Chapter One

When a Heart Changes

"That idea is completely idiotic, what's gotten into you, Thomas?" Logan pushed his glasses farther up his nose.

"I agree with Logan, actually. And what is your hair right now? It's awful, you do realize thousands of people are going to see you, right?" Roman agreed.

"And you didn't start off your video the way you usually do… and you ended it two seconds after you started it." Patton added, concerned.

"The last time you were acting like this, it was because…" Logan stopped in the middle of his sentence. The three sides looked at each other, sharing knowing expressions.

"Virgil, why don't you come down here kiddo, so we can see that cool makeup of yours." Patton called up the stairs in his happy, humorous voice.

"Sure thing Pat." Virgil appeared on the stairs with his chin in his hand, and everyone gasped. He wasn't in his regular purple and black hoodie, he was wearing an oversized lilac shirt of thin, flowy material with white accents on the sleeves that hung an inch past his fingertips and pants of the same style and colors. His eye makeup had been done drastically differently; instead of a thick, wide layer of black on his cheeks beneath his eyes, he had a thin line of purple directly under his eyes so that if he closed his eyes his lashes would have covered it. The headphones that he usually had were no longer black and basic, they were lilac and white with speakers in the shape of cat ears connected to the band. Patton let out a happy squeal.

"Oh, my goodness Virgil, you look so cute!" He cried, practically dancing on the spot.

"Thanks, Pat." He beamed. Roman's jaw had dropped, and Logan was looking at him like he had never seen him clearly before.

"What in the wide world of Disney are you wearing?" Roman screeched.

"What, you don't like it?" Virgil asked. "I can change it."

"Noooooooooooooooooo." Patton whisper screamed.

"I don't not like it, but what?" Roman blinked. Logan still seemed unable to process the situation.

"I love the knew outfit, Virgil." Thomas grinned.

"Thanks Thomas." Virgil said happily.

"This. Is. NOT OKAY!" Logan suddenly yelled. "We need to figure out how to put you back to normal as soon as possible, Thomas is being left without his natural fight or flight responses again, and that's incredibly dangerous. I mean just look at- Thomas what are you doing?" For Thomas had taken his shirt and shoes off and flopped down on the couch.

"Going to sleep." Thomas replied.

"You can't go to sleep yet, we have five hours of daylight to do stuff." Virgil said brightly, springing up to his feet. "Come on get up, let's go make artwork or make a song or another video or something."

"Yes." Roman declared regally. "For once, I agree with Virgil. We have time to do something, so let's get out there and make our dreams come true."

"Are you forgetting that Thomas has no fight or flight instincts right now?" Logan said crossly. "We can't do anything productive without anxiety. So let's just try to figure out what's wrong with Virgil."

"We should try and help Virgil because he's one of us, not just because we need anxiety." Patton said gently.

"You're both right." Thomas said. "So let's hear it Virgil, what's bugging you?" Virgil tipped his head to one side.

"What do you mean? I just decided to change my look up a bit. I can change it back if you want, I've still got the hoodie and the eyeshadow." His voice was a bit disappointed.

"That's not it, kiddo. We don't mind the change in clothes, it's your actions that are worrying us." Patton said in his concerned dad voice.

"You know, if you're trying to cover up your insecurities because the rest of us don't seem to have them, you should know that it's okay to feel nervous… and Thomas, please put a shirt on." Logan said.

"If you say so." Thomas shrugged, and pulled a wrinkled T-shirt on over his head.

"I'm not covering up my insecurities." Virgil responded.

"It's okay to tell the truth, Virgil. I promise none of us are going to be rude. No, not even me. I give you my word." Roman said dramatically. Virgil smiled a bit.

"But I'm not trying to cover up-"

"It's okay, Virgil. We recognize that you're strong and important even with your worries, and that they might even be what makes you so very necessary to us." Logan repositioned his glasses again.

"Hold on guys, let Virgil speak." Patton said.

"Thanks Popstar." Virgil responded. "I'm trying to tell you that I'm not hiding anything right now. I actually do feel really great… but if you guys need me to, I'm sure I can find some way to go back to being miserable." The cheerieness never left his voice.

"Hold on, miserable?" Thomas interjected. "Do you mean that you were feeling miserable that whole time? Even after you really became part of our group?" Virgil nodded.

"I did. I felt like I was alone and that even though you guys accepted me as an important function, that I wasn't really a part of everything because I was so different and negative. I was really thinking about it last night too, sorry if I kept you up Thomas, and when I woke up this morning I felt completely different… I felt like I could do anything and I saw everything differently. Even my room had changed. Everything was so bright and pretty that I couldn't bear to spoil the mood by putting on my usual dark clothes. I made all of this up for me and then I realized that it made me feel even better to be wearing bright, happy things."

"Well, I'm certainly glad that you're feeling better, son, but we love you no matter how you feel." Patton said gently.

"Thanks, and I know you need me to be your anxiety, but I don't know how to get back to what I used to be."

"I do." Everyone jumped and began looking around the room for the unrecognized voice, besides Virgil.

"I don't want help from you, Rebellion." He said firmly crossing his arms. "You're probably the reason for this aren't you?" He demanded. Everyone was looking at him now. Rebellion laughed and slowly rose up from the ground right by the bannister of Virgil's stairs. He was wearing a black muscle shirt with slash marks in it over a grey undershirt and ripped up jeans. He had a raccoon tattooed on his left shoulder and wore silver dog tags around his neck.

"I didn't do it. I'd say it was probably Judaes."

"Who?" Everyone besides Virgil and Rebellion chorused together.

"Deceit." The other two replied together.

"Yes?" Judaes slowly rose up on the other side of Virgil's stairs.

"Hold on, who even is this guy? Rebellion?" Thomas asked. They all looked to Virgil.

"He's one of your dark sides. He loves to disobey and ignore rules." Virgil answered.

"Judaes, did you change his personality?" Rebellion asked him.

"Why yes I did " He answered.

"Aha! You confessed, vial serpent!" Roman declared. "Put him right once more and give us our Virgil back."

"Actually, Roman, he didn't confess." Virgil said gently. "Judaes isn't capable of telling the truth. No matter what he says, it has to be a lie. It's kind of sad if you think about it." He patted Judaes's shoulder, making him look at him strangely.

"Aw, that is sad." Patton said.

"Do you know who did this to him?" Logan asked.

"I do, but if I had to guess; I would say that it was not Chaos." He answered.

"I've never been a part of you conversation before." Another new voice. This time the side was wearing a suit of black armor from head to toe with streaks of orange accenting it. "We used to be such good friends, Virgil, and yet you never did call me to help out, or even just visit." He sighed dramatically.

"I'm sorry, maybe we could-" Roman cut him off.

"Who is this?" He asked.

"This is the side of Thomas that likes to break things and cause panic." Rebellion answered.

"I didn't even know I had a side like that to me." Thomas said. 'We should be recording this… did I ever turn off that camera?" Virgil leaned toward the camera and squinted at it.

"No, it's still rolling."

"Nice." Thomas grinned.

"Are you not at all worried that you have these hidden sides, Thomas?" Patton asked.

"Nope!" He replied.

"Of course you aren't." Logan sighed.

"Well, he is missing all of his worry. It's not like he can recognize that it's going to cause a problem." Roman reasoned.

"Why am I here, though I don't mind having a friendly chat with Virgil and Naturnor. I haven't seen either of you for so long."

"Yeah, because no one likes you." Rebellion replied.

"Hold on there, kiddos. Who's Naturnor?" Patton asked.

"I am." Rebellion nodded.

"Why am I here?" Chaos asked again.

"Because we need to know if you altered Virgil's personality." Logan replied.

"I most certainly did not. I liked him just the way he was thank you. Like I said, he and I were best friends before he joined the light sides. Why would I make him more good? If I'd've done it, I'd've changed him back into what he was before… Paranoia and Terror." Chaos replied.

"That's fair enough argument." Logan replied. "And Deceit… sorry, Judaes?" Judaes shook his head. "And Judaes gets a clear because he has to lie, but we haven't heard any sort of evidence from you, I forgot your name, Rebellion. How do we know that he's not lying to us?"

"First, it's Naturnor. Second, because I would have never done this to my angsty little storm cloud. Like Chaos over there, I liked him the way he was. He's kind of an inspiration to me you know? Breaking the mold, taking darkness and using it for good… just because I don't like rules doesn't mean I'm a bad or disrespectful person." He crossed his arms and blew his hair out of his face.

"I believe him." Both Virgil and Patton said at the same time.

"Well, there's only one side left…" Virgil said slowly.

"Ooooh, are we call him down?" Chaos asked excitedly?

"Yes!" Judaes yelled. "That's an excellent idea!" His eyes were wide, and he looked panicked."

"Who are we talking about?" Logan asked. Chaos opened his mouth to reply, but Judaes covered it.

"Don't say his name." Virgil said urgently.

"Lucius." Naturnor said automatically, clapping his hands over his mouth. "I'm sorry!" He shouted. "I didn't mean to! When someone says not to do something I have to do it!"

"Which is exactly how it ought to be." A third new voice. This time he had appeared suddenly, much like virgil does, sitting on the couch. He was clad in a suit, with a blackened crown settled between two devil horns on his head. Everyone jumped, yelling out in fear… besides Thomas, he just kind of sat there, perfectly chill.

"Who is that?" Thomas asked.

"I am Lucius, your selfish, ambitious side, the ruler of the dark sides, second only to you my good man." He nodded at Thomas.

"You're royalty?" Roman gasped. "Oh my Disney, I've waited my whole life for this moment!"

"Cool." Thomas said brightly. "I didn't know you existed."

"Dear, dear, we do have a dilemma here, don't we? Don't tell me you're falling down on the job, Virgil… and what are you wearing? You look atrocious. I swear you would have never been caught dead in a getup like that working under me."

"Woah, be nice Lucius." Thomas said immediately.

"Yes, sir." Lucius sneered sarcastically drawing out the word sir. Thomas made a weird expression as though he were not used to being called 'sir' by anyone… because he wasn't.

"My lord," Chaos began, "We have just been alerted to the fact that Virgil has had his personality completely changed."

"Sure have." Virgil said brightly.

"What a pity." Lucius sneered. "He's drifted even further from the darkness. I was so hoping we'd be able to draw him back… but this change seems, unnatural, and since my dark sides are all here, I'm assuming we're pointing fingers now? If you're trying to accuse one of us, ask yourselves this; who would want to turn a storm cloud into a butterfly? The light or the dark?" With that he sunk back down through the sofa cushions.