_____

“Patton, please sit down.” Logan sighed, exasperated, as Patton stubbornly tried to get up off the couch again. “Dear, you’re sick.”

“But the kids! They need breakfast! I need to make them breakfast!” Patton gasped, his face hot and flushed with the mere effort of sitting up. 

“Patton, dearest, I can make them breakfast. Don’t strain yourself.” Logan returned to his husband’s side with a glass of water, which he set down on the coffee table before helping Patton lay down again. “Now don’t get up again,” he said sternly. “Let me handle things.”

“Papa, what’s going on?” Logan turned as Roman and Remus ran into the living room, eyes going wide when they saw Patton down on the sofa, meekly sipping at his water with a straw. Logan could tell; he was too weak to argue with him any more on the matter. 

Which left only the matter of taking care of their 7-year old twin sons.  

“Roman Remus, go sit down at the table. I will be making breakfast this morning,” he told them. 

“What’s wrong with Dad?” Remus asked. 

“He is merely sick, Remus.”

“Will he get better?”

“Of course. But he needs to rest for now. In the meantime, I will be taking care of you two.”

“What about your work, Papa?” Roman asked, having already seated himself at the table. Logan smiled ever-so slightly as he led Remus to join him. 

“Don’t worry about that, Roman. I’ve already called in to let them know.”

“So we get to play with you today?” Remus asked excitedly. 

“Perhaps. But first, you have school, don’t you?” Logan chuckled a little at the two boys’ groans as he went to the cupboard, pulling out a box of Cocoa Puffs and getting the milk from the fridge. 

“Logan, are the boys--”

“You’re supposed to be resting Patton, not worrying,” Logan called. “They are simply disgruntled because they have to go to school.”

“What’s disgruntled mean?” Roman asked. 

“It means that you are dissatisfied with--”

“It means you aren’t happy that you have to go to school,” Patton interrupted. 

“Patton!”

“Sorry, dear!” Logan could hear his husband laughing on the couch. “It’s just, the boys can’t always understand your big words.”

“I’m disgruntled!” Remus proclaimed. “Can I stay home with Dad?”

“Not a chance, sport,” Patton called. “You need your education.”

“Patton, am I going to have to take you back to your room?”

“You’re gonna put Papa in timeout?” Remus asked. Logan sighed, setting the bowls, milk, and cereal on the table in front of the boys. 

“Eat your breakfast,” he ordered, “I don’t want you two to be late.”

Once the food was in front of them it wasn’t hard to keep the twins busy, and Logan set to work collecting their backpacks and homework. 

“Did you get their math books?” Patton asked as he made his way back towards the kitchen. 

“Yes, Patton.”

“And their spelling books?”

“Yes, Patton.”

“And their--”

“Patton.”

“Yes?”

“I have their homework. I have all of their homework.” Logan set the two backpacks down in the front entryway, then went to refill Patton’s water for him. His husband smiled at him when he returned. 

“Sorry dear,” he said. “It’s just I worry about--”

“I know, Patton.” Logan pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, then stood up again. “But let me worry about things today, okay? The boys will be fine.” Patton smiled again. 

“You’re doing a wonderful job,” he said. 

“I try.” Logan went back to the kitchen and saw that the twins had put their dishes in the sink, but they hadn’t put away the milk again. He sighed and did so, before going to the entryway where his sons were busy pulling on their shoes and coats. 

Well, Roman was. 

Remus was trying to make a paper airplane out of the math homework from his bag. 

“I’m gonna throw it at Mrs. Johnson today!” he told Logan when he saw him. 

“And why is that?” Logan asked with a frown. 

“She’s mean!” Remus said, and Roman nodded his agreement. 

“She always yells at us when we get math problems wrong, and she called Remus stupid once!”

“She did?”

“Yeah! I hate her!” Remus growled. “So I’m gonna throw this at her!” Logan was quiet for a long time. Then he nodded, and held out his hand. 

“Can I see that?” he asked. Remus hesitantly gave it to him, and Logan quickly set to work modifying the design. “Here,” he said after a moment, handing back the paper plane. “With the wings shaped like this, your plane will fly further and be more accurate.”

“Whoahhhhh,” Remus said in amazement, taking the plane back from Logan. “Thanks Papa!”

“Logan, what are you boys--”

“Nothing, dear.” Logan smiled at Remus and held a finger to his lips, then stood up and helped him put on his coat and backpack. 

“Patton? I’ll be back in about half an hour, okay? I’ll see what I can find for you at the store.”

“I love you Logan!”

“I love you too, dear.” Logan herded the twins out the door and into the car, where he spent the next ten minutes listening to Remus recite gross science facts to him and Roman ramble excitedly about dragons. When they got to the school parking lot the two raced each other inside, shrieking at each other the whole way. 

Logan sat there in the car for a moment after they’d gone, shaking his head slowly. 

“Where do they get all that energy?” he asked himself. 

He stopped at the grocery store on the way home, picking up ginger ale, more bread, bananas, and some medicine that would help Patton feel better. Logan hoped that he hadn’t been gone for too long when he got back--and sure enough, Patton was still sitting on the couch, watching the doorway he’d just come through.

“Dear, I do hope that you’re resting and not stressing yourself out more,” Logan mused as he set the groceries down on the counter. He filled a glass with ice and ginger ale, bringing it to Patton’s side and sitting down next to him. Patton took a sip and smiled. 

“The boys behave in the car?”

“They were the epitome of obedience and discipline,” Logan replied. Patton chuckled at that, then leaned against Logan’s chest and snuggled against him. 

“You’re nice and warm,” he said. 

“You have a fever, Patton.”

“Shhh, let me hug you.” Logan smiled fondly at his husband, then wrapped an arm around him as he absentmindedly picked up the remote to turn the TV on. It wasn’t long before Patton was fast asleep, not even halfway through the Disney movie Logan had put on for him. He watched for a little while, but before long he too was asleep. 

…

“Logan! Logan!” Logan jolted awake to find Patton shaking him, his curly hair a mess and his glasses askew. 

“Patton, what is the matter?” he asked, trying to compose himself as he sat up. 

“Logan, the principal just called me!” Patton yelped. “Remus is in trouble for something, and I--” Logan’s eyes widened, and he abruptly stood. 

“I’ll be back soon hun!” he shouted, bolting for the door. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of this! I love you!”

Logan didn’t wait for Patton to answer as he raced out the door and slammed it shut behind him, banishing the grogginess from his mind as he jumped into the car and started it. He gripped the steering wheel tightly as he drove back towards the school; he had no idea how he hadn’t heard the phone ringing, but what did know was exactly why Remus was in trouble. He was also pretty sure that Roman would be joining him shortly. The two hated to be apart. 

Moreover, Logan wasn’t exactly sure how he planned on explaining this to Patton when he got back. And when he was supposed to be resting too, not worrying about his sons! 

Such an idiot, Logan thought with a sigh. Course, Remus wouldn’t be in trouble with him, and he’d certainly have some words for the principal when he got there, and….oh, why did such rotten people get to be in charge of children like his? This was ridiculous. Logan let out a huff as he pulled into the parking lot, shutting the car door rather hard behind him as he marched inside. 

He made his way to the principal’s office, where he found a tired, balding man sitting behind a desk beyond the window of the secretary’s office. Remus pouted in the chair in front of him, and as Logan had predicted, Roman was sitting next to him. Those two really did do everything together. 

“Are you Mr. Sanders?” asked a voice, and Logan turned to see a small, red-haired woman sitting at another desk on his right. 

“I am,” he replied. 

“The principal’s waiting for you.”

“So I noticed.” Logan opened the door and stepped into the principal’s office, looking down at the older man with an unreadable expression.

“Ah...you are not who I was expecting…” he started to say, but Logan held his hand up. 

“My husband is sick. Is there a problem?” The principal turned red. 

“N-No, of course not. Well, I mean...I-I don’t believe we’ve met before. I’m Charles Lawrey, the boys’ principal.”

“I can read,” Logan answered. “Why is my son in trouble?”

“W-Well you see, Mr. Sanders, your son Remus threw a paper airplane at his math teacher--”

“Is this the one that called him stupid?” Logan interrupted. He saw Remus’ eyes light up at that; he gave the boy a stern look and he quickly went back to pouting. 

“I-I...what, sir?”

“I asked, is this the teacher that called my son stupid?” Logan repeated, crossing his arms and gazing sternly down at the principal. 

“I-I don’t know sir, but you see, it’s--”

“Remus, did that woman call you stupid?” Remus nodded. “Hmmm. So, Mr. Lawrey, you’re telling me that you have wasted half an hour of my time, woken up my sick husband, and disrupted the education of my children because they grew tired of having to deal with such inappropriate behavior from an adult, and not only that but from a teacher at your school?”

“Sir!” The principal spluttered. “Your children disrupted the education of the other students!”

“Then consider a more competent teacher to put in charge of my boys.” Logan turned. “Roman, Remus, let’s go.” The twins got up without a word and followed Logan out of the office, out of the school, and back to the car. 

Once they were driving again, Remus was the first to speak. He was always the first to speak. 

“I never seen anybody get mad at the principal like that before,” he said. Logan sighed. 

“I’m sorry you boys have had to put up with all of this,” he said. 

“Are we going home?” Roman asked. 

“Nope. We’re going to get ice cream.” Logan smiled at the twins’ cheers. 

He took the two into the nearest ice cream shop and let them get whatever they wanted. Remus chose a scoop of peanut butter-chocolate ice cream with lots of gummy worms on top, and Roman got strawberry with a heaping of chocolate fudge. The ice cream was enough to keep them quiet for the rest of the drive back, which Logan discovered he was more than grateful for. 

The moment the trio stepped inside the house, Patton’s voice called from the kitchen. 

“Logan, honey? Are you guys home?” The twins looked at Logan, and he motioned to the kitchen table. 

“You two get started on your homework and I’ll talk to Dad, okay?” The boys nodded. 

“Thanks Papa!” Roman said. Remus echoed him as they took their backpacks to the kitchen table, and Logan went to join his husband by the couch. Patton raised an eyebrow as he sat down, and Logan glanced aside. 

“You son was in trouble for throwing a paper airplane at his math teacher,” he explained. 

“And what did Roman do?” Patton asked. 

“I went pbththbthbhbhrbhbt at her when she tried to take him away!” Roman yelled from the kitchen table, along with a long raspberry noise for extra emphasis. 

“I see.” Patton looked at Logan. “And what did you think of Mr. Lawrey?”

“A despicable character,” Logan grumbled, crinkling his nose in disgust. “Incompetent.”

“Papa, what does despicable---”

“Remus, please let your Papa and Dad talk. I’ll be over there in a minute.”

The boys quieted down, and Patton grinned a little at Logan. “I didn’t like him either,” he said. “But hon, we can’t have the boys getting pulled out all the time. I know Mrs. Johnson is...not a pleasant person, but we can’t protect the twins from everything. They have to learn to work with other people...even the less friendly ones.” Logan frowned. 

“I know, dear, but…” he glanced back at the kitchen table. “I am also happy that our boys will stand up for themselves if they are mistreated. And as for being pulled out...one missed day won’t hurt them.”

Patton thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. Help me stand?” he asked. 

“But Patton--”

“I want to talk to our boys! No buts!” Patton held out an arm with a look of determination--Logan knew that look, and he knew his husband wasn’t going to change his mind. He took Patton’s arm and helped him up, and the two made their way to the kitchen table. 

“Remus?” Patton said. 

“Yeah Dad?” a little bit of nervousness flashed over the boy’s face, but then Patton grinned at him. 

“Did you at least hit your target?” At this, Remus beamed at him. 

“Hit her right in the nose!” he said. Patton laughed. 

“That’s my boy!” he glanced at him, then Roman. “How much homework do you two have?”

“Not much,” Roman said. “We got kicked out before the lesson was over.”

“Alright well, how about you two finish that, and then we’ll have a movie night. That sound good?”

“Yeah!” The twins nodded eagerly, and in a flash they were in a race to finish their homework. Logan helped Patton back to the couch, got him another glass of ginger ale, and went back to help the boys with their Spelling homework. Roman was right, they didn’t have much, and once that was complete the boys darted off to change into their pajamas in preparation for movie night. 

“What are we watching tonight Papa?” Remus asked, coming back rather quickly in his octopus-themed pajamas, which were backwards, and a matching blanket. Roman was quick to follow, his knight pajamas quite the contrast to his twins--and also put on properly.

“Let’s watch Frozen!” he yelped. 

“Oooh, Frozen!” Remus agreed. “I like the snow monster!”

“I like Olaf!” Roman shouted. He and Remus plopped themselves into Logan’s lap--he wouldn’t let them sit on Patton while he was sick--and Patton put on the movie for them to watch. 

“Logan?”

“Yes dear?” Logan glanced at his husband, who smiled and kissed him softly on the cheek. 

“You did a wonderful job.”

Logan smiled.

Patton tried to keep himself warm as he trudged through the thick knee length snow as snow fell on him. His cat carriage wasn't wrapped around his shoulders but it was on properly to keep the wind biting at him.

'The others might be worried about me' thought Patton as he tries to think of warmth and positivity. 'They probably trying to find me.'

He knew that he shouldn't have left the group. But seeing the baby deer being lost and alone, it broke his heart. So he left the group, without telling them, and comforted the baby deer. He walked with the deer until they found it's mama. He was happy that they were together again. The two deers went to find shelter from the cold storm as Patton went to find the group.

Patton realized that he was FREEZING as he remembers the cold.

'C'mon Patton... You need to keep going.'

He was trying really hard to think positive, but he saw that there was a problem... where is he going to go now?

The path was gone now.

He was lost.

And if things didn't even get any worse, it suddenly started to snow hard.

"Ugh!" shouted Patton but the wind was louder then the shout. So he keeps on going.

'Why do I always get myself stuck into troubling situations?'

Patton stops in a field as more snow fell and thinks about that thought. He then thought about the others. He's noticed that they haven't been happy about some of the things he has done in the past and he started understands why.

'I must be such a burden to the others.' he thought negatively.

His negative thoughts continue to spin in his mind as his body slowly began to shut down.

His hands were numb.

His feet were numb.

But the most worse of all, his own heart felt numb.

'Maybe I should stay lost.'

The storm started to blow harder that it made Patton lose his balance and face plated in the snow. His eyelids felt heavy as he try turn himself around, only getting his head to look up at the sky. He was about to close them but saw something flying to him from the sky.

'Bird?'

As it got closer, it got bigger, bigger than a bird.

'A dragon.' he realized. 'A red and green dragon'

When it landed, Patton saw Roman and Remus on the dragon's back, and they looked very worried.

"Patton!" yelled the twins, getting off of the dragon and running to him.

"Roman. Remus." whispered Patton. He tried to get up to move but his muscles were too weak that he collapsed and blacked out.

When Patton woke up, he was in room and in his bed. He realized that he was in different clothes on him by feeling the cloth on him, five blankets on top of him and pulled up to his neck, and his glasses were off and on the dresser. He was about to move both of his arms to move up and get his glasses. He couldn't move, but he wasn't too cold. He realized that was being pinned to the bed and not just by the blankets. So he lifted his head to see what was pinning him.

He was surprised to see Virgil laying on top of him, sleeping like a cat. He then he looked at his left, seeing Logan, without his glasses on, and Janus, without his hat on, cuddling up to him. Then he looked at his right, seeing Roman and Remus cuddling up to him as well. They were sleeping as well.

"Kiddos?" croaked Patton. Virgil woke up from Patton's croak and looked at him with hope in his eyes. "Patton!" cried Virgil. Virgil hugged tackled Patton from his sleeping position, hitting the others in the progress, causing the others to wake up with alarm. "What's wrong, Virgil?" asked Logan and Janus as Remus and Roman asked "What happened?" Then their jaws dropped when they saw Patton awake. "Patton!" cried the others, joining the hugging.

After the hugging Patton, they helped Patton to be in a sitting position and gave him his glasses. Patton thanked them. Then they asked Patton why he wasn't with them. Patton felt bad, but he knew that he had to tell them.

"I saw a baby deer all alone during the trip," started Patton and told them his trip with the baby deer. All of them looked at him in disbelief. "I know what you're doing to say, that I shouldn't have done that but I did. I just didn't want to leave it all alone, just letting it trying to find it's mama. That's why I left."

"Patton, why didn't you tell us?" asked Janus, giving Logan his glasses.

"I didn't want a long lecture about animals and their life. And how it's normal for them. Sorry Logan."

"It's fine, Patton. But are you okay?"

"I feel okay, just-"

Patton remembered his negative thoughts.

"I..." Patton sounded like he was going to cry.

"In the blizzard, I tried to be positive and warm, but the cold got to me and I remembered the negative times that turned into negative thoughts. One was just to stay lost, and-"

Patton was crying, now that he told them everything. "I-I'm s-sorry, f-for e-everything." he said to them looking down, for he was scared for their reactions.

But the next thing he knew, he brought into a hug by all of them.

"It's okay, Patton." said Janus, after the hug. "You did the right thing."

"Ya want to know what the animals think about you?" asked Roman. Patton looked at him and nodded, still crying a bit. "They-"

"They're thankful for your doing." interrupt Remus. "Oh, I tried to put you in a hot bath to help you after Roman and I got you out, but everyone kept on stopping me from doing it."

"Because it'll make the near frostbite even worse!" yelled Logan, making Remus almost jumped off the bed.

"Kiddos,"Patton started to chuckled, having happy tears falling down. The others looked at him. "I want to say that I'm thankful for all of you."

"And we're thankful for you too." said Virgil.

With that, they hugged Patton again, making him feel loved as the same that he gives his love to them.

Remus felt out of place. 

Well okay, more out of place than usual. Being out of place was kind of his thing, after all, but this side of the mindpalace truly was something else. It was so...light...and happy…and weird.

Remus shuddered. 

Thing was, he wasn’t on this side of the line for his usual shenanigans. He wasn’t there to disorganize Logan’s books (perches on his shelves in their perfect alphabetical order) or slip a tarantula into Patton’s heart-printed sheets. No, he was here for something a little more serious. 

He was here for Roman. 

“Brother?” Remus opened the red door at the end of the hall, feeling the cold metal of the knob in his hands as he stepped inside. 

Nobody was there. 

“Roman?”

No answer. Maybe he was out exploring in the imagination again...well, Remus supposed he could wait. What he had to ask was important, after all. He glanced down at the soft crimson carpet as he paced over it, feeling how soft it was under his feet. What a strange sensation…

Then something caught his eye. Remus turned, and there it was. 

It was a book, sitting on Roman’s desk.

Red leather, fancy lettering on the cover…

And a pen sitting next to it. Remus frowned and went to the desk, picking up the book and looking at the cover. 

Roman’s Diary, it proclaimed in loopy gold writing. 

The book suddenly felt a lot heavier. Remus stared at the cover for a long time, feeling the leather in his hands. He looked at the door. He looked back at the book. Roman’s Diary. The lettering hadn’t changed. 

Remus closed his eyes. 

Then he opened them again. 

Then he opened the diary. 

He flipped past a few entries, until one caught his eye.

Dear Diary, it said. 

Thomas rejected another one of my ideas. I don’t know what to do...I’m supposed to be his prince, his knight...but I just feel like a failure. Why can’t I, his Creativity, make him happy? Am I really so terrible at my own job...?

What would Remus think of me now?   -Remus jumped when he read his name, and he looked at the door again before he continued. 

What have I done wrong? I feel like such a mess, and I can’t give Thomas good ideas. Virgil says they’re stupid, Logan tells me they’re illogical, and Patton...even he seems disappointed in me…   -Here there were two blots in the paper...tears, Remus realized. 

I’ve got to think of something! I can’t let Thomas down! Maybe some adventuring will help me clear my mind…

The entry ended there. Remus stood there for a short moment, unsure of what to think, before he shook his head and turned the page.

Dear Diary, 

“Roman, that doesn’t even make sense!” “Roman, I thought you were Creativity, this is a terrible idea!” “Roman, can you please just pay attention for once?” “Life isn’t a game, Roman!” I feel so…  -more words blotted out by tears. 

I can’t cry in front of them. If I have to suffer all of this alone, then so be it. I can’t let them know how I really feel...they can’t know. They can’t know how much I hate my own ideas, how much I hate me.  -Remus stared at the page, at the underlined “me.” Was this how Roman really felt…?

Hah, if only they knew that I was as pathetic as they thought.

Another page, another entry.

Dear Diary, 

My ideas have been shot down again. I suppose it’s no surprise, seeing as nobody wants to listen to me anyways. I know I talk a big game but...I really am wondering, is it doing anything? Am I any good at all? Would they even notice if I just disappeared?

I really hope this isn’t true. But I’m running out of hope.

Remus flipped a few more pages.

Dear Diary, 

The first paragraph was nearly impossible to read, so blurred and blotted out by tears. The first line he could read comprehensively was I have to be there for Thomas. 

I have to, he continued. 

I have to be there for him, even if he doesn’t want me. He needs me. I’m his Creativity. He needs me. I have to be there for him…

More pages, more tears.

Dear Diary,

Thomas liked an idea I had today! But then...right after that...Logan went to him and convinced him it wasn’t a good idea after all. I...I don’t know what to do...I keep trying and trying, but I feel like I’ve done nothing. 

The next sentence was written shakily, so shakily that Remus struggled to read it. 

Does Thomas need me after all?

Maybe he’d be better off without me...after all, I only seem to be in the way. 

Would he be better without me? He’ll still have Remus, his Creativity wouldn’t be completely gone…

The door slammed open and Remus jumped, dropping his book on the floor. 

“What are you doing in here!?” he spun around to find Roman, sword drawn, but his brother stopped immediately when he saw Remus’ face. 

“Are you...crying?” he asked. Remus just stared at him. 

He started to turn away. 

“No Remus, please wait, I--”

He was gone. In a heartbeat Remus slipped from the light side and back to the dark side of the mindpalace, tears streaming down his cheeks and a feeling of numbness and horror and so many things swirling around in his chest. 

---

Roman and Remus had together ruled over Thomas’ imagination for as long as either brother could remember, an imagination that had so long been split and cracked into two realities so different from each other one could scarcely believe they’d once been one.

But, somehow, they had been. 

Or so the brothers were told--the truth was that neither Roman nor Remus actually remembered the Split; they only knew what the others had told them of it. From what they could remember things had always been like this, and they had always been what they were: twins. Separate, different, individual. Always fighting, locked in a battle of what belonged where and who ruled what. 

They’d been driven to such extremes of themselves, unallowed to cross the grey area where their ideas merged and came together. Remus had to be what he was--dark, and horrible, and scary, and evil. And Roman could only be proud, and fanciful, and silly, and good. When their thoughts and ideas ventured too far into the others’ territory they were reminded harshly that this was not their place, that this is for your brother and not you. 

And so the imagination remained as it was--fractured, and broken, and not at all the dreamscape of wonder that it was supposed to be--that it had once been, the brothers were told. One side remained horrible, and frightening, begging for light; while the other was a permanent patchwork of happiness slapped over insecurity and pain. 

What had happened?

What changed?

Roman pondered the questions often, even though it felt wrong to him to even think like that. He was the good prince, the brother who was wanted...

Or at least that was what he told himself. What they told him--he couldn’t pull their words apart from his anymore; they just sounded the same. Roman supposed that that was what they had wanted.

But though it wasn’t allowed, or accepted, or the kind of thing a good prince would do, Roman still often found himself exploring the borders of his kingdom, looking into the whispers of the place that merged he and his brother’s worlds into a single Creativity...

How it had been. 

A part of him whispered, how it was supposed to be. 

A wall of black and storm separated the two Imaginations, keeping the good from the bad and vice versa--but sometimes, in the middle little things slipped through, little things that seemed to add just a tiny bit of nostalgia, just a small piece of had been and once was to his perfect patchwork world. 

Roman stood at the sheet of rain and lightning that separated him from his brother’s world, watching it as he did more often than he wanted to admit. 

And though it didn’t know it, Remus stood on the other side, looking at the wall of light and blue that he could never pass through, the wall that he came to more often than he wanted to admit.

Roman paced forward, stopping when he saw a whirl of smoke cross the barrier, swirling around something...

What was that? He ran to it, stopping when he realized the grass was suddenly dead under his feet, and a little further ahead...

A stone door. 

How had he not seen that before? Roman wondered to himself. He went to the door, and saw that it stood alone, nothing above or around it...but why? Could it be opened? The grass crackled under his feet as he stepped closer, putting his hand against the door...

How had he not noticed this door before? Remus wondered. He looked at the oddity curiously, and down at the strange feel of living grass beneath his feet. The door was attached to no building, and it was nothing he had ever created...why was it here? Could it be opened? The grass swished in a way he’d so rarely heard, in a way that was alive as he stepped closer, putting his hand against the door...

At once, the stone creaked as it skidded back, revealing a staircase...a strange, forgotten staircase that whispered of a past he couldn’t remember but wished he did. Roman stared at it--he’d never seen anything like this before, and in his own dominion...

A strange feeling of forgotten memories pulled him down the stone steps and he descended quickly, grabbing a torch and easily bringing it to light with a  summoned flame. He had no memory of this place; no memory of creating it, and yet here it was in his own kingdom...in his Imagination. 

Why was it here? The peculiar burning feeling in his chest pulled Roman the rest of the way down the stairs, until he came to a short hallway. He barely paused before running down it, as the feeling grew stronger and stronger until...

The prince suddenly stopped as the ceiling flung up through the earth and the walls were cast aside, his torch’s light suddenly becoming small and weak in the new room that now stood before him. Roman’s eyes widened as he realized that the floor beneath him was silver; pure silver, that reflected the light of his torch and revealed a golden ceiling high above. The walls on either side were lined with some kind of writing; a writing he didn’t know, etched in between rubies and emeralds. 

“Hello?” he called. At the sound of Roman’s voice the rubies suddenly to burst to life; a fierce red light crackled from their many surfaces, throwing an eerie glow over the giant, columned room. Roman dropped his torch in amazement and it hissed as it hit the floor, before giving up its flame in a curl of smoke.

“Oh my stars...” he whispered. But something still drew Roman forward, and after a small hesitation he began walking again, passing through the grand room to...

A throne. 

An enormous, grand, beautiful throne sat alone at the end of the room, wrapped in gold and silver and the same rubies and emeralds that lined the walls. The rubies here shone too, casting their red light on Roman’s face as he approached the throne, staring at it in an awed silence.  A large crack ran up the center of the it, dividing the magnificent throne in two. The same crack, Roman realized, ran all the way through the room, all the way to the entrance where--

“Brother?” cried a voice. The emeralds along the walls crashed to life as the echo passed over them, their sharp green light kaleidescoping over the room and mixing with the red as a familiar shadow approached the throne. 

“R-Remus?” Roman whispered, scarcely able to believe his eyes. He watched his brother as he came closer, the duke’s eyes wide in a look of reverent awe. 

A place where both of them could be in the imagination? But that was...

Impossible. 

Or at least, it had been.

“What is this place?” Remus asked softly, coming to Roman’s side and stopping there. Then he saw the Throne, and his eyes widened as he took the scene in. 

“The...”

“...King...” Roman nodded, and his brother looked at him. 

And they remembered. The King of Creativity; his grand palace at the center of an unbroken, unified Imagination, an imagination that was a wondrous mix of the dark and the light; a place where both were one and had worked together in harmony. A place before the Split, before the light and the dark were forced apart, and the Imagination collapsed into the ruins of what it had once been. The brothers had both tried their best, but...there was only so much they could do, forced into too-perfect patchwork and crying stormlight. 

“What...what happened?” Remus asked quietly, staring at the columns around the Throne, and the grand beauty that still remained in them even after so long. Roman had never seen his brother look so shaken--but then again, he’d never felt so shaken either. His palace couldn’t even begin to compare to this place even after such a long time buried here, and he knew Remus’ couldn’t either by the look in his brother’s eyes.

“It was before...” Roman stopped himself, and the two finally met each other’s eyes. 

“Before us,” Remus whispered. Roman nodded and looked away, a shiver flying down his spine. And though neither Creativity spoke, the same question burned in both their hearts.