snek-snacc-ficc

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Evocation

Summary:  Before Roman and Remus, Thomas had but one, single Creativity. His final creation, The Dragon Witch, is willing to do anything to make it that way once more.

When she sends Remus to the Subconscious of Thomas's mind, Janus and Roman are forced to team up to bring him back in a race against time before he fades away and is lost forever. The situation causes the Sides to confront their already strained relationships as emotions come to a head, memories are uncovered, and Roman begins to piece together a different side to both Janus and his brother.

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Chapter 3:

Cold air rushed past Roman as he fell, the pressure causing his ears to pop. The darkness faded around him but the blinding flare of bright colors that replaced it wasn’t much better. Unintelligible sounds surrounded and assaulted his hearing, and his mind became muddled with flashes of thoughts and memories that sped by nonstop one after another. His mouth filled with saliva and the back of his throat lurched with the sensation of needing to vomit. His eyes began to tear up and he instinctively curled in on himself, unable to do anything else but scream out in sheer misery. The overstimulation became too much and his brain went fuzzy, causing him to feel unaware of consciousness and disconnected from his own body.

All at once the nightmare ended and Roman landed so softly he wouldn’t have known he even stopped falling if it weren’t for the relieving silence. He couldn’t tell whether he had been falling for seconds or hours and the more he thought about it the more the experience felt like it had never even happened. Every muscle in his body protested when he wobbled to his feet, feeling sore and weakened. He shook his head a few times and forced himself to focus on deep breathing to try and bring himself back to reality, if reality was even the right word to describe anything in the Subconscious.

The light was dim, but not quite as dark as it had been before. Around him he could make out piles of...something. Remembering the satchel that had graciously managed to stay wrapped securely around his shoulder, he pulled out the flashlight Logan had given him. Scanning around the area he saw heaps of seemingly random objects from baby clothes to silverware. Every so often his gaze landed on an item that twinged a sense of familiarity in him, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on where he had seen it before.

He stumbled his way through the junk searching for any sign of Janus’s half of the string (just like the snake to go off on his own without looking for him, Roman thought). He finally spotted it wrapped around a race car shaped bed frame that Roman was fairly certain had belonged to someone who they’d spent the night with in Kindergarten.

Following the string, which kept getting tangled up in the trash along its trail, was difficult, but Roman was able to make his way through until he caught up, spotting Janus’s figure in the distance. The other seemed to not notice his presence, and, in a moment partly driven by an attempt to get his attention and partly out of spite for being left, Roman gathered a ball of the string, wrapping it around his wrist until there was no longer a loose gap between them, and tugged hard.

Janus hissed in pain, being jerked slightly backwards. He glanced behind him, eyes narrowing when he spotted Roman.

“Very mature, Roman,” he spat when Roman made his way next to him.

“You didn’t wait for me!” Roman said, hating how much he sounded like a whiny child.

Janus rolled his eyes. “I’m so sorry, what was I thinking? Clearly we have all the time in the world right now.”

“We had agreed that staying together was safer!” Roman shouted. He had to admit, it felt good to be able to yell at Janus. The pair had spent weeks seething at each other but keeping any true conflict hidden from Thomas and Patton behind small acts inconveniencing one another and side looks of hostility. It was nice to finally release some of that pent up aggression.

“Well perfect then, we’re safe, we’re together, and you get to spend some quality time with your local middle school librarian.” The passive aggressive smile Janus had plastered on his face flipped to the more aggressive side and he turned back around, walking at a faster pace than before.

Roman forced himself to prevent another insult from sipping out; That conversation was a can of worms and he didn’t want to be the one to remove the lid of it. He straightened his back and sped walked ahead, determined to at least go faster than Janus.

---

Logan had been right about time feeling off in the Subconscious. The trudge through the forgotten items that were all that could be seen around them already felt endless, and Roman’s mind would wander more than usual, further throwing off any sense of his surroundings. The pair wasn’t sure how long they had been walking when the clutter finally trickled off, but they were exhausted enough to know it must have been a long time.

“Alright,” Roman announced, “I need to sit down for a minute.”

He let out a sigh of relief as he sank to the ground(?), splaying himself out. It was an odd but pleasant feeling, like being suspended by an invisible force in the air rather than laying on a solid surface.

“What, did making sure you were a whole two steps ahead of me wear you out?” Janus mocked. There wasn’t as much meaning to it though, as he allowed himself to sit down as well.

It wasn’t even close to the most annoying instigation that had come from him, but the sudden urge and thought to kick Janus entered Roman’s mind. For a flash it felt like he had lost control of his own body, swinging his foot and bringing it down hard on Janus’s shin. He cried out in pain and a sense of shock and regret washed over Roman.

“I’m sorry,” he tried to say quickly, “I didn’t mean to…”

He trailed off, tilting his head, trying to zero in on a faint sound.

“What are you doing?” Janus grumbled, holding his throbbing leg.

“Shh, do you hear that?” Roman asked, “It's like, crinkling or something.”

Before Janus could answer, the darkness around them switched to a burning white. They both blinked frantically, squinting at the sudden change. The sound Roman had heard grew louder into a thundering flapping. Not a moment after their eyes had adjusted to the new lighting the source of the sound revealed itself and they were blinded once more by a tornado of paper, rapidly flurrying past them from all directions.

Roman brought his hands up to his face to shield himself from the non stop attack. The paper moved at such speed that each one aimed just so sliced through his flesh, leaving the deepest paper cuts he'd ever had.

He felt a pair of arms wrap around him, and found himself pressed tightly against Janus, his capelet wrung around both of them for protection. Roman's hands stung, but he was nonetheless grateful for an end to any fresh wounds being added.

They stayed like that, breath heavy and hot in the enclosed space, until finally the whoosh of paper died down and they deemed it safe to come out.

Papers were littered everywhere, nearly blending into the new all white backdrop the Subconscious had taken on.

Curious, Roman picked up one of the papers, unsure of what purpose they served in this part of the Mindscape. The one he had grabbed was a crude painting of a mountain range against a sunset.

A spark of memory twinged in Roman's mind.

"Hey, I remember this!" he said, "It's our finger painting from 3rd grade art class."

No sooner had the words left his mouth did the ground in front of them begin to split open, sharp, snow capped rocks poking through the surface. A sky formed, painting the blank white around them with hues of pink, orange, and purple. It would have made for a beautiful sight, were it not for the enormous growing mountains that were about to block their way forward.

Roman turned just in time to see a cluster of jagged rocks come breaking through the surface behind Janus. He rushed over, grabbing his arm and yanking both of them away from where the mountain was rapidly blooming.

“Will you stop touching things?’ Janus yelled, struggling to be heard over the scraping sound the forming rocks made. “Now we have to climb over this mess.”

Roman was too absorbed in shuffling through the papers to point out that this was technically only the first time he’d touched something unknown in the Subconscious. He frantically sorted through old essays, stories, and songs, hoping that his theory would be right. He snatched up the first paper he saw, excited at the promising hint of green in the corner. It was a colored pencil drawing of a rolling meadow that Roman recognized as one of the first pieces in Thomas’s high school sketchbook.

His mind focusing on the new scene caused the landscape around them to shift again. The mountains shrunk back into the ground and the rumbling stopped. Fresh grass and wildflowers bloomed at their feet and a warm, sunny blue sky replaced the sunset above. Once the area seemed to have settled completely a gentle breeze blew through, picking up the pages that laid on the ground, causing them to flutter away, much more peacefully this time, to a different part of the Subconscious.

Roman and Janus were both equally mesmerized at the sight. Not even in the Imagination did the layout have the ability to shift at such speed with so much detail.

Roman was the first pulled out of the trance, sucking in a deep breath at the sting of his still open cuts. While Janus’s quick thinking and gloves had allowed him to fare better than Roman, he still hadn’t managed to get out of the paper storm unscathed, and he was reminded of his own pain as well.

“I suppose now we should actually rest,”

Roman let out a sound of agreement, sitting down and searching through the first aid kit in his bag. He ripped open an antibacterial wipe, more than ready to get rid of the sticky feeling of drying blood on his face.

On instinct Roman attempted to summon a hand mirror. It appeared normal, but when he flipped it around his reflection was blurry and nearly nonexistent, and about as useful for examining his face as tin foil would be.

Janus caught on to his frustration, beckoning him over.

“We can’t summon things the same here, remember? Come on, we can clean up each other’s faces.”

Roman scooted closer, unable to help himself from staring when Janus removed his gloves. It was still an unfamiliar sight to him and not one he particularly wanted to be reminded of considering what happened the last time he’d witnessed it.

An awkward silence fell between the two as Janus worked. Roman decided against breaking it by commenting “rather warm touch for a cold-blooded cretin,” opting instead for:

“Uh, thanks for letting me into your cape thing earlier. I would have never thought a tacky school play costume could be so useful.” He couldn’t get away without at least a small jab after all.

Janus snorted.

“I think Patton would have changed his tune about me if you would have come back cut to ribbons.” He paused before adding, “Thank you for not letting me get skewed by those rocks.”

It was Roman’s turn to laugh.

“There’s no way I’m walking all this way back alone with Remus, even if you’re my only other option.”

At that, Janus pressed down harder on the area he was working at under Roman’s eye, the extra rubbing alcohol that seeped out burning the rim of his bottom lash.

“Ah!” Roman moved his hand to rub the area when Janus pulled away.

“Done,” Janus said, tossing the wipe to the side, “Consider us even for my leg now.”

Guilt built up inside Roman at the mention. They may have hated one another but he didn’t actually want to physically harm Janus

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened. I thought about kicking you but I didn’t want to do it. It was like I lost control for some reason.”

Janus raised his eyebrow at the desperation in Roman’s voice. It seemed odd that he would beg so hard to be believed given their rocky relationship. Just to be certain he flicked his tongue out, staring at the other with intense thoughtfulness.

“I don’t taste any lies,” he said, “I suppose it was just the Subconscious doing something to distort your behavior.”

“What do lies taste like?” They all knew of the basic abilities each side had, but this specification to Janus’s was new to Roman.

Janus tossed him a new packet of wipes and cotton swabs.

“Bitter. Now hurry up and do me.”

Roman shuddered, both at the unwanted innuendo that seeped into his mind at the wording and having to touch Janus’s scales. They were the part of him Roman most often pointed out and belittled, serving as a constant reminder of the stark divide between him, a monster, and Thomas, who was a good person with no need for deceit to play such a prevalent role in his life, no matter what Janus had the others believing at the moment. Helping to mend that side of his face felt like a betrayal in a way, surrendering to aid the monster.

He didn’t have much of a choice however, and their trip was going to be difficult enough without him stirring up new arguments at every turn. He lightly brushed his hand to the other's face, surprised at how incredibly smooth it turned out to be. He couldn’t help himself from gently rubbing his thumb over their surface, feeling every small divot between each glossy scale.

Pink colored the opposite side of Janus’s face, his gaze following Roman’s movements

“What are you doing?”

Roman froze, quickly doubling back and fumbling with the packet.

“Nothing! It's just, I expected them to be slimy.”

“Slimy?” Janus's expression twisted to disgust. “Have you ever even touched a reptile before? I thought part of the whole Prince Charming schtick was dealing with animals.”

“No, I mean, lizards are always so fast, and most of the dragons stay in Remus’s half of the Imagination-”

“Oh you mean my ‘scaled brethren’?”

“Stop!” Roman couldn’t believe he was being the one to discourage pettiness, but even he had to admit it was getting to be a bit much between the two of them, and, based on what had already happened in the (possibly) short time they’d spent in the Subconscious, the rest of the journey was going to be dangerous. It was for the best if they kept their fighting to a minimum.

“I don’t want this to be any more miserable than it has to be, so why don’t we agree to a temporary truce? No bringing up anything that happened before and no snide remarks. We get Remus and get out. Alright?”

He swiped the last remains of dried blood away and stood, offering his hand out to Janus. He slipped his gloves back on and took it, pulling himself up.

“No,” Janus said, fixing his hat, but Roman had caught on enough to his speech patterns to know what the dry tone of voice actually meant.

“Alright then, we should probably get going.”

His last word came out as a tired sigh at the sight of the expansion of green around them. While it was preferable to tripping over trash in the dark, it still seemed just as endless. A horrible, sinking feeling came over him that the search was going to turn up hopeless.

"What if we're not even going the right way?," he voiced his thoughts as they continued forward. We could walk in one direction for days and not see any sign of-"

A loud popping mouse rang out, Roman's body feeling like it was being sucked into a wall of gelatin. He stumbled when the sensation stopped, finding himself in a room that had a dingy homeyness to it. It looked normal with the exception of the excess of cobwebs that hung from nearly every nook and cranny, and the fact that there, draped upside down on a torn up brown couch was-

“Remus?!”

Questions swirled in Roman’s mind; He wasn’t sure where he was or what had even happened for him to get here, but if he had found Remus all of that was secondary in importance.

When Remus didn’t acknowledge his presence, fear that this was some illusion of Hekate’s doing gripped his heart. He had no time to ponder the idea or try to get his attention though, as a door to the side of the room swung open. Virgil stepping through it, wearing his older outfit no less, only added to Roman’s bewilderment.

Roman called out to him, flapping his arm frantically back and forth, but to no avail. Virgil acted as if he weren’t even there, looking instead to Remus who was concentrating all of his energy on trying to see how far his tongue could stretch.

“Hey,” Virgil said, voice casual.

In an instant Remus flipped himself upright, sitting on the head of the couch.

“Where the hell have you been?”

A devilish smirk made its way across Virgil’s lips.

“Nowhere. I just thought it might be nice to pay the other side a visit.”

Remus gasped, bouncing up and barreling over to Virgil. Roman closed his eyes preparing for a painful impact with his brother that never came. To his shock, his body passed right through Remus.

“Holy fuck, you actually did it! What happened? Did you see Hoeman there?”

Roman let out a short noise of offense.

“Oh God, yeah,” Virgil said. “He was only there for like ten seconds, but you should have seen him. Princey looked like he dug his getup out of a Party City bargain bin.”

Remus broke into a fit of squawking, hysterical laughter.

A figure stepped through a doorway off to the side, leading to what appeared to be a darkened hallway. Roman didn’t need him to step into the light to know who it was, recognizing the annoyed hiss that he let out.

“Remus please continue your screeching, it's truly the most pleasant, non-headache inducing sound there is.” It was then that he noticed Virgil was there. “I haven’t seen you all day, what have you been up to?”

Remus turned, suppressing his laughter but still beaming.

“He snuck into the Light Side!”

“What?” Janus asked, sounding both alarmed and impressed.

“It was whatever,” Virgil reassured him, “Thomas was doing that crossover vid with Lily, I shook him up a little, he supposedly ‘learned how to deal with me,’ and I came back.”

“This is a memory.” The realization hit Roman. Somehow he must have stumbled into some kind of recreation of the day Virgil made his first appearance.

"You're alright though?" Janus asked.

"Pfftt, I'm fine, Thomas is another story. He must have jumped two feet in the air when he saw me."

Remus let out an excited gasp. “D’ya think if we all showed up at once his heart would just explode, right in his chest?”

The other two rolled their eyes, brushing off his usual antics.

“Apparently he’s planning a video for New Year's. I was thinking about showing up to that too…" He looked to Janus for approval.

He appeared to mull it over before answering. "As long as you're careful, especially around Morality, I don't see why you shouldn't dig around a bit."

It looked like Remus was going to add something, but the memory became blurry before he had the chance, everything around Roman smearing like watercolors. The smudges reversed back into a clear picture and the entire scene reset, Remus hanging off the couch again and Virgil coming through the entryway.

Roman jumped when the same pop he had heard when he entered rang behind him. The real Janus stepped in, disoriented as Roman had been.

He came to the same conclusion as Roman did upon watching the memory play out.

"This was the first time Virgil showed himself to Thomas," he said. "But how are we here?"

Roman shook his head. "I don't know.”

“When you walked in it looked like you had been sucked away,” Janus said. “The area you disappeared into looked different, like it was wrinkled, but it was almost invisible.”

Roman turned back towards where they had come in from. It looked like a solid wall but if he had been able to pass through Remus…

He moved a hand towards the wall, finding it slipped through with the same jelly-like feeling it had when he entered. He pushed himself all the way through, ending up back in the meadow with Janus following behind. True to what the other had said he could make out a wall of small, barely visible ripples in the air.

“Roman,” Janus said, pointing in the direction they had come from, “Look.”

Squinting, Roman could make out another expanse of ripples a few yards back.

“Th-that wasn’t there before,” Roman said, “It’s huge, we would have run into it.”

The pair rushed over to investigate, stepping into it. This time they landed in a familiar art room, standing next to a table where a seven year old Thomas sat covered in paint as he worked on the mountain landscape from the paper Roman had picked up.

“So,” Roman said, “If I thought of this when I saw the painting, and it wasn’t here before, I must have manifested it here. And you couldn't have made the other one, because we hadn't been there yet, so someone else must have done it. And the only other person who would have that memory and is here right now-"

"-is Remus!" Janus finished, smiling. "If there are anymore then they’ll lead us right to him!"

They ran out and back to the other memory, crossing through to the other wall and coming out the other end. Their walk was much brisker this time, eager to test their theory and see if any more memories had been left. It wasn't long until they spotted the same wavy texture in front of them once more.

Roman let out a laugh of relief; If this kept up they would be able to find him in no time. It was enough to even make being stuck and getting with Janus seem like a less daunting task. He made a dramatic, sweeping gesture towards the memory's entrance.

"Serpents first.”

---

Ahh, I was working on editing chapter 4 to post on ao3 when I realized I never even added chapter 3 here on Tumblr. Sorry about that folks.

---

Note (Written as of 3/10/22):

Heads up everyone: I'm taking a break from this fic, and I'm not sure when or if I'll finish it. I have the rest of the chapters either written and unedited or outlined, but recently I've fallen victim to the TSS to Dream SMP pipeline and have lost passion for this project in favor of other ones. I tend to circle through fandoms, so there is a possibility that I may return to this fic sometime in the future, but as of right now this is where I'm leaving it. Apologies to anyone who may have been enjoying this, but honestly the fandom feels like it's dying a bit so I'm not sure if it even had very many enthusiastic followers to begin with. Hopefully I'll catch ya later. See ya <3.

#sanders sides #creativitwins #creativitwins angst #roman sanders #remus sanders #Janus Sanders #roceit

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Evocation

Summary: Before Roman and Remus, Thomas had but one, single Creativity. His final creation, The Dragon Witch, is willing to do anything to make it that way once more.

When she sends Remus to the Subconscious of Thomas's mind, Janus and Roman are forced to team up to bring him back in a race against time before he fades away and is lost forever. The situation causes the Sides to confront their already strained relationships as emotions come to a head, memories are uncovered, and Roman begins to piece together a different side to both Janus and his brother.

Previous Next

Chapter 2: 

Patton took one last look into the Subconscious, forcing himself to turn away from the entrance.

The remaining three of them wordlessly exited the Mindscape, popping up in Thomas’s room. He was strewn across his bed, mindlessly moving between apps on his phone when they came in.

“So,” he said slowly, treading the glum silence, “Are they gone?”

The distress in Thomas’s face made Patton’s heart twist.

"Yeah… "

When the others face fell even further he added:

"But don't you worry Thomas. Between Roman's bravery and Janus's wit I'm sure they'll be just fine."

The overcompensation of cheerfulness in his voice did little to convince Thomas.

Logan glanced around the room. Virgil slouched silently in the corner, the bouncing of his leg giving away his feelings. The nervousness seemed to rub off onto Thomas, which only increased more a second later when he looked down at his phone to find a text from Nico.

Logan didn't quite know what to say. While he had experience being the grounded one when anxiety rose high, he felt just as unsure as everyone else. There wasn't much comfort to be given when the situation was so unknown.

Through his connection to Thomas he read the text. If even a small piece of what was causing him stress could be solved that would be an improvement.

He cleared his throat.

"So you're aware, Thomas, with three of your sides MIA, for lack of a better word, you'll most likely not feel like yourself until they return. It may be best to avoid any unnecessary interaction until they are back.”

Patton appeared to catch onto what he was implying.

"Logan's right. We should probably tell Nico we can't come tomorrow night.”

“Are you kidding? That's a horrible idea.”

Everyone’s attention turned towards Virgil.

“Nico has been planning for us to meet his parents for the past two weeks. If we suddenly cancel the night before he’ll probably think that Thomas isn’t taking this relationship seriously.”

“I'm sure he’ll understand if Thomas tells him he isn’t feeling well Virge,” Patton answered, a bit confused at his sudden abrasiveness.

“I thought we all agreed that Thomas lying to Nico wasn’t a good idea.”

“But it isn’t a lie Virgil,” Logan spoke up, “Thomas, if I’m correct you’ve already begun to ‘feel off,’ right?”

“I guess so, yeah,” Thomas answered hesitantly, “But…”

He trailed off, not sure how to put his feelings to words. However Virgil had no such issue.

“But, physically he feels fine. If Thomas tells Nico he isn’t feeling well he’s going to assume that he means he’s sick. We have no idea how long Roman and the others are going to be gone, so what do we say if days go by and Thomas still ‘doesn’t feel well’? Nico is going to think there’s something really wrong and get worried. Or, even worse, Thomas will have to go out and get groceries, and if Nico sees him or drives past and realizes his car is gone then he’s going to know Thomas is lying and and get mad and ask why and then Thomas will either look like a jerk for lying and avoiding seeing him for a week or he’s going to think he’s insane if he explains what's actually going on. ‘Oh sorry Nico, I had to fake being sick because three facets of my personality that I talk to all the time are in my subconscious and might be disappearing right now as we speak.’”

His pupils were dilated and his face was paler than usual. Thomas wasn't fairing much better either after hearing all that Virgil had to say. Virgil noticed the shake of his hands and balled them into fists, forcing himself to control his trembling breathing. Logan held back from stepping in, Virgil's actions visibly rubbing off on Thomas as well. It took a moment, the air in the room still except for the patterned breathing, but finally Virgil felt his heartbeat slow. He took one final breath and looked to the others.

"It's for the best if we just suck it up and go.”

“Well, uh, Virgil,” Patton began, “We all definitely understand and appreciate your concern. But all that isn’t something we should be worrying about yet.”

“Exactly,” Logan said. “This is a very uncertain situation for all of us and it’ll be better if we take things one step at a time from here on out. Right now our main concern is Thomas and his well being. As for how Nico may or may not react, we will cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Virgil’s gaze darted between the three of them. Only Thomas appeared to be unsure of what to do, awkwardly looking at his lap while his sides discussed.

“So what,” he asked, directing his attention towards Patton, “You’re just okay with lying now?”

Patton was taken aback by the accusatory tone.

“That is not what I’m saying at all. I just think that it would be best for Thomas if he takes it easy until everything is back to normal.”

“But everything’s not going to go back to normal, is it? Now that you’re all buddy-buddy with Deceit.”

It wasn’t a surprise to Patton how adamantly against anything that involved Janus Virgil was. He had made it clear that the two of them had some sort of past baggage, but specifically what it was Patton didn’t know, and he had never wanted to make Virgil uncomfortable by forcing it out. But, he also knew that they had once been on the same side in every sense of the word. Surely Virgil had to realize some of the good that Janus was able to do for Thomas, and why he had been accepted.

“Is that what this is about Virge?” he asked. “Janus is a part of Thomas too, and he’s more than proven that he has a place in some of the decisions Thomas makes.”

Virgil scoffed, crossing his arms.

“Okay, some decisions. Maybe in one out of a hundred scenarios we need Deceit to help a little. But that doesn’t justify him hanging around, especially not with all his friends.” There was an extra bit of venom in his voice when he brought up the others. “What’s going to happen when they get back and Deceit tries to coax you into ‘just giving Remus a chance?’ You don’t know how he works but I do. Believe me, whatever happened after the wedding is just one step for him towards completely poisoning Thomas.” The annoyance in Virgil slipped somewhat as he edged more on desperate, trying to get Patton to come to his senses.

For a moment, Patton almost succumbed to Virgil’s argument. It was the same line of thinking and distrust in Janus Patton had held not too long ago himself, and it was difficult to not continue to second guess Janus’s intentions, especially as Thomas’s Morality. But, he had seen a change in Thomas, for the better, since the wedding incident. Having Janus play a more active role in his life had taken off pressure Patton hadn’t even realized he was putting on him, and if Thomas felt better then it was proof enough for Patton that he had made the right decision

And possibly rethink his previous notions about other parts of Thomas.

“That's not fair for you to say Virgil,” he finally said, trying his best not to coat his words in sugar to cover the true taste of his feelings. “We all do our fair share to help Thomas. You can’t write Janus off completely just because his part doesn’t always require him to be at the forefront. And as for Remus, maybe…”

“Wonderful that you all seem to forget that Remus is a side with a life and feelings like the rest of us.”

Janus’s word had struck a chord with him that he hadn’t been able to shake over the course of the following few hours. Buried underneath the fear for Roman and Janus and Thomas’s well being, thoughts of a child creativity being ripped in two, with cries coming from one half as he was shoved into the darkness had filled Patton’s head, and sent an overwhelming sense of sickening shame over him.

“...Maybe we do owe him a chance.”

Virgil opened his mouth, shaking his head and looking away from Patton.

“Unbelievable. Thomas you can’t possibly be on board with all this. What do you think?”

Thomas’s eyes darted between both sides, clearly distressed.

“I don’t know! You tell me. You guys are me!”

Virgil grunted in frustration.

“Logan,” Virgil said, seeking a shred of vindication, “You agree with me, right? Deceit has literally impersonated you and kicked you to the side lines more times than I can count.”

“Well yes,” Logan started, “however I also think-”

“See!” Virgil exclaimed. “We can’t trust him.”

“But-” Logan said, before abruptly being cut off once more, this time by Patton.

“Okay Virgil, please calm down. I understand your perspective, but we’ve gone way off the rails with this train of thinking.”

The pun was a futile attempt to brighten Thomas’s mood a bit, who still sat on the bed, looking more troubled than ever.

“Why don’t we just reel it in for the night and tell Nico we can’t come tomorrow. We can discuss everything else later, alright?”

When Virgil made no visible effort to stand down Patton motioned towards Thomas, pleading with his eyes to take him into consideration.

“Please?”

Virgil relented.

“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

Patton’s face relaxed.

“Thank you Virgil.”

Finally seeing an opening, Logan clapped his hands together and spoke up.

“Thomas, you should be getting to bed. It has undoubtedly been a long day and the added stress from the current state of affairs has more than taken a toll on you. Complete your nightly routine within the next thirty minutes and get to sleep.”

Thomas exhaled heavily, feeling tired but not at all in the mind to be able to get to sleep. But, for the sake of getting everyone to simmer down, he agreed.

“Alright,” he said, “I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

Logan gave a curt nod, sinking out with Patton and Virgil following behind. Even after their departure the leftover tension hung in the air and weighed down on Thomas. He flopped on his back staring blankly at the ceiling, his mind still loud with thoughts of all that had transpired in such a short amount of time. He threw his arm over his face as if the action of blocking his sight could somehow hide his troubles. As expected, it did nothing to ease him. He let out a heavy puff of breath, wanting nothing more than to slip into a long, dreamless sleep that wouldn’t come. After only a few hours of disaster he could already tell it was going to be a long couple of days.

#sanders sides #creativitwins #creativitwins angst #patton sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #roceit

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Of Wonderings and Warmth

Summary: Youngblood has a host of secrets and a past that he'd prefer not to share with anyone, especially not the man he met mere days ago. A nightmare causes them to resurface in his mind.

Pairing: Roman/Youngblood (can be read as platonic or romantic)

Words: 2,039

Youngblood could feel his pulse pounding in his head. Tears stung the corners of his eyes, and his throat was raw from taking gasping breaths through his mouth. He had to force himself to continue his sprint, putting one throbbing leg in front of the other over and over again to keep his pace. The worst of his pain, however, was not from the physical exertion. It was in the sinking of his stomach and the heaviness in his chest as he glanced back at the fading castle in the sky, now nothing more than a distant translucent dot.

He hissed in pain when he turned back around, his legs feeling like they were on fire.

Fire...

Fire!

Without warning flames burst from the forest floor in every direction, engulfing him in an inescapable circle of searing heat.

“No!” he thought frantically. “No, no! Please, I didn’t do anything. Not this time.”

He had to reel in the flames somehow, but when he tried to call upon the gifted curse that was the cause of all of this, he found himself unable to let out so much as a note. He could hardly breath, hyperventilating in nothing but smoke, let alone sing.

The fumes from the fire were rapidly filling his lungs, and he could already feel the effect the lack of oxygen was having on his body. He choked on ash and his own sobs, collapsing to the ground. Black spots began to cover his vision at the same time he could feel the fire closing in on him. His body wouldn’t even allow him to scream as the surface of his skin bubbled and burned under the scorching agony.

The black splotches melded into a blanket of darkness, and his sense of touch disappeared as well with every nerve in his body being fried away.

He should have known better than to try and run away, should have known that he couldn’t run away.

“I’m sorry.”

It was the last thought that flashed across his mind before his eyes slipped shut forever.

“I’m so sorry.”

---

Youngblood shot up with a start.

For a split second he wasn’t entirely sure that there weren’t still flames surrounding him. All he could see was darkness, the heaving gasps he took certainly made him feel like he was struggling to breathe through fire, and the cold sweat coated him in the same unbearable numbing sensation that the heat had.

Once his brain caught up to the rest of him he realized that no, he wasn’t on fire. He was in the same loft bedroom on the lumpy feather mattress that he had been sleeping on for the past week in Roman’s cottage.

“It was all only a bad dream,” he told himself.

At least it was half true.

Slowly but surely, his breathing calmed back down to a steady pace, but he remained emotionally shaken. He knew that if he were to lay back down he’d still see and feel the horrific blaze from his nightmare.

As quietly as he could manage, he stood up, slipping past the bed opposite of his where Roman slept. He did well enough at staying silent until he got to the stairs, flinching as even his lightest movements caused the wood to creak. He was grateful that he didn’t have to worry about waking Ryker while he was gone for the night, keeping watch on the outskirts of town.

He rushed to the door as soon as he reached the downstairs, throwing on his boots haphazardly and stepping out into the yard.

He tried to forget the smell of smoke and replace it with the crisp, night air, and while it helped some, he couldn’t rid himself of all the thoughts the dream had brought to the forefront of his mind. The song-like twittering of the birds in the trees above pulled him right back to the painful memories that had been the source of it all.

What was that saying? “You can’t go home again?” He felt like he understood it completely now.

“Youngblood?”

He jumped, drawn back from his thoughts by the unexpected voice from behind him.

Standing in the doorway was Roman in loose fitting nightwear. Exhaustion was written all over his face, and he held back a yawn as he called out to the other.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Youngblood grimaced. “Nothing,” he answered. “I just couldn’t sleep and came out for some air. Sorry for waking you.”

“Did you have a bad dream or something?”

Silence followed Roman’s question, but it told him everything he needed to know.

“Come on back inside,” he said. “I know what’ll help.”

Before Youngblood could open his mouth to refuse, Roman was darting across the grass, hissing as his bare feet made contact with the cold layer of dew on the ground. He grabbed Youngblood’s arm, tugging him back into the house.

“It’s chilly out tonight, I promise you’ll feel better inside.”

Youngblood doubted it, wanting nothing more than to be left alone, but he couldn’t exactly refuse the requests of the person giving him shelter.

Once they were back in the house, Roman sat him down at the table, and moved himself over to the wood stove. There was a slight struggle with the flint, but eventually he managed to strike it just right, catching a spark on an old piece of parchment.

Youngblood flinched at the sight, speaking up when he saw him reach into the wood box for bits of kindling. “I’m really not very hungry.”

Satisfied with the flickering fire starting up, Roman stood, reaching towards the collection of pots on the wall and choosing the smallest one to place on the stove.

“Don’t worry,” he said brightly. His hand went for the half empty bottle of milk sitting in the tray of cool water on the counter, and poured it into the pot. “It’s nothing that you have to eat, just something to warm you up and get you back to sleep.”

He took notice of the hesitant, questioning look on the elf’s face when he wheeled around to the cupboard.

“When I was little and Father was out patrolling on nights like this, my Aunt Patty would come over to stay with me,” he explained, rummaging around for the cinnamon and honey. “And when I had a nightmare, she’d always make this for me. She said that it was so sweet it would just chase all the bad dreams out of you.” He smiled at the fond reminiscence. “Also warm milk makes you sleepy,” he added, putting the ingredients down to throw a larger log onto the stove’s heat source.

He looked to Youngblood while he waited for the milk to get hot. “So, what did you dream about anyway?”

Youngblood stared down at his lap, gripping the fabric of his pants tightly. His mind had been plagued for months by the fears that he’d rather not ponder on, of home, his curse, and what he was going to do now that the former was lost to him. Everything was so uncertain now, and even if he could even begin to describe it all, he didn’t want to. Not to this person who was hardly a step above an air-headed acquaintance.

“Hey, hey, it’s alright,” Roman said quickly when Youngblood began to tremble. “You don’t have to talk about it if it’s too much. I understand.”

“No you don’t!”

The slap against the table that followed sent a deafening crack throughout the room. Almost as soon as the outburst ended, Youngblood regretted it, his heart dropping when Roman’s face transitioned from soft sympathy to pure shock.

There went his place to stay. A new record. Maybe he’d break it again with wherever he went next.

Before he could even attempt to repair the damage though, Roman beat him to an apology.

“I’m sorry.”

“You’re...what?” Youngblood’s tone held nothing but bewilderment.

“I’m sorry,” Roman repeated. You’re right, I probably don’t understand. I’ve always lived here with Father and have never even left Reston. Whatever is bothering you about your dream is most likely a lot more than anything I’ve ever experienced.”

Youngblood couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Despite making the mistake of losing his temper previously, he was unable to stop himself from raising his voice again, though this time it sounded much more strangled and hysterical.

“Why are you apologizing to me? Why are you being so nice to me?”

Roman offered him a gentle smile, eyes glowing with compassion.

“Because you’re my friend.”

He said it like it was the simplest fact in the world, as if it were as undeniably true as grass was green or the night was dark.

“We hardly know each other.”

“Well that doesn’t matter to me,” Roman declared with complete certainty. “You’re my friend, and even if you aren’t quite there yet, I’ll help you when and if you’re ready to tell me what’s wrong.”

Youngblood was teetering on the edge of the emotional line the conversation had brought forth. He wasn’t foolish enough to allow himself to believe that wholly, especially when Roman was still ignorant to all of his secrets. But he didn’t voice that out loud. Roman was brimming with such a genuine sense of caring, and he didn’t have the heart or the energy left to shatter it. Instead, he simply sighed.

“You’re far too trusting.”

“It hasn’t steered me wrong yet!” Roman chirped, turning back to the stove.

Youngblood also chose not to ruin his mood by mentioning that it had, in fact, steered him wrong before.

By then, the milk had begun to form tiny bubbles, and Roman turned his attention to the cinnamon and honey. “Hm. Was it a teaspoon or a tablespoon of honey?” He looked between his two utensils, shrugged, and opened the silverware drawer below the counter. “I guess I’ll just compromise and use a regular spoon. A spoon-spoon.”

Youngblood couldn’t help but snort at the other’s illogical rationalization. He let himself relax a bit, just for the time being. It was impossible not to be affected, at least a little, by Roman’s infectious, lighthearted demeanor.

After stirring in the honey, Roman took out a mug and carefully transferred the milk into it. He finished with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top and proudly presented the concoction to Youngblood.

He hovered the cup at his lips, inhaling the subtle aroma of cinnamon, before taking a sip. He had found the sentiment Roman had spouted earlier about the drink being able to wash away nightmares ridiculous, but he wasn’t so sure upon tasting it. He’d forgotten how long it had been since he was able to enjoy simple luxuries like honey and spices, and the combination of the two with the milk was quite delicious. He savored it along with the pleasant warmth radiating off the drink that spread to the rest of his body when he swallowed.

“So,” Roman asked, “How is it?”

“...It’s good.”

Roman grinned at the answer. “Do you need anything else?”

“No,” Youngblood said, taking another sip. “No, I think I just want to clear my head for a bit.”

Roman got the memo and nodded. “Alright. Feel free to wake me up if you change your mind.”

He flashed one more kind look to Youngblood and headed for the stairs.

Youngblood couldn’t say for sure what compelled him to do so, but, right as Roman took his first step, he snapped his head around.

“Roman, wait.”

Roman whirled back, facing the other with a patient, quizzical expression.

“I- Um. Thank you.” Youngblood stuttered out.

Roman beamed at him. “Of course! Have a goodnight.”

“Yeah, you too,” Youngblood said.

He listened to the floor and bed creak above as Roman threw himself onto the mattress, and was greeted by the silence of the night which followed. He pictured his worries melting away with each drink he took, and was surprised that it seemed to put him at ease some. He was still scared for the future, still on guard and not close to being able to fully trust Roman, but maybe, he decided, this had been the start of something brighter for him.

---

Taglist: @psychedelicships

#roleslaying with roman #rwr roman #rwr youngblood #roblood #I think thats the ship name I'm sticking too for now #roman x youngblood #roman/youngblood #youngblood angst #rwr

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Hey, recently I got an influx of followers and I was just wondering if anyone would be willing to help me edit some of my works in the future. Currently I just have a group of very close friends that help me, and while they are amazing and very much appreciated, I feel like they're too close to me sometimes to give me unbiased advice. If anyone is interested please just message me, I'd be more than happy to be a beta reader for your fics too in return.

#looking for help with catching grammar things obviously #but i also would like advice for improving less technical aspects like my writing style

[snek-snacc-ficc]

How have you already written fanfic for rwr /pos

Brainrot and chugging a Bang energy at 11 pm

#roleslaying with roman #needless to say i slept in very late this morning

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Holy shit congratulations I think you might be the first person to post a fic for roleslaying with Roman!!!!

Lmao, thank you!! I didn't even mean for it to work out that way, but after the episode came out I just went into a frenzied writing coma

#roleslaying with roman #twas a late night for me #but worth it #im so glad ppl are enjoying the fic <3

[snek-snacc-ficc]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/35357386

Tumblr and ao3 cause I'm getting that shameless self promo

Ok so who's gonna write Roman x Youngblood fanfic?

#i did write this in like an hour and a half last night in a brainrot zombie state #so apologies if it isn't the cream of the crop #but i did my best

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Lesson Number One

Pairing: Roman/Youngblood

Words: 922

Roman sighed, pushing a strand of his hair up with the puff of exasperated breath. They had searched every inch of the barn, but had no luck finding Fast Timmy. Youngblood groaned in frustration as they dug through the same pile of straw for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Damn it! He must have gotten out somewhere," he said. "Come on, we're probably already too far behind him."

The pair had been scouring the village for hours now, looking for any sign as to where he had gone, but to no avail. Roman glanced nervously at the horizon, his anxiety growing at the sight of the setting sun beginning to paint the sky in hues of orange and pink. It was already starting to get late and he still didn't have the sword back. He loathed to think about what would happen if he came home after dark and his father saw the missing heirloom above the mantle.

He shook his head, trying to push his panic down. He would find it. He had to find it. But the gnawing worry still clawed at the back of his mind.

He needed a distraction.

His gaze landed on his companion, and instantly the perfect one came to mind.

"Hey," he asked, "Do you think you could show me that thing you were doing earlier?"

Youngblood, whose eyes had been darting around in high alert, scanning the area for any sign of a trail left by the thieving child, halted for a moment.

"What?"

"You know, the thing," Roman said, snapping his fingers to try and spark his memory. "The noise you were making when I found you. What was it called…?"

Youngblood raised an eyebrow. "You mean singing?"

"Yes, that!" Roman said, eyes lighting up. "It sounded so nice. How did you do it?"

Youngblood was still bewildered that Roman didn't know what singing was. After spending all day with him, he had caught on that he wasn't the sharpest sword in the sheath, but still, it was singing. Who didn't know what singing was?

They also couldn't afford to be wasting time on frivolous things like this. It was almost night and it would be even harder to find Timmy in the dark. He was about to tell Roman off, but the eager, puppy-like expression he wore stopped him.

If they hadn't been able to track them yet, it was unlikely they'd find them before the sun set. And a short break would be nice.

"Alright," he said, relenting. "I'll show you real quick."

He tried to find the word to describe how to sing. It wasn't something he thought he'd ever have to show someone how to do. Even the most tone-deaf people he'd encountered at least knew the steps to making noise that was song-like.

"First you just kind of, you know," he said, making a limp, waving motion with his hand, "hum. I guess."

Roman nodded, looking to him anxiously, waiting for a demonstration.

Youngblood exhaled heavily, a part of him already starting to regret this. He couldn't let his powers get too out of hand again; Setting fire to one tree was one time too many.

He closed his eyes, trying to focus his mind on reigning himself in as he allowed himself to hum lowly.

Roman listened to the rich, deep sound in awe. When he felt he had somewhat of a grasp on what to do he followed suit. The vibrations in the back of his throat were unfamiliar, but not unpleasant, and though he carried the same tune as Youngblood, the sound was slightly higher.

The elf peaked an eye open, surprised at how well he was able to harmonize. He let them carry on for a moment, before cutting himself off.

"Okay," he said. "Now just try to do that, but like, open your mouth. It's almost kind of like an 'ah' sound."

He cringed at his own juvenile sounding advice, sure that this was most likely the worst singing lesson one could possibly give. Those thoughts disappeared, however, when Roman opened his mouth.

Youngblood gapped in shock as a beautiful melody poured out of the other. His voice was like everything sweet and sugary personified, and the golden rays of the sunset basking his face in their light only added to the angelic experience.

By the time Roman ceased his singing, Youngblood's pupils were blown wide and he was frozen, utterly amazed.

"How'd I do?" Roman asked, seemingly unaware of how blown away the other was.

Youngblood swallowed, feeling heat rising to his cheeks as the realization that he had been staring dawned on him.

"Oh, uh," he stuttered, clearing his throat, "You did alright, I guess. For a beginner and all."

It was hardly much of a compliment, but a grin spread across Roman's face nonetheless.

"Whoo!" he cheered, feeling his stress from before melting away entirely, both from the distraction and the knowledge that he had done well. "Maybe eventually I'll sound as good as you."

"Yup," Youngblood said quickly, brushing a hand through his curls. "Maybe. But that's enough for now. We better keep going."

The pair turned back around, continuing on. Even as his heartbeat began to calm down once more, Youngblood couldn't help taking notice of just how the dimming light seemed to catch Roman at just the perfect angle. And deep down, a small part of him hoped that perhaps, if there was one, their next singing lesson would take place sooner rather than later.

#roleslaying with roman #rwr roman #rwr youngblood #roman x youngblood #roman/youngblood #still don't know their ship name #romblood #? #royal bloodline #roblood #youngman #I'm just tagging all the ship name recs ppl are giving until one sticks

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Evocation

Summary: Before Roman and Remus, Thomas had but one, single Creativity. His final creation, The Dragon Witch, is willing to do anything to make it that way once more.

When she sends Remus to the Subconscious of Thomas's mind, Janus and Roman are forced to team up to bring him back in a race against time before he fades away and is lost forever. The situation causes the Sides to confront their already strained relationships as emotions come to a head, memories are uncovered, and Roman begins to piece together a different side to both Janus and his brother.

Previous   Next

Chapter 1:

It wasn't uncommon for Roman to feel the dull aching in the back of his head every now and again. He had learned why when he was a child, back then it served as an alert system that demanded his immediate attention, but now it was nothing but an annoying reminder that his brother was probably about to attempt fighting a sea monster naked in a storm, or whatever danger Remus got himself into on a regular basis. Aside from the small headache it gave him, it was nothing to worry about.

Today it wasn't so easy to ignore.

They had all been summoned by Thomas, something about meeting Nico’s parents. Roman wanted to focus on the conversation, but it was like having your favorite food shoved in your face when you’re feeling nauseous. The voices of the others blended together into white noise, drowned out by the incessant hammering in his head.

“Why don’t you shut your own mouth for once, Deceit. Roman what do you think?”

He was vaguely aware in the back of his mind of someone saying his name but he couldn’t bring himself to focus enough to answer.

“Roman? Hey Princey, are you okay?”

Virgil, it was Virgil talking, his voice laced with concern.

“I-” Roman tried to speak, but was abruptly cut off with a splintering, splitting pain that caused a sickening feeling of deja vu to set over him. He let out a mix between a whimper and a shout, clutching his head and slumping against the wall.

The attention of the room was shifted solely to him, but he barely noticed. He just knew that he had to leave immediately.

“Roman, what’s wrong?”

Roman’s breathing came out in ragged pants and his voice carried a panic filled shakiness.

“I have to go,” he said, sinking out to the place he could sense as the source of his painful alert. He arose facing familiar cracked stained glass windows and worn tapestries. He had never made a habit of visiting The King’s old castle; The melancholy nostalgia that it carried was too much to bear. And yet, despite having only been here as himself a handful of times when curiosity got the best of him, he knew the layout of the palace almost as well as he knew his own, and instantly recognized the throne room.

His head still hurt, but was mostly overshadowed by the unease he felt at the heavy silence hanging in the air. Glancing around, he was confused as to what sort of danger was near, or where Remus was for that matter. Then, he spotted what he knew must be the threat. The Dragon Witch was sitting on the throne at the head of the room, her posture stiff and straight. Her gaze was fixated on the doors on the other side. As if on cue they opened and Remus strode in, cape swishing behind him.

Roman ducked out of sight behind a nearby stone pillar. In his haste he hadn’t even decided exactly what he was going to do when he discovered what was wrong, and thought it best to observe for the time being.

Hekate rose from the throne when Remus stopped in front of her.

“Alright Witch Bitch, let's get this over with.”

Remus’s tone was lighthearted but Roman didn’t miss the slight strain in his voice.

Hekate sighed. “Such a waste Your Grace. As your…lets call it friendly acquaintance I want to allow you one final chance to live. If it would make you feel better The Prince would be sent so deep into the Subconscious no one would even remember he ever existed.”

Roman’s brow knit together as he listened. The Dragon Witch was clearly talking about him but what any of it meant he didn’t know.

“You would be able to help Thomas however you wanted and have the trust and friendship of the others. Wouldn’t you prefer that to throwing yourself away for those who don’t care?”

Remus groaned. “Jesus fuck, what does it take for you to stop talking, a dick down your throat? Just get on with it, I’ve got a lot of dying to do later today.”

Hekate clicked her tongue, sounding slightly disappointed. “The thorn always so quick to defend its rose. Have it your way, Your Grace, I did leave the final decision up to you.”

Roman stepped out from his hiding spot a moment too late. He still wasn’t able to piece together exactly what was happening, but when Hekate snapped and Remus disappeared from where he stood a paralyzing chill washed over him and his heart dropped in his stomach.

For the second time in the past twenty-four hours Hekate found a sword pointed at her neck.

“What did you do?” Roman hissed.

Hekate turned to Roman.

“Hello Your Majesty, I didn’t hear you come-”

“Shut up!” Roman interrupted her. “I don’t want to hear your faux friendliness or play your games. Tell me where Remus is now.”

The Dragon Witch looked almost puzzled.

“Who?”

“Don’t act the fool you fiend! Remus. He was standing right here.”

“Damn it,” Hekate let her mask of formality slip. “I should’ve known you brats wouldn’t go that easily, I should have just-”

She paused, exhaling harshly, her face melting once more into nonchalant calmness.

“It seems it is rather fortunate your brother didn’t take my offer. It would have been quite a challenge wrangling in his anger before you actually disappeared. Please-” she quickly cut in seeing Roman open his mouth, “before you say anything else, I’ll explain.”

A small part of Roman begged himself to believe that none of it was true, that it was some cruel ploy pulled off in tandem by Remus and Hekate to cause him to lower his guard. But the sinking feeling that grew ever heavier as he listened told him otherwise.

“Congratulations on your new position, Your Majesty. I look forward to seeing the Imagination united again,” she finished.

Black scaled wings materialized on her back and spread out, preparing to take off and fly through the open holes in the collapsing ceiling. Before she could leave though, Roman was able to pull himself out of his numbing silence.

“You’re right about one thing, Hekate, neither of us are going to go down so easily. If Remus is still somewhere in the Subconscious, I’m going to bring him back, you can’t stop me from that.”

Hekate looked at him with the amused doubt a parent might show towards a child that just declared they were going to achieve a silly, fantastical goal.

“I won’t have to stop you, Roman. The Subconscious will do a perfectly fine job of that for me.”

Her wings flapped, kicking up a cloud of dust from the floor, and she shot up, disappearing into the sky.

Roman sunk out, willing himself not to be deterred by the implications her statement held. --- When he rose into the living room the others sprang up from where they had been seated quietly on the couch. Patton wrapped his arms around him in a tight hug, saying something that Roman missed among the sound of everyone else bombarding him with questions. It was Thomas who was able to hush everyone once more.

“Guys shhh, let him speak.”

They looked to him with worry at the solemn expression on his face.

“Roman, are you okay? What happened?” Thomas asked.

He wasn’t sure where to even begin. Adrenaline was still running high through him and he wanted nothing more than to rush into the Subconscious right that very second, not stopping until everything was set right again.

“It’s The Dragon Witch,” he said, “She- Remus- I don’t-.” He took a breath, trying to collect his thoughts.

“For some reason, you learning about Remus ignited something in The Dragon Witch and caused her to grow more powerful than either of us. She’s wanted there to only be a single side for Creativity for a while, so she used the opportunity to get rid of one of us.”

He swallowed hard.

“She sent Remus to the Subconscious. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but if we don’t get him back he's going to fade away from the Mindscape completely.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Thomas said, the only one not gaping, completely still. “Hang on, The Dragon Witch? I thought she was just something you made up, how does she suddenly have all this control over you?”

“She was the last thing we,” Roman paused, “I mean, that your whole Creativity, The King, created. The connection she has to him because of that is how she’s able to have so much power now.”

Thomas nodded. “Okay well, guys I’m sorry but I don’t see how this is really an issue. I don't really want him gone, but- I mean, the last few times we had Remus here it was awful. Is it really such a bad thing if you just become all encompassing Roman?”

The question was the very topic Roman had been trying to bury underneath all of the other developments the situation had brought on. He and Remus hadn’t been close for a long time. For years Roman had been confident in saying they hated one another, each of them perfectly content to avoid the other as much as possible. Any ‘love’ he had held for his twin vanished when they had chosen their sides and separated when they were still kids. At least, that's what he had thought. And yet, something inside him made him go to the other earlier, something more than just an attempt to get rid of the pain in his head. His blood had run cold at the sight of his brother disappearing, even if he hadn’t entirely known what was happening. And, if what Hekate had said was true, Remus had been given the choice over which one of them she eliminated, and he sacrificed himself. That thought alone awoke emotions inside of him that Roman would rather not face. Luckily, it was Virgil that spoke up before he had to say anything.

“Yeah Thomas, that’s not such a good idea. As terrible as Remus is, Creativity split for a reason.”

“You wouldn’t know cause you weren’t as in tune with us when you were just a kiddo, Kiddo, but having one Creativity caused a lot of problems. He had to control all of the Imagination, your stories, music, intrusive thoughts, romance… more mature romantic-related feelings,” Patton muttered the last part, “It was a lot, and it divided the Mindscape even more than it is now.”

“Yes,” Logan added, “From what I’ve observed since the ‘Split’ took place, it's been much more efficient to have two separate sides that can focus on fewer and more specific facets of yourself.”

“And he's my friend,” Janus said darkly, “Wonderful that you all seem to forget that Remus is a side with a life and feelings like the rest of us.”

Patton, Logan, and Thomas shuffled awkwardly at his words while Virgil shot a glare his way.

“And he’s my brother,” a small voice rang out inside Roman’s head, but he ignored it rather than voicing it.

“Yeah, it’s better if we get him back,” Roman mumbled instead.

"Alright," Thomas said, "But how are you going to do that? Won't you also be risking getting lost and disappearing if you go in?"

"Thomas is right," Logan said, "Anyone who goes in runs the risk of fading into the Subconscious as well. If we're going to send out a search party we should keep the number of us that goes in to a minimum, and work out a way to find our way back after finding Remus.

“I’ll go,” Janus and Roman said in unison.

Roman glowered.

“I am not going to have the liethon tagging along with me. I wouldn’t be surprised if he were in cahoots with his scaled brethren."

The human side of Janus's face turned an angry red.

"And why are you suddenly so concerned about your brother's well being Roman? I mean you two have always gotten along so well after all."

"I'll have you know-" Roman began but was cut off by Thomas raising his voice.

"Enough! Both of you. If neither of you are going to cooperate, one of you will have to stay behind."

"I'm going." Roman said, firm in his decision.

"I don't care if I have to go on my own," Janus said, "Seeing as I seem to be the only one that actually cares about getting Remus back for reasons beyond how useful he can be, I'm going."

Thomas sighed.

"Then you two are just going to have to go together. I don't want to risk any more of you being in there than I have too, so if you care enough about getting Remus back you’ll suck it up and work things out.”

Both huffed in begrudging agreement.

“Fine,” Roman said, “Let's get this over with.” --- As the side in charge of memories, Patton was the only one able to create a direct passage to the Subconscious. It looked as if the air was tearing in two when he opened it, revealing a swirling, dark chasm. The temperature around the entrance shifted rapidly going from freezing to sweltering and a mesh of muffled indistinguishable noises came pouring out from the inside.

“It will be easy to get lost in there,” Logan warned. “The Subconscious encapsulates more than ninety-five percent of activity and thoughts in the Mindscape at all times. It’s extremely unpredictable and time will feel disjointed.”

He summoned a string of white thread, no more than a few feet long, that split into two separate pieces at one end.

“Hold out your hands.”

They did so and Logan began tying a piece of the double ended side around each of their wrists.

“This string will expand itself indefinitely the farther the two of you walk. I’ll attach the other end to myself so that you will be able to find your way back. I’m unsure of how much control you’ll be able to have in the Subconscious, so I’ve prepared supplies for each of you in the case that you’re unable to summon anything.”

Two satchels appeared in his hands that he handed off to them.

“Your bodies should operate the same as they do in any other part of the Mindscape, so I doubt you will require food or water, but if you can think of anything I might have missed I suggest you add it now.”

A soft smile graced Roman’s face as he shuffled through the bag catching a glimpse of first aid and a flashlight. Despite Logan’s usual steady tone of voice he knew this was his way of saying “Stay Safe. I’m worried about you.”

“Thanks Specs.”

Patton rushed up to hug both of them.

“Stay together you guys, and be careful.”

Janus hesitated, but melted into the hug, wrapping his arms around Patton as well.

“I don’t plan on it,” he said, dry sarcasm dripping from his voice.

When they pulled apart Roman found Virgil staring intently at him.

“Watch out for yourself Princey.”

He made a distinct point to ignore Janus. A part of Roman appreciated the sentiment and nodded in return; Virgil was the only one truly on his side about not trusting him.

"Goodbye to you too Virgil," Janus called out, facing the entrance.

Roman and Virgil shot a quick sour look between the two of them as he too turned towards the Subconscious.

Janus was the first to step in, his figure vanishing into the open void with the trailing string growing in length being the only evidence that he had been standing there before.

Roman took a deep breath, cautiously putting one foot forward. Then the other. He touched solid ground that he couldn't see through the pitch black around him, and he blinked rapidly, struggling to adjust his eyes and spot Janus. He felt a sickening sensation rock his body, his stomach suddenly dropping. Confusion quickly turned to fear as he realized the reason as to why.

He was falling.

#sanders sides #roman sanders #remus sanders #creativitwins #the dragon witch #janus sanders #roceit #remus sanders angst #roman sanders angst

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Evocation

Summary: Before Roman and Remus, Thomas had but one, single Creativity. His final creation, The Dragon Witch, is willing to do anything to make it that way once more.

When she sends Remus to the Subconscious of Thomas's mind, Janus and Roman are forced to team up to bring him back in a race against time before he fades away and is lost forever. The situation causes the Sides to confront their already strained relationships as emotions come to a head, memories are uncovered, and Roman begins to piece together a different side to both Janus and his brother.

Next

Prologue:

Hekate had a hunch of what her answer would be. She had been a being of the Imagination far longer than either piece of Creativity, and that time had allowed her to gage a rather detailed assessment of both of them. However, there was that sliver of a chance that His Grace would pull out that sheer unpredictable nature of his. A small part of herself almost wished such would be the case when she stepped into the foyer of his tower, her eyes blowing wide to adapt to the blanket of darkness thrown over the room the minute the door slammed shut behind her.

The hem of her shimmering gold robes quickly became dirtied, with every step she took dragging them through the layers of debris that covered the cracked floor. Creatures that she could only guess were meant to resemble rodents brushed her feet, their chatter adding to the constant squeaking and wailing the building made on its own. A spider the size of a premature baby interrupted her stride to the staircase, halting its descent from the ceiling to land on her face. Any other day she might find the ever-moving creatures of the tower endearing, their marvelous detail a shred of a reminder of the previous glory of the Imagination. But she had no patience for such things now, solely focused on business. The claws on her hand nearly tripled in size and sunk into the beast with a single swipe. She felt the honey-like consistency of its blood run down her arm, a high pitched dying shriek being let out before the body completely crumpled in her hand. She tossed it carelessly to the side, a frantic scurrying of some other monster that had just scored itself a free meal following immediately after. With a flick of her wrist the blood evaporated from sight as if it were never there, her claws retracting back in the process.

With the nuisance of an obstacle cleared, a sudden eerie feeling led her gaze to the top of the grand, crumbling staircase. A child stood there staring silently down at her. Her pale, porcelain skin, rounded cheeks, and worn, ruffled blue dress would have given her the appearance of a beautiful sun faded China doll, had it not for the sight of her skull cracked open at the top. Despite half of her head being missing, she still had hair; brown locks clinging at the root to pulsing brain matter that glowed a dull scarlet.

"The Dragon Witch is here to see you."

Hekate gave an expressionless stare back, knowing she need not say a word. The girl slowly leaned over the banister, getting so far it looked like she might fall. At the very last second though she pulled back, blinked once, and the little messenger scampered off to the Duke's quarters.

---

The feeling of being watched sent a delightful chill down Remus's spine, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. He didn't need to turn around to know what was behind him, there was only one of his creations with that sensation ingrained into them. Instead he continued to stab the stress ball laying on the desk in front of him, each puncture causing it to squirt out a stream of a mess of bodily fluids and guts; It repeatedly patching and refilling itself so each hit was as juicy as the last. It took a full minute for the pair of eyes behind him to decide they were done watching, and a raspy, whispered voice spoke.

Remus stood, his tongue darting out to lick away a chunk of entrails that had gotten stuck in his mustache. He wordlessly tossed the girl her tip of the bloodied swiss army knife as he walked out the doorway. She went to work cleaning the blade like it was a frosting covered beater, but trailed behind the Duke, her unspoken question hanging in the air.

"The mother just died today, so the eggs should hatch in another three," he answered. "Be at the nest in the early morning if you want first pick of the litter before the vultures get to them."

He winked and the organ in her opened head quickened it's pulse, her hair losing it's limpness and swirling around her head in a tornado of excitement. Remus watched, amused, as she took off down the hall until her figure completely disappeared in the dim lighting.

He pondered whether he should slide sideways down the banister or headfirst down the stairs, before deciding neither and flipping himself backwards off the railing. Hekate stepped aside, Remus landing near her feet. The fall had broken and twisted nearly every one of his bones, and a sickening pop put them back into place when he stood with one swift motion to take a dramatic bow.

“Amusing as ever, Your Grace,” Hekate said, "Now, may I please speak to you somewhere private?"

"Aren't you supposed to buy me dinner first?"

Hekate ignored the quip and snapped into existence a door leading to a room in her own dwellings, furnished with two cushioned chairs opposite of each other next to a fireplace.

"You'd be surprised what I've learned to do recently," she said dryly.

"Oooo, when did you learn to do that Witchy?" Remus asked, stepping into the room.

Hekate held the door open, stepping through it herself and snapping it away once more.

Remus disregarded her comment, bounding into one of the chairs and situating himself sideways so that either end of his body hung off the ends.

Not a second after they had both settled into their seats, Hekate spoke.

"Would you rather yourself or your brother die?" she asked bluntly.

Despite her serious tone Remus cackled.

"Oh come on," he said "death is no fun when you choose and plan. Neither, I'd want it to be a surprise."

Hekate's expression didn't change.

"I don't think that you do. I'm asking you to choose now before I kill one of you tomorrow."

"Pfft” Remus rolled his eyes. “What is this, some game Roman's making you play along with? A big, dramatic adventure so he can swoop in and save the day or something?"

"No, I'm afraid not Your Grace, and since you seem to insist on overcomplicating this I will explain so hopefully we can finish. You see, I have been a creation of this place far longer than you have any memories of. I was the last of anything crafted in the Imagination by King Romulus himself, and unlike every one of his other creations, have managed to escape fading due to being made in such close proximity to the Split."

Remus flinched at the mention.

"In the time that I've been here, I've seen how the Imagination has suffered since Creativity separated. There's no longer that same pure, unbridled force of artistry that was here before. You and your brother are limited and it’s caused everything here to be restrained. I’d loathe to see what His Majesty would think if he were to see what's become of his kingdom, and I’m no longer going to stand by and be a part of it. One of you must die so the other can absorb the full scope of Creativity once more, and I plan to do it by my own hand. I’ve come to you because I hate you significantly less than your twin. You seem far more willing to embrace every side of your craft and have offered me haven in your land when The Prince has not. Between the two of you I see more of Romulus in you. But, it is of little matter to me which one of you assumes the role when the other is gone so long as the result is the same. I’m only giving you the ultimate choice in the spirit of kindness. So I’ll ask you again, do you want you or your brother to die?”

The crackling of the fireplace was the only sound that filled the silence hanging in the air. Hekate remained still, patiently waiting for the other to speak. Instead of an answer, the frown on Remus’s face broke, and he doubled over with laughter. Hekate pursed her lips, but made no move to stop him.

“Oh, well,” Remus said, coming down from his outburst, “As fun as this has been my good Dragon Bitch, ‘in the spirit of kindness-’” He hopped up, holding out his hand, a sword materializing in it instantly. In a single movement the blade was inches from Hekate’s neck. “-I’m going to give you three extra seconds of breath before I blow your ass away for wasting my time with your little manifesto.”

Hekate looked down at her lap and began fiddling with a loose string on the frill of her sleeve.

Remus’s eye twitched. He let out a snarl, swinging the weapon and slicing through Hekate’s neck. He didn’t get a second of satisfaction, the action seemingly reversing itself in a flash, leaving Hekate back in her original position, not a scratch on her.

Remus’s face darkened and his body shook. He struck again and again, furiously swinging and stabbing, but each time proved fruitless, Hekate healing so fast it seemed to beat the speed of his sword.

Remus was dripping sweat and panting when fatigue caught up to him and he had to stop.

“Done yet?” Hekate asked.

The amount of times Remus had been genuinely terrified could be counted on one hand. This moment was another finger up.

“What the hell-?”

“It’s like I told you Your Grace, I am the last remaining creation of King Romulus. Just as every one of your creations carries a thread of yourself with them, I carry a thread of him. For the longest time I thought that was as far as it went, but then you revealed yourself to Thomas, and I felt something change. He had no idea about you or the fact that he once had a single Creativity that wasn't just your brother. It seems your little stunt awakened something in him, and the more he's thought about his previous, whole Creativity the stronger that thread has become.”

She laughed airily. "I suppose I should be thanking you. You've opened the same control over this realm you and your brother have to me, and given me the chance to finally set things right."

For the first time, the never ending stream of thoughts in Remus's mind completely quieted. Even if he could process the thought of wanting to move, to do anything other than stand there like a petrified statue, his limbs wouldn't allow him to.

"Shame, I can see I won't be getting a verbal answer," Hekate said. "In that case, if you wish to choose the foolish option, tomorrow I will be waiting for you in the throne room of His Majesty's castle. If not, The Prince is not a hard one to track."

She got up and headed towards the hallway exit, summoning the passage back to Remus's tower on her way.

"Feel free to leave at your leisure, Your Grace. I look forward to finding out your decision tomorrow."

---

But she didn't need to wait to know what would happen. The flash in Remus's eyes when she had first made her ultimatum gave her all the answer she needed. It was a pity, she thought

She really had grown somewhat fond of The Duke.

Hey, thanks for reading! A few quick notes on what I'm planning for the update schedule:

I already have the first 4 chapters of this fic written, and the rest plotted out. Since this is just the prologue I plan to post the first real chapter this weekend. After that, I'm hoping to update on a bi-weekly schedule, but nothing is 100% set in stone, as I am a college student so things can get a little unpredictably hectic.

Hope you enjoyed the first peak at what's to come!

#remus sanders #roman sanders #creativitwins #the dragon witch #sanders sides #remus sanders angst #roceit

[snek-snacc-ficc]

!!! Please take the time to read and boost this!!!

I'll link the Twitter thread that goes into more detail, but essentially a Black girl, Taleah Lowe, who went to school at GVSU in Allendale Michigan recently drowned. She was with a group of all white "friends" when this happened and the story surrounding the incident is highly suspicious. For example, the white girls she was with claim they were all swimming in Lake Michigan when they got caught in a rip current, but the lake would be incredibly cold this time of year and Taleah's family has stated that Taleah couldn't swim and wasn't the type of person to engage in something so risky. The white girls also set up a GoFundMe very soon after her death without the knowledge or permission of her family. The GoFundMe has since been taken down and Taleah's family has yet to see a cent of the $5,000 it earned. A family member of one of the white girls involved also left a reply to Taleah's cousin referring to her family as "gangbangers," which speaks for itself, showing that at least one of the white girls comes from a racist family. Please boost this and spread the word, the case hasn't been talked about a ton yet and Taleah's family deserves justice. Currently her cousin has set up a new GoFundMe to help raise money for funeral costs, and to hopefully pay for a thorough investigation to be done.

https://twitter.com/marymagde/status/1450268011722690562?t=EurEfOHdSIjao10mPeZ_BQ&s=19

This Twitter thread was created by a Black student at GVSU who has been working diligently to collect and spread information about the case.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/justice-for-taleah-lowe

GoFundMe created by Taleah's cousin

Comment made by family member of Rachel Paulsen, one of the white girls who was with Taleah the night she died.

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Blog Info:

Pronouns: it/its

Main Blog: @snek-snacc

I reply to any reblogs, comments, etc. on my main blog, just so I can keep this one organized.

Feel free to ask to be tagged in any works at anytime

You can also read my stuff on AO3

If you need anything tagged as a TW/CW just let me know and I'll be more than happy to do it

I'm always looking to improve my writing, so any constrictive critism is very welcomed

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Fare and Unfairness

Summary: As the embodiment of Greed, Janus is no stranger to doing whatever he pleases to satisfy his desires. A craving for delicious food is one such desire with an especially simple remedy, that just so happens to come with the added bonus of visiting Patton.

Pairings: Moceit, implied Intrulogical

Words: 2,010

Janus didn't have a problem taking what he wanted when he wanted it. It was a given being the physical incarnation of Greed. But, sometimes, the sheer effort of having to maneuver his way to his prize was more than he was willing to give. Perhaps it was just another example of his self-serving ways, wanting to hoard everything including his own time. If asked outright he'd jokingly suggest that he suffered the same issue that afflicted Logan, the only one of them who represented two Sins, and that a part of Sloth still remained with him from the time when all seven Sins were the same being. In truth, it simply mattered little to him how he obtained what he desired as long as he obtained it at all. If someone was going to hand him what he wanted on a silver platter he was in no place to complain. Which is why he found himself in the kitchen of Patton's earthly residence when he was hit with a particularly strong craving for lavish wines and rich food, not wanting to bother with wasting hours searching for a human with enough skill to make it for him.

"Hmm," Patton looked thoughtfully at both bottles in his hands. "Would you prefer Bordeaux or Rioja?"

Janus eyed the dishware set hanging atop the wall above the sink with a much too admiring look. "Whatever you think is best, my dear," he said, waving offhandedly. "Is that design made of real gold?"

"What?" Patton asked, glancing up to where Janus's gaze laid. "Oh, yes! More for show than anything, but it sure is pretty."

"Indeed." Janus slowly trailed his eyes away and back to Patton.

Patton didn’t react to his guest looking like he was plotting to rob him blind, much more enthralled with choosing a wine. He observed both bottles for another moment, before shrugging and setting both on the dining table. "Well no harm in splurging a bit, why not both?" he chirped, reaching to the counter for a wine glass for each of them.

Janus chuckled lightly. "Always such a generous host. I'm surprised the Angels haven't made an exception and taken you as one of their own."

Patton huffed, giving the corkscrew a firm twist. "You would think, wouldn't you? Out of all the things in humanity to make a Sin, the Heavens choose a harmless little thing like Gluttony."

"Oh?" Janus quirked an eyebrow. "Is that a hint of bitterness I hear from such a seemingly sweet-heart? Do you think yourself Holier than the rest of us?"

"Of course not!" Patton insisted. "Frankly, I think all of their rules are foolish in some way. But out of all the things to punish, why a little self-indulgence?" He went for the Spanish wine first, pouring a glass for Janus and then one for himself. He took his own seat at the opposite end of the table and gave a snap of his fingers. In an instant the table was filled with trays of food. A beautiful, dripping prime rib sat at the center, surrounded by sides of creamy mashed potatoes and gravy, Yorkshire pudding, garlic-parsnip purée, and an assortment of vegetables prepared in nearly every way imaginable, from roasted to slathered in butter and sauteed with bacon.

Janus nearly moaned at the feast in front of them, the heavenly smells wafting through the air further confirming in his mind Patton's skills to be far more angelic than infernal. He took the time to fold his cloth napkin in his lap, and not hesitating a second longer on filling his plate.

"Continue Dear," he said, spooning out a healthy portion of truffled brussel sprouts. "I don't think I've ever heard anything akin to frustration from you until now and I'm curious to hear more. What brought all this on?"

"It's nothing much, I suppose," Patton said as he began to carve into the meat. "It's just I had a run-in with that Emile a few weeks ago and I swear it sets me off everytime I see them. You know they-"

Janus almost choked, wearing a rare expression of genuine concern he'd never dare let anyone but Patton see. "I wouldn't call an encounter with a Head Angel 'nothing much!' They didn't try anything with you, did they?"

"No, no, nothing happened," Patton said quickly to quench his fears, "I heard their lot has been trying to keep the peace with our bunch. They don't want to cause any other-worldly problems when they can hardly handle this new plague on Earth, or whatever the humans are calling it."

Janus's face melted back into relaxation.

The corners of Patton's mouth twitched upward at the subtle display. Notes of true affection from Janus were few and far between, so much so he doubted anyone but him ever picked up on them, but he cherished those moments where the other let bits of his heart slip through the cracks of his usual facade.

"Anyway," he continued, "They looked like they had an apprentice with them. Remy, I think his name was. I'd never seen him before and mistook him for just another human in the park with his true form covered."

Janus clicked his tongue. "Consciousness Darling, you have to work on it."

“I was getting to that,” Patton said indignantly. “It just so happens I had gotten my hands on a box of these lovely gourmet chocolates I was dying to try and got a little...distracted.”

Janus brought a forkful of mushroom risotto to his lips, barely holding back a smile. “Ah, I see. Completely understandable.”

“And you know what,” Patton said, ignoring the sarcastic quip, “I hadn’t even set out that day to tempt anyone. I thought: Why not leave the humans alone, just this once? They create plenty of Sin on their own, no help from me necessary.” He poured himself another glass of wine, the passion in his voice a testament to how much the alcohol was already starting to affect him. “So when I spot this kid looking around everywhere all disoriented I decided to offer him a chocolate. One, single, completely innocent chocolate, just to perk him up a little cause he looked like he needed it. And right when I go up to him, Emile swoops in from out of nowhere and knocks the box right out of my hands, telling me to stop trying to tempt their pure apprentice like I do the humans.”

Janus gave a sound of acknowledgment. “And how exactly did this specific incident set you off down this ‘Gluttony shouldn’t be sinful’ path?”

“It’s the principle of it Janus! To think that they view such a minor indulgence as a bad thing. And then they hold the humans to the same standard. They have such short, insignificant little lives, and they waste it on concepts like ‘moderation,’ and ‘dieting,’ hoping it’ll be enough to please those stuck-ups. Humans, more than anyone, should be able to soak up every last bit of pleasure from their cuisine while they can. Why, if I were a human, I’d eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted it.”

By the time the tirade was over Janus had cleared his plate. He polished off the last bit of his wine and released a satisfied sigh. “You already do that Dear,” he said, taking on a soft, sympathetic tone. “And it’s no use lamenting the sorrows Heaven inflicts on humanity; Just be grateful we can nudge them towards their own pleasure once in a while.”

“I guess so.” Patton sulked while finishing his own meal and snapping the table clean.

“Funny,” Janus teased in an attempt to get Patton’s mind on something else, “I wouldn’t have thought you the type to forget dessert.”

As expected, his energy brightened up at the mention. “You’re right, I never asked you what you wanted. Any preferences?”

Janus thought through various options, drumming his fingers on the table. “I was rather partial to that lava cake we had in France.”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a dessert plate with the cake appeared in front of him.

“Toppings?” Patton asked, already doctoring up his own cake with whipped cream and berries.

“Just powdered sugar, thank you.”

A silver shaker popped up next to his plate. He took it, sifting only a small sprinkle overtop before cutting into the miniature cake. It was even more moist than he remembered, and the center of molten chocolate oozing out was the perfect viscosity. It only took one bite for him to conclude that even the five-star Parisian restaurant they had visited didn’t hold a candle to the food Patton could create on a whim.

“Have you heard from any of the other’s lately?” He asked, eager to get the ball rolling for a bit of after-dinner gossip (his personal favorite topic of conversation).

Patton shook his head. “I haven’t had the chance to. Aside from you, I’ve only seen Virgil recently, and that was months ago.”

A delighted, devilish smirk blossomed on Janus’s face. “So I take it you haven’t heard about the...hard time Logan has had as of late.”

“No, is he okay?” Patton asked, voice laced with worry, “What happened?”

“He’s just fine,” Janus said, reveling in the anticipation, “Let’s just say that it appears there’s a reason he’s so fond of the color blue.”

He recounted the entire story Roman had told him about Logan’s budding temptation towards Lust, much to Patton’s shock and amusement.

“I never would have expected those two,” Patton said, getting up and waving away their dishes once they were finished, “But I’m happy for them. It sounds like they’re enjoying themselves.”

Janus hummed in agreement, stretching as he too stood up. “The food was wonderful as always Darling, thank you,” he said, leaning over to give Patton a gentle peck on the cheek.

His face, already flushed from the wine, turned a shade darker. “Leaving so soon?”

“You know the drill,” Janus replied, “Temptations to be made, Angels to corrupt, humans to swindle. Perhaps if I’m feeling especially virtuous I’ll borrow you a gift from somewhere in return for the lovely meal.”

Patton, who had been sinking into the other’s touch, suddenly jerked back. “That reminds me,” he said, “Wait just a second.” He snapped once and a gift bag filled with glittery tissue paper materialized in his hand. “Here.”

Confused, Janus peeled away the top layers of the tissue paper, peeking inside. Everything was sealed up tightly in bubble wrap, but through the translucent covering he could make out a familiar design. He looked up above the sink where the gold accented dish set from earlier had hung, the wall now dotted only with semi-visible outlines of where it had once been.

Patton giggled at his surprise. “You aren’t nearly as sly as you think you are,” he said. “And I don’t care whether I eat off of solid diamond or a paper plate as long as the food is good, so they’re really no use to me.” He winked. “Besides, I think I actually quite enjoy feeding your desires.”

There was a beat where Janus simply stared stunned and silent at Patton, who, in turn, looked to him with all the tenderness in the world.

Janus moved with his free hand, rushing forward to cup Patton's face and connecting their lips in a deep kiss.

“Every single being in Heaven is an idiot for not making you one of their own,” Janus whispered when they had just barely parted.

“Maybe not,” Patton said lightly, “Maybe they have incredible foresight. In any existence I would have ended up Falling for you anyway.”

Janus pulled them in for another kiss, pushing his previous priorities to the back of his mind. He was Greed after all, it was only natural for him to go after his desires. And if what he wanted was right in front of him for the taking then he certainly wasn’t going to refuse the offer.

---

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! If you're interested in this AU I do plan on creating a collection of one-shots for it, so be sure to be on the lookout for those.

Here's just a couple quick notes on the writing itself that I thought might be confusing:

-Fare, as written in the title, refers to food.

-The "Sins" in this AU were once combined into a single physical being. However, as humanity grew in size it became increasingly harder for one being to manage the responsibilities for all seven Sins at once. The internal conflict caused a split to occur, with individual vessels being created for each Sin. The only exception is Logan, who represents both Wrath and Envy. The two Sins compliment each other well, so it's easy for them to work in tandem as one. A similar occurrence happened with Pride and Lust (Roman and Remus) at first, but ultimately fell apart later on.

-The color blue, referenced in the short mention of Logan near the end, is often attributed as the color of lust.

#sanders sides #cartoon therapy #moceit #Janus Sanders #patton sanders #intrulogical #Greed!Janus #gluttony!patton

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Second Split

They had both given each other injuries that would have been fatal had they been anything other than imagined embodiments of creativity. Each time it happened the loser would heal themselves as quickly as they had been hurt, grumbling when they stood up to face the gloating the other would dish their way. But this time there was no grumbling. 

Remus didn’t get up.

Warnings: Blood, injury, death

The sound of metal scraping against metal caused an ear splintering sound to reverberate through the Imagination. The heavy panting of the twins made the already sticky, humid air around them feel all the more unbearably hot. Roman looked to his brother, who, despite the clear fatigue from swinging his morning star, managed to grin madly back at him. Roman could see the taunt that rested on the tip of his tongue, but failed to push through and escape, parched throat and gasping breaths holding it back. Instead, Remus lunged forward once more and the adrenaline spiking inside Roman forced his tired muscles to lift his shield and swing his sword back in retaliation.

It was a duel like any other they’d had before. The type of fight that was the explosion of built up aggression from striking against one another's creative current for so long they forgot how much better it felt to move in the same direction. It had happened a hundred times in the past and Roman couldn’t think of anything that would prevent it from happening a hundred times more, so when Remus stumbled and lost focus for a split second, he took the opportunity to thrust his sword ahead. He pulled back, hearing Remus fall to the ground, turning his head and closing his eyes to avoid the gory sight that was no doubt in front of him. Every ounce of anger faded with his victory secured.

They had both given each other injuries that would have been fatal had they been anything other than imagined embodiments of creativity. Each time it happened the loser would heal themselves as quickly as they had been hurt, grumbling when they stood up to face the gloating the other would dish their way. But this time there was no grumbling. 

Remus didn’t get up.

Roman remained where he was for a moment, pushing the eerie silence down by convincing himself that every second that went by was going to be the one where Remus got up and elbowed him in the side before sinking out to his tower. When nothing happened for a moment too long the feeling of unease crept into his mind. Perhaps this was a new plan of attack and Remus was right next to him, waiting for the perfect timing to bash him over the head. Unable to bear the feeling any longer, Roman blinked his eyes open, his suspicion being proven wrong at the sight of Remus laying a few feet in front of him. He remained still except for a few quivers of movement in his arm. Roman washed over his twinge of panic with an exasperated sigh.

“Okay your disgrace, quit the dramatics.”

Nothing.

“Remus, I’m serious, knock it off,” his frantic voice betraying his attempt at sounding annoyed.

This time Remus tried weakly to move once more. As he did Roman’s heart stopped, watching his body turn nearly transparent.

He was on the ground next to him in an instant. Remus turned his eyes to Roman, the small effort seeming to exhaust him. His breathing was slow and drawn out, and the wound caused his shirt to turn an even darker shade of black near his lower stomach.

“Remus what the hell are you doing? Hurry up and heal yourself,” Roman said, moving his hand to try and do so himself.

“Can’t,” Remus mumbled.

Roman grunted in frustration when his effort did nothing to fix the gash. 

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“M’ fading.”

He continued to flicker, and Roman scooped him into his arms, clutching to him tightly for fear that he was going to completely vanish in an instant if he didn’t. 

“That's-that’s impossible!” Roman fought against the burning tears that threatened to fall and the shakiness in his voice. “You’re a part of Thomas, you can’t just disappear.”

Remus let out a short breath of bitter laughter. “Not anymore. When Thomas found out about me he also found out how to deal with me. I’m like a fly buzzing around him that he finally squished. I’ve just been twitching on the ground with my guts everywhere until I actually die, this was just the final smack I needed.”

The tears started to fall, Roman shocked into horrified silence. A million thoughts swarmed in his head but he couldn’t find the ability to voice a single one of them. Remus seemed to understand and gave a painful smile. He tried to think of something to lighten the mood, but could only notice the blood soaking into Roman’s white outfit.

“Hey cheer up, you're getting a free tie dye in your favorite color.”

The comment sent Roman trembling with sobs. Remus’s face fell once more into sullen acceptance, and he leaned his head onto the other’s chest.

“Come on Ro, this was gonna happen eventually. Thomas doesn’t really need me. I’m not exactly essential like the rest of you.”

Any resolve Roman had left broke, his thoughts tumbling out in a slew of frantic babbling.

“No! You’re- we're creativity Remus. We were the same person at one point, you’re a literal part of me. If I’m needed then so are you! You can’t leave or we’ll- I’ll-”

For the longest time Roman thought the split between them had been the worst pain he’d ever felt. The feeling of being ripped apart at the seams, until you weren’t even sure who you were anymore, desperately trying to reach out and grab the other part of you that also wasn’t completely you anymore either. But this feeling was worse. This time his chest felt like it was being torn in two, only instead of there being comfort in clinging to his other half after the fact, the part that was missing left a cold, empty void. 

Remus looked like he wanted to say something, but all that came out was a cough, wet with blood. The fight to keep his eyes open was becoming ever more difficult and he had finally lost the motivation to try and win it. 

“Remus no, please- I’m sorry!” 

Roman felt his brother’s body go limp, the raddled rise and fall of his chest coming to a sudden halt. His sobs dissolved into hysterical begging at some greater force that wasn’t there to either bring him his brother back or wake him up from this nightmare so that everything was put back to normal. His pleas continued to echo back with no answer long after the weight he was holding blinked out of existence for the last time and completely vanished from his arms.

#sanders sides #roman sanders #remus sanders #creativitwins #creativitwins angst

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Snuggles, Science, and Sarcasm

Summary: The couples of the mindscape take the afternoon off to spend with each other.

Pairings: Moceit, Intrulogical, Prinxiety

Warning(s): Brief mention of blood

Words: 791

Patton yawned, blinking blearily up at Janus. The two had fallen in and out of sleepy consciousness on the couch too many times to count for the past few hours, and both had decided it was the best way to spend the day after having a breakfast large enough to feed the entire mindscape twice over. Patton shifted to glance down at his watch, a soft smile gracing his lips at the sight of Janus’s fingers intertwined with his own.

“Mm,” he hummed, “It’s two-thirty honeybee, we should really get up and...and do something.” His words were overtaken by another yawn and he fell back into the position he was in before, nuzzling further into Janus’s chest.

Janus let out a small hiss in response and, without opening his eyes, extended the rest of his arms out, wrapping them around Patton and pulling him closer.

“We did the dishes earlier,” he said, speech heavy and slurred with sleep. “We earned this. Self-care.”

He pressed a few lazy kisses to Patton’s forehead, who closed his eyes once more, perfectly satisfied to allow that as a good enough excuse.

The pair had nearly dozed off once more when they were abruptly shaken awake at the sound of Logan and Remus popping into existence in front of them. 

Logan’s usual attire was covered by a lab coat and Remus had on nothing but boxers and toe socks. Alarmingly, his bare chest was covered in blood and stitches, but neither seemed to pay any mind to it. 

Logan was furiously scribbling down notes on a clipboard, and immediately transferred himself to the table near the kitchen, opening up the laptop that sat there and typing just as quickly. Remus on the other hand slid into the kitchen, his tentacles bursting from his back and shuffling through every drawer and cabinet.

“Steak or fillet knife?” he called out, holding both up.

“Fillet,” Logan said, not bothering to look up from the screen.

Remus turned his attention to the refrigerator next. 

“We need something acidic,” Logan said, still glued to the document.

Remus shuffled through the shelves on the side of the door, knocking everything out of place.

“Will lemon juice work? Hey does something become more or less acidic when it expires?”

“Yes, that's fine.” Logan opened another tab on his computer, “And I’ll add that question to the list. Don’t forget to grab the salt, it helps draw out infections.”

A moment later Remus sped back into the living room, items in hand. He wrapped four tentacles around Logan as he continued to type. He reached out a hand for the clipboard he had dropped while being scooped up, and Remus grabbed it as well.

Janus and Patton had watched the scene play out with wide, concerned eyes on the couch, and it was Patton who finally spoke up.

“Hey kiddos, wh-what's going on?”

Remus and Logan answered at the same time.

“Science.”

“Nerdy shit.”

And as quickly as they had come in, they sunk out. Janus and Patton stayed silent after they had left, throwing each other an identical confused look. After a second though, they both decided it wasn’t worth thinking too hard about, and happily settled back down on the couch.

The noise had not gone unnoticed from upstairs. Roman sat up from his place at Virgil’s shoulder, startled at the sound of a large crash. 

“What is going on down th-” The sound of his brother’s shouting from below answered his question. “Nevermind.”

They turned their attention back to the movie they had been watching.

Virgil sighed. “Can we ever enjoy a movie without your sarcastic commentary?”

“Is his name Taran because all of these voices are tearing through my ears?”

“It’s not my fault you said you’d only watch a Disney movie if it was The Black Cauldron.”

“Hey, the movie would have been a lot better if Disney hadn’t been too afraid to scare kids a little and cut out all the cool parts of the Horned King’s army.”

Roman rolled his eyes, wriggling his way to cuddle into Virgil’s side like they were a teenage couple at the movie theater. 

“Is that what you’d wear to save me, my dark and stormy knight?” Roman asked when Taran imagined his warrior uniform in the water’s reflection.

“Pfft,” Virgil huffed, “Can you get any more sappy?”

“You love it,” Roman said smugly, leaning in towards Virgil.

“Shut up Princey,” he said, closing the gap between their lips. A look of satisfaction settled across Roman’s face, the movie becoming white noise in the background to both of them.

As the afternoon wore on, the feeling of content happiness, chaos, and love could be felt throughout every corner of the mindscape.

#sanders sides #intrulogical #prinxiety #moceit

[snek-snacc-ficc]

One Is A Genius, The Other’s Insane

Summary: Logan had seen enough of the world to know it was a horrible place, greatly in need of a competent leader. That was a job he was more than willing to fill, and so, by the age of twenty, he began his tireless work to plan the perfect scheme for world domination. Things became much more complicated, however, when Remus, his complete opposite in nearly every sense, stumbled his way into his life.

(Pssst, it's a Pinky and the Brain au)

Words: 3,177

Logan Ackeroyd couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he realized the world was a horrible place. It had been more of a gradual thing really. He studied history in school and learned of all the horrors man had committed against man throughout the thousands of years of humankind's existence. Everyday he’d watch the news and see atrocities happening across the globe in real time. When he turned sixteen, he had to get a terrible job as a fast food cashier, enduring impatient, rude customers demanding cheap food that tasted like it had been chemically manufactured (and he figured it most likely was), just so one day college would be slightly more affordable. And, perhaps worst of all, when he did reach college, he was forced to listen to pretentious English professors take the likes of Sigmund Freud seriously. Listening to an old man tell a room full of his fellow peers that Hamlet wanted to copulate with his mother was the last straw, and so, by the age of twenty, Logan Ackeroyd decided that he would take over the world. 

He wasn’t the absolute perfect choice for Earth’s ruler, he knew, but he also knew that he had an immense amount of intelligence, and a righteous moral code, and that put him above nearly every other world leader in his book. 

Unfortunately, Logan found, working to become the world’s benevolent dictator didn’t pay well, in fact it often depleted his pocket book, and so he took up a job as a middle school science teacher by day, and would dedicate his nights to working out the perfect scheme for world domination. 

It was supposed to be a secretive, solo endeavor. Involving others in his plan could get messy and chaotic, which was rather counterintuitive to his goal. Along with that, it could prove disastrous to alert others of his plans for fear it could somehow lead to interference from the authorities. It was best, he decided, to simply keep to himself with a clear mind. All of that, however, was ruined the day he met Remus.

Logan’s trip to the hardware store was meant to be quick and simple. He was working on what he thought was the verge of a breakthrough, (a prototype of a device that would allow him to brainwash the masses through the use of a high pitched sound wave), but he was missing some of the tools needed for its completion. When he turned around from the shelf he had grabbed a collection of bolts from, he was brought face to face with a man with a handlebar mustache staring at him. He was startled for a moment, but the feeling quickly gave way to annoyance.

“Excuse me,” he said, pushing past him.

“Is that blood on your sleeve?”

Logan looked down at his long sleeved polo. He hadn’t noticed the red stain on it earlier and he thought it odd that the stranger would point it out.

“I don’t believe so. There’s a stronger possibility that it’s jam.”

“You should totally lick it to find out.” 

“That would be highly uncouth,” Logan deadpanned, hoping the peculiar person would soon leave.

“It could be cool. If it is blood then you’d be like a vampire.”

Logan moved towards the check out, delving into an explanation of the definition and proper pronunciation of “uncouth.” The man continued to trail behind him, apparently satisfied with his shopping trip of a cartful of spray paint, chattering on about what seemed like disconnected nonsense. By the time he was finished with his purchase, excusing himself once again to leave, Logan was relieved to no longer be burdened with the annoying distraction.

He rushed to his lab with the missing parts once he reached home, eager to begin work on the project once more. He had little time to do so though, as right as he began the door to the room swung open. Logan jumped, grabbing a screwdriver on instinct in case he had to defend himself, and spun around to see the man from the store standing before him. 

“What?!- Why’re you-” he sputtered, completely flabbergasted.

“You left this at the checkout,” the man said, thrusting forward a plastic bag with a collection of wrenches in it. Logan hadn’t even realized he’d left it behind, but his attention had been split when he was checking out thanks to the other.

“So your first reaction was to stalk me and break into my house?!” Logan’s voice rose with anger and unease. “How did you even find where I live?”

“I followed your car.” The man said it like doing so was the most casual thing in the world. “I almost missed ya, but I caught up just in time. Lost you for a second at a stoplight though. And when I found you again your car was already in the driveway and you were gone. I tried knocking at the front door but you never answered, so I just walked in and heard you doing...whatever this is down here.”

Logan was silent, both confused and slightly disturbed that the man’s first solution had been breaking and entering, but he had little time to dwell on that. His cover was blown. His lab had been exposed to an outsider who would most certainly bring an end to his work. It had always been a concern of Logan’s, but he didn’t think he would be faced with it so soon. He kept his composure though, already theorizing which high security prison he might be thrown into. 

“Well,” he said, “I suppose now that you know of my secret you will contact the authorities. I’d rather you do it now and get it over with. My phone is right over there if you need to use it.”

The man did not move to grab it however. He remained where he was, darting his gaze around the room.

“Why would I do that?” he asked, still taking in the surroundings.

“B-Because you know of my nefarious plans now, to take over the world.” Logan gestured to the large bulletin board on the wall labeled “Plans for World Domination,” using the same tone of voice he used when re-explaining concepts to students that had been zoned out in class.

“You’re trying to take over the world?!” the other sounded ecstatic, “Woah, how?”

That hadn’t been the reaction Logan expected at all, and he still was unsure whether it was a trap of sorts or the man in question really was this...dense seemed the best way to put it. Either way, he had little left to lose. If he was going to get arrested, at least he would finally get the chance to explain his genius plan to someone beforehand. He turned back towards the device on the work desk. 

“Well if you must know, I’m working on this prototype of a device that would send out a high frequency noise to anyone within a ten thousand mile radius. Once it’s finished, I was going to hide them on numerous radio towers and implant a message within it that would brainwash everyone that heard it, allowing me to gain total control of a large number of people quite quickly and efficiently. The only problem thus far seems to be a simple yet pesky error on my part; These wires on its main control panel keep falling in the way when I try to work on it, and there's no way for me to move them all at once and simultaneously continue my work.” 

“Well I can help with that Dr. Dork-enshmirtz, here.” He moved over to the control panel, lifting up the bunches of wires that hung over it. “That better?”

Logan, though still a bit stunned, dug around in the bag the man had brought over, taking out the wrench he needed to continue where he left off. 

“My name is Logan,” he said, “but that is quite helpful, thank you…?”

“I’m Remus,” the other chirped eagerly.

“Thank you Remus.” As much as he loathed to admit it, it was fairly nice to have some sort of companionship. Being able to share just a bit of his idea already gave him a rush of excitement, despite the odd circumstances it had occurred under. And having someone to be an extra set of hands was an added bonus.

“Would it be possible for you to further offer your assistance to me?”

“Sure thing Nerdy Wolverine, as long as I get Australia privileges when you brainwash everyone. I’m gonna make a spider army.” 

The plan fell through in the end (Logan hadn’t considered how difficult it would be to travel the globe, climbing thousands of radio towers), but from that moment on Logan had Remus as his partner in justifiable crime.

---

"Heeeyyy Logie, what are we gonna do tonight?"

Logan rubbed his temples. For ninety-five nights in a row Remus had asked this same question, and every single night Logan's response was the same.

"The same thing we do every night Remus, try to take over the world."

"Ooo neat! What are we gonna do this time? More sabotaging jam companies?"

"No Remus," Logan sighed, "after last night's disaster we're lucky we aren't on some government watch list." He was most disappointed that out of all of his plans that one fell through. Creating a utopia where only Crofter's jam was consumed would have been a dream come true. But alas, he had to move on.

"Truth be told I am rather stumped as to what our next approach should be, but I'm sure with some copious amounts of effort I will come up with another brilliant idea."

"Why don't you take the night off Brainiac?" Remus asked.

"Take the night off?" Logan scoffed, "When the world still remains in the clutches of corrupt, incompetent leaders? Never. Besides, what would I do if not plot to take over the world?" 

"You could take a nap," Remus suggested, "You've got circles under your eyes so dark you could pass for a MySpace profile picture."

"While I appreciate the concern, my friend, I am quite fine. Though my sleep schedule is a bit off of an average rhythm, rest assured I have calculated a routine that keeps me functioning regularly. Though, given that you sleep a full 9 hours each day I doubt a set sleeping pattern can do much to create normal behavior." Logan muttered the last bit watching Remus grind his nails against his teeth like they were a nail-filer.

Remus halted his movement, inspecting his hand with one eye closed as he spoke. "Well then we could do something fun. We could watch this one documentary I want to see about this religious cult that made all it's followers fuck each other on a bridge and then jump off," he let out a cackled laugh, "Crazy how all that religious stuff can control people like that."

Logan scrunched his nose. "Remus, I ask that you keep your disgusting documentary drivel to yourse-" He paused for a moment, the last thing Remus said sinking in. 

"Remus, what did you just say?"

"It's crazy how all the religious junk can control people," Remus repeated, "that's partially why I gave up organized religion, in fact…" 

He trailed off but Logan wasn't listening, the gears in his head turning, formulating a new idea.

"Remus," he exclaimed, eyes lit up as he cut the other off without realizing it, "are you pondering what I'm pondering?"

"Hm, well I think so Logie," Remus said, "but I'm actually allergic to synthetic body glitter."

Logan grit his teeth, face falling. 

"You would make for wonderful evidence to prove it's possible to de-evolve, Remus. No, I was referring to the idea of preying on the population through the use of religion. If I were to somehow convince the masses that I were a god I would have the world tied around my finger; They would do anything I commanded."

"Woah, you'd be a much better god than Sky Daddy Logan," Remus said, "but how are you going to get that many people to trust you?"

"From what I've observed, most people seem to distrust claims of the supernatural due to a lack of perceivable, verified evidence," Logan said. "If I could find a way to create some sort of projection of myself to a large number of people all at once, it might be enough to convince them that I am a deity. And right here in America would be the perfect starting point, because most people here are rather gullible and severely lacking in critical thinking skills."

Remus clapped his hands together. 

"Yay! We're gonna start a nerd cult!"

---

Tireless nights were spent working to bring the plan to fruition. Logan had to work out exactly how he could create a convincing projection of himself, as well as find a power source with enough energy to fuel it. After weeks of building, planning, and re-working the contraption was finally finished and ready to be put to use. 

It was about half past ten o'clock when Remus and Logan headed out to the nearby electrical company. Its small amount of security and large source of power made it the ideal location to put his plan into motion. When they arrived and had successfully snuck through the wired fence, Logan turned to Remus.

"Here," he said, handing him a thick metal pole he had under his arm, "you use this to knock out the security guards while I hack into the security system and cameras. Try and meet me in 15 minutes."

Remus gave a two-fingered salute. 

"You got it Dorkenshmirtz."

Logan rolled his eyes at the nickname, but couldn't truly be annoyed by it. So far everything was going perfectly according to plan. Logan even found himself grinning as he made quick work of disabling the security, the flow of adrenaline making him nearly burst with excitement. Once the system was completely down, he turned tail to head to the main center. He unzipped the bag he was carrying, carefully taking out the disk-like platform he would use for the projection, and untangling the series of wires and cords to put together. To his dismay, he found that the last cord was slightly bent, most likely from being shuffled around in the bag on the trip over, and wouldn't properly plug in to the outlet without hands on assistance. The concern was quickly diminished though. Remus would be able to hold it in place while he was on the platform. Just as the thought crossed his mind the door swung open and Remus stepped in. His hair was slightly more astray than usual and a noticeable bruise was forming around his jaw, but he was smiling madly, chipper as ever.

"Did you take all of the guards out?" Logan asked.

"Yup, I bonked 'em!" Remus said, proudly. "A few of them put up a fight but I went like this," he swung the pole through the air, "BONK!"

Logan couldn't help the amused quirk of his lips. 

"Wonderful," he said, making his way towards the platform, "Everything has been put into place, except the cord over there. I need you to hold it into the outlet for this to work. Do not let go."

Remus nodded.

"Amen Sky Daddy!"

He plugged the cord in, keeping it upright and steady. Almost immediately the platform lit up with a surge of power. Logan walked towards it, nearly trembling. Finally after years of work, trying and failing and trying again, he was going to succeed. The world would finally be his to craft to his perfect, peaceful vision.

Once it was completely charged up Logan took his step onto the platform. Outside an enlarged image of himself filled the sky for miles. He cleared his throat, preparing his speech for the people, when suddenly his moment was interrupted by the sound of Remus cursing to himself as softly as he could manage. His head whipped around and to his horror he saw sparks of electricity flying from the place where the cord met the outlet, sending repeated shocks through Remus, who was struggling through the pain to keep the cord plugged in.

Remus looked to Logan, seeing him hesitate.

"Go on," he whispered, though his voice was strangled with discomfort, "I'm fine."

Logan turned back around once more, but got no further in his speech as he caught the sparks growing larger out of the corner of his eye. 

Time seemed to freeze for Logan, his head was spinning, torn between the task at hand and Remus' pained whimpers.

He'll be fine.

He'll get electrocuted and die.

It's one person vs the future of the rest of the world. This is what I've worked towards for years, and I'm going to blow it.

But he's helped so much. 

Stupid, loyal Remus with his constant screw ups, and dumb jokes, and annoying nicknames, and laughter and chatter that always rang through the house, that filled a void I didn't even notice was there before, and-

Remus cried out, his body completely jolting with an electric shock, but still he forced himself to keep hold of the cord.

"Remus let go!" Logan shouted.

"N-no, y-you-" Remus couldn't get out another word before another strong shock struck him. The surrounding wires and cords were jumping with sparks as well, and Logan caught sight of a fire starting at the floor where Remus sat slumped weakly against the wall.

"Remus!"

Without thinking twice Logan bolted from the platform, heaving Remus into his arms just as the flames began to grow and approach his body. He rushed out of the building, lungs burning from the toxic fumes of smoke that filled the air, but he didn’t slow his pace until they reached the car, the sound of sirens already blaring in the distance.

The drive home almost certainly broke the speed limit, but Logan cared little about that, glancing at Remus, unconscious but miraculously breathing, every few seconds until they reached home.

---

It was evening two days later when Remus finally awoke. He groaned, blinking his eyes open. Just as he came to, Logan walked into the room, rushing over to the bedside.

"So Logan,” Remus said, flashing a dopey smile up at him, “what do you want to do tonight?" 

Logan threw his arms around Remus' neck, the position awkward due to him being sprawled out on the bed, but neither paid any mind to it. Tears leaked out of Logan's eyes, that he tried to hold back.

"I think," he said, sniffling, "that you can choose what we do tonight Remus."

Soon after, the two were curled up on the couch, Remus' head resting on Logan's thighs. Logan sipped hot chocolate from his #1 DICK-tator mug, a Christmas gift from Remus, carding his fingers through the other's hair as a true crime documentary played on the T.V. Maybe, he thought, world domination could wait a bit when he had his whole world lying right in his lap.

---

Ah! I’m so glad I finally finished this! Think of it as my own little celebratory work to welcome in the new Animaniacs reboot.

Taglist: @bullet-tothefeels 

#sanders sides #intrulogical #logan sanders #remus sanders #intrulogical pinky and the brain au #slight angst

[snek-snacc-ficc]

Want Sanders Sides requests? Take your pick: 1)Patton and Janus are "rivals." Whenever they meet, they coldly go "Deceit." "Morality." & then exchange a sassy remark & go on their way. Everyone thinks they hate each other. But really, they're bfs. 2)Sides can't die, but Roman doesn't know that. So when Virgil comes back after getting accidentally killed Roman thinks it's Deceit and rejects him. 3)Patton starts showing frog traits & freaks out thinking Thomas is rejecting him. Janus comforts him.

Me? Finally getting around to finishing fic requests? It's more likely than you think. In all seriousness thank you for the request, I’m sorry its taken so long to get to.

I had to go with prompt 3, I’m a sucker for froggy Patton.

Words: 1,090

All the lights in Patton’s room were turned off and the curtains pulled shut, leaving the room in complete darkness. It would have been silent as well, were it not for the sniffles coming from said side who was curled up underneath his covers, tears streaming down his cheeks despite how hard he had tried to blink them away. 

Patton had woken up that morning with a horrified gasp upon seeing his reflection in the mirror. Splotches of moist, slick green skin had started to pop up sporadically across his body, and his eyes had formed an orange tint with his pupils becoming subtly more dark and slanted. 

The sight made his stomach churn. Only the dark sides ever exhibited any animal traits, and while he and subsequently Thomas had started seeing them in a different light, the fact that he was now changing appearance couldn’t be good. Despite how hard he had been trying to loosen up a bit Thomas’ view of him was changing, and not for the better.

He sunk back into bed, not daring to think about facing the others in this state.

---

Since the last episode’s ordeal there was a noticeable tension in the mindscape. The sides would silently shuffle through the kitchen every now and then during the day. Roman and Virgil seemed to stay close, throwing dirty looks Janus’s way, and Logan drifted about his business expressionless, acting as if he didn’t even notice the others around him, before retreating back to his room for the rest of the day. With the strain between everyone it was easy for Patton’s absence and failed attempts to lighten the mood to go unnoticed. 

It wasn’t until afternoon that Janus realized he was missing when he came into the commons for their usual chat (a routine that they had fallen into in the weeks since the last video). It was then that he also registered he hadn’t seen Patton at all that day. He may not have been welcomed in the light side of the mindscape for very long, but that didn’t seem like normal Patton behavior. A spark of worry came over him and immediately he sunk out in search of the other.

His first instincts led him to the main hallway of the light side, where all the doors to their rooms were. He couldn’t help but notice his own door was currently residing there. In the past few weeks it had been constantly switching at random between here and its place in the dark sides half, as if the mindscape couldn’t quite decide where to put it. Next to it was the light blue door leading to Patton’s room, littered with brightly colored stickers of everything cheerful from hearts to smiling cookies on its exterior. He knocked on it gently. “Patton? Are you in there?”

He was met with the sound of shuffling from the other side and Patton spoke up, his voice carrying an obvious over-chipper tone that was only made more apparent by the way his voice cracked when he spoke. “Oh, Janus, yes, I’m just feeling a little sick though kiddo, I wouldn’t come in.”

The scent of lies lingering in the air became even more apparently overwhelming when Janus pushed open the door and stepped into the darkened room.

His gaze fell on the lump of sheets on the bed. A pathetic final attempt at a cough came out from them as Patton mumbled something about not wanting him to get sick before he threw the covers off the figure entirely. Unable to make out much more than Patton’s form he switched on the nightstand lamp and was greeted with the sight of the other’s current situation. 

Patton immediately looked away, eyes brimming with tears.

Janus was admittedly surprised at the sight. The incident with “Lilypadton” had already been an unexpected factor in the events after the wedding. Never did he think that it would carry into his appearance afterwards.

Before he had a chance to process words of comfort Patton cried out in a choked sob, “Why is this happening to me?” His voice sounded deeper than usual, his words carrying a slight reverberation to them. “I’ve tried so hard to loosen up but it doesn’t matter, I’m still hurting Thomas and now-” he stifled what sounded like a cross between a sob and a croak, “and now he doesn’t even like me.”

Janus reached out and gripped Patton’s hand. “And what makes you think that?”

“This!” he gestured across himself, “All of this. I wouldn’t look like this if he didn’t think I was bad.”

Janus couldn’t help but grimace at that. “Thank you Patton.”

“Wha- oh,” his eyes widened, suddenly remembering the scales decorating the other sides face, “I’m sorry, I didn’t, I mean you’re-”

Janus sighed. This was new for all of them, he couldn’t blame Patton for the way he was feeling right now. “I know,” he said, “It’s alright.” He pulled him into a hug, Patton leaning into his chest, appreciating the comforting embrace.

Janus held him silently a moment, choosing his next words carefully. 

“You know, snakes almost universally represent trickery. Deceitfulness. Goodness knows Thomas knows that, in part thanks to you.”

Patton hummed in acknowledgment.

“Well, frogs have been known to symbolize a rebirth of sorts, things changing. That’s not always a bad thing either. You even said something along those lines yourself if I recall.”

Patton nodded, his tears slowing their fall and beginning to dry.

“Thomas’ view of you, of all of us, has altered since he was younger, it’s probably even changed quite a bit from a month or a week ago. Your job as his morality can and should be something fluid, and he’s now starting to really understand that. Maybe that thought process is manifesting partially in your physical appearance, but that doesn’t lessen the importance of your role, and it certainly doesn’t mean Thomas no longer wants or needs you.”

Patton sat up a bit, wiping the remaining wetness from his face. 

“Thank you, Janus,” he said, given the other a gentle smile.

He gave him one last squeeze before breaking away and standing up. “Of course dear heart.”

He gave Patton an amused look, taking in his new appearance. “Just between you and I,” he said, “green totally isn’t your color. Just, don’t try to make a huge deal out of it. I think Remus has laid claim to it for his Disney villain aesthetic.”

Patton laughed as the two of them sunk out.

#patton sanders #janus sanders #moceit #lilypadton #sanders sides