4 We'll Show Them

There was a burst of purple smoke, a great pillar of smoke materialising before Patton.

Materialising into Virgil.

"Kiddo, what are you doing here?" Patton started toward Virgil, placed a gentle hand on his arm.

Virgil threw it off with as much force as he could.

"Don't touch me," he spat. "You failure of a father."

Patton was shocked. "K-kiddo..?"

"Don't call me that. I hate you." Virgil turned away. "I would rather live with the Dark Sides than be anywhere near you."

Patton stared at Virgil, unable to comprehend what was happening.

Virgil disappeared, back into purple smoke, as a great red pillar appeared before him.

Materialising into Roman.

"You failure," said Roman. "You're nothing. Nothing but a waste of space."

Patton began to cry, softly, quietly. Roman didn't care.

"You spend all your time siding with Logan. You just want to be the helpful boy, the one who helped the detective through the problems, but no-one would care if you went missing. No-one."

Patton's crying became louder.

Roman disappeared.

A dark blue smoke cloud appeared, before materialising into Logan.

He looked angry.

"L-Logie?" Patton's voice was small.

Logan let out a sigh, full of anger and frustration. "You're so useless!" He yelled at Patton. "Thomas doesn't need you, he could function entirely without you. You're nothing but a waste of space."

Patton's crying escalated, full throated sobs.

Logan, if anything, seemed even angrier. "Just STOP!" He screamed at Patton. "Just stop being the stupid little emotional wreck you are. Just go away. Go live with the Dark Sides, that would be better than having to deal with you."

Patton covered his ears as the purple and red smoke clouds reappeared, Virgil and Roman came back.

All three of them were shouting at him, their words swirling into one giant mass of noise.

Just go away!

Never return!

I never wanted you as a father.

You're a failure.

You don't deserve to be a Light Side.

You shouldn't even exist.

"Please!" Patton yelled, crouched on the ground, eyes squeezed shut and ears covered, but their words seemed to wiggle straight into his brain. "Please, stop!"

Suddenly, their voices became quieter, like someone had muffled them, but they were still clearly there.

Patton opened his eyes, saw a shining yellow hand reaching towards him, open for him to take.

A voice sounded, not the ones yelling abuse at him, a softer one, quieter, offering him escape.

I can take you away from them.

You won't have to deal with them ever again.

We'll show them.

Patton wiped his eyes, and grabbed the hand.

Instantly he was pulled away from the voices, away from the Light Sides, away from the family that wasn't a family, away.

Far, far away from there, the front door swung open. Virgil quickly stepped inside, looking left and right for Patton. Once he had confirmed he wasn't there, he motioned for the others to come in, Roman walking inside carrying the biggest, most colourful cake on the planet, followed by Logan, carrying bags of lollies, treats and balloons.

If it were Logan's birthday, he would've insisted on just having a quiet birthday, perhaps a movie night with the others.

But this was Patton. He knew Patton would love the balloons and decorations, once he saw them. So he repositioned the bags on his arms and continued forward.

Roman rushed upstairs as fast as he could, conjuring a mini fridge in his room and stuffing the cake inside. There were still five more days until Patton's birthday, he couldn't risk Patton finding it too early.

Logan made his way upstairs too, stashing the decorations in a hollow part of the wall he had created a few years earlier for instances just like these.

Virgil was already hiding presents in his room, so he calmly made his way upstairs, not bothering to be careful.

He knocked on Patton's door a couple of times. "Pat? We're home." He opened the door and saw that it was empty.

"Guys?" Virgil called. "Where's Patton?"

"Is he not here?" asked Roman, walking over.

Virgil rolled his eyes. "If he were here, why would I be asking where he was?"

Roman stopped. "Ah. Right." He pulled out his phone. "I'll just call him."

Roman pressed Patton's name and clicked the phone icon.

The pair waited a few moments before Virgil heard a soft buzzing from inside Patton's room.

He walked inside, and found Patton's phone, buzzing on his bedside table.

"Where would he have gone?"

Roman looked at the phone, and shrugged. "Hey, Logan?"

"Yes?" Logan came out of his room, having just relieved himself of the bags.

"Pat's not here, and we just found his phone."

"Maybe he left a note?" said Logan, adjusting his glasses.

Roman looked at him. "And wouldn't take his phone with him?"

Virgil sighed. "Who knows? Let's just look around."

And the three of them got to work searching for a hint as to where Patton had gone, unaware that he was somewhere far away, crying because of their words.