#giant logan sanders

[general-gt]

Finally something that isn’t transformers g/t! Just a little thing I finally managed to pull together.

[fandombead]

Just a little Logicality 💙🩵

[hootnhoney]

Some of my takes on the alien designs in @delimeful’s incredible fanfic, wibar

If you haven’t read it yet you’re 100% missing out. All of lime’s fics are top tier but this au specifically lives in my head rent free.

[ashs-random-writing]

Mushroom Circles

Chapter one

Ao3

—

When an accidental blood sacrifice leaves him in a strange new world, Roman has to hide

Logan would like to know what has been eating all the fruit

—

Maybe it would have been better had he not gone on a midnight walk through the woods, or had at least not gone alone.

Despite the dangers that seemed obvious at the time, he was entirely surprised by what had actually happened. He had a pocket knife in case he needed to defend himself, obviously, but it turned out that he didn’t need it.

In fact, more than not needing it, he probably would’ve been better without it.

He had been walking, fidgeting with it in his hand, when it had suddenly opened and sliced a large cut into his palm, and he had to watch the blood start dripping. He hissed in pain and clutched his hand close to himself

Great, just great. He started walking back to his house, intent on finding his spare first aid supplies to bandage up his hand, and then probably go to sleep. Roman didn’t really know why he had come outside, he often had little impulses like that, but even he could admit this one was stupid

He grumbled to himself as he walked back, cursing as his foot caught on a rock and he tripped over, instinctively putting his hands in front of him to try catch himself.

He winced as his still-open cut slammed into a mushroom. He looked at where he had fallen and his breath caught in his throat. A faerie circle.

Roman was not particularly superstitious. In fact, he couldn't care less about most superstitions. But faerie circles were just something he couldn’t help but feel cautious around.

Sure, he knew it was probably just made up that a faerie would show up and steal you away if you stepped in one (his brother had made a point to step in every faerie circle he saw when they were walking together, just to annoy him) but he just couldn’t bring himself to enter one himself

He lifted his hand, finding that his blood had stained the top of the mushrooms. He manoeuvred himself into a sitting position, and twisted around to look around him.

He pushed himself standing, and looked down. He was still in the faerie circle, and in his movements to get up, he had gotten his blood on almost every single mushroom. As if on cue, a single drop of blood fell on the one undirtied toadstool.

At first, he was unsure if it was his mind that was making up the strange, almost-weightless feeling he had suddenly gained, but then the circle started to softly glow

He tried to take a step back, out of the circle, but found that he was blocked by some kind of invisible force

He could feel his breath speeding up and he could feel something happening.

He blacked out.

When he came to, he was staring at the sky. Had… had there always been that many stars? He sat up, wincing as his hand reminded him of his injury. He froze in place

The trees that surrounded him were decidedly not the same as the ones that were there when he passed out. Firstly, if his vision in the night served him correctly, the leaves were blue. Secondly, they were about fifteen times the height they usually were. Thirdly, near the tops of them were a lot of treehouses.

They were to scale with the trees.

He looked down at himself- he looked the same, even if he was quite dirty from falling down, and from passing out. There were no faeries nearby, as far as he could see, and so he resolved to hide until he could figure out a way home

He didn’t know if this was the realm of the faeries, though he suspected it probably was, and he didn’t know if the people or faeries that lived here would be kind to find him in such a vulnerable state.

He looked around for anywhere to hide, and found somewhere, though, admittedly, it was not the most glamorous.

There was a small tunnel under a tree root, which opened up slightly, under the tree. For someone who was not as tiny as he was, it wouldn’t be very noticeable, and it seemed that there were no other animals living in there, luckily for him.

It was dark, but it was hidden and that’s all that mattered. He didn’t like it, but the idea of a giant faerie finding him was worse. He moved things around to try to make it a little more comfortable, but there wasn’t a lot to move. Some splinters of wood, and some dirt

He didn’t even have his phone, because when he got sudden midnight impulses, he didn’t tend to think ahead very much. He watched the opening for the next few hours, suddenly feeling very paranoid about what could be out there.

His hideout became somewhat more illuminated as the hours ticked by, and when he chanced a look out of the opening, he confirmed that this definitely was not earth. Unless earth had suddenly developed a purple sky, or if people were suddenly brightly coloured and had wings, of course.

As much as he loved the idea of faeries and magic, this was not what he wanted. The idea of being in a fantasy world was intriguing, when it was just an idea and not a magical transportation to a giant world where he was at every disadvantage.

He looked out at the giant faeries and held his breath. He hoped to whatever-he-could that they wouldn’t notice his little home under the tree roots. He knew they probably wouldn’t, considering that it was majorly concealed by such roots, and could only really be seen by being at such a small size, or if one was looking for it.

Each faerie had some kind of bright colouration. Skins in purples, blues, reds, pinks, greens, any colour he could think of, hair being much the same. The wings seemed different on different faeries, some being almost crystalline, some being the stereotypical butterfly wings, some looking like dragon wings.

The strangest faerie he had seen seemed to have no wings, but had yellow scales scattered across dark grey skin. He didn’t see it for more than a few seconds, though he was not disappointed by that. It was far too snake-like for him to feel at all at ease near it

One faerie that he saw more than others over the next few days was one with the crystalline type wings, that almost looked like a blue and black stained glass window. It had dark blue, almost black hair and blue skin as well. It had glasses, and it often sat at the bottom of a nearby tree and read.

Roman often overheard conversation between faeries, though it was of as much use to him as if he had never heard anything. They spoke a language he had never heard, and seemed to only speak that.

The language on paper seemed just as incomprehensible to him from the few glances he’d gotten from the blue faerie’s books. He had been a little more adventurous with watching over the few days.

He knew that he was still very concealed from view, even when he could see in front of him.

There was another faerie that he saw quite often. It lived in the treehouse in the tree he was living under. It didn’t always come down to the base of the tree, but it liked to talk to the bookish one. It was a lighter blue, almost cyan, with turquoise hair and butterfly wings. It also had glasses.

He watched them often, just to make sure he knew when it would be a good time to find food. He had been having a hard time finding food over the past few days, and whatever he could find was often too big to drag into his hole in the ground.

Usually he had to go out at night and rip off whatever he could from fruit that had fallen from trees. The fruit wasn’t always left on the ground, however, and was often picked up by different faeries, thus limiting his ability to eat. He couldn’t find the energy to resent them for this, but he did wish they’d leave some for him at some point.

He felt his stomach rumble as he watched the nerd faerie pack up its things to leave. There was a fallen piece of fruit on the ground next to it, taunting Roman relentlessly. The nerd was meticulous about leaving things clean, and so Roman would likely never get to eat that specific piece.

He’d have to get lucky and wait for another piece to fall. He sighed and watched the nerd leave.

Wait…

The fruit was still there? Had it forgotten? Night was falling, there would be very few faeries around soon, and he’d be free to eat. He smiled, thanking the small mercies of the world.

He waited until darkness had fallen and he could hear no one or nothing moving, and he climbed out of the tunnel and towards the piece of fruit. He wasn’t too sure what fruit it was, it tasted strange and looked like nothing he had eaten before he had been forced into this realm

He ripped off a piece from the fruit and began eating. There was barely a dent in the fruit, with it being about the same size as him, perhaps even slightly larger, but he ate for a while. He supposed it would be noticeable by the time he finished, but he didn’t think that was as big an issue as starving to death.

Once he figured that he had eaten enough, he ran back to his little tunnel.

He’d managed to make it a little more comfortable over the few days, and he had some soft leaves (he was correct on first assumption- they were blue) on which he slept.

It wasn’t the most comfortable but it was the most luxurious option he had at his disposal. He often thought about his bed at home- and that led him to think of home in general.

Was his brother looking for him at all? Was anyone else? What would they say when they found his dried blood on a mushroom ring? He couldn’t imagine

——

Logan didn’t often stray from routine. Most days, he’d wake up, prepare himself some breakfast, go out for a fly, and then sit under a nearby tree and read. The tree was near his friend Patton’s house, so they often talked to each other

The past few days, Logan had noticed some strange happenings. The feeling of being watched, primarily, but also that any time a piece of fruit would drop to the ground from a tree in the area near Patton’s house, and it stayed there overnight, it would have strange bite marks.

It could fall in the morning and stay there all day, but nothing would start eating it. Only at night. Obviously, this pointed to the idea of a nocturnal creature, but Logan knew nothing that made bite marks or anything the way that were left in these fruits. Nor did he know anything that stayed so close to one specific area.

He believed to have found its habitat, however, when he vaguely noticed movement under a tree root. He couldn’t make out anything in particular in regards to the animal, other than it must’ve been small, given the size of the hole it was in. From the angle he was at, he could only see a small fraction of the hole it had burrowed into, but he had noticed movement more than a few times

He sat, reading for a few hours, stopping only to talk with Patton

“Hey, Lo!” Patton greeted him, ever the happy man he was

Logan smiled, dragging his attention away from the book he was reading

“Patton,” he greeted shortly, “how have you been?”

Conversation continued naturally between them, until Logan caught movement from the habitat of the unknown creature

“That animal I’ve been trying to find for the past few days,” he started, before gesturing towards the tree “I believe it has burrowed into a hole below your tree,”

Patton’s head whipped around to look at the tree with metaphorical stars in his eyes, immediately making a move to get up and presumably run towards the tree, before Logan grabbed his hand

“Remember, this is an unknown, small animal. It has shown to be skittish, and small creatures are much more likely to die of shock, or attack when they feel threatened, so we should probably leave it alone for now,” he cautioned

Upon Patton’s answering pout, he continued

“But, I suppose we could attempt to earn its trust enough that it would come out of hiding on its own,”

Patton’s wings fluttered a few times in what Logan assumed was probably excitement. Logan couldn’t deny that he was also quite excited, though not for the same reasons

Logan was rather intrigued by the strange nature of the unknown creature, and he couldn’t help his curiosity from growing stronger. He’d love to find out what it was, perhaps even discover something new

He, a few hours later, after Patton had left, began packing up his things. He noticed a singular piece of fruit on the ground next to him. He was about to pick it up, but then thought about the mystery creature

It seemed to only be eating food that had dropped on the ground. If he picked it up, what were the chances it would find something else? He let out a small sigh and left it on the ground, putting his books in his bag.

He flew away from the tree and towards his home.

Once he was sitting safely in his bed, he sighed.

Of course, whatever the unknown creature was may be dangerous, so he’d have to approach the situation with caution and be careful not to startle it. Maybe he could leave some food out for it so it wouldn’t have to survive on the off chance some fruit might fall from a tree

He thought about all of his observations of it. At first, he’d hypothesised that it was nocturnal, as that would explain why it only came out of its burrow at night. But, he had seen movement several times during the day- so perhaps it was just hiding from what it perceived to be a threat

He couldn’t think of a single thing that acted exactly the same as this mystery animal

—

@a-chilly-pepper @da3dm

[muppenthings]

The final part of the Sanders Sides "Giant merman" au story. It is the end of the au.

First -- Previous

CWs: while everything is kept very brief the story does mention abandonment, injury, person being called monster, mentions of self-neglect, kidnapping, being tied up, and death.

Part 4

On the local morning news, a cargo ship was reported to have had an unfortunate run in with a supposed whale; the hull dented, propeller and rudder smashed. The ship drifted at sea before it was successfully towed back to safety by the coast guard.

Logan chokes on his morning coffee. No way a whale could manage that. And with the state of mind that Virgil left the beach in… Logan worries Virgil’s gotten hurt.

He calls Janus. There’s a long pause. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore. We’ve got him.” And he hangs up. Leaving Logan even more jarred. He tries calling him again, but he’s been blocked.

Roman calls him next, having seen the news too (Patton is still sleeping cause he’s not a morning person). They both rush to Patton’s place, calling in to get the day off their respective work.

The trio then tries to figure out what to do. Janus had straight up told them that the company had Virgil. So, he was at a mainland harbor or something similar. Did he go willingly? Only one way to make sure. They find a map and start plotting, locating all possible harbors. They’re not abandoning their friend! Meanwhile Logan feels responsible and quite guilty.

Scene changes to a mainland harbor, where the company is keeping Virgil.

Janus is staring up at his sleeping form, his gaze travels to the side of his tail, a large gash adorning it. An injury likely from smashing the cargo ship’s propeller. He’d call for someone to look at it. 

One of his team members walks up to him. Janus asks if the sedatives shouldn’t have worn off by now.

The former shrugs. Probably. The mer was exhausted before so he’s probably just catching up on some Z’s.

Janus frowns. This wasn’t how he wanted things to go.

Part 5

Flashback to before the capture:

Janus had explained to the company board about the three friends and his own plan of the giant coming willingly. They had agreed to it.

Since they already had placed a tracker on the giant, they were confident that the giant wouldn’t escape even if he declined the offer. ((Virgil must drink freshwater, there’s a stream that he frequents on the mainland. The “tracking team” could easily figure it out and wait for him to visit it, thus plant a tracker from afar on him.))

But the board had completely lost their cool after hearing that the mer had attacked a ship; Seeing the tracker’s location along with the location of the cargo ship… They put two and two together. (The company has their own ship at sea, keeping an ear on the marine radio channels. Just in case) 

The board gives the instruction to just go ahead with plan B; which is to sedate the mer and tow him into their harbor. The mer was growing too unpredictable for their liking, it’d be safer for everyone to just bring him in. What they’d do with the mer was still being discussed.

Janus opposes but the plan is already set in motion during the early morning.

While he waits for his team to bring the sleeping mer in, he receives a phone call from Logan; talking about the cargo ship on the news, worrying about Virgil. Janus tells him not to worry about Virgil anymore; they’ve got him. He then blocked his number; the three didn’t need to be weighed by company business anymore. Janus may also be a bit salty because the trio didn’t keep him updated on Virgil’s status; they didn’t hold their part of their deal so he’s not keeping his.

End flashback.

Part 6

When Virgil wakes up, he’s not very cooperative. He’s tied up, confused, scared and angry all rolled up in one. He refuses to let anyone approach or tend to his injured tail. So Janus does a “villain speech” and basically shoulders the full responsibility for Virgil’s capture (he’d rather have the mer angry with him only so that his team could tend to his injuries and hopefully feed him). This allows his team to work better with the mer, but Janus isn’t having a good time.

A week passes

Somewhere during this, Virgil learns about the fate of the researcher that created him. The person he viewed as a parent, that he still views as a parent. Learning that she unfortunately died in an accident shocks him, but there’s also relief in knowing that she never abandoned him. That he was never an unwanted creature; she was going to come back to him. He starts bawling; for the loss of a parent, for the years of solitude, for being stuck in a place with unknown people, for attacking the ship. And above all, missing his humans. 

Virgil is so miserable. Janus considers contacting the trio again as it’s just not working. What Janus doesn’t know is that Logan, Roman and Patton have been scouting all possible harbors where Virgil might be kept. 

The trio ends up finding the harbor just as Janus gets the green light to get the trio involved again. He calls Logan, the ringtone echoing loudly in the back area, effectively getting them “caught”.

Virgil initially doesn’t want to greet them, recalling his actions towards Logan on the beach prior. But the two have a heart to heart and reconcile. Logan also addresses his guilt from not noticing the bad state Virgil was in.

Everyone has a talk. It’s eventually decided that Virgil can swim freely in the ocean again and spend time with Logan, Patton and Roman like they used to. But he has to return to the harbor for health checkups and to eat; so he doesn’t impact the area's ecosystem as much by staying in it.

In the end, Virgil is free and can spend his time with the people that he loves. He mends things with Janus too. Getting another human friend. And they lived happily ever after. :)

[mysisypheannightmare]

Just Another Day (Chapter Two)

Word Count: 4,860

Warnings: Logan Angst, Sickfic, Fever, Nightmares, Hurt/Comfort (with actual comfort this time), Stream of Consciousness mixed with actual fully-written scenes, and All sides are present in this fic

Read Chapter One First

AO3 Link

--

He kept flinching away, Virgil noticed.

A part of him wanted to be grateful that it wasn't just him now, but all the other sides, too, that Logan was avoiding every time he was awake enough to recognize they were there with him. But, given Logan's last little freakout, it probably meant that something about the other sides was unsettling him so badly that he didn't want them there.

Well, maybe if he'd actually eat on his own or just get some actual sleep, then he'd stop having a stupid fever and feel better already…

Virgil felt a bit guilty for wanting Logan to just hurry up and get better already, but he couldn't help it. He had to hear Janus explain that Thomas was better from his fever the other day but was still dealing with a mental fog, likely thanks to whatever Logan was dealing with now. It's like the two were linked in some crazy way and managed to get each other sick.

If Thomas ever gets sick again after this, Virgil wasn't going to let there be an argument about it ever again. The man's going straight to bed, or better yet, a hospital! He should also probably make sure he's up to date on all his vaccines, too, just to be sure. This can't ever happen again. Not to Thomas and not to Logan.

"His fever has finally gone down a bit," Janus was telling Patton, who still looked distraught since the moment he even found out that Logan didn't seem to be doing too well. That hadn't been a fun conversation.

"He'll probably be back to himself in no time, alright?" Janus, of all sides, was trying to reassure Patton. Virgil hated that he couldn't tell if he was lying, even if it was only to make Patton feel better, but he certainly wouldn't put it past him. It was kind of his thing, after all.

Patton seemed to be cheered up ever so slightly by the news, however, so at least there was that.

He really hoped Logan was actually getting better.

--

"How's he doing?"

Roman turned to see Patton peek his head in, concern deep in his expression.

It was now the second day of them keeping a watchful eye over Logan. Roman was sitting in the chair they'd moved next to Logan's bed. He was keeping himself occupied with a coloring book and a box of crayons. It didn't take too much to keep him entertained while letting Logan sleep.

Speaking of…

"He keeps tossing and turning, but it's still better than yesterday," he informed Patton.

Patton stepped into the room and walked over, patting Logan on the head, only for him to shift away, turning on his side.

Roman sighed.

"I don't know what else we can do. I tried adding those pillows yesterday, but …well, you saw what happened. I guess he just can't get comfortable."

Patton gasped and then smiled wide.

"I may have just the thing!"

Roman watched, confused, as Patton ran off, ducking back out to the hallway in a hurry. He had no idea what he could possibly have planned, and he certainly didn't expect to see Patton return a minute later with an enormous stuffed animal in his arms.

It was a big white unicorn, nearly three feet tall, with bright, neon pink tufts of hair for a mane and a shiny rainbow horn sticking out of its head. The way its pink-colored hooves bounced as Patton walked back in, it was clear the unicorn's legs have more weight to them than the rest of the stuffed animal. Optimal for hugging, in fact.

Patton strode right up to Logan's bed and set the large plushie next to Logan with a triumphant grin. "That should do the trick!"

And somehow, he was right.

Roman watched as Logan turned over again on his other side again, almost instantly pulling the unicorn to his chest like it was meant to be there. He seemed to calm down right away, relaxing his shoulders and everything.

Finally.

It may have looked ridiculous for Logan to do such a thing, but if it got him to sleep more soundly, Roman would leave it be. He could just tease him about it later when he was no longer sick.

--

Logan woke up again, holding something soft to his chest. He tiredly opened his eyes, seeing only white fur with pink tufts sticking out… Oh! Palindrome, his stuffed unicorn! He hadn’t seen it in so long.

He squeezed it tighter to his chest, only to remember…he’d gotten rid of Palindrome over a year ago. So why was it here?

He glanced around to see he was still in his room. His mind seemed far clearer as he looked around some more and recognized everything was in its place, save for a new chair set next to his nightstand with a very bored-looking Janus sitting in it, flipping quietly through a book that Logan was fairly certain was from his own collection.

“…Janus?” he tried to say, but his voice came out exceptionally raspy. Wow, his throat really hurt, actually. Like he’d somehow managed to swallow barbed wire, the prickling sensation worsening as he tried to adjust to sit up on his elbows.

What on earth happened?

Janus looked over at him and quietly shut the book in his lap and set it aside.

"Hey, how are you feeling?” he asked him, an odd expression on his face. He seemed to be looking Logan over instead of just looking at his face. “Still tired?”

Logan narrowed his gaze at him, trying to decide what he meant by that. His mind seemed to be slow to give him his usual deductive reasoning, but was he implying Logan was tired earlier? Why would he ask that?

He opened his mouth to ask for clarification but somehow managed to choke on air, and let out a pathetic cough into the side of Palindrome’s head.

He frowned. Oh, he really hadn’t meant to do that.

“Thirsty?” Janus asked, and as Logan looked up again, he noticed a water bottle being held out to him.

He took it, aware that his arms felt very weak. He tried to sit up just enough so he could take a quick sip of the water, and then he finally asked the burning question…

“What… Uhm, what happened?”

Janus stared at him for a moment, that same unreadable expression on his face.

“It seems you had a fever, Logan,” he finally answered, leaning back in his chair again.

Logan waited, but Janus didn’t continue.

“Care to elaborate?” Logan asked, now trying to sit up properly and lean back against his headboard. It was more of a struggle than he expected, but he managed it regardless. He set Palindrome at his side, trying to resist the urge to hug the stuffed animal for comfort that he knew he didn’t need.

“Depends,” Janus responded, almost cryptically. “What do you remember?”

Logan sighed. He sure didn’t remember having a fever, but unless Janus was lying – which was extremely likely – then he couldn’t really be sure of anything that happened after Thomas had started feeling off and had thrown up yesterday…

“Oh,” he realized, “Thomas was sick."

Janus nodded. “Yep, had a fever, and then you managed to catch one, too.”

Ah, a fever probably wasn’t good, now that he thought about it. Though, Logan wasn’t even sure the sides could become ill. Patton and Roman had claimed to be sick a few times over the years, but they seemed to always be fine after having one of the others take care of them for a couple hours. He’d honestly thought they were just in need of some relaxation and special attention, not actually sick in the way a human could be, but maybe he’d been wrong.

It certainly wouldn’t be the first time…

“Is he doing better now?” Logan couldn’t help but ask.

Thomas’ health was definitely the priority here, so he ought to make sure.

“Considering it’s been about three days since his fever broke and he’s gone right back to normal? Yes, I’d say he’s doing much better.”

Janus looked over at him then, as though waiting for something.

Logan blinked, glancing away. Wait…three days? “Did you say three…? But wasn’t that just…”

How could that have been three days ago? Thomas had only gotten sick just yesterday! How long had Logan been sick then?

How long had they had to put up with him being out of it, especially if he couldn’t even recall a single moment from the whole ordeal? Hopefully he hadn’t completely inconvenienced everyone or kept Thomas from any important activities. Three days was such a large amount of time.

He sat up some more. He looked across the room to his desk, where his laptop sat open and ready for work.

Maybe he should check his schedule, just to see how far behind he had gotten…

"You really don’t remember then? Any of it?” Janus asked, some sort of emotion lacing his words. But what emotion was there, Logan couldn’t be sure.

He looked over at Janus. He seemed bothered.

Oh, no.

Had Logan done something burdensome? He didn’t know what it was, but he hoped he could make it up to him and the others. There were far too many possibilities if it occurred due to illness. Maybe it wasn’t anything too awful and a quick apology and some acts of kindness would suffice?

"I’m sorry if I bothered you in any way,” he told Janus right away, trying to adjust and move the blankets off so he could stand. His arms were still shaking a bit, but he needed to get back to work quickly if things had really been that bad. “I can assure you it won’t happen again.”

Janus eyed him as he tried to stand on wobbly legs. He rolled his eyes before sighing heavily and reaching over to push Logan back down onto the bed.

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Janus told him flatly. "You're probably not fully well just yet."

Logan wanted to disagree, but he couldn't be sure. He looked over at his nightstand, seeing his glasses lying there, so he picked them up and put them on. His eyes adjusted slowly and with his vision clearing, he felt confident he was probably fine after all.

"If you don't remember, perhaps I should fill you in," Janus offered.

Logan glanced over at him, and Janus took the opportunity to explain in vague detail that Logan hadn't been seen by the other sides most of the day after Thomas had initially gotten his fever.

Once Thomas was better, they'd all assumed everything was fine…until they realized Logan was missing, so they'd gone looking for him. Apparently he was in his room, dazed out of his mind, sitting at his desk for some reason. Virgil and Remus got him to bed, but when they came back to check on him, he'd gotten up again and each time was either wandering around aimlessly in his room or sitting at his desk again, doing nothing.

"It was frustrating how many times we had to redirect you because you wouldn't sleep, for whatever reason," Janus said with a laugh.

Logan grimaced. That sounded very annoying for them.

"Apologies. I hope it wasn't too much of a problem."

Janus looked at him.

"It wasn't a problem."

Again, Logan wasn't sure what emotion was there in Janus' words, but there was definitely something. He felt awful not being able to assign it, but that had never been his forte, after all. He couldn't be expected to understand something that he wasn't meant to, even if he kept trying and failing for years at this point to do just that.

Janus sighed, continuing his explanation,

“By the next day, things got… well, they got a bit intense there for a while.”

Logan wasn’t sure he wanted to know what that meant. He found out anyway.

“You seemed terrified any time you were awake and one of us tried to help you with anything. A single touch had you backing away, even if we were just trying to get you to drink some water..”

Oh. Logan tried to remember why that might be, but his mind didn’t supply him a reason. He didn't find himself typically afraid of the others, so there was no reasonable explanation for him to do such a thing.

“And when you slept, you seemed to have nightmares. Painful ones, from the looks of it.”

Well, that probably wasn’t fun to deal with, either. No wonder Janus seemed bothered.

"Around the height of your fever, you had somehow managed to get out of bed and run across the room, tried to grab…I think it was a letter opener? Who knows what you were planning to do exactly, but when we finally stopped you, you…said you were trying to die for us.”

Janus stared at him, willing him to remember. But Logan didn’t remember anything like that at all.

Why would he have done something like that?

Perhaps his mind believed he was in danger or maybe they misunderstood the situation? That's such an odd response, though, even for someone who's ill.

“That…sounds burdensome,” Logan stated, in lieu of having anything else to say. “I’m sorry.”

Janus sighed, leaning back again.

"You really don’t remember? At all?" he asked again.

Logan shook his head.

“Well, there goes my hope of getting some answers at least,” Janus responded. “And what about all the mumbling you made in your sleep about Thomas replacing you?”

Logan froze. Well, that he remembered, but not from his time being sick. He’d been sure for quite a long time now that Thomas ought to replace him, find a suitable Logic that functioned and performed adequately, who didn’t constantly cause problems and instead fixed them like he was meant to. Had he mentioned that out loud?

“Uhh…”

“And something about not being productive enough? Being useless?” Janus added.

Logan swallowed, a pain in his chest rapidly starting to ache. Had he really said that? He was hoping none of them would find out how badly behind he'd been on his work.

He was able to get most of Thomas’ necessary tasks taken care of every day, but as time went on, his energy always seemed to dwindle, and lately, he’d been downright terrible about keeping proper tabs on everything. He had been covering it up well enough so that it wouldn't bother anyone or cause further problems, but that clearly wasn’t the case anymore if they knew.

How was he going to fix this? Did this mean they would replace him, after all? They would have to, right?

His breath felt shallow. But he'd been expecting to be replaced eventually, hadn't he? He was certain this was supposed to happen, just not so soon!

His throat felt tight, and his mind started racing, but it seemed Janus wasn’t finished yet.

“Oh yeah, and then there was a remark in there about how this was supposed to happen. Does that ring any bells to you?”

Logan squeezed his eyes shut, trying to breathe steadily, but absolutely failing.

Yes, of course he had thought about these things for quite a while, but none of the others were ever meant to know about it!

He was supposed to keep existing until the moment he could finally resolve all those problems he'd tallied up over time, even if the biggest problem was himself. He was supposed to stay for as long as he was useful, even if he’d already been found to be useless. He never wanted them to know how pathetic he was and had been all this time. He'd wanted to fix things before Thomas found out, at the very least.

What would he do now? Janus couldn’t have been the only one to know. What would the others do? Did Thomas know already? Were they replacing him already? What was going to happen to him?

He was supposed to have more time to fix everything before it had to end. He'd thought about it so much, but he was only biding his time and getting what little done that he could, then he would address it outright with Thomas, because he deserved to know…just not yet! It was supposed to happen, just not yet!

Was this inevitable? Was this always going to happen, the truth would come out before he had the chance to fix everything, even if he hadn’t somehow fallen ill?

Logan’s mind wouldn’t shut up or let him catch up on everything. He tried not to panic, but none of this could possibly end well.

Would it even end at all?

"Logan, breathe, please!” Janus pleaded next to him.

Oh. He wasn't breathing. That's probably what that pain was. Oh, no.

“You’re going to be okay," Janus told him.

He wasn't going to be okay. He messed everything up and hadn't even figured out a way to fix it!

"I wasn’t trying to confront you about this right now," Janus continued. "I just wanted to see if you had remembered… Perhaps, not my best move, all things considered.”

How could this have happened? What was he supposed to do now? He'd have to change everything, but if they all already knew, what could he possibly do to fix it? He couldn't fix anything! But if he couldn't fix anything, Thomas and the others would still be left with all the problems he'd left unresolved!

They'd all be so disappointed. They probably already were.

His chest ached.

He tried to imagine how the others would have reacted, but all he could think about was how he hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone or make them think they’d done anything wrong. He wasn't supposed to leave them with any burden. But now he’d gone and bothered everyone for no reason!

They all knew he’d been useless to Thomas and believed he deserved whatever fate came of that…

They must have been so upset with him.

“Logan.”

But it wasn’t as though this was the first time, right?

“Keep trying.”

They would never understand. He wouldn’t be able to make them understand. He already knew that from the start.

“Please.”

He really should have expected this.

…something about that thought was far too sobering.

He took in a deep breath and his vision seemed to clear up. Right, breathing is a good thing. Of course.

He managed to get in another deep breath, but it still felt as though his throat was tight and his heart was beating way too fast. What was wrong with him?

"There we go," Janus said in barely a whisper. "Honestly, I thought I was going to have to do it for you again."

"Again?" Logan squeaked out, looking up at him. "What… do what again? What do you mean?"

Janus frowned.

"When you were panicking before, when you were still feverish, you had tried to hurt yourself… You wouldn't calm down, so I…helped," he explained, then looked away. "Or tried to, anyway."

"How?" Logan couldn't help but ask, his breathing finally starting to slow back down. His chest hurt. Everything hurt.

"It's just a trick I know," Janus replied. "I have so very many of them, after all."

Logan watched as Janus leaned back, looking more like the Janus he knew rather than the worried mess he'd awoken to. Maybe that was a good thing?

Janus turned back to him then, squinting as he added, "You know, I haven't used that one on anyone in years. It just makes you calm down really fast, it's better for things like panic attacks. Virgil had gotten so mad the last time that I used it on him, he…" Janus trailed off, covering his mouth. "But it sure seemed like you needed it. I can only hope it actually helped."

Logan blinked.

"If I could remember, I would tell you."

Janus nodded. "I believe you. But I would also rather not have to do it again… which means you'll need to talk to me, or at least someone about what's been going on."

He stared at him intently, and Logan tried not to react, without making it obvious he was pointedly ignoring the suggestion. He let himself breathe, trying to get back to some semblance of normal.

"Those kinds of thoughts rarely spring from nothing, Logan," Janus remarked.

Logan didn't really want to think about it, if he were honest. It was always so much harder to understand if he let himself think about it. There had been so much and he had no desire to see the consequences of these actions anytime soon.

But clearly Janus wanted him to make a decision anyway.

"I'm aware," he responded. "I'll consider it."

Janus just continued to stare.

"Please do."

They, thankfully, didn't discuss it further. Janus let him rest a while longer before insisting he eat something.

Logan tried not to think about everything that was being left unsaid.

--

It was when Patton visited him again later that day that he decided to address the issue with the stuffed animal. The issue being that it wasn't meant to be in his room anymore.

“Did you bring this here?” Logan asked, holding out the stuffed unicorn plushie so that Patton could take it back. Sure, he could admit that he had missed Palindrome, but it wasn’t as though anyone else would know that.

Patton smiled brightly, taking the stuffed animal into his arms and letting its big hooves wiggle back and forth as he gave it a quick hug.

“Oh, Palindrome had shown up in my room a while back,” he told him, taking a seat in the chair that still sat next to Logan's bed. “I tried to return her when she first appeared, but you said she wasn’t lost. You said… I think you said something about not needing her anymore?”

Logan recalled why he’d willed the stuffed animal away in the first place. He wasn't meant to keep sentimental items in his room anymore, so he put them away in storage and got rid of them entirely. He wasn't sure where Palindrome would end up, but considering Patton seemed to already have an ever-growing collection of stuffed animals in his room, it certainly didn't surprise him that it ended up there.

“That sounds about right," he replied.

Patton continued, “I figured I would let her stay with me until you needed her again, so I gave her as many puzzles I could find to play with, and any time a new book showed up, I’d give it to her to read! She seems to really like them!”

Logan wanted to be grateful, but he didn’t understand why Patton was telling him all of this.

"…this doesn’t really answer my question, Patton. Clearly, you brought her here… I mean… Uhm. You returned this stuffed animal for a reason, right?”

He didn’t like sounding attached to an inanimate object, but that didn’t seem to matter to Patton as he replied with a laugh,

“Well, sure!” Patton pushed the unicorn back into Logan’s lap, tilting the animal’s head up at him. “You needed Palindrome back, didn’t you?”

Logan grimaced. “I don’t think—”

"Whenever I’m sick, my stuffed animals are always the biggest comfort when I’m trying to sleep,” Patton explained. “It only makes sense that Palindrome could help you be comfortable, too. Isn’t that just logic? It has to be.”

Logan wasn’t sure what it was, but it definitely wasn’t logic. Not that explaining that would help matters. He sighed.

“While I appreciate the gesture, Patton—”

“Will you keep her, then?” he asked Logan earnestly.

Logan paused and looked away. He really should just get to the point with this.

He handed the stuffed toy back to Patton yet again.

“Like I said, I don’t need a stuffed animal. And certainly not to sleep comfortably.”

It was the truth. He didn’t require comfort, let alone comfort items. He’d willed the unicorn away last year because it was beyond time for him to stop clinging to a toy so unnecessarily. If anything, Patton seemed the exact type to enjoy having an extra stuffed animal around, so it was best for him to keep her, not Logan.

Logan didn't need it, Patton wanted it, so this just made sense.

He’d made up his mind about this.

Patton leaned forward ever so slightly.

“She misses you.”

…what?

Logan whipped his head back to see Patton staring right into his eyes. He tried not to squirm under such harsh attention but failed as he started to shift uncomfortably.

Patton reached out, setting the unicorn right back on Logan’s lap resolutely, and then continued to look at him with determination.

“I don’t want her to think she’s alone,” he told Logan, his voice and eyes portraying true honesty, “even with all her friends around her. I know she likes to do things by herself, but I think it’s important that she at least have that chance for comfort when she needs it most.”

He gave the smallest smile after that. “Don’t you agree?”

Logan wasn’t sure what to think.

Palindrome was just some stuffed toy. Easy to toss aside and forget. Even easier to replace, with something better, more suitable. It's as though the damn thing was built to be useless, as though it was meant to be tossed aside eventually. Even if he had kept it around for a long time until now, why would Patton or anyone else think anything important could ever come from such a thing?

“What if she doesn’t need it?” Logan asked.

Patton’s smile faded.

“Everyone needs it. Even if it’s in a different way than we expect, but that’s okay. It’s always okay.”

But it’s so excessive. They didn’t need to waste time providing comfort for someone—for something that didn’t deserve it, that didn’t appreciate it! It couldn’t care, it couldn’t reciprocate, it couldn’t do anything that could ever help anyone else! It was useless!

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just get rid of her?” he asked, his voice almost a whisper.

Why not just remove the problem? Why wouldn’t they just make things easier for themselves instead of trying to cater to something they didn’t even understand? It’s not like he could even begin to tell them--

“I don’t think so. I think she’s right where she belongs.” Patton reached out to pet the fur on top of Palindrome’s head, adding softly, “But it looks like maybe her friends could have done a better job at reminding her of that… but they want to try now. Do you think she’d let them?”

Logan peered down at the unicorn in his lap, trying not to cry. This felt awful, it felt wrong.

"What if she’s scared it will only make things worse?”

Why was he playing along with this? What could this possibly accomplish? Nothing was ever going to change, so why even try?

“I think she deserves the chance to see what it could be like, Logan.”

His breath came out shakily as he tried to hold back the tears building in his eyes. There was so much that didn’t make sense, so much that could go wrong, but they wanted to do this anyway? He didn’t understand why they would bother.

Logan squeezed at Palindrome’s sides, still resisting the urge to hug her. He didn’t deserve that comfort, he knew that. It didn’t stop the thought from invading his mind, though.

Any time these pesky emotions stirred up, he knew all the books and research he’d read claimed he needed to examine them and then feel them and move on, but it was as though a tightly locked door was between him and these feelings, and even if he tried to open it willingly, he couldn’t seem to get inside, even for just a look.

He knew he would never be able to understand himself or what he was feeling. Nothing would ever change that. And it was his own fault. No one else should have to deal with that. It wouldn’t be fair. He was supposedto handle this on his own.

“Logan,” Patton reached out, just barely laying a hand over his arm. “Do you think you could try?”

He wasn’t sure. It didn’t seem like the right thing to do, but he just wasn’t sure. He… he wanted to, but he was terrified to know what would come of it. He wanted to but he didn’t want to bother them with all of this. He wanted to, but he couldn't possibly convince himself he would ever deserve it.

But he wanted to.

And he wasn’t sure he’d ever wanted much of anything before, except for things to finally end.

Maybe this was a different way… a better way.

He held his breath and looked up at Patton.

And nodded.

[jaratedeguadalupe]

remus and virgil tasted and reviewed every single monster flavor once to find out which one was superior 

[soysaucevictim]

Because dammit. Brain's thinking about Intrulogical shit some more. Snippets from Promethean!AU like this amuses me greatly.

(That vignette happens in 1977. Logan's existed since like just before The Great Depression, and Remus was made in the middle of WW2.)

[orbmanson7]

Me, with every fandom I fall into: okay but how do I make a wayward children crossover for this

[an-organized-confusion]

I’m mostly going to paraphrase but me and co-conspirator thought about how some members of Team Z in the iZ!AU are dealing with the whole... being zombies thing.

Roman is going to box it up and compartmentalize it and try not to think about it for like a month... and then he has to again, in order not to go Full Romero. (Or if the brain he’s on is particularly rough.)

Virgil, having had a long history of a good therapeutic relationship for his anxiety issues with Patton... he’s a bit less of a mess. But lbr, nothing’s going to really prepare you to deal with any of this zombie nonsense.

Remus is like, “This is great! No more cancer! No more aching joints! My scars have healed-!“ Patton (or Logan in all honesty): They’re still there- Remus, insistent: “My scars have healed!“ Patton (or Logan): “But-?“ Remus, with more intensity: “My. SCARS. Have. HEALED!“

Janus? Janus is not going to say shit about it.

[general-gt]

Finally posted a new work on Ao3. Warnings are in the notes

[transfemlogan]

[Virgil voice] Hey, patton, heres a card I made in like 2 seconds. Merry christmas. And, L, your gift is a giant fucking puzzle. You have to search through this newspaper for a code which will lead you to another puzzle and then that puzzle has 3 more codes in it and you have to connect every little piece of every puzzle and connect all the codes together to figure it out, Mr. Detective. It took me 5 weeks making this, before I even knew I had you for the secret santa . I just wanted to do it for you— NO im NOT in love with logan sanders, guys, why do you all keep saying that. God.

[prodigal-explorer]

here are my current sanders sides height headcanon obsessions

i'm sure by now you all know that i do not have set-in-stone height headcanons for the sides (for the most part) because i don't really care and i like mixing it up! but here are my current favorite height headcanons for the sides that i just adore for so many reasons and implement into a lot of my most recent aus!

i can never decide whether i want roman to be taller or shorter than remus, but recently, i've been really digging the idea of roman being just a smidge taller than remus, and he holds it over his head ENDLESSLY while remus is like "whatever dude i'm older so-".

i usually really like when the creativetwins are among the taller ones (i'm 5'3 and i live a tall life vicariously through roman) but i think it's such a fun idea to have them be on the shorter end instead. they're like little balls of energy with huge personalities.

i'm always a sucker for patton to be really short because i usually make him an antagonist character and i LOVE the idea of people assuming that he's innocent and harmless because he's just a tiny boy and then they get totally blindsided when they find out the hard way that there are many more ways to do harm than physical brute force. i also resent the idea of small people always being seen as innocent/fragile and big people always being seen as scary/tough.

i've recently been obsessed with logan being the tallest in the group. like in most instances he's a very gentle giant, but when he loses his temper, he will LOOM.

i am a "virgil is super tall because of heightened anxiety" believer and truther. it is one of my favorite things of all time. i picture him being just a bit shorter than logan.

in terms of height, i see janus being somewhere in the middle. he's definitely the side that i'm the least sure about when it comes to height, i give him a different one every au LMAO.

FAT LOGAN. FAT VIRGIL. FAT JANUS. this, my friends, is the holy trinity. yes i know the fandom loves giving patton a dad bod. that's great for them. but guys. fat logan, fat virgil, fat janus. and i see them being like three different types of fat, if you know what i mean.

janus being like very curvy fat, he loves wearing bodycon stuff cuz he knows he looks SCRUMPTIOUS, but it's also a bitch for him to find well-fitting clothes because the fashion industry doesn't give a fuck about people with his body type. so he is really great with a sewing machine, mostly out of necessity, though he does enjoy it!

okay why don't more people make virgil super muscular. i see him as muscular fat. he's FIGHT or flight, guys!! he definitely has a punching bag in his room. i don't exactly see him as like a gym bro, but he definitely hits the weights when he needs to blow off steam or anxiety.

logan is somewhere between curvy fat and muscular fat, he's just a big guy! he is always very mindful of his size compared to others, mostly because he's worried about accidentally abusing his strength. but he literally never ever does.

the twins have islander bodies guyssss i know i saw themmmm. and by that i mean they're small and pretty lean, but they also have a bit of stockiness to them, especially in their legs. and they get endlessly teased by the other sides for their small feet.

[ashs-random-writing]

To Fly with Glass Wings

One-shot

Ao3

REBLOG>LIKE

--

Roman, a teenage fairy, was curious about the human that kept showing up in his forest. And, more importantly, he was curious about their devices. Perhaps going into their bag on an impulse wasn’t the best idea...

--

Deep in the forest, where most didn’t go, there was a magical town, filled with fairies. It was hidden from human eyes using magic, and it was usually bustling with activity

Roman walked around the small town. He was bored. He was so bored. He had done everything there was to do anywhere nearby a million times already. 

He groaned, sitting on the very edge of the town border, careful not to go past the runes that protected them all from non-magical eyes. Perhaps just watching the wildlife would help?

He watched animals skitter along the tree roots and fidgeted with the cuffs of his sleeves. He heard heavier footfalls, and immediately became more alert. A human made themselves known less than a minute later, completely oblivious to the town right next to them

Roman just watched them.

Humans were... interesting, though he’d never admit as much to anyone else.

Humans were, above all else, dangerous

But this one, with their strange clothes and weird make-up and purple hair (he didn’t think humans could have purple hair; usually they only had boring colours like brown and blond) was just sitting on the forest floor, strange wires in their ears that almost sounded like they were producing a song

Roman wondered how humans worked without magic. 

How did they cook, clean, keep predators away, travel- do basically anything- without magic? Like sure, they were phenomenally large, and that would probably help with predators and maybe travel, but the rest was confusing to him.

He flew upwards to sit on a branch, still within the town boundaries. He kicked his feet, and fluttered his wings, quietly watching the human scroll on one of their strange devices.

He could hear some of the music, and he danced slightly from his branch

The human came back every day for a week. 

Roman concluded that they had used some sort of artificial colouring on their hair. It was starting to fade into a more brown-ish colour

He wanted to know more about the small device they always had. It seemed to show the human things, and let them communicate through it and let them read, and Roman figured that something like that would probably cure his permanent boredom.

He watched the human more and more. The human, he was gonna try figure out their name, seemed to never notice the town just to the side of them, which meant that the magic was working exactly as it was supposed to

Though, Roman was told by some elders that he needed to tell people when a human was nearby, even though the human literally just sat there and did nothing

Either way, he did alert them and then went to ‘keep watch’.

Roman had seen very few humans in his time; most didn’t come this far into the forest.

He watched as the human got ready to leave like they always did, and he couldn’t help the disappointment he felt. The strange giant was the most interesting part of his day, and now he’d have to be bored for the rest of the day

He watched them put their small device in the bag they usually carried, and he lamented his inability to try it out. Except, the human’s focus drifted elsewhere, towards where a twig snapped as a rabbit had hopped onto it, before they distractedly left.

They left without their bag. 

Roman slowly left the safety of the town, making sure no one was watching him, before flying into the bag. He knew that he would need to leave before the human inevitably came back for their belongings, but this was likely the only chance he would get. Never let it be said that he didn’t evaluate risk, he just did the risky thing anyway

He tapped the screen on the device like he had seen the human do, and it lit up. Roman grinned, trying to make it go onto the other screen

All the human had to do was look at it and it would change, what was he doing wrong? Was it because he wasn’t human? Because that was discriminatory, thank you very much

He huffed, trying again and again, and, in his distracted state, he didn’t notice human footsteps until the bag was moving. He stumbled, falling over as the bag moved. He tried to move into a position where his wings would be safe, but the constant shifting of the bag and the bags contents were making it impossible

Horror slowly found it’s way into his feelings. The human was going to see him. The human was fascinating, but Roman was made of magic. The human would not be able to understand him, and what humans don’t understand, they get rid of

That had been drilled into his mind longer than he could talk.

Curse his own impulsivity and curiosity. 

The human walked for a while, with Roman trying not to get hit by various objects, and feeling something hit into his back. Eventually, they must’ve arrived at their destination, because the bag was set down, and Roman tumbled out

The human stared at him, and Roman got up from sitting on the ground, and moved backwards, trying his hardest not to tremble.

He surveyed his surroundings. He was pretty sure he was in a human house.

A hand started reaching for him, and he conjured a clear magical dome around himself as protection. The human had retracted their hand, but didn’t stop staring

“... I’m Virgil. What’s your name?” Their voice was softer when talking to him than it was when they talked through their device

Roman said his name, wary of the obvious trap, and forgetting that humans couldn’t understand him. 

The human (’Virgil’) stared blankly, and Roman kept as far away as possible from them. 

“I’m sorry, I can’t understand you”

Roman knew that, he wasn’t dumb.

“Can you understand me?” 

Roman nodded, looking at a window out of the corner of his eye. Virgil seemed to be looking at something behind him. Roman followed their gaze to his wings, which were looking different than usual. He felt the, now jagged, edges lightly and winced

Now that his panic had mostly subsided, he could feel pain. He mustn’t have noticed, because he was too busy worrying about what Virgil was gonna do to him, but it turned out Virgil wouldn’t even need to do anything to keep him there.

His wings would heal, but it would take months at best, years at worst. He couldn’t help the tears that were welling up in his eyes, and he couldn’t stop them from falling.

Great, he looked even more weak in front of a potentially bad human.

Roman messily wiped his eyes, and glared at the giant. Virgil put their hands up

“Hey, I didn’t do that to your wings! I haven’t even touched you!”

Roman sat down, bringing his knees to his chest, and half-heartedly observing the human

Virgil sighed

“Okay, I’m sorry for accidentally kidnapping you, but I didn’t know you were in my bag, and I’m sorry that you broke your wings in the process. I would have been more careful if I knew you were there. But, you can stay here with me until your wings heal, and I’ll help you with anything you need, yeah?”

‘Can’. Like Roman would want to stay in a human house for however long. Roman glared again. 

Virgil looked a little lost at his reaction

“I know it probably won’t make up for breaking your wings, but I am really sorry”

Roman turned away, and noticed that his shield had fallen at some point whilst he was distracted. He got up and looked around at the house. He knew Virgil was watching him, but he understood the curiosity aspect.

That was what had gotten him into this whole predicament after all. He was curious about everything in this house as well. He wanted to explore

-----

Virgil was having a major freak out.

He had found a nice clearing in the woods, where he could just escape reality and be on his own. There was no one watching him, no one judging and no one to tell him what to do.

So of course, it only took a week for things to go to shit. He had left his bag in the clearing, and somehow a fairy had managed to find their way into it. He hadn’t even known that fairies existed previously

He didn’t know if they had willingly got in, or if they had fallen in or something, but from the way they seemed terrified of him when they fell out, the second one was more likely

Their skin was a pale reddish-pink, with large, wide eyes and red hair. They had (comparatively) large wings that almost looked like they were made of glass. 

They seemed to put up some kind of forcefield to protect themselves from him, and he tried to diffuse the tension by introducing himself. The fairy seemed to introduce themselves as well, though whatever language they spoke sounded more like a melody than it did words

He noticed something was wrong with their wings after a few seconds of staring; they were an odd shape, almost reminding him of a broken window. 

They followed his gaze, and stared at their own wings, and reaching a hand out to touch the edges, all but cementing in his mind that they were broken. They turned to glare at him, with glowing eyes and tears running down their cheeks

Virgil had a feeling they blamed him for the damage caused, and honestly, he didn’t blame them for thinking that. But he didn’t mean to.

They sat down, crying for a while, before doing something that he figured was probably a way to distract themselves

They started looking around, seemingly inspecting things. Virgil figured they probably didn’t have a lot of the things he had. He had no doubt they had substitutes that worked just as well, or probably better, considering they had magic and based on the exceptionally high quality of their clothes, they obviously had some sort of tools

He let them explore the countertop for a while, discreetly videoing them. He wouldn’t show the video to anyone without their permission, of course, but... just having the videos wouldn’t hurt.

They refused to go near him. They seemed to be feigning stubbornness, but Virgil could see the way they trembled when he spoke, or moved too fast or got too close. He could tell they were scared. They were scared of getting hurt again.

Virgil didn’t know how to feel about that. He understood the fear, but he would never hurt them on purpose. 

They wouldn’t let him take them somewhere else to sleep, since he’d have to carry them, and just sat down when he asked, stubbornly glaring at him.

Virgil just sighed and brought them a blanket. They were still there in the morning, wrapped up in the almost comically large blanket, and still asleep. Virgil wondered what they would eat, and simply waited for them to awake (maybe snapping a few pictures here and there)

They eventually woke up, though visibly deflated when they saw him. He offered to get them some food, and they (after a while of what seemed like mental debating) nodded. They didn’t let him take the blanket away. 

Virgil figured he couldn’t let anyone else know about the little guy, seeing as they seemed scared of people, and he wondered what he was going to tell his friends as for why they suddenly couldn’t come over anymore

He felt so wrong, next to the fairy. Virgil was usually short, and now... now, he was tall enough to accidentally kill someone. He could trip and crush them. And they knew it.

The next few days were tense, but the fairy had started letting him a bit closer, though they wouldn’t stop glaring. He had dubbed them Little Red, as a sort of nickname until they could communicate their actual name. 

Little Red didn’t mind the nickname too much, he didn’t think so, anyway. They had been interested in his phone when they saw it, and Virgil had shown them different apps, pretending not to notice their tense, trembling posture when he moved too suddenly.

They played games on his phone every day, and they had started letting Virgil help them get to other places in the house than the countertop. They were still undoubtedly somewhat scared, and they still very obviously held a grudge of some kind against him, but they were getting somewhere.

They were very vocal, even though Virgil couldn’t understand them. 

Virgil was careful every time he carried them into the living room or into the blanket nest they’d claimed as their own. He didn’t want to cause another accident at their expense

They were curious about a lot of things, he noticed.

It made him a little calmer, to know that Little Red seemed just as clueless about humans, as he was about fairies. 

He noticed what they liked and disliked in terms of movies and tv shows.

They didn’t seem to like horror movies, but they were fine with things like The Addams Family. They liked animated films quite a bit, particularly disney, and would watch with rapt attention. Virgil didn’t usually watch animated movies, but he was willing if it kept Little Red a little happier

He waited for a while for them to wake up as he made food. Surprisingly, they didn’t seem to have a very big sweet tooth. 

Their blanket nest was in a corner of the spare bedroom, and Little Red had decided to claim the entire room as their own, despite being far too small to need all of that space. Not to mention only being able to use part of it with their broken wings. Either way, they didn’t need an entire room, but Virgil certainly wasn’t using it, and he kind of owed it to them, after kidnapping them and breaking their wings. 

Virgil’s only problem with them claiming the room, was that now he’d have no where to hang out with his friends

Virgil brought them breakfast and carefully avoided getting too close. They seemed to notice his phone in his other hand and stared at it. Virgil chuckled

“Sorry, not right now, Little Red, I have to go somewhere, maybe when I get back”

Little Red pouted at him, but ate their food. Virgil left them alone, leaving the door open in case they wanted to traverse the house, though he wasn’t too comfortable with that idea.

He didn’t want to think about how easy it would be to crush them underfoot. They knew where to and not to go, so there wasn’t that much risk, but any risk was too much, in Virgil’s eyes

Their wings hadn’t made any progress, as far as he could see, but then again, it had only been a few days. 

He got ready to go out and meet his friends

Remus and Janus were already at the movie theatre before him, annoyingly.

“How’d we get here before you? You’ve never relaxed on the idea that you might be late, and yet, here you are, a whole-” Remus checked his watch gleefully “- two minutes late!”

The movie lasted a while, and Virgil almost forgot the fact that he had an injured fairy to take care of back home. He hung with his friends, talking about everything and nothing, carefully avoiding any mention of what he had been doing the last few days

He wondered what Little Red was doing.

-----

Roman wanted to go home. 

Virgil wasn’t bad, per se, but he didn’t like that he needed to be carried places because everything was too big and his wings were broken. And, he missed his friends. 

He looked around at the room he was in. It was too big, it was too expansive. He looked around at the blankets he had nested in. They were too thick. 

He finally got to try out the strange device, however, and he had found so many things to do. The ‘phone’ had games and it played ‘videos’ and ‘movies’

The movies that Virgil had showed him were interesting, but he only liked some of them. The ones that looked not-real, they were really cool, despite their inaccurate depiction of fairies and magic in general.

They did get one key aspect of fairy culture correct, though; the blessings and gifts bestowed on children. Roman was gifted with an adventurous spirit and, like with most gifts, it came with an unfortunate downside

His sense of fear was rather dulled, whereas his impulsivity skyrocketed when there was some sort adventure to be found. Which explained why he was sat on the floor of a human house with broken wings.

His friends’ gifts were also a bit of a mixed bag. 

His friend Patton for example! He was gifted with a kind and pure spirit. This also meant that he trusted far too easily and got himself hurt by people with not-so-kind intentions in the past.

His friend Logan was gifted with a logical mind. It made him great at a lot of things, including stopping Roman from getting killed due to impulsivities. But it made it harder for him to understand his own feelings, and harder to make friends when viewing it through a logical lens

Great, now Roman missed his friends even more. He sighed, looking out of the window. He knew this situation was his fault, but, he really wished it wasn’t. He wished he could completely blame it on someone else, but, Virgil hadn’t done anything really wrong other than not letting him go. Roman was the one who flew into their bag on impulse

He groaned, pushing his head into his hands, and trying not to cry. Virgil was out of the house at that moment in time, and Roman knew he should be trying to escape

But a voice in his head reminded him that he had no way home when he didn’t know which way home was. Besides, he’d probably just get found by a different human, he noted bitterly

When Virgil eventually returned, what had to be hours later, Roman had not gotten any better at dealing with boredom. It would’ve been better if he had someone to talk to

Except, no. It wouldn’t. His sense of fear might’ve been dulled enough that he felt pretty much none after only a few days, but others didn’t have that. They’d still be scared

Roman scowled at the blanket that made up half of the nest. He wanted his bed, he wanted his house, he wanted his blanket.

There was a knock on his door. His stupidly oversized door that he couldn’t even open himself. He supposed that was probably why it was almost always left ajar. 

Roman sighed

“Come in” He shouted. The door opened, scraping against the carpet with a uncomfortable sound

Virgil was bringing him food, he realised. He almost didn’t want to eat. He hadn’t been outside in days. He hadn’t seen his friends in days. He hadn’t properly held a conversation in days. He just wanted to go home...

He didn’t care how boring it was, at least he had friends back there

Virgil placed the food down in front of him, seemingly watching him. Roman gave a half-hearted glare and started eating. Human food wasn’t as nice as the food back home, nor was it very flavourful.

He noticed that Virgil was staying in Roman’s room more than they usually did. Roman looked at them quizzically, wondering why they weren’t in their own, strangely decorated, room.

He verbalised his thought, and Virgil looked at him

“Hm? Oh, sorry.. Uh, I was gonna watch a movie in the living room, do you wanna come?” 

They always guessed what he was trying to say. 

Virgil was awkward most of the time. Perhaps that’s why they kept going into the woods for hours at a time every day, instead of partaking in social activities with other humans.

Roman knew that Virgil did have friends, having seen pictures of them, but also...

Actually, no he wasn’t going to finish that train of thought, it was rude. It didn’t matter how much he personally thought the human was strange, anyone could have friends

Roman wordlessly nodded to the offer and Virgil placed their hand on the ground next to him. Roman walked onto it, sitting on the palm, and drawing his knees up to his chest

He hated being carried. He hated feeling helpless. He was supposed to be an adventurer, he was supposed to be strong. Virgil placed him on the arm of the couch and started looking through movies on their tv

Roman wondered how the tv worked. Logan would probably be able to figure it out.

He watched the tv with full attention as it showed him a story of a princess who fell in love with a thief, and it was full of genies and tigers and magic. 

It was horribly inaccurate, but with how separated human and magical societies were, it was almost a miracle that they got any of it right. He yawned, but he didn’t want to leave to sleep before the movie ended. He had to see how it would end

He carried on watching, though he could feel himself begin to lose focus as he yawned again

“Are you sure you don’t want me to turn this off for now, and you can watch it tomorrow?” 

Roman shook his head, still watching the screen intently. Virgil sounded like they were supressing a laugh next to him, but Roman didn’t care. He could feel his eyes drooping, and he laid on his stomach, watching the screen still

He didn’t exactly know when he fell asleep, but Virgil wasn’t in the room anymore when he woke up. Roman groggily stood up, to peer out of the window

…Sunrise. Huh. Usually if he woke up this early, he’d go to sit somewhere high up to watch the sunrise and see the way the hills and trees would be dusted pinks, purples, oranges and reds.

What if his wings never healed? Would he be stuck with Virgil forever and not ever be able to sit on a hill or tree branch and watch the sunset, or ever fly around? Would he be cursed to forever live a life of pain and longing?

This was the part that Logan would usually tell him he was being overdramatic. But Logan wasn’t here, and Roman wasn’t even sure if he was being overdramatic anymore

He really didn’t know if he’d ever be able to go home

Virgil had told him that he could go when his wings were healed, but when would that be?

Roman just sat on the arm of the couch and thought about his friends until Virgil came into the living room, about an hour later. They looked exactly how he would expect them to look after just waking up

“Mornin’, Little Red,” They yawned “Sorry I didn’t take you to your room last night, it felt rude to pick you up when you were sleeping” 

Roman considered the apology for a few moments, before giving them a thumbs up. He wouldn’t want to be picked up when he was sleeping, honestly. He was most vulnerable when he was asleep, especially since he was a deep sleeper

They watched the end of the movie together. 

-----

Virgil felt bad for Little Red. He had seen them staring out of windows, and he knew they probably wanted to go home.

But...

He was so worried that they’d get hurt even more, or found by someone not as kind as him, or- or something else even worse, that he couldn’t let them go. Not until they could fly at least

He could at least be more certain of their survival chances if they could fly out of reach of predators. 

He watched them with almost as much attention as they watched Aladdin. They seemed completely enamoured by the film’s story, reacting quite dramatically with every twist and turn of it. 

Virgil had to admit, their dramatic tendencies reminded him of Remus, although Remus openly hated wearing red unless it was fake (or sometimes real) blood

Little Red kept yawning, still watching the movie, but very obviously starting to drift off

“Are you sure you don’t want me to turn this off for now, and you can watch it tomorrow?” He asked, trying to hide the amusement in his voice

They immediately shook their head, eyes still locked firmly on the screen. Virgil stifled a laugh, watching as they slowly succumbed to sleep. 

He turned the tv off, and turned towards them.

How was he gonna get them to their room? He carefully reached a hand out, but retracted it. He would probably lose any type of trust they had in him if he grabbed them whilst they were sleeping

Besides, they looked so adorably peaceful, in a way that he hadn’t seen them be very often. They had fallen asleep in front of him before, but this was the first time they seemed completely relaxed. 

He stared at them a few moments, before deciding to leave them be until morning

He left them for a while, letting them sleep, and went to his own bedroom

He laid in bed with his thoughts, as he stared up at his ceiling.

Why did he feel so guilty about this? He was protecting them!

They might’ve seemed upset, but it was better than letting them get eaten by a bird or something. As far as he knew, they had fallen into his bag. If they were clumsy enough to fall into his bag, then he didn’t trust their survival skills without their wings

After about a month and a half, he didn’t feel as guilty. He knew he was protecting them.

Their wings had started to slowly heal, the edges slightly bigger and smoother than the jagged edges they were when they had first tumbled out of his bag. 

And that was because Virgil was keeping them safe. Lord knows they weren’t the best at keeping themself safe, Virgil thought, remembering the time he found them trying to fight a house spider.

He had started keeping a more careful watch over them after that, deciding not to let them out of their room without his supervision. Who knew what danger they would idiotically get themselves into without him there? Besides, they had more than enough space in there, even with the door closed

 He knew that they didn’t see it that way, but Virgil was fine with playing the villain if it meant keeping Little Red safer.

They weren’t as vocal anymore, and Virgil missed the melodic tones of their voice. They ignored him a lot. They still watched movies, but they declined more often than not.

It was fine. He was fine with that. They’d thank him eventually, he told himself. They always watched his every move when he was nearby, as if they were scared he’d hurt them. But he wouldn’t. He would never. 

There was a camera in their room now, so he could help them if they got hurt without him there.

He knocked on their door, though didn’t wait on a response before opening it and closing it just as fast. They had tried to run out of their room quite a few times before, hiding from him. And as much as it was amusing the first few times, it had become annoying quickly. Besides, it was dangerous for them

They stared up at him with those wide eyes, and he crouched down and gave them their food. Little Red didn’t speak, and just grabbed a few pieces of food and started eating. 

Virgil stayed crouched there for a moment. What could help them see he wasn’t a bad guy?

“I’m going to go watch a movie in the living room, if you wanna come,” He asked, before adding “Aladdin, your favourite” 

They thought for only a moment before shaking their head

Virgil bit back his annoyance at the refusal, and just sighed. Why were they being so difficult recently?

He left, making sure to close the door behind him. He sighed, they needed to see that he was helping. They were sure to get hurt if he let them go, what was he going to do? Let them walk straight to their death whilst doing nothing to help?

He groaned, giving the door a glare.

-----

Roman wasn’t sure what had changed. Virgil had become more paranoid, more protective. Roman was well and truly trapped now. 

They wouldn’t let him out of his room now, and Roman supposed it was only a matter of time before he was in a cage for maximum security. He looked at the door, now closed and wondered when it would next open. He suppressed a sob and curled up on the blanket

Nothing he could do would ever sway Virgil's protectiveness. They wouldn’t let him out of his room, or out of their sight. Roman glared at the camera in his room. He hadn’t even known what a camera was, until Virgil. Now the knowledge of what it was just hurt him even more

He would never get a moments privacy. 

The lack of anything to do was genuinely hurting him, a lot worse than back home. At least then, he could climb to the top of the tree tops and dive down, only catching himself at the last moment. The lack of adventure was hurting him worse than his wings were

Roman curled up more. He had the spirit of adventure, he needed to be doing something mildly dangerous! He wasn’t even allowed to sit on the couch when they watched a movie anymore. Virgil would just hold him the entire time, so they’d ‘know for sure where he was’. 

And they wondered why he didn’t like them anymore. Sometimes they’d come into his room whilst he was sleeping, and he’d wake up in their hands. He missed when they were concerned with being rude. Now they told him how simply adorable he was

He glared at the camera again, knowing that the lens probably couldn’t get an accurate reading on his face. Roman had thought about doing some magic, to destroy the camera, but he could already picture the condescending ‘this is for your own good’ disappointed stare, and stopped. 

Nothing was going right for him. 

He sighed, letting the tears fall. There was a knock on his door, but he didn’t get a chance to respond before the door was opened. He supposed that was because of his escape attempts. If you could call them that, anyway

All he did was run out of his room and try to hide. Anywhere was better than being trapped in his room forever. His attempts annoyed the human. They would sigh, telling him that the ‘game’ would have to stop. But it wasn’t a game. 

None of this was a game. This was Roman’s real life, this was his nightmare, this was all too serious. 

Roman wondered what they wanted now. They had already given him his food, he’d already declined to watch a movie, what could they possibly want? He weakly glared at them, as they crouched down

“Hey, Little Red. I know you already said no to watching a movie, but there’s a movie you haven’t seen, that I think you’ll like” 

Roman ignored that they were using the same tone people would to entice a child, or dog, to do something and thought on the offer. 

There was no point disagreeing. He nodded his head.

Virgil didn’t set their hand down anymore and let him climb on. Now, they just grabbed him. He didn’t like it. He wondered what the movie was.

They took him to the living room, where the movie was already set up. Tangled, it was called.

Roman attempted to get slightly more comfortable in their grip, but the hand tightened around him just enough that he wouldn’t dare

The movie was interesting he supposed, but he kept being distracted, as Virgil kept fidgeting with him during the movie. He tried to stop them, but they didn’t notice. He didn’t even know if they realised they were fidgeting 

They kept gently grabbing his arms, moving them around slightly, rolling his torso between two hands, not enough that he couldn’t see the screen, but enough that it was completely distracting. When scenes got intense, the fidgeting increased. 

He could barely concentrate when the ending was happening. He quietly grumbled about Virgil’s rude behaviour, and attempted to watch the screen. He was lucky that the fidgeting didn’t hurt.

The only thing he could properly remember about the movie was that Mother Gothel was trapping Rapunzel under the guise of keeping her safe, but it was actually a ploy to use her magic for herself. 

Roman looked up at Virgil’s face from where he was in their hands. He wondered where he had heard that story before. Oh wait. 

He (very stupidly, may the narrator add) tapped the giant hand to get Virgil’s attention, before pointing at the picture of Mother Gothel on the title screen, and back to Virgil with a stubborn glare on his face.

They looked down at him for a few moments in which Roman had just enough time to evaluate the idiotic decision before they actually reacted

His heart stopped for a single beat as they shifted their grip on him with an annoyed expression on their face

“I am keeping you safe. You should be grateful, not comparing me to fictional villains” They grumbled.

Roman, still feeling mutinous apparently, tried to move in the grip, and muttered his counter argument

“Well, maybe if you weren’t acting so villainous..” 

They didn’t justify him with a response. Though, whether it was due to the language barrier, or their annoyance, was hard to say. 

Roman did notice that their grip was now uncomfortably tight, almost bruising. So much for safety, he thought, before the grip tightened even more

He let out a pained gasp, as the pressure increased on his wings for a few seconds. He could hear them breaking even more. The grip loosened, and Roman watched a few shards of wing fall onto the floor

He could hear frantic apologies from Virgil, but it was soon drowned out by the blood rushing in his ears. He stared at the shards, until Virgil touched his shoulder, dragging him out of his thoughts. 

Roman flinched back, shaking, almost instinctively raising his forcefield, like he hadn’t since that first day. It hurt, and- and he was still shaking, and Virgil was still there, still holding him

His forcefield had pushed away their fingers a bit, but he was still in their hand. He ran his hands through his hair. He was crying, he realised hysterically.

He almost started laughing, no matter how much he knew this wasn’t a joke. You know, for how much danger he was in, it still wasn’t an adventure. It was just a bad situation. A really fucking bad situation, that was entirely his fault, and the reason he’d probably never see his friends again

He tried to steady his breathing for a simple moment, but nothing was helping.

Virgil was still talking, still too big. Of course they were, humans couldn’t shrink (could they?)

Eventually, though Roman didn’t realise it as it was happening, he was left back in his room, alone. He never thought that he’d be so relieved to be trapped again, but it was better than being in Virgil’s hands. 

Roman gingerly touched his wings, wincing. 

What were his friends doing, he wondered. Why couldn’t he go see them? Why did Virgil get to decide what Roman could and couldn’t do? Why did Roman have to be so stupid as to go into their bag? Why did any of this stupid situation have to happen?

He sobbed, pulling his knees up to his chest. Everything hurt, and- and he was still trapped and nothing he could do would ever be able to fix it.

-----

Logan had been searching for his friend for almost two months. Roman didn’t seem to be anywhere. 

Logan knew that there was somewhere he could be, though he sincerely hoped not. It was the logical conclusion, however, to assume that Roman was taken by the human that he had been watching. The only reason they hadn’t already assumed so was that they wanted to make sure that Roman hadn’t just gotten lost before rushing into potential danger

The human never came back after Roman disappeared, after all. Perhaps they only came to steal a fairy and leave. Perhaps their peaceful demeanour had been a ploy to get trusted. Or perhaps Roman had done something impulsive and gotten himself captured.

No matter why the human had him, it was a very unideal situation. Especially given the nature of Roman’s wings. As much as a human could harm any type of fairy, very easily, they could harm fairies with crystal wings much, much easier. 

Crystal fairies’ wings were fragile, thin, and almost glass-like. Easy to break, easy to make the fairy in question much more trapped. 

It was a miracle that Roman’s wings had never been broken before, with the reckless stunts he pulled. Not that Logan could completely blame him, of course, no more than he could blame Patton for being too trusting. But it was incredibly unlucky for Roman’s gift to directly contrast his wing type

Logan was a stone fairy, so his wings were, as the name suggested, stone. The stone spread across his entire body the more he aged. At the moment, he was stone across his entire back, and down to his forearms. It was hard to fly with stone wings, so he could only keep low, and he could only really glide. It was hard to walk with the heavy weight on his back, so he, like the majority of stone fairies, used a walking stick so he would be able to balance. His own walking stick doubled as a staff to do complicated spells

There were accommodations for fairies who couldn’t fly well, but not as many as there should have been. With most buildings strung up in trees, only a few had ladders, and even less had ladders that were easy to climb with stone wings; a problem he had complained about many a time.

Roman was helping him figure out a plan of better accessibility to present to the council, before he disappeared. Roman was helping with the design and aesthetics, and the visual appeal, and Logan was helping with the accessibility, having experienced the issues first-hand, and having an idea of it should work logically. 

Roman was the youngest of their little trio, about one and a half years younger than Patton, and two years younger than Logan. He was kind, he wanted everyone to be safe, he wanted to protect people, he had wanted to be a knight when he was a little older. Roman wanted everyone to be happy.

And now, for the past few months, there had been no Roman. Logan and Patton were very worried. Logan tried to figure out how to find the human that he was certain had his friend, but was coming up short. There were hundreds of human homes outside of the woods, and not to mention, humans had those devices. Logan believed they were called cars? With a car, they could go pretty much anywhere. Roman could be anywhere

He sighed, looking for a spell that could help track his friend. Patton was looking as well, and they weren’t having very much luck.

Patton was a butterfly fairy, and so was able to fly a lot easier than Roman and Logan, not having to worry about fragility, or weight. Though he was eager to help wherever he could. 

Now, that eager, cheerful face with creased with worry, and tear streaks. Logan knew that Roman’s unfortunate disappearance was the cause. Logan was never the best at comforting people, usually Roman would help him. 

Logan gently patted Patton’s back, and weakly tried to comfort

“There, there. We’ll find him,” 

His words were clunky, he wasn’t used to comforting people, and that’s not to mention the lie he told. He had no idea if they would find him or not, and statistically, it was improbable, given how many human houses there were in the area alone. Logan attempted to remember how the particular human looked, from the few glimpses he had gotten

Purple hair, he could remember, but that wasn’t definite. Besides, there had been an increase in numbers of humans with coloured hair in recent years. Dark clothes, purple patches on them. That might have been a bigger lead. Not many humans wore patched clothing. What else could he remember?

They were pale, he remembered, and they had strange makeup under their eyes. He was pretty sure that was unusual for humans. 

And now, if he could simply find a way to figure out where this human lived, he could be reunited with his his friend. Roman would’ve figured an out-of-the-box, crazy idea that would’ve worked perfectly by now.

Logan couldn’t do that. 

He sighed, closing the book he had been reading for hours, and resting his head on the library table. There was nothing that could help. They could potentially track Roman, if they had an object that belonged to Roman and Roman been near recently.

And there lied the problem. They had only found the spell after a month and a half of the disappearance. He hadn’t been near anything recently enough. 

He groaned, prompting Patton to gently pat his back. Logan knew that, logically, the chances of finding Roman were low, but he forced those thoughts out of his mind. He would find his friend, dead or alive (though preferably alive), whether or not it took months or years. 

He carried on reading. 

This routine carried on for weeks more, until they finally figured out a way of tracking. Logan looked at the glowing blue trail on the ground, and started walking, his staff in one hand, Patton’s hand in the other. Like Logan had hypothesised, it led into the human town.

Only he could see the trail, so that wouldn’t raise suspicion, however, two fairies walking into human territory probably would raise a fair bit of suspicion. 

He waved his staff and casted the invisibility spell, before starting to walk. Patton let him lead him. The walk was slow, and they had to avoid several humans, so as to not get hurt. But, after several hours, they had found the human house where their friend was being kept

Logan looked at the window that the trail led up to. He couldn’t get up there, but Patton could. 

“He’s in there, but so’s the human,” Patton whispered down. Logan was glad that they both still were invisible

Patton reported back to him, when the human finally left. Patton looked upset at whatever he could see, and Logan was glad that he couldn’t see the state that Roman was in.

Patton used a quick unlocking charm to help with the opening of the window. Logan used a little magic from his staff to make it lighter, and he watched Patton go in to the room

He couldn’t hear most of the conversation

-----

Roman had been right. Everything got worse. With his newly re-broken wings, he absolutely refused to let Virgil touch him, at all.

Virgil didn’t argue as much as Roman thought they would. He could see the guilt on their face when they looked at his wings, but he didn’t feel any sympathy for them.

The first time, it truly had been an accident, but this time, they had been squeezing him, as a warning. That wasn’t as much of an accident as they claimed it was. He made sure not to speak anymore, not wanting them to hurt him again. He still had the bruises from where they squeezed him. 

He was starting to get ill, he thought. He was starting to grow ill from captivity, and Virgil didn’t even notice. His wings were still in the early stages of healing, and he had no chance of getting home on his own. His magic was weakening as he sat here, as he stayed in the corner, never moving

Everything that happened after the second breaking was a blur, he thought. All it was was a blur of scaredness, anger, and exhaustion. He hadn’t stood up in two days. All he did was sit down, watch the wall, and occasionally he would quietly sing to himself, though he hadn’t done that recently. 

Virgil barely bothered talking to him anymore. He could hear their hesitation when they knocked on his door. They didn’t check the camera as much anymore. It was like they were trying to make it up to him. It wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough, until they let him go. And even then, it had taken months.

He was in pain every time he moved, because of them. He was away from his friends, because of them. He was unable to adventure, because of them. He was exactly in the wrong place, because of them. 

They brought him some food in, and they told him that they’d be leaving the house for a while. Visiting friends, Roman thought bitterly. 

Once the human had left, Roman heard the noise of a window opening, and he turned towards it in alarm. No one..?

An invisibility spell, he realised, feeling the distinct presence of Logan’s magic. Finally, he thought, seeing Patton fade into view, as he was approaching. Roman placed a hand on the wall and tried to lift himself up, but failed, falling back onto his knees. He looked up at Patton, who smiled down at him

“Hi, Pat,” He said, though his voice was raspy and unused “Did you miss me?”

Patton nodded with tears in his eyes, pulling Roman in for a hug. Roman accepted immediately, so glad to finally have someone to talk to, so glad to finally be going home, so glad that his friends were here

“What happened to your wings?” Patton asked quietly, and Roman looked away

“I... I don’t want to talk about it,” he mumbled, trying not to think about it. He shuddered, remembering how Virgil’s hand had slowly tightened until he was bruised and broken. He closed his eyes, trying to shake the phantom feeling

Patton wiped away a tear that Roman didn’t realise had fallen

“That’s okay, I’m gonna help you up to your feet, and I’m gonna carry you up to the window, is that okay, kiddo?”

Roman nodded

He was finally, finally going home. He was finally getting away from the human. He found himself back on solid ground, the grass under his feet. He stumbled slightly, but Patton steadied him. Logan was out there, looking almost the same as when Roman went missing. The only noticeable difference was that Logan’s wings had become almost overcome with moss, the way they did when he was stressed.

Logan pulled him in for a hug, and Roman complied. The hug was clumsy, Logan didn’t usually hug people. Roman cherished this moment more than any of his swords or daggers 

It took a while, but soon he was home. His bed was how he left it, people welcomed him back, though the people at the medbay were not all pleased at the state he was in.

Neither was he, honestly. 

It took a year and a half for his wings to completely heal. It took a lot longer for the emotional scars to heal

Sometimes, he did wonder about Virgil, though he tried everything not to.

And Virgil wondered about him. Wondered if he was still living. The human did, in fact, severely regret his actions, though knew better to try seek out the terrified fairy. He would look at the woods sometimes, wonder why they ever ended up in his bag to begin with

Life carried on, despite the events of this story. 

--

Taglist: @a-chilly-pepper

[camile-leon]

sanders sides

hello the special interest brain rot has hit once more and I’m writing it here because :)

okay so currently for characterizations:

Red “Roman”: Fanciful/Dreams/Passionate Side, However I feel is growing to be more representative of or taking more responsibility for C!Thomas’s Motivations. Presides over Left Arm, Brainstorm Mode, and Summons things very easily. Has a sword. One of the Primary Sides and Colors. Prince of the Imagination. Insecure and working on it. (?) Arc in progress.

Orange “REDACTED”: theorized to be Wrath or some form of Rage, based off of all of the ostrich sized Easter eggs. *See the “See/Speak/Hear” theory below*. Previously seen as the orange fruit (Thomas doesn’t like fruit? 🤔), and possessing Logan’s Eyes as he finished ranting his arc motivations to remus. Notable uses of the color include as text in the SvS redux game, saying “hello” using *upside down calculator* (👀) speak.

Yellow “Janus”: Deceit/Self-Preservation, and recently accepted, or, at the least working hand in hand with patton. Can silence/repress any of the sides, disguise self as any of the sides, and also can summon things when inside the mindscape. Has a shepherds cane. I feel like has a strong or at the least secure ego after being resisted on the mere basis of his presence alone and continuing to offer arguments without giving up. He responded after Roman made fun of his name yes, but like that was fair, and even though it hurt, it did give insight on how much Janus knows about Romans insecurity. Primary color.

Green “Remus”: Intrusive Thoughts, and by extension repressed thoughts?? Can conjure out of the mindscape, cast shadows over vision(?), allergic to soap. Carries a Mace. Duke of the Imagination. Chaos incarnate and ego doesn’t GAF. My theory is, because of the unique connection to repressed thoughts, he can bring out the repressed sides when out of Thomas’s direct consciousness’s “line of sight”. Maybe teams up with Janus for that ability? Idk.

Navy Blue (Dark Blue) “Logan”: Logical Thinking/Rational Thoughts/Local Librarian. Has incredible memory recall and database. Carries or Conjures Flashcards. One of the Primary Sides and Colors. Only side to not reveal own name. Closest contact with the orange side. Wants to use the chemistry degree. Mid Arc. Secure Ego is struggling because of arc.

Light Blue (Cyan) “Patton”: Morality/ the Feelings(??). Head honcho like Joy in Inside Out. Can use Nostalgic/Sensory memory. Can turn into a giant frog when overwhelmed? Possibly a primary color? one of the primary sides. Unstable ego/sense of Thomas’s self.

Purple “Virgil”: previously black color. Anxiety/Fight or Flight. Increases anxiety levels in whoever, eyeshadow levels indicate anxiety, can magnify and multiply voice, can also make things darker. Has built a more secure ego, but is still defensive at times. Pet spider. Theory is that paranoia is old version? Future version? Coexisting part that needs stability which makes sense.

color theory:

complimentary colors- the characters at odds to each other. Red green/Yellow Purple/blue orange. the first two groups don’t like each other like at all. HOWEVER, i think Logan and tangerine would work together??

also, Primary Colors- I think Janus, Logan, and a form of creativity(?) are the oldest. I think it took time before orange, patton, and Virgil were developed. But! I think the creative split happened latest, with remus and Roman being youngest in the group unless patton is cyan in which case I think that uses green so then patton is youngest which is SO FUNNY.

see, hear, speak: ???

Janus= can hide other sides entirely, can silence other sides entirely, I don’t think effects ears directly

Remus= can make other sides quieter? (Could also be just movie making and focus), can make the screen black, I don’t think effects other sides mouths directly.

virgil= can make voice louder/multiply, can make the screen black, I don’t think effects ears directly

orange= effects eyes “blinded with rage”, I don’t know anything else ʅ（◞‿◟）ʃ

now you may be asking why is a primary color getting the perks of the secondary colors?? I don’t know. It’s a darkside thing?? I Guess?? Catholicism!

I love psycho analyzing my faves <3

and this concludes my note to self theory notes.

thank you Thomas sanders for my favorite special interest, giving my therapist an in to understanding/communicating with my brain, and for still sharing all of the fun you bring to content in such a wide variety.

it’s very weird and para social but I would love to give you a hug one day, and to share the PowerPoint I made in middle school as a leadership project based off of you and the sides (of which I saved the very enthusiastic and uninhabited script of a first special interest). I aspire to remain even half as busy as all of your projects. Absolute wildest dreams would be to work with you on a creative project.

does anyone know where to send fanmail? Is it just Twitter?

[idonthaveanyurlideas]

25 animatics 2 and a half years 1 hour, 20 minutes and 39 seconds Approximately 5852 frames 349 unique characters appearing a total of 982 times

have what will most likely be my final blaseball animatic, a self-indulgent goodbye to all my beloved beams and a whole bunch of other players

Music is Celebrate the Reckless by Magic Giant - design credits below the cut

Credits: Randall Marijuana by alienmandy_ - Pangolin Ruiz by Mortimer_Mekhane - Dunn Keyes, Ramirez Winters and Pedro Davids by glassgoblin - Cory Ross and Grollis Zephyr by saltbuzzard - Lucas Petty by Dorito - Logan Rodriguez by Monthenor - Zephyr McCloud by dreambaot - Steals Mondegreen by 510five - Spears Taylor by Bells - Jessica Telephone by telekeys - Randy Dennis and Niq Nyong'o by tiny_revel - Kelvin Drumsolo by Australia-Hungary#9082 - Haruta Byrd and Erin Jesaulenko by miasmajesties - Justice Spoon and Edric Tosser by necromngo - Isaac Johnson, Gita Sparrow, Dunlap Figueroa and Mullen Peterson by _waalkr - Rivers Javier by toadparty and sidoopa - Baby Sliders by samiratu - Alvie Kesh by quilyn - Alexander Horne and Wyatt Mason VI by Fancymancer - Forrest Bookbaby by bugsbenedict - Helga Burton and Helga Moreno by electricgaunt using picrew by r4tist - Andrew Solis by rabbittraps_ - Rhys Trombone by Ephesos - Esme Ramsey by HetreaSky and grr - Mickey Woods by sol - Bright Zimmerman by staradavid - Iggy Delacruz by Karagna_ - Rey Wooten by dipppitydoop - Ziwa Mueller and Richmond Harrison by avery_helm - Workman Gloom and Beasley Gloom by shenaniglenn - Snyder Briggs by mensisritual - Jasmine Washington, Donia Bailey, Jasper Blather and Hops Chen by desmodusrotunds - Avila Guzman by jaungeedraws - Richardson Games and Hiroto Wilcox by CurseOfScots - Cornelius Games by kyl_armstrong - Nicholas Vincent by Hazel Cooper - Eugenia Bickle by awhekate - Fran Beans by thr33h3addrag - Valentine Games by deerstained - Magi Ruiz by Nofacenerd - Tiana Takahashi by VHS_DREAMER - Tillman Henderson by cryptmilk - Mcdowell Karim by ferretrix - Sebastian Woodman by Starfauna - Yosh Carptener by gfclass - Aldon Cashmoney by occultclassic - Donia Bailey and Hiroto Wilcox by crickadelic - Jasper Blather by nel using picrew from astrolava

Wiki Pages: Eugenia Garbage - Rivers Rosa - Stevenson Heat - Qais Dogwalker - Margarito Nava - Lou Roseheart - Beck Whitney - Nic Winkler - Neerie McCloud - Blood Hamburger - Kennedy Rodgers - Nagomi Meng - Lachlan Shelton - Kichiro Guerra - Fletcher Yamamoto

Other: Emmett Internet - Priya Fox - London Simmons - Cravel Gesundheit - Willow Dice - Xanthe - Jorge Owens - Carter Grimsley - Kajjala Aliyev - Guozhi Ong - Grizz El Sayed - Thomas Marsh - Amos Parveen - Kaj Statter Jr. - Anastasia Isarobot - Zack Sanders - Özlem Suttner - Malik Romayne - Sigmund Castillo - Son Jensen - Jayden Wright - Paula Reddick - Sandoval Crossing - Velasquez Meadows - Hahn Fox - Howell Franklin - Miguel James - Passenger - Nagomi Nava - Wyatt Mason VII - Wyatt Mason III - Wyatt Mason V - Dudley Mueller - Joe Voorhees - Harriet Gildehaus - Phineas Wormthrice - Elvis Figueroa - Borg Ruiz - Tot Best - Lars Taylor - Nerd Pacheco - Hendricks Richardson - Kaz Fiasco - Hank Marshallow - Beans McBlase - Sutton Bishop - Quack Enjoyable - Guy Gulp - Siobhan Chark - Alaynabella Hollywood

Unsure: Mooney Doctor - Wyatt Mason IV