"Doctor Picani," The man was tall, with glasses hanging low on his nose. "You have been called upon by the council of secrecy."

Picani rests his hands on his lap. "I understand," he says. "That this is for a serious matter?"

"Yes," the Man pushes his glasses back to stare down at the doctor. "We trust you will act unusually seriously for this. Having seen previous documents, I understand this may be hard for you."

"No, no, not at all." Picani smiles. "It's a rather simple matter, Sir, time changes us all."

"And what a lonely time it must have been," a woman behind the man said, peering over a clipboard. "Without your friends?"

"I have missed them." He says. "Though I cannot say that they have ever truly left me."

"In a simulation," the woman says. "They have no idea of this world."

"When we discontinued the process of simulation splitting," The man in glasses began. "We intended to pull the players out before they could blend into the simulation. Your friends disobeyed, or failed to get out quick enough. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Picani smiled. "My friends failed to get out of a simulation designed to fix their problems."

"To fix Thomas' problems." A person in a beanie said. "To get Thomas to be stable." They added.

Next to them, another person, with multicoloured hair and eyebrows, lay on their shoulder. "There wasn't any other way to fix it."

"I understand," Picani flashed the two a smile. "That you were both close friends of Thomas'?"

"Yes," The person in the beanie said. "Joan," They gestured to themselves, "and Talyn," They gestured to be person with multicoloured hair. "You might remember?"

Picani sighed. "All too well." He says. "It's nice to meet you in person, Joan, and You, Talyn."

The man in glasses cleared his throat. "The point of this meeting has been to make the point clear," he says. "The point being that you will be sent into this simulation to not only retrieve all the sides, which will then form Thomas upon outing, but the man sent to get him- Remy."

"I understand," Picani smiled. "You made it clear."

"And upon his outing," The woman behind him piped up. "Remy's, of course, you will then be sent back to where you were summoned from, and this line will be reset. Do you understand?"

"Reset?" Picani echoed. "Sir, I don't quite understand."

"Your existence will cease. In order to set the line straight, we must make exceptions," He said. "You were summoned from a series of Thomas' videos, as had the sides been. Remy was summoned from a series of shorts. You will be sent back there, and if your existence fails it will not have been in vain. You will be remembered. But the line will be set straight."

"This will be nothing but an odd dream to Thomas," The woman said. "You will be nothing but an odd dream."

Joan looks over at Talyn. "We'll get Thomas back, though?"

"Of course." Picani looks over at them. "I'll bring him back."

"And you agree with the consequences?" The woman says. "You swear you won't differ from your goal?"

"I swear." Picani says.

They give a weak smile.

The woman puts her clipboard down. "Then it's decided." She said. "We launch you in tomorrow. If you, between now and then, tell a single soul not in this room of this arrangement, you will be eliminated. Whoever you told will also be disposed of."

Picani nods. "I understand."

"We will see you tomorrow then," there man says. "At 8 am exactly."

If Picani had to say anything more about the scene, he would've said that it was rather quick to pass. He wasn't very grounded in his decisions, instead having retreated in his mind.

He knew he'd been artificially added to the dimension instead of being naturally added, but he'd never have imagined it to be like this. To think, that he was only added because Thomas was going away...

He'd only had the privilege of meeting the sides, all of them being very polite upon his meeting. Thomas was nothing but a mythically amazing man. To meet the sides again? To understand why Remy, his closest friend upon arrival, had shut himself and the sides inside the simulation, it was all foreign.

He understood all too well Joan and Talyn's feelings. While him and Remy had meant to comfort them with their familiarities to Thomas while he underwent this process, it had never worked. They weren't Thomas.

It was a memory he ran over and over again in his head, sitting in a circle with the sides, all discussing the extreme measures this process would put them through, each agreeing that to make Thomas' mind stable was the only goal.

'It'll be good for us,' Patton had mumbled. 'That's what they're saying.'

'It's scary,' Virgil had whispered. 'It's a simulation, we don't know what will happen, we could be... sent away from each other and we won't know.'

Roman had remained silent. 'It's what's best for Thomas,' He'd reminded them. 'We don't have a say.'

Logan pulled on his tie. 'It's logical,' he said. 'We may be more aware of our issues if we're not... so focused on pleasing Thomas.'

'But-' Virgil swallowed. 'But what if we loose him in the process?'

'We can't.'

That phrase. "We can't." It had left him awake for nights, trying to make sense of what he thought would be a pretty easy life. He didn't understand how he'd come, What life was, what made him move each day to a job.

That was before the news. Before the realisation that Thomas' mind was trapped in a simulation that could only be accessed by characters played by him, by Remy and himself.

To hear that Remy had betrayed that promise? To watch as Thomas' friends get news of Remy's failure? It hurt.

Perhaps it hurt as much as the pounding headache he now had, sitting outside of the Council Of Secrecy's office and drinking water as he pondered what to do next.

Joan emerged from some other office, needing to undergo another trial in order to swear that he consented to the process of 'fixing' the timeline.

He sat net to Picani, tugging his beanie down. "I miss him," he said. "I know you didn't know him well but I miss him."

"I can understand," Picani have a half hearted comforting smile. "You must have loved him, to an extent."

"He was my best friend," Joan said, head in hands. "Thomas- I didn't think I'd loose him. It was just supposed to have to be a week or so, then they'd pull him out."

Picani tentatively put a hand on his back. "But he didn't come out." He muttered.

"Yeah," Joan sighed. "He hasn't."

"I'll get him back," Picani assured. "I promise I will."

"Funny," Joan sat back, leaning his head against the office's walls. "Because Remy said the same thing."

"But I'm not him." Picani watched Joan's eyes trace him. "I'm not prepared to subject you to more suffering."

"You better not be." Joan muttered. "Because Remy took Thomas from me. Remy took my best friend."

Picani swallowed. "And I'm going to get him back." He says. "Remy or not."

Joan smiles. "Then I trust you."

"I'm glad you do." Picani said, returning the smile. Joan got up, adjusting himself, and muttered a goodbye as he joined Talyn.

Picani leant back against the wall, picking up his water bottle. If his feet weren't like bricks on the end of his body, perhaps he would be back at his apartment now. But he wasn't, so he dragged himself around the block, stopping at a deli store to get chips.

This was going to be the longest night of his life.

(A/N: plot twist, life is a lie.
Wassup, it's ya girl, the same one that forgot to add  A/N's to the story and had regretted it. So yeah. This idea came to me at like the worst hour ever, but I decided I'd try to make it work.

-Winter )