Remus woke up in his room.

He immediately bolted upright, alarmed. What was going on? Did he just not have a dream last night? No, that wasn't possible. Something was wrong.

He slowly climbed out of bed, watching every single item in his room intently. He was really expecting something to suddenly grow teeth and start chasing him. He had that same dream with Disneyland before. Cotton candy was very scary.

He slowly made his way over to the door, and then flung it open.

Huh. This was new.

It was the same hallway Remus was familiar with, except the lights were turned off. They weren't supposed to turn off unless no one was in the dark side of the mind palace.

The unmistakable sound of duct tape cut through the air. Remus snapped his head over to the source.

Janus had just finished packing a box, it seemed. "That was the last one." He murmured to himself. He glanced up, smiling when he saw Remus. "Ree, can you give me a hand?"

"Sure." Remus said. He could talk for himself, was his immediate takeaway. Unless he planned to say what actually ended up being his line. To test this, he said a completely nonsensical phrase. "Otter organs on orange orgasms."

"What?" Janus tilted his head, before reaching down and picking up the box he had just sealed.

"Don't worry about it." Remus took the box out of his hands, proud of himself for not flinching when their skin brushed against each other.

Janus didn't question it, reaching down and picking another box up. "This is the last of it." He said. Remus frowned.

"Where are you going?" Remus murmured, feeling like he already knew the answer.

"You're kidding?" Janus furrowed his brow. "I've only been talking about this for the past week."

"Refresh my memory?"

"Thomas has finally accepted me, Remus! Isn't this amazing?!" Janus beamed up at him. "Things are beginning to turn around!"

"But...won't I be left behind?" Remus mumbled, not liking where this is going.

"I'm sure he'll accept you too, Remus." Janus sighed, giving him a sympathetic look. "You grow on people. That's how you work."

"I guess..." Remus shrugged weakly.

"I probably won't be able to visit that much, the others keep my schedule really full. But I'll make sure to put in a good word for you!" Janus smiled. "Okay?"

No. This wasn't okay. Janus was fucking leaving, just like Virgil did when he started dating Patton. Why couldn't he see what was going on?

"Okay,"

Remus walked with Janus to the light side, biting his tongue to keep himself from screaming.

Roman was sat down outside of Janus' new room, painting the door. He seemed to have heard them coming, since he immediately brightened.

"JD!" Roman exclaimed, bounding up to them and pecking Janus on the cheek. "Get it? Like the guy from Heathers, and the fact that your name is Janus and you represent--"

"We get it." Remus grumbled. Roman looked at him curiously for a moment, before giving Janus a smile.

"What do you think?" Roman asked, gesturing to the door.

Roman had painted the Garden of Eden, with a long yellow snake wrapped around the tree in the middle. It was beautiful, as much as Remus hated to admit.

"It's perfect." Janus breathed, looking at it in awe.

"You're perfect." Roman smiled.

"You sap. Don't be cute, it's disgusting." Janus rolled his eyes, though pink dusted the human side of his face.

Remus agreed. He knew Janus was perfect, but he didn't wanna hear Roman say it.

Roman smirked. He picked up his paintbrush, turned to Janus, and tapped his nose with it. "Boop."

"Roman!" Janus whined. "Is that even gonna wash off--?!"

"I'll just leave the boxes here." Remus growled, slamming them down on the floor. "Wouldn't wanna get in the way."

He stormed away.

"Thank god, he's gone." Janus sighed.

Remus was going to pretend he didn't hear that.

As he was going down the stairs, it suddenly faded to white and Remus fell through the remaining steps.

He face planted on the ground, releasing a loud groan.

He didn't have the willpower to get up, at the moment, so he just shifted into a more comfortable position and closed his eyes.

What if that dream became reality? With the way things were looking, that was seeming more and more probable.

Remus didn't think he would be able to handle that reality.

"Remus?"

Remus opened his eyes and turned his head, spotting Virgil walking towards him. "Why are you on the floor?" Virgil asked, looking concerned.

"I dunno." Remus shrugged. Virgil rolled his eyes and offered Remus a hand. Remus took it, releasing a sigh. "What are you doing here, Virgil?"

"I came to check on you. Understandable after I woke up and found you gone." Virgil grumbled.

Ah yes. Remus had fallen asleep in Virgil's room last night. He should've remembered that earlier, it would've made it more obvious that his dream was fake.

"Aww, were you worried about me?"

"Well, yeah. You came into my room and fell asleep after crying for about two hours." Virgil crossed his arms. "What's up?"

Remus hesitated, wondering if Virgil would laugh this time. It was a very childish thing to cry about, after all. "You won't laugh?"

"If it was enough to make you cry, why do you think I would laugh?" Virgil asked incredulously.

"Roman..." Remus began, averting his eyes.

"What did that meathead do now?" Virgil grumbled.

"Roman and Janus kissed yesterday." Remus finished, crossing his arms anxiously.

Virgil fell silent at that, eyes widening.

"...what?"