Pairings: Roman/Patton/Virgil (I don't remember the ship name) and background Loceit - note, no ships are in the spotlight for this

Warnings: Heavy Roman Angst, Embodiment of Repression, knives, torture, blood, injuries, deaths of dragons and guards, lmk if I need to add anything else!

Sidenote: This is mostly angst with like, a tiny bit of fluff at the end. You have been warned

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Res tilts his head, watching the prince in his slumber. He was surprised by just how easy it was to even capture him. Wasn't he supposed to be a hero, never being the one needing saving? Honestly, Res was a bit disappointed at how easy it was to snatch him away. No struggle, easy to knock out and disappear with. It was even less fun than kidnapping Logan! And no one even noticed Logan was gone until he had sent a note to Deceit!

It was also far too easy to control the prince's section of the Imagination. Just take Roman's sword. Res had assumed that's where Roman's ability had been since the prince always had the sword with him no matter what. But anyone being able to use it? Res hadn't expected that.

Also, Roman was so boring to watch. At least Logan had given him a surprise and woken up early. Roman had exceeded the time that he was supposed to be up by three hours.

Res glanced out the window, into the city beyond. About two dozen dragons were around the castle walls, having already been there when Res had arrived. Res had only made them a bit more... hostile, to any trespassers. And the city remained untouched by him. After all, Res didn't really care about them. Just the castle being fortified.

Which is why the guards were on high alert and created to keep anyone out at any cost. The moat around the prince's castle, originally containing a few dolphins to swim around, was now boiling, hot enough to burn with even a few drops.

There were some more traps inside the castle, some that Roman had already put there for his own protection against his brother. Res didn't bother to look too closely at them.

Res perked up when he heard a small groan, whipping around to face the side currently tied to a chair in chains. The chains were melded together instead of combined with any locks. Mostly so Res could watch as Roman made a futile attempt to struggle.

"Aw, aren't you cute, thinking you can just worm your way out of them?" Res cooed, approaching the side. He watched as Roman was hit with a realization that he couldn't just magic his way out of his restraints.

"Where's-"

"Your sword?" Res gestured to where the sword was, resting against the wall so Res could easily access it but also so Roman had a clear view. "Pretty idiotic to put all control of your kingdom in it, Prince." Res tilted his head, returning his gaze to Roman. "Then again, you were never the brains of Creativity."

Res walked closer to Roman and leaned into the prince's face. He pulled his scarf down to reveal his grin to Roman, before reaching out and gingerly touching Roman's cheek.

Roman flinched away from him, and Res clicked his tongue. "Aren't you such a pretty prince. But as part of our Host's ego... So fragile. I wonder how long it would take, to bring all those insecurities up. Five, ten minutes?"

Roman felt the chains tighten around his hands and feet as he continued to struggle, and it hurt. His eyes widened as pain flooded his wrists and ankles, the chains squeezing. It stopped as soon as Roman stopped struggling, but they remained tight, leaving Roman's bones aching softly.

"But that's not what's gonna be the most fun." Res stated as a knife fizzled into existence in his hand. Res removed his scarf with his free hand, discarding the garment so he wouldn't get any blood on it. "Do you want to know what'll be more fun than watching you sob over every insecurity you have proved to be correct?"

Res used the knife to tilt Roman's chin up, raising a brow and waiting for Roman to answer. Roman clenched his jaw, mouth remaining shut. After a few more beats of silence - though all Roman could hear was his heart racing - Res decided to answer his own question.

"It's going to be watching you experience true pain for the first time. It's going to be thrilling, right, Roman?"

As Res hissed out Roman's name, Roman's chest began to ache horribly and it forced a whimper from Roman. Doubt and fear and guilt and loneliness clouded his mind all at once and his heart felt heavy, as though someone had lodged a rock in its place.

The overwhelming feelings drowned out the pain from the knife, suddenly slicing at Roman's collarbone.

-

The others had barely noticed Roman was gone until Virgil had mentioned it being quieter than usual. Remus was doing something in his little area of the Imagination, and wouldn't be around for awhile. That everyone knew. But normally Roman would fill the silence in his brother's absence.

He wasn't in his room, either. Patton had checked.

"The Imagination?" Deceit guessed. "I thought he had wanted to spend time with you and Virgil all day, though."

Logan frowned from where he lay curled up in Deceit's side. "You're not suggesting something happened to him?"

"Since when does Roman miss perfect days to cook and cuddle with his boyfriends?" Deceit asked instead, raising a brow. Logan bit his lip.

Virgil set his phone down. "I've gotta agree with Dee. Roman would've told us if he was planning on spending the day in the Imagination."

Patton set down whatever he was doing in the kitchen, wiping his hands off on a towel before entering the living room. "We can always go check. Roman did say we were always welcome!"

Deceit stretched. "I'm down."

Logan sat up, fixing his glasses as he nodded. "Let's just hope that it's nothing but a sudden burst of inspiration."

"You say that like you're thinking it's not."

"Need I remind you the last time one of us disappeared without a word, it was because some side captured them and practically tortured them? Or shall I show the faint scars to prove it." Logan's voice was sharp as he sent a light glare Virgil's way. Virgil flinched.

"Right. My bad."

Deceit took Logan's hand in his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I doubt Res got out again. But if he did, I can always cast him back to the Subconscious. With Virgil's help, if he can."

"I would gladly," Virgil said, getting off the couch. "Now, let's go check up on our resident royal."

Let's just say, things didn't go as smoothly as they had all hoped.

Res looked out the window when he heard the dragons, and his grin widened when he saw a few taking flight. "Well, would you look at that!" He leaned forward just a bit more. "They do care for you, just enough to come try and find you after a day. I was wrong, they do like you more than Logic."

Res waved his hand as Roman whimpered. His skin was coated in large amounts of blood, the wounds only stinging more as Res had summoned salt to drizzle into each and every cut. Tears had long since stopped falling down Roman's cheeks, and his mind felt numb. The flashes of hot pain from the bones in his wrists and ankles had stopped after Roman had tried once again to get free, effectively breaking all four of the areas chained.

The chains on his torso had been shifted so Res had better access to more of Roman's flesh, and he marked Roman with each word Roman believed he was. Correction, every negative word Roman was.

"Wonder if the others can even get past the dragons." Res gasped. "Oh! It would be wonderful if Morality was tossed into the moat! Seeing his skin blistering... I doubt the Imagination would just let him die, so he'd be in agony for a long while."

Roman squeezed his eyes shut. "Don't- don't hurt them, p-please," Roman wanted to scream, but his throat felt like it was ripped to shreds and it took so much energy to even croak out that little sentence. "Please, Res-"

"Oh, I'm not the one causing them to be hurt. The dragons are your creations, after all, Roman. I merely gave them... motivation. Their abilities were made with your own hands, so if Anxiety gets a bit scorched or Deceit a bit cut up... Truly your own fault for having dragons as security in the first place."

Res cackled as he left the window, returning to Roman. He tilted his head, bringing a bloodied hand to his chin and humming absentmindedly. Roman wasn't hyperventilating anymore, though his breathing was still shallow as the blood dripped off Roman and onto the floor. Res was glad that the Imagination refused to let Roman die.

"Not gonna fall asleep on me, are you Roman?" Res asked, a light tone to his voice as Roman glared at him halfheartedly. Anytime Res said his name, feeling came flooding back and it made it hard for Roman to breathe or even think at all.

"Good. Though, I think I need to do more. Gotta make sure you're no longer the resident pretty boy. Maybe even get Morality and Anxiety to gag at how you look." Res laughed, picking the knife back up off the floor. He made it dull, and he drove it into Roman's shoulder, earning him a quiet cry. "They'll flinch anytime they even see you, knowing how useless they were in saving you and how pathetic you were in being unable to get free yourself."

The roaring outside from the dragons quieted, and Res dragged the knife down Roman's chest and circled over Roman's heart. He didn't cut deeply, just enough to get the blood to ooze out and slide down Roman's torso. More tears arose in Roman's eyes and started to slip down his cheeks again, just causing more pain as they fell onto open cuts along his chest.

Res waited a moment, before leaning in close to Roman's ear. "Guess they didn't love you as much as they said, huh?"

Even Roman felt the others' leaving the Imagination, and that alone tore another cry up Roman's throat as he bowed his head in defeat.

-

Remus had finished making himself a snack when the Imagination door opened, and he looked over to it when he heard loud panting and swears. His eyes widened as the others came practically falling out from the fantasy land, out of breath and bloodied.

Wait, bloodied?

"Oh my God." Remus ditched his food and rushed over, the Imagination door slamming closed. "What the fuck happened?!"

Deceit seemed the least injured as he shoved Virgil and Patton into Remus's arms. Both flinched at the contact. "Just heal them, Rem, please." Deceit's voice was strained. It left no room for arguing. Remus frowned but nodded, hastily getting Virgil and Patton to follow him to the couch, and he set to work without asking anything.

Logan and Deceit tended to one another, luckily neither as hurt as Patton or Virgil. Remus was able to heal them up in almost an hour, the mindscape filled with nothing but silence and the occasional whimper.

And Remus didn't miss that his brother was nowhere.

Deceit had fallen asleep after Logan finished bandaging his last wound, as did Virgil and Patton. All three still looked stress even in their sleep. Logan remained awake with Remus, and Remus stared at him intensely.

"What happened, Lo? Because I know this didn't happen on my side of the Imagination!"

Logan swallowed, picking at an old scar on his wrist. "We, um. We went to Roman's castle, to see if he was there. Because we couldn't find him. But, it was heavily guarded. By dragons. They were so hostile, but they've never been like that before and something's wrong, Remus. There's something wrong."

Remus blinked, processing it. Hostile dragons? That didn't sound like Roman, but it did sound like-

"Oh, Res is going to suffer!" Remus bolted from his seat, summoning his morning star. Hope had said something had shifted on Roman's side, but he didn't think it was that kind of shift, but the orange border preventing Remus from entering, it made sense.

Logan caught Remus's arm. "You can't go there alone!"

Remus shrugged Logan off. "I can, and I will! I'm stronger than all of you in there, and besides!" Remus grinned, tilting his head with a sickening crack. "Res has messed with the wrong side of Creativity!"

Logan couldn't grab him quick enough to stop Remus from jumping into the Imagination, and Logan didn't have the energy to race after him either. Instead, Logan collapsed on the couch beside Deceit and hoped Remus would be alright.

-

Remus took a deep breath as the last dragon was sent hurtling towards the bubbling moat. He felt a bit bad, the creatures didn't do anything to deserve that fate. And Remus knew so as they almost seemed to scream in agony as they boiled alive.

"Okay, which tower?" Remus huffed as he started up at the castle. The guards had also been taken care of, knocked away or burned by the dragons in the confusion of trying to get to Remus. So all that left was trying to actually find Roman.

He could feel Res's power from this distance, the familiar feeling of everything and nothing as Res forced feelings to the surface. Remus nearly swore under his breath, his grip tightening on his morning star. He was going to clobber Res if it was the last thing he ever did.

The silence helped. The Imagination was eerily quiet, not even a single breeze drifted by. But it still wasn't enough for Remus to hear Res's loud, triumphant laughs. Growling in frustration, Remus charged into the castle.

It took Remus longer than he should've to find the right tower, hear the cruel laugh from a particular side. It made Remus grind his teeth that Res had turned Roman's castle into a shifting maze, though he supposed it was a tactic Res used. He ran up the stairs, the taunting voice of Res only growing louder and louder.

Remus knocked the guard standing in the doorway down the stairwell with his already bloodied weapon, and he broke the door down, I'm bothered by it's splintering. Res jumped as Remus cane rushing in, breathing heavily and a crazed look in his eye.

Meeting Remus's eyes, Res knew he was absolutely fucked if he didn't leave right then. Before Remus could even raise his morning star again, Res snapped his fingers and disappeared, presumably to his room back in the Subconscious.

Remus almost tried to follow him, too, his blood still pumping and anger still boiling just as hot as the moat. What stopped him though was seeing all the crimson on a certain princely side.

Remus's morning star clattered to the ground as he rushed in front of Roman. "Oh, fuck- Roman, please, tell me you're not dead, oh God, please." Remus received a small groan from Roman, and Remus felt momentarily relieved.

"I'm going to get you out of here, alright? You're going to be fine, Ro."

Remus set to work at undoing the chains, cringing at the awkward way Roman's limbs were angled. The bones were clearly broken, a few might even be shattered. Remus let Roman fall into him once he undid the last set of chains, catching his twin and holding him close despite Roman's whimpers.

"I'm going to take you to your room, okay?" Roman nodded just barely before he finally lost consciousness. Remus sank out soon after.

-

Everything hurt. Not terribly. But Roman ached all over. He couldn't remember much, well, aside from lots of orange and silver and red in his vision. And pain. Lots and lots of pain.

He groaned softly, opening his eyes. He was on something soft, and wasn't constricted anymore. Not by chains, at least. The blanket that rested on top of him was fluffy and warm against his skin compared to the metal. And it was dry, not sticky with layers of blood.

Roman's door open, and it was draining to even tilt his head. He squinted when he saw Remus carrying some water on a try, setting it on Roman's nightstand. Remus then moved the blanket, barely even noticing Roman had woken up until Roman had tried getting his attention.

"Remus?"

He felt like he was clawing his own throat as he spoke, and Remus appeared startled as he looked down at Roman. He gasped as he was met with Roman's brown eyes.

"Here! This'll help, sit up carefully though. I did my best to heal you, but you were always better at that than me." Remus held the glass of water to Roman's lips, and Roman did as told. His bones felt like they were on fire from the action, and he winced. "Sorry," Remus mumbled, before helping Roman actually drink the water.

"Your left wrist is still broken... I was too exhausted to heal it, after healing the rest of you and your boyfriends. Oh! They'll be so glad you're awake! Patton and Virgil were so worried and-"

Remus was cut off as Roman lurched forward, enveloping Remus in a hug. Despite his body feeling as though he had taken a tumble down a cliff, Roman hugged Remus tighter. He buried his face in Remus's neck, feeling his eyes water. He remembered hearing Remus, right before he blacked out. And it made sense, that Remus was there. Only Remus could scare off Res.

"Thank you," Roman croaked, starting to tremble slightly. "Thank you, Rem. Thank you."

Remus wrapped his arms gingerly around Roman, pressing a kiss to Roman's temple. "You're safe now, Ro."

Roman cried as he nodded, pressing closer to Remus.