Warnings: Emotional detachment, sort of creepy imagery, mention of Deceit. Let me know if I missed any!

Word count: 1,658

It wasn't the first time this happened, but it was the first time the others had seen it. Of course, it wasn't who he would have wanted to see this first... It happened at an inopportune time. Normally it just happened when he was stressed, lonely or upset, just by himself, but, no... Not this time. This time, he wasn't alone, this time it happened in front of Roman. The brash egotistical side, the brave, yet so very stubborn prince that always managed to get him more riled up than even Deceit or Patton ever was able to.

They were in the middle of an argument. It had started out as playful bantering between the two, but soon the small comments and teasing remarks were given more force and meaning, then they turned to sharp insults, then glares, then shouting. Logan was already stressed, overly stressed, he had overworked yet again to stay on top of everything and the effect was starting to show. "Well for the smart side, you're rather dense! I can't believe you're supposed to be Thomas' logic! You can't even tell a good idea from a bad idea!" The prince snapped at him, "And honestly! Do you really think Thomas needs you anymore? I'm the side that's more important! I'm the one who's helping him, with his job! He doesn't even need some teacher just ruining everything!"

That's what did it for him, Logan had been shaking with anger, his teeth gritted against each other in a way that should have been painful, his hands clenched into tight fists. Roman was ready, he was ready and prepared for Logan to snap back at him, he was ready for Logan to yell and scream at him. He was ready for that. He wasn't at all ready for what really happened.

Logan looked at Roman, his face completely devoid of emotion at all, his hands unclenched, his mouth shut in a tight line, nothing about his expression showed any anger, hurt, pain, anything! There was nothing! His eyes were the worst part about it, they had been a deep, dark blue, but the second Logan looked back to Roman, they were drained. Drained of any and all color, and feeling. They were cold, robotic, inhuman. Roman flinched, "Lo...Logan?" He asked, his voice betrayed him as it shook. What? It.. it was just Logan, he shouldn't be scared, right? Then why was he trembling?

"This conversation is over," Logan stated, his voice just as emotionless and cold as his expression, making a shiver crawl up the prince's spine. Logan said nothing, his hands clasped behind his now straightened back in a very formal manner as he walked off and back to his room. Roman let out a breath he didn't even realize he had been holding once he heard Logan's door shut. He stood there for a bit too long, those empty eyes seeming to burn into his mind, he was snapped back into reality when he heard a concerned voice, "Princey? You good?" It was Virgil.

Roman sighed, "Yes, yes, I'm quite alright..." he cleared his throat, trying to wave away the obvious unease. "You sure? You've just been staring off into space for a while..." The darker trait asked, obviously picking up the clues of fear and unease, he didn't expect those kinds of cues from Roman... Something really must have startled him. Roman nodded, "Yes, I... I apologize, I was, thinking. Um, I'm... I'm going to be off in my realm for... The rest of tonight, let Patton know not to wait up for me, the poor dear always does that." He spoke quickly, and with a hint of a nervous stammer.

Virgil decided to go along with it for now, though he didn't believe that nothing was up, he nodded, "Yeah sure. Have fun." And with that Roman left, spending the rest of the night in his realm as stated, leaving it cut off from the rest, making them unable to go in and check on him...

The second time it happened, it wasn't an overwhelming feeling of anger, frustration, and stress that had caused this blank. It was a negative emotion that Logan experienced often enough, yet never could think of a logical reason as to why, so he stayed quiet about it. Lonlieness. It was to the point of a breakdown, one that he didn't have time for, luckily this unhealthy instinct flipped the switch and he blanked, becoming the same, cold, emotionless, robotic shell of a side he was when Roman had snapped at him, unluckily... Patton just happened to walk in at the wrong time. He didn't freeze and flinch back as Roman did. His reaction was much more vocal.

Patton shrieked, his hands immediately coming to cover his mouth. Logan looked at him, that same expression, seemingly unphased in any way from Patton's scream, "What seems to be the problem, Morality?" He asked. That tone... That tone still empty, still unnatural made him freeze. They stopped calling each other by their traits a long time ago, his hands fell to his side "What, you... you don't usually call me, morality, Lo... Are you okay?" He asked. Logan nodded, "I'm fine." Immediately turning back to his computer screen to continue the work he was taking care of.

"Logan...?" Patton asked, "Please, there's something wrong, what's goin-" "Morality, please, I need to finish this. I will speak to you later." Logan stated, not even bothering to look back over at Patton. The moral side just nodded and left, the room had an incredibly large sense of unease and tension, enough to make Patton a bit nauseous.

After a few hours, Virgil came downstairs where Patton had been watching light-hearted and happy cartoons to clear his mind. "Hey, Pat." Virgil murmured, doing his two-finger wave, Patton glanced over and paused his show with a sigh, "Hey, Virge... um... can you do me a favor?" He asked. Virgil quirked his eyebrow up in question, "uh, yeah, what's up?" There was a brief moment of silence over the two as Patton tried to word this correctly. "Could, you maybe go check on Logan? You two are, uh, a lot... a lot closer than we are... and he was acting... strange earlier... and wouldn't tell me why..." He explained.

Virgil froze, a million thoughts racing through his mind, "Strange, how?" his voice was quiet, there was something, very, very wrong going on if Patton didn't want to go check on one of them. "He, well, he didn't call me, Patton, he called me morality, which is, fine? It was, it was just very weird... and he looked, emotionless, scary sort of. Robotic and cold, cut off, entirely. And that scared me because ya know, I'm very emotional. So..." He trailed off as he glanced up at Virgil finally, allowing him to see the level of fear in his eyes.

Virgil took a second, but nodded, "Uh, alright, Pat...I'll go check on him..." After the small 'Thanks, kiddo' from Patton, Virgil made his way up the stairs and over to the logical traits door. He felt a twist of hesitation and apprehension. Why? It was Logan, it was just Logan... Logan was the one that kept him calm, that kept him grounded, why was he suddenly so scared? Patton could easily just be messing with him, it was October after all. Before he could change his mind, he knocked on the deep blue door.

"Come in," was the almost instant response from inside. Maybe Patton WAS messing with him, he sounded totally normal. Virgil cracked the door open and walked in. Logan was at his desk, he glanced over at him a small smile coming to his lips, "Ah, hello, Virgil." He was fine, he was normal... "Sup, are, uh, are you okay? Patton said, that you were acting weird earlier." Virgil mentioned, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

Logan paused, a realization dawning on him, "Oh, well, I'm fine now. I was... I probably should explain to Patton and Roman what happened... If I'm incredibly overwhelmed emotionally, typically in a negative sense, I will involuntarily shut off all emotions, as a metaphorical restart. I refer to it in my notes as 'Blanking'" he explained. Virgil paused as he registered what he had been told, "So, you basically become a robot?" he asked. When he received a nod in return he sighed, "Lo, you know how bad that is, how unhealthy it is to cut off like that."

Logan shook his head, "I'm well aware, but it's always been like this and it's under control," he muttered. "If it's involuntary, it's not under control is it?" Virgil crossed his arms, "Logan, you scared Patton by doing that, I'm pretty damn sure that's why Roman was so uneasy after your fight. It isn't healthy for you or any of us, because one day you'll snap. You know this, why didn't you just tell us, so that we would help you?" The darker trait asked.

"It's fine, Virgil, leave it be, I'm not normally around anyone when it happens, on the off-chance that I am, I apologize, but this isn't something toxic, this isn't me keeping all of my emotions contained, it's simply, me taking a break from them and coming back. I'll be fine, and I'll leave if I start to get like that and I'm around any of you," Logan stated, his voice had a certain edge to it, some kind of harshness that was unwarranted. Virgil shook his head, rolling his eyes, "Fine, but you know you're being illogical." He muttered as he walked out.

That was his mistake because, with the exception of appearing when he was summoned by Thomas or for a video, Logan stayed in his room. Staying locked away, and alone. Making him blank more and more all because of what he considered the most illogical reason. Loneliness.