Hey there everybody! I recently went through a very draining athsma attack, so this is all I have to offer at the moment. More is coming soon, I promise! I just need to rest.
Guys, gals and non binary pals, wanna share your predictions on this?
I predict that the next Sanders Asides is going to be either an episode with just the sides, without Thomas or maybe a flashback episode? Maybe. I mean, he did say it would be “a tad different”
I know that asides isn’t connected to the main plot but I want it to start off with Virgil waking up in his room. He checks his phone and goes “sh*t I overslept” then gets out of bed fast. He checks his phone to see that they recorded a video without him so he needs to find out what happened. First he runs into Remus who also has no clue what happened. Then he runs into the rest of the sides one by one who gives a flashback of their interpretation of the events. Afterwards Virgil can’t really make sense of it so he does his “you tried, you failed, let’s go to sleep” thing then takes a nap.
A package Thomas ordered arrives. As soon as he takes the thing out of the package, Virgil appears, turns into a cat, and curls up inside the box for a nap.
Checking into the hotel had been almost tooeasy. He had learned quickly that if you just went about as if you knew what you were doing, people wouldn’t question you. He even enjoyed acting calm about the whole thing, despite how crazy his heart was racing. After signing the papers to check in and getting the card key, he brought his suitcase up to his room and locked the door behind him, letting out a sigh.
“Finally…” Clyde carried his bag to his bed and picked it up, slowly unzipping it and checking the inside. He pushed his old clothes out of the way until he saw the familiar plastic bag sitting underneath. The stolen money he had taken from the bank sat inside the unassuming cheap bag. Both the bestandworstthing that’s happened to him over the past 24 hours.
Taking the money was the most stressful and exhilarating thing he had ever experienced. The new scale on his left forearm was easily worth it. Why didn’t Remy see that? Imagine what they could do together. This was only just the beginning! With their powers combined, they could do so much more, be an unstoppable duo.
“He’ll change his mind eventually,” Clyde mumbled to himself. He knew his own powers didn’t work on himself and there’s no way he’d believe his own lies. Even still, he hoped Remy would understand him sooner or later. He hoped everyone would see what he was trying to do. Especially Virgil, whom he didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to properly. He wasn’t even sure when he would see his little brother again, but he hoped it would be sooner rather than later.
—
Two Years Later
—
Middle school was the literal worst for Virgil. He could see people looking his way and laughing at him, judging him and whispering amongst themselves about who knows what. People had come up to him all nice , probably to ask him questions before they used it against him. That’s just what people do. His older brother had taught him that years ago.
That wasn’t even the worst of it. The worst thing was all of the lies. ‘I wouldn’t do that to you, Virgil’or ‘you can trust us’ before the inevitable stab to the back. He had more than enough of it. It hurt and made him second guess everything and, worst of all, it made him think of his brother more and more. Clyde would lie, sure, but it was always jokes or something silly or unimportant. He never lied to hurt Virgil! It had been two years since his parents had kicked Clyde out. Two whole years without his big brother he always looked up to. Two years of not knowing what had happened to him and never knowing if he would see him again.
His parents had tried to throw out all of Clyde’s things. Virgil was able to hold on to a few knickknacks here and there. The big one, though, was Clyde’s pet snake. His parents planned on bringing him back to the pet store or giving him away, but Virgil would have none of it. The snake was innocent and Virgil cared for it just as much as his brother so it was just as much as his pet in his eyes. So, after a few arguments, they had agreed to let Virgil take over caring for the snake completely. Virgil went and did a lot of research on the ball python that he could. While he wouldn’t realize why his brother decided to name the python Monty of all things for another few years, Virgil loved that snake since it was the last real thing he had to remember his brother by. As he grew older, he tried wearing a lot of Clyde’s old clothes as well. His parents were less than okay with that decision. They kept trying to take him out clothes shopping and removing the old outfits, but Virgil wouldn’t budge. There wasn’t a lot that still fit him, but black went with a lot of things and Virgil knew he could get away with wearing that at least until he fully grew into everything else.
With Clyde gone, his parents being unusually cold to him lately and Monty now his only friend, Virgil grew bored rather quickly. Home felt more like a box he was forced to sit in than a place of comfort it had once been.
After one of his lamps for Monty’s tank died out, Virgil decided to fiddle with it and fix the problem to avoid telling his parents. He knew he shouldn’t be afraid to ask but knowing their distaste for the creature, he didn’t want to risk somehow losing Monty. Virgil unplugged everything and handled the bulb carefully, inspecting it. A change of bulb had done nothing and the old bulb still seemed to be in working order. After a short while, he was able to figure out that there was a loose wire in the plug that just needed a bit of adjusting. It was something so minor and so easy to fix, but being able to take care of it on his own made him swell with pride.
It had piqued his interest and only grew after that. He began to look for more things that needed fixing. He started taking simple things apart and putting them back together to see how they worked. While Clyde had a silver tongue and could get himself out of most situations, it seemed like Virgil was able to create. It only seemed logical that he had decided to build the one thing he wanted most.
His first batch of, erm, ‘friends’ didn’t come out the best. LED lights for an eye and awkward limbs, he went back to the drawing board multiple times to simplify the design. His brain wanted them to look cool and flashy, but he started making them simple and building up from there.
His new talent for tinkering still had a lot to be desired. Most of his new toys were more like puppets he still had to control and move around and were barely able to do that. They were stiff and lifeless but Virgil was determined to work on them for as long as it takes to bring his vision to life.
Whenever Virgil had any spare time at school, he took out some paper and tried figuring out what to do next. The next thing he’d have to learn and what he wanted to do. He tried ignoring the bullies the best he could no matter what, speed walking through the halls and making himself look as small as possible to avoid any trouble. But sometimes…
“Hey!” Virgil had been too busy looking down at his feet as he marched through the halls to his next class to realize someone was talking tohim. “Wait a second!”
Virgil felt someone grab his arm and tug him backward, stopping him in place. He turned around and saw a kid, taller than him, slightly out of breath from running through the crowded hall to catch up to him.
“You dropped this,” the kid held out some papers Virgil had scribbled some ideas on in his last class. In a flurry of embarrassment, Virgil reached out and grabbed the papers before rushing down the hallway to his next class. “Hey! At least say thank you!” He heard the other kid call out to him. Virgil ignored it as he turned into his classroom to hide away and hope to forget the whole thing ever happened.
Note: This was originally posted on Robindraw’s AO3. I edited the first chapter and wrote chapter 2 and now wish to finish the rest of the story based on Robin’s notes. This is not my story, it’s HERS. I just have the notes and the story and am writing it. This was before Janus’ name reveal so I’m keeping it Clyde for the story for now.
There is also an animatic Robin made of this AU you can watch
Clyde (Deceit) was a relatively normal teen who lived with his parents and his brother until he discovered that he has powers, but they have a price…. You can read here how Deceit became one of the most dangerous people on the planet, ….but could there be people who can stop him? And what does his family think?
Oh crap… One on the face again? And you can see it more than the others too. How many does he have now? 15… 16 maybe? At least most of them can be covered with a shirt, but the ones on the face? Those could become a real problem.
But he had to use it. If Ms. Mayer knew he was the one who took the money out of the register? She would have fired him and he needs the money too much for that to happen.
Clyde stood in front of his whole body mirror. He was wearing an old Disney shirt of his, which he would never admit to anyone he still had, but he just couldn’t let it go. Used socks and T-shirts were spread around his relatively dimly lit room, still lying in the same position he had thrown them there from the days before. The sound of a terrarium, with his favorite little snek buddy Terrence in it, filled the thick air, breaking the silence.
The 17-year-old looked at his face in the mirror with a disgruntled frown. He had to figure out a way to hide them somehow. Not that they didn’t look cool but other people would start to ask questions that he can’t even answer himself.
A sudden knock on his door threw him out of his thoughts. Without waiting for an answer, his little brother stormed into his mess of a room.
“Dinner’s ready!’’
He turned out of reflex towards the sound but remembered quickly why that would be a terrible idea. He ducked his head down quickly so that his bangs would cover a little of his face and got down on his knees, pretending as if he was cleaning his socks off of the floor. But it was no use. The curious kid had already had a glimpse of what he was trying to hide.
“What’s that on your face?”
“Forf**ks sake, Virgil, if you don’t want your head ripped off you better stop storming into my room like that.”
It threw him off a little that it was already time for dinner. His parents were apparently home early today, great.
While he was throwing socks under his bed, the 10-year-old approached him.
“What? Do you care about me seeing your dirty socks all of a sudden? That’s a first. But seriously I think you have, like, dirt on your cheek or something.”
Bending down, Virgil tried to get a glimpse of his brother’s face but he kept turning more and more to the side so he couldn’t see.
Suddenly a sock went soaring and made a landing right on Virgil’s face. He stumbled back a little and ripped the stinking object off while his brother stood up from the ground.
“Ewww, gross! You’re disgusting!”
“And you’re a pussy.”
They taller boy tried to go around the right side of the smaller boy while having his head turned so that Virgil couldn’t see the three scales on his left cheek, but was stopped by a hand gripping his arm and attempting to pull him back.
“Look at me!”
“Let go or I’ll make you.”
“Not until you show me! I wanna see!”
Getting irritated with him he barked out an “Okay!” before he turned his head. The side of his face he was trying to keep hidden was in full view of his little annoyance who still clung to his right arm.
Virgil’s eyes widened in shock.
“Woooah. Are those scales?! That looks so cool! Are they real?”
Clyde’s face showed maybe a second of surprise on his face but masked it quickly with a confident grin.
“Are they real? Of course not. This is my Halloween costume. Well, an idea for it.”
Virgil’s furrowed his eyebrows.
“You’re lying.”
“Wha- Me? Never!”
He got down to his younger brothers eye-level.
“Virgil, I would never ever lie to you, little brother.”
Virgil rolled his eyes.
“That’s a gigantic lie. You told me yesterday that you didn’t eat my pudding, even though you were still holding it!” Clyde couldn’t help but chuckle a little at that memory. “So just tell me the truth. I know when you’re lying.”
Clyde’s face darkened a little, his smile fluttering. He was thinking about using his powers on his brother but considering that using his powers caused this dilemma in the first place… he chose to tell the truth.
“I- ok, you have to swear to not to tell our parents or I will rip you into pieces.” Virgil straightened his back and stared wistfully into his brother’s eyes. “I have these scales because of my superpowers.”
The smaller boy’s shoulders went down, disbelief and disappointment in his eyes.
“You still pretend like I’m an idiot. You, brother, you’re an ass.”
With these words he left out of the door, leaving a smirking Clyde behind.
Sometimes the truth is the best lie to hide behind.
The young man got up and his eyes fell again to his mirror. Through it, he could see the terrarium with his snake resting inside. He turned and walked around his bed. He looked into the glass box, to see a curled up Terrence on a stick with his beautiful light yellow scales.
He had a soft smile on his face before he shuddered and his eyes showed maybe something akin to… worry.
Maybe he shouldn’t use his powers as much anymore. What if he-
No. No, no, why was he afraid? It’s not like that’s ever going to happen.
