Trigger warnings: mentions of imprisonment, death, and torture/physical harm.

Thomas's P.O.V.
I was texting with Joan about what we should do for my birthday when a notification crossed my screen. I opened it and saw the one-word text Virgil sent on the Lituation Room. Upon seeing it, I told Joan I had to go, then went to the Mind Palace. I was met by Patton, Logan, and Milly, who were all staring at each other.

"Does this mean what I think it means?" Milly questioned hopefully.

"Perhaps," Logan replied.

"Then what are we waiting for," I said. "Let's go!"

"Wait," Patton interrupted. "Logan took on the full load of teleporting both of us, he can't take any of this load."

"Alright, well, there's three other people here," Mill said. "Spread out between us, we'll barely notice the difference."

With that, Patton helped Logan up and we teleported to the hospital where we were met by a smiling, crying Virgil. Seconds after we arrived, Anthony, Owen, and Camille appeared.

"The doctors are checking him out right now," Virgil explained, wiping his eyes and smiling even wider. For the next ten minutes, we all waited anxiously to see Roman.

When the last doctor left the room, she looked at us and said, "he's doing very well already, and he's very excited to see all of you. Three at a time." Three at a time, we went into Roman's room. First, Patton and Logan went in. After that, Camille, Owen, and I went in. After us, Milly, Anthony, and Virgil went in. The rest of the day was spent by us switching out in groups of two or three to see Roman.

The next day was the same thing, except for one thing: Roman heard the story of what happened while he was gone. Anthony told most of the story while other parts were covered by Milly or Patton. Roman didn't exactly take it well, but we didn't really expect him to in the first place. However, we were not the only ones telling stories—Roman had a story of his own.

"The creatures took me and the other five," he began. "They knocked us all out, and by the time I woke up the other five were gone and I was covered in cuts and bruises. They had me locked up in a little room, and I kept going in and out of consciousness, and every time I woke up I had more cuts and bruises. I wasn't sure what they were doing to me." For the first time in over a year, I saw tears in Roman's eyes.

"I was too weak to teleport, and I could barely move. I tried to yell for help, but they just came in and shut me up. I thought I was going to die." Tears rolled down Roman's face as he squeezed Virgil's hand.

The doctors didn't know, but all the Sides and I were in the room at that moment, listening to Roman's story and telling our own. It was uncomfortable, as the little room was not at all built to hold eight visitors, one patient, furniture, and various medical machines, but we managed to squeeze ourselves in there nonetheless.

"You say you didn't know what they were doing?" Logan asked. Roman nodded in response, though the room was so packed that a few of us saw him nod and everyone else was told that he nodded.

"When Virgil cut his hand a few weeks back," Logan started. "I was putting away the medical supplies when I heard a voice from behind me say 'four down, four to go.'" Remember that the creature we fought last year said it was trying to obtain the substance that Sides are made of to give itself a form. I think, perhaps, this substance is what the creatures were trying to collect from you. That would explain why you, Roman, were harmed so much."

A moment of silence followed as we all took in that information, until Owen questioned, "but the 'four down, four to go' thing, what's that supposed to mean?"

Logan bought for a moment before answering, "I'm sure it means that the creatures have collected the substance from four of us Sides—Virgil, Patton, and Roman—and need it from the rest of us."

"Hold on," I said. "You said they had the substance from four Sides, but you only listed three."

"Me," said a quiet voice, so quiet I wasn't completely sure who it was from. From the corner of the room, a hand raised, pink string bracelets around their wrist, telling us all that it was Camille. "I was the first one they took it from," she continued. "I was the tester. The experiment."

There was an uncomfortable, upsetting moment of silence before Milly said, "guys, if they still want the substance from the other four of us, what would stop the imposter from getting it himself?"

"Perhaps that wasn't his mission," Logan answered. "I think he was there disguised as Roman to get information on us. Find out what our vulnerabilities are, where we frequent, who we spend the most time with, things such as that."

"It's a classic villain cliché," Virgil interrupted. "They tried to take us down from the outside, and that didn't work, so they tried to attack us from the inside."

"They've been trying so hard to get this substance," Patton stated, his voice shaking. "They've killed us, they've impersonated us, they've imprisoned us, and more, and they've still got four of us to get the substance from. This isn't over."

"That's exactly right," Anthony said. "But listen to what you said: they've done all those things to us, and look where we are now."

We all looked around at each other for a few seconds before Virgil said, "they've killed us."

"They've imprisoned us," Camille said.

"They've impersonated us," Roman added.

"They've haunted us," Patton continued.

"They've broken us," Milly said.

"They've tortured us," Logan added.

"They've hurt us," Owen added.

"They've hunted us," Anthony continued.

"But look where we are," I said. "They've done so much to us, and yet we're here, alive and together. We've made it this far—we can't just give up now."

Roman's P.O.V.
Three days after waking up was Thomas's birthday, which we held a small party for in the waiting room at the end of the recovery hall. Patton made a chocolate cake for the occasion and we all sang happy birthday to him. After that, the younger Sides and Tori left, leaving the birthday boys alone together. Since me, Virgil, Patton, and Logan were created with Thomas, it was our birthday too. We talked for a while, quietly and privately celebrating our thirtieth birthday together.

Four days after I woke up, so did Lori. According to Tori, her eyes just snapped open and she sat up. She immediately starting asking where she was and how she was alive, then started asking if I had been rescued and if Virgil was safe and if everyone else survived. All of her questions were answered but one: how was she alive? After she had asked her questions, one came back at her: had she caused a magic burst on purpose? Once more, a whole mess of people were crowded in her room at the time of her answer to this question. She proudly told us, "yes, I did it on purpose. The henchmen had the upper hand, another minute and we would've all been dead. One life for six others who would then go on to save more lives—seemed like a worthy sacrifice to me."

Five days after waking up, I was released from the hospital. I was welcomed home with a red velvet cake made by Patton and a few kisses from Virgil. Now that I was awake and home and Lori was beginning a smooth recovery, the Mind seemed much less tense than everyone had described it to be.

The day after I got home, I went to the kingdom, where I got in an argument with a few council members about why they were going to put my will in effect despite that it was not official and I was not dead. A few people remained quiet while others explained that they just wanted a backup, considering they thought I wouldn't live. I looked Viscount Searling, who had been on my nerves the most during this argument, right in the eyes and yelled, "well, guess what, everyone? I lived." The argument ended with that.

It seemed that everything back in order, aside from one detail: the imposter. After being revealed and imprisoned at his would-be wedding, he was brought in for questioning. He didn't talk for three weeks, until he finally said one thing: "I have been given a mission, and I have failed." He died an hour later. The people who watched and interrogated him said that when he was brought in, they found two bottles in his pockets, one half full with a yellow powder, the other almost empty with a hot pink liquid.

After a battery of tests, the results of which we didn't know until a few days after I got home, the yellow powder was determined to be a powerful sleeping drug, which puts you to sleep for a few hours upon being inhaled. The hot pink liquid was determined to be an extremely strong love potion, which explained Virgil's previous sudden bout of illness, as well as his obsession with the imposter.

At last, everything was calming down. My kingdom was back in order, and we were all safe again.

However, I will quote my beloved when I say that this is no fairytale. If it was a fairytale, it would be over by the time I finish this segment of talking. But, we all knew very well that there were four of us that still had yet to have the substance taken from them—four of us that were walking targets.

Unlike the last time, we weren't so optimistic about the future. We knew it was only a matter of time before we were attacked again. But something else was certain: this was a war that we were going to fight. If that meant we die, we go down fighting. If we live, we keep fighting. The war had to end eventually, and it was up to us to have it end in our favor.

The kingdom, the royal council, the Lambargnis, the Sides, Thomas, we all agreed on one thing: when the day came that we were called once more to battle, we will fight, and we will fight together.