A/N: 

WHOOO!! I DID IT!!! I managed to write this chapter in, like, 10 hours after I had terrible writer's block for, like, 4 days, lol.

TW: Panic attacks

|Previous chapter:

"That sounds good, Roman," Picani said, turning and walking down the hall.

After a few seconds, I took a breath and walked down the hall in the opposite direction, towards the room that we only entered as a last resort; the memory room.|

Virgil POV:

Blinking my eyes open, my head was pounding as I laid in bed. I turned my head to the side despite the pain and saw Thomas dozing off in a chair that had been placed next to my bed. He was slouched down with his arms folded across his chest, and his head hung forward, light snores sounding from him every few seconds.

I tried sitting up to get a better view of my room, but my head pounded, causing me to fall back onto my pillow, groaning. My movement must have woken Thomas up because he was by my side in an instant.

"You okay, Virgil?" he asked, causing me to turn my head to look at him. That just made my head hurt more, and I groaned again, closing my eyes.

"My head hurts like hell," I complained, keeping my eyes closed.

I heard some shuffling, and I opened my eyes to see Thomas walking out of my room. He was gone for a minute or two before he walked back in with Logan trailing behind him.

They both came up to my bed, and I saw that Logan had a bottle of something in his hand.

"Thomas told me that you have a headache," Logan said, sitting down on the side of my bed. "I have some medications that should help relieve the pain."

He unscrewed the lid as he spoke and poured two small pills into the palm of his hand.

Seeing those pills reminded me of the anxiety medication Thomas took when we had all been in the living room, and my breath immediately sped up as I tried not to panic.

Thomas must have noticed my breathing change and turned to me.

"Virgil," he asked quietly. "What's wrong?"

My brain didn't comprehend the question and, not knowing what was going on, I tried to get away from them but couldn't because of the blankets on top of me.

I looked up and saw Thomas and Logan looking at me and talking, but I couldn't hear a word they said. Logan reached out to me with the hand that wasn't holding the pills, but I scrambled back as far as I could, shaking my head.

"No, no," I whispered, my voice shaking. "I don't... no... anxiety... no..."

I reached my hand behind me to try and move farther back, but I felt the edge of my bed. I didn't want to fall off my bed, so I curled up into a ball with my back facing Logan and Thomas instead.
I tried to keep my breathing steady, but that just ended with me in a coughing fit. I laid there trying not to choke on the petals escaping my lungs. 

When the fit ended, I felt my bed shift as one of them came up behind me, and I tensed when they placed a hand on my back. I heard them take a breath and start to speak, but they were interrupted by someone knocking on my door.

I didn't move to see who it was at all, but I could tell that they had come into my room farther. 

"I was told that there is someone by the name of Virgil Sanders that is in need of some assistance," they said, and, at that, I looked over my shoulder.

Sitting in the chair next to my bed was someone I had never seen before. He looked identical to Thomas, so I knew that He lived in the village in the Imagination. He wore a white button-up shirt and baby blue tie under a beige cardigan, jeans, and a pair of brown glasses. In one hand, he held a notebook and pen, and his purple hair was swept out of his face.

When he saw that I was looking at him, he smiled gently. "You must be Virgil," he proclaimed, opening his notebook and jotting something down.

I timidly nodded and moved so that I was facing him completely.

Thomas stood up and nodded to the newcomer. "Logan and I will leave you two alone," he said and looked over at Logan, who nodded before standing up and walking out of my room.

Once they had both left, the man sitting in the chair turned to me. 

"New patient, hello! Do you how do?" he asked loudly before giggling and leaning forward in the chair. "My name is Dr. Picani, and you must be Virgil!"

I sat there in shock, scared by how loud he was. 

"Was it the entrance?" he asked, speaking in the same loud voice. "Was it too much?"

"Uhhh," I said, trying not to panic. "H-how did y-you know that I w-was here?"

"Oh!" he said, perking up. "Roman got me and told me what's been going on!"

I froze when I heard Roman's name. My breathing picked up, and I could feel myself start to shake. 

"R-roman... s-sent y-you?" I stuttered, trying to keep the panic attack at bay.

"Well," Dr. Picani started. "He told me about what you thought him and the others had done. He thought it might help you to talk things out with me."

Hearing that was enough to push me into a panic attack. I couldn't breathe, which caused me to start hyperventilating, and I was shaking like crazy. 

He sent Picani to fix you. He knows just how messed up you are. Roman just wants to get rid of me because he wasn't able to in the living room.

I sensed Dr. Picani get out of the chair by my bed and sit down beside me on my bed. He placed a hand on my shoulder, and I looked over at him, although he was blurry through the tears in my eyes.

"Virgil," Dr. Picani said calmly. "I need you to try and calm down. Can you try breathing for me?" 

"I-I... I-I c-can't," I stuttered, shaking my head and trying to breathe.

"Hey, hey, hey," Dr. Picani said, placing his other hand on my other shoulder. "Breathe in for four counts, hold for seven, and breathe out for eight. Can you do that with me?"

I nodded, and Dr. Picani started counting. I was able to do the first part, but I couldn't hold the breath in at all. 

"Hey, it's ok if you can't do it at first," Dr. Picani whispered. "Just keep trying."

Nodding again, we restarted the exercise. It took me a few tries until I was able to do it correctly, and, once I was able to, Dr. Picani had me do it a few more times just to make sure.

When I could breathe again, Dr. Picani spoke up. 

"Why did you panic?" he asked calmly.

"It's just..." I sighed, looking at the blankets on my bed. Why did I panic? Hadn't Patton recommended talking to Dr. Picani about my hanahaki? He had, so why did I panic when I heard that Roman sent him?

"Hey," Dr. Picani said softly, placing a hand on my leg. "It's alright if you don't know. How 'bout we focus on something else instead? Do you wanna tell me what happened this morning?"

I nodded, knowing that I could at least talk about that.

"I fell asleep last night," I started, "and then I woke up in the living room. Everyone was in a circle around me, and Deceit said that he had been lying about being my best friend. Patton told me that I wasn't as smart as Logan so I wouldn't understand what was going on, and Logan confirmed it. And then Roman called me weak for crying, a-and Thomas..."

I trailed off, tears starting to form in my eyes as I remembered the events of earlier today.

"Thomas s-said that he w-was s-sorry and then t-took an anxiety p-pill. A-and it h-hurt so bad." Tears were streaming down my face as I remembered the pain I had felt when Thomas had taken the pill. "I-it was like I-I was getting st-stabbed, a-and it w-wouldn't st-stop. A-and then ev-everyone le-left me th-there, an-and I bl-blacked out a-and woke u-up in m-my r-room w-with R-Roman sh-shaking m-me..."

I trailed off again, piecing together my memories. Why would Roman have been shaking me awake if he had walked away? And wouldn't it have been later in the day?

Dr. Picani spoke up, interrupting my train of thoughts. "And did any of the others remember this happening?"

"No," I whispered, shaking my head. "When Roman woke me up, he was really confused when I first explained it, and no one else knew what I was talking about."

I looked up at Dr. Picani and saw him tapping his chin with his pen.

"You look like you're close to making a realization," he said, continuing to tap his chin.

"I mean, Roman and all the others had walked away from me, so they would have known what had happened," I thought out loud, fumbling with the blankets on my bed. "And they were so concerned for me when I panicked earlier. A-and it was like it had happened during the night because Roman woke me up..."

I trailed off a third time and looked up at Dr. Picani with wide eyes.

"It was all a-"

I was cut off by Roman running into my room carrying a leather-bound book. He came to a halt at the side of my bed and set the book down on the blankets. Bending over and placing his hands on his knees, he paused to catch his breath before looking at me. 

"Virgil, it was all a dream."

A/N:

So... y'all get a bit of a cliffhanger to deal with for the next few weeks.

I feel kinda bad, but I'm just really happy that I was able to get one last chapter out to y'all before my break starts. 

Also, my wisdom teeth surgery is tomorrow morning. I need to be there at 7:30 am. I'm low-key kinda terrified. This will be the first time I've ever been under, and I'm terrified for the anesthesia. I'm terrified for the IV, but I'm also terrified that I'll wake up and say stuff that I don't want anyone to know. So yeah... I'mma definitely be bringing a stress ball.

God, I don't want this A/N to end, 'cause then it means my break's gonna start, and, as much as I know I need it, I hate it. Like, I just wanna write and talk to y'all, and I hate that I won't be able to give y'all new chapters, but, at the same time, I know that, if I was gonna write, I wouldn't have long enough periods of time to give y'all the stuff you deserve.

Until next time,

Take it easy guys, gals, and non-binary pals!!

~death_by_fanfic