Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Logan sat stiffly in the metal folding chair as the therapist turned to him. "Everyone, this is Logan Crofters. He'll be in this group for the next two months while everything settles down for him." The therapist introduces. "Logan, how are you feeling today?"

"Better, I suppose." Logan states, shifting slightly. "I really don't see the purpose in this."

"It's good to get things out." Dr. Foley smiles, turning to a lanky teenager with shaggy hair. "And how are you today Logan."

"I'm fine..." Logan nods, "I'm out of the hospital, aren't I?"

"Yes, that's good. I'm glad you're recovering from your regression." Dr. Foley smiles, but Logan scowls.

"I don't want to talk about it." He replies curtly.

Chapter Text

"One such Patton Heart has escaped from prison in the mass riot that occurred two days ago. He was last seen by traffic cameras-"

Logan pressed the off button on his remote, his TV shutting off with a small clicking noise.

He felt numb.

Logan stood, moving over to the mirror and loosening his tie. There, on his collar bone were the six stars. His hand moved up, his finger tracing over each star as he stared at himself in the mirror.

Roman, Remus, Damien, Virgil. Patton. Him.

The scars left behind were bright red and angry.

Roman almost spit out his water.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat the question?" He sputters out, choking slightly as the water went down his throat wrong.

"How are you feeling now that Patton has escaped from custody?" The blonde reporter asks, holding her microphone up to Roman's face.

Roman speed walks through the backdoor into the restaurant he was in front of, pulling out his phone with shaky hands to check the news.

They were right.

He'd escaped.

The huge scar on Roman's stomach burns and stings like the day he was stabbed.

Remus coos down at Thomas, cradling him in one hand as he warmed up a bottle with the other.

"Aren't you absolutely precious, yes you are, yes you are." He sings, gently rocking him and feeding him the bottle.

Thomas latches onto his bottle like a tiny leech, eagerly beginning to devour his dinner. The microwave and Remus's phone ding at the same time.

Moving into the living room, Remus lays Thomas down in his pram, moving the blanket to support the bottle so Thomas could continue eating.

Remus grabs his microwave dinner and a fork, pulling a folding tray table over to the couch so he could watch Thomas while he ate.

His phone pings again and Remus goes to retrieve it, smiling at Thomas when he finally gets to sit down, beginning to type in his password.

"Daddy is busy today, isn't he?" He asks Thomas, who giggles in response.

"Smartie." Remus winks, pulling up his messages. "Uncle Roman's buggin' us aga-"

He suddenly cuts off when he sees the messages, one of them being a link, and the second Roman begging them to come to his house.

Frowning, Remus clicks on the link, his phone bringing up a page stating that there was a massive riot at the Strongwall max security prison, where twelve inmates and four guards were hurt, two inmates were killed, and one escaped.

Patton Heart.

"Fuck." Remus goes back to his messenger, telling Roman he'd be there soon and throwing his phone down.

His dinner forgotten, Remus grabs Thomas and rushes upstairs to pack a bag for them.

Virgil held Sela close, his already big eyes opening even wider as Kai told him about Paton escaping.

The puppy wriggled and yapped in concern, licking at Virgil's face in the hopes of calming him down.

"Hey, it's okay monkey." Kai says softly, slowly sitting down next to Virgil. "I promise I won't let him hurt you. Sela and I will protect you."

Sela barks, moving over to Kai and laying down on their lap.

Damien sticks his tongue out in concentration as he finishes the last icing rose on the cake he had spent two days baking. His apron was covered in frosting, and his kitchen floor was covered in flour, but he didn't mind.

"Whoa. Babes, it looks great." His cousin Remy praises, lowering his sunglasses to stare at the three tier graduation cake. "What are you going to do with the letter?"

Damien looks down at his college acceptance letter, into one of the nicest baking schools his parents could afford to send him too.

"Maybe frame it." He jokes.

"You know, some people actually do that."

Damien snorts, his eyes fliting over the letter once more. "Well, maybe I'll make it edible and eat it."

"Ohh hell no."

"Remy I was-" Damien turns, noticing the look on his cousin's face. "What? Did Valerie mess up your room again?"

"That crazy psycho busted out of jail!"

"What?" Damien grabs Remy's phone, staring down at the news article they'd been reading. "Holy shit..."

Patton knew he had to be careful when collecting his family. He couldn't just go back to the old house, now could he? And then there was the matter of his family being...brainwashed into thinking he was evil! The absolute absurdity of it all!

And then of course Roman had written that...entirely untruthful story about the time he spent living with Patton. You accidentally stab him once, and he describes you as "worse than the devil"!

He would definitely have to be punished when he got home.

Chapter Text

It was supposed to be more of a safety mechanism. He already had plenty of body guards, If he had anymore he would be in a fortress. Even so, it didn't feel like enough. So he made a stupid decision. Nothing would be safer than having fans following him everywhere, and they almost always figured out his schedule anyway. What would be the harm in making it more public. Patton wouldn't be stupid enough to kidnap him in broad daylight in front of so many people, would he?

Of course, everyone had to be alone at some point. The bathroom, the bedroom. No one could always have someone with them.

But Patton wouldn't possibly be stupid enough to go after all the same people. Sure, maybe he would go for similar people. The same family scheme maybe. But too much had changed in them, they wouldn't be the same as Patton wanted. They had more in their lives. Not to mention the extra police presence around them. It had all been offered.

But somewhere in the back of his head he knew Patton wouldn't settle. He would want his old 'family' back.

So it wasn't as surprising as you'd expect when he'd woken up in the middle of the night to Patton sitting in a chair across from his bed, a gun next to him and a book in his hand. Sure, it was terrifying, but not all that surprising.

Also pretty trippy. He could almost believe it was another nightmare, like all the others he'd been having every night since Patton had escaped. In fact, some of them were almost exactly this situation.

Sometimes when you have dreams and remember them, you nitpick every detail made. Why did I do that? Why didn't I do that? He could almost see himself nitpicking it in the morning, or when he woke up from a nap. Why didn't I scream? Why didn't I hit him with a book? Why did I follow him? Why did I get in his car?

Of course he didn't wake up from the dream. He didn't stop daydreaming in the chair in the middle of the boring meeting.

It was insane. All the extra security he had was for nothing. Patton got him out almost seamlessly.

No one even realized until morning.

And just like that he was gone again.

It didn't feel real. Not when the door closed in the back of the car. Or the window closed. Not when the gas came through the vents. Not when he came to with his hands tied. Or when Patton came in with breakfast. Not when he expressed his disappointment in Roman for his book. When he told Roman it felt like he was hurt by his word choice.

He started talking about his disappointment, and then it just went deeper, showing exactly how much he knew about their personal lives. The bakery Damien was working in. How Virgil had moved. Remus' baby.

They were all so fucking screwed.

Chapter Text

The bakery was basically empty.

Damien watched as the last of the rush hour customers filed out the door, the bell ringing merrily as they left. Remy had left a few minutes ago, only planning to go to the store and get more flour.

He'd be back in ten minutes, it was no big deal.

Damien slowly walked to each table, grabbing the small tips lift behind and wiping off the crumbs. He puts the tips into the register and goes to collect the plates and cups, taking them into the backroom and putting them into the sink.

The bell rings once more, and there's a soft sound of shuffling feet as the person walked up to the counter.

It couldn't be Remy, he would have said something.

"What can I get for you?" Damien smiles as he heads out of the kitchen and into the front of the store.

His face falls as he sees Patton, cheerfully looking at the muffins and cookies under the glass.

"Ohh, don't act so surprised Dami, you know I have such a sweet tooth." Patton grins with a playful wink.

Damien turns and begins to run.

He only makes it out the back door and into the alley behind the bakery before Patton catches up to him. Patton grabs his arm, yanking him backwards and making him fall.

Damien punches him as hard as he can, scrambling to his feet and fumbling for his phone in his pocket.

Patton hits the phone out of his hand, grabbing both of Damien's hands and restraining them. Holding them in one hand, he covers Damien's hand to muffle his screams.

"Damien? Dami? Shut up!" Patton hisses.

Damien sobs, still struggling against Patton's hold as his voice died in his throat.

"Who's that?" Patton asks creepily, staring down at Damien's lock screen.

A picture of him and Remy.

"No-" Damien whines into Patton's hand.

"I'll make this very simple, okay Dami? You are going to quietly come back home with me, or you can watch me slit his throat."

Damien chokes out a sob, his tears burning his cheeks.

"Okay?" Patton growls.

Damien nods, sniffling.

"Good! Let's go, kiddo." Patton suddenly brightens, dragging him over to a van and pushing him into the backseat.

Remy grunts as he hefts the bag of flour in through the back door, letting it crash down onto the floor.

"Aww, really Damien?" He groans, seeing the pile of dishes sitting untouched in the sink. "It's your turn!"

Hearing no answer, his brows furrow, and he peeks out into the café. Nothing.

"Damien? Yo babes, where'd you go?" He calls.

Nothing.

Outside, forgotten in the alley, was Damien's phone.

Chapter Text

"Are you sure this is a good idea??" Remus says nervously, fiddling with the silverware on his napkin.

"Remus." Logan leans over and grabs the shaking mans hands, holding them tightly. "Patton has no idea where either you or I live. He doesn't even know Thomas exists. He'll be fine. He's in capable hands."

"Of a fifteen year old!" Remus pales.

"Remus. I promise Patton has no way of getting to us here." Logan says softly. "He can't just kidnap someone in a...public space. And if you didn't notice, there are more than enough people that know who we are."

The two awkward look over to some of the other tables, where people were watching them sympathetically and some subtly tried to take pictures.

"Thomas couldn't be more safe while we're here. As long as the adoption doesn't go public, things will be fine." Logan whispers the last part, squeezing Remus's hand worriedly.

Remus frowns, squeezing Logan's hands two times. Logan sighs.

"I just want us to be normal. And go on dates like normal couples." Logan mutters, laying his head in his arms.

Standing, Logan guides Remus over to the door, grabbing his car keys from his pocket.

"Excuse me, miss." Remus looks over at one of the women he had seen watching them. "Can you please walk us out to our car?"

"Of course darling." She says, pulling a sympathetic face.

The drive back to Logan's apartment was mostly silent.

"See?" Logan asks with a small smile as he looks over at Remus, pulling into the driveway of his apartment complex. "No new cars."

"Mhm..." Remus mumbles as they get out and follow Logan into the building.

Logan presses the button for the elevator and Remus rests his head on Logan's shoulder.

"Maybe I was overthinking..." They mumble sleepily. "I just want to hold Thomas again..."

"I love you." Logan hums, pressing a kiss to Remus's forehead as the two step onto the elevator.

"Love you too."

The elevator dings and Logan fishes in his pocket for his keys, unlocking his apartment door and stepping in with a small smile.

His face immediately fell.

Laying on the floor was the babysitting, tied and gagged.

Her hair was mused and appeared to have drying blood on it, and tears and cries of pain constantly muffled through the gag.

"Thomas!" Remus and Logan both run to Logan's bedroom and freeze in their tracks.

Next to Thomas's bassinet was a rocking chair where they would feed him and get him to sleep.

Sitting in that rocking chair, was Patton. Rocking a sleeping Thomas with one arm, and pointing a gun at Logan and Remus with the other.

Chapter Text

"Hey bunny!" Patton chirps, looking up at the two adults, frozen in place. "I missed you! Why didn't you tell me we have a nephew?"

"He-" Remus cuts off, trembling and holding Logan's hand like a life preserver.

"Patton..." Logan continues, his eyes wide behind his glasses. "Can you hand me him? Please?"

"But I want to hold him!" Patton pouts, standing and taking a step towards Logan. "Honestly Remus, you should think of changing your formula brand. The one I saw in the kitchen was not very good."

Logan takes a step back, pulling Remus with him.

"Patton, please lower the gun." Logan tries again. "Let's just talk."

Patton raises an eyebrow, herding Logan down the hallway and back into the living room. The babysitter sobs as she sees Patton and Logan tightens his grip on Remus's sleeve.

"Grab her jacket." Patton orders, looking at Remus.

Remus doesn't move a muscle, his eyes darting wildly at everything in the apartment. Logan squeezes his hand tight, and Patton looks down at their hands.

Logan grabs the babysitter's jacket off the couch, and Patton hands him Thomas, grabbing the jacket and putting it on.

Pulling up the hood and raising the gun, Patton turns Logan around and presses the gun into his back, concealing it with how close he was.

"Both of you start walking. We're going to get on the elevator, okay?" Patton hums.

Logan reaches out one hand and gently begins pulling Remus to the door, muttering soft assurances to his frozen partner.

They all too easily get on the elevator, Patton keeping his head down as they went to the ground floor.

He could easily pass as just a tired teenager getting a ride home after babysitting.

Patton herds the two outside and over to a pitch-black van.

The van had been parked outside of Logan's apartment for months, meaning someone living in the building was a "friend" of Patton's.

"Okay Remus, get in." Patton peppily instructs, unlocking the car door and gesturing with the gun to the backseat.

Logan pushes Remus in and carefully hands him Thomas. Remus clutches tight to him, a flood of silent tears rushing down his face as he held Thomas close.

Logan moves to get in after him, but Patton grabs onto his collar and pulls him back.

"Logan?" Patton hums, his voice sickly sweet.

"Ye-Yes, Patton?" Logan asks, turning to face him.

"Bunny, where's your wedding ring? Why aren't you wearing it?" Paton asks scarily.

Logan's heart drops, and as Patton stares at him, he lets out a quiet plead.

Of course Patton had noticed. He had noticed up in the apartment.

Patton quirks up and eyebrow, looking to Remus, who flinches.

"Husbands are supposed to be faithful, Lolo."

And with that, Patton brings his gun down harshly on the side of Logan's head, sending him spiraling down into black nothingness.

Chapter Text

Remus shifted anxiously in his seat, another silent tear rolling down his face.

Logan was in the front seat, buckled in, his head lolled to the side.

A small amount of dried blood stained his forehead.

Patton hummed as he made another turn, pulling into the parking lot of a storage facility.

"Here we are!" Patton chirps, unbuckling the still passed out Logan and getting out of the car. "You'll only stay here a bit. I just have to get Virgil and we're all set."

For a moment, Remus thought maybe Roman and Damien were safe, that Patton couldn't find them, or didn't want to bother.

When Patton pulled open the storage door, revealing Damien already fast asleep, and Roman trying to get out of his binds, that hope died.

Another tear fell.

"Stop." The words were icy as Patton lifted the gun towards Roman's head. His face was still bright and happy, but the look in his eyes sent shivers down Roman's spine.

"What the fuck did you do to him?" Roman yells, noticing Remus's tears as he continued to struggle against the ropes binding him. "Did you hurt him? I swear, if you hurt him or Thomas!"

"Let me say it again." Patton moves the gun, the chamber pressed against Remus's temple. "Stop."

Remus squeezes his eyes shut, whimpering quietly as he protectively held Thomas to his chest.

"R-Roman, please...I-I don't wa-want to...To drop..." A sob escaped Remus's throat.

"You should listen to Remus, Roman. Honestly, you're thirty...Ohh wait.." A cruel smile slipped onto Patton's face. "You're thirty-one today, aren't you? Oh, how silly of me to forget my brother's birthday!"

Patton presses closer to Remus. Remus's hands began to shake with fear.

"Happy birthday you two!" Patton smiles, nudging Remus down in the chair. "Now, stay put while I go get Logan, and maybe I'll get you a nice surprise to go along with our reunion dinner tomorrow!"

Patton leaves and Roman immediately starts flooding Remus with questions.

"Is Thomas okay? Did he hurt you? Remus, Remus, he didn't tie you up! Come untie me! We could...We could look for a weapon and overpower him!"

Wrong.

Remus looks down at Thomas, stifling more tears as he shakily smiles down at his baby.

"It's going to be okay Tom-Tom. We just have to keep him happy and he won't hurt you." He whispers, sniffling.

"Rem!? Remus, he's-"

The door opens and Patton steps in carrying Logan. "I'm what?"

Logan whined softly in his sleep, shifting closer to Patton, who smiled down at him blissfully.

"Nothing..." Roman stared down at the floor as Patton gently laid Logan down on the floor.

"M'kay, all set!" Patton beams, tousling Thomas's short curls. "See everybody very soon! And once we get home, it's straight to bed!"

"With your knockout gas, I presume?" Roman asks snarkily.

Patton bends over and lifts Roman's chin with his gun, looking him square in the eye. "That sounds like a lovely Idea, Roman."

Chapter Text

Sela whined, pawing at Virgil's bedroom door and pacing back and forth.

Something was wrong!

Letting out a bark, she nudges Virgil's hand, hanging loosely off the bed.

"Wake up!" She yaps. Virgil groans, rolling over in bed.

Sela's ears perk up, and she trots over to the window.

Something was wrong, something was wrong!

"Kai!" She barks, "Virgil, wake up!"

"Sela?" Virgil mumbles, squinting to see her in the dark. "Why are you barking? Everything's fine."

"Something's wrong! It's not fine!" Sela nudges his hand again. "Get up, get up!"

Virgil whines, standing and trudging over to the door.

"Do you want to go out?" He asks softly, opening the door.

Sela races down the hallway, out her doggy door, and outside.

A figure.

Standing by a van.

Sela growls, lowering to the ground.

"Stay away from my boy!" She threatens.

"Shh, Sela. It's me!" Patton chirps. "Don't you remember me?"

"Do you remember these!" Sela bares her teeth, jumping towards him and snapping her mouth shut warningly. "Leave!"

"Sela!" Patton gently smacks her nose.

And Sela snaps.

Next thing she knew, Patton's arm was bleeding, and there was a leash around her neck.

And Virgil.

Her boy, her pup, the one she would never stop protecting, standing on the porch.

"Sela?" He says tiredly, staring at the two like a puzzle he couldn't solve. "...Dad?"

"Virgil, stay away from him!" Sela orders.

Patton smiles, holding out his arms. Virgil rushes towards him, his eyes glassy as he allows Patton to pick him up and swing him around.

"I missed you Virgey." Patton hums.

"Missed you too," Virgil says, almost robotically.

Sela snarls, snapping at Patton's leg. Patton ties her leash onto the porch railing, carrying Vigil over to a black van.

He places him inside and drives away, Sela straining to chase after him.

"Kai, Kai!" She yelps, barking madly. "He took him! Have to save my boy!"

Virgil shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the van sped off, looking at Patton in the rearview mirror as his Papa looked back at him with a grin.

"Still my good Virgil." Patton praises.

Virgil shrinks into his hoodie, his bangs falling in front of his eyes as he watched the scenery pass from the window.

Stela howls, straining against the rope binding her to the porch. The rope snaps and she bounds down the street after the van.

Have to stay with Virgil, have to protect Virgil!

Barking loudly, she howls as a few bedroom lights start to turn on. "Help, help! He's taking my boy!"

Virgil sighs quietly as he begins to fall back asleep, his head falling down as he rested against the window.

"Where you going in such a hurry?" Another dog crawls out of his doghouse and starts to run next to Sela.

"He took my boy!" Sela huffs, careening after the van.

"Who cares about kids?" The boy dog scoffs. "They pull on your tail and try to ride on your back."

"I have to protect him! He's my pup!" Sela growls at the dog. "So stay out of it!"

Sela panted as she looked down at the small wriggling puppies softly nuzzling her, and wriggling around.

She had made them.

"Say hello to the world young ones." Sela smiles, nosing at the closest pup. "It's so big and bright, you're going to love it."

"Pa! Rosie had puppies!"

Sela looks up at Hannah, her girl.

Hannah's father Jo walks over, his boots clumping against the wooden barn floor as he peers down into Sela's small pen.

"Hannah, go inside and do your homework." He gruffs out.

"Why, where are you going?" Hannah swings her legs back and forth on her stool, chewing at one of her braids.

"Just go. You got school in the morning." Jo tells her.

Hannah hops down and runs off, and Sela looks down at her pups again proudly. Jo grabs a sack and reaches into the pen, grabbing a pup and placing it inside.

"What are you doing?" Sela yaps, looking up her master.

Jo grabs the six other pups and places them into the sack, getting into his truck and starting it.

She would not lose this pup.

"Patton! Stop!" Sela yaps, barking as Patton stops at a red light.

Running up to his door, she shoves away her pride and sits down, whining up at Patton.

"Aww, hello Sela." Patton giggles, opening the door for the pup.

Sela jumps into the car and barrels into the back, barking and licking Virgil's check.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Sniffing her boy anxiously, checking him for bruises and cuts.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Sela lays down on Virgil's chest.

He was okay.

Chapter Text

“So, Virgey…” Patton drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and hummed, looking at Virgil in the rearview mirror. “How are you doing?”

“M'fine…” Virgil says quietly, staring out the window. His hand gently ran through Sela’s fur, his gaze vacant.

“Wha'ohh. Looks like we need gas.” Patton notices, quickly pulling into a gas station. “You want some chips, hun?”

“No thank you,” Virgil whispers.

Pulling up the hood from the babysitter’s hoodie, Patton gets out of the car and starts the gas flow into the car.

Sela whines, looking up at Virgil. Virgil looks up at the soft muted jingle as the convenience door swung open, and Kayla Smith walked out.

“Yuk it up, Kayla.” Brent laughed. Kayla shook her head tiredly and took another swig from the bottle.

“Are you sure your parents are okay with this?” Virgil asked quietly. He was seated a little ways away from the circle, his arms wrapped around him.

“Yeah dude, it’s totally fine.” Jane smiles, leaning over and spinning the bottle. “Ooh! It landed on you, Virge!”

“Me?” Virgil blanched, staring down at the bottle.

“You know the rules man, kiss, or drink.” Kevin waggles his eyebrows suggestively

“Is it…?” Virgil opens the top and sniffs the drink. “Is it strong?”

“Nah dude, it’s like eighty percent water.” Brent assures him.

“Hey, you don’t have to drink it,” Kayla tells him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

“C'mon Kayla! He can’t chicken out on the rules!” Jane argues.

Virgil looked down at the bottle and quickly took a swig. The vodka burned as it went down his throat, making his eyes water.

“Ayy, good sport!” Kevin cheered, smacking him harshly on the back.

“Virgil?” Patton huffs annoyed that Virgil’s attention was on something other than him.

Virgil snaps out of his daze as Patton looks over to the convenience store.

Kayla was still outside, holding a bag of chips with one hand and talking to someone on her phone.

“That’s the bitch that hurt you…” Patton growls.

“Geez Virge, you’re such a lightweight.” Brent laughs. “One sip and you’re drunker than all of us.”

Kayla and Kevin were in a bathroom together, and soft noises and giggling would drift under the door.

“N'er…drank before…” Virgil slurs, his head lolled back against the couch.

Jenna giggles. “Aww, c'mon Virgey, I’ll take you up to bed.”

Jenna winks at Brent, who grins and grabs his phone, following them upstairs.

When Virgil came to, the car had been moved and parked away from the convenience store, where Patton was stalking angrily towards Kayla.

Virgil pulled the car door open and rushed after Patton, slamming it closed before Sela could get out.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Patton snarls, grabbing Kayla’s phone and slamming it onto the ground. He shoves her into the wall and Kayla’s head slams back against the concrete wall.

“Hey, what the hell-!” Kayla cuts off as she looks at Patton. “You!”

“W'er you doin?” Virgil asks as Jane pulls off his sweatshirt.

“Well, you can’t sleep in a sweatshirt Virge.” Jane giggles, laying him down on the bed and propping his head up with a pillow.

“But…But I wan it.” Virgil pouts.

Patton grabs Kayla’s arms and throws her down by a gas pump, taking out the nozzle and shoving it down her throat.

Kayla coughs, the leftover gasoline leaving a sour taste in her mouth, garbled pleading words aimed at Virgil. Virgil stood frozen behind Patton, not able to look away as Patton shoves a credit card into the machine and starts the flow.

Kayla struggles around the gas, choking and gagging as Patton looked on coldly, until slumping down.

Patton rifles in his pocket and grabs a match, striking it.

“What the hell are you doing?” Kayla yells, grabbing Brent’s phone and stopping the recording. “Get away from him!”

“C'mon Kay, we were just trying to help him.” Jane rolls her eyes.

“Get off him!” Kayla screams, grabbing Jane and yanking her out of Virgil’s lap. “You know he’s not like that!”

Virgil sniffles, hurriedly wiping at his tears and hiding his face.

“Why do you care so much about a little faggot anyway?” Brent asks. “It’s not like he’s into you.”

Kayla stares at Brent for a moment, then rears her foot back and slams it into his crotch.

The explosion shook the ground as Patton began walking to Virgil. Blood sprayed everywhere, staining Virgil’s face and hair. Any fingerprints Patton might have left on Kayla were now unrecognizable.

“Here, Virgil.” Kayla gently helped Virgil put on his sweatshirt, grabbing his phone out of the pocket and handing it to him. “Call Kai, and have them pick you up.”

Virgil nods shakily, already beginning to dial the number.

“Come on kiddo, let’s go home.” Patton lifts Virgil and carries him to the car, gently setting him down.

As they drove away from the crime scene, Patton hummed a gentle tune, looking at Virgil through the rearview mirror. “I saw her, looking through the window on the day of the party. That bitch, probably going to laugh at you with all her petty friends.”

Or maybe, Patton. She was looking out for me.

Virgil chokes back another sob, burying his face in Sela’s fur.

“Why are you crying kiddo? I’m right here.”

Chapter Text

Hi! We're making this an ask blog! Everything posted here will still be posted, the chapters and stuff but the ask blog is where you can ask us things about the characters and ask the characters things! It's at pattonsperfectfamily-asks on tumblr

Chapter Text

Thomas blinked his eyes drowsily open. Something was different.

This wasn't his and papa's room? It was different. The colors were brighter and the crib was too soft. He didn't like it. It was too squishy, and the bars went higher than before and everything was different.

Where was Papa and Dada? Why weren't they here? Did they leave him? Did they leave him alone?

Even the ceiling was different? It was smooth instead of bumpy and made it so he couldn't find the constellations papa had shown him? Did papa bring him here? Was something wrong? Where were papa and dada? Why weren't they here?

Cries traveled downstairs to where everyone else was asleep. The drugs had started to wear off, making it easier for Remus to hear the cries coming through a baby monitor. He shot up from where he had been unconscious on the floor and desperately searched around the room for Thomas, instead finding almost everyone else. Roman, Virgil, and Damien. No Logan or Thomas.

"He's not down here," Remus found Patton sitting in a chair close to the door, "I'm assuming you're looking for Thomas, like any good parent would." Virgil was awake already, leaning against a wall and fiddling with the zipper on his hoodie.

"Where is he?" Patton ignored the question.

"Well, that's saying you're a good parent. What kind of parent leaves their baby with a stranger while a known criminal has escaped prison? For all you know that kid could have been working with me! Honestly, if it was me and Logan going on a date I wouldn't have left Virgil or Damien with a stranger under any circumstances."

"Where is he Patton! Where's my son? What did you do with him?"

"Oh calm down Remus, you always over react. He's just upstairs. I'll take you up to him soon. Just wait for Damien to wake up. You guys sleep like rocks."

"That can happen when you drug people. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's the point." Roman was as far from Patton as he could get, rubbing his stomach where the scar would be.

"Oh shush Roman. You're so damn overdramatic," a groan came from Damien as he started to wake up. "Sorry Virgil."

"It's ok, Dad." Virgil looked like he was far away.

"Well, since Damien is... almost completely awake suppose we can start. Since Remus is so anxious to get to Thomas." Remus let out a breath he'd been holding. He needed to get back to Thomas, and find Logan. They were probably terrified.

"It's almost six, so there's food upstairs. Virgey, why don't you follow me and I can take you and Damien upstairs. You guys can eat in your room and I'll explain the rules to you guys up there." Virgil nodded and stood up. Patton scooped up Damien and Virgil followed him up the stairs and to their room. He set Damien on one of the two beds in the room and Virgil sat down on the other, on the opposing side.

Patton left and Virgil looked around. The room was much bigger than the one they had before. the beds had gone from bunk beds to separate beds. The sides of the room were matched piece by piece of furniture. They desks on opposite sides and nightstands. Most of the furniture was black. The sheets and blankets on Virgil's bed were purple.

Virgil walked over to a window, surprised that there was one even on the same floor as them, Patton had never let them anywhere near a window. They were on at least the second floor of a house. There were so many trees. Even if they went outside, there was no way they could find their way around that.

"Virgil!" Virgil shot around to face Patton, "Stay away from the windows! You're not allowed near them unless I say!"

"S-sorry Dad, I was just interested in the outside!"

"It's fine, just don't do it again." Damien had fully woken up now, glaring at Patton like he had laser eyes and cut through him if he tried hard enough. "Now, let's talk about the rules. I've been thinking about them for awhile and I think that I really need them this time."

"Ok..." Virgil went back and sat on the corner of his bed.

"...And you need to eat when there's food. Don't say you're not hungry or anything else, you need to eat right. You can't just eat snacks like I know you would Virgil. Oh, and bedtime is at 8:30. Any questions?" They'd been here for an hour, Patton almost seeming to come up with more out of thin air.

"What happens if we break a rule?"

"We'll deal with that at that point. I shouldn't have to figure out that for now, unless I have to. do I have to Virgil?" Virgil shook his head no. "Ok, now I need to go talk to your uncles."

"Where's Logan?"

"What Damien?" Patton turned around to face him, anger flitting across his face before it went back to normal.

"Where's Logan? He wasn't downstairs with the rest of us, and you aren't talking about him. You only mention Roman and Remus, but I know you took Logan, because he was with us in the storage unit, So where is he?"

"Your father, is still asleep. You can see him soon."

"When can we see Logan." Damien put extra emphasis on Logan, just to see how much it would piss off Patton. Instead of answering Patton went downstairs to Roman and Remus.

Remus was pacing from one side of the room to the other waiting for Patton to come down. He'd left them awhile ago, and Thomas was still crying.

Chapter Text

Patton turned to Roman as he stepped on the first stair, pointing to the kitchen.

"Will you go wait in there for me Roman? Just a minute. I have to take Remus to his son," Roman nodded, watching Patton take Remus upstairs before walking into the kitchen.

Jason looked up from his phone as Roman came in, smirking at him. Roman gave him a tight smile, standing over at the counters.

10 minutes passed.

Patton could not be moving any slower.

How many rules could he have?

"So, we'll probably be here a while," Roman looked over at Jason who was looking at him with the same smirk. He stood and went to the cabinets, looking through them, "Do you want anything to eat? You were asleep for awhile."

"No, thank you," Roman took a step back as Jason came closer, brushing past him to get to the next cabinet.

"You know, Patton talks a lot. He was really mad at you. For the book. 'Worse than the devil'? That was a little far, wasn't it?"

"I- I guess. I was-"

"He told me everything. About you, at least. I didn't think Patton could get that mad. But, I mean, I've only seen him around you guys once. So I guess I really haven't seen much." Jason stopped in front of Roman, moving slower now. "I mean, he even told me your deep, dark secret."

"Wh-what?" Roman attempted to back away, succeeding in only smacking into the counter and a cabinet, simultaneously, "Ow-mm" Jason's lips smashed onto Roman's and his face scrunched up in disgust. He attempted to shove him off, not really working because Jason was an insane amount stronger than him. Roman twisted around in an attempt to move him off, slipping when he twisted and smashing his nose into the counter on the way down. He kicked at Jason's leg, finally making him back away.

Blood poured down Roman's face from his nose. It covered his hands when he reached up to hold it, the giant pain in his head and nose making him yell. Blood sprayed the floor, dying the floor red.

"Holy Shit," Roman's nose started to swell up as Jason started talking, "Holy shit are you ok? What the fuck happened, You just fell, did you break your head?"

Patton chose that moment to walk in, a brief moment of panic filling him at the sight of the blood and Roman on the floor, thinking that maybe Jason had killed him before Roman groaned.

"What the hell happened?! Good god, Jason what the fuck? What the fuck did you do?" Roman whimpered in pain as Patton ran over to him, trying to pull the hand that was clutched to his face away.

"I-I don't know! I kissed him and then he was on the floor! And there was blood everywhere!"

"Oh yeah clearly. I can see that! Roman? Are you ok?" Patton turned around to face Jason, '"Go call Amelia!"

"Ok! I'm going!" Jason ran out of the kitchen to call her while Patton tried to see the damage.

Tears ran down Roman's face while Patton tried clean it off as much as he could with his sleeve. "Shh, don't cry Roman, It's ok, everything's gonna be ok. We'll get it fixed, I promise. Come here," Patton pulled him up and brought him over to a chair, he left for a second to get a wet rag and started cleaning up Roman's face, at least, around the area he was holding with his hands.

Jason came back in and Roman whimpered at his presence. "Amelia said she'd be at least an hour and a half. And she said it sounded like his nose was broken and to ice it while we wait."

Roman let out a sob and cried harder, "Nooooooo."

"Shh, it's ok Roman, It's ok. Jason get the ice, will you?" Jason was soon back at the table with the ice, Roman scooched away from him as much as he could without falling off the chair. Patton took the ice from his hand and shooed him away, making him leave the room while he tried to clean Roman up.

"I'm so sorry Roman, I promise I didn't think this would happen. He just said he wanted to spend some time with you. I promise we'll get your nose fixed up right." Roman whimpered in pain, blood was still coming out.

Soon enough Patton left him to hold the ice to his nose, getting a wet towel and trying to get as much of the blood up before Amelia came.

At exactly an hour and a half later Amelia's car pulled into Jason's driveway, Patton quickly brought her inside to where Roman was still crying at the table. His shirt looked like he had been stabbed again.

She walked over to Roman, gently pulling his hand away from his face. "Definitely broken, I'll have to rebreak it in order for it to heal properly."

"Nooooooo!" Roman shook at the thought, it already hurt bad enough the first time, he couldn't imagine how much it would hurt after.

"Patton, Jason, would you hold him down so I can rebreak it? Patton quickly grabbed on of his shoulders, holding it tight enough so that he couldn't move. Roman attempted to shove Jason away with one arm when he started to come close enough, whimpering in pain. Jason quickly overpowered him and got a grip. Roman whined as Jason held him and Amelia came closer. She braces her hand on his forehead, as Roman starts saying a chorus of no's and begging for them not to.

"Ready, 1-" Amelia quickly yanks Roman's nose to the side and a loud crack fills the room, followed by a yell from Roman, who quickly after started sobbing. Jason and Patton quickly let go, followed by Patton shooing him from the room. Amelia brings him some ice and Patton goes back to trying to clean the floor of his blood.

Chapter Text

When Logan woke up it was dark.

And cold, so, so cold.

Something was in his mouth, preventing him from speaking. Rope burned and tugged into his skin, making it a bright angry red.

"Logan." A sing-song voice echoes through the room he was in, and a hand dances along his arm.

Logan shivers, goosebumps rising on his arms as he tried to flip himself around.

"Logan, Logan, Logan..." Patton hums, gently tugging his hair.

His grip soon turned harsh, and Logan yelps as pain shoots through his skull.

"You thought you could leave me?" Patton hisses.

A sharp pain shoots through Logan's lower back, and he screams. He could feel blood soaking into his shirt, and part of his back was now exposed to the cold air.

"You thought you could divorce me?"

Another cut. Logan screams again, his face growing hot with sweat.

"You thought you could get rid of the ring I gave you?"

Logan moans at the next cut, his eyes fluttering into the back of his head.

"Go out with...Him? Of all people! Adopt a baby?"

Logan can hear Patton moving around behind him.

"You won't be taking off this ring."

Patton grabs Logan's hand, forcing a ring onto his shaking finger.

An ear-splitting scream rings through the room. Hot, it was so hot. Logan felt like his finger was melting. It took him a few moments to realize that the screaming was coming from him.

"Ohh stop it, I already finished." Patton scolds.

Logan keens, straining at the ropes binding him. He had to see his hand, he had too!

Patton hums, a dark and creepy melody as he moves around behind Logan. "Are you too hot? Here, let me cool you down."

He finally moves to the front of Logan, kneeling down next to him. He was holding a bucket.

"Look at you." Patton laughs at Logan's shallow breathing. "So beautiful..."

Patton sets down the bucket, the small sloshing sound of water following it as he harshly grabs Logan's face and kisses him.

"I'll always forgive you." Patton smiles teasingly, "Even if you try to hurt me, it just ends up being more fun on my part."

Moving his hand to the back of Logan's neck, Patton grabs his glasses with the other hand and forces his head down into the water.

Logan sputters, accidentally breathing in some of the water as he's caught off guard. Patton's hand remains persistent as Logan struggles underneath him, trying to raise his head out of the water.

Patton finally pulls him up and Logan coughs, his lungs burning.

Patton shoves Logan back down again before he has a chance to take a breath.

This motion repeats five more times until Logan just stops trying to struggle against him.

Patton kicks the bucket away, the water spilling out onto the concrete floor.

"Puh-lease." Logan rasps, his eyes fluttering. "Puh-lease no mo-ore Pa-tton..."

Patton stares down at him for a moment.

"Alright." He finally says, grabbing Logan by the back of his collar and dragging him across the floor. "But only because I love you. Say thank you."

"Tha-nk...You..." Logan wheezes as Patton props him up against some sort of wall.

"Say I love you." Patton giggles, kissing Logan. His sweet little nerd looked so cute!

"L-Lo-ve you..." Logan whispers, his head lolling tiredly.

Patton pulls Logan up and opens the box.

"No..." Logan whines, pulling weakly away from Patton. "Puh-lease....-Lease...Pa-tton!"

"Shh." Patton gently sets him down in the box, relishing in the terrified look in Logan's eyes as it shut.

"I love you bunny."

Chapter Text

Everyone sat at the dinner table in awkward silence.

Damien, Roman, and Virgil poked the food around their plates, not eating it. Remus stared off at something that wasn't there. The only people happy at the dinner table were Patton and Jason. Jason was shoveling food in his mouth like he'd never eat again and Patton was sitting contently, watching everyone else.

Jason's leg pressed against Roman's. Nothing inappropriate, but just the touch made Roman want to scream.

"Damien, Virgil, you two need to eat. You wanna grow big and strong, right?"

Virgil looked up, "Sorry," he spooned some mashed potatoes in his mouth before pushing the food around the plate again.

Damien looks Patton at Patton with a resentful gaze in his eyes, "I can't eat this."

"Yes, you can. Now eat." Patton looked at him coldly.

"No, I won't."

"I'll send you up to your room without dinner." Patton threatens.

"Honestly? I'd prefer that rather than this mess you call a family dinner!"

"Then sit down! You're staying down here, with your family! Stop ruining our Reunion Dinner!"

"Really? because I'm pretty my reunion dinner was a year ago, you know? With the family you threatened to kill!" Damien stood up in anger, ready to walk away.

"Sit down!" Damien slammed his plate into the wall when Patton told him to sit down, food scattering everywhere, and the loud noise make both Remus and Logan flinch.

Patton breathed out heavily. Closing his eyes in anger, "Pick it up, Damien. Go pick up the glass and the food that is scattered across the floor because you can't be grateful that we have food here!"

"Patton-" Logan tried, getting cut off.

Patton turned towards him, fury in his eyes, "Shut up, Logan. I've had enough of his attitude." Logan went silent at Patton's angry words, trying to keep the anger away from him. Patton turned back to Damien, "Pick it up, or Virgil can stay downstairs tonight," Patton pointed towards the basement doors and Virgil whimpered at the thought.

"Why are you punishing him, he hasn't done anything!" Damien yells.

Patton slams his hands on the table, making his plate shake as he stood and looked pointedly at Damien.

Damien breathed out harshly before going over to where the plate had smashed and starting to pick it up carefully, wincing at the cuts he still got.

Everyone watched in silence, nervously looking up at Patton when Damien finished throwing it all away.

"Did you get cuts Dami?" Patton asks gently, moving over to Damien.

His voice was soft, and worried, like a dad when their son scraped his knee.

But he's not my dad, Damien reminded himself.

"Yes." He admits threw gritted teeth. Logan suddenly looked worried, as Patton grabbed Damien and moved him into the kitchen, still in plain view of everyone.

Patton grabs a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and a cotton ball, beginning to clean Damien's cuts, who winces and attempts to pull his hands away.

Patton's grip tightens. "We need to clean them so they don't get infected, kiddo."

Damien bites back a sarcastic reply, moving to sit back down when Patton finished.

"Now," Patton says calmly. "Everyone finish eating, and then it's time for bed."

Chapter Text

Virgil coughed. Patton had had him on bed rest ever since he had started to get sick. According to him, his fever hadn't gone down. Even Amelia had looked a little worried when she'd taken his temperature.

Virgil was now effectively in a quarantine. Except for Patton, he came whenever he could, apparently. Damien couldn't even come in the room. Which seemed to really worry him.

Sela couldn't come in either, which meant that Virgil could see bits of her whenever Patton came in with medicine. She scratched at the door a lot.

Now was one of the times she was scratching at the door while Patton sat at the end of his bed, folding up Some of the blankets that were on Damien's bed.

Patton looked over at Virgil and sighed. His son was so sick, and he couldn't do anything to help. There was nothing he could do to bring down his... well. "I'll be back in just a minute Virgie. I have to go do something."

"Ok," Virgil nodded, fiddling with a stray string on his blanket.

Patton came back about twenty minutes later and started to pull Virgil out of bed before deciding to carry him to wherever they were going.

Which was the bathroom. Virgil was half asleep, so he almost didn't fight when Patton started to pull off his shirt.

At least, until he saw the bathtub... Which was filled to almost the top with ice and water. Virgil let out a quiet yell when Patton started to pull off his shirt. He tried to hold it down, but he was still extremely sick and weak.

"No, no, dad, please. Please, please, don't, don't, don't! Please don't, I'll-I'll drink it! I'll drink ice water! Or I'll sleep without blankets, please! Don't! I don't wanna! Please!" Patton finally worked Virgil's shirt off him and reached for his pants.

"Shhh, it's ok Virgie, I promise. We need to get your fever down. You'll thank me when you feel better, I promise." Virgil lets out a sob as the pants came off and Patton picked him up again.

"Please! Please! Please, dad, please. I'll do anything! Please don't put me in there! I'll take medicine! I'll-" Virgil cut himself off with an almost ear-shattering scream when he was put in the freezing water.

Which did not at all go unnoticed by anyone else. Sela started scratching at the door when Virgil screamed, leaving a million scratches on the door as she howled in alarm. Damien ran upstairs and started knocking on Remus's door as loud as he could, trying to get someone's attention.

Remus started pounding on his own door, worried for everyone on the other side. Patton had let him keep Thomas with him now while Virgil was sick, not wanting to risk having Thomas get sick.

Of course, it didn't do any good as Virgil continued to scream.

"Shh, I know Virgey. You'll be fine in a minute." Patton says in a soothing tone, forcing Virgil's head under the water. "This will bring down your fever..."

Logan had raced upstairs with Roman, both trying to force the door open.

"Patton, he has chemical pneumonia, you can't give him an ice bath!" Logan protests.

"Bunny, I know what's best for my family, okay?" Patton says simply. "Ice is cold, and it brings down fevers.

"Patton, please! It's like throwing him in a lake during winter, he could get even sicker and die!" Roman pleads.

Patton looks to the door, and then at his shivering, sobbing son. "I don't want Virgey to die..."

"It's okay Patton," Logan says calmly, pressing his hand against the wood of the door. "He won't. Can you take him out of there, please? For me? We can wrap him up and give him more medicine, and watch a movie..."

Patton opens the door.

Chapter Text

"98.2!" Patton cheers as he pulls the thermometer out of Damien's mouth. "Now you're all better!"

Damien sniffles, forcing his head down, his glare aimed passively at the floor. "I wouldn't have gotten sick if you hadn't been an idiot and put Virgil in the damn ice bath."

"Don't be rude to your father." Logan scolds, watching the angry look in Patton's eyes as he pulled Damien closer to him. "And we do not swear in this household."

"Ohh what, so you're fucking brainwashed as well?" Damien snaps. "You know, Virgil is one thing, but you're a grown-ass adult. What's your excuse?"

Logan froze, tears welling up in his eyes. "I-"

"Punish him," Patton says curtly. "Do it. Damien, your father is going to punish you for talking back and swearing."

"W-What?" Logan was shaking. "What would you want me t-to do?"

Patton mimes a harsh smack, his eyes cold. "Do it, Bunny. Or we could go into my room to cuddle if you don't want to..."

Logan's eyes widen as he faces Damien nervously.

"Really?" Damien snarks. "Maybe you deserve to be here with Patton, seeing how you like bending to his fucking will 24/7."

"Glasses, now Logan," Patton said firmly.

"Sush, we're just cuddling. This could be much worse, couldn't it Logie?"

"Get in the box Bunny."

Alex didn't take his eyes off him.

"Just shut up and go back to sleep," Alex says forcefully.

"If you tell, well I won't be able to go back up and give them food," Patton says cheerfully. "They'd starve up there, and it'd be all your fault."

"Husbands are supposed to be faithful, Lolo."

"You won't be taking this ring off."

Logan makes a noise in the back of his throat, a mix of a scream and a sob, and slams his hand down on Damien's face.

Damien drops to the floor and Patton moves over to Logan, wrapping his arm around Logan's waist. Damien gingerly touches his cheek, looking up at Logan in shock, who hid his face in Patton's shoulder and sobbed.

"Shh, it's okay bunny. You're okay..." Patton presses a kiss to the top of Logan's forehead, moving to sit him down on the couch.

Roman watched as the sun slowly set.

Dinner had gone quietly, and Damien sat across from Roman on his bed, sitting silently as Roman peered out the window.

"I think Patton will be asleep soon." Roman muses.

"I hate him."

"We all hate him, Dami."

"Not Patton, I loathe him. I hate Logan."

Roman looked over at Damien in shock. "He didn't mean to hurt you Dami, you know that."

"Yes, he did." Damien crossed his arms, staring at the door, a seething look in his eyes.

"Logan is just hurting," Roman says quietly. "He's doing what he thinks is best for his survival. And Damien, if you hadn't noticed, it's working. You shouldn't have sworn at Patton."

"But I-"

"No." Roman cuts Damien off with a shake of his head. "You need to control your attitude around Patton. You know how he's like, if you act like a happy kid, he won't bother you. He's not the problem here."

"Jason's only a problem for you," Damien mutters.

"That's not fair. That's not fair, and you know it, Damien." Roman says quietly. "Patton only bothers you because you argue with him, Jason hurts me no matter what I do. You could ignore Patton for the most part, you just chose not too."

"Because I'm supposed to be in college right now!" Damien protests, "Which, by the way, I had to work for all summer because I missed most of high school because I was kidnapped by a sociopath!"

"We'll escape," Roman says quietly. "We did it before."

"We got rescued. When we were in the state we were taken from, and in a house that Patton owned." Damien argues. Roman hides his head in his hands.

"Let's just go, they should be asleep by now."

Damien begrudgingly grabs the flashlight they had taken, and carefully follows Roman out into the hallway.

"The closets the only place he could hide something...Besides the basement." Roman shudders, quietly opening the door and beginning to pull boxes out.

Damien shines the light for him as he opens the first box and began to rifle through the contents.

Inside was a small photo album, which Roman grabs and sets aside. "Old receipts...But they're from all over America...Some pins...A children's book, maybe we could convince Patton to give that to Remus? Some old glass figures...barbies..."

Roman gasped, hurriedly grabbing a camcorder and holding it to his chest. "Hurry, help me put this stuff back."

Damien and Roman quickly shove the box back into the closet and hurry back to Roman's room, the photo album, and camcorder in their hands.

"So what exactly are we looking for?"

"Maybe one of the pictures will have an address or a map. Something to tell us more of where exactly we are." Roman says hopefully.

"Sure." Damien rolled his eyes, beginning to flip through the pages. "There's just normal pictures of small Jason, and what I'm assuming is his family. This one has Jason and that priest that's also named Jason...And here's one with Patton, Amelia, Jason, the other Jason, and Alex. All of them together."

Roman shuddered at the reminder of Alex, looking at the photo curiously.

The five kids, around twelve, sat together in a treehouse, their arms around each other's waist. Patton, priest Jason, and Amelia all had big smiles on their faces, but Jason and Alex looked like they were plotting something. In the back, a smaller figure with long hair and a blurred face laid curled up.

"They look like they were in a club." Roman hums. "Who's the girl in the back...?"

Damien shrugs, turning on the camcorder and going to the back of the gallery, to the first ever video.

"Here she is! Little Miss Amelia, all done with her initiation!" A female voice from off-camera spoke, and Amelia giggled, clumsily curtsying.

"Doesn't she look gorgeous!" Another female voice compliments. "You two are so lucky!"

"Amelia, say hello to the video." A male voice prompts.

The young Amelia tugged at one of her braids. "Hello."

"Do you know why we're filming?" The first female asks. Amelia pauses, her face falling as she shook her head.

"We're filming this to celebrate darling! One last little test, alright?"

"Okay, Daddy!" Amelia smiles once more, and the camera shakes as it's set down on a table.

An older woman appears in the frame, her hair and eyes dark, wearing a fancy silver dress. "Go ahead and sit down Amelia."

Amelia sits across from the mother, her legs kicking slightly as she smoothed out her pink dress.

"Amelia," The man rummaged in a box and held out a photograph. "Do you know who this is?"

Amelia peered at the man and woman in the photo closely. "No."

"Do you know any girls at your school named Sarah Jonas?" The mother prompts.

"No." Amelia giggles.

"What's your full name?" The woman offscreen asks.

"Amelia Marie Lebent." Amelia says with a little nod of her head.

The mother and father beam and the video ends.

Roman stares down at the frozen screen in confusion, worry growing in the pit of his stomach. "This belonged to Amelia's family...?"

"But why were they asking her what her name was?" Damien asks. "Was she in an accident?"

Roman looks at Damien, deciding not to build off of anything, and instead playing the next video.

"Look! It's huge!" A young Patton struggles to hold up a fish to the camera, his fishing pole knocking off his bucket hat.

"Careful!" The offscreen voice of a young Alex snaps as Amelia grabs Patton's hat and puts it back on his head.

The group of kids were on a boat in the middle of a lake, a town in the distance.

"Mummy said we had to come home soon." Amelia pouts, looking seasick as she tried to read her book amongst the chaos on the boat.

"Look at my fish!" Patton appears in front of the camera again, holding up the same trout.

"You already showed us the damn fish, stupid." A young Jason snaps.

"Isn't it cool?!" Patton asks excitedly, showing it again to Jason.

"Patton, you have to put the fish in the cooler, remember buddy?" Priest Jason says gently, guiding Patton off-screen.

"Patton! Come'ere, lookit this!" Alex says excitedly. From behind the camera, Jason snickers.

"What?!" Patton practically trips over his own feet as he rushes to Alex's side of the boat.

"Look, do you see that fish, it looks like a shark!"

"Really?!" Patton hurriedly bends over the side of the boat.

Alex quickly pushes Patton in, who falls with a big splash.

"Alex!" Amelia yells, snapping her book closed and jumping up. She and priest Jason hurry to the side of the boat where Patton was pushed, while Alex and Jason laugh.

"It's not my fault his parents fried his brain and made him a r*tard!" Alex laughs as Patton surfaces.

"You're so funny!" Patton laughs, looking panicked. "Can I come back on the boat now...I don't wanna get bit by a shark..."

"There's no shark." Priest Jason reassures him as he, Amelia, and Alex pull Patton back onto the boat. "We're on the lake. Sharks are in oceans."

Patton shivers. "Can we go home now?" He asks, his voice small. His entire chest was shaking.

The video ended.

"He deserved it." Damien had laughed when Patton fell in, but Roman simply looked horrified at the video. "What?"

Roman's mouth stayed open in shock as he played the next video.

A girl with brown hair was on the screen.

"She looks like the girl from the picture..." Roman notices.

"What's your name?" The mother from the first video asks.

"...Olivia..." The girl can't even manage to get out her last name as a button is pressed. She writhes around in front of the camera, sweat pouring down her face as her eyes rolled into the back of her head.

"Your name is Valerie, say it!" Amelia orders, marching over to the girl. "Say it! Your my sister Valerie!"

"That's enough Amelia. Come back over here please."

Amelia quickly complies as the girl tries to catch her breath.

"I...I want to go h-" She cuts off with another scream.

The video cut off, and they began again, now outside, where Patton and priest Jason peeked out from inside a large hole in the ground.

"Get out boys." A man demands.

"But we're playing Pop!" Priest Jason complains.

"This is a funeral! Out!" A woman says firmly. The two boys groan and pull themselves out.

"I still want a sister." Amelia's voice says from off-camera. Amelia's dad appears in frame, holding Olivia's body.

"We can try again next year darling, mummy can't invest in another one right now." Amelia's voice says.

The man lays the girl down in the hole and begins shoveling the dirt back in as the camera moves to face a small seated crowd.

"That's why I tell you, you go younger. My Alex never gave me any problems." A woman holding a toddler in overalls says to Amelia's mother.

The mother sips at her champagne in thought. "I don't know, I think we might have only the one."

"But I want a sister!" Amelia protests again.

"Daddy will get you a pony instead darling." Amelia's father promises.

"I already have a pony. I need a sister to play with." Amelia pouts. "I'm the only girl except for baby Madeline."

"Madeline won't be a baby forever, and you have fun playing with your cousins." The mother waves offhandedly, taking another sip of champagne.

The video ended.

"They...They tortured her..." Damien gasps. "Ohh my god she was Virgil's age and they fucking killed her!"

"I think Alex said they did that to Patton too...I think they did that to all of them..." Roman switches to the next video, before gasping.

"Careful!" The camera shakes and then straightens out, zooming in on a thirteen-year-old Roman and Remus, playing together in the river.

"Sorry, dad," Fourteen-year-old Patton says quietly, laughing when Remus shoved Roman under the water.

Roman spits water in his brother's face in retaliation.

Roman switches to the next video, cutting off Patton's voice.

"Look, Virgil, I borrowed this camcorder from my friend!" Twenty-four-year-old Patton says, pushing it closer so that Virgil's face took up the entire screen.

The six-year-old giggled, gently pushing the camera back.

"Can you show me your drawing?" Patton asks.

Virgil carefully grabs the blue piece of construction paper, showing the camera. "Isa puppy!"

"It's so good!" Patton praises, "You did such a good job Virgey!"

Virgil giggles, bouncing in place. "When Kai an mommy an daddy gonna get bac'?"

"Don't be silly Virgey, your dad's right here!" Patton says cheerfully.

Virgil giggles. "You na my daddy Pat-Pat! You my fwend!"

"Aww!" Patton shifts the camera, holding it away as he quickly came into view, kissing Virgil over and over on the head, which made the boy giggle. "I love being your friend, baby!"

The video ended.

"I feel sick," Damien says quietly. "That video...It's creepy, I don't want to watch anymore..."

"They've been watching us this whole time...Patton knew about Remus and me since we were thirteen, maybe sooner." Roman hid his head in his hands. "Holy fuck...We have to get out of here."

Damien stands, backing towards the door. "I'm going to bed...I...I can't finish watching..."

He hurriedly leaves, and Roman skips a few of the videos of Patton babysitting Virgil, his heart sinking when he saw Damien on one.

"Just ignore the camera." Patton encourages.

"I don't think I can-"

"No you'll be great! I have to document this!" Patton laughs. "C'mon Dami, you're so talented."

Damien looks up at Patton then nods, blowing out a slow breath of air as he placed his fingers over the piano keys.

The video plays silently as Damien plays a classical piece, Patton cheering loudly at the end. "You did so good kiddo! You could win the competition next week!"

"Competition?" Damien looks up, confused.

"That must have been a few days before the first kidnapping..." Roman says to himself.

A quiet creak sounds from the hallway and Roman covers his mouth, hoping whoever was in the hall wouldn't be Jason, and wouldn't open his door.

Footsteps pad down the outside, and suddenly stop.

Roman's door swings open, and Logan stares in at him.

"Why are you still up?" Logan asks, suddenly noticing the camcorder, "Where did you get that?"

"Why are you still up?" Roman asks as Logan sits next to him on the bed. "And why are you upstairs?"

"I couldn't sleep after what I did to Damien..." Logan looks down in shame, fighting back tears. "I came up to apologize...But I couldn't do it...What are you doing with a camcorder?"

Roman looked miserable at the question, holding the camcorder out to Logan and switching to the next video.

"Is that me?"

Roman grabs it back and looks. Sure enough, you could see Logan from through a window next to a door leading into his old classroom.

Roman plays the video.

A few moments pass in silence as Patton zooms in on Logan, seemingly grading papers.

"We've known each other so long..." Patton says wistfully. "I...Today I'm gonna do it!" He hurriedly moves away from the door and heads down a hallway. "We're the only one's that teach on this side of the building...I'll just run into him, and he can help me pick up my stuff!"

The video ended.

The next video played.

Patton zoomed in through a window, the camera shaky.

Logan, maybe seventeen years old, sat down at a table with his family, eating with one hand and reading a book with the other.

"Ohh my god." Logan chokes back a sob.

The next video played.

Fifteen-year-old Logan laid fast asleep in his bed, and the camera stayed on him for a minute before Patton began walking around the room.

"He likes science, and the planets, and pluto!" Patton giggles quietly, gently touching Logan's space poster. "His favorite food is Crofter's jam, and we're going to have it every day on toast for breakfast!"

Patton returns to Logan's bed and gently kisses him on the forehead. "I promise Bunny. We're gonna have the most perfect little house, and kids and my brother Roman is gonna live with us!"

Logan stifled a sob, silent tears rolling down his face. "Ohh gods and goddesses...He...He ran into me on purpose...He snuck into my bedroom...Roman, he could have done anything when I was asleep, what if he-!"

Roman wrapped his arms around Logan, doing his best to comfort him. "We have to get out of here. I...I always just thought I was in the wrong place at the wrong time...Fuck...I never should have let him sit with me at the damn cafe!"

Logan sniffed, pressing the button to start the next recording.

Logan, only seven, sat on the swings at the park, reading a book and lazily kicking his feet.

"Are you sure Patton?" Patton's mother asks, looking down at Patton. Patton smiles up at the camera.

"Yeah! I really really love him, Mama!" The boy giggled, and Jason shoved him lightly.

"Patton's got a cr-ush, Patton's got a cr-ush!" Amelia sand teasily. Alex said nothing, simply stared ahead at Logan deviously.

Patton went red. "Stop it!" He whined. "Mama, please can he be my husband when I'm big?"

"Of course love, whatever you want. Only the best for you." She says. Patton beams.

"We're gonna get married and live happily ever after!" Patton sighs happily.

"Only if you do what I say love, adults are tricky." The mother reminds him. "You must go slow."

"But he's gonna love me forever and ever?" Patton asks innocently.

"Of course." His mother repeats.

The video ended.

"I-" Logan choked up, staring at the ending screen. "At least he wasn't in my room, right?"

Roman smiles sadly. "Yeah. I don't think he did anything. I think that was the only time he went in your house."

Roman shuts the camcorder off before Logan can look through the rest of the obsessive stalking videos, hiding it under his bed and turning to Logan.

"Why don't we make a plan, okay Logan?" Roman says gently. "We'll do that, but first you have to be very brave and go sleep with Patton, okay?"

"Okay..." Logan nods.

Roman stares up at him sadly as Logan stood. "Goodnight, Logan."

"Goodnight..." Logan whispers. "R-Roman...Can you do something for me?"

"Of course." Roman nods. "Anything, what?"

Logan hurriedly sat down and stared Roman in the eyes for a few seconds, pulling Roman into a tight hug, Logan chokes out a "Goodnight Remus" before crying more and hurrying downstairs.

Chapter Text

"Are you sure about this, Damien?" Logan asks again. "Patton could really hurt you, I could be the one-"

"It has to be me," Damien says firmly. "You're faster than me, and Virgil and Remus can't do it."

Logan nods. "Okay. Okay..."

"I'll be fine," Damien says, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than Logan. "Roman will protect me, and when we're done we can get cake."

Logan sighs, pulling Damien into a hug as he heads to the door. "Wait three minutes for me to get downstairs and for Roman to get the knife drawer open."

Damien nods, letting out a small sigh as he hid his face behind his hands. A few minutes passed, and Damien wraps his hand in his sheet, before punching the mirror over the desk he shared with Virgil.

The mirror shatters and Damien hurriedly grabs a big shard, beginning to reflect the light outside in hopes of signaling someone. As he hears footsteps running up the stairs, Damien braces himself.

"Damien! Virgil! Are you-" Patton shouts, cutting off as Damien signaled faster, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw Logan beginning to run down the dirt road.

"Damien, stop now!" Patton grabs Damien's wrist and pulls him away from the window,

Damien crying out as he struggled to keep the mirror shard in his hand. Patton's face grew red with rage as he moved one of his hands to the top of Damien's shoulder and furiously jerked. Damien screams as his arm broke, the shard falling out of his hand, which Patton grabbed.

"What the hell were you doing?" Patton screams. "After everything I've done for you? How could you do this to your own father!"

"You're not my dad." Damien sobs, holding his broken arm as tears streamed down his face.

"I should have done worse after that stunt Damien! You want to signal out the window? Fine! I'll break both your arms next time!" Patton looked over at the bed, suddenly realizing Virgil was nowhere to be seen.

Damien let out a pained cry as Patton grabbed his broken arm and pulled him up by it. Patton threw him on the bed and quickly left the room.

"Roman!" Damien screamed, wailing. "Roman please! It hurts!"

Patton raced down the stairs and grabbed Jason's car keys, running outside and getting into the van. Putting the car into drive, he looked down both sides of the road and started speeding right, the road that leads to the closest house.

Logan glances over his shoulder every few seconds as he ran, his heart beating out of his chest.

A van careened around a corner in the road and Logan cries out in fear. One of the cuts on his back reopened as he tried to speed up, blood staining his shirt.

The car stops and Patton jumps out, grabbing Logan's shoulder and throwing it to the ground. Logan cries out as he's slammed into the ground, the reopened cut stinging.

"Really bunny? After all of this, you try to run away from me? Try and make our son help you?" Patton glares at Logan, pressing his shoe down on Logan's stomach to make sure he couldn't squirm away. "I'd like to see you try to run away again."

Patton grabs Logan's leg and pulls him back to the car, ignoring the small yelps and cries of pain as Logan's back gets more scratched up by some stray rocks and sticks. Opening the toolbox in the trunk, Patton grabs Jason's sledgehammer and steadily holds it over Logan's leg.

"No, no, no, Patton please! Patton I'm so-" Logan's apology cuts off as Patton slams the sledgehammer down, shattering the bone.

Logan screams until his voice breaks, crying as Patton sat down and pulled Logan's torso onto his lap, gently carding his fingers through Logan's hair and shushing him quietly.

Logan wails in pain, and Patton takes his glasses, quickly snapping them in two.

"There," Patton says happily. "Now you won't be able to see any cars passing by our window trying to tempt you to leave me, bunny."

Logan only cried more.

Chapter Text

"Not that it hasn't been lovely to catch up with you Patton darling, but I suggest we start. I must be getting home soon." Beatrice says gently, looking down at her son.

"Of course mama." Patton nods rapidly, eager to please, before looking uncertainly at the bedroom door. "Are...Are you sure it'll work? It's not gunna hurt him, right?"

"Ohh, don't you fret about that puppet." Beatrice coos, holding Patton's face gently in her hands. "We'll practice first, we won't hurt your bunny."

Patton sighed in relief.

"P-Practice on who, grandmere?" Virgil asks worriedly.

"The extra," Beatrice says calmly. "Remus, was it hunnie?"

Patton nods. "Yeah, he's...Remus is upstairs in his room."

"Genevieve!" Beatrice calls strictly. The girl quickly hurries to her side. "Go up and fetch Remus room his room for us."

"It's the only closed door, besides the closet." Patton reaches around his neck and unclasps the necklace that held the key to Remus's room, handing it to her.

A few minutes later, Genevieve and Remus walked back down the stairs.

"Come with me please, Patton."

Patton hurriedly stands, grabbing Remus's wrist and leading him into Jason's parent's old "office". There were more than few dust bunnies and spiderwebs in the room, clearly the fault of Jason not getting a new servant after inheriting the house, according to Beatrice.

"Alright. Just in case you plan on doing this after I leave." Beatrice grabs Patton's hand and moves it with her own, grabbing the first wire and helping Patton place it on Remus's cheek. "You start here."

Logan laid silently on the bed he was forced to share with Patton, staring at the same wall that had occupied him for the past half-an-hour.

And then, an ear-splitting scream broke the silence. "Please! Please s-stop!"

He knew that voice.

"Remus?" Logan blinks, his vision hazy as he slowly sits up, beginning to grow more panicked. "Remus!"

Clumsily standing, Logan hops over to the door, trying to force it open.

It wouldn't budge.

Another scream echoed through the house.

"Remus!" Logan screamed, listening to his partner's voice grow hoarse. "Patton, let me out! Patton!"

No one answered except Virgil and Sela who laid down on the other side of the door. Virgil tried his best to think of comforting words to say to Logan in between the ever more frequent screams and sobbing.

It seemed like forever had passed when Patton and Beatrice gently opened the door to the office and gently pushed a dull-eyed, shaking Remus out.

"Go sit on the couch." Beatrice prompts sternly.

Remus hurries over to the couch, practically tripping over his own feet in his haste.

"See?" Beatrice squeeze's Patton's shoulder. "Go get your Bunny and bring him in."

Sela grabs Virgil's sleeve and tugs him away, his dress swishing as she let out a warning growl. Thomas began to cry when his dad made no move to pick him up.

Patton unlocks the door to his bedroom and opens the door, gasping when he saw his crying husband on the floor. "Logan? What's wrong, why are you crying?"

"I hate you!" Logan screeches.

The house went deathly silent.

"W-What?" Patton took a step back.

"I hate you, I fucking hate you Patton!" Logan cries, tears running down his cheeks. "I don't care how much you fucking torture me! I'm going to fucking strangle you in your sleep, do you hear me?"

"That's quite enough. James!" Beatrice rolls her eyes.

Her driver quickly rushes over and hauls Logan to a stand.

"No!" Logan protests, flailing his arms and trying to pry the hand off his waist. "No, fuck you! Put me down you fucking bastard!"

James swiftly carries Logan into the office, laying him down on the table in the center off the room and strapping him down.

"Let me go!" Logan panicks, straining against the leather cuffs. "Patton! Patton please!"

"Mama, you said this wouldn't hurt him..." Patton says worriedly as Beatrice moves his hand to attach one of the electrodes.

"And it shouldn't. Physically." Beatrice explains. "Although with the sobbing he's doing, he might find himself short of breath."

"Then are you really sure we shouldn't wait until he calms down?" Patton asks timidly.

"Nonsense puppet, he simply won't. No matter how much time you give him." Beatrice chides. Patton stares down at the floor, a slight embarressed blush on his face. "It's like taking the child to the doctor for a shot. If they won't stop crying, you just have to give them the shot and continue on your day. If you reschedule, they will just start crying again."

"Ohh," Patton whispers. "O-Okay."

"Let's begin then. Logan, say you love Patton."

"No!" Logan wails. "Patton please stop! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Beatrice nods to James, who flips a switch. Logan seizes up, his body tensing, his eyes wide, as he let out a blood currdling scream.

It felt like his entire body was on fire.

Every muscle he had tensed, and his head jerked up and slammed down onto the pillow as he writhed.

Patton looked green. "Mama?"

"Hush puppet, he'll be fine. Logan, say you love Patton."

"F-F-Fuck...Y-You." Logan spits out, his teeth clattering together.

"Again."

Another flip of the switch, and Logan feels like his spine snaps from under him. His chest heaved, and he choked.

He needed air!

Turning his head to the side was the only warning he gave before he dry-heaved. Bile splatted onto the floor, his stomach feeling like someone was twisting it in knots.

"Please!" Logan wailed.

"Just say you love him, and we'll stop." Beatrice says coldly.

"I-I..."

Logan howls as his muscles tense up again. It felt like his brain was melting.

"Say it."

"I love you!" The words couldn't get out of Logan's mouth fast enough. "Please, p-please-!"

The burning agony stops and Logan goes limp, panting as he let out a sob of relief.

"Now say it again."

Chapter Text

TW: Planes, implied drugging

Logan woke up to clattering sounds coming from somewhere else in the house. Blinking away the blurry in his eyes as much as he could without his glasses, he glanced at the clock next to the bed. It was near 1 in the morning. He glanced over at Patton's side of the bed, finding him gone.

After a minute of searching fo his glasses before remembering he got up and walked towards the door to the living room, stopping just before he actually got to the door and hesitating. Logan glanced back at the bed, deciding between going back and looking outside. He opened the door and squinted more than before at the light to see Patton carrying a sleeping Virgil down the stairs.

"Pat?" Patton finally noticed Logan at the bedroom door, squinting adorably without his glasses. He made a mental note to get him new ones when they got back. His bunny hated how blurry it made his vision. He felt a little bad for not getting them sooner.

"Bunny? What are you doing up?" He set Virgil on the couch and walked over to Logan, kissing him gently on the forehead and wrapping his arms around Logan.

"I heard noises," Logan rested his head on Patton's chest, "What are you doing?"

"Sorry Logie, I dropped Virgil's bag on the way down. You should go back to sleep. It'll be awhile before we have to go."

"Go? Go where, Patton-bear?" Patton smiled at the nickname, one that Logan had gained a fondness of over the past few days.

"You'll see soon, baby. Go back to sleep," Patton hugged him a little tighter for a second and then let go, turning him around to the room again and pushing him in little, "I'll come get you soon, sleep for a little longer," Logan glanced over his shoulder and watched Patton pick Virgil up again before closing the door and going to the bed.

A couple hours later Logan woke up to Patton leaning over and gently shaking him.

"It's time to get up Logie, we gotta go. You can sleep in the car," Logan looked over at the clock again. Two in the morning. Patton moved away, grabbing some bags from next to the bed and handing one to Logan before gently leading him out of the room and towards the door.

Outside. They were going outside.

Patton unlocked the door and stepped outside. Logan hesitated slightly before following him out. Logan handed Patton the bag to load into the car. It was one of the biggest cars Logan had ever seem. It had 8 seats and a big back part that had enough space that their luggage filled maybe three fourths of the space.

Patton still hadn't told him where they were going.

Logan felt a gentle tug on his hands and looked up to see Patton pulling him back towards the house. He almost felt scared of going back in. He wanted to stay out. It was nice out.

Luckily for him they weren't going in.

Patton guided him to sit on the porch steps and pulled Logan to his chest. His breath caught in his throat as he looked up.

The stars...

He hadn't't even realized how much he missed them. But they were here. And so amazing.

"Do you like it?" Logan had almost forgot Patton was here, so caught up in being outside and seeing the stars and how pretty they were, he'd forgotten where he was.

"Hm?"

"Do you like it? I thought you might like it. I was planning to wait but I wasn't sure what time we'd get to the plane and I didn't wanna miss it."

"I love it. Thank you Patton-bear." Logan couldn't take his eyes off the sky. It felt like so long since he'd seen the stars.

Patton gently kissed Logan on the cheek before pulling him up and leading him towards the car. The door next to him slammed closed and Patton went around to the other side and got in. A blast of cold air came through the vents as he turned the car on. Logan stared out of the window as the car backed out of the driveway, still staring at the sky as the outside zoomed by.

When had he last been outside? Eventually Logan nodded off.

He woke up a good 2 hours later, covered in a soft blanket similar to the ones at the house. Was he back inside?

He, for the third time that night, blinked the blurry away.

"Logie?" He seemed to have woken up Patton while he was waking up.

"Patton-bear? Where are we?" Logan yawned when he finished his sentence, finding he didn't recognize where he was at all.

"We're on a plane! Are you thirsty? I can get you some water?"

"A... plane? How are we...?" Patton stretched before nodding, finally taking in his surroundings, "Please?"

Patton unbuckled his seat, giving Logan a quick kiss before leaving to get the water and coming back, "Momma leant me the jet for our vacation. She thought it would be good for us to go somewhere and get some sun!" Logan took a sip, looking to see everyone else buckled up and fast asleep in their seats.

"Vacation? Where are we going?" Logan sat up straight, moving the star blanket Patton had gotten him down.

"I can't tell you that! It's a surprise! I was hoping you would all sleep until we got there, but you must be really fitful tonight. You normally sleep straight through." Patton laid his head on Logan's shoulder and closed his eyes, sighing contentedly.

"Patton?" Logan hesitated before asking.

"Yes, bunny?" Patton turned down the overhead lights so that it was darker.

"Can- can I open the window? Please? I really wanna see the stars again." Logan fidgeted with his hands as he asked, hoping he didn't anger Patton.

"'Course bunny. We're up in the sky, no one can see. You should go to sleep again soon though. We'll be there soon." Logan quickly pulled the cover open before Patton could change his mind.

"Thank you. I will. I just wanted to see them again."

"If you're good, maybe after our getaway we can open the blinds more often."

"Thank you. Goodnight Patton-bear."

"Goodnight bunny." They both started to nod off again.

///1056 words

Chapter Text

1st day of vacation

"C'mon Virgil, hurry up!" Damien says anxiously, hurriedly pulling the fourteen-year-old behind him as he tried to run through the woods.

"Where are we going?" Virgil says worriedly, looking down at Sela, who kept pace at his side, occasionally snapping at the flowing fabric of the white sundress he was wearing. "Dad said the berry bushes we on the other fork in the trail."

"We're not going berry picking Virgil, now come on!" Damien rolls his eyes, beginning to sprint when he saw the unattended beach on the other side of the island. "Here, help me get some sticks!"

"What are you doing?" Virgil asks, tilting his head and stopping at the treeline as Damien began to rush around picking up sticks. Sela sat down next to him, licking his palm and letting out a small yap.

"We're gonna spell Roman's last name out with sticks. He's famous." Damien explains tiredly, grabbing another stick.

"Why are you gonna do that?"

"So that someone in a plane might see it and think 'hey, that missing author's last name is spelled on that beach down there'!"

"So?"

"So then they'd rescue us, Virgil!" The nineteen year old snaps, "Now help me!"

"Why would they want to rescue us? Nothing's wrong. And since when is Uncle Roman famous?"

"God damn it, Virgil!" Damien groans, hiding his head in his hands.

Virgil pouts, moving to the sea and pulling off his shoes.

"What are you doing?" Damien asks tiredly.

"I'm going swimming!" Virgil says excitedly, seemingly forgetting the argument as he wades into the water. Sela follows him happily.

"I'm supposed to be watching you, get back over here!" Damien orders.

"You're not that good of a babysitter. I wanna swim, not make some dumb sign." Virgil whines, crossing his arms and staring back at his brother.

Damien throws up his arms, looking at the sky. "God? Anybody, for crying out loud!"

"Come swim with me!" Virgil whines. Damien sighs.

"First Patton takes my yarmulke, and now he takes everyone else's sanity. Fine!" Yanking off his shoes, Damien angrily throws them down on the sand and runs into the water.

Virgil smiles at him, diving under the water and swimming a few feet away before surfacing. "There's shells!"

"Just don't get bit by a shark." Damien sighs, before his eyes light up with an idea. "Do you want to do something fun?"

"What?" Virgil asks, giggling when Sela began to swim out towards him, her head bobbing in the water.

"Let's make a raft!" Damien suggests. "We could paddle it around."

Virgil pauses, looking unsure. "I don't know. We're supposed to be picking berries."

Damien bites back a snarky reply and smiles as brightly as he can. "Dad and Papa are spending time together. They won't even notice we're gone. And with the way you eat, they won't question any missing berries either."

Virgil laughs, diving underwater again and disappearing.

Damien waits until Virgil resurfaces, beginning to play fetch in the water with Sela before he goes back to shore.

Without Virgil's help, it takes Damien a lot longer to make the sign, but he eventually makes a sizeable Sanders in the sand with sticks and rocks.

"Come on Virgil, it's getting late!" Damien calls. The younger boy looks over at him, then begins to swim for shore.

Virgil shivers once he catches up to Damien, obediently following him on the trail back to the summer house.

"Look at you two, you're soaked to the bone and freezing!" Patton comes out when he sees the two approaching, holding two fluffy towels.

Virgil giggles as Patton aggressively begins to dry his hair off. "Dad, my purple is fading out again, can we dye my hair soon?"

"Ohh, but honey, you look so pretty with your dark hair." Patton pouts, ruffling the still-wet hair. "Plus, we're on an island right now. We can't go to the store until vacation is over. Can we leave your hair black for a bit kiddo?"

Virgil's bright smile falters slightly, before turning into an all out pout. "Okay..."

Patton smiles, kissing his son on the nose before looking down at the empty basket. "Did you eat all the berries already jelly bean?"

"We went swimming instead." Damien cuts in truthfully, not giving Virgil any time to speak about the sign.

"That sounds fun!" Patton smiles, grabbing Virgil's hand and straightening. "Let's get you out of that dress and into a nice, dry nightgown. It's getting late."

2nd day of vacation

"Damien!"

A hard shove.

Damien grunts, rolling over and trying to pull the covers back over his head, only to be stopped by some force.

"Damien wake up!" That voice again!

"Remy stop it." Damien mumbles.

"Dami stop it!" The voice whines. "Who's Remy?"

Damien's eyes shoot open.

Virgil.

Groaning he rolls over and stares at the god awful ocean-themed room.

"Damien dad's yelling..." Virgil whimpers. "Please get up, I don't want him to be more mad..."

Damien sits up, looking at Virgil wearily. "Why's he mad? What did you do?"

"Nothing! He was mad at Uncle Remus, and then he and Uncle Roman started arguing..." Virgil crawls into the bed next to Damien, wrapping his arms around Damien's waist and hiding his face in their chest. "I don't like when they yell..."

Damien rolls his eyes, reluctantly wrapping his arms around Virgil and picking the smaller boy up, carrying him downstairs.

"-to have made it, it's his name!"

"Look at him Patton, he can't do anything because of you!"

"So you did it then?"

"No! I was here all day!"

Damien's eyes widen, setting Virgil down as the two adults look over at them.

"Morning kiddos!" Patton greets peppily, forcing a smile onto his face. "Uncle Roman and I are just having a little disagreement, why don't you go play outside?"

"Why are you fighting?" Damien asks, grabbing Virgil's hand and squeezing it.

"Patton think I made a sign on the beach." Roman glares. "Which I didn't. I'm not an idiot."

"Or Remus did it." Patton retorts.

"He just sits around all day! How the hell could he make a sign?" Roman yells.

"How do you know it wasn't Logan?" Damien asks, a wash of anger and guilt settling in his stomach.

"Because he was here with me. Are you saying that you did it?" Patton asks, grabbing Damien's chin and forcing the teen to look him in the eyes.

"No." Damien says, his voice steady. "I was with Virgil all day."

"So it's settled then?" Patton smiles sickly sweet. "It was either Roman or Remus, and if Remus can't walk without someone telling him to..."

Patton cuts off, turning and moving to storm back over to Roman.

"I did it!"

Patton stops and turns, Roman looking at Virgil in shock.

"What?" Damien looks down at Virgil, trying to hide his panic.

"I..." Virgil sniffles, his eyes watering as Patton kneels down next to him. "I jus-just made it be-because I thought it would cheer Uncle Remus up...I didn't know you'd be mad..."

"Really honey?" Patton asks, his voice scarily calm.

"Mhm..." Virgil nods, staring at the ground and shrinking into himself, trying to look meek.

"There!" Damien announces. "It was an accident."

"Dami, my little baker, if a chef accidentally puts peanuts into an order of someone that was allergic to peanuts, would they still get sued for physical endangerment?"

"Uhm..." Damien shifts. "Yeah, but what does that have to do with-?"

"If the chef has to suffer the consequences of their mistake, and learn to be more careful when preparing food, then Virgil should too." Patton harshly grabs Virgil's arm and starts to pull them into the room he shared with Logan.

"Pl-Please, I'm sorry dad!" Virgil wailed as Patton's nails dug into his skin.

"Patton stop!" Roman tries futilely.

"I did it!"

Patton stops just outside the door to the bedroom, looks back at Damien and then grins. "Nice try, Spartacus."

"Patton-!" Damien rushes forward, pounding his fists on the closed door. "Patton please, it really was me, don't hurt him!"

There's silence from inside the room, then a loud cry from Virgil. Damien hardly noticed his knuckles getting bloody until Roman grabbed him by the waist and pulled him away from the door.

Virgil sobbed as Patton leaned him forward again and he emptied his stomach into the toilet in front of him.

"There we go baby..." Patton gently cards his fingers through Virgil's hair and dabs at the sweat on his face as he heaved. "You won't be making that mistake again, will you?"

"N-No!" Virgil manages to get out before puking again, the gross taste embedding itself in his throat, and even his nose.

"It'll only last a few more seconds Virgey." Patton gently kisses the side of Virgil's head. "Then I'll make you a nice big breakfast. You're staying inside with me and Papa all day today, m'kay? Maybe I'll trust you on the beach in the morning."

Virgil sniffled, his eyes watering, as his stomach finally settled. Sitting still, he allows Patton to clean off his face and help him rinse out his mouth, before collapsing into his arms with one last sob.

"It's okay sweetie, I've got you." Patton murmurs, gently rocking the boy.

Virgil let's his eyes drift shut.

Chapter Text

“Papa Lo?” Virgil nervously peeks his head over the corner of the door, rushing in when he notices Logan struggling in Patton’s hold. “Dad?!”

“No, Virgil-” Patton cuts off, his attention moving to Virgil allowing Logan to get up.

Logan bangs his head into the wall, screaming, which makes Virgil stumble back in fear. Virgil accidentally trips over Sela’s tail, stepping on it before tumbling to the ground.

Sela yelps, impulsively rearing around and sinking her teeth into her attacker’s leg.

Virgil freezes, then screeches, and Patton looks hurriedly between the two before rushing over to Logan.

Sela whines apologetically, backing up and looking at her boy anxiously.

“Logan, stop struggling, you’re hurting yourself!” Patton screams, pining the sobbing younger man’s arms down.

“Let go of me!” Logan howls, kicking and punching at Patton.

Patton sets Logan down on the bed and grabs some rope, tying Logan up as he sobbed.

“No please! Please I’m sorry Patton!”

Patton looks back over at Virgil, hurriedly picking up his son and staring down at the bleeding mess on his leg.

Sela barks, following Patton closely as Patton lays Virgil down on the dinner table.

“Dad!” Virgil sobs, holding tightly to Patton’s shirt when Patton tries to pull away.

“Hang on baby, let me get something to help you.”

Virgil loses it when Patton grabs a rag and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, slamming his fists into Patton’s chest as Patton holds down his shaking leg with one hand and unscrews the bottle with the other.

“Dad please, I don’t need it, plEASE!” Virgil lets out a blood curdling scream when the mixture rushed over his leg, bubbling and burning him.

Patton cleans the wound as fast as he can and wraps it up, pulling Virgil into his arms after and gently rocking him.

“It’s okay Virgil, you’re okay. You’ll be okay, please stop crying honey.”

Chapter Text

“Bunny, come on. Just one drink? For me, please?”

“I- Patton I don’t want to drink. I don’t like drinking. Please, don’t make me. I don’t like the taste or the side effects, Patton, Please.”

“Fine, fine, no alcohol,”

“Thank you, Patton-bear,” Patton cupped Logan’s face, lightly kissing him on the nose. Logan closed his eyes slightly, leaning in a little when Patton kissed his mouth. He whimpered when he left, leaning into his hand more, his mouth still a little open. His head shot back as a burning taste filled his mouth.

He sputtered as alcohol dripped down his shirt, coughing harshly. “Pa-” he coughed more, burning alcohol filling his nose, “Patton, what-what was that?” His eyes watered and his vision blurred more.

“Tequila,” Patton said simply, taking a paper towel and wiping at Logan’s mouth.

“I- why would you do that?” Logan pulled back as he came closer, looking a little hurt, “I thought you understood that I didn’t want to drink?”

Patton sighed, taking his hand away, “I thought you needed a little push! You’re so tightly wound up. I just wanted you to relax a little. This is a vacation! You can’t enjoy it if you won’t even drink a little. I thought a little drink would be good!”

“But I said I didn’t want it, Patton-bear,” Logan’s already weak resolve was starting to break.

“Please! Logan, it’s not that bad. I just want you to enjoy the vacation! You’re so stressed.” Patton moved behind Logan he could, starting to rub his back, “Just have something to drink, please. I don’t want you stressed while we’re supposed to be relaxing, bunny.”

“…Ok, Patton. If you- if you really think it’ll help. But please not too much?”

Patton grabbed the cups and poured them both a shot, handing one to Logan. He drank it, the liquid burning though him, making him feel woozy seconds after he drank it. Patton poured another, watching Logan down it again and watching as he got more and more drunk, having not really drank before then.

Another drink later Logan’s chair was pulled closer to Patton and his head was on Patton’s shoulder. Logan felt drowsy, Patton was still drinking while Logan held tighter, feeling dizzy. Logan started to nod off a little, his head starting to slip. He woke up to Patton taping him

“Hm?” Logan blinked his eyes open again, hiccuping.

“Logieeeeee! Stay awake! We’re supposed to be together, on vacation!” Patton shook him gently, making his head hurt a little.

“S- sorry Patton. I’m sleepy, my head hurts,” Logan rubbed it, before wrapping his hands around Patton and leaning on him again, gently kissing his cheek. He stayed awake for a little longer this time, watching Patton drink more. Logan giggled when Patton peppered his face with kisses, almost choking when the alcohol smell burned his nose. Logan leaned on his shoulder again slowly falling asleep yet again.

Logan woke up yet again to Patton shaking him, much harder this time. His head pounded and he cried out as the wold started to spin.

“Logan! You said you would stay up! You didn’t even have that much to drink! Why are you so tired?” Patton stopped shaking him, letting go of Logan. He gripped the seat, closing his eyes and trying to stop his headache.

“Ugh, my..” Logan’s sentence drifted as his nose and head burned more, “My head hurts.”

“You can’t even drink right. It’s not like you drank a whole bottle,” Patton took another drink, “I just want to spend time with you, we never get to spend any time together since Virgil and Damien came in to the picture, and we can’t spend proper time together if you’re stressed.”

“…’M sorry.”

Patton sighed, standing up, “Come on Logie. Let’s go to bed,” He pulled Logan up, picking him up bridal style. Logan’s head spun more at the sudden change. He wrapped his hands around Patton’s neck, burying his head in his shoulder to block out the light.

Soon enough they were both upstairs, Patton pulled down the cloud covered blanket, setting Logan gently on the bed and covering him in the blanket. He went around, getting in himself, pulling Logan to him and burying his own head in Logan’s shoulder. “I’m sorry bunny. I’ll get you something in the morning for the hangover.”

“Thank you, Patton-bear. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight bunny,” and soon enough they were both asleep.

When Logan had woken Patton had given him something for his head, left him to change, and wrote a quick note, before pulling Logan out of the house and towards the opposite side of the island.

Patton vibrated in excitement. They were finally going for Logan’s surprise.

Chapter Text

Roman pushed the board further out into the water, looking back at the island. The morning had been… strange.

Roman had woken up in a new room, the smell of the ocean and breakfast foods in the air. The room was themed similar to his old room, except with more beach-ish decorations and less of his own things.

Eventually, he found his way downstairs and to the kitchen where Patton and Logan both were. Patton said a quick good morning, a tight smile following from Logan.

A couple of hours later they were outside, which lead to where Roman was now, on a surfboard in the ocean. It was almost surreal. Being outside again, in the water. He had almost thought it would never happen again. It was peaceful out here. Relaxing.

After a while longer Roman headed back to the island, finding no one there when he was back. Roman went inside, looking around before finding a note from Patton.

Hi! I took Logan for a surprise and we won’t be back for awhile. There should be plenty to eat for lunch and enough to do! Maybe you guys can explore a little!

Be safe!

~Patton <3

Roman sighed after finishing the note. Maybe he should look around a little. It would be better than letting his mind go.

Roman looked through most of the rooms in the house before finding a closet. He found a few bags and started going through them, neatly folding the things in them so he could put them back quickly if someone came.

Roman finally found what he was looking for, the camera he had seen awhile ago. The reason…

No. He couldn’t focus on that now.

Roman quickly put the things back, going back to his room and hiding the camera.

Soon Patton and Logan were back, Logan was giggly, and Patton swung their hands back and forth.

After dinner, Roman took Remus upstairs, both of them watching Thomas sleep before Remus himself started to fall asleep on his feet. Once he was ok, Roman went back to his bedroom, still hearing giggling from Patton and Logan downstairs.

He quietly closed his door, getting the camera and rolling back through the videos, stopping at one with a focus on Virgil drawing on a paper.

The video started to play, and the camera shakily focused on a small Virgil, colored paper on the table a crayon in his hand.

“What are you drawing, kiddo?” Virgil glanced up to the camera, giggling, before focusing back down and drawing more.

“Us!” Virgil beams, holding the picture up to the camera.

Patton focuses on the image, a crudely drawn Virgil and Kai, standing next to what Roman assumed were their parents. At the end of the drawing, Patton stood next to Virgil.

The next video played.

Patton walked quietly into a hospital room, opening the door as if trying not to wake anyone up. “Vee-baby? You awake?”

“‘atton!” A young three year old Virgil squealed, bouncing in place in the hospital bed.

“Careful buddy!” Patton said worriedly. “You’ll tear your IV out.”

Virgil frowns, glaring down at the small needle at tape on his arm.

“I know, baby. Are you okay? Does your head hurt?”

“Happy baby!” Virgil chirps, his lower body wriggling. “Happy baby, happy babyyyyyyyy!”

Patton laughs.

The next video plays.

Patton.

In. Logan’s. House.

Again.

Logan, fast asleep and horribly un-protected, didn’t move when Patton crawled under the covers next to him.

Roman hurriedly skipped to the next video.

“Say hello to the newest family member!” An un-known man says, holding a glass up to the audience behind the camera as a teenager stepped forward.

“What’s your name dear?” The voice of Amelia’s mother asks from behind the camera.

“Blaine.”

Roman skipped to the next video.

The camera blurred as it zoomed in on a young Logan sitting in a library. He had a stack of books next to him and was writing in a binder. He glanced towards a clock on the far wall and opened his backpack, pulling out what could be assumed as his lunch.

Most of the students left as they realized the time, leaving only Logan and a few other students still there.

Behind the camera a man shouted “Hey!” and Roman could assume it was directed towards Patton, because the camera slipped out of his hands, and the recording ended.

Roman fast forwarded through more videos, the new boy Blaine in almost every beginning frame with Patton. He stopped on what that looked like it was shot in a school cafeteria.

The lights were down, almost all of them trained on the little stage.

Roman sighed as he recognized the kid on the stage.

The camera focused through the lights onto a 13 year old Roman. The words that were being said were too quiet for the camera to catch. Roman was in a costume with a crown, a fake sword on his side. A young Remus ran through, Interrupting the middle of what Roman was saying, yelling his own lines over Roman’s.

He fast forwarded through, reaching the end frame of the lights going up and bows starting.

The camera turned to the side, showing a kid Patton, smiling and jumping in his seat. “What did you think, Patton?” Beatrice’s voice came from the camera and He turned to face his mother.

“It was amazing momma, I didn’t know Roman was so good!” The video ended there, on Patton’s smiling face.

Tears dripped onto the camera. Roman hadn’t realized he was crying.

The door creaked open and Roman watched Patton step into the room.

Chapter Text

Roman groaned as he leaned over the toilet and dry heaved again. They had only gotten back from vacation yesterday, and his stomach felt like it was trying to leave through his throat. And on top of that, he was due to get his period any day n-

Oh no.

Could…How long ago was Damien’s birthday?

Five weeks.

Five weeks from when Roman had failed to unlock the knife drawer and protect Damien. Five weeks since Jason had decided to take Roman’s punishment into his own hands, rather than waiting for Patton.

Roman still felt so disgusting and unclean after that night.

But he couldn’t possibly have…Couldn’t possibly be…

“Patton!” Roman screams. His chest heaved and his hand wandered up to his face, coming away wet with tears. “Patton!”

“I’m coming Roman!” Patton frets as he hurries to the bathroom, carrying a small plate of medicine and a glass of water. “Gosh this flu must be horrible…”

Setting down the plate and glass, Patton rushes over to Roman when he sees him crying, gathering his younger brother into his arms. “Roman what’s wrong? I’m sure you’re in a lot of pain, the pills will help a-”

“I-He-I n-need!” Roman sobbed, hiccupping and holding Patton tightly as he wailed. “Jason!”

“You need Jason?” Patton asks, looking down at his brother who looked up so fast he could have given himself whiplash.

“No! No, no, no, no, no! Keep him away from me!” Roman screeched. “He-!”

“Roman, you need to calm down!” Patton worries. “Take deep breaths. Come on, in for four, hold for seven, out for-”

Once again Patton was cut off when Sela came bounding into the room, sitting protectively next to Roman. Roman holds her tightly, making sure not to hurt the thoughtful dog as he hid his face in her fur.

“That’s it Roman, you’re doing really good.” Patton encourages. “Deep breaths. Feel Sela’s fur, isn’t it soft?”

“W-When Logan a-and Damien tried to l-leave-” Roman starts. “J-Jason-!”

Dissolving into another round of tears, Patton kisses Roman’s forehead. “Take your time.”

“I n-need a te-a test.” Roman hiccups. “A…”

His voice dropped to a whisper and more silent tears rolled down his face. “A pregnancy test…”

Patton looked at him in confusion. before it dawned on him. “…Jason?”

Roman nods, bursting into tears again.

“But…” Patton stands, muttering under his breath as he tightly held his arms. “But…He wouldn’t do that…He’s my friend…He’s not like Alex…”

Roman looks up at him in shock, and begins crying harder.

Patton looks at him nervously and walks back into the kitchen, leaving Roman alone with Sela.

Ohh god.

He didn’t believe him.

He didn’t believe him, and Jason would lie, and then he’d hurt him for telling-

Patton walks back into the room holding a large, familiar butcher knife.

The one responsible for the large scar on his stomach.

Roman shudder, whimpering as he closes his eyes and tries to picture something-anything-better than this.

Warm hands and cold metal touch his palms.

And then Patton draws his hands away.

His racing heartbeat slowing slightly, Roman opens one eye.

The knife was in his hands.

And Patton sat on the edge of the tub watching him.

Roman stares down at his hands and studies the knife for a bit before pulling himself up, keeping the knife tight in his hands.

“Jason!” Patton calls. “C'mere!”

Roman can hear every footstep as Jason walks through the house to the bathroom. Quickly, before Jason walks into the room, he hides the knife behind his back.

“Yeah?” Jason asks, shoving his hands in his pockets. His gaze wanders over to Roman, and he grins. “Hey you. You haven’t been misbehaving again, have you?”

Roman shakes his head numbly, stepping towards Jason, his heart racing. Jason’s right eyebrow lifts and the corners of his mouth quirk into a smile.

Until Roman pulled out the knife.

One second was all Roman allowed himself to revel in the look of fear on Jason’s face before he grabbed his shoulder and sunk the blade into his heart.

Jason’s mouth gaped open like a fish as he crumples to the ground, and Roman sobs as he rips the knife out and plunges it into Jason’s stomach.

Continuing to stab Jason over and over, Roman doesn’t even notice Patton move next to him and kneel down, until the knife is gently being pried out of his hands.

“C'mon.” Patton says softly, holding Roman’s hand. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”

Chapter Text

“Happy birthday!” Patton cheers sadistically, throwing a small handful of confetti up into the air.

From behind a pair of dark sunglasses, Remy glared.

“Aw, cat got your tongue, Rems?” Patton teases lightly, pulling the duct-tape off of Remy’s mouth.

“Don’t call me that.” Remy bites out. “And fuck you.”

Patton frowns, pressing his palm down on the open cut on Remy’s thigh, making him wince, then cry out. “There is going to be no swearing tolerated in this house mister. Besides, don’t you want to see your birthday gift? You have to be good if you want to see!”

“I don’t want anything of yours.” Remy scolds, leaning away from Patton. “I’d rather cut off my arms.”

“Noted.” Patton says cheerfully, taking off Remy’s sunglasses with one quick swipe.

“Give those back!” Remy demands, straining forward against the ropes. “You had no right taking those, they were-”

“A gift from your younger brother Damien.” Patton says simply, raising an eyebrow at Remy.

“What no, he’s my cousin you idiot! Now give them back!” Remy yells.

“When you behave. For the meantime…” Patton moves behind Remy and rustles around. “You can wear this instead.”

Patton sets something against Remy’s neck and fastens it tightly, partly cutting off his breath.

“What the fuck?” Remy thrashes around. “I don’t need a dog collar, I’m not a dog!”

Patton presses a button, and a loud shock of electricity courses through Remy’s body. “It’s not a dog collar silly, it’s a shock collar.”

Remy looks up at him in shock, his mouth slightly agape, before croaking out. “You’re fucking sick.”

Another shock races through him, and Remy’s entire body shakes.

“Wh-Where’s my hat?” He shakily manages to say, only just noticing the absence of the familiar weight on his head.

“I burned it, Remy. Enough of your silly childish pretend. We’re Christians.”

Remy’s mouth dropped open. “Babes, have you taken a history class?”

“Of course I did!” Patton smiles. “Why?”

“I can’t believe you…” Remy mumbles, staring down at the floor.

“See? Much better behaved already!” Patton beams. “Now Remy love, are you done with your tantrum?”

“How could you believe I’m your kid? Or Damien? I’m twenty for fuck’s sake, you’re thirty-two! If I was your biological son, you would have had to have me at twelve!”

“God finds a way.” Patton says firmly, beginning to untie Remy’s binds. “She should be waking up soon.”

Remy glances worriedly over at the smaller person slumped over in the corner, still fast asleep. The only sign they weren’t dead being the slow rise and fall of his chest.

“That’s…” Remy squints, trying to see the person through the darkness of the basement they were in. “That’s Kai…That kid’s older sibling who looks after him…Let me guess, they’re your kid too?”

“Of course!” Patton chirps. “All five of you are!”

“Five…Who’s the last?”

“Don’t act dumb kiddo, you know who your siblings are!” Patton’s grip tightens on Remy’s arm as he begins to pull him up the stairs.

Remy steels himself for whatever was ahead, bracing as Patton opened the door and lead him into…A relatively nice kitchen?

Remy curses his minor in interior design, why did he have to like this psycho’s kitchen?

Patton bursts into a horribly off-key happy birthday, and some familiar faces walked into the kitchen to investigate.

Roman Sanders, the famous author, leading his twin brother Remus behind him. While his eyes widened at seeing Remy and Remy quietly heard him whisper, “Not again”, Remus simply stared blankly ahead.

Logan Crofters, a teacher at Damien’s old school was soon to follow. “Patton-bear?”

Remy scowled, disgusted. So the police were right in suspecting he was an accomplice.

“Dami!” Patton calls. “Come here please! Virgil!”

“Dad, it’s no one’s-” Damien stops short in the doorway when he sees Remy. Remy could here the sarcasm practically dripping from his mouth when he’d called Patton ‘dad’.

“There’s Thomas!” Patton coos, gently taking him from Virgil, who seemed to be struggling under the weight. “Your brother and sibling are back from their trips! Isn’t that exciting!”

“Sibling?” Virgil looks up, and Remy looks at the kid nervously, before nodding a confirmation towards Damien.

“Virge, why don’t you and Remy and I go to our room?” Damien suggests lightly, grabbing Virgil’s hand.

“Actually, Virgil, I’ll need to see you in about…Half and hour or so. Okay buddy?”

Virgil nods, completely throwing his trust at Patton.

Remy walks over to Damien slowly, and follows the two upstairs.

Damien and Virgil sit down on one of the beds in what Remy supposed was their room, and Damien and Remy stare at each other for what felt like an hour.

“I…I can’t believe you’re here.” Damien shakily runs his un-casted hand through his curls.

“Did he do that to you.” Remy stares at the baby blue cast, one finger subconsciously pulling at the shock collar while Virgil stared between the two with confusion.

“What’s going on?” Virgil asks.

“It’s okay Virgil.” Damien pauses, and uncertainly pulls Virgil closer to him, wrapping his arm around Virgil’s shoulder. “It’s just been a bit since Remy had been home yeah? We’ve all missed him. Isn’t it time for your nap?”

Virgil nods tiredly and closes his eyes, leaning against Damien’s side. Damien scoops Virgil up and carries him over to the other bed, placing him down and pulling the covers up to his chin.

“What’d Patton do to him?” Remy asks, sitting down on Damien’s bed. “No kid falls asleep that fast.”

“Patton gives him this medicine that makes him drowsy, because he likes to hold him and watch him sleep.” Damien shudders with disgust. “I don’t know what exactly happened to Virgil. He’s been like that since we first got taken again. It must’ve been something bad…Sometimes he talks in his sleep…”

“That’s so fucking creepy.” Remy huffs. “How are we supposed to get out of here? You were always the schemer.”

“I have no idea.” Damien admits, fiddling with his sweater sleeves. “We’ve tried so much…We always fail.”

“So what, you gave up?” Damien remains silent, and Remy’s face softens. “You missed Imani Tanner’s party, by the way.”

“Don’t remind me.” Damien groans. “And going to college, and taking my driver’s lesson, and working at the bakery, and going to Maisy’s bat mitzvah…”

He trails off, tears falling down his face. “I’ve missed so much because of Patton…We didn’t even celebrate my birthday this time around because we tried to escape. He…He broke my arm on my fucking birthday!”

The only thing Remy could do was hug him.

Chapter Text

Kai squinted, rubbing at her eyes as they slowly sat up, peering around the dark basement concerned. “Hello? Is-Is anyone-” Trying to stand, they look down at the chains locked around his waist, connecting her to the wall. “…What?”

“You just couldn’t stay out of it, could you?” A light flickers on, and Kai finds himself face to face with Patton Heart himself.

“You-” Kai takes in a deep breath of air, cutting off when he waved a poster in her face.

One of the missing posters she had made last year for Virgil.

“First you made these, and then this year after I took my son back home, you hired a private investigator?” Patton accuses angerily.

“He’s not your son.” Kai builds up the courage to say. “Please, please just let us go, he’s the only family I have left, and I need to look after him-”

“Well congratulations, Kai. Let’s have a little reunion, yeah?”

Despite the horrible circumstances, Kai perked up as Patton headed up the stairs. They would be able to see Virgil, after all this time?

To make sure he was okay.

“Virgil! Can you come down now please?” Patton yells.

Kai waits with bated breath.

Please be okay, please be okay, please be-

“Okay dad!” Virgil yells, running into the kitchen and stopping short when he sees Patton waiting by the basement door. “What?”

“Come with me please, Virgey.” Patton smiles, noticing the scared look on his son’s face as he started to tear up. “I promise you’re not in trouble.”

“O-kay.” Virgil sniffles, wiping at his tears as he took his father’s hand and followed him into the basement.

“Virgil.” Kai breathes out, relieved. She strained against the chains, trying to get to his brother as Virgil looked up at Patton, unsure.

“It’s alright baby.” Patton reassures him, and Kai scowls.

“Kai!” Forgetting his fear, the boy ran over to Kai and enveloped them in the tightest hug Kai had felt in a while. “You came back!”

“What?” Kai looks at him in confusion. “Are you okay Vee?”

“Yeah!”

“Virgey.” Patton interrupts. “Kai brought something for you.”

“You did!” Virgil bounces in place excitedly.

“Yeah, on that chair over there.” Patton points, and Virgil gasps and rushes over to where his old baby blanket was draped over a chair.

“Blanky! I missed you! Thank you Kai!”

Kai swallows. “No problem buddy. It’s gonna be okay.”

“What?” Virgil smiles at her in confusion.

“Sit down please, Vee-Vee.” Patton instructs. Virgil settles into the seat with a smile, looking on nervously as Patton grabbed some ropes and started to tie him down.

“Dad?” Virgil worries, “What’s going on?”

“Your brother got into trouble when she was on their trip, opening a private investigation. I’m afraid I’ve had to make arrangements.”

“No!” Kai strains forward, realizing what Patton was implying. “Don’t you touch him! He didn’t do anything, you sick bastard!”

Virgil begins to cry, moving around in the chair. “What’s going on?” He whines.

“Hold still.” Patton demands, grabbing some pliers off a table and holding Virgil’s shoulder to stop his squirming.

“Dad, I’m scared!” Virgil cries, his lip trembling.

“Don’t worry baby, it’ll all be over in a minute.” Patton moves his hand to Virgil’s neck and forces his mouth open, moving the pliers inside before he could close it again.

“Stop it!” Kai yells.

Virgil screams when Patton attaches the pliers to Virgil’s teeth and begins to pull. “‘op! ‘op! 'ease 'a!”

Blood gushes out from Virgil’s mouth as Patton yanks out the tooth, Virgil screaming bloody murder. Grabbing a vial, Patton sticks it in Virgil’s mouth and allows some blood to fill it, before pulling it out and sticking a cotton gauze into his mouth to stop the bleeding.

“Fuck you!” Kai cries, tears rolling down her face. “He didn’t do anything you fucking heartless monster! It was my fault!”

“Ohh, I know.” Patton says calmly, leaving the struggling Virgil in the chair and walking over to them. “That’s why I’m taking two.”

Kai’s eyes widen as Patton forcibly shoves his mouth open and clamps the pliers around one of their back molars. Kai struggles fleetingly as Patton yanks the tooth out and drops it onto the table next to Virgil’s.

Patton hurriedly moves back over to Kai and yanks a second tooth out with the same ferocity. Grabbing a different vial, Patton sets the tooth down and collects Kai’s blood, then puts two cotton gauzes into her mouth.

“Ohh, you’ve got a blood clot there.” Patton notices sadistically, peering into their mouth. “That must hurt.”

Kai sobbed in time with his brother, both of them wondering in different ways how Patton could do something like that.

Patton unties Virgil, who practically throws himself into Patton’s arms.

“I know, baby.” Patton coos. “I’m sorry. Do you forgive me?”

Virgil sobs more, but manages to nod his head before Patton sets him down next to Kai.

Chapter Text

Patton had been planning the move for about two weeks now. Of course, they had to move, they couldn’t just stay in Jason’s house with his blood staining into the bathroom tiles. Besides, it would be nice to be closer to Patton’s family, maybe even get to take his family out into the community!

They had stayed for a few days at one of Patton’s college friends, Nico’s house, which had been absolutely splendid! Nico was so accommodating for Roman, even though Patton had to lock him in Nico’s guest room a few times for continuing to babble on about killing an innocent life.

By which of course Patton meant the baby and not Jason.

Ugh…Even the name gave him shudders. How could he have trusted such a meanie?

Even so, Nico had been nice enough to give Virgil some pins when he noticed Virgil’s interest in them.

But now everyone was finally at their new home, all set up of course by Beatrice, and with plenty of lovely accommodations to fit his unique families need.

Patton couldn’t wait to try some of them out.

And of course, what better way to celebrate moving out of that cramped house then with presents?

Virgil had bounced up and down on his toes, a shy smile gracing his features as Patton gave him some glittery purple eyeshadow.

“Now, I know black goes with everything, but I’m sure purple can go with most of your dark toned dresses!” Patton says excitedly.

“Thank you dad!” Virgil practically leapt into Patton’s arms, and the man held him tight.

“Roman? Logan?” Patton turned to the two. “Your gifts are upstairs in your rooms. You’ll know which one’s yours when you see them.”

Logan and Roman exchange a glance and then head up the stairs together. From the top of the landing, they could see four doors, each one painted, and one plain white door. The one down the hall was painted with a black nights sky, littered with stars.

“Are these our presents?” Logan asks quietly, gently running his fingers over the painting on the door that was surely his.

“Patton said in the rooms.” Roman steps towards the door next to Logan’s, decorated with a painting of a huge tower, a small figure on horseback approaching.

Looking to each other nervously, they took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Stepping inside, Logan’s hand flew up to his mouth to muffle a gasp of shock. In the middle of the room, wrapped with a dark blue bow was a telescope, already pointed up at the huge skylight.

“Stars…” Logan whispered to himself.

Even though it was daylight, he wanted to look through, hoping foolishly that if he just looked hard enough, he might spot a twinkling light in the sky.

Roman let out a small cry of excitement when he saw the typewriter sitting on a desk under a window, wrapped in a red bow.

Patton handed his next gift to Damien, a double headed snake pin and a book on cooking puns.

“Thank you dad.” Damien grits out, plastering a fake smile on his face.

Looking over at the still sleeping Kai and Remy, Patton giggles and places a blanket with a coffee cup pattern and a small Gameboy onto the drugged young-adults laps.

Thomas shrieked from where he was sat on the silent Remus’s lap, reaching out to grab a fistful of Virgil’s dress.

“No, I didn’t frog-get you silly billy.” Patton winks, moving over to the almost one year old.

The pun makes more sense as Patton pulls a stuffed frog out of the bag and lets Thomas grab it.

Virgil gasps and bends down. “Look Thomas!” He coos, pointing to the frog. “It’s got two green hearts on it!”

Patton smiles fondly and ruffles Virgil’s hair. Virgil plays with Thomas and the frog for a minute before looking up at Patton in confusion.

“What about Uncle Remus’s present?” He asks innocently.

“Ohh, I was going to get him a colouring book.” Patton shrugs offhandly. “But it would be useless, wouldn’t it Virgil? His hands can’t grip a pencil anymore.”

Remus’s hands lay at his side, the fingers bent forward as if they were holding something, frozen in place except for when Remus’s hands twitched.

“I just don’t think Remus wanted a present.” Patton shrugs.

Virgil’s face falls. “Oh…Well maybe I could-!”

“Why don’t you go upstairs.” Patton cuts in. “Go see your room and get settled. Try to stay quiet while Logan is working on getting the lesson plans together please, okay hunnie? You’re going back to school tomorrow and he has two new students.”

Virgil pouts, sighing a soft ‘okay’ before moving upstairs. Looking between all the doors, Virgil opens the one painted with a slightly cloudy sky, the UP house painted beautiful against the soft blues. Inside looked to be a nursery with lots of toys and two cribs inside.

Virgil shuts the door and moves over to the door painted with a night sky, pausing when he heard voices from within.

“-quite worried about it, Roman! Before all this Thomas was speaking almost twenty words! Now that he’s almost one, his vocabulary should be in the forties or fifties, even the one hundreds if he took after Remus. But now he barely says two words…I just…”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine Logan.” The voice of Uncle Roman said softly. “He’ll catch up. Remus hardly ever spoke until we were seven.”

“This isn’t a matter of a slight developmental delay, this is a child speaking twenty words in a loving household to resorting to communicating through shrieks. That’s not normal! Children are figuratively sponges at that age, he’s supposed to be learning! What if…What if…I-I can’t help him?”

Virgil pushes open the door and the two stop in their tracks.

“Is something wrong with Thomas?” Virgil asks.

“Hello…” Logan stops, trying to decide on a word. “Kiddo…What are you doing up here?”

“Is something wrong with Thomas?” Virgil repeats, the eyeshadow still clutched tightly in his palm. “You’ll be able to help him, right dad.”

“Of course Virgil.” Logan gently bends down and cups the side of Virgil’s face like he had seen Patton do when Virgil was scared. “Thomas will be fine. He has a great…Older brother like you to look out for him.”

Logan pauses unsurely, before gently circling Virgil’s face like his mother had done to him as a child. Tracing over in a circle as Virgil closes his eyes, down the bridge of his nose, over his mouth, his eyebrows, his eyes, before returning to circle once more. Stopping, Logan taps Virgil’s chin, and moves away.

Virgil’s eyes open, more dulled and calm then panicked. Roman had watched them with interest, and almost a soft fondness and Logan’s attempts to bond with? Soothe? Virgil.

“How about I show you your room, and then we go down to have dinner?” Logan suggests quietly.

Virgil nods and reaches up to grab Logan’s hand as Roman goes back downstairs to be with Remus. The two go out into the hallway and Logan opens the door painted with a vast jungle scene, a yellow snake hanging from a tree near the front.

Virgil smiles excitedly when he sees the two bunkbeds in the room. “Just like in the house on the mountain!”

“…Yeah.” A flash of sadness crosses Logan’s face and he quickly replaces it with a smile. “Are you hungry? Let’s go eat.”

“Okay!” Virgil chirps, bounding downstairs. Logan stares around the room before abruptly shutting the door.

Chapter Text

The sun was astonishingly bright the day of Jason's funeral. Roman could even swear he saw a rainbow out his window from the rain the night before.

"How about this?" The sound of Patton's gasp filter's through the hallway and into Roman's bedroom.

Stepping into the hallway, Roman peers into the kid's bedroom. Patton held up a white suit in front of Remy excitedly, while Remy toyed with the shock collar on his neck.

"Babes, I don't do white." Remy glares. Roman noticed that his neck was faintly red.

"It's tradition." Patton insists. "And you're wearing it whether you like it or not."

"It's tradition to wear white to some rapist's funeral?" Remy snorts, shoving the suit towards Patton.

"Yes," Patton says breezily, his right eye twitching with held back anger. "Now put it on."

"He will." Damien hurriedly finishes tying his bowtie and grabs the suit from Patton. "He will."

Remy rolls his eyes as Patton leaves the room and Kai quietly shuts the door.

"Come on." Patton smiles brightly at Roman and grabs his arm, leading him back into the bedroom he shared with Remus. Opening the closet, Patton grabs something from the very back and has it pulled out. "Mom made this for you, custom."

Roman stares at the blood-red suit and tie, not a single other colour on it. "Tradition?" He asks quietly. His voice shook with quiet fear, yet he didn't quite know why he was scared.

Patton nods and hands it to him. "I have to go help Logie."

Roman watched Patton walk away, a look of distaste on his face. Moving into the upstairs bathroom he started to put on the button up. When he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, the red hard to miss, Roman went back that day in the bathroom, the blood running, staining his hands, the floor, everything.

He glanced out the window in the car watching the trees go past. Patton had rushed them out quickly, talking about being late. Roman watched as Remus leaned his head against the other window, his eyes drifting to the outside. Roman smiled at the little movement, happy his brother was finding some way to enjoy this. Hopefully this was a sign of him getting better. They'd been working really hard to hide their little movements from Patton.

The car slowed to a stop on the edge of some woods, a few cars already parked nearby.

Remy gently touched his red neck, now free from the collar as Patton thought he'd had enough good behavior. Stepping out of the car, Damien found Remy's hand and held it tightly, Thomas on his hip. Virgil bounced out of the car and raced over to the tree line carelessly, stooping down to look at sticks and pretty rocks.

Roman helped Remus out of the car, Kai following after them as Patton and Logan got out of the front.

"Come on everyone!" Patton said cheerfully, a bright smile on his face as he bounded over to a person he knew, dragging Logan behind him.

Damien whispers a low warning to Remy as they follow Patton into the woods, hoping his smart ass cousin wouldn't try anything after just earning Patton's trust.

"Hello Patton." Beatrice practically glides over to her son, her hair and outfit pristine, almost as if the forest itself was scared to sully her outfit.

Pulling Patton into a half hug, Beatrice manages a small smile to the family before her normal frown returned, bending down to hug Virgil.

"Hi mom!" Patton says chipperly. "Hello Genevieve!"

The malnourished servant following behind Beatrice briefly looks past the family, before her gaze returns to the earth floor.

"It's almost starting puppet, I'll see you after." Beatrice hugs Patton once more and drifts off, Roman and Damien letting out a sigh of relief at her exit.

"Come to the front please Roman." A petite woman with brown hair piled into a bun on her head approached the small group, holding her hand out to Roman. She looked to be only a few years younger than Beatrice, and her eyes flickered every now and then with the anger Roman say in Patton when he first tried to run away from the house on the mountains so long ago.

Roman picked his poison, looking to Patton for help.

Patton smiled comfortingly, giving Roman a gently push towards the woman. "It's okay Ro-Ro! Go with Ella."

Roman reluctantly let go of Remus's hand and allowed his hand to be taken, following Ella silently to the front of the group, where a deep grave had been dug. Ella smooths of the bottom of her pure white dress, turning Roman forcefully to face the grave.

"Look down." Ella commands. "Look at him."

Roman shakes his head, his eyes squeezed shut, bile rising up the back of his throat. "I can't." He whispers, his voice barely there.

"Look at him." Ella says sharply, harshly grabbing Roman's face and pointing it down towards the grave. "Look at my son."

Her son? Roman almost puked. Forcing his eyes open, Roman peered down into the grave.

There Jason was, white as a ghost, not even graced as much as a casket.

"He is below you." Ella says loudly, her voice firm and clear to the audience that looked up at you.

"Only worms go below into the embraces of hell. He is below you. He is a worm." The sea of people said in unison. In the back, Roman could just barely see Patton saying the words too, Damien and Remy looking around in discomfort.

A man walked up to Roman and Ella and kissed her, holding his hand out from Roman to shake. "I'm Everitt." He introduced lowly, not wanting to disturb the community.

"You are above him." Everitt continued in a louder voice, as both he and Ella placed a hand on each of Roman's shoulders.

"Those who follow the written path of their lives, without struggle fall to the grace of our God above. We will rise." Roman blanched at the creepily in synch voices. "We all return to dirt at the end, but before we send others to dirt. We are dust."

Now the crowd broke off, the women continuing to speak. "We are dust, we drift through the world unnoticed until the sun shines through the windows or we collect on a shelf."

"God is our window. The community is our shelf." The men continued.

"We are seen." Everitt and Ella say loudly, projecting their voices to everyone. Reaching into his pocket, Everitt pulls out a long dagger and holds Roman tightly so he can't squirm away.

"W-Wait!" Roman panics, thrashing in his grip as Everitt pulled the knife across the top of Roman's arm, sharp pain shooting through him.

Roman screams in pain as Ella moves his hand to hover over the grave, the small river of blood pouring down onto Jason's corpse. Everitt cuts his arm next, before handing the knife to Ella, who does the same. As Roman collapses in agony to the forest floor, they allow their blood to cascade down on Jason's head.

"One who has wronged has felt the blood of his parents. Their disappointment. A family is torn apart but made." The unison of voices spoke.

Roman screamed.

Chapter Text

"Okay, open your eyes!"

Virgil's eyes slipped open and he stared at himself in awe in the mirror. He had been dressed in a dark purple gown with silver and gold glitter, and a longer skirt in the back then there was in the front.

"Ahh!" Squealing, Virgil flaps his hands in excitement, jumping into Patton's arms. "I love it dad!"

"I shouldn't need to do any more adjustments before the party." The woman that had made the dress tells Patton, playfully poking Virgil's stomach. "As long as you stay off the sweets!"

Virgil giggles, hiding his face as Patton spun him around, the glitter glinting and twinkling from the glow of the crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"Do you like it Kai?" Virgil squeaks as he races over to his older sibling and jumps into her arms.

Kai stared at him for a long time, making Vigil squirm uncomfortably before they finally quietly said, "Yes. I do. You look beautiful, Vee-Vee."

Kai's gaze wandered back up to the woman, images and films flashing through his head.

Gabriella Baker, gone missing two years ago.
-disappeared from the school yard where she was-
Now nineteen years old, she may look-
-seen or heard anything please don't hesitate to call-
"Kai?"

Kai shook their head, clearing the thoughts that zoomed through.

Gabriella Baker, gone missing two years ago.

Found her.

"How does it feel sitting down?" Gabriella asks.

"It's fine." Kai says politely. "It feels fine."

Do you remember your parents?
Did they call you Gabby? Ella?
What do they call you here?
"Thank you so much for this, Andrina!" Patton gently hugs the girl.

Were you angry when they first called you that?
Did you feel like you were going crazy?
Maybe this is all just a dream...
Wake up, Kai...
"I should be all set for the suits and everything, but it was so lovely seeing you again." Andrina smiles gently. "Come back anytime Virgil. I'll let you try your hand at my sewing machine!"

"You might have competition." Patton teases, holding his arms out to Virgil, who returns to him like a loyal puppy. "Let's get you to bed Virgil. The parties going to end really late and I want to to clear out some of those bags under your eyes."

Kai stands as the two head out the door and Andrina moves to give her a friendly goodbye hug.

"Goodbye Gabriella." Kai says softly, her eyes trained on her.

Andrina tilts her head in confusion. "It's Andrina...Never got that one before! I get my name is rare but most of the time I get an Adrianna or Arianna."

"Sorry." Kai stares down at the ground. "Must've spaced out or something."

Heading outside, Patton immediately grabs her arm tightly as the three begin to walk down the sidewalk, Virgil skipping a little ways ahead.

Night dawned quickly, and Patton shook Virgil awake from his nap to get ready for the long night ahead. Most of Beatrice's lavish parties spilled into the morning of the next day, and this would be far from an exception. Her servants had worked for hours making her house pristine, and cooking food so divine you would prefer it to that of the food of heaven itself.

Beatrice, of course, would take all the praise for that.

Patton made sure that each of his families ties would be straighter than the men wearing them, not a hair out of place, with any marks and red lines covered with a small slathering of makeup.

Virgil's dress had been carefully ironed out, and even Sela wore her designer bow and collar.

Patton cooed as he strapped Thomas into his stroller. "Everyone is gonna love you Tom-Tom! You're just so cute!"

"Tommy." Logan says under his breath, staring down at Thomas, who giggles up at him.

"Ha-Out!" Thomas yells, making Logan blink in surprise.

Sela yaps and noses Virgil's leg as the door opens, straining slightly against her leash. Virgil reaches down and pats her on the head, before obediently following Patton down the sidewalk, Kai holding tight to his hand.

Roman carefully followed behind them, holding Remus's hand and guiding him as they turned corners and crossed the street.

"Look Rem." He whispers. "The moon is full tonight. That's important to you...Right? Look up at the moon Rem."

Remus very slowly looks up at the moon and something flickers behind his eyes. Putting his head back down, he coughs, his voice raspy from underuse. He looks desperately at the floor as he tries to force himself to speak, but can do nothing more than squeeze Roman's hand. Roman smiles to himself and praises Remus under his voice.

In the very back walked Damien and Remy, once more free of his shock collar for the night. As they walked Damien glanced around at the scenery, but Remy stared forward with a look of determination on his features.

"There's my puppet!" Beatrice forces a smile as Patton races into the main entrance to hug her. "Easy now Patton, what have we said about hugging?"

"Gentle. And not for too long." Patton recites, pulling back and smiling creepily. "I'm going to say hello to Papa! William, can you take my family into the ballroom?"

A male servant standing against the wall nods and steps forward as Patton bounds upstairs, a few ghosts peering around the corner and watching with interest.

The group migrates into the ballroom, and Virgil looks around at the gleaming chandeliers in awe, the floor polished so much it shone. "It's like a castle, Kai!"

At the top of the ceiling, around the chandelier weaved some more ghosts, almost as if they were dancing.

"There's so many." Damien says uneasily.

Remy raises a brow. "Almost like they were murdered here." He snarks.

Roman and Remus take Thomas and move over to a corner in the very back of the ballroom, and Logan looks around, unsure of what to do.

"Hello Papa!" Patton says cheerfully as he enters his father's bedroom.

"Patton?" Perce squints. "Why, Patton! Come here!"

Patton beams and moves to sit on the other side of his bed.

"My, you're so tall now." Perce comments. "You're back so soon!"

Patton shakes his head earnestly. "Oh, no papa. It's been a very long time."

"Has it been?" Perce shakes his head and coughs. "I forget. You must forgive me. Dying takes a lot of me."

"Oh, don't say that papa!" Patton covers his ears childishly. "You can't go! Not yet! You have to meet the rest of my little family, all your grandchildren!"

"Ohh, Patton. Still your mother's little puppet I see." Perce smiles. "Don't you ever tell me when I can die. I'll see God when I damn please too."

Patton jumps slightly at the sudden dark tone in his father's voice. "Sorry papa...I forgot."

"Of course you did!" Perce says roughly, then laughs. "You'd forget your own name if it wasn't zapped into you, haha!"

Perce delves into another coughing fit and Patton excuses himself, heading back downstairs and into the ballroom.

"There you are!" A sing-song voice calls as Patton wraps his arm around Logan's waist, turning to face the voice. "We barely even saw you at the funeral, could have forgotten you were there if it wasn't for that sweet voice of yours!"

"Loretta!" Patton squeals as a woman in her younger fifties comes over and throws her arms around him.

"Ohh, we missed you sweet boy!" She gushes, her tone changing to be playfully scolding. "You should have come home sooner!"

"I missed it here!" Patton admits, hugging her again. "Oh, but it was so fun teaching at the college!"

"And you must be Logan!" Loretta smiles, turning to him, winking at Patton. "You sure picked a fine one Patty-cake."

Logan's face flushes red as Patton pulls him closer with a grin. "Where's Murphey?"

Loretta throws her hands up. "Oh goodness! At the card table, probably! I can hardly manage him these days! But you must come over soon Patton!"

"I will!" Patton promises.

Remy stares down at the plates of food in disgust, everything far to fancy, even for him.

"You'd think rich people wouldn't want to eat snails and fish eggs, right?"

Remy freezes, then slowly looks to the left. "Uh...Yeah."

The girl beside him giggles, popping an un-known light pink pastry into her mouth. "I'm Cecily. You might want to duck."

"What-" Remy's eyes widen behind his sunglasses, and he barely manages to duck as something whizzes over his head.

"Don't worry." Cecily whispers from her crouched position, smoothing out her dress. "She's just teasing."

Remy stands back up and turns to face the woman before him, then turns to see what was thrown, a long pointed throwing knife that now stuck out of the wall.

"Holy fuck." Remy whispers.

"See Cecily, look at me? Do I look energized? It's as easy as that!"

Cecily rolls her eyes and grabs Remy's wrist, making him turn back towards her. "Stop it Madeline. I don't want to kill him. He's family."

"No, you just don't want to kill him." Madeleine huffs. "What about one of Beatrice's servants? She'll never notice one missing!"

"What's your body count?" Cecily asks suddenly, looking deep into Remy's eyes.

"What?" Remy bites back the urge to scream. "That is none of your business and I'm not part of your sicko family!"

"Not sex you big bird brain." Cecily rolls her eyes. "Have you killed anyone yet?"

"No!" Remy screeches, becoming flustered. God, this would never happen if he hadn't been cut of from society! He just hadn't see a girl in so...No! You can fight this Remy!
"See!" Cecily turns to Madeline triumphantly. "He hasn't killed anyone and he's my age!"

"Are you marrying my sister?" Madeline asks bluntly, not-so-subtly judging him.

"What's happening?" Remy barely manages to say.

"Your dad is talking to our mum, and I'm too old for you." Madeline explains like he's a toddler. "So are they putting you and CiCi together?"

The two girls point to where Loretta was talking with Patton.

"I don't know you!" Remy whisper yells. "Either of you!"

He walks off quickly, looking back at the two in confusion as they watched him go, laughing at him. Bumping into someone, he quickly looks up to see the person he recognized as the nurse Amelia that Roman and Damien told him about.

"Remy." She breathes out in relief, clamping a hand over his mouth and quickly drags him into the kitchen.

Remy squirms in defiance, shoving her hand off of his mouth. "What the hell lady? I ain't getting kidnapped twice babes!"

"Remy, shut up!" She scolds him quietly, looking around cautiously before digging around in the pocket of her gown. "Remy, take this. Make sure it goes in Roman's cup during dinner, only Roman's! On that table is where the chefs will put all the trays of dinner once they're done cooking and waiting to serve them. They will have nametags."

She pulls out a vial filled with a greenish brown liquid and presses it into his hands, grabbing his face and pulling his sunglasses off.

"I want you to look at me and promise it will only go in Roman's cup okay? You need to hide under the cabinet while the chefs are placing the trays down, but then they should leave."

"And why the fuck should I trust you?" Remy snaps, slapping her hand away.

Amelia slaps him, and Remy holds his cheek in shock. "Because I fucking told you too. Now, there will be a tray that belongs to George Lebent. You are going to pour this into his tea."

Amelia takes out another vial, with yellow contents, and hands it to Remy. "Do not mix them up."

Looking around cautiously, Amelia opens the large cupboard under the counter and shoves Remy inside, closing the door behind him and hurrying off.

Remy sits for a moment in shocked silence in the dark of the cupboard, before coming back to his senses and trying to climb out. He freezes as the door opens and a few men come in, pushing large carts piled high with food on fancy plates.

The men carefully move all the plates to the top of the island, moving around the room and grabbing things out of drawers.

They eventually leave, and Remy carefully climbs out, glancing at the food on the island, and then down at the vials in his hand.

"No way." He scoffs, pouring the vial meant for Roman into George Lebent's cup. "Probably wanted to kill him or something, sicko..."

Staring down at the vial meant for George uneasily, Remy sets the vial down on a counter and heads back into the ballroom.

Through the large window in the kitchen, the full moon flashed brightly, illuminating the dark room as a figure with short, side parted hair and muddy jeans flashed in and out of view. Their shirt was slightly ripped, and their hair was stringy like they had fallen in mud and let it dry. The back of their head was completely blown open, the skin and bone gone, with a small amount of brain seeping out of the skull.

Seagull glanced around the room as they continued to flicker, carefully grabbing the remaining vial and popping the cork off. It falls to the floor with a soft thud and Seagull empties the entire vial into Perce Heart's cup.

They flicker, and completely vanish, the vial crashing to the floor with a loud shattering of glass.

No one in the ball room heard the crash, the chatter and small amount of dancing muffling the other rooms.

Virgil twirls around, his skirt billowing out as he ignored everyone in the room, simply closing his eyes and playing with Sela quietly. Sela snuffles Virgil's leg with her nose, giving him a small kiss between Virgil's tights and the bottom of his dress.

Kai smiles at him, gently spinning him around as they tried to imagine themself at one of Virgil's school dances she had been dragged too, but the tailored suit dress and expensive clothes were making it hard to pretend.

Roman slowly fed Thomas some of the more baby safe food options as Remus stared off into space in the direction of the ghosts on the ceiling.

"Don't worry." Roman whispers, reading his twin. "That's not gonna happen."

Remus slowly moves his head over to Roman and holds out his hands as a sign he wanted to hold Thomas. Roman beams. Remus wanting anything was a good sign.

Remy smiled as he shoved another fancy watch in his suit's pockets. He had wandered around the large mansion for a while, stopping in the unattended rooms to search for a phone to call the police with, and valuables to steal for fun. He was finally back in the swing of things.

"It's time for dinner!" A servant's loud voice echoed through the rooms closest to the ballroom, and the kitchen doors burst open as servants hurriedly began to set the food down on the long dining table, not wanting to face punishment.

The servants disappear as quickly as they come, and Patton hounds his family over to the table, smiling happily. Everyone sits down and on Beatrice's cue, begins to eat. Patton's "family" begins to nervously eat as soon as he does, save for Virgil who happily chewed on his roll, and Logan, who was seemingly not nervous, but quiet.

Sela crawls under the table and makes herself comfortable in between Virgil and Kai, happily eating the food scraps Virgil held under the table for her.

Clearing his throat uncomfortably, George Lebent adjusts his collar, sweat trickling down his brown. Pulling out a handkerchief, he continued to dab at his face before breaking out into a fit of coughs, his face beet red.

Remy watched him from down the table, his eyes wide as saucers as his face as pale as a sheet as another man worriedly patted him on the back.

"I think he's choking!" A woman realized, gasping. "Amelia! Amelia, your father is choking!"

"Where is she?" The man next to George asks, looking around the room.

People began to stand up as they realized she was absent from her spot at the table. George falls to the floor, pulling some of the tablecloth down with him and making some of the dinnerware crash to the floor.

The crowd of people mashed around the room, and Patton grabbed Virgil and Damien's hands, leading them away from the man who everyone realized was dying. Damien grabbed Remy's hand and Kai managed to grab Virgil's, Sela barking in alarm as people in the room began to panic. Remus squeezed Roman's hand so hard it drew blood, carrying his child away and pulling his stunned brother behind him. Logan stepped away from the crowd worriedly, part of him wanting to go and examine the man, and the other not wanting to get crushed.

And upstairs, Perce sipped peacefully from his cup of tea.

His death was more quiet than George's suffering downstairs, but much more drawn out. His hand clutched at his chest as he gasped for air, and he muttered no last words. No cries for Beatrice or his Patton.

No.

When Perce Heart died, he looked up at the ceiling and smiled.

For he was sure he saw God.

Chapter Text

George Lebent was carefully removed and taken to the small hospital attached to Amelia's house, in hopes of finding something to cure him. Groups had began to form around the ballroom, the woman anxiously chattering about what was happening while most of the men had left to go find Amelia.

Remus hugged Thomas close as he fed him a bottle, making noises almost like cooing down at him. A word flashed in his mind "Leech" but he couldn't recall why.

But it felt important.

Roman watched over Remus cautiously, making sure to look over at Damien and Remy occasionally to make sure they were still alright.

Remy seemed shaken out of his skin, his eyes wide behind his sunglasses, which he had managed to sneak back on during the commotion without Patton realizing.

Virgil sat quietly, Sela's head resting on his lap as Kai shielded him from seeing anything that would make him anxious.

"Is that man going to be okay, dad?" Virgil asks him, peering up at Patton.

"Oh, I'm sure he will." Patton says happily. "He just had an upset stomach is all, VeeVee."

The door to the large ballroom pushed open and the small servant Damien recognized as Genevieve entered, her legs shaking like a new-born horses.

He had seen her often, behind Beatrice at the funeral, and robotically obeying beside James at Jason's home, the day Remus and Logan had-

He couldn't even bear think it.

"Ma'am." The voice was barely a whisper, sounding close to tears.

Beatrice doesn't even notice her, continuing to talk with one of the other women.

"Ma'am, Sir Heart is dead." Genevieve said quietly. "I went up to go take his plate and-"

Her voice shook, her lip quivering as she swiped at a few tears gathering below her eyes. Tears, not of mourning, but of absolute fear. "I'm sorry."

Patton's eyes widened in shock and tears silently began to fall down his face. "Oh."

Beatrice stared down at her for a long period of time, the small girl beginning to shake un-controllably.

Remy recognized the sound of Madeline giggling somewhere in the crowd, his heart racing.

That crazy laughing couldn't mean anything good.

"So, you are useless to me?" Beatrice asks.

Genevieve's eyes widened and she took a small step back. "N-No! Ma'am, there was nothing I could-!"

Beatrice puts a single finger up to her lips and Genevieve goes dead silent.

"Cecily?" Beatrice turns a questioning eye towards the teen, and Kai hurriedly covers Virgil's eyes.

Cecily rolls her eyes and shakes her head, and Madeline eagerly steps forward. "You'll find the right one someday, Cece."

"No, please-!" Genevieve screams, turning to run as Madeline grabs her harshly by the arm, pulling her back.

One of the few remaining men steps forward and grabs her other arm as Beatrice carefully selects a long steak knife off the table.

"Please, I'm sorry!" Genevieve wails, as Damien, Remy, Kai, Virgil, and Roman shrink back, Kai and Roman making sure Thomas and Virgil were unable to see anything happening.

Virgil whimpers, placing his hands over his ears to block out her screams as Beatrice pulls up her shirt to expose Genevieve's stomach and sinks the knife deep inside.

Genevieve lets out a blood curdling scream and Madeleine laughs, kissing the slightly younger girl on the cheek. Cecily rolls her eyes and crosses her arms, huffing. Beatrice drags the knife upwards, studying her work carefully to make sure the line was straight.

"So messy." She tsks as Genevieve's eyes flutter into the back of her head. "It's been a long time since..."

She allows the girl to crumple to the floor in a heap and snaps her fingers, and a servant boy hurriedly comes out from the kitchen, carrying a jar full of what looked like water. Beatrice takes the jar as the servant exits, and Cecily and the man step a good distance away from the writhing girl on the floor. Beatrice nudges her with her shoe to get her to turn onto her back, and opens the top of the jar, carefully spilling it onto Genevieve's chest.

Genevieve howls in pain, her voice breaking off as the acid seeped into her skin and began to eat away at her. She violently spasms for a second, her hands clawing at her chest before she goes completely still, her eyes glossy.

"Someone clean that up before we have to add to today's death count." Beatrice says offhandedly.

A group of terrified servants rush up and carefully dispose of the girl, two girls hurriedly scrubbing the floor so the acid wouldn't dissolve the stone. The ballroom erupts into applause and shouts of encouragement from the community, and Beatrice beckons to Patton.

Patton skips over to her, beaming, as he was finally allowed another hug. "You were magnificent mama!"

"Thank you dear." Beatrice pulls a rare smile and pats Patton's head once before her frown deepens. "Times up."

Patton obediently pulls back, and Roman finally pulled his hand away from Remus's face, cooing down at Thomas so he wouldn't start crying. Kai gently carded their fingers through Virgil's hair, his younger brother shaking slightly as she held him.

"It's okay Veve." Kai whispers, rubbing his back and looking over at Beatrice wearily. "She's not gonna hurt you."

"Grand-mère's scary sometimes..." Virgil mumbles, looking up at Kai. His face was white as a sheet, and his eyes were wide. "I feel sick."

Kai hurriedly scoops him into their arms, moving through the crowd to one of the bathrooms he remembered seeing on the way in.

Damien breathed in deeply, trying not to gag at the chemical, blood smell that was quickly being cleaned from the room, looking up as Kai and Virgil rushed off. "Umm, d-dad?" The word still felt foreign on his tongue, but he couldn't even bother to sound sarcastic or annoyed, not now. "Where's, uhh, Papa?"

Outside, already long gone from the mansion, a dark blue car was speeding away.

"Yeah." The man driving chuckles. "I never quite liked that Jason. Too loud, brash. Not good for business."

His eyes travel up to look at Logan in the rearview mirror and he smirks, making another turn.

"Alex however," He continues. "We were thick as thieves, quite literally in most cases. He was my partner in crime. And I gotten admit, when he called and told me he bagged you off of Patton, I believed it! Patton is an imbecile so that wasn't the hard part! No, no, no. What I couldn't believe is that Patton actually got such a good looking man!"

Logan averts his eyes in disgust, wriggling in his restraints.

"I mean, Patton's the family baby!" The man snorts, grabbing the glass in the cup holder beside him and taking a long sip. "Dumb as a brick and he still managed to hold onto you for some bit! What did he-."

The man cackles and takes another long look at Logan, fighting to hold back his laughter.

"Did he bump into you." The man pouts and bursts into laughter before doing a poor imitation of Patton's voice, "Ohh goodness, I'm so sorry! I'm just so clumsy!"

The man shakes his head and makes another turn, setting the glass down. "Doesn't matter how he got you. Point is, a lot of people have been trying to get at you. Planning to set you free and then see who could catch you fastest! So I did you a favor honestly."

He stops the car and turns to look at Logan, a sadistic smile on his face. "Some of the men talking about the hunt aren't as classy as I am. They wanted to get the shotgun and shoot your knees out. A waste of a perfect money maker. But who boy, are you gonna be sorry I got to you!"

Grabbing Logan's chin, he tilts the shaking man's head up, inserting a small needle into Logan's neck and releasing the plunger. Logan slumps down against the seat as the drugs race through his system, blearily fighting to keep his eyes open.

"And by the way," The man adds as Logan slowly drifts unconscious. "You can call me Blaine."

Chapter Text

"I'm home." Patton said blankly as he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

"Did you find Papa?" Virgil yells as he rushes to the door, peering around Patton in the hopes of seeing Logan's familiar face.

"I'm sorry kiddo." Patton whispers softly, ruffling Virgil's hair and pulling him close. "But we have to smile today. Papa would want us to. Do you know why?"

"Uhm," Virgil looks down at the floor, than back up at Patton. "It's my birthday!"

"That's right." Patton shuts the door and leads Virgil back into the living room, setting down his bag. "It's your birthday. So we're going to have a nice celebration and smile lots and lots."

"If...If we smile a lot than Papa can feel it?" Virgil asks.

"Yeah." Patton smiles briefly. "And we can leave a piece of cake out for him."

"Papa!" Thomas babbles as the now one-year old toddles into the room.

Logan had missed his birthday too.

Seeing only Patton, Thomas pouts and moves over to Remus, sitting on the couch. Remus picks Thomas up and sets him on his lap, and Roman notices that he was staring at Patton out of the corner of his eyes.

"Virgil, why don't you go upstairs while we get ready, okay kiddo?" Patton suggests.

Virgil nods and races up the stairs, and Patton slumps in on himself as soon as he's gone.

"Ohh golly." He mutters. "I've searched everywhere. Blaine could've taken him out of the state, or even the country!"

Remy peers in through the arch, and quickly moves back before Patton could notice him, staring at Damien as he continued to whisk something in the kitchen.

"It kinda sucks, ya'know." Remy sighs. "Celebrating a birthday here of all places."

"Yup." Damien says briefly. "But it was worse on the mountain. I'm more concerned about Logan."

Damien looks up from the bowl, and then sets it on the counter. Pulling a chair away from the table, he sits down and hides his head in his hands. "I think he's dead."

"Oh-Adonai-!" Remy groaned stepping forward and placing a hand on his cousin's shoulder.

"You're not supposed to say that. Tante would hit you if she was here." Damien let's out something akin to a soft chuckle.

"Listen, brat. He's not dead. I'm sure he's not." Remy paused and groaned once more. "You know I'm not good at consoling."

Damien wipes under his eyes and stands back up. "I have to finish cooking. Do you want to help?"

"Gurl, you know I'm only good at pastries." Remy shakes his head. "I'm gonna go hang out with Kai, actually. They keep staring off into space like Remus and it's freaking me the fuck out."

"Aww, that's sweet." Damien smirks out of the corner of his mouth and picks the bowl back up.

"Another word out of that mouth and I'm sewing it shut." Remy hisses as he heads towards the door. "I'm not sweet."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Logan shivered underneath the thin blanket he had been given, his face drenched in sweat and his eyes bloodshot as he tried to block out the bright artificial lights that stabbed into his brain.

Colours drifted into his view, blurry and saturated. They shifted around and moved every now and then, and spoke in strange distorted voices.

It was almost like Logan was in a spaceship, not able to understand what the voices were saying, not even able to move from his spot on the floor, less because he was tied and chained down, but more because it hurt to even think of moving.

The large familiar beeping of an alarm harasses his ears next and Logan broken cries out, his entire body shaking in pain.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The scary familiar voice says as one of the blurry figures steps over to Logan.

A small noise of fear escapes Logan as he's harshly pulled up by his shoulder.

"You...spit this...again, I'm...fucking kill you..." Words drift in and out of Logan's mouth as a small round pill is forced into his mouth.

Logan's teeth grind together impulsively as the pill is forced down, his entire body shaking with chills.

A loud raucous laugh echoes through the room. "Look...His eyes!"

"Not...a fan...ecstasy...he?"

"Who cares?" Blaine asks, and Logan squeezes his eyes shut as his chin is grabbed and pulled in a different direction. "Tell....this, you're dead."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"-birthday to you!" The rest of the group finished singing. It was dull, even for their situation.

At Virgil's last birthday with Patton, silly as it had been, Logan and Roman had plastered on smiles, made believe for the night they were a perfectly normal, happy family.

After Logan and Patton had tucked him in for the night, Roman had spun him a glorious tale of a family of princes trapped in a cave guarded by a fearsome giant. Virgil hadn't picked up on the subtlety, but appreciated the story all the more.

But now Roman couldn't even force a smile on his face, and Patton did nothing more than pick at his cake.

"Well, it's time for you to open your presents Veve!" Patton says false chipperly.

The now sixteen year old beams and stands, holding Kai's hand as the group migrated into the living room and sat down, a small pile of presents placed near the fireplace.

"That one looks like Papa!" Virgil says excitedly, grabbing a box wrapped in dark blue wrapping paper with silver stars.

"He picked it out for you a while ago." Patton explains. " Go on, open it."

Virgil tears the wrapping off and gently picks up the card inside.

Virgil,
So, you are finally sixteen. I'm very proud of you. I saw these when I was out with Patton and something told me I should buy them. I am normally not one to follow my "heart" but I believe you will like them none-the-less. Maybe they will come in handy one day, I don't know.
~Lo Papa
Virgil let's out a small squeak of happiness when he sees the two hardcover books below, one titled, "Basic Morse Code And Sign Language" and the other, "Basic Survival In The Wilderness".

"Maybe he wanted you to go camping." Roman suggests, his eyes glued to the books.

"Ooh, that would be fun!" Patton smiles, handing Virgil a long rectangular box wrapped in light blue wrapping paper with puppy stickers.

"Thank you dad." Virgil says automatically as he opens the box, gasping as he pulled out a short light blue dress. "It's so pretty!"

Patton smiles and hugs Virgil as Roman awkwardly hands him a box with gold wrapping paper and a red ribbon tied around it.

Virgil admires the paper for a second before opening it, to reveal a drawing set and drawing pad.

"That's from Uncle Remus and I." Roman says softly, smiling at Virgil's happy face.

Silly as it was, the word uncle came easily from Roman's mouth. He truly did think of the boy as a nephew of sorts, and had for the past few years. He supposed it came from the natural protectiveness he and Logan had over Damien and Virgil when they were the only one's there to protect them.

"I love it." Virgil gushes as he opens his present from Kai. "Purple hair dye! Thank you thank you Kai!"

Patton immediately frowned. "Ohh, but Virgil, why would you want to dye your hair?"

"Be-Because, I haven't in so long!" Virgil explains, his expression changing to one of confusion. "I haven't had my hair dyed since we went on vacation, and-and I think it looks pretty!"

Kai glares at Patton out of the corner of his eye. "He's been dying it since he was little. Right, dad?"

"Well, sure when he was a little one." Patton falters slightly under Kai's tone, before quickly re-taking control of the situation. "But VeVe, bleach is bad for your hair, and it's so pretty natural! Let's keep it nice, okay?"

Virgil shrinks down a little bit. "Okay...Thank you anyways Kai."

"S'okay." Kai says calmly, taking the bottle from him.

"Here." Damien shoves a present towards Virgil, looking away in embarrassment. "It's from me and Remy."

"Thank you." Virgil says quietly as he opens the box and pulls out a customized cup. "Ohh! That's so cool."

"Yeah, whatever, can I go to my room now?" Remy asks dryly, his leg bouncing anxiously.

"Yes Remy." Patton rolls his eyes. "C'mon Virgil, it's time for bed."

Chapter Text

"Logan!" Blaine sings eerily as Logan struggles to hold his head up, gazing around the room flutily, a blindfold tied tightly around his head.

A soft hand strokes his cheek and Logan flinches back violently at the touch, his skin sensitive from the month and a half of sensory depravation he'd endured at the hands of his latest captor.

Blaine chuckles lightly. "You're cute."

Headphones are slipped over Logan's ears to block out noise and a gag is tied tightly around Logan's mouth, leaving his only remaining source of air his nose.

Blaine waits for a moment, leaving Logan in terrifying silence as he gently touched different parts of Logan's face and shoulders, enjoying the muffled gasps as Logan shivered.

Bending down, Blaine pinches Logan's nose suddenly, when Logan had breathed out. Logan goes stock still, but quickly begins to struggle as he lost more air. Blaine let's go of Logan's nose and watches as the man squirms, hurriedly taking in deep breaths as the blood rushed back into his head. His head sways uncoordinatedly, lolling to the side tiredly.

Blaine reaches forwards and grabs Logan's shoulders tightly, watching as the man thrashed around, trying to keep Blaine away from him. Blaine digs his nail into one of the newer wounds he'd inflicted on Logan, watching at the blood pooled on his shoulder and listening to the muffled cries of pain.

"So beautiful." Blaine murmurs. "A real work of art."

"You always were the artist."

"Mark!" Blaine stands as another man enters the room, smiling at the other men silently working in the corner, or quietly chatting. "How was it?"

"Simple." Mark rolls his eyes as he steps closer to Logan, pulling out a small knife. "Hold this for me, will you doll?"

He harshly stabs the knife down into Logan's thigh, being careful not to hit any major arteries and listening blissfully as Logan screamed into his gag.

"Honestly, they have no clue where to look. I'm almost certain Patton was walking the streets in another town calling for Logan like some kid looking for their lost puppy." Mark tells Blaine.

"Honestly that boy is a disappointment to his mother's good graces." Blaine says regretfully. "Beatrice truly deserves better."

"To be fair, she was the one that screwed up his head." Lorcan, a man sitting in the back says casually, looking up briefly from his book.

"Right you are. Roger, why don't you and Misael head back home, see how your mothers are doing? Being gone for too long is suspicious." Blaine instructs.

A tall German and short African-American nod and grab their things, heading out with a few more farewells.

"Say hello to Kate for me, won't you Misael!" Mark calls as they leave. "Ohh, goodness Logan, you've dirtied my knife."

Ripping the dagger out of Logan's leg, Logan let's out another scream as Mark halfheartedly wipes it off on his pants.

"And now you're going to have to burn those, you imbecile." Blaine rolls his eyes, grabbing a belt off of the wall of torture devices and using it as a makeshift tourniquet. "How are we doing Love?"

Pinching Logan's noise, the men in the room all watch the struggle for air restart, until Logan is on the brink of passing out.

"Okay, we're set on the drugs!" A voice calls as a man enters the warehouse, dragging a terrified woman in scrubs alongside him. "Samson is loading them all into the other room."

"We really need to catch up with Amelia." Blaine says in annoyance, studying the nurse with a frown. "How far could that brat have gotten that you can't track her down?"

"To be fair boss, it's not like we're on any records. Anytime there's an issue we just," A man in the back pulls a face and draws his thumb over his neck. "We'll find Amelia soon, and bring her home."

"Good, thank you Clayton." Blaine says coldly, once more looking at the nurse. "You'll have to do for now. We good on disposal?"

Mark nods. "Won't be an issue."

"Oh please-!" The nurse cries out, and Blaine holds a single finger up to his mouth, effectively silencing her.

"Take her into the other room and sedate her, the only crying I want to hear is from him." Blaine vaguely gestures to Logan and the man that came in with the nurse pulls her off.

"Hey, Mark, we got that Christmas tree in. Ya'know, as a joke?" The man known as Samson says as he comes in from the other room.

"Good." Mark smiles. "I want twelve gifts in total, and each and every one of them better be bloody."

"Already got my sights on two." Clayton grins.

Blaine smiles blissfully, moving back over to Logan and kissing him on the cheek. "And you my dear, will get to watch." He says quietly, knowing Logan couldn't hear anything.

Once again, he pinches Logan's nose, this time continuously stopping and then re-closing his airways, listening to the delightful sounds of Logan's desperate sobs as he tried to take in air.

"Ohh, what if we sharpen one of their ears?" Samson suggests sadistically, looking to the others for approval. "Like a little elf."

"Samson." Blaine straightens and walks over to the man. "I'm aware that it's Christmas, and Christmas is a time for giving but if I see one kid under that tree this year, I will shoot you a new ear piercing.

Samson winces, the thought of that running through his head, and he nods in agreement. "I wasn't planning on it! Ohh, but maybe a midget..."

Samson wanders off and Clayton shakes his head slightly in amusement. "Maybe we could wrap Logan up like a little present? Put him in a box for the night, get to open him up on Christmas morning alongside all your new toys."

Blaine smiles at the thought, grabbing a little red bow off one of the tables and sticking it to Logan's hair, laughing. "I can't wait for him to get his present."

"So, is he almost ready for the big day." A joking voice says as another man slowly steps out from one of the many dark areas in the warehouse.

He runs his fingers through his messy hair, gently running his fingers over the large scar on the left side of his head, which had been shaved to look more clean than a single bald spot.

"Oh, definitely. Merry Christmas to us right?" Blaine smiles, staring down at Logan as he once again pinches his nose, the man once again starting to struggle as his oxygen quickly depleted. "Maybe we wait another two weeks? It'll be quite the present."

"Yeah. You know his birthday is the 27th?"

"Really?" Blaine looks up in surprise. "Well, now he really needs a good present."

"Yeah. One that'll really fuck 'em up." Alex grins toothily.

Chapter Text

He couldn't hide it anymore.

Roman shifts awkwardly, adjusting the blanket that was covering his stomach. Over the months since Jason, it had gotten bigger, but now that Logan was gone he could no longer hide it and pretend nothing was there with baggy sweatshirts.

Even looking at himself made him feel disgusting.

The cold hard truth was finally starting to set in, taking over the denial.

He was eight months pregnant.

He could only have the small satisfaction that he wasn't too big, after all this was his first and only time getting pregnant, and normally people were always smaller for that first baby. It was a small comfort.

Small, but still.

At any day this thing inside him could just decide to, what? Fall out? He knew it wouldn't be that easy.

It wasn't even here yet, and already it had taken so much from him. Roman had puked more than once after smelling even the slightest hint of peanut butter. The taste of carrots made him orange in the face. Even the wet-dog smell that Sela carried after playing with Virgil in the rain was enough to send him racing pathetically to the bathroom.

And worse was the feeling. He could feel it moving inside him, like an alien that was ready to burst out and kill him. While he had stomached his pride once or twice and let Virgil feel the thing inside him, if only to see the look of pure wonder on the boy's face, he just wished it would stop.

Stop moving, stop making him sick and agitated. Stop making him crave food.

He ignored every single craving he got, like his own version of a punishment. Shockingly, they were nothing too bizarre, he'd heard of women eating pickles dipped in chocolate when they were pregnant, but more than anything he just wanted grapes.

But he refused to even touch the absolutely delicious looking ones in the fridge.

And of course he knew, he knew that he should stop calling it "it" and "thing" there was no denying at this stage it was a little person, even if he didn't know the gender.

Why did he have to be so late?

Roman could barely look at Remy, let alone speak too him, after Remy and Damien had found out exactly what Remy hadn't put in Roman's drink at the Gala.

An abortive.

It would have worked just in time then, but of course by the time they found out there was no hope for that.

Of course it wasn't Remy's fault, he hadn't known.

But it still tore at Roman's insides.

The door opened and Patton silently came in, crying behind his hands.

No Logan.

"Some of them are giving up." Patton sobs, referencing the men in town that had been helping him search. "They say it's been too long, so he must be...He must be d-dead."

"I'm sorry, Patton." Roman sighs. He wasn't really sorry for Patton.

For Logan? Of course, if he was still out there. For Remus and Thomas? Obviously, they were missing their other halves, even if Remus had only cried once since Logan had been taken. The kids? Of course Roman felt sorry for them, Virgil was so attached and Damien cared for Logan, even if sometimes he couldn't show it.

Sighing, Patton does his best to wipe away his tears. "He must be so scared, my poor little bunny. What a horrible way to spend Christmas."

Roman looks over at the half-heartedly decorated tree in the corner. Soon it would be Christmas day, and then Logan's birthday.

If he was being honest, Roman thought he died a while ago.

There was just no sign of Blaine.

Christmas Day came faster than anyone expected, and Remus watched silently as Roman helped Thomas open one of his presents, a small kids book.

After the gifts had all been opened and breakfast was done, Roman hurriedly excused himself to the bathroom and Virgil went into the backyard to play with Sela and one of the ghosts that had often hung around the house, Potter. Potter seemingly had no physical injuries, minus the long purple bruise that wrapped around their throat, partially hidden by the Christmas lights that were tangled all over his body.

Today, Potter was more visible than the other ghosts, showing their full form instead of just the normal wisps of being, because it was his death day. Just like days when the moon was full, death days for the ghosts gave a bit of an extra boost.

Remus stood up without prompting, leaving the dining room and moving upstairs to the room he shared with Roman.

Looking around for a moment, he moved over to the typewriter Roman had gotten when they first moved in.

Next to it was piles of papers brimming with promising words and flowing sentences. If Remus had known to look under Roman's bed, he'd see a small stack of papers for the sequel to the novel Roman had written the first time they'd been taken.

Roman worked on it late at night, careful not to be caught.

Remus looks over the paper that was currently in the typewriter, a page for his novel about superheroes that Roman had been writing for some time.

Gently, Remus presses down on a key. A pristine S marks itself on the paper neatly. Remus moves his hand and presses down again, and a t joins the s with a small clack.

Remus continues and then heads back downstairs, the word "Starshine" drying on the page.

After awhile, Virgil and Sela were forced to retreat back inside, Virgil's nose and fingers bright red, and his ears stung with how cold they were. Sela settled down for a nap by the big fireplace, one ear sticking up, alert, as Virgil and Thomas played.

Virgil giggles as Thomas grabs the block out of his hands again, using it to knock down the tower Virgil had been helping him building.

"Careful Virgil, don't let him hit himself." Kai warns, peeking over the corner to look into the kitchen.

There was no sign of Patton. He must have left to go look for Logan again.

"C'mere, squirt." Kai beckons to Virgil.

Virgil obediently jumps up and bounces over to his older sibling.

"Jeez, your hair is getting long." Kai mutters as she leads the boy into the upstairs bathroom.

Virgil giggles and shakes his head so his bangs fall over his eyes. Kai smiles and ruffles his head, opening the cabinet below the sink and pulling out the razor. "Hold still."

Virgil stills as Kai plugs in the razor and gathers Virgil's bangs into a ponytail, sectioning it off so they wouldn't get accidentally cut. The razor turns on with a buzz and Kai adjusts the settings from Roman's cut to Virgil's, carefully beginning to run it through his hair.

"You wanna do something fun?" Kai asks when the cut is finished, taking Virgil's bangs out and wetting them to give them a small, even trim.

"What?" Virgil asks, looking at himself in the mirror out of the corner of his eyes.

"Look." Kai grabs the box of hair dye they had gotten for Virgil out of their hiding place, showing it to him with a flourish.

"I dunno..." Virgil says nervously. "Won't dad be mad?"

"Nah." Kai says casually. "We won't dye your whole head, just your bangs. I'll do it with you.

Virgil's eyes shone as he looked up at him with wonder. "You're gonna dye your hair too? Okay!"

Roman sighs as he carefully walks up the stairs back to his room, stopping in confusion when he heard giggling and running water, before shifting Thomas on his hip and carrying the one year old into his room.

"Okay Tommy." He says quietly. "You sit here for a second." Placing the boy down on the floor, he watches as the toddler begins to babble contently to his stuffed frog before turning to grab a change of clothes.

Until something caught his eye.

On his desk, the papers had been moved around.

His eyes widening, Roman hurriedly looks under his bed, sighing in relief when he sees those papers hadn't been disturbed. Turning back to his desk, Roman checks to make sure all the papers were still there, before noticing a new line on his paper with a single word.

"Starshine?" Roman whispers to himself, gently running his fingers over the letters, his eyes widening.

There was only one person that called Logan Starshine.

"Remus!"

Chapter Text

“Merry Christmas!” Alex ruffles Logan’s hair playfully, stealing a kiss.

The large warehouse was sparsely decorated, the only sign that it was Christmas being the tree a little to the right of Logan, close to the door leading to the other room.

“And the God blessed the poor cowering souls with the gift of sight, so they may look upon themselves and others and see the sin they hold.” Blaine quotes as the blindfold around Logan’s eyes is removed.

Logan practically gasps in relief as the month long ordeal of darkness came to an end. Blaine laughs at his state and kisses him, reaching over to hold Alex’s hand.

“Let’s see what’s under the tree for us, hm?” Alex suggests, finally acknowledging the twelve squirming hostages in the room.

Samson and Roger, two of Blaine and Mark’s cronies, excitedly entered the room, chatting about the show, followed by a calmer Mark.

“We planned something quite special in honor of our honored guest. Not wanting to be outdone by last years show-” Mark turns to the three and stops in front of the twelve captives. “-We decided on a holiday theme. And each of our worms get’s to choose their own demise!”

Blaine and Alex clap politely from either side of Logan.

“Alright, get on with it.” Blaine grins.

Lorcan steps up to the group and he, Samson and Roger eagerly start to pull the bags off the tied up people’s heads. Six men, and six women stare up at the three in fear, before most of them land on Logan and stare at him, unable to say anything beyond their duct taped mouths.

“Who do we have here?” Alex asks.

Mark hovers his hand over the closest person. “Starting off with our Halloween deaths, we have Teresa Perry. She stole pharmacy drugs from other people’s houses and then re-sold them on the black market.”

Alex raises an eyebrow and looks over at Blaine. “Scandalous. And what shall she be doing for us today.”

Samson smiles sadistically. “We’re going to carve her like a pumpkin.”

Teresa’s eyes widened and she begins shouting hurried pleads behind her gag. Blaine watches with interest, his hand moving to Logan’s chin, forcing him to stare straight ahead. “Watch, or you’ll have consequences.”

Samson pulls out a silver spoon with a flourish, ripping the tape off her mouth. Logan listens as Teresa begs and pleads for her life, and he starts to shake uncontrollably as Samson places the spoon under her eye and begins to push.

Teresa shakes wildly in his hold, screaming in agony as the spoon pops under her eye and scoops it out, blood gushing out like a fountain.

Logan leans forward and empties his stomach onto his shoes.

Samson pulls out the other eye, Teresa sobbing as the blood rushed down her face and painted her cheeks, beginning to fall on the floor.

Mark takes over, grabbing one of his knives off of a table and slicing into her mouth in a triangle shape like a pumpkin. Teresa gurgles as blood pools out of her mouth and finally slumps over, dead from the blood loss.

However, the horror doesn’t stop there, and Logan is forced to watch as the top of her head is partially cut off, and her brain is severed and pulled out. Roger pulls out a candle with a flourish and sticks it inside with a laugh.

Logan feels bile rise in his throat again, and, without thinking, turns and hides his face behind Alex’s chest. Alex coos, grabbing Logan’s hair and forcing him to face the horrifying scene again, Logan squeaking at the pain in his head as he watches Teresa’s body be dragged away.

“Who’s next?” Alex asks excitedly as Blaine dances his fingers gently over Logan’s shoulder, feeling him shudder underneath him.

“Dustin Norris.” Mark moves his hand over to the next person, as Dustin tries pathetically to squirm away. “He murdered a couple in cold blood during a robbery and was never convicted. He’s going to be our scarecrow?”

Samson turns to Blaine and Alex for approval, who nod for him to continue. Roger and Lorcan hold his head still and Samson grabs a threaded needle.

If Logan had his glasses on, he might have been able to see in full detail, Dustin’s eyes frantically moving back and forth as the needle moved closer and closer to his eye, unable to move away.

But he didn’t have his glasses, so he only heard Dustin’s desperate screams as Samson carefully sews his eyes shut.

“Please-” Logan pleads under his breath, shaking.

Blaine shushes him, watching with interest as a bag is brought over and Lorcan starts to pull out fistfuls of hay.

Roger forces Dustin’s mouth open, and Lorcan closes his eyes in disgust as he begins to shove the hay down Dustin’s throat. Dustin let’s out a hacking cough around the hay as it pricked the inside of his mouth and slowly began to clog up his throat.

He too, dies, and Logan feels a few tears run down his face, unable to look away with Blaine holding his chin.

Logan’s head spins, and for a brief, torturous few seconds, he felt like water was being poured down his throat. He sees a younger version of Perce Heart once the water finally stops, and he coughs and sputters as the man sneers down at him.
“Kill him off.” Beatrice’s voice says. Logan struggles to lift his head. “The forgetful thing can’t remember anything useful.”
Perce lifts the bucket of water again, and Logan spirals into nothingness.
What was his name? Why couldn’t he remember?
What was it Beatrice had called him?
Forgetful.
The two once more clap, and Mark excitedly transitions into the next act.

“Next up is our Christmas category.” Mark introduces the next hostage, a man named Andy Evans, a man who ran a puppy mill.“

Alex and Blaine both raise judgmental eyebrows.

“Please, I was only doing it to provide for my family!” He tries to reason.

Mark stops, and turns to Blaine and Alex.

“Your family?” Blaine repeats, letting go of Logan’s face and taking a step towards Andy.

“Yes, please I’ve got a little girl, she needs me!” Logan could see the hope rising in his eyes.

“And God told his people that they would collect the broken, helpless children from the unworthies, and take them into their homes. Feed and bathe and clothe them, for they were to be their children.” The group says in creepy unison.

Andy’s eyes widen in fear as Blaine waves Mark on. “Wait, no, please-”

“Lorcan, why don’t you go to his house and save her while we continue?” Alex suggests.

Lorcan nods and grabs a set of keys, heading outside.

For a brief moment, Logan sees bright white as the door opened, the outside covered in snow. Then his head snaps back to look at Andy as he let’s out a loud scream, just in time to see Mark shove a giant candy can with a sharp tip down Andy’s throat. Blood sprays out of his mouth and Logan winces at the sharp smell of pennies.

A mouth full of pennies, what a silly thought.
“Next.” Alex says boredly, ignoring the carnage in front of him.

Mark introduces the next girl by dumping a bucket of freezing cold water over her head and watching as she shivered. “Pauline Wade, identity theft.”

Logan is suddenly pulled up and dragged towards the door with the door, and once they get outside Mark shoves the already freezing girl down in the snow.

“Please-” She begs as snow is shovelled onto her and she’s made into a human snowgirl.

Logan is taken back inside, starting to feel numb from everything that had happened.

“Next on the holiday list is Valentine’s Day.” Mark announces, taking a single piece of chocolate and holding it out to the person he introduced as Chris Sherman.

Having seen the other traumatic deaths, Chris stares down at the chocolate wearily, with tears in their eyes. “Wh-What is it?” They ask with a hiccup.

“It’s chocolate. And I know for a fact you’re not allergic to chocolate. Eat up.”

Chris sniffles, staring up at them pleadingly before allowing Mark to drop the chocolate into their mouth. Hesitantly, they begin to chew, but when nothing happens they swallow in confusion. After a few seconds of waiting, they begin to squirm, whimpering softly under their breath.

Becoming panicked, they desperately try to move their tied hands to their pained stomach, being more vocal about their pain as Mark smiles and places a bucket next to them.

Eyes widening, Chris leans forward just in time to violently hurl into the bucket. Mark studies his nails calmly as Chris continues to puke before they weakly pull their head up, one last plea dying on their lips as their eyes roll back and they fall back.

“I think you’re going to like this next one.” Mark winks at Logan as Roger moves the bucket away from the group. “This is Gabrielle Baker, she’s a petty thief that slept with her victims and murdered them if they caught her in the act.”

Alex smiles with intrigue, and nods for Mark to continue, practically bouncing when Mark pulls out a large dagger. Blaine watches with bated interest as Mark dramatically stabs the knife down into Gabrielle’s chest, digging down before pulling the knife out and shoving his hand inside as Gabrielle gasped in pain, blood soaking her shirt.

Mark slowly withdrew his hand and with it came Gabrielle’s heart, still twitching slightly in his hand as Gabrielle slumps to the side. Mark studies it and then looks over at Logan, raising a curious eyebrow.

“No-” Logan let’s out a strangled breath as Mark steps closer to him, swallowing bile that threatened to come up. “Please-”

“What?” Blaine asks, leaning down and pulling on Logan’s hair, making him cry out. “Look at it. Isn’t it beautiful, love?”

Alex tightens his grip on Logan’s shoulder, making him wince in pain as Alex makes a quiet comment about moving on.

“Well,” Samson smiles as he once again steps into the center of attention, moving to the next person. “It’s quite common on Saint Patrick’s day for the Leprechaun to prank people. So, I’ve prepared this drink special.”

Samson holds a green drink out to the girl next in line, who keeps her mouth set in an angry line.

“She’s not going to drink it.” Roger rolls his eyes.

Samson frowns, pinching the girl’s nose closed. “C'mon now, don’t be picky.” He scolds.

The girl struggles for a moment, before hurriedly trying to take in a deep breath. Samson forces the drink down her throat, and she chokes it down.

It’s not long before the girl begins to act exactly like Chris did, eventually dying from a similar poison.

“Running out of ideas?” Blaine comments judgmentally.

“Just-” Samson says defensively. “Just wait! This here is Cole, and Cole, if I’m right, you’re allergic to the popular St. Patrick’s day flower, a clover?”

Cole gulps at the same time as Logan quietly whispers, “Shamrocks…”

“What?” Samson’s head snaps up and Logan’s eyes widen.

Blaine and Alex both look down at him.

“I-I didn’t say anything.” Logan says anxiously.

Samson not so subtly glares at him as he force-feeds Cole a handful of clovers, the man eating them silently, practically resigned to his fate. Logan watches as he goes through the usual stages of an allergic reaction, before his throat closes too much to breathe and he dies from suffocation.

“Four more!” Roger announces with a wink. “And we really went all out.”

That made the four remaining captives look more concerned then they already were.

“Next up is Easter.” Mark explains, the excited glint back in his eyes. “And what better a death for that holiday than crucifixion?”

The next person in the row, Six, cries out as they’re pulled up. To Logan’s confusion, the man after them, Jake, is also pulled up. Logan is once more pulled to his feet and instead of going outside, they go into the other room connected to the warehouse.

Logan notices the nurse in the corner that the group had previously kidnapped. She had told him that her name was Joyce, and discussed her family in great detail in order to properly distract him while she stitched up and mended any wounds the group had given him.

Propped up against a wall was a large cross, and a box of nails with hammers. Six is forced against the cross and their arm is pinned down while Roger and Samson dug in the box for the nails they would use.

Six screams in bloody agony as they begin to hammer the nails, three into each of their palms, startling Joyce awake, who immediately looks over to Logan to make sure he wasn’t hurt. Once sure he was as alright as he could be, she finally notices in horror what was happening to the other person in the room.

Six dies, either from broken arteries or blood loss, Logan couldn’t tell.

Jake, sensing it was time for his own demise, sags dejectedly against Mark, knowing begging would get him no where.

“Another favourite is painting eggs. So we have this very large tub full of boiling hot egg dye.” Mark forces Jake over to the huge tub that had been assembled in the room.

“Why are you doing this?” Is all Jake says, searching Mark’s eyes for even an ounce of humanity.

“Because you’re a murderer. You got drunk, and you killed eight people because of your own bad decisions.” Mark says simply. And pushes him.

Jake’s eyes closed with guilt when Mark stated his reasons, and he fell silently backwards into the tub. The boiling dye burned his eyes and nose, and his skin broke out in blisters.

And then he was gone, disappeared below the surface of the dye.

Logan shut his eyes tightly the second Jake’s body hit the dye, and it splashed out onto the floor as he tried to ignore the sounds of brief struggle before Jake died.

“Well.” Blaine claps his hands together once. “I am excited for this grand finale you keep mentioning.”

“Come on Logan.” Alex prompts, leading Logan over to the door in the room as the three of them head outside.

Logan’s knees buckle and he almost falls, feeling disgusted but unable to show it without being hurt. Blaine and Alex quickly pull him back up, making small comments about him just being “weak” from all his time inside the warehouse.

A few minutes later Mark, Samson, and Roger come outside with the last two captives, and Blaine covers Logan’s eyes.

“Don’t want to ruin the surprise now.” Alex says playfully.

“The last holiday is the fourth of July.” The dreaded hands are finally removed from Logan’s faces, and he stares in confusion at what really looked looked like an old-school execution.

Mark was holding an old fashioned antique musket, and the captive man a few feet away from him was standing with two ropes leading away from his wrists. Roger and Samson held onto each end to ensure he wouldn’t try running away.

“Of course, the fourth of July is when America got it’s freedom from Britain, so why not put this civil war musket to use?”

Blaine and Alex clap politely, and Logan’s eyes widened as he remembered an old fact he had tucked away in his brains.

-not the safest-….-often lead to-…
“No.” Logan whispers as Mark raises the gun and shoots.

The bullet slams into the man and Logan’s fears are realized as his clothes quickly catch fire as he shoots backwards and lands on the snow. Samson and Roger drop the ropes and Logan watches in horror as he burns, unable to try and put himself out with his hands tied behind his back.

“Please-” Logan let’s out a strangled whisper, starting to go limp in their hold. “He’s-He’s…”

“Deep breath.” Blaine orders, and Logan sucks in air obediently, he’d forgotten to do so on his own.

The man dies, and Samson claps excitedly. “And now for the finale!”

The last person, another man is pulled into view, and Logan stares in mute horror as he sees the countless amount of fireworks strapped to his chest, arms, and legs.

Roger and Samson both hurry to Blaine, Alex, and Logan, and Mark pulls out a single match.

“No.” Logan whispers.

And then the man explodes.

Pink, blue, purple, green, yellow, and red lights burst up into the sky, letting out a boom so loud Logan thought he could feel the earth shake.

Blaine and Alex both cover one of his ears, not wanting him to get hearing damage from the loud noises. Logan notices Samson glaring over at him from the corner of his eyes.

Blood and guts rain down from the sky, as well as a few pieces of fire that must have been the man’s clothes.

The snow luckily douses the fires, and once the booming stops, Blaine and Alex remove their hands.

“It’s okay.” Alex says simply, smiling at Logan’s adorably shaking form. “He was a Nazi.”

Logan trembled as he’s herded back inside to the room with the dye and Six’s crucified body.

“Well, that was exciting.” Blaine says peppily. “You’ve outdone yourself Mark.”

“One last thing to round off the day.” Alex announces, turning around.

In a second, he pulls his gun out of his back pocket, clicks the safety off, and fires a bullet into Samson’s forehead. Logan yelps and drops down, covering his head in fear as Blaine, Mark, and Roger all flinch away from Samson’s body and Alex in shock.

“That was unwise.” Blaine finally says, staring down at Samson as both Mark and Roger make a beeline for the door.

“He was planning to hurt Logan, I could tell.” Alex scoffs as he stalks into the other room.

Blaine looks down at Samson with a shake of his head as he follows Mark and Roger out, the lock clicking behind him.

Logan slowly unfurls himself, staring at Samson as he breathed heavily, trying not to panic, Samson’s dead glassy eyes staring back. Logan had seemingly been forgotten in the mess, left alone for the first time in a while.

A small gasp catches his attention, and his head snaps over to the nurse who had been sleeping behind Samson, her neck bloody as she grasped at it, blood gurgling out of her mouth.

The bullet had torn through Samson and shot through her neck, lodging in the wall behind her.

“Joyce!”

Chapter Text

Logan rushes to Joyce's side, kneeling and flutily trying to stop the bleeding. "No no no, c'mon Joyce. Please. Please don't do this-"

Joyce's eyes flutter shut, having barely made a sound when shot.

Had Logan screamed when he was shot?

Choking back tears, Logan stands and backs away from Joyce's body like it was on fire. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no..." Logan mutters, putting both his hands on the side of his head. "It's fine, you're fine. This is just-just a joke-! Joyce? C'mon! It's not funny anymore!"

Alex looks up from his paperwork when he hears Logan crying, muffled, in the other room. Closing his eyes, he hums to himself, sure that Blaine was doing something absolutely lovely to make Logan sing like that.

Maybe he'd go watch in a second.

The crying stops, and then he hears the door open, and Alex marks down another number on the paper. "See? It's fine. We can deal with Samson's family, but no one get's to glare at our Logan." He says.

His brows furrow and he turns around when he hears a soft clicking sound.

"Come back from this, bitch." Logan says shakily, and pulls the trigger.

The shot gun jerks back and Alex's head explodes and splatters over Logan, who closes his eyes and does his best to shield his face. His lifeless corpse drops to the floor like a sack of potatoes, and Logan takes a few deep breaths in order to stop himself from panicking.

Squinting, Logan wanders around the warehouse, looking for his glasses. He finds them on a table in the back, thankfully unharmed. Putting them on, the world once more comes into focus, and Logan hurriedly turns away from Alex's body, not wanting to see it unblurred.

"F-Fuck." Logan breathes out harshly, running his hands through his hair, pulling apart the tangles that were stuck with blood.

His or Alex's, he didn't know.

Shuffling over to the door, he grabs a left-behind coat and shrugs it on, before returning to grab a knife, just in case.

Heading back outside for the first time in months, Logan covers his face from the blinding outside, slowly moving his hands once he got used to the light.

Looking around, Logan moves over to the cars parked outside the warehouse, jingling the keys he'd stolen as he walks.

Blaine and Mark were gone.

But Alex was dead.

Truely dead, this time.

Getting inside, he puts the keys in the ignition then stops, tears welling up in his eyes as his stomach twisted, hungering for the drug he'd been forced to take for months. Letting out a broken, frustrated sob, Logan slams his hands on the steering wheel and gets back out, returning into the building but leaving the door open so he wouldn't be trapped in.

Rummaging around for a bit, he shoves bags full of the pills into the coat pockets, and grabs a box of matches and two tanks of gasoline. Covering the entire building, he's careful not to spill a drop on himself. Standing by the door for a moment, he collects himself and pulls a match out of the box.

"Go to hell." He bits out, lighting the match and throwing it down, turning away and hurriedly rushing back to the car as the fire quickly spreads. Peeling down the road, Logan futilely looks around for recognizable road signs and land marks from when Patton had moved them into the community.

After a few minutes of driving, he finally saw a familiar sign on the sign of the road for a small ranch. Taking the right towards the ranch, Logan passes it and retraces Patton's driving route until the first buildings in the community came into view.

Pulling up outside the house they had stayed in, he resists from simply laying on the horn and gets out instead, shuffling up to the doorway with new resolve in his still somewhat vacant gaze.

Loudly, Logan knocks on the door, wrapping his arms around his waist.

"No Virgil, Roman's not-" The door cuts open and Patton cuts off in shock, staring at Logan for a second.

Logan wets his bottom lip; it was dry and chapped and he refrains from picking the skin off. "Where's Roman?"

Patton throws his arms around Logan, the door shutting behind him, and Logan pauses before slowly wrapping his arms around the now crying man.

"I thought I lost you!" Patton sobs.

"I'm right here Patton." Logan pushes Patton away from him after a minute. "Where's Roman."

"He's-He's having the baby at the hospital-" Patton pulls Logan in and kisses him, squeezing his hand tightly. "I was so worried about you bunny, you-you're covered in blood..."

"I don't have time for this." Logan says irritably. "I'm leaving."

"Wait, what?" Patton panics, rushing after him to the end of the driveway. "Where are you going! Lo, I did not give you permission to leave!"

"Yeah, well I don't need your permission!" Logan snaps. "I'm going to go get Roman and then when I come back I'm going to pack my stuff and leave. And you-" Logan threateningly steps towards Patton. "-you aren't going to stop me."

"Lolo, I-" Patton tears up again. "Where are you going, I've been so worried, please bunny, don't leave me-don't leave me again, please!"

Logan's eyes soften, and he gently places a hand on Patton's shoulder. "I love you Patton. Truely I do. But your family is fucked up. And I'm not going to sit around waiting for the day you get mad and "accidentally" kill me."

"No, no, please-" Patton sniffles. "-I-!"

Patton cuts off and crumples to the ground, and Logan looks at Remus, standing as silent as ever behind Patton, holding a now slightly bloody brick. Something sparked in Logan's eyes, and he throws his arms around Remus and pulls him close, nestling into his shoulder.

Remus drops the brick to the ground, blinking owlishly as his arms slowly wrapped around Logan, careful and slow.

"Remus-!" Logan chokes out, pulling away and gently holding Remus's face.

Remus slowly blinks again, and pulls Logan forwards.

Logan kisses him, but Remus had pulled him forward, Remus had wrapped his arms around him, Remus had lifted a heavy brick and swung.

There was something there.

Remus pulls away at the sound of the door opening as Thomas toddles outside. Looking up at his dads he beams, wrapping his small arms around Logan's legs. "Papa!"

"I'm here kiddo." Logan sniffles, bending down and picking him up, setting him on his hip. "I'm right here."

Thomas giggles and grabs Logan's tie, tugging on it gently. "Go?" He asks, his voice childish and sweet.

Logan looked at Remus, then down at Thomas, then over to the house, and then to Patton's body.

"Yeah." He nods hurriedly. "Papa go."

Bending down, he rummages in Patton's pockets for the keys to his van, pulling them out and speed walking over to the car.

Unlocking the back, he buckles Thomas into his car seat, Remus walking towards the car all on his own and getting inside. Logan buckles him too, and looks back at the house again.

Logan knew he could never get Virgil into the car willingly, not with Patton looking lifeless outside.

And if Virgil didn't come, neither would Kai or Sela.

Sighing, he quickly pulls out of the driveway and speeds away before anyone from the community could come outside and see them.

He would come back for the kids and Roman.

But he'd be coming back with flashing red and blue lights behind him.

Chapter Text

He was in so much pain.

Roman squeezed his eyes shut as the doctor at his side injected some sort of drug. He sighs in relief as some of his pain slips away, dulling as the drugs raced through his system.

"You doing amazing, Roman." The nurse that was working with the doctor praises him as she puts up the cloth barrier between him and his stomach. "Just keep calm."

"Please don't tell me what's happening." Roman says quietly, desperately. "Please, I can't I-I'm not good with pain, I can't know what's going on. Just do it and don't tell me anything."

The nurse nods, understanding. "Of course."

Roman returns to looking up at the ceiling, trying his best not to flinch as some sort of gel is spread over his stomach.

A big bright beautiful world. But not for me.

Really memory? You decide to pull from Shrek the Musical to distract me?

Roman looks around his small room once more, trying desperately to find something to distract the thoughts looming in the back of his mind.

Virgil bounced impatiently on the balls of his feet, peeking out the window for the tenth time. Birds chirped outside, but not a single car passed by on the relatively quiet street.

"Vee, the hospital is going to call when he has the baby." Kai repeats for the seventh time. "He's not just going to walk back."

"What do you think it's gonna be?" Virgil asks, his nose pressed against the window.

"A baby. Do your homework."

Virgil looks back at Kai and pouts. "But I can't do it without Papa. Dad just gets confused. I like the name Morgan, do you think he's gonna name them Morgan?"

"I don't know Virgil." Kai sighs tiredly, pulling his bangs in front of their eyes to look at her now purple hair. "Roman hasn't thought about names, he doesn't want to."

Thomas messily scribbles on the paper Virgil had given him, the crayon held awkwardly in his fist. "Baby go."

"Where is it going?" Virgil finally sits down, looking at the colouring picture of two toddlers in a toy car.

"Baby go." Thomas repeats, dropping the crayon and picking up another.

Sela barks and stands, racing around the house restlessly. She brushes up against Remus's legs, before curling up next to Virgil again, gently nosing him with her snout and whining.

"We can't go play outside yet Sela." Virgil whispers. "Dad's too busy in his office."

Upstairs in their room, Damien and Remy were packing two survival bags.

"God, I have no clue how I'm gonna do this." Remy complains again. "I am not built for woodland survival!"

Damien rolls his eyes again as he shoves another sweater down into his bag. "You'll be fine. This is our one chance, I'm not wasting it because you decided to be a חרא עוף."

Remy gasps in indignation and shoves his cousin, frowning. "I am not."

"Are too." Damien retorts.

Remy childishly pushes him again, sticking out his tongue. "Chienne."

"אמא שלך התאכזבה שאתה לא יודע עברית." Damien crosses his arms.

"Au moins je ne suis pas une petite chienne." Remy retorts.

"זה כל מה שאתה יודע לומר?" Damien teases.

"...Chienne." Remy huffs.

"Wow." The two boy's heads snap over to the door where Kai stood. "You're both idiots."

"I think I preferred when you were quiet." Remy says under his breath.

"And I think I preferred you when you got shocked for back talk." Kai says snippily. Damien hides his laugh with a cough. Remy glares.

Kai scoffs, looking down at the two boy's bags, brightly coloured against the tan carpet. "This is a bad idea."

"We'll be fine." Damien brushes off casually. "What do you know? You're only two years older than Remy."

"And either way, it's none of your business." Remy stands and takes a step towards Kai, once more cocky and proud. "And when we come back to rescue your ass, we'll see who's immature."

"Hint?" Kai leans forward, standing on their tippy toes, dropping his voice to a whisper. "He wears sunglasses inside." She flicks his sunglasses and Remy steps back, his pride once more wounded.

"Everyone is out to get me today!" He whines. "Can we go yet?"

Kai snorts and moves over to Virgil's dresser, grabbing the books Logan had left him, handing them over to Damien. "You shouldn't be doing this....But I'll stall Patton in case ne notices you're gone today."

"Thank you." Damien smiles, taking the books and placing them in his bag before zipping it up and slinging it over his shoulder. Kai smiles and pulls him close, hugging him tightly before backing away.

"Stay safe." Kai says as Damien lugs the makeshift rope ladder he and Remy had made over to the window.

"Bye, looser." Remy sticks his middle finger up at Kai half-heartedly as he struts over to the window, pushing Damien out of the way so he could be first.

"I hope it snaps on the way down." Kai calls as he starts his descent.

"Fuck off!" He yells as Damien jumps the last foot to the ground. Kai watches as the two share a nervous look, then start to head into the woods.

"They're gonna kill themselves." Kai mutters to himself, shaking her head. At that moment, Damien trips over a rock, making Remy laugh his ass off.

"Oh shit, they're gonna kill themselves." Kai repeats, their eyes widening as he rushes over to his closet and pulls some clothes out, shoving them in a backpack.

Grabbing a few other essential items, Kai puts the bag on and hurriedly starts climbing down the rope. Running up to the boys, she pants as she catches up to them, practically yanking Damien closer to them as if that would stop him from cutting his head open.

"You really couldn't stay away from me for two seconds, could'ya?" Remy laughs, pleased with himself.

Kai looks at him disinterestedly, and Remy hurries to catch up as he strides confidentially towards the woods.

Patton sobs in frustration as he hangs up another call with one of Blaine's buddies. All of them had renounced their friendship with him, but none of them could tell Patton anything useful about where he, and in turn Logan, might be.

The door rings and Patton can hear Virgil excitedly jumping up as he left his office and went to answer the door.

"Is Roman back with the baby?" Virgil asks excitedly, Thomas looking up at him curiously.

"No, Virgil." Patton giggles as he opens the door, "Roman's not-"

He cuts off when he comes face to face with Logan.

"All done!" The nurse says peppily, moving a small flesh coloured thing away from Roman.

It was covered in blood, so much blood...

"Is...Is it dead?" Roman asks fearfully.

"Hmm?" The nurse looks up, before laughing. "Oh, no! They all come out with some blood, it's normal."

Roman deflates, at least he didn't have to worry about that. Resting his head back on the pillow, he sighs.

It was over.

Done.

He's a boy.

Boy, boy, boy, boy, boy.

"It's a boy!" The nurse smiles as she finishes cleaning the baby off. "Here, you wanna hold him?"

She doesn't wait for an answer, gently passing the baby over to Roman, who holds it uncomfortably. Roman holds off looking at it, practically jumping out of his skin when it started squirming.

"He's not gonna bite." The nurse smiles encouragingly.

Roman forces a smile, slowly looking down. The fake smile slips away instantly as Roman sees one brown and one green eye staring up at him. The squishy pink baby squirms more, squinting as it looked back at him.

"Oh," Roman slowly begins to smile for real, unable to look away from him and his hauntingly doll-like eyes. He felt a slight pull in his chest, and then something snapped inside him. "Hello, Emile."