Chapter 1: One, Two, Three

"Okay," Thomas said aloud. "I'm gonna try one more time."

He wearily glanced at the camera rolling in front of him. He couldn't exactly see his reflection, but he already knew his appearance: shaky hands, with his nails bitten down to the quick; messy hair, despite how many times he'd tried that morning to make it presentable; and circles under his eyes, dark enough to match a certain AWOL storm cloud.

Looking into the camera lens, Thomas called out, "Uh, guys? Can I talk to you?" He hesitated. "All of you?"

One by one, his sides popped up at their typical corners of his living room. Patton entered in front of the blinds, worry written all over his face. Logan stood next to the staircase and near the kitchen table, a perturbed crease between his brows. And Roman arrived in front of the TV, but his normal heroic pose seemed forced this time.

Thomas studied with hope at the staircase, but his favorite worrywart was nowhere to be seen.

"UGH! He still won't come out!" Thomas cried, his face in his hands.

"I suppose fifth time…isn't the charm?" Patton offered with a wince.

"Guys, what am I gonna do?" Thomas asked, gesturing at the empty staircase. "I can tell he's upset. I can feel it, and it's making me upset! But he won't come out and talk to me!"

"And we're sure he hasn't gone like one of his favorite angry rock bands and become a Fallout Boy?" Roman proposed. "Could it be our boy has fallen out again? A.K.A. ducked out?"

"I'm afraid not," Logan rejected, adjusting his glasses. "If Virgil had ducked out, Thomas would once again be an unproductive, bumbling buffoon, without a care or fear in the world."

"Thanks, Logic," Thomas muttered.

"It's almost as if he has done the exact opposite," Logan continued, as if he hadn't heard Thomas. "It appears the heightened anxiety you are feeling right now, and that you have felt throughout the past twenty-four hours, is the result of being more connected to Virgil than ever. He's certainly present, but he's simply ignoring your summoning."

"But why?" Patton said, anguished. He gazed at Thomas with tears building in his eyes. "Did something happen yesterday between you two, kiddo?"

Thomas stiffened, swiveling between his three sides nervously. He had been hoping Virgil would show up eventually, so that he wouldn't have to talk about yesterday with the others alone. But he was going to tell them anyway…

"Yes," he said. "He, um, shared something with me. Something I…wasn't expecting."

There was silence.

"Ah," Logan said. "He told you."

"We're all talking about the same thing right now, right?"

"The fact that Virgil used to be a Dark Side?" Roman clarified.

Thomas's jaw dropped. "Wait. You guys knew?"

To their credit, his sides had the decency to show remorse. "Sorry, buddy," Patton said, pouting. "It's just…it was Virgil's truth to tell. We were waiting for him to be ready."

"Which he clearly wasn't, considering his current state," Roman added, arms crossed over his chest. He glared at the floor. "That snake and my brother's not-so-subtle threats obviously rattled him."

"He had wanted to be the one to tell you, one day, when he was prepared," Logan told Thomas. "The last thing Virgil wanted was Deceit or The Duke revealing it to you."

Thomas's heart sank. "I mean, I had noticed Deceit and Remus taunting Virgil about something. I just…I had no idea it was that."

"Hence, why he revealed it to you yesterday after the debacle with The Duke," Logan explained. "He must have known he had very little time left before some other unsavory character told you. But all of Virgil's distress surely is not just from having to tell you." Logan's brows shot up. "How did you react to the information, Thomas?"

Suddenly, all eyes were on him. "Um," he stammered. "I—uh—I guess I kind of…didn't?"

"You didn't?" Roman echoed.

"I—I don't know, I panicked!" Thomas ran both hands through his hair, eyes wide. "I was so tired when he told me. I didn't say anything, I didn't do anything—oh, my gosh, my reaction was probably written all over my face!"
"And how did you feel?" Logan asked. "What do you think was, well, all over your face?"

Thomas sighed, hand to his heart. The words stung on his tongue. "Shock, I'm sure. Hurt." He grimaced. "Fear."

"Ah, there it is," Logan exclaimed, pointed finger in the air. "And that is precisely why Virgil is reacting the way he is. He is most likely convinced you are so frightened of him again that you won't welcome him into the group. Knowing Virgil, this concern has probably been amplified to the point where he thinks you abhor him for his past."

"What?" Thomas shook his head. "I could never hate him! He's helped me with so much. That's what I want to tell him. It doesn't matter who he used to be—I don't care! I care about who he is now."

"Then we are left with the following options." Logan counted each one off with a finger. "We could potentially wait for Virgil to emerge from his room, if that ever actually happens any time soon, or we could go to him."

"I've thought about that," Thomas confessed, scratching the back of his head. "I just—I don't want what happened last time to happen to you guys again, what with his room and everything. You guys getting…corrupted." Thomas shuddered. "It wasn't pretty."

"Speak for yourself," Roman interrupted, indignant. "I'm always pretty."

"Then what do we do?" Patton hugged himself, seeming smaller and more insecure than ever. "We can't just wait around for my dark, strange son forever. He needs us! He's clearly in pain! He needs his happy pappy Patton!"

Thomas could feel his heart thudding in his chest—fast, way too fast. His palms were slick with sweat, his throat closing slightly with every breath. He hated this feeling—there wasn't anything to be anxious about, what was Virgil's problem? Anger filtered its way through his exhausted mind, and without thinking about it, he murmured, "There's more, isn't there?"

"What was that, Thomas?" Logan inquired.

Thomas faced his sides, his mouth in a thin line. "There's more I don't know. Right? I can feel it. Whatever went down between Virgil and the…others…that's what he doesn't want me to know." He paused. "That's what's upsetting him, isn't it? He's still keeping secrets from me."

Patton laughed nervously. "Well, Thomas, that's kind of, er…a delicate situation." He tapped his two index fingers together sheepishly, his eyes quickly darting to Logan on the other side of the room.

"Yeah, I wouldn't push that, Thomas," Roman added. "Rapunzel's hair isn't long enough to help you get to the top of that tower, if you know what I mean."

"But…I don't," Thomas exclaimed. "I don't know what you mean. What do you mean?"

"What Roman is trying to say," Logan cut in, voice firm, "is that the information you are contemplating attempting to discover is outside our realm of possibility to provide. Not to mention, it is information that is private to Virgil and vital to his purpose as an aspect to your personality. If Virgil wanted you to know, he would have told you by now."

"Like how he told me he used to be a Dark Side?" Thomas opposed. "Because he was so thrilled to let me know about that important little detail."

"Exactly!" Patton said. "Listen, kiddo, Virgil may have his secrets, but for good reason. It's for your own good. There are just some things…you may not be ready to know. That you don't need to know!"

"You said it yourself," Roman elaborated. "Dark Side, Light Side, it doesn't matter—who he is now is what matters. Who he used to be doesn't change anything."
"Then why are you guys acting like it does?" Thomas shouted. "You keep saying it doesn't matter what else he's hiding from me—but apparently it's still too big for me to know? That I'm not ready to know? Who the heck gets to make that decision?"

No one answered, the air in the living room suddenly thick with tension. Thomas hadn't even realized how worked up he was getting, and felt frustrated tears pool in his eyes. He wiped at them, saying quietly, "I'm—I'm sorry, guys. I don't know what came over me just now…"

Roman looked expectantly at Logan, who shrugged in response. Patton watched the other two sides, and an unspoken decision seemed to be made between the three of them.

"Well, kiddo…" Patton sounded uncomfortable. "If you really wanna know…"

"I do!" Thomas replied, arms stretched out before him. "Knowing whatever happened between Virgil and the Dark Sides would make things make sense to me. I would understand why Virgil is so upset. I would understand…why he's been avoiding me." His voice got small. "Why he doesn't trust me with the truth."

Roman started, offended. "But that's—that's not why he hasn't told you!" He sighed, gesturing with a wave of his wrist for Patton to begin speaking. "Well, you'll know soon enough, I suppose."

Patton opened his mouth, but just as he was going to start talking, his hand suddenly clapped over his mouth, his eyes widening. He tried to mumble his way through his fingers, but Thomas couldn't make out a word he said.

"Ah, and there you go, Thomas. Just as I told you." Logan sounded only a little smug. "It's outside our jurisdiction to tell you."

Thomas blinked at Patton before groaning in aggravation. "Oh, come on! Seriously?"

"Yeesh, you'd think he'd want to scale it down a bit for once, am I right—" Roman's hand then slapped over his mouth, and he loudly complained something that sounded like, "Oh come on, that was genius!"

"Clearly, Thomas, what you want to know is something a certain someone doesn't think you're ready for yet," Logan instructed. "Remember, he is in control of what you know and what you don't. He can spin the most comforting of lies, if it is necessary for your wellbeing, but he can also conceal the most dangerous of truths from you. You must be cautious when dealing with—" Logan's own hand clamped over his mouth, and he rolled his eyes, exasperated.

"That's it." Thomas took a deep breath. His gaze fell over his staircase one last time, his eyes narrowing upon truly realizing how uninhabited and cold it was.

He can conceal the most dangerous of truths from you.

It takes a liar to know a liar.

Because I was one of them.

Thomas cleared his throat, his voice loud and clear.

"Deceit!"