~🤍~

Patton opened his palm seeing the key. He walked over to the door and it didn't open. He raised an eyebrow. Why give him a key if the door won't open? He walked around. Maybe there was a secret door somewhere in here. Patton paused walking. Wait...why give him a way out in the first place!? Patton looked towards the door confused. First he hates them all and now he's trying to let them go? Patton connected the dots after a few minutes and his eyes widened. "OH MY GOD SHADOWS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT PERSON!" Patton started running around the room with the key trying to find the hidden door. He had to tell the others! When he got the secret door open he immediately started running through the tunnel looking for a way out. He heard a soft humming and he ran straight for it. He found the key hole to the door and opened it. Virgil jumped back shocked. "Virgil!" He ran over and kissed his boyfriend.

"How!?" Virgil pulled away. "Not that I'm not excited to see you Patt..." Patton held out the key.

"Janus gave it to me."

"Why would he do that?" Virgil asked.

"Okay, so I've been doing research because I've been friends with a few kids from my therapists office and they have what's called dissociative identity. It's more commonly known as multiple personalities. And with that being known now, think about it as...shadow being a completely different person, but in Janus's body. So like he doesn't know what's happening while shadow is in control but when he comes back, he is able to see the aftermath of what he's done. It's caused by trauma, and more often than not the individual experiencing this, isn't able to recall what happens while the other person is in charge because they won't allow them to." Virgil's eyes widened.

"So, Janus is the good guy and shadow the bad guy?"

"Shadow, is an alter yes. He's the one that is keeping us trapped here." Virgil looked around confused.

"So if that's the case, and Janus wanted to let us go..."

"He can't because his alter won't let him. Remember how every time he was suddenly nice he would immediately go and change his attitude?"

"I thought he was just bipolar as fuck." Virgil opened the secret door and the two walked in the hallway. "I didn't realize how big this house actually fucking was..." they walked for a bit longer until they reached another key hole. "Roman maybe?" Patton placed the key in and when they opened the door they saw Roman asleep on the bed in the corner of the room. His ankle was chained up to the bed and his wrist were chained together.

"What the fuck..." Virgil walked into the room and over to Roman. "Ro?" Roman opened his eyes and immediately jumped back.

"Oh my god!" He looked at them confused seeing the doorway behind them. "How the fuck..."

"Why are you chained up?" Virgil sat down next to Roman checking him over for injuries.

"I pissed him off." Roman glared at the chains. "And he said he's not coming back for like a week." Roman groaned. "Am I just going to be chained up here for an entire week? Like what does he expect? If you two didn't find me he probably wouldn't have cared if I fucking starved."

"Fucking hell..." Virgil looked at Roman's wrist then up at Patton. "These are on there pretty fucking tight..."

"It's alright, uhm...it doesn't hurt that bad." Roman turned his head and Patton looked on in horror.

"Oh my god." He stepped away covering his mouth in shock. Roman looked to face Patton and then immediately threw his hands over his neck.

"Patton I'm okay." Virgil pulled Roman's hands away and Roman looked down.

"Oh..." Virgil immediately hugged Roman. "We will make damn sure he never touches you again okay?"

"It wasn't even him." Roman sighed. "Look, I didn't want Remus to see them so I've been covering them. It really triggers him. I didn't want to be the reason he has an attack so I asked Janus for makeup and he helped me cover them..."

"You've been hiding them, this entire time?" Patton asked. Roman nodded.

"When I got out of the hospital, my mother sent me off to some place and they...well they had expected me to answer them but I refused to and so they well..." Roman bit his lip. "He made me promise I wouldn't tell Remus so please don't?"

"Roman, are you okay?" Virgil asked. Roman shook his head as he broke down crying.

"I was raped." Roman leaned into Virgil as he cried. "So many fucking times by so many different people. I couldn't get away, I wasn't allowed to resist because if I did I was punished. I just couldn't tell them where Remus was."

"I've got you now, we won't let anyone ever hurt you like that okay." Virgil held Roman in a hug the best he could with the chains in the way. Patton joined the hug. A few minutes later the door opened and all three of them jumped back seeing a different person standing in the doorway.

"Who the hell are you?" Roman asked. The man threw the key at Virgil and Virgil unchained Roman. They all stared at the man as he walked away leaving the door open. The three of them followed him out and into the hallway. They walked into the dining room. Remus and Logan were sitting down looking very confused at the man.

"Just eat it. I told you I didn't poison the damn thing." He sat down at the head of the table and looked at all of them. "Maybe I should explain a few things?" Patton glanced at Roman and Virgil and they sat down across from Remus and Janus.

"Who are you?" Logan asked.

"Well, my names Remy." Remy took off his mask and Patton gasped.

"The principles kid!?" Patton stared at him in shock.

"Yep." He smiled at them. "Just eat, he's going to be gone for a week so I have a plan to get you all out of here before he comes back."

"Why the fuck are you helping him?" Remus asked. Remy looked at Remus.

"Dude, cover up Jesus." He took off his leather jacket and threw it at Remus. "I'm going to kill shadow I swear to fuck..." Remy then looked at Logan and then at Roman and then at Patton.

"Why do you keep calling him shadow?" Patton asked. "We know who he really is..."

"No." Remy placed his fork down. "You don't actually."

"Again, I asked why are you helping him?" Remus asked.

"I'm not helping shadow. I'm helping Janus protect you from shadow. Shadow wanted to leave you all to rot when he went away for a week that's why he left you all locked up separately." He pointed at Logan. "You and Remus were supposed to be locked up but Janus didn't let him do so."

"What the hell are you even talking about?" Roman asked.

"My boyfriend has disassociative identity. Meaning he has multiple personalities. Shadow, is an alter. Janus is the good guy, he's the nice one. I don't know how you never noticed this."

"Again, I thought he was just bipolar as fuck." Virgil said.

"Oh please, this has just got to be an excuse there's no way!" Roman shook his head. "He's just trying to make things up!"

"Roman, are you really that stupid?" Remy asked.

"I believe him." Logan replied. Remy looked over at Logan.

"Wow, so the smart one actually does have a brain in there."

"You are such an ass." Logan leaned back in his chair.

"Please just eat, so I can get you all loaded in the car and get you the fuck out of here."

"But won't he like absolutely hate you if we leave?" Remus asked.

"Listen, Shadow has threatened my life on multiple occasions. He does not fucking like me but if the bitch wants a fight he's got one. Janus told me about everything shadow has done, the fucker has evidence! Janus had come to me crying his eyes out after-after he saw what happened to you Logan." Remy took his sunglasses off. "Logan, I hope you won't hold that against Janus. It's understandable if you do, but he wasn't able to stop shadow...he wanted to. But he couldn't."

"Now that I think about it, he did." Logan ate a piece of fruit and laughed a bit. "At one point he did stop, and he flinched away as if he didn't know why he was over me, and then in a moment he was back to hurting me. I understand how hard it can be for him to fight an alter for control but maybe we can...we can stay and get him to fight again?" Remy sighed.

"Kid, Janus would rather have you all protected and deal with the consequences of shadows actions. He said he'll plead insanity or some shit when he gets arrested and they'll lock him in a mental ward or something. Shadow won't be an issue in there."

"And you are just...okay with that?" Roman asked. Remy looked down.

"I love janus, I do. I'm okay if I have to visit him in prison to just have him in my life." Remy wiped the tears from his eyes. "We've been together for awhile. I'm not letting shadow ruin it. He thinks I didn't know about him but I know my Janus."

"And you are certain if we leave, he won't follow through and have you killed?" Logan asked. Patton held Virgil's hand and Remy shook his head.

"Not certain, but I know if he does it wasn't my boyfriend who did it." Patton stood up and hugged Remy.

"Thank you so much." Remy laughed.

"Let's go kids, time to get you all to the hospital." They stood to get up but just as they were about to leave the dining room the door slammed open on the other side of the room.

"Did you honestly, really believe id let myself actually go to that damn field trip?" Janus entered and scoffed. "Jesus Remy it's like you don't actually know me." Remy glared.

"Drop the act shadow. I told them and they understand now." Shadow glared at Remy and shook his head.

"You are such a bad boyfriend." He walked over and grabbed Remys wrist tight. Remy hissed in pain as he was suddenly slammed against the wall. "How could you? After all this time! I thought I could actually trust you around these guys and not have you trying to set them free." Remy looked at Patton.

"Run! Get out all of you!" Patton quickly sprung into action grabbing Virgil's arm and running. He heard the yelling between the two continue and turned to face Logan, Roman, remus and Virgil.

"He'll be okay." They ran out of the house and hid behind the wall. "We can wait here for him, he'll be coming right out..."

~💛⚠️~ (shadow)

"How many times have I threatened to fucking kill you!?" Remy landed harshly on the ground across the room. He lifted himself up.

"I know you are not my boyfriend. Quit pretending to be him shadow! You don't think I know the fucking difference between you and Janus at this point?" Remy held his arm and backed up. "I dont care if you kill me, I don't. Those kids are free and soon you'll be locked up and I won't have to worry that you'll harm Janus." Shadow laughed.

"Oh my god, you really believe yourself?" He walked over and for a moment Remy looked terrified. Shadow smirked. Doubt. He couldn't tell if it was Janus or not. Shadow placed his hands around Remys throat. "Come on cookie, you know I'd never do anything to hurt you." Remy started crying as he reached to his throat trying to get the hands off. Bingo. He thought shadow was Janus.

"J-Jan what..." tears flowed down Remys face. Shadow held him down.

"You are so pathetic." Remy shook his head.

"Hey asshat!" Shadow looked up as a lamp came crashing down on his head. He slumped to the side holding his now bleeding head. He looked over and saw Roman helping Remy up.

"Idiot kids." He went to stand up but Remy suddenly held a knife at him.

"Don't." Remy had tears flowing down his face. Shadow smirked. Does he think that shadow was still Janus? Oh this is great.

"Remy, it's shadow." Logan was glaring at shadow. "He's tricking you."

"You ruin the fun." Shadow laughed as he felt Janus trying to fight. He sighed and allowed Janus to slip into front.

~💙~

Logan ran over to Janus and helped him sit up. Roman took the knife from Remy and sat him down.

"Are you okay?" Logan asked. Janus nodded his head as he started crying. He looked over at remy.

"You believed him..." tears flowed down his face.

"No! No please Cupcake...please..." Remy went to stand but Roman and Remus held him down shaking their heads. "Please cupcake it's not like that...he tricked me."

"He tried to make you think it was me killing your remy! He could have and you would have died thinking I hurt you! I would never!" Janus started crying again.

"If it helps.." Logan sat down and held his hand. "We know." Janus looked at Remy.

"I can't believe you told them."

"I had to!" Remy started crying again. "I had n-no other ch-choice okay?"

"You know he was going to actually kill you! He could have if they didn't intervene." Logan shrugged.

"We're stupid." That made Remy and Janus laugh.

"No shit." Janus hugged logan. "I'm so sorry for what he's done."

"I forgive you." Logan stood up. "We should all probably head to bed and not let this happen again. I don't need to help take care of anymore wounds tonight." Janus nodded as everyone went off to sleep except Logan and Remy.

"Why are you so trusting after everything..." Janus looked down. Logan finished taking care of Remys throat and then walked over sitting beside Janus helping wrap his head.

"How often does he force front?" Logan asked as he sat cross legged in front of Janus.

"A lot." Janus mumbled.

"Okay, so has he ever forced front during class?" Logan asked.

"God no, he hates me being a teacher. He's constantly bickering with me about how he wants me to quit but I refuse." Remy leaned against Janus and closed his eyes laying down in his lap. Janus played with Remys hair.

"Okay, so when did he start to kidnap kids like us?" Logan asked. Janus looked down and then back at Logan.

"Two years ago, every kid he's taken he's just managed to harm enough that they end up getting sick and-and dying. I couldn't stop him but when he started taking particular interest in all of you? I couldn't sit back and watch or listen to that shit. I tried to stop him but he wouldn't let me front and it was so fucking hard getting that control back from him. Think of it this way, im watching from a screen in my head when I'm not fronting. And if I want to front it should be as simple and easy as pulling shadow through the tv screen so that I could have the control for awhile but shadow likes to make sure the tv only has static so I have no way of seeing what he is doing. The only reason I have evidence of what he's done to you is-is he has it written down in full fucking detail." Janus looked away from Logan. "He's just hurt so many people...and I let him get away with it."

"And now you don't have to handle him alone." Logan replied. "You never did, Remy loves you so much Janus. He even told us that he would never leave you even if you had to go away for awhile. Remy would never leave you. Hell, if I'm allowed to that is, I will visit you. I don't care what the therapist and what not may think." Janus wiped his tears and smiled at Logan.

"Thanks Logan, I appreciate that." Janus played with the sleeping Remys hair. "He's put up with shadow for so many years and yet he never left me...even after shadows hurt and hurt him."

"Because he loves you." Logan stood up. "And when you love someone, you learn to accept the ugly parts of them. Nobody is perfect after all." Logan placed the first aid kit down and waved goodnight. "We will figure this out tomorrow okay? Get some rest."