There was silence. The lack of noise made Roman uneasy. Nervous.

It made him think.
For once.
Quite a shocker.

It made him start to have nagging questions that tugged at his gut.

Roman sat down with a sigh, looking up at the black sky of the book cover. He closed his eyes, his internal monologue starting.

~Why us?

~Why did this happen to us?

~Sure it was like a dream come true, but why did it happen in the first place?

~How would they explain this to their parents?

Roman sat up, as he grabbed his hair tightly, a look of distress on his face, but eyes still closed.

"Roman, are you alright?" Logan asked, causing Patton to look at Roman as well. Virgil was still soundly asleep on Patton's lap.

~What if the parents called them missing?

~What if he never saw his family again?

"Kiddo?" Patton asked, placing a hand on Roman's shoulder, careful not to wake Virgil.

~What if they get hungry?

~What if they got thirsty?

~What if we have to use the restroom?

Roman opened his mouth, as a near quiet whimper came out. He started to cry, but his eyes were shut tight.

~What if something attacked them?

~Who would they call for help?

Roman started to violently shake, as the whimpers got louder, his breathing labored. Logan moved swiftly closer to Roman, at his side, while Patton put a hand on Roman's shoulder, shaking it slightly.

"Roman, whats wrong?" Patton asked.

~What if one of us starts to go crazy?

Roman started to scream, loud and bloodcurdling, as his vice like grip on his hair tightened. He couldn't hear them, Patton and Logan.

~What if someone gets hurt and there's nothing I can do about it?

~What if I can't protect everyone?

Virgil was suddenly and rudely awoken, and was about to say something snarky to Roman to tell him to shut up...when his mouth ran dry like the Sahara desert. His eyes locked on Roman as he sat up, allowing Patton to shift and grab Roman by both shoulders.

Their brave Princey, prince charming, Sir Sings A Lot, curled up on the floor, violently shaking, knees to his chest, sobbing uncontrollably, hands grabbing and ripping at his beautiful dark dirty blond hair, screaming like he was being stabbed to death.

~What if they are stuck here, forever?

~What if they die in here?

•••It's all his fault!

"-man. Roman! Roman! Snap out of it, Roman!" Patton cried out, shaking Roman's shoulder, worry shining in his eyes and in a few of Patton's tears.

Virgil was at a complete loss of what to do. He turned back to Roman when a loud slap resonated in the air. "Logan." He mumbled, looking in horror.

Before anyone realized, Logan raised his hand and smacked Roman across the face. Hard.

Roman abruptly stopped his screaming, as he blinked, taking a moment, looking around. His cheek stung violently, as a red handprint was visible on his perfect face. But that was least of Romana worries now.
They were still in the book, unfortunately. Everyone was looking directly at him, including a grumpy but concerned Virgil, who had snapped out of it and had grabbed Logan's arm to stop him from doing it again.

"What? What happened? Did something happen?" Roman said, but it sounded raspy. Why did it sound raspy?

"Roman, you started screaming. You were screaming so loud, I got goosebumps, kiddo." Patton explained, hand on Roman's shoulder.

Oh.

"I'm ok." Roman said, lying, wiping off the tears on his cheeks, as he tried to regain his control.

"That's some BS. Clearly you're not, Romano." Virgil said, calling Roman out faster than he could make an excuses.

"If you allow your thinking to be influenced too much by negative emotions, then it will lead to cognitive distortions. Especially in situations such as this." Logan explained, hoping to be of some comfort, even if it was just words of knowledge. He shook out his hand, it stung just as bad as Roman's face.

Roman didn't reply at first, a red tint on his cheeks. Maybe that was from the slap on the face, but his friends knew him better than that. He was embarrassed. He wasn't strong for them. He worried them.

He was scared.

"It's ok to be scared, Roman. I'm scared too." Patton sympathized, as he pulled Roman into a hug, who quickly latched onto the fatherly trait.

"It's all my fault." Roman said, as he tilted his head to the crook of Patton's shoulder, hiding his eyes.

"Falsehood. It is not entirely your fault, Roman." Logan said.

"Yes it is! I'm the one who found the book, I'm the one who brought it. It's all my fault." Roman said, mumbled slightly due to Patton, but everyone understood crystal clear.

"Ro. It is completely your fault were trapped here." Virgil said, trying to be comforting, but that just caused Roman to scrunch up his nose and sniffle.

"Idon'tlikeyou." Roman said with a high-pitched squeaky voice, his eyes watering.

"Virgil. Try again, kiddo." Patton said, patting Roman's back, and Virgil snorted.

"It is. He's owning his mistake. But I, for one, think this might be pretty cool adventure to remember. Eventually. When were out of here." Virgil explained, breaking up his speech with a pause, making a point.

A fun adventure? Virgil? Virgil hated Roman's adventures. Did he actually mean it?

Roman let go of Patton and took one look back at Virgil, who gave a gentle small smile back. A rare sight on the emo nightmare.

"You mean it, Virgil?" Roman asked, his voice cracking slightly.

"Of course, man. Now get up and get to doing what you do best, Princey." Virgil encouraged, as he Roman nodded, standing up.

"Thanks guys." Roman said, his spirits up and going back to normal.

F°π /\/0\/\/.