"Patton, I-" Virgil is cut off by Patton.

"Kiddo, it's fine. Don't worry about it." He seems his normal self. Then he sinks out and goes to his room.

He immediately lays down on his bed as the tears start to fall. Virgil, of all the sides it had to be Virgil. Why couldn't it have been Roman? He would've loved it. Or Logan, he wouldn't understand, but he definitely wouldn't get angry. But Virgil, well he's kind of unpredictable. One second he could seem sweet as-well-Patton, but the next he could be sour as a lemon. Sometimes it could be scary, but he couldn't know that. He couldn't know Patton was scared, he'd flip out. He'd probably send the whole body into a panic attack over nothing.

Suddenly Patton had a splitting headache and he was getting kind of dizzy. Was he getting sick? Then he blacked out.

When he woke up, everything was blurry for a good minute and his head still hurt like heck. When he looked around, his room was extremely dark and creepy. He felt ... different, somehow. Like his mask fell off, leaving his face bare and sad and naked.

He looked in his mirror, something that normally didn't bother him, and almost screamed. Where his tears had stained his cheeks, there were now black lines seared into his skin. Where his smile usually curved upward, were black stitches pulling it downward. Shakily, he looked at his clothes and found he was wearing all black. Black skinny jeans, a black t-shirt, and a black hoodie tied around his shoulders. He was even wearing black converse.

He backed away from the mirror, terrified of himself, hoping against hope it was just a really bad nightmare.

"Patton?"

"PATTON!"

He heard his friends calling him, sounding worried, but he couldn't show himself looking like this. Quickly he ran around looking for his old outfit and some makeup and maybe scar wax.

What would the others think if they saw him like this? Would they still be his friends? Does he still want them to be his friends?

"PATTON, IT'S AN EMERGENCY!"

It was Virgil. He sounded worried, very worried, as usual.

Patton finished pulling on his old outfit and tied his cat hoodie around his shoulders. Then he grabbed the makeup and dabbed thick globs of foundation over his tear scars and frown stitches. He took a deep breath and rose up to greet his friends.

"Thank goodness, you're here, Patton, where have you been. Are you wearing makeup?"

Patton laughed, though he found it much harder to hide his feelings for some reason.

"Yeah, I am, kiddo. Just thought I'd try it out, see what all the hype is about. Y'know?"

"Ohhhhhhhkaaaaaaaayy." Virgil said, sounding very skeptical.

Somehow, Patton knew he couldn't trust the Light Sides with his new identity. He didn't know why, he just knew.

"So what's the emergency?" Patton asked.

"Right, um we actually just have a surprise for you. Follow us?"

Patton, cautiously followed Virgil, Logan, and Roman to the kitchen where there was a cute, homemade cake that read "Happy Birthday, Patton!" in light blue icing, the color of his shirt.

He smiled as big as he could and said in as happy and cute a voice he could, "Aww, you guys. You shouldn't have."

They all just smiled and Roman replied, "Why not? You'd do the same for us. Actually you have done the same for us."

Patton forced a smile, hoping it looked natural. "Yeah, I guess I have. How'd y'all even know it was my birthday, though?"

Roman was the one to answer. "When we were all in your room, I couldn't help but notice a calendar on the floor opened up, with your birthday circled. Sorry for looking at it, I just. Well it was rainbow and I LOVE rainbows and I had to. And it said "Happy Birthday to me" in the circle, so I kind of assumed.

Patton tried really hard to hide his annoyance, but some of it seeped through his words.

"That's alright, buddy, I don't mind." He waved his hand for effect, even.

Virgil definitely didn't buy it, but he didn't say anything, he just sort of glared at Patton in a strange way. Maybe he thought Patton was really Deciet again.

Whatever the reason, Patton was almost positive Virgil would be visiting his room later, which would most likely not be a good thing. Although, it could be. Virgil, having once been Paranoia and a dark side, might very well know what was happening to Patton.

Maybe his secret would be safe?

--

When Patton was finally allowed to return to his room, he started looking around, wondering what happened. He started pacing frantically, as the conversation Thomas was having with Virgil got more and more sad. Suddenly, Patton couldn't help popping up again.

This time it wasn't hard to pretend to be his old self since the conversation was sad.

"Thomas, you could be very close to death. Death is scary." Virgil stated, persuasively.

"Is it though?" Patton responded. "Nothing could be much worse than what's happening right now. Not to mention that could be a good escape from this situation we're in."

Virgil and Thomas both stared at Patton, incredulously.

Suddenly, Logan and Roman rose up also.

"You didn't just say that, Patton. Did you?"

Patton knew he'd said something wrong, but he only stated facts.

"I only said the truth" he replied, defensively. He was genuinely scared for what would happen next.

Patton quickly sunk out back to his room, hoping to escape the light sides finding out about what had happened. But of course, Virgil followed him.

"Virgil. Um what are you doing here?"

Virgil was looking around Patton's room, fear written all over his face.

"The real question is what's going on with you?" He asked clearly concerned for Patton's and Thomas's sake.

"I don't know." Patton squeaked out in barely a whisper.

He took a second in his closet and came back out with the makeup gone from his face and the black outfit back on.

"I just blacked out earlier and woke up like this." Patton said, gesturing to his outfit and face. He could feel the tears burning his eyes and cheeks now as he fell backward onto his bed.

"Please don't hate me." He whispered.

He could still hear everything the rest of the group was saying. They were concerned for him. Or were they just concerned for themselves? He wasn't sure.

Virgil's jaw had dropped when he saw Patton's new look.

"You're back." He whispered. "You're not supposed to be back. Why are you back?"

"I don't know!" Patton almost shouted out of frustration. What was Virgil even on about.

"Who's back?" Patton finally asked.

"You don't remember?" Virgil asked clearly confused by Patton's confusion.

"No, I don't. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Look, it's ... it's something kind of scary and you won't like it."

"I already know I don't like it. Look at me. .... but I kind of do like it?" He added at the end, very scared and confused.

"Patton, you're not just Morality anymore." Virgil started. "You're Depression now."

A/N

What did y'all think? I'm trying something new and I kind of really like it. But yeah please comment any mistakes I'll fix them.

I should probably introduce myself too, though I'm sure most of you don't care.

I'm Reggie and I'm 16, currently. Also I'm addicted to Thomas Sanders and Sanders Sides.