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dragonsdomain · 11 months

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Out of Office chapter 2

AO3

Chapter 1

Joy shut the door to the basement and flicked on a light, turning to look intensely at Luke and Oliver. “It’s time for the first meeting of the Eugene Protection Squad.”

“EPS?” Oliver repeated. “I feel like there are cooler acronyms we could create.”

Luke frowned at Joy. “While I’m all for protecting Eugene, I’m not sure about this plan. Spying on him? Sneaking around behind his back? We’re his friends! He trusts us!”

Joy sighed. “He doesn’t trust us enough to confide in us about what he’s going through. It’s been years. I think it’s about time we step in and find out the truth so we can really help him.”

Luke sagged. “I don’t feel good about it. But okay.” He glanced incredulously at his surroundings. "Do we have to be meeting in a basement?"

Joy rolled her eyes. "There's nothing wrong with my basement. It has beanbag chairs and everything. It's comfy."

Oliver looked between Joy and Luke. “Uh, so. What’s this meeting going to entail? What are we doing?”

“First let’s pool our knowledge of what’s going on with Eugene,” Joy said.

Luke shrunk down uncomfortably as both Joy's and Oliver's gazes turned to him. He sighed. “It’s definitely something supernatural. Back when he and I were trying to save those kids a couple of years ago, several figures appeared out of nowhere to help.”

Oliver raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean 'figures'? Were they not people?"

"I didn't get great looks at any of them since we were busy running for our life," Luke snapped. "I'm not sure."

Joy sat down on a beanbag next to Luke. "So that had something to do with Eugene's job?"

"I think so," Luke responded. "He didn't really explain much about it to me afterwards, and I never pushed since he seemed a little shaken up about it. But it was weird." Luke cringed. "I feel bad sharing this behind his back."

Oliver shrugged. "Joy, what do you know?"

Joy tapped her foot on the concrete floor absently. "I don't think I know much more than you guys. We know what little he's told us. He helps people. Works with a couple of coworkers who he sounds close with--Oh!" She perked up. "I talked to a few of the other station attendants from station 00, and it doesn't sound like they're close to him. So that's interesting."

“You went to his work and talked to his coworkers?” Luke burst in, astonished. “How long have you been spying on him?”

Joy leaned back defensively. “That was only today! If we were going to do this, I wanted to come to our meeting prepared! It’s not weird!”

“It’s a little bit weird,” Oliver conceded.

Joy glared at him.

“What?” He asked.

Joy sighed. "This is beside the point. If it's not his coworkers at station 00, who is Eugene close to?"

Oliver tilted his head. "That's a good question. Does he have another job, maybe?"

Joy tapped her chin. "Or he could've been lying about being close to his coworkers."

"Guys..." Luke said. "Are we really in here wondering if Eugene's been lying to us?"

Joy winced. "I didn't mean... obviously it wouldn't have been to trick us. I just thought that maybe it was a white lie or something, make his workplace sound more cheerful than it is."

Luke shook his head. "He's genuine about being friends with his coworkers. Back when I was first getting to know him, he told me they were the whole reason he wanted to work there in the first place."

Joy held up a hand placatingly. "Okay. Sorry. It could also be that he's misreading the situation, that his coworkers don't think of him the same way he thinks of them."

Luke frowned, feeling defensive again on Eugene's behalf, but he said nothing.

"So, what? You think his coworkers might be dangerous to him?" Oliver asked. "That's what we're here to figure out, right? Whether his job is putting him in danger?"

"Uh, uh." Joy shook her head. "We know his job is putting him in danger."

Oliver raised an eyebrow. "I mean, it could've just been an earthquake. And what Luke said was years ago."

"Seems like far too much of a coincidence to me," Joy said. "And back then too, if Luke is right about the kid chase thing being related to Eugene's job, it was dangerous then also."

Oliver shrugged. "Okay then. So our real objective is to... determine why Eugene's job is dangerous?"

Joy pounded a fist into her hand. "And then stop it. Exactly."

Luke folded his arms. "It's not our place to 'put a stop' to anything. Eugene wouldn't have kept doing this job for years if there wasn't something good about it. Whatever it is, it's important to him. Maybe we should just let him be."

Joy looked at Luke incredulously. "Come on. We've been over this. We all love Eugene, we love how good and kind he is. But he can be a bit self-sacrificial at times."

Luke shrank down, breaking Joy's gaze.

"Joy is right," Oliver added. "As his friends, it's our responsibility to make sure he isn't in over his head. We need to look out for him. If we don't, who will?"

"I get it," Luke said, defeated. "I'm sorry. I'll help."

Joy smiled appreciatively. Luke was looking down at his lap.

Oliver shifted in his seat, the beans making a shh sound. "I don't really know much either. He's always been closer to you, Luke, than me or Joy. I mean basically all I've got are some slips of the tongue he's made. Don't know if they're important or even if they mean anything at all. I think he's almost said something like 'ghost' a couple of times. But what I heard was jus--"

Joy snapped her fingers. "'Ghosts'! I've heard him almost say that too!"

"So now will you guys take seriously what I mentioned before about the weirdness in that chase?" Luke asked.

Joy sat up straight. "What? It can't actually be ghosts. They're not real. This is just a possible piece of the puzzle."

Luke raised an eyebrow.

Oliver shrugged. "I mean, if he was working with ghosts, it'd explain why the friends he talks about aren't his human coworkers."

Joy laughed nervously. "Are you hearing yourself right now?"

"The first full conversation I had with Eugene was in a dream..." Luke said absently. "And he remembered the same dream the next day. I'd kind of... always wondered how that happened. If it was ghosts..."

"Wait, can we go back to the part where you met Eugene in a dream?" Oliver interjected. "You didn't feel the need to mention that earlier?"

Luke shook his head. "It's not important. I think I already know what we need to do."

"Really?" Joy said, leaning forward.

Luke nodded. "Eugene has a particular flower he always carries with him in his shirt pocket. A couple of times I've come to the station to see him, and his coworkers have told me he's taking a nap. I find him with the flower in his mouth, and he doesn't wake up, whatever I do."

Joy stared at him. "That is weird."

"So we're going to steal the flower?" Oliver asked.

Luke sagged. "I hope it won't come to that. But yeah, we've got to get our hands on it somehow."

"It could be an important piece of this puzzle," Joy said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Even if we can't figure out what it's for just by having it, we could try to see if Eugene's behavior changes at all without it." She sat up straighter. "Great work, team EPS. We've got our next step figured out."

"I still think we could come up with a cooler acronym," Oliver said.

...

Eugene flew though the darkened town after dark, floating into the subway and eventually arriving back among the wreckage of Station 00. He'd come here almost every day over the last few years. It had felt more like home than his actual apartment, though now it lay in ruins, rubble and glass everywhere with caution tape that he ignored. Though it was a transformed place, it felt good to be back there with a purpose, almost like he was back with the Underworld Office again.

Eugene stepped towards the lost and found closet, opened the door, and picked up Boss's fan. It was bent from how roughly River had broken out of it a few days ago (it had only been that long? It felt like weeks, months), but Eugene could still feel the power within it. How many evil... or suffering spirits were trapped within it?

He bit his lip and thought of Finley and Tatum. Their mom was still in here, wasn't she? How fair was it that he and Boss had kept her there, trapped, for... years? She'd been a good mother for her children. She'd only wanted to protect them. Eugene had objected at the beginning to her being sealed, but... he'd let it happen. Eugene took a deep breath, set his jaw, then pulled the fan open carefully to prevent damage to the paper.

A gasp escaped Eugene's throat as he felt the power emanating from within. He stumbled back a little at the shock of it. He heard churning voices, calling, corrupted noises of pain and writhing within. He tried to take a deep breath to calm himself, but it did little as a ghost.

He gritted his teeth, trying to steel himself. He'd rarely used ghostly keepsakes before, and the power of this one seemed overwhelming. Was it really a good idea to try this?

He looked at the fan, eyes watering. Moans came out of it. So much pain... Finley and Tatum's mother was inside of there, and he knew she was innocent.

Eugene gasped, held his breath, and thrust his hand into the fan.

He let out a yell as the screams seemed to claw at his hand physically within the fan. Fingers brushed his hand all over, each carrying with it a thousand flavors of emotional agony.

He gasped, feeling like his whole soul was drowning, unsure if it really was only his hand in the fan or if all of him was inside. "Susan..." he coughed, reaching out.

Something cold grabbed onto his hand, and he screamed, trying to pull it out. The thing came with him, sliding out of the fan in a cascade of dark reddish slime. Eugene dropped the fan, scrambling away from the figure on the ground.

Eugene watched with wide eyes, desperately trying to regain control of his breathing. He was okay. The screaming was over. He checked himself for a pulse and had a brief moment of panic at its absence before remembering he was a ghost.

The pile of slime moved, pulling itself together. The familiar shape of Susan's ghost raised its head, white teary eyes looking at Eugene. "My babies..."

"Susan..." Eugene said. "It's been... a while." He pursed his lips, wondering how she would react to the sight of him.

Susan leaned towards him. "My babies," she repeated more insistantly.

"They're okay!" Eugene said, standing up. "They're safe."

She started sobbing. Her slimy form shook with the effort. She shifted closer to Eugene, and he resisted the urge to pull back, feeling her pain radiating off of her. "Where. Show me."

Eugene gulped. Would bringing a monster to Finley and Tatum be a good idea? It was nighttime, so Susan would be more powerful. He'd picked the wrong time to let loose an evil spirit, hadn't he? And she'd been in the fan for a long time, so he didn't know how stable she was. Eugene couldn't stop her if she decided to try something.

He bit his lip. He had to. It wasn't fair to leave her like this. "Okay. Follow me." Eugene quietly walked over, picked up the fan, then flew through the ceiling to the surface, checking behind himself to make sure the spirit was following.

Eugene flew down the street, leading Susan through the shadows towards Linda's flower shop. After the kids' father had been arrested, Linda had adopted them. Susan followed behind Eugene, leaving a couple who were out late shivering as her tendrils of slime brushed against them.

They reached the flower shop. The bit of River's hair was still tied around the door to prevent ghosts from going through, so Eugene tugged the door slightly open to allow himself and Susan to slip in. Sean had left it unlocked after Eugene left.

The two of them flew up to the second floor and, after a moment of hesitation, Eugene directed Susan towards the kids' room. The slipped through the door, and Susan's breath caught on the other side.

"M-my babies...?" Susan moved to the bed to the left and looked down at Finley. Finley shivered in her sleep. Susan glided over to Tatum. "You're both so big, you look so healthy... Mommy is proud, mommy loves you."

Susan placed a hand on Tatum's shoulder, but he jolted, his eyes fluttering open. He sat up and looked around confusedly. Susan drew her hand away as Tatum looked through her apprehensively, unseeing. "I can't touch them? I hurt them?"

Eugene stepped up to her cautiously. "Ghosts should try to keep some distance from humans so we don't drain their energy."

Susan looked back at Eugene. "You... you! You're bigger too..."

Eugene flinched back, worried by the abruptness in her tone. "M-me...?"

Susan drew close. "You tried to help me kill that man..."

Eugene shrunk down, chills running up his back. "I don't... did I? I didn't mean..." He tried not to envision the recurring nightmare he'd had about helping the monstrous Charlie finish the job.

"Where is he?" Susan asked.

Eugene froze. The man was alive, but in prison. But Susan had wanted him dead. If he told her the truth, she might try to kill him, and Eugene might not be able to stop her.

He could lie... but the thought made him sick. Boss' words about how truth was not always best came to mind. He'd thought it was better to deceive Eugene, River, Hayden, and Joan, and he'd hurt all of them because of it. Eugene... didn't want to be like him.

Susan put a cold hand on Eugene's shoulder, and he shivered from the rage he could feel bolt up his arm. "Where?" she repeated.

Eugene gulped. "He's in prison."

Susan let go of Eugene and drew back. She held still for a minute, looking calm. Would it be okay? Was she content with him being in prison?

But then Susan shot down and out the front door.

Eugene flew after her, shutting the door again and silently apologizing to Finley and Tatum. Eugene pursued Susan, calling out to her. "Wait! Stop! What are you doing?"

She grabbed him in the muddy tendrils of her clothing and Eugene yelled in surprise as she dragged him along with her.

"To KILL HIM," Susan said.

Eugene grabbed her arm. "Please don't. He's not a threat anymore."

"Was I a THREAT?" Susan pulled to a stop, pulling Eugene up close to her face. "Was I a threat when he KILLED ME?"

"N-no..." he could feel the power in her arm, how easily she could crush his soul.

"Were my children a THREAT?" Susan cried, tearing up. "When he LOCKED them UP? When he let them STARVE??"

What did that matter though? What use was Eugene if he couldn't do anything good? Eugene gritted his teeth. "Is it right?"

Susan paused. "What?"

"Is killing him... right? The right thing to do?" Eugene winced as Susan's hand tightened around him.

"Who cares?" Eugene's eyes widened. "It is my revenge. It is what he DESERVES."

"You don't care whether it's right...?" Eugene said softly. He slumped. But she wanted to do it anyway. Like River. She wanted justice... even if it meant she did something wrong. Eugene had promised River he'd support her in what she did before she left.

"Those years ago you said this was just revenge," Susan said. "Are you taking back what you said? Were you wrong?"

Eugene felt torn. This was so similar to what he'd promised River. But... his dream. His recurring dream of murdering that man, of turning into a monster because of it. That was wrong.

Eugene shook his head. "Killing him will hurt you," he said. "Even if it doesn't matter whether it's right or wrong. You won't be able to come back from it."

Susan snarled. "Then you don't have to watch." She dropped Eugene and bolted away, towards the prison.

"NO!" Eugene flew after her. He went as fast as he could, but he couldn't fly as fast as a full ghost. He slowed down after a minute, tired, but kept flying again at full speed after only a few seconds. "Susan, stop!"

By the time Eugene reached the prison, he could see a trail of Susan's pain streaked across the windows and doors of the prison. He zipped in the nearest window. He had to catch her before she found Jack.

After a few minutes of frantic searching, Eugene spotted Susan on the ground floor. He rushed up to her. "Please, please don't! Leave him! It's over, Finley and Tatum are safe!"

Susan shoved Eugene roughly out of the way and kept searching.

"Susan! You're better than him! Stop!"

Susan kept ignoring him. She stopped at one cell and a manic smile stretched across her face. Eugene felt a chill of horror.

"Found you," she said.

Sharp fragments of cloth shot out towards Jack, but Eugene bolted forward, blocking them with his body. The tendrils slammed into him and pain shot through him as he was flung across the cell.

Eugene gasped. It hurt, oh wow it hurt. Eugene managed to prop himself onto his elbow.

Susan looked at him in astonishment. "N-no! That was your fault! I didn't kill you!"

"Kill--?" Eugene whispered, then looked down at himself. What he saw made him feel sick to his stomach. A fragment of his soul had broken off and was hovering beside him, fibers holding weakly onto it. The hole was big enough to put his hand through. That was why it hurt.

Eugene tried to hold his soul together, still fighting against the pain. "Su... please..." He closed his eyes, hoping he could hear his weak voice. "What'd Tatum and Finley... think...?"

Eugene sat there panting for a minute. His soul had never been hurt this badly before. Oh, this was bad... He didn't want to do this again. Would it stop hurting if he could make it back to his body?

"Ugh..." Susan hovered nearby, her essence hovering threateningly around Jack. "UGH! Y-you! They are children! They don't need to know. Will you tell them? Are you GOING TO TELL THEM?"

Eugene whimpered as he felt Susan's presence draw close to him. "Don't tell themmmm."

"I won't..." Eugene cried, still holding onto his side.

Susan turned around.

"No..." Eugene whispered. He laborously reached for his pocket as Susan moved towards Jack again. Eugene pulled the fan open, set it on the ground, then grabbed the hem of Susan's skirt.

Her eyes bulged. "NO!" She screamed, clawing at Eugene's arm, and he screamed in pain in turn. He held onto her as tears came to his eyes and shoved down, thrusting her back into the fan. It sucked her in, and Eugene faded from consciousness as her wails were absorbed once again by the paper fan.

...

The sun had risen, recently, and the morning air was chilly. Birds were chirping merrily, and Charlie thought that, if she were still alive and sleep mattered, she'd be annoyed at them for being loud so soon after dawn.

If Charlie was so independant, then why was she hanging out here outside of Eugene’s apartment? She kicked a rock, and it bounced off the wall. Eugene hadn’t been going to work lately ‘cause of the station getting smashed, but he could stand to do more ghost stuff, couldn’t he? Was he depressed or something?

Charlie sighed, then sat down on a bench. A couple of humans drifted by, none noticing her. None caring. None knowing anything about her. She curled into herself. She didn’t want to think about that. A bird landed near her blindly, but she whacked her scissors against the bench with a ding that sent it flitting away. She slipped behind the bench, then started cutting up leaves from the ground.

Chills arced up her back, and she startled. A sudden drop in temperature. Charlie stood, looking around herself for the threat. She saw oblivious humans, a cat on the other side of the bench.

“Boss?” She whispered. “Eugene? River?” She winced, feeling stupid. River was gone. Hopefully no one had heard that.

There it was. A shadow on the ground. Just as Charlie spotted it, it zipped off into an alleyway.

“Hey!” She glared. Then she sighed. What, was she going to not follow it? She dashed after it.

The thing slid along the ground, darting between patches of shadow. Charlie had heard about the daylight making ghosts weaker, but personally she could hardly feel it.

The thing kept sliding until it reached a chain link fence.

“I have you cornered,” Charlie said, snapping her scissors. “Now show what you really are!”

The shadow slid under the fence.

“HEY!” Charlie dashed after it. She slipped through the fence easily, but her scissors hit the metal and flew out of her hand. Grumbling swear words, Charlie rushed back over to grab them from the ground, tossed them over the fence, then ran over to grab them from the other side as the shadow continued away.

Now they were going through some trash alley place. Ah, if her father could see her now… n-no, don’t think about him. Charlie ran after the shadow.

The thing stopped in the middle of the path, and Charlie paused a few feet away, confused. Why wasn’t it fleeing again?

ChArlie… it hissed. Charlie took a step back. The voice was warped, but there was something familiar about it.

“W-who are you?” Charlie held her scissors protectively in front of herself.

It rose up. Large, cold white eyes opened, tugging her soul towards their void. Large, cruel hands, thick fingers made for crushing, took shape. Charlie froze. "N-no--"

"Charlie," her father's ghost said, legs solidifying. "You're not going to try to run away again, are you?"

Charlie ran.

She bolted towards the opposite end of the alley, glad to see light at the other end unfiltered through a chain-link fence. She wanted to glance over her shoulder to see where her persuer was, but she didn't want to slow down to do so.

Charlie burst out onto the daylit street, sharply turning to the left. If she'd been human, she'd feel her muscles burning now, but as it was, there was nothing to distract her from the unfiltered terror coursing through her body.

She finally found herself in front of Eugene's apartment complex, stopping only long enough to shove her scissors through the old-fashioned mail slot before phasing in, grabbing them, and jumping straight up through the ceiling to Eugene's bedroom.

"Eugene! Eugene!" Charlie grabbed at Eugene's clothes in an attempt to shake him. It took a second before she could concentrate enough to touch them, and even then when she tugged and pushed, he still didn't respond.

She whacked him in the shoulder with the head of her scissors.

Eugene gave a labored groan in his sleep, but didn't move. Was he breathing kind of heavy?

Charlie gritted her teeth as she glanced about the room for anything she could use. Was there anything that'd have any effect on a ghost? Was there anything but ghostly artifacts that one could use to fight a ghost? She could sure have used an infodump about all this just about several days ago!

She glanced out the window to see how close her pursuer was. She didn't see him. Her eyes held the corner where she'd turned, watching for any sign of movement.

Charlie only looked away when her eyes started watering for not blinking for so long. She noticed how tense she felt. Had her father's ghost not followed her?

After a minute, Charlie was starting to calm down. She took one more glance out the window...

Just as a long black hand became visible around the corner.

Charlie choked and whipped her head back. She pulled Eugene's curtains shut, then curled up down below the window, shaking. Had he seen her? Please let him not have seen her.

Charlie wouldn't be safe here. If her father's ghost could sense ghostly auras, he'd locate her within minutes, especially with all her fear. The walls were a little comforting, but Charlie jolted as she reminded herself they wouldn't matter to a ghost. She had to go.

Standing and darting towards the opposite wall, Charlie fired a glare at Eugene (though she felt more disappointed than angry). "Of course you don't protect me the one time I need you."

Charlie popped open the window on the other side of the room and jumped out, darting out amongst the sea of buildings.

...

Chapter 3

#Underworld Office #Charlie in Underworld #my fanfics #Out of Office #Eugene UWO #Charlie UWO #Luke UWO #Joy UWO #Oliver UWO #Susan UWO #Charlie's Father UWO

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dragonsdomain · 6 months

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Out of Office chapter 5

AO3

Chapter 4

Charlie was done with snipping her scissors. Now she was just sitting in the corner, hugging her knees, with said scissors held in a death grip in her left fist. The reasonable part of her understood that she was the guest here and this was a flower shop, but the emotional part was in charge right now and she wanted to scream at everyone in the room to get out and stop making noise. The two kids were back down there and bustling around and doing work like everything was fine.

Sean was not in the room. Charlie wasn't sure whether she felt a spiteful satisfaction at that or whether she wanted to give him a piece of her mind again. Maybe it'd feel good to just glare at him from across the room, putting little cuts in his conscience like the way she snipped at napkins. He wasn't there though, which maybe was good, since she really wanted to hit him over the head with something heavy.

Her hand tightened 'til she could feel every sharp edge of her scissors on her skin. Why did Sean tell Eugene about the ghost she'd run from? What made him think he had any right to rat her out like that-- or-- or to let Eugene go off by himself! What was that about? Was he stupid?

She'd already yelled all that Sean about all that, but she felt ready enough to do it again. And he was gonna try to defend himself again, saying, what was it, that Eugene deserved to know things, that it wasn't like there was someone better to take care of it. He hadn't said that she should go and fight it, which she distantly appreciated even though she was still unreasonably angry at him.

Charlie tipped sideways onto the floor and grumbled to herself. Sean could pull out that card at any time, actually. And logically, he would be right. Logic was so nasty sometimes. Why couldn't it be on her side for once?

Suddenly Sean burst down into the room and started fiddling against the front door handle. Charlie scrambled to her feet, making some affronted sound in lieu of any formulated words.

"You were right," Sean said without looking at her. "I shouldn't have let him go alone. I'm gonna go find Eugene."

"You're what?!" Charlie sprang after him. "Are you an idiot? What can you do!"

Sean got the bolt open and shoved through the door. "Whatever I can!"

He flew out at top speed. Charlie watched him through the glass door, wide-eyed, and he'd disappeared around the corner before the door had even slowly clicked shut.

"...Huh?" Charlie stood dazed. What. What was that.

Her scissors slipped from her hand and clanked against the floor.

Finley looked up curiously. "Scissor ghost?"

Charlie clenched her fist. She felt cold. She scratched at the last flecks of white on her chest. They were going to know. Eugene and Sean were both about to find out that that horrible monster was her father, that he was like that, that he was dead, because she'd murdered him.

Charlie stumbled backwards, trying to breathe, but she didn't have lungs. She was dead too. Maybe it was about time she started paying for her sins.

That thought made her freeze. No. She couldn't she couldn't. She wasn't ready.

Charlie gasped, grabbed her scissors off of the ground, and threw open the door to run after Sean. She had to stop Sean. She had to stop Eugene. She couldn't let them find out all the horrible truth about her, or she would lose the last few people in her life who were still around and willing to give her a chance.

Hopefully she wasn't already too late.

...

Getting to his body was slow going.

Eugene managed not to pass out this time, but he had to keep alternating between flying and walking. His vision was fuzzing at the edges again, and it hurt, a lot more than he'd even known spirits could hurt, but he had to keep moving. What would even happen if he didn't make it to his body? Would that be death? Worse than death? His mind conjured the worst case scenarios, years passing as Sean and Charlie had to collect the fragmented bits of his spirit until he was whole again, only to be left with no memory of who he was and a dead body.

Eugene shook his head at the thought, then had to fight off a wave of nausea. He would keep going.

He journeyed in a painful daze. It felt like a long time passed before he reached his body, even if he could hardly remember any of it in retrospect. Finally he managed to slip back down into his body, and he started feeling his human senses come to life again.

"-lo? Hello?" Eugene came to feeling an incessant tapping on his shoulder.

"H-huh?" Eugene hissed then, pain twisting through his torso. He curled in on himself and groaned.

"Woah, man, are you okay? Should I call an ambulance?"

Eugene pulled his head up. It was... Mike. The guy who'd asked for Charlie.

He was looking at Eugene in concern, which was probably reasonable. "Are you hurt?"

Eugene drew in a sharp breath, then pulled himself upwards in an effort to sit normally and offer Mike a polite smile to ease his concerns. He failed miserably to do any such thing, and Mike's frown deepened.

"I'm alright," Eugene assured him, not because it was true but because there was nothing he could do, and he didn't want to explain to anyone right now about how pathetically he had just messed up.

"Oookaaay," said Mike doubtfully. "Um. I was just wondering if there was any update about Charlie? I haven't heard from you for a bit."

Eugene tried to stand, but grunted quietly and sat back down. "S-sorry about that. Charlie said she doesn't want to see you, though she wouldn't tell me why."

"Oh," Mike's shoulders drooped. "Okay then. I guess... I don't know. I guess she's still mad at me."

Eugene closed his eyes. What would she have to be mad at Mike for? He hadn't sicced a massive evil spirit right towards her.

Mike sat down next to him and leaned over to try to look at Eugene's chest. "You really don't look very good," he said. "Why don't you at least go to a clinic and get checked out?"

Eugene abruptly stood up, gritting his teeth at the new rush of pain it caused. "Maybe I will. I'll be fine. I'll get back to you if anything changes with Charlie. Goodbye, Mike."

Mike waved doubtfully as Eugene stumbled out the door and towards the subway station. He struggled to the platform, finding a bench to sit down on. Twice in a row he tries doing anything without a bodyguard and gets seriously injured. Pathetic. He really can't do anything, can he?

He sat there panting and felt a slight annoyance when Mike sat down next to him, then an embarrassment as he realized that this was the only way out of the station.

The pain from his injuries gradually became bearable as they waited for the train. It would've been pretty embarrassing if Eugene had passed out or something, and there probably would've been no way to get out of going to the hospital then either. The silence was awkward though.

Mike eventually broke it. "Did Charlie mention why she doesn't want to talk to me?"

"No," Eugene responded. "She just said she didn't want to talk about it."

"Okay," Mike looked away thoughtfully. He started muttering to himself. "Would it be a bad idea to try to talk to her anyway...?"

Eugene watched him, wondering if he knew he'd heard him. "If you don't mind me asking, what were you wanting to talk to her about?"

Mike glanced at Eugene, then looked away. "I don't know if she'd want me telling people. I should probably leave that to her. I'll just say that something happened a while ago, and I want to talk to her about it. I haven't gotten the chance before." He looked somberly down at the ground. "For... reasons you can probably guess."

Eugene scrunched his brows. Why should he be able to guess the reasons?

Mike saw his confusion. "Oh, it's just... she died soon after. Oops, maybe that was too much information too. Um. Drat, I hope she's not upset I told you that."

"Okay," Eugene said. The subway approached as he thought about Mike's words, and he got on first, trying not to wince as he moved. Mike, giving Eugene one last concerned glance, went and sat down elsewhere.

Mike said Charlie had died soon after the event, but he worried that that'd been too much info. Had what happened between them had something to do with her death? And what did that towering evil spirit have to do with it?

...

Luke bit down on the flower and was immediately torn out of his seat and flung across the room and through the ceiling.

Luke made a baffled whimper as he found himself on his back, staring up at the roof of Joy’s kitchen, the room above the basement.

After pulling himself to his feet, Luke processed that somehow he wasn’t actually in any pain. He jogged over to the stairwell he’d somehow been flung through (how does someone get thrown by a blast in multiple directions? In a curve? This would change crime scene investigations), but stopped short when he found the door still closed.

“Huh?” Luke asked, then jumped at the sound of his own voice, weirdly echoey. “H-huh?” Yeah, he definitely hadn’t imagined that. The echo was slight, but distinct, like the sound characters’ thoughts make in movies.

Luke glanced down at his hands and shrieked. They were semi-transparent, and colored a gentle shade of yellow-orange.

“H-heh, uh, Joy? Oliver?” Luke tried to knock on the door, but his hand phased right through it. Luke should’ve felt sick, but he didn’t have a body, did he? “Joy? Oliver?”

Luke held his breath, then stepped through the solid wooden door. He gasped as he stepped out the other side. Had he phased through the floor too, been flung upwards after biting the flower? That would make more sense than a curved force. And also much less sense, because none of this made sense, because people don't go through roofs.

Thankfully walking down the staircase felt fairly normal, except for Luke feeling weirdly weightless, but he tried to ignore that.

"Guys?" Luke asked as he reached the bottom of the staircase, but rather than being greeted by his friends, Luke found himself floundering against a force pushing him backward. Luke fell backward and looked out on the room he hadn't been able to enter.

Joy and Oliver were looking expectantly at-- o-oh, uh, woah, yeah, that was his body over there. Luke was outside of his body. Okay. Wow. That's fine, that's okay, everything's fine. Ahem. Joy and Oliver were looking at. His body. Expectantly or in puzzlement. What really drew Luke's attention was the crucifix from Oliver's grandmother, which was glowing with a blue-hot radiance that overpowered the little light bulb on the ceiling. It felt bizarre that Joy and Oliver didn't seem to notice it. Had it been glowing like that before and he just couldn't see it, or had it started glowing when he left his body.

Luke pushed gently against the invisible barrier again and was pushed back just as hard, with the crucifix noticeably growing in brilliance. So. He wouldn't be able to get back in that room. That was probably what had thrown him out right when he bit the flower too. How was he going to communicate what was going on to his friends? And... how would he get back to his body?

Surely there was a solution to this. Surely there was no reason to freak out. Luke was freaking out. Well, drat.

Luke hummed frantically in an attempt at self-soothing as he headed back up the staircase. He reflexively tried to push the door open, but of course it didn't work, and Luke's humming increased in urgency as his arm fell through the door again.

He darted through the door quickly, finding himself again in the kitchen.

A desperate laugh bubbled out of Luke's throat. He stopped abruptly. "I need help. I need Eugene."

When he set his mind to it, Luke could do something that felt almost like taking a deep breath, and it did help him calm down, at least a little. He did a few more, willing the air to stay within him each time before he exhaled it.

Finally he was calm enough, so he walked towards the front door, steeled himself, then stepped through it.

Looking around himself revealed a familiar environment, except, that is, for the giant spindly slenderman walking down the street.

"hMMM," Luke turned the opposite direction from whatever that was and started walking resolutely toward Eugene's apartment.

Luke was distracted enough that he ended up bumping into someone. "Sorry--" he said, then froze.

"hMm?" a female voice said, sounding distracted as well. "Oh, you're so colorful. Like Eugene."

Luke stared at the woman. She wasn't shaped quite like a human. Her entire being was made up of greys and blacks and whites. "Who are you? How can I touch you? Where am I? What's going on?"

The lady curled back timidly. "Oh, I'm not good at this. Where's the Underworld Office when you need them? Oh... Eugene..."

"Huh?" Luke perked up. "How do you know Eugene?"

She made a nervous hum. "He's the living boy at the Underworld Office. They help ghosts." She tapped Luke's shoulder experimentally, then gave a nervous laugh. "You're not supposed to be out of your body. You're still alive."

"Yeah. Um. Okay." Luke swallowed. "Do you know where Eugene is?"

The sadness on the woman's face deepened. "He looked hurt when I saw him last. Maybe he's working too hard. He's always working hard, and now his coworkers have all left."

Luke frowned. When he'd last seen Eugene, he'd been really sick. "Where did you last see him?"

The woman tipped her head thoughtfully. "Mmm. He was going over that way." She pointed in the direction of the tall black monster lumbering along. "That monster went the same way soon after."

"So I. Have to go that way. Great." Luke gulped. "Okay, um. Thank you, ma'am."

She hummed one last time, then turned and floated off in the other direction. Luke's brain twisted at the sight, and he turned away quickly.

So... Luke started walking off in the direction of the tall, dark creature. He could guess at a couple of places Eugene might've been headed. Maybe he'd been going to Linda's flower shop, where the two kids they'd saved a couple of years back lived. Or maybe he'd been heading towards Station 00. Was that where the "Underworld Office" was? The woman had mentioned that his coworkers were gone. Maybe that was connected to why Eugene had been in such a depressed mood. Funny, Luke had somehow found out more about Eugene's double life in a one-minute conversation with a ghost lady than in years of being friends with Eugene personally. He wanted to laugh and cry at that.

Ideally, Luke would be able to check on the flower shop first, but the towering creature was still between him and it. Luke wasn't stupid, though. He ducked into a nearby side street, jogged down it and around, and popped back onto the main street in front of the tall figure.

Right in front of the tall figure.

Luke stared at it as it stared back down at him, and he thought that maybe he was, after all, a little bit stupid.

He screamed, then dashed off down the street at full speed.

Luke spotted another ghost as he ran, a chubby one this time. He was running towards him. "Hey!" Luke called, waving his arms. "Run! There's a monster this way!"

As they came upon each other, the ghost grabbed Luke's arm, eliciting a yelp, and pulling him to a stop. "Did you see Eugene over there?"

"Huh?" Luke said. "I thought he was over this way?"

"Who told you that? Do you know where he is?"

Luke pulled up his hand defensively. "I don't know! Some ghost lady!"

"Maybe... um," the ghost man cringed. "I can't be wasting time hesitating. He could be in danger. Bye, guy."

"Wh-- hey!"

The pudgy ghost man dashed off towards the towering shape coming ever closer.

Luke gritted his teeth. "He's crazy." He continued running down the street in the other direction.

Soon enough there showed up another ghost charging towards him, this one an all-black androgynous figure. "Outta my way!" She yelled as she passed him, but then she screeched to a stop. "Luke?"

Luke was surprised enough that he also paused in his dramatic flight. He turned around. "...Yeah?" He scanned the person up and down, but he didn't recognize her.

She blinked, then shook her head. "Ugh, forget it." She turned to run off again.

"Wait!" Luke cried, grabbing her wrist.

She froze.

Luke got the distinct impression that he'd done something wrong. Carefully, he let go of her wrist.

She turned back towards him slowly, a haunted expression on her face. "What?"

Luke held his hands up away from her. "Sorry. Sorry. I just... why are you guys running towards that thing over there? Is that where Eugene is? I'm trying to find him, 'cause he can probably help me figure out what's going on, and I'm kind of confused--"

The girl pointed a pair of scissors at Luke which he hadn't noticed her holding. "You better not go towards that thing, got it? I'm on my way to bring back Sean and whoever else you saw going toward it. So help me, do not ask me any more questions right now or I will cut something!"

"A-ah! Okay, I'll-- um, wait here, I guess, or..."

The round ghost man came running back towards the two of them. "Eugene's not there!" He yelled.

The scissor girl whirled on him. "What do you mean he's not there?!"

"I didn't see him! Run! Or else--"

A shadow covered the three of them, and time froze. Luke looked up, and found himself standing in the line of sight of the towering black figure he'd been running to avoid. It had caught up with them.

"chARLIE."

...

She couldn't move.

The grandfather clock was ticking, so slowly, next to her father's desk. His long fingers drummed on its polished wood. She couldn't meet his eyes.

"Charlie," he said. "Tell me what happened."

He knew what had happened. The teacher had already told him when she called. Charlie wanted to purse her lips and say nothing.

"Charlie." There was a sharper edge to his voice.

It snipped through Charlie's composure. She bent down, shaking. "I-I'm sorry, I-I didn't m-mean... I... I didn't..." her voice was so small.

"Stop groveling," he snapped, standing. "Tell me. What. Happened."

Charlie fell to her knees. Her uniform was dirty. She remembered a lot of things that had happened. She'd kicked a locker. She'd ripped up that girl's notebook. She'd punched a teacher.

She'd cut a slash across Mike's face. Blood everywhere.

She hated herself for all of it. She hated her father for making her hate herself.

Hot tears were coming down her face. Charlie gritted her teeth, and exhaled a hiss of air she wanted to be a scream.

"What did you do, Charlie?"

Her scissors were in her hands. There was blood all over the floor.

Charlie's voice was a tiny gasp, barely there at all.

"I killed you."

Drip.

Black, black blood slid off of the scissors' handle, from her father's chest, where it was impaled.

"Why did you do that, Charlie?" he asked, voice deceptively cool.

Charlie was panting, gasping for breath. "I--" I don't know. "I--" I didn't mean to. "I-I... I..." I... was... angry.

"Of course you were," Charlie's father sighed. "And it's always other people who have to deal with the fallout. It's always me. You're still a disgrace. You keep managing to top yourself."

He stepped around his desk towards Charlie. She gave a cry as he grabbed her hair and yanked her up to eye level. "Now you're not just a failure and a brat. You're a murderer too. Was it fun? Did it feel good to finally do everything you've ever wanted?"

Charlie was sobbing too hard to answer. She reached up to grab the hair that was being pulled, but her father shook it until she let go, crying harder.

"Well? Was it?"

"No," Charlie gasped out. "N-no, it w-wasn't."

Charlie's father finally let go of her hair. Instead he grabbed her head in both hands, and turned her face up to his, and she had to look in his eyes. Those sharp scribbles of eyes that cut just by looking. "Then what do you do now?"

Charlie didn't want those eyes to swallow her. There was a right answer to give. One answer her father wanted. An apology would be the wrong answer, one she'd already given, and it had not been enough. He didn't want a promise that she would do better. He wouldn't believe her, and neither would she.

There was no right answer.

Her scissors had slipped from her hand at some point. Where were they? She wanted them, for some reason. Maybe she would stab her father again. Maybe two wrongs would make a nothing. Maybe she could forget everything again, run to the other side of the earth and pretend none of this was real.

But her scissors were gone. She was weak without them. Powerless.

"Well?"

Charlie opened her mouth breathless, maybe with a plea for mercy on her tongue, but suddenly a slash lanced down through the dream, and she was awake again, back on the sidewalk. She blinked, looking around herself.

Luke had her scissors in his hand, and they were stabbed into the reaching arm of the monster that Charlie's father was. The fingers that were holding her pinned against the ground. A drop of black blood slid down her father's arm and dripped onto the one white spot left over her heart, staining it black.

Then the arm ripped back away from Charlie, and the monster screamed. Someone grabbed Charlie and started dragging her back towards the flower shop until other arms scooped her up and carried her there. They burst through the door to the shop, startling Tatum, and slammed it shut behind them. Sean clicked the lock shut.

Sean set Charlie onto her feet, looking dazed. Luke was panting. "Can someone... explain... what just happened?" Luke gasped wildly.

Outside the flower shop, the legs of the ghost of Charlie's father came into view. He crouched down, holding the sides of the shop and blocking out the sun through the windows. He peered in through the front door straight at Charlie.

Sean gulped. "That's probably not good."

#Underworld Office #Charlie in Underworld #my fanfics #Out of Office #Charlie UWO #Eugene UWO #Luke UWO #Sean UWO #Mike UWO #Charlie's father UWO #tw violence

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