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It was a bright and cheery day, as picturesque as purple prose. Patton was making his way through the simplistic corridors of the mindscape before he settled in front of a massive drawbridge door draped in foliage; the door into the imagination. Patton was quite excited to meet Roman and discuss his heroic and creative ventures, as they did once or twice a week, adorned with a basket of fresh chocolate chip cookies that was a staple of these meet ups. The only thing out of the ordinary today was that Patton was walking alone. Normally Roman would meet him at the door, but he had been so enthralled in his work lately that he had asked Patton if he could find his way by himself. Patton obliged to the Prince’s request, figuring that the trip would be simple. However, the imagination is a vast place that makes itself an easy place to find yourself lost in.
As the door swung down before Patton, he merrily skipped through a beautiful valley of flowers, most of them red and yellow, with purple and blue bundles sprouting here and there. The blossom filled stretch of land continued across a foot bridge that went over a bright laughing stream being trickled into by a tiny waterfall. This was always Patton’s favorite part of the journey, it was so colorful and peaceful. He couldn’t help but giggle with delight as a cute little ladybug landed on his nose, a common but cherished bug to this corner of paradise.
Unfortunately Patton could not linger, Roman was waiting for him, and he didn’t want to worry his dear prince. With a final sigh of the fresh flowery air, Patton continued on his path to Roman’s Castle. The flowers faded behind him as he walked on a far simpler grass meadow, a tree popping up here and there slowly leading Patton into the forest.
The forest was filled with woodland creatures, mostly deer and squirrels equally cute and skittish. The sunlight peaked through the green leaves was Patton’s only light as he strolled forward. He was always a little wary of the forest, for the deeper you go, the harder it is to see the light. After walking a ways, Patton grabbed his flashlight, clutching it tightly. The woods kept getting darker and darker, as well as colder. If Patton could see more clearly, he’d realize that the trees were getting more and more decayed, enveloped in thorny thickets for tombs. Patton timidly snuggled into the cardigan he had wrapped around his shoulders. Despite the fear on his face, Patton expected the dark and the cold, he usually had Roman to comfort him with promises to eviscerate any being that threatened his safety and time eating sing-a-longs.
What Patton didn’t expect was how wet it was. It started with an acute humidity, a misty texture to the cold breezes, a dampness to the ground below him that slowly got muddier and muddier. These minuscule signs grew, when Patton realized he had been trudging through mid-calf length puddles for the past two minutes, he realized that he was lost.
Deciding to look around with his flashlight was probably Patton’s biggest mistake, for he was not greeted by trees but concrete walls, slicked by something too slimy to be moss. The wall curved into the ceiling, creating a circular frame that seemed to go on for miles. Patton was ashamed, his own fear had consumed his attention, and now he was more afraid and alone than ever, with no idea how to be found. Before he could attempt to find his way back, he felt a tiny being crawling up his leg.
This tiny being was a spider, and Patton was deathly afraid of spiders. He wanted to scream, shake it off of him, call for help, anything, but before he could do anything, he felt eight more legs crawling up his back. He felt more crawling up his arms and legs, all he could do is silently freeze as he felt their tiny legs press against his skin, keeping his eyes and mouth tightly shut. They scattered and waltzed along his body, an erratic dance that seemed to last forever and a second all at once.
“It seems you’ve had a skin crawling travel.” A shrill voice remarked, causing the spiders to all cascade down Patton’s body. Patton immediately recognized the voice.
“Oh hey Remus, I’ve gotten a little lost. I-“ Patton tried to explain, being swiftly interrupted.
“Really where you headed?” Remus asked innocuously, well at least with an innocuous tone.
“Oh, I was going to see Roman.” Patton was already swallowing his regret as Remus rolled his eyes.
“Of course you were,” He scoffed. “You two must really like each other.” Before Patton could respond, Remus aggressively started sniffing. His mustache twitched as he followed his nose to Patton’s basket. “What do we have here?”
Patton’s arm had gotten so used to the basket’s weight that he’d forgotten he’d brought it. “Cookies, but they’re for Rom-“ He was interrupted yet again by Remus scarfing the whole batch.
“Roman-Shbloman, I ain’t letting these get colder!” Remus said smacking his lips. “Besides, you never make me cookies, or come over, or even talk to me.” Remus started to loosen up his restraint on his tentacles, the teal green limbs unfurling and stretching like slimy cats awakening from a long slumber.
“Well I, uhh” Patton was grasping at an explanation, it was clear he had a distaste for the Duke, but he wasn’t going to outright say that he hated him, that was rude and dangerous. “Hey! You stole those cookies, that’s not very nice!”
“Oh Patton,” Remus growled as he inched closer to Patton. “Neither is trespassing.”
Remus grabbed Patton by the ankle with one of his tentacles, the suction cups and his general grip causing two levels of cut off to Pat’s circulation as he let his prey dangle.
“Patton why don’t you like me?”
THWAM! Remus flung Patton against the wall, letting him slip down into another one of his tentacles. He lifted Patton once again, this time by the torso.
“You’ve never liked me!”
THWAM!
“I’ve always been too scary for you”
THWAM!
“Not good enough! Not sweet enough!”
THWAM! THWAM!
“You and Roman both hate me!”
“I don’t hate you.” Patton stated trembling, this was not an answer Remus wanted to hear. The tentacle squeezed tightly around Patton’s wrist.
“LIAR!” Remus shrieked as he threw Patton harder than ever before. CRRCK! Patton’s arm had completely snapped off at the shoulder, the head of his humerus popping out as the blood gushed from the severed arm and side. Patton’s tears were streaming down his face as he sobbed and writhed in pain. The succulent display made Remus’ wrathful expression twist into a deranged smile “Didn’t you say lying was wrong?”
Remus’ tentacles slowly crept up along Patton’s remaining limbs, caressing them with tentative focus.
“Sweet Patton, you’re always so good, so righteous, so innocent,” Remus lamented as his tentacles stroked Patton’s inner thighs and grazed his chest. “But you are a hypocrite, and you hypocrites tend to tear yourselves apart!”
He punctuated his claim by ripping off all of Patton’s limbs, leaving him as nothing more than a torso with a face.
“R-Remus, please” Patton whimpered, praying that this would all be over soon, that someone would find him, or that Remus would get bored or have pity. His entire body, or what
was left of it, was already soaked with blood and tears and he just wanted to go home.
“Aww, you’re crying” Remus cooed, brushing Patton’s cheek with his detached hand “Do you know how many times you’ve made me cry?!?!?” He slapped Patton into the air with the same arm.
“How many times you’ve made Dee cry!?!?”
Thwick! He kicked Patton this time, Pat’s old damp khakis stinging the wounds.
“How much everyone cried when you took Virgil away!?!?!??!” Remus choked back tears as he continued to play one person ping pong with Patton’s body parts.
“How do you like him anyways? He’s just as dark and intimidating as the rest of us! How do you see the good in him and not me?!?!”
“REMUS ENOUGH!” Bellowed a familiar prince.
Remus dropped Patton immediately as he turned to face Roman. “Once again, it is dear brother coming to the rescue. There’s no one to save here though, just my newest masterpiece. Look, I made it your favorite color, see?” Roman saw Patton scattered in pieces on the floor and immediately wanted to vomit, and then kill his brother for doing this to his precious Pat.
“Remus I-“ Roman started to exclaim until he noticed that his brother was gone. He switched gears to healing. “Oh Patton. I’ll fix this right away.”
“Roman” Patton coughed with joy and relief, if he wasn’t a facet of Thomas’ personality, he’d be dead. Although he was lucky to be alive, he was in immense pain. That pain decreased significantly with the clap of Roman’s hands. In seconds Patton was in one piece, clean and dry. “Thank you Roman!” He tried to embrace his hero but stooped over, fortunately caught in Roman’s arms.
“Careful, you may look all better but you are still very vulnerable right now. You will need time to heal” Roman cautioned “I’m so sorry, I never thought something this bad would’ve happened, I could have saved you-“
“But you did, you did! I-hah!” Patton winced in pain. He really couldn’t move without doing so, which detracted from his reaffirming statements much to his own dismay.
“We need to get you out of here.”
Roman gently carried Patton until the ground was dry enough for his white noble steed to be waiting. He then gently placed the sickly side on the back of his horse before mounting it himself and riding through the trees towards the sun.