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stillebesat · 5 years

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In These Tangled Webs (9/11)

Sanders Sides: Logan, Patton, Roman, Virgil Blurb: It should be easy admitting to your roommates that you’re not entirely human. Only in Logan’s case it’s not. Not when he discovers that Patton is afraid of Spiders. Fic Type: Hurt/Comfort Overall Warnings: Spiders, Arachnophobia, Death Talk, Minor Character Deaths, Slightly Detailed Descriptions of Deaths, Murders, Injuries, Swords, Imprisonment, Biting, Fangs, Venom, Extra Body Parts, Blood, Manipulation, Negative Self Talk

To Catch Up: Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8

S--saved?

A Hero?

Logan struggled to draw in a full breath, trembling as he uncurled his fingers, staring at the glowing pendant in his palm.

Impossible.

He hadn’t tried to save anyone since--since---

Keep you safe. Pwomise.

Logan shook his head in denial. No. He was no hero. It wasn’t possible--that boy from the school was DEAD! So how did Pat---He turned the pendant over in his hand, the dark blue shade never faltering. “Where--How did you get this?” He asked, his vision tunneling.

He knew this ring. Knew each twist of the thread and bend in the nail. He’d had nightmares about it for weeks after---after---

You thought you could protect him?

He’d barely known what he was doing back then, having only gained the ability to web days before his Mom had taken him to that building--that school--brought him that boy to feed from--to kill on his own--the boy---he hadn’t wanted--Logan had just followed instinct. To save him. Creating his first glowing web with that nail to protect him. To--to---

Keep you safe.

You thought a child could escape me? It’s kill or be killed, my spiderling.

Patton bit his lip, glancing to the others before gesturing to him. “I got it from you, Lo.” He said. “In First Grade.”

Impossible.

Logan clenched the pendant in his fist as it flared, hiding the glow from view as he looked up, taking a step closer to Pat as he desperately tried to fit his hazy memories of that bloody scared little boy with Patton standing alive and well before him.

No one lives once I decide they die!

“Sh-she said…she killed you.” He choked out. The nail. The threads. It had been so long ago, he’d been so small. Feeble. Powerless compared to his mother. “Sh--she told me!”

He’s dead.

Patton shook his head, grabbing him by the shoulders. “No. No, I’m alive, Lo. I made it.” He said softly, eyes shimmering. “Thanks to you.”

Hero.

My hero.

“Wait.” Virgil pushed away from the van, eyes wide. “Wait. Wait. Wait!! You're saying that L was also at the Creekside Massacre?!”

Roman stiffened. “He was at what?!”

Logan flinched, holding tighter to the pendant, the threads within glowing brighter.

“The Creekside Massacre, Princey. The double classroom--”

"I know what it was, Vee." Roman shook his head, forehead creasing as he gestured to Logan. “But that Widow can’t be Specs! I thought that it was--”

“The Rouge Widow? Exactly! Because it was her there! Which makes him being there too even more---” Virgil ran his hands through his hair. “I didn’t know you were in our class--no, you had to have been in the other classroom--but I don’t remember your name on the list, L--”

Virgil had been there too?! His heart stuttered as Logan’s vision briefly went black. No no no! HOW?! What next? Roman couldn’t have been there, right? He was older than the other two--wasn’t he?-he had to be- He. Had. To. Be---not all three. His Mother couldn’t have--have--almost killed---

Virgil was at his side in a flash as his knees buckled, grabbing onto his arm. “Easy, L.” He said, easing him to the pavement. “Breathe dude, you gotta breathe--”

“Bu--But YOU ALL!--- th--the boy!” Logan gasped out, clinging to both Patton and Virgil, refusing to let go.

Pat knelt with him, face pale. “I lived, Lo. I lived.” He said soothingly, pulling him into a careful hug. “She lied. She never found me.”

He died screaming for his momma, poor thing. He suffered to the very end.

“But that’s--” He pulled back, desperately looking between the two. “It’s Impossible that you LIVED!” He grabbed onto Pat’s wrists, clinging to them like a lifeline as he leaned forward, searching his eyes. “She kills everyone, Pat! Everyone.”

Death. The only option. One winner.

Patton flinched, going even paler.

Like a ghost.

Yes.” He whispered, gently disengaging his wrists so he could pull Logan in close again, running his fingers through his hair. “Everyone else.”

Everyone else AND the boy. Logan buried his head against Patton’s shoulder, struggling to gain control, to breathe. “Y-you were dead! YOU DIED-- She t--tore oh-off your he-hea--hea---”

Pop. Like a cork from a bottle. The blood my darling, so sweet, such a waste you couldn’t have it.

“Breathe, L. Breathe.” Virgil softly coached. “We’re safe. It’s alright. No one is losing their heads. Breathe. Just like you taught me. Breathe.”

Logan shuddered, breath hitching as he tried to draw more air into his burning lungs.

But the boy was dead! H-how could he--he not be DEAD?!

Monster.

There’d been so many nightmares. So many inconsolable nights in his web. Imagining scene after scene of exactly how his mother had...had...killed him.

“Obviously not if---well you’re all alive, Specs.” Roman said hesitantly, crouching next to them.

No one lives once I decide they die!

“Well, it makes sense why I’m alive.” Virgil said, rubbing gentle circles in Logan’s back. “I moved like two months before The Rouge Widow came. I moved so much as a kid that I didn’t even remember that I’d gone to Creekside until Pat and I reconnected this past year.”

Keep you safe.

The tightness in his chest eased as Patton gently rocked him. Virgil hadn’t been there. Roman hadn’t been there. He turned his head to better see them. To confirm they were fine. That they were--

Safe.

He swallowed, managing to draw in his first full breath in ages, carefully pulling out of the hug.

Pat nodded, offering Logan a smile as he rested a hand on his knees. “Yah he wasn’t--wait.” He frowned, adjusting his rain covered glasses with the other. “Virge, since you moved before--how did you know?”

Virgil raised his eyebrows as he gestured to himself, giving a half smirk. “Cryptid expert remember? You show me a necklace that glows around spiders, which you are afraid of, and thought I’d given it to you before I moved away? Of course I’m going to try and piece that puzzle together.”

“But…” Patton bit his lip. “You never said anything!”

Roman snorted, crossing his arms. “Pat...you barely tolerate the mention of the S word around you.”

I hate hate hate hate spiders!

“Exactly. Why would I bring up something like that up to you? With how you spoke and what I found after my research…” Virgil shrugged a shoulder. “I didn’t think you remembered and if you did, that you wouldn't want to be reminded.”

“Despite the million and a half questions you want to ask, I’m sure.” Roman remarked, a teasing glint in his eyes.

“Well---” Virgil ducked his head, rain dripping down his reddened cheeks. “Yah.”

Patton ducked his head. “I...I didn’t remember. Not until I saw--” His eyes flicked to Logan’s chest where the hourglass lay hidden underneath his jacket. “Your mark, Lo.”

Spi-spi-spi No No nononono!

Monster.

Logan fought not to flinch. Great. No wonder Patton had reacted how he did. Recalling that school? What his mom did to his classmates and teachers? If Logan had suffered nightmares from not even seeing the crime scenes, he couldn’t imagine what Patton would be remembering. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. This wouldn’t have happened if he’d never revealed the hourglass. If he’d just left when he realized--

Patton looked up, eyes softening. ”I know.” He said, placing a hand on Logan’s chest, right over the hidden hourglass. “But it’s okay. I’m glad to remember...despite--despite the--it all.” He shrugged, giving him a faint smile. “It’s worth it because I now know you’re the one who saved me. That you’re my hero.”

Hero.

Despite everything, despite remembering what had happened when they were kids...Patton wasn’t scared of him. Him, a Human Widow.

How can I ever be afraid of my hero?

Hero.

Logan swallowed, feeling warmth rising in his chest. Pat trusted him. Trusted him because of the pendant. A bent ring wrapped in his silk threads that had somehow not only managed to keep his mom from finding him, but kept him safe all these years.

Not everyone dies.

Patton had made it. One of his stepdads may have made it. There were survivors from his Mother’s reign of terror.

Hero.

Logan covered Patton’s hand with his own as he glanced to the others.

To safety?

Trust me.

To trust them, he’d actually have to go with them. In the van. To the supposed hotel.

We’re not going anywhere.

Hadn’t he been in that very van a hundred times before? Hadn’t he wanted to tell all of them three days ago what he was?

He’d trusted them then, before they knew.

Why not now?

Especially when they were there to help him. Willing to take him somewhere else besides their thoroughly spider-proofed apartment.

These humans will turn on you first chance they get. Kill them before they kill you.

But they hadn’t. They’d braved the storm, the darkness, the knowledge that he was a Human Widow, a potentially unknown threat, to come after him.

Logan ran his fingers over the pendant before, gently placing it back into Patton’s palm. ”Keep you safe.” He whispered, relaxing as Patton flashed him a brilliant smile.

I’ll protect you. I promise.

He would have to see about making protective pendants for Roman and Virgil too to keep them safe from his Mother. ...If they let him...if they still wanted him to live with them.

“But what I still don’t get is how you managed to save Pat in the first place.” Virgil said, shifting on his knees. “How did the Rouge Widow know where you were? How did no one else realize---I mean no one ever mentioned there being a Child Widow going to school at Creekside!” He leaned in, eyes burning with fervent light. “Had she already killed your parents? Was she wiping out another Widow line to defend her territory? Were you that big of a threat to her? The reason why she--”

Logan held up a hand, feeling the venom welling in his fangs once more as he fought to keep breathing. Roman hadn’t been kidding when he said Virge had a ton of questions. Questions he’d never...never had to answer before.

Trust me.

“I…wouldn’t call what she did exactly… defensive.” He said slowly, glancing around the parking lot to make sure they were still alone.

There'd been very few disputes over territory when news of his Mom’s presence spread. If another Widow lived in the area, they quickly vanished or else risked dying by her hand.

I do this to protect me.

“How in the world could he have been a threat, Dr. Gloom?” Roman demanded. “Lomageddon here had to be like what? Six?”

Logan shook his head, working to keep calm as Patton silently slipped the necklace back over his head, tucking the pendant under his shirt.

He rarely ever talked about his age. It was easier to blend in, to let others make assumptions if he didn’t. He wouldn’t have been able to get away with as much nor survive so long on his own if he hadn’t.

You’re never safe. Don’t grow close to anyone, my darling. They’ll only stab you in the back.

Trust me.

He brushed the bumps on his wrists, wishing he could fiddle with some of his threads, create a web--but no, Pat wouldn’t like that. “I was closer to three.” He admitted.

Roman grinned triumphantly. “See! How could Lo be a threat---” He blinked. “Wait. THREE?!”

The others all went wide eyed, staring at him like he’d grown another set of arms.

That wasn’t...quite the reaction he’d expected. “Yes?”

Patton remembered him, which meant he knew that he hadn’t been at the school for well...learning. He’d been too little back then. Had he really not connected how much younger Logan was compared to the rest of them?

“You were only three?” Virgil repeated blankly. “But why then--”

“I thought we were the same age and you’re telling me that you’re only--” Roman gestured vaguely in the air.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Nineteen?”

“Nineteen.” Patton breathed, moving his hands to Logan’s, squeezing them. “You’re like...baby.” He whispered.

“Only you can actually read.” Virgil said under his breath, studying Logan more intently.

“But! If you’re the youngest, Specs---” Logan tensed as Roman jabbed a hand in his direction, “Then it makes even less sense how you could be a threat to her!” He pushed to his feet, pacing around them. “I don’t believe it. The Rouge Widow? Scared of a baby?! What were you going to do? Spit up on her?”

Logan wrinkled his nose. He’d been able to do much more than spit up at the age of three. “No--I--” But should he tell them? Patton probably remembered already, but---

“Any predator knows to take out the competition while it’s weak and defenseless.” Virgil whispered, fiddling with the sleeves of his hoodie as he got to his feet. “So he can’t grow up to be a threat. Spliced children especially could be more dangerous than their normal human counterparts. We don’t know. Studies haven’t been done.”

“Well, we already know Specs was hardly defenseless if he’s still here, Jack Skellington!” How could a toddler survive her rampage when hundreds of adults haven’t--”

“It’s because--” Patton cut off biting his lip, weaving his fingers in Logan's, glancing to him.

Logan met his eyes, saw the confirmation therein that Pat remembered exactly why he’d been there in that room with The Rouge Widow.

Trust me.

The other two turned to him expectantly. “Because?” Roman prodded.

I’m not afraid of you, Lo.

But Pat was terrified of his Mom. The others knew of her, but didn’t know his connection to him. Would they still be willing to help him if---if they knew he was her son?

Patton bit his lip, ducking his head. “It’s because--because--Lo?” He tilted his head, eyes darting to the others and back.

Logan exhaled, giving a curt nod. Might as well rip the band-aid off now before going anywhere with them. Knowing he was a Human Widow was one thing, but knowing he was the son of America’s Number One Most Wanted Spliced? “She was there partially because of me.” He said, reluctantly meeting Virgil’s eyes and then Roman’s as he too stood, brushing off his knees with one hand as Patton also got to his feet, squeezing Logan’s hand reassuringly.

I’m NOT scared. Not of You.

He shook his head. “But it wasn’t because I was a threat to her.”

Not back then. She hadn’t tried to kill him until he was thirteen, when his Widow mark had shown up. Red and Black, not plain Red like hers.

You were just like me. Oh sweetheart. You shouldn’t have shown me you weren’t.

Virgil narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms as he frowned. “Then why--”

Logan exhaled, gripping Patton’s hand as he straightened, taking small comfort from his steady unwavering presence.

Trust me.

“She was trying to do what all Mothers do, Virge.” He said, purposely baring his teeth, showing them his gleaming fangs. “She was teaching her baby how to hunt.”

To Be Continued Chapter 10 Taglist in Reblog

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