Virgil grabbed Roman's hand before he could go any further. "Princey," he whispered. "I don't trust this."

Roman took a step back. "It'll be fine, Fairest," Roman said, looking him in the eye. "If anything goes wrong, well, at least it was me and not you."

But Virgil wouldn't let him go.

"Hurry up," The Man said, walking swiftly past them and to an open chamber. "We don't have forever."

Virgil shifted. "I don't think you should go," he says. "This all just feels like another simulation. Look, these people don't even look alive."

Virgil did have a point. Joan and Talyn were the only people here wearing colour and the rest were rather dull looking... and grey.

"Sir," Roman said to the man. "We'd prefer a demonstration on how the machine works, first. Could you show us?"

The man cleared his throat. "No, I cannot. It only works with people that need to be in the correct timeline. Now hurry up."

Roman didn't move. "We don't trust this." He says.

And the man turns to glare at him.

"Do you think you have a choice?"

Patton grabs Talyn and Joan to add them to the group hiding behind Roman. "Hey," he says to the two. "Are you guys real?"

Joan looks at him for a moment before nodding. "Why wouldn't we be?" They say, sniffing.

Patton smiles. "Well, there's a lot of reasons," he says. "But right now, I need you to stay with us. Because I'm pretty sure that this isn't... reality."

Joan and Talyn nod. They know Thomas, they know his sides, they trust them.

"Oh no," the Man says. "Is Roman going to fight me?"

Roman stands firm. "Only if that's why it takes to get you to leave us alone."

His glasses fall down. "Do you really think I care?" He says. "Do you really think that I, creator of the simulation program, have any need for you?"

They're silent. De shifts behind them to come up front and help Roman defend. He doesn't want to loose any of them.

"All I needed was proof that the simulations weren't addicting," the man chuckles. "And did you give me that? Oh, you did."

De hisses. "You can't prove it."

"Oh, but I can," the man says. "I can and I will, when I make you exactly what you're supposed to be. Uncreative! Normal! Regular! Bland!"

Roman glances at De, noting the small
Black wire running under the group as the man walks towards its plug.

"De," Roman whispers. "Take the others and get them away from this cord. I'm going to do something."

De nods, careful shuffling the group away as Roman stands still. "You're not going to do that," he says. "Not if I can help it."

"Oh, can you? This isn't real," The Man says. "I can make it do whatever I want."

Roman hums. "Oh, but so can I!" He grabs the cord, jumping, and swings it around the mans neck as he tightens it. "You're not going to mess with us. You'll do as I say because you know if you die in a simulation there's no way to get out."

"Wha-" the Man chokes. "Where do you learn that?"

"I read it in your office," Roman says. "We passed it just now. Consider getting better blinds, if you want to keep a secret."

The Man forces Roman off. "That's enough!" He pulls off the cord. "If oh want a battle so bad Mr. Prince, I'll give you one hell of a battle!"

The group clings to each other as he ground shakes, raising a void of code to wrap around Roman.

"I may not be able to stop you from coming back," The Man chuckles. "But I sure can force you into doing my bidding."

Roman squirms, yelling out, before the costing engulfs him completely and he can't fight it anymore.

It's dark, it's black, it's something very...

He's in the coding.

Virgil yells out, trying to break away to get to Roman but Patton holds him back. They can't afford to let Roman go but they also can't loose even more people.

The Man turns to them, letting Roman's now colourless body fall. "Roman," he says. "Why don't you... fix the bug in this coding?"

And the now lifeless 'Roman' raises himself from the floor to look at them either pitch black eyes, pulling a sword from the coding beneath him.

They stand there.

"Roman?" Virgil whispers.

'Roman' seems to glitch for a moment, stumbling back, before his raises his sword and swings.

Logan grabs a nearby pipe, thrown aside by the flood of coding that had shaken the room, and blocks Roman's sword.

"You can't Right is forever, Roman." He says, pushing him back. Roman stumbles, still glitching, and goes again for Logan. This time he misses.

Patton pushes Virgil back into the group and trips Roman up with one leg while he grabs a nearby cord and throws it to Logan.

"Use this to tie him up," Patton says. "And make sure you take his sword and keep him away from-"

And then The Man has his hands around Patton's neck, gripping it tightly, as he pulls him towards the chamber.

"Thomas' heart," he hums. "So naive to think I wasn't going to take my chance."

It's as if the others don't even notice this is happening.

"Don't you think?" The Man smiles. "This world does so much for others, but it never does anything for you. Wasn't that the problem?"

Patton shakes. "Let... go...."

The Man only tightens his grip. "Perhaps the lack of Air will help you realise how wrong you are to defy me," He smirks. "You don't know what's right and what's wrong without having me around to define Evil for you."

Patton claws at The Man's hands around his throat, desperately struggling for air. And then he's shoved in the chamber, gasping for the little air he can get and banging against the glass.

Only then do they notice that's where Patton has gone, and only then does The Man hit a button that makes it suddenly hard for Patton to breath.

He can't call out, his voice is gone, and his whole body hurts as he forces himself into a ball against restraints he didn't even know were on him.

It hurts.

It hurts.

IT HURTS!

The Man smiles, just as Logan turns around the hit him over the head with a pipe. And he falls to the ground, bleeding.

All because he was too busy with his eyes on the goal.

"What did he want?" De asks, tentatively stepping toward the Man with a rope to tie him down. "He made that obvious."

"I don't know," Logan says. "But let's just get Patton out of here, fix Roman, and go. There needs to be some exit."

Joan shifts. "Well," he says. "There is a fire Exit we could try. No one goes out there, it seems like the perfect place to hide the exit to a simulation."

Logan nods, trying to switch of the Chamber as Patton begins glitching, letting out small screams that he can't withhold.

"That's not going to work," Roman, still colourless, says as he pulls off the last of the wires. "It's a no shut down system."

"Roman?" Virgil whispers.

"No," The colourless Roman says. "I'm not your Roman. I'm his."

He points at the Man.

"What?" Virgil asks.

"He's a Thomas from a timeline similar to yours. He lost his side's in a freak accident during a war, and he can't he them back," Roman sighs. "He's been trying to. I'm what he's been trying to get back. In the process, he's been harming so many others."

"Explain That again?" Joan shifts. "That's- That's a Thomas?"

"One of many," The colourless Roman sighs. "His home was bombed one night while he was talking to us, it was he start of the war still going on in his home."

"Why are you telling us this?" Virgil raises an eyebrow.

"Because someone needs to know," Colourless Roman says. "Someone needs to be able to Question The Man."

Virgil fiddles with the edge of his sleeve as he looks over at Logan. Logan looks back at Patton, stuck in the chamber.

"You need to do this," Colourless Roman walks over Logan, raising his fist. He punches the glass, breaking it easily, as shards fly everywhere and he Pulls Patton out. "Here."

Logan gently takes Patton, Who clings to him. "Thank you." He says, as Roman nods.

"I'm the last of his sides," He comments, tapping The Man with his foot. "Seeing you guys all together... it's like looking into a mirror that shows exactly what I want. I'm sorry you had to be part of this."

De looks up at him. "I'm sorry you had to loose everyone."

"It was only the best for them," Colourless Roman sniffs. "I'm just sorry it had to be done by my own hands."

(A/N: Plot twist! I'm very sorry if this is not what you wanted, but it's the only way I could sneak in a little bit of angst before giving you a happy ending. And I am totally down to show what I picture The Man and Colourless Roman looking like.

Yes, those are now my names for them in the simulation AU. If you have any questions at all about things that will help you understand this a little more, please feel free to comment them! I try to reply to as many as I can :)

-Winter)