concept: darkside roman is daydreaming, lost in a fantasy world an unable to interact with the real one.
Blue I made a wholeass au in my head because of this ask I HOPE YOURE HAPPY
(Seriously tho, this wasn’t meant to be so long—it just kinda grew)
I think I’ve seen a Maladaptive Daydreaming! Roman somewhere, tho I can’t remember who made it. I think, if I made my own version of that, his theme song would be “Oh No!” by Marina (”tv taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal”) and he would just kinda... sleep all day and stay in bed, and if anyone tried to get him out and make him do stuff, he’d snap at them and be grumpy the whole time, and sooner or later, he just locks his door so he can daydream in peace, and be stuck in his own little world.
Soon enough, his room starts changing to match what he’s dreaming about, and he can’t tell the difference between being awake or asleep or daydreaming, but he doesn’t care anymore.
The others get worried—because are those plants coming from underneath the door?— but ultimately they decide he needs space, because they don’t want him to be uncomfortable as he obviously was any time he came out. And they can’t actually open the door, and he doesn’t want them in there.... so they don’t do anything, just knocking when they think no one else is there and asking when he’s gonna come out (they expect a joke of ‘im gay’ or something, but he never replies)
And now Roman is in sort of a Sleeping Beauty situation, trapped in his own mind, not that he cares. Things are much more exciting in here, and he’s a hero, a prince! People love him in his dreams! Other times, he’s an actor in broadway, with a crowd roaring in front of him, or maybe he’s fighting a dragon, or he has fire powers!
But... the other sides are never there in his dreams, and the faces in front of him are always blurry and indistinct, and he has to fight to stay happy, because the moment you get scared or upset in a dream, you lose control, and you become trapped in a nightmare, but with no one to talk to... no family to support him... he can’t stay happy all the time!
and BAM, the moment he stops trying to smile, he’s trapped in a seemingly eternal nightmare and everything’s confusing and weird and when people hit him it actually hurts, and he’s losing battles and he’s forgetting his lines and his flames get of control and they hurt everyone, he’s hurting everyone—
And Thomas, who throughout this time has been lazier, less passionate, increasingly sleepy and keeps getting lost in his thoughts, suddenly can’t sleep at night because of nightmares, he’s stressed because of how behind he’s gotten on work, and he’s even MORE stressed because he knew he SHOULD work but he’s so tired but every time he sleeps he has a nightmare, and by now he and the sides know something is wrong, especially because the plants crawling out from Roman’s door are now gnarled and black instead of green and lush, and they have thorns now. And they’re so worried for Roman but the stupid door won’t open and so they get Remus to bash a hole into the door—the plants seem to be trying to keep them out— and when they get in their jaws just drop in pure amazement because holy SHIT there is an entire castle in Roman’s room and the thorns are so thick and there’s ominous clouds and lightning and rain coming down in sheets. The place looks like it could’ve once been beautiful, but now it looks similar to Pink Diamond’s garden after thousands and thousands of years of neglect.
And they know, by sheer nature of Roman, what they have to do—and by sheer nature of gravity, it is going to be very, very hard to do that, because of course they have to find their way through the dilapidated castle, and of course Roman is in the tallest tower. Oh, and the gigantic red dragon flitting around in the clouds isn’t really going to make things any easier.
But in the castle, there’s traps, too. Remus makes his way through most of them with ease, and Virgil is paranoid enough to expect any trap, but they have to stay behind for the others. They have to fight, too, like they’re in the final level of a video game. Weird beasts, bats with cat heads that breath fire (bcats? Cat bats?) and alligators with freakishly long tongues that try to wrap around you (alligatoads? Frogidiles?), and lion-bears, that even Remus has trouble defeating, and he’s the best fighter besides Roman.
They’re almost to the base of the tallest tower when the dragon above them decides to make an appearance.
She’s tall, big, and red. Like Clifford, If he had scales and claws and breathed fire. She blocks their way to the tower stairs, hissing and blowing warning fireballs in the torrents of rain.
But...she never directly attacks, only defense. She’s trying to keep them from the door.
In the end, all it takes is some soft words, an entreaty—and a couple apologies for trying to hurt her— to get her to move so they can pass. Patton approves.
Past the stairs, the thorns are back, this time crawling and writhing along the ground like living beings, but instead of seeming like they attacking like the monsters in the lower castle defending like the dragon, they seem... trained towards the main room, set in an almost strategic manner, every thorn pointed inwards.
They get to the top, hacking and moving tendrils away to clear the stairs, and then, laying almost peacefully in bed... is Roman. He’s in all black, his sash pale, making Roman look ashen and grey. Thorns caress his face, and it looks like it could have once been loving, but the thorns are digging into his skin now, making bright beads of red pop up on his par skin. It almost seems like Roman’s dead, if it weren’t for the uneven rise and fall of his chest, the little whimpers escaping his mouth, the way his face twitches and twists as if he is in pain—or like he’s terrified.
When Roman wakes up, the thorns are completely cleared away from his bed, and the sides have fallen asleep around his room—some sitting on his bed, others on the armchair in the corner, Remus is just laying spread-eagle on the rug— and Roman isn’t quite sure what’s happening, only that he’s not having a nightmare anymore, and that his family is here.
And Thomas sleeps better than he has in months.