Summary: Remus hates promises.

Words: 3214

Ship: None

Tw: abandonment, crying, not taking care of oneself (let me know if more have to be added)

Note: ......haha... i'm back.... it totally hasn't been like 7 months-..... i'm really sorry. I want to write more but I just keep getting stuck and i'm really stressed with school. At least this time I wrote two oneshots at once so that's good right?

Also, let me know if you find any spelling or grammar mistakes

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Promises were stupid, weren't they? That's what Remus thought anyway.

Promises were broken so easily, so he didn't make them. Not anymore, at least.

He still remembered the first thing someone promised him. It was about a month after he and Roman had been split, one creativity dividing in two.

They had been close back then, living in the dark side of the mind palace.
Before the split they'd been best friends with Janus, so it was only natural that they would stay with him after, the deceitful side acting like a big brother to them.

Despite this, Roman had gotten curious about the other side of the mind palace. He would sneak glances to the door that separated the different parts, and talked about what he imagined the other side would look like.
Remus had shrugged it off, being content with where they lived now.

One day, Roman decided to sneak out, with Remus's help. The twins stood by the door and gave each other a hug.

"You'll come back, right? What if there's monsters behind the door that will eat you alive?" the young Remus had asked.

His brother had giggled a bit in response, "There won't be any monsters. And of course I'll come back! I'm only going to be gone for a short while."

"You promise?"

"I promise. Stay right here and I'll be back in no time," Roman said. He smiled once more, and then he left.

So, Remus waited, refusing to move from his spot by the door. He waited the entire night, yet nothing happened. Soon, a day passed, and another day.

Before he knew it a week had gone by and there was still no sign of his brother.

Janus had tried to get him to move. "You need to eat something, Rem. You can't stay here all day."

The younger side had shaken his head stubbornly, "Yes I can! What if I leave right when Roman comes back? Then he won't see me! I said I'd stay right here!"

Janus smiled a bit before it faded again, "Right.. of course. But would you eat something if I brought it to you?"

"Hmmmm.. okay!" Remus grinned, not even taking his eyes off the door.

Another week passed and Remus still hadn't left his spot. Janus sat down by him every day, giving him some food and talking to him.

One day, when they were sitting beside each other again, he looked at his friend. For the first time, he noticed the dark circles under his eyes and frowned a bit, "How much sleep have you been getting?" he asked softly.

There was a beat of silence before Remus answered. He shrugged, "I don't know. Not much."

Janus sighed a bit and put his hand on Remus's shoulder, "You have to sleep. This is not good for you.."

The smaller side looked up at him, "But what if Ro-"

"What if Roman comes back while you're gone, I know, I know." Janus interrupted him quickly,
"Remus, you've been sitting here for weeks now, waiting for him to come back. If- -.. when he comes back, don't you think he can wait a few hours for you to wake up? It's the least he could do." he said, putting emphasis on the 'when' as to not upset Remus.

Remus looked down and seemed to consider that. Janus was right. He had been waiting here for a long time.
His brother would probably understand if he was gone for a little while to sleep. He would probably want his twin to be healthy.

So, he looked at Janus again and nodded a bit, "Okay.."

Janus took his hand and helped him up, and Remus moved from his spot. He finally realised how tired he really was and he slumped against Janus, who put an arm around him and helped him to his room. Remus didn't even bother putting on his pyjamas, crawling under the covers and curling up.

"Good night, dukey." Janus said with a smile, but Remus didn't hear it. He was already asleep.

Much to Janus's satisfaction, Remus slept really long, his body needing to catch up on all the sleep it lost.

It had been evening when Janus managed to get Remus to sleep, and it was evening again when Janus looked up from the book he was reading to see Remus walk into the room.

His clothes were wrinkled and he still looked tired as he held onto his favourite stuffed animal, a small green octopus. He looked at Janus for a few seconds before looking at the floor again, his hands fiddling with the tentacles of the plushie.

Janus frowned a little, being able to tell something was wrong. He put his book down on the small table beside the couch so he could focus on the smaller side.

"How did you sleep?" he asked gently.

Remus squeezed his eyes shut in response and shook his head a little bit.

That was enough of an answer for Janus to know what was wrong. "Nightmare..?" he asked.

The green side nodded now.

Janus opened his arms to offer him a hug if he wanted one, and Remus gladly accepted, walking forward and hugging the deceitful side tightly.

"You wanna talk about it?"

Remus shook his head. " 'm sorry.."

Janus softly combed his fingers through the other's hair, "It's okay. You have nothing to be sorry about."

There was no response, other than a few muffled sniffles, which then changed into a muffled crying as Remus began to shake a little.

"Shh.. it's okay, Rem.. it's okay.. It was just a nightmare..." Janus cooed, trying to comfort him the best he could.

Remus spoke, his voice so quiet Janus could almost not hear him.

"Ro's never coming back... is he..?"

Janus froze a little. So that was probably what the nightmare had been about. Though he wanted to comfort his friend, he didn't want to give him false hope.

He let out a soft sigh, "No.. I don't think he is.. I'm sorry, Remus.."

Remus nodded a little and hugged him tighter. He couldn't believe his own brother would leave him like that.

It was fine, though. He'd get over it. As long as he had Janus, he would be okay. They would be there for each other and he didn't have anything to worry about. Janus wouldn't leave him. Janus was better.

A few years went by and as Thomas grew older, so did Janus and Remus, their older and younger brother relationship shifting back into a best friend relationship like it had been when Remus was still King.

They also got a new dark side, who they quickly discovered was Anxiety.

The new side didn't feel comfortable enough with them to share his real name, and the other two dark sides respected his wishes, though Remus would often hang around the other, trying to guess what his name was for fun.

He was happy to have a new friend around and spent the most time with him, making jokes, playing pranks.

It seemed Anxiety was happy to be there too, despite finding it annoying how Remus always entered his room unannounced.

Today that happened again.

Anxiety was sitting alone in his room, thinking about the last few videos Thomas had made with the light sides.

He had told them his name, and now, he even had a new hoodie.

Looking down, he played a bit with the zipper on his sleeve, opening and closing it repeatedly. It helped him keep his thoughts under control. Ever since he had revealed what his name was, he felt more on edge, especially around Remus and Janus.

The light sides had been confused about his name. Roman especially reacted a bit negatively, though he had apologised.

He wondered how the dark sides would react. He hadn't told them about his name yet, nor had he shown them his hoodie. Would they dislike it? He hoped so.

Just as he started calming down a bit, a loud voice called his name.

"Hey Anx!!" Remus shouted. He kicked the door in, a wide grin on his face, "I-" he cut himself off the moment he saw his friend,

"What's that?" he asked curiously, obviously talking about the hoodie.

Virgil's eyes widened in panic and he looked around, trying to find a way to escape from this situation.

Remus's grin had faded and he stared at the other, "You never told me you got a new hoodie." he said, "Where'd you get it?"

"I- uh- I made it-" Virgil told him, refusing to make eye contact with him for longer than one second.

Remus looked suspicious, "Why? And why without my help? You know I'm good at that stuff."

Virgil swallowed dryly, "I-.. I just wanted to fit in with them- with the light sides-" he said.

Remus scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Why would you want to fit in with those goody two-shoes? Jan and I are much better."

"Don't talk about them like that! They were nice to me. They're-... they're my friends." Virgil said. He looked away from Remus.

The intrusive side's eyes fixed on the anxious side again, "Your friends? Me and Jan are your friends! You don't need them! You- you can stay here with us! Everything is good!" he said.

Virgil was getting frustrated now and didn't notice how Remus's tone of voice had changed.

"Everything is not good! They're my friends, because unlike you, they actually care about me!" he yelled.

He prepared himself for a shouting match, only to find that Remus was just staring at him now.

"..you're leaving, aren't you?" the green side asked. His voice was calm, though with a hint of sadness.

"I-" Virgil was taken aback by that. He had been thinking about leaving indeed, but he wasn't sure yet.

Remus looked almost desperate. "Tell me you're staying. Tell me you're not leaving. Promise me." he said.

Once again, Virgil looked away. He had never seen Remus like this before and it was weird, almost scary. He never acted like this.

"..I can't." he answered.

The intrusive side kept staring at him, and Virgil looked away. He rubbed his hands against each other nervously. Why wasn't Remus saying anything? He could understand anger but this threw him off.

He took a few breaths to calm himself down before speaking again.
"Rem-"

"Get out."

Virgil looked up in shock. Though Remus didn't say it that loud, his tone was cold and even dark, and his fists were balled up. Was he going to beat him up? He didn't understand.

"W- what..?" he asked.

"Get. Out." Remus repeated, louder.

"I-" Virgil was hesitant. He was misunderstanding, right? They'd had fights before, but not like this. Remus wasn't gonna kick him out, right? He wasn't even sure about leaving!

Before he could say more, Remus interrupted him. "I said go!! What don't you get about that?! If you don't want to stay here then leave already!"

Virgil flinched at the sudden shouting. He looked at him for a few seconds before running out of his room, holding onto his hoodie tightly.

He kept running like that until he was fully away from the dark sides, and he just had to hope the light sides would accept him and let him in.

Remus watched as Virgil ran out of the room, his body completely tensed up. He stood there like that for a while, the only sound in the room being his heavy breathing as he tried to stay calm.

Soft footsteps entered the room and a gloved hand gently touched his shoulder.

"Are you okay..?" Janus asked, looking at Remus with a worried expression on his face.

Remus shook his head a little, trying to hold back tears. He wasn't gonna cry over this. He didn't care that he lost another person in his life.

"I saw Virgil running away.." Janus spoke, watching as Remus tensed up even more at that.

Oh, he thought. So it happened again.

He began softly rubbing Remus's back, hoping it would help him calm down, "It's okay, Remus.." he said.

The intrusive side pulled away and shook his head, "No-, no it's not okay." he said.

It became harder for him not to cry, "He-.. he left us, Jan. He's supposed to be our friend. He's supposed to be part of our family but now he left." A few tears started falling.

"I know.. and that's exactly why we have to let him go.." Janus responded, gently wiping the tears off of his friend's face.

When Remus looked confused at that, he explained further. "Virgil is our friend, but if he's happier with the others, shouldn't we support him? No matter how much it hurts?"

Remus sniffled and looked at the snake-like side for a few seconds before asking: "..but what about our happiness?"

"We are happy, aren't we? Just the two of us? We'll get another side that won't leave us eventually." Janus said.

He wasn't exactly sure if they'd ever get another dark side, but he hoped that in the meantime he was enough for his friend.

Remus nodded, "Yeah.. you're right." he smiled a little, wiping the last few tears off of his face before hugging Janus, who got out all of his six arms and hugged him back.

Everything was good, as long as they had each other.

Remus could've known it wouldn't last forever. Nothing ever did. Janus had been trying to get the light sides to listen to him, and after almost a year, they finally did. They'd accepted him finally, and Janus had been so happy.

He'd looked at Remus and told him he'd have to move in with the light sides, for Thomas's sake.

Remus had hugged him tightly, "You promise you'll visit a lot? Promise you won't leave me?" he'd asked.

The deceitful side had hugged him back with a smile, "Of course, I promise." he'd said, and Remus believed him.

Living with the light sides hadn't been that easy for him at first. He would visit Remus all the time and complain about the others, telling him how boring it was there.

He'd had quite a few run-ins with both Roman and Virgil, but when the prince had found out Janus was fond of theatre just like him, they quickly became friends.

Over time, his visits became less frequent, and Remus began missing his best friend. He'd asked him about it, and Janus had told him it was because he was very busy. The intrusive side understood, and stopped asking about it.

Days started going by without him. Then weeks, then- a month? Remus wasn't sure anymore. He wasn't keeping track of the time.

One day, when it was late and Remus was bored, he decided it would be fun if he spied on the light sides a little, to see how Janus was doing.

He'd been missing him so much lately, surely he wouldn't mind it if he visited for a bit. He was probably just very busy, so he could use some relaxation

Wrong.

When he snuck into the room, they were having a movie night, watching Disney movies together all while cuddled up.

Remus had been to their movie nights before, but it seemed they forgot about him this time. That stung, but it had happened before. It was fine.
He watched the other sides from where he was hiding in the corner of the room.

Patton was snuggled up to Virgil, who had his arms wrapped around the smaller side. Meanwhile Roman, Logan, and Janus formed a cuddle pile, with the creative side resting his head on Janus's lap and the logical side leaning against him.

The deceitful side- or former deceitful side now?- was braiding the prince's hair while softly humming a song, and Remus watched, pretending it didn't hurt him immensely to see them like this.
Janus would always braid his hair, and it pained him to see his twin, there, in his spot having his hair be braided by him.

He balled his fists as angry tears started forming and he quietly sank out of the room before anyone saw him.

The moment he got to his room, he collapsed onto the floor. Loud sobs racked throughhis body as he shook uncontrollably.

You promised!, his mind screamed. You promised you wouldn't leave me!

He kept crying for hours, unable to move or do anything else. Even when he ran out of tears, he couldn't stop shaking and screaming.

Everybody he cared about had left, everybody was gone now and it was Remus's fault. Of course it was. They were all so happy there with each other, without him. Having him there would've ruined it.

When he finally started calming down again, he sat up. Dried tears had stained his cheeks and his eyes were red from the crying.

He stood up, limbs feeling heavy, and sat down on the bed. He leaned back until his back touched the cold wall.

They hate you, they hate you, they hate you. Nobody could ever be happy with you. You're disgusting.

The voices in his head repeated the sentences over and over again, and Remus let them. They were right, anyways, weren't they?

No, no they couldn't be right. Remus would always have someone. He'd have–.. He'd have-.... who did he have..?

Remus looked around his room, and his eyes fell on an old plushie sitting on the corner of his bed.

He reached for it and picked it up, softly rubbing his thumb over it's fur. It was an octopus, Remus's favourite animal when he was younger. It was old, and didn't smell great, but looking back at it made all kinds of memories flood his brain. Memories he didn't even know he still had.

He remembered making it, together with Roman. They both made their own, but they'd made sure they had matching ones. Had. Years later Remus had found Roman's plushie in the trash.

He'd games with Roman and Janus, pretending their plushies were on some adventure. Remus's plushie would always play the evil bad guy.

After Roman had left, he remembered sewing a little black hat on it together with Janus, so they could match too. He'd accidentally pricked himself with the needle and Janus had put a bandaid on it for him. The little hat was now almost torn off.

He looked at the purple dots that decorated a few of the octopus's tentacles. Those had been for Virgil. The colours that were once bright had faded and looked almost black.

He teared up and held the stuffed animal close, just like he did so many times when he was younger. He hugged it and pretended it hugged back, pretended it was enough.

When he pulled away, he looked into the two glassy eyes of the octopus. He could vaguely see his own reflection in them.

"You won't leave me, right?" he asked softly, eyes still glistening with tears.

He moved his hand until it was after the plushie's head, moving it so it looked like it was shaking its head.

He smiled, lips trembling a little as he tried to hold back his tears.

"..You promise?"