[TW] Pyrophobia

Chapter Eight | "Conscious"

DUH

All of that morning, Duh had been stressing over Doc, constantly checking in the room to make sure he was okay. He decided to cook him breakfast at around ten in the morning, and Lulu offered to give it to him. Of course, Duh let her, and she happily trotted away with the plate in her hands.

Poor kid, Duh thought as she walked away, recalling the fight he and Henry had the day before, she really has been through so much and she's pushing through. She's strong, Henry was right. She's truly a kid to admire, I just wish her classmates could see that as much as he does.

As Lulu walked back into the room, Duh had been starting a cup of coffee, probably just as a stress reliever. He glanced back at the little kid as she looked up at him. "Can you make me cookies? Please, please, please?"

"This early? It's only ten in the morning, Lulu."

Lulu's emoticon seemed to plea to him as she rested her head on his arm. "Please?"

Duh sighed and rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Let me start my coffee first."

"Yay!" Lulu bounced around eagerly.

"Settle down, Doc's trying to rest." Duh told her. That reminded him. "Is he awake?"

"He was." Lulu nodded. "Barely, and he looked sleepy."

Duh winced visibly but kept his inner comments to himself. If only I stepped in sooner instead of letting Scope hurt him. Why had I just stood there...? Fucking moron... He then forced a nod. "He'll be okay, just let him rest for now, okay?"

Lulu nodded.

"How about I call you down when the cookies are ready?"

"Okay!" Lulu's emoticon showed a smile and she nodded. "Thank you! Love you, Duh!" She hurried away happily.

Duh watched her leave and solemnly glanced at the coffee maker as it poured coffee into the mug. He didn't even feel like putting the energy into putting creamer into it, but he didn't like coffee black. Guess I'll do it.

As he walked to the fridge to pull out the creamer, he stopped as he thought he heard a voice and looked up in confusion. Was that Doc he heard speaking? Didn't matter, he was probably just talking to himself like he often did. Lulu did say he was up. He pulled the creamer out of the fridge and poured it into the mug before getting out some dough for the cookies.

It was about time he was setting the prepared cookies in the oven when he heard the voice again. This time more distinct than the last, a panicked yelp which quickly dissolved into a calm voice... "How the Hell can I see you?"

He blinked. See who? He could still see, couldn't he? It wasn't like he was blinded in both his eyes, and he didn't cover up both his eyes either.

And then he heard a brief mention of Thomas from the other room. Now it definitely sounded like he was having a conversation with someone else. But who? Lulu wouldn't have gone in there, would she have? She doesn't even know about Thomas. I mean, she wouldn't remember, anyways. I'd hope. He tried to listen closer but was startled by the buzz of his phone.

"Jesus Christ—" He pulled it out of his pocket and checked who was calling him. Oh, it's just Sebastian. Of course, it is. Bad timing, dude. He answered the call and held the phone beside his ear. "Hey, Seb."

"Yo." Sebastian's grin could already be heard from the other side of the phone. "You want to come later? Lorelei would love to meet you. I already told her you're doin' great."

Duh raised a brow. "I mean, I'd love to, but... Doc ain't in the best condition."

Sebastian's voice lowered. "What happened?"

"...There was... an accident." Duh's voice wavered, and he tried to keep it steady. "I'd rather not talk about it. Is Lorelei doing okay?"

"Yeah, she's doing fine. I'm more worried about you though. You need anything? I can come if you'd like."

"No, no, you don't have to do anything if you don't want to—"

"I want to though!" Sebastian insisted. "You and Doc are my friends, and if something bad happened, I want to make sure you're both okay! Can't you just tell me what happened?"

Duh let out a steady sigh. "...I'll see if he's in the mood to come, he's talking right now. At least, it seems like."

"Just try to work things out." Sebastian sighed. "Whatever happens, I'll take it. And keep me updated... if you don't go, let me know what happened to him, 'k?"

"Alright. See you."

"Bye."

Duh hung up without another word and shakily breathed in, stifling a slight sob. Why did he feel like crying? I blame myself for all of this... I guess this isn't really my fault, but... I should've stepped in, I really should've stepped in, then none of this would've happened to him. Then it could've happened to me, it would've been a whole loop of events.

He traced back to what happened during Scope's attack. Why had he attacked her so brutally? He never done that before, let alone tried to kill her. As much as he wanted her dead, he would never try to kill her. That's just wrong of him...

Sudden footsteps startled him and caused him to turn around, seeing a weary and somewhat tired looking Doc. Confusion overwhelmed him and he was the first to speak. "Doc? What're you doing up? Your eye—"

"I know." Doc said and glanced at the oven. "What're you doing?"

"Baking cookies for Lulu, she... kind of begged me to." Duh let out a sigh.

"It's early for cookies." Doc raised a brow, wincing slightly in pain as he did so.

"Yeah, but... oh well. One or two cookies won't hurt." He then lowered his voice. "Who were you talking to?"

Doc said nothing at first, rubbing his blinded eye as he let out another grunt of pain.

"Don't touch that eye." Duh warned.

"...I know, I know I shouldn't." Doc huffed. "It's weird, though. Something about this eye is strange."

"What do you mean?"

His question was answered strangely, almost horrifyingly. Doc turned to him as his hair was whisked out of his face, and his blind eye opened. It didn't look at damaged as Duh had imagined, and it seemed to stare right at him. Doc seemed to mumble something, but Duh heard it.

"Ghosts are everywhere, Duh."

Duh was rather taken aback by this comment, he almost couldn't say anything in reply. "W-What do you mean?"

Doc closed his blind eye and turned away, saying nothing.

Duh took a shaky breath, closing his fists. "...I'm going to go somewhere you might like later, I was wondering if you could come. It won't be too public, but... you might meet some old faces."

"Old faces?" Doc glanced back at Duh.

"...Remember Sebastian at all?" Duh made a small smile.

Doc seemed to think for a moment, his good eye slightly twitching. Then it widened. "What're you saying...?"

"We've got a way to get back to him. Our journey ain't over just yet."