A few texts came through from each of us, saying he was gone but could go back in the hallway at any moment. Then I texted something that momentarily silenced the chat: We have to get to Virgil.

How do we do that? Camille asked. The hallway is now officially dangerous and knowing Virgil he probably sealed off his room.

I don't care how we get there, I said, as long as we get there safely. Then, to everyone's surprise and horror, Anthony's door opened up and out he stepped. I snapped my fingers, making my room opaque again and putting a complete set of clothes on me, and cracked my door open.

"Anthony," I whispered. "What are you doing?"

"You said we had to get to Virgil," he answered. "So I'm going to Virgil. Are you coming with me, or are you playing it safe?" He outstretched his hand to me, as I was kneeling on the floor, and waited silent and still for my answer. Somehow, it felt like the pressure was on, like whatever I chose to do would determine whether or not I figured out what happened. Whether or not I helped Virgil.

With fear and confidence, I took Anthony's hand and stood. He led me down the hallway to Camille and Owen's rooms, and we convinced them to come with us. Every moment that we spent standing in the dark, open hallway felt dangerous and terrifying, because we never knew who was going to talk too loud or what door was going to open. Eventually, when we had everyone bunched together fearfully in the hallway, we moved slowly and quietly down the hall to Virgil's room.

We spent many precious seconds arguing over who should knock on the door, of all things, only to eventually decide that we would all knock. So we did, and there was no response. We knocked again, slightly louder, and still nothing. Without hesitation, I pulled out my phone and texted Virgil.

Me, Camille, Owen, and Anthony are at your door. Please let us in. That text must have been the ticket, because the door opened seconds later.

"Get in, now," Virgil whispered. He was crying heavily, and his words were breathy, as if he was using the last bits of oxygen left in his lungs to utter them. Seeing him, it made whatever hope of overreaction I had call it a night and run the heck home.

"Virgil" was muttered a few times by all of us, along with "what's wrong?" He was visibly shaking and audibly hyperventilating, but he seemed dead set on telling us the following words.

"That's not Roman," he gasped. "I don't know w-who that is, but it's not Roman."

"What do you mean 'that's not Roman,'" Camille questioned.

"I mean that's n-not Roman."

"Okay, okay, Virgil, breathe, just breathe," I said, noticing that he was barely breathing at all. "In for four seconds, hold it for seven seconds, out for eight seconds." I brought him to sit down on his bed and rubbed the back of his hand with my thumb, which I learned from him. After some time, he caught his breath and slowed his tears enough to talk again.

"It's not safe here anymore," he said. "We have to get out of here."

"We can't just up and leave our home," Owen protested.

"You can call it home all you want," Virgil said. "But that doesn't change the fact that it's dangerous. Besides, I've up and left before, I'll do it again, and it's time you four learned how."

"Where will we go?" Camille asked.

"We have to go to the kingdom first," Anthony said. "We have to warn them that Roman's not Roman."

"We can hide in the Enchanted Forest for now," Virgil said. "But if the situation calls for it then we'll have to leave the Mind."

"What about Thomas," Owen asked. "What about Patton and Logan?"

"Warn them too," Virgil answered. "Now, is there anything the four of you absolutely need that you don't already have on you?" We shook our heads. "Alright then, let's get out of here."

Virgil's P.O.V.
I wasn't sure how the kids would handle running away, but there was no other way. If we stayed there, we'd be knowingly living amongst a dangerous imposter. I still worried, though. One of the biggest parts of running away is not being seen by anyone you don't want to be seen by. It's easy for one, maybe two or three people to not be seen, but five people seemed like a few too many. Still, I had to push those worries away and remember there was no other way.

The five of us teleported out of my room and directly into the castle, where we demanded to speak with court officials. We were turned away, being told that by this time at night they should all be home already. After a bit of arguing, we vaguely explained our situation, and suddenly we couldn't be turned away.

"Lord Corentine and the Viscount Searling are on their way here," one of the people we spoke to told us. "They will be spreading your tale to all within the kingdom if they deem it true." After that, we were seated in the secondary conference room to wait for the two officials.

"Owen," I said to him, "I need you to call Patton and Logan, since it's apparently going to take longer to get to them than I thought. Tell them to meet us in the castle immediately, stay together, and do not go home." Owen nodded, took his phone out, and called Logan. To no surprise, he didn't pick up, so Owen called again. After maybe the fifth try, Logan finally picked up.

"Logan, it's an emergency," Owen said into the phone. "Listen, you and Patton need to come to the castle now. Don't go home, and don't split up." Logan said something to Owen, but I couldn't hear what.

"We'll tell you when you get here, but please... I'm with Virgil, Anthony, Milly, and Camille. But please, Logan, get here now, don't split up, and do not go home." There was a muffled response, and Owen hung up. "They're on the way," he announced. The two arrived about a minute later, anxiously asking everyone what had happened.

"That's not Roman," was said at least a thousand times. The kids burst out with explanations of what happened, but I realized from hearing their stories that they didn't know the full story, only that something made me realize Roman wasn't Roman. I said nothing to Patton and Logan and focused on trying to not think about what happened. I wasn't very good at not thinking about it.

"Virgil, are you okay, kiddo?" I looked up from the ground (apparently I had been staring at my shoes) to see Patton standing in front of me. Suddenly, all the fear and panic and pain I had been holding back for the past however long burst out, and I lunged at Patton, wrapping my arms around him and burying my face in his cardigan.

"He's not Roman," I cried. "I should've known it wasn't him this whole time! I didn't have control, and he kissed me, and he's not Roman!"

"Kiddo, you're n-not making any sense," Patton stammered. "What do you mean?"

"I couldn't control what I did or what I thought and just a while ago he kissed me and it was all wrong and..." I was too hysterical to talk anymore. Instead, I just stood there with Patton holding me until Lord Corentine arrived, followed by the Viscount Searling and, to everyone's surprise, Thomas.

"Thomas," Logan said. "What are you doing here? I thought we hadn't summoned you."

"You didn't," Thomas said. "But it's pretty easy to tell when something's wrong with you guys. What happened? Are you all alright?" He glanced from person to person, his eyes landing on Patton and I for slightly longer than everyone else.

Yet again, the kids began explaining their jumbled stories, each telling slightly different tales but all with one main detail: Roman was not Roman.

"All of you, please," Lord Corentine yelled. "One at a time! This story doesn't make a bit of sense when you blurt every word out like you haven't a stroke of time."

"Forgive us, Lord Corentine," Anthony said. "But we don't know whether or not we have any time. At any moment we could be found, and so we have to keep moving."

"Very well then," the Viscount Searling said. "Continue with your rambling about, what was it, an imposter posing as His Majesty, Prince Roman? I shan't tolerate you Sides running amuck in this kingdom whenever you please! Accusing the prince of being an imposter is a high offense, and all of you must be held accountable for your little joke!"

"Viscount Searling," Logan said. "I assure you this is not a joke. We wouldn't dare accuse anyone of being an imposter, let alone our own Prince Roman, without good reason and intention. Please, we ask that you—"

"Attention!" We all turned to see a young woman, one we had spoken to earlier, standing in the doorway of the conference room. "Prince Roman requires he speak with all of us!" Immediately, I wrapped my arms tighter around Patton, and he held on tightly to Logan's arms. Milly grabbed Camille by the hand and brought her across the room to huddle together with me, Logan, and Patton. Anthony stood where he was for a moment, but Owen quickly dragged him back to stand with the rest of us, just as Thomas huddled in and the doorway opened wider.

In stepped every person we had talked to that night, all of them looking absolutely terrified. The last person to step in, who shut and bolted the doors behind him, was 'Roman.'

A.N.
YO! PANIC! AT THE DISCO! Their new album Pray For The Wicked came out like thirty minutes ago and I've already listened to the whole thing and OH MY GOD. I don't even know what else to say, other than that album is the best I've heard in a while.

Alright, that's all for now, just go listen to the album already. Adiós, guys, gals, and non-binary pals!