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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 · 11 months

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Out of Office, chapter 1

I’ve decided to start an Underworld Office longfic despite knowing the fandom is small and that I have never written a longfic before. Been working at it for some time now and have only now gotten it together enough to post it. Hope you enjoy! (Also if you do read it, say hi! There aren’t many of us Underworld Office fans.)

This chapter is mostly buildup, with Eugene struggling with his whole morality crisis while Charlie is generally angsty and Luke, Joy, and Oliver worry about Eugene. Set a couple days after the Charlie in Underworld “Charlie and Eugene” ending. Also on Ao3.

Station 00 is approaching. Please stand clear of the doorways.

The subway pulled to a stop at the station, doors sliding open. Eugene was the only one who got off there.

The place that used to be the station of the underworld office was silent, deserted. Bright yellow caution tape was strung across the entrance to the stairway and back and forth in front of piles of rubble. Eugene ducked under the tape and quietly stepped into the underworld office (or the information center, as it'd be known to the living).

Cracks splayed across the windows, but otherwise, the place was exactly like Eugene remembered it being for years. Except empty. Completely, horribly empty. Devoid of any form of life or death. It was still hard to comprehend what had happened just a few days ago.

Eugene walked over to the lost and found cabinet, his footsteps echoing loudly in the silence. He put a hand on the door, but didn't find the strength to open it. He already knew what was inside. Hayden's hat, unneeded by him once he decided to leave the office for good and stay with his family. Joan's cane, with her and the ghost she'd killed trapped inside for an indefinite amount of time. Boss's charm, which held many evil spirits inside, which he'd left behind after realizing he didn't need to guard the spirit door anymore and leaving. And then the braided lock of River's hair, left behind when she passed into the world beyond. Gone forever.

Eugene slid down the cabinet's door, sitting down at its foot and leaning against it. He felt so tired. He had no idea how he was going to take care of things all on his own now. Why did they all leave? Why did River feel so content passing on? Why did Boss put such an effort into keeping them all there only to leave as soon as he decided he could ditch his responsibility?

Eugene's eyes started to sting. What made Joan think that man she'd killed years ago needed her more than everyone who was still here, still alive? Why did she leave Eugene all alone? And what about Hayden? Was working with Eugene in the underworld office really so hard that he never wanted to see him again?

Eugene coughed to try to clear his throat and wiped at his eyes. The tears just kept coming though, and he couldn't stop the thoughts either. Was being with him really just a part of River's prison? Was she happier in the world beyond now that she didn't have to worry about protecting him all the time?

"Ugh." Eugene held his head in his hands and tried to will himself to calm down. Mostly by repeating a mantra of calm down, calm down in his head, which possibly helped a little bit, but probably didn't, since he was still choked up and feeling thick in the head. "Come on..." he whimpered, begging his brain to get ahold of itself. It had always been nice to have River or Joan to talk him through things when he got like this before. Maybe that was harder for River than he'd ever realized. Maybe that was what she was glad to get away from. He'd thought he was finally doing something meaningful, but turned out he was still just as much of a burden as he'd ever been.

There was a crash of glass shattering on the floor. Eugene's head flew up. A man with a large scar across his face was standing outside the door, looking in surprise at a piece of glass which had broken off of the cracked door and shattered on the floor.

"Oops," he said. "Haha, not a very solid door, huh?" The man winced. "I'm sorry. Will that cost me?"

Eugene stared at him for a minute, trying to get his thoughts together.

"...You alright?" The man tentatively opened the door, wincing as another piece of glass fell loose. "I'll pay for it."

"Augh, no. Sorry. It was already broken," Eugene wiped at his eyes, hoping he didn't look too horrible.

"Oh, thanks." The man slid the shards of glass against the wall with his shoe. He cleared his throat. "Should I come back later? I understand if this is a bad time."

"No, it's alright. I'm here anyway. What do you need?" Eugene jumped at the chance to be pulled out of his thoughts.

"Okay, so... is it true that this place has a history of the um..." He looked around, then whispered "...paranormal?"

Eugene leaned back. "Yes." He'd tried to keep things on the down-low, but he never wanted to lie to people.

The man looked down, uncomfortable. "There's actually someone I've been wanting to talk to, um, someone dead. If that's possible. Her name is Charlie."

Eugene sucked in a breath, his eyebrows flying up. "Died at about 17? About yea tall?" He put up a hand.

"Yeah!" The man perked up. "You know her?"

Eugene ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Well, yes, but... I'm afraid your timing isn't great. I don't know where she is right now."

The man wilted. "Ugh. Guess I should've known it wouldn't be so easy."

"I can't promise anything, but if I see her again, I could ask her about you. What's your name? And how do you know Charlie?" Somehow it hadn't occurred to Eugene that people from Charlie's life could still be alive.

"I'm Mike. I knew her during high school... something happened and..." Mike looked away. "I don't know. I want to talk to her about it if I can."

Eugene raised an eyebrow. Charlie still hadn't told him much about what she'd remembered from her past, so he mused about what Mike could be talking about. "Okay, Mike. If I see her again, I'll mention you."

Mike chuckled nervously. "Thanks." He turned to go, cringing again at the sight of the door.

"Wait, Mike, one more thing," Eugene stopped him. "How did you hear that you could get help with the paranormal at this station? I thought that was pretty private knowledge." Among the living, that is.

Mike glanced back, then looked away. "It... might sound weird. But I had a dream about it."

"A dream..." Eugene gazed into space thoughtfully.

"Well, anyway, thanks for your help." Mike paused as it looked like he realized something. He dug a business card out of his pocket. "Here's my number. Call me if you find out anything."

"Oh, right." Eugene took the card. "I'll tell you what I find out."

Mike flashed a smile and a thumbs-up, then he gingerly opened the door and stepped outside.

Eugene took a deep breath. "...A dream, huh?" Who would give him a dream about the underworld office?

...

Charlie sat in the graveyard, leaning against someone's headstone. It wasn't hers. She'd searched around to see if hers happened to be there, but really she didn't think she'd died in this town anyway, so she wasn't surprised to not find it.

Charlie groaned at the sky. It wasn't raining, but the layer of gray clouds made everything look gloomy, like she felt. Why was it that she just appeared and then managed to drive away every ghost who showed any interest in helping her within a few days? Of course it could be argued that none of that was technically her fault, but c'mon, who is she kidding? Her showing up was the only thing that changed before suddenly the whole underworld office fell apart.

She opened and closed her scissors with the satisfying sounds of metal against metal. Eugene was probably all depressed now because of her. He was probably mad at her too. Ugh, who wouldn't be? Classic Charlie, messing everything up just by existing.

She snipped off the head of a nearby dandelion. She'd thought about it, and it didn't seem like there was much she could do at this point but leave Eugene alone. I mean, maybe she could go and... what, apologize? She'd never been very good at that, as evidenced by the way she'd soundly ruined her life. Whether or not her father had been right in the way he treated her, the title of a bad daughter was definitely one Charlie deserved.

Charlie gave an overdramatic sigh, then felt annoyed that no one was there to hear it. Being ignored was the worst. Maybe she should just go confront Eugene even though he was probably mad at her. Anything was better than just being alone, wasn't it?

After jumping around for a minute in a failed attempt to learn how to fly, Charlie grumbled and then stalked off towards the subway station.

Charlie wasn't sure exactly what her plan was as she slipped between the living people at the train station and boarded. She only really put in the effort to realize that it was stupid to expect Eugene to be at station 00 right now after she had already stowed away on the train. Maybe he was at home. Or maybe he was actually injured from the explosion and was at the hospital. Or maybe he was off knitting with his gramma, she didn't know!

Charlie stashed her scissors between two seat cushions then took advantage of the fact that none of the mortals could see her to splay herself melodramatically across the subway floor and moan. It did help her feel a little better. Maybe overdramatic expressions of weirdome were healthy or something. Therapists would be interested to know.

Charlie pulled herself up and jumped around trying to fly again until the train pulled to a stop and she fell over. Station 00, please stand clear of the doors.

Charlie grabbed her scissors and walked right up to the door. It opened, and she casually-- jumped to the side in a frantic motion because Mike himself walked straight through the door.

"Nope," Charlie said to herself, then dashed out the door and away from Mike.

She wandered over to the wrecked-looking underworld office room and was surprised to find Eugene there, sitting against the wall before a poorly-cleaned-up spray of glass shards. He looked like he'd just had a whole crying angst-fest. Weirdo weak baby. Or, um. Ahem. She should probably try to be more empathetic.

Anyway, he was also sitting there all humanly, so that was a little frustrating.

Charlie walked through the door to stand in front of Eugene and started swinging her scissors around in his face. He startled and scrambled up away from them. "Ack! Charlie? Be more careful with those!"

Charlie rolled her eyes, though ended up paling as she remembered the horrible accident with Mike. She definitely did need to be more careful with her scissors, actually.

"I thought you'd left..." Eugene said absently, looking at Charlie's scissors. "You have your scissors. You don't need to stay."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Leave your body, idiot, then we can talk."

"Sorry," Eugene said, almost like he'd heard her. "I'll head home now, then I can leave my body and talk to you."

Charlie cocked an eyebrow. "Great timing. The subway literally just left."

Eugene stepped carefully over the glass and found a seat on a bench in front of where the subway would stop. He checked that Charlie's scissors were still following him as she sat down on the bench beside him.

She rested her chin on her hand. "You're gonna have to teach me to fly at some point. Man, would've been cool to learn from River though. She was fast."

Eugene didn't answer, obviously. If he was mad at her, why wasn't he saying anything? Was this something Eugene did that she didn't know about yet? Give people the silent treatment when he was upset? He'd talked to Boss...

At length, the subway came. Charlie sighed, then stuck her scissors in Eugene's shirt pocket. He jumped, looking down at them in surprise. He looked around himself in confusion, then got on the train with Charlie following unseeable behind.

Eugene sat like a normal person as the subway chugged along. After a minute a middle school girl walked up to him and they chatted for a while while Charlie hung off of the bars making bored sounds.

At long last the group reached Eugene's stop and Charlie bounced anxious circles around Eugene while he walked to his apartment. At the glorious moment of truth, he lay down on his bed and put the guardian flower in his mouth.

Eugene woke up to Charlie bemoaning the pain of waiting. "uuUUUUUUUHH-- oh finally!" She stood up straight from the position she'd held splayed across Eugene's desk chair. "That took forever."

"Heh, sorry..." Eugene handed Charlie back her scissors. "Why did you let me hold your scissors?"

"Wha? Oh, I just didn't want to freak out the train people by floating scissors around." She rolled her eyes.

"You really trust me with...? Oh, nevermind." Eugene looked Charlie up and down, taking in her dark body again. "Why did you come back? I thought you were anxious to leave as soon as you got your scissors."

Charlie shrugged. "Being alone is boring." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you mad at me?"

Eugene stared. "For what?"

"Uh, duh? For ruining your life??" Charlie waved her hands helplessly.

Eugene frowned. "I missed the part where you 'ruined my life'."

"Ugh, well, fine, whatever," Charlie batted the topic away. "Glad you're not mad at me, I guess."

Eugene took a seat on the side of his bed beside his body (beside himself, hehe-). "Yeah. None of what happened was really something you can be blamed for. Anyway, since you're here, there's something I want to talk to you about. Someone came by the office today--"

"Uh oh," Charlie mumbled. Don't be Mike, don't be Mike...

"He said his name was Mike."

Charlie threw her scissors onto the carpet.

"Woah, are you okay?" Eugene put his hands up defensively, or maybe to try to calm her down.

"Yes! No! Ugh-- I dunno!" Charlie gripped her hair. "AUGH! I know I should talk to him, but I don't want to!"

"Why not? What happened between you two?" Eugene stood up, stepping towards her cautiously.

"You wouldn't get it!" Charlie said. She started pacing. "Ugh, can we just not talk about it?

"Well... okay," Eugene said. "Why did you come to me then?"

"Can we just do something normal? Like do a patrol or something? I'm so bored." Charlie collapsed into Eugene's chair.

Eugene cringed. "No, sorry. I'm actually going to meet my friends pretty soon, so I can't."

"Ugh," Charlie flopped backwards dramatically. "Being a ghost is boring."

Eugene shrugged. "You could go on a patrol yourself. Or make some friends."

Charlie raised an eyebrow. "And how'd making ghost friends work for you?"

Eugene flinched, and she regretted what she'd said pretty quickly. He stared at her for a second, then said quietly, "Maybe it'll be good for me to spend some time away from you."

"Okay, whatever," Charlie said, looking away. "Have fun with your human friends."

Eugene ignored her rather pointedly as he lay down in his body and woke up. He stood and left the room, leaving Charlie alone.

...

Luke glanced over at Eugene in concern. Joy and Oliver were chatting happily, but Eugene had been pretty quiet this whole time. Where everyone else's sodas had almost been all consumed, Eugene's was nearly full. Luke tried to catch his eye, but Eugene seemed lost in his head.

Luke elbowed him. "You alright, Eugene?"

Eugene jumped, then sighed. "I don't know. A lot has happened recently."

Joy leaned over. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Eugene looked torn. "I don't know. I... no. It's fine." He didn't look like he believed that.

Luke felt frustrated. Why wouldn't Eugene talk about it? He knew better than to push though.

"It has to do with the station getting destroyed, doesn't it?" Oliver asked. "Did something big happen with your work?"

Luke pushed Oliver. "Hey, he doesn't have to talk if he doesn't want to."

Eugene hesitated, then muttered, "Something about that." His eyes dropped down to his soda cup.

"Really?" Oliver snorted. "You have some crazy business happening with your Eugene-ish stuff. I wish I knew more."

Luke glared at him. Did he understand the concept of subtlety? Oliver caught his evil eye and only looked confused.

Eugene shook his head. "No, you don't." He drooped. "It's probably better that way. Maybe it would've been better for me too."

Luke glanced at Oliver and Joy, seeing they shared his concern. "Haven't you been working there for years? I thought you liked it."

Eugene curled in on himself, and Joy took the tipping cup from his hand before it could spill. "I liked the people there," he said wetly.

"The people?" Luke sat up straight in alarm. "Like Hayden? Did something happen to him?"

"Guys, I don't..." Eugene curled down, back, and Luke suddenly noticed that Eugene was surrounded. Luke slipped away off of the bench, and it was like a gate had been flung open. Eugene sprung to his feet. "I should go. I think I need some time to think."

"You sure? I mean, we don't have to talk about things that make you uncomfortable. We could just hang out, couldn't we?" Joy said worriedly.

"No, I'm..." Eugene backed away again. "N-not now. Sorry." He turned stiffly and hurried off.

The three watched him walk off. "Should one of us go after him?" Oliver asked tentatively.

"No," Luke said, with more harshness than he'd intended. He winced, then looked back at Joy and Oliver sadly. "Come on, guys. I thought you knew not to pressure him like that."

Oliver's eyes widened, and Joy hung her head abashedly. "Luke, we're..." Joy took a level breath, then met Luke's gaze again. "We're just worried. There's something going on in Eugene's life, and we want to help."

"He'll tell us when he's ready!" Luke reprimanded. "You can't push him!"

Joy's gaze softened for a second. Then it hardened again. "Like he's told us about what goes on at his job?"

Luke opened his mouth to counter, then shut it again. He had nothing to say to that.

"Just yesterday, he was caught in an explosion," Joy stated. "And we don't know why. Except that it had something to do with his job."

"It's not our place..." Luke trailed off as he remembered what Eugene had told him years ago. That his job was dangerous, that it might even kill him.

"As his friends, isn't it our responsibility to do what we can to make sure he's safe?"

Luke looked down.

Oliver tilted his head. "What do you mean? What are you suggesting?"

Joy looked the way Eugene had left and folded her arms. "I'm not sure yet. But we have to do something. If Eugene won't tell us what's going on, we'll have to find out ourselves."

"Spying?!" Oliver exclaimed, looking a little too excited.

"What? No!" Luke burst in. "What's wrong with you? We can't spy on our friend!"

Joy slapped a hand over Oliver's mouth. "That's not what I said, okay? We don't have to spy. We probably have enough information already that we could figure out a lot of things just by sharing info."

Luke frowned. "I don't like it."

"We don't have much of a choice," Joy said. She looked down. "It does feel weird. I know. And it's not ideal. But imagine if Eugene had been hurt in that explosion. We've waited too long already."

"I get it," Oliver said. "He won't like it, but it might be what's best for him anyway."

Joy and Oliver looked to Luke.

Luke avoided their gazes, trying to think. This didn't feel right. He treasured the trust Eugene had for him, and he didn't want to lose it. But what if being too much of a pushover made him lose him? Joy was right. Something about Eugene's work was dangerous, and for all they knew, it might get worse.

"Okay," Luke said, not looking at Joy as she perked up. "Fine."

"Thanks, Luke." Joy gave a relieved sigh. "I don't think we could do it without you. You know Eugene better than anyone."

Luke felt a stab of guilt. Was he really doing this?

Oliver checked his watch and cringed. "Actually, I've got to go right now. Can we do this another time?"

Joy sighed. "Alright, fine. Tomorrow at the latest."

...

Eugene lay down on his bed, guardian flower in his mouth. He wasn't so naive that he could really believe it, but he could almost imagine himself waking up as a ghost to be greeted by River or Joan, Hayden or Boss. That wasn't realistic though. They'd all moved on, one way or another.

Hopefully Charlie was gone by now. He didn't want to try to talk to her at the moment.

Eugene closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he was still alone.

Eugene habitually started flying towards station 00. After a minute or so, he stopped, realizing that he didn't have reason to go there anymore. There would be no one waiting for him.

"It's weird having no one to talk to," Eugene muttered to himself. Would talking to himself be weird? Hadn't he done it all the time when he was young? There was no one around to hear it anyways.

Eugene squeezed his arms. No, talking to himself didn't feel right. He didn't want to remember those days. This was too quiet.

Eugene flew off towards Sean's flower shop. Hopefully he'd be able to find the friendly ghost there (at least Sean hadn't left him). Alone, the ghost world seemed much gloomier than it usually felt. So quiet, so grey. Though maybe the quiet was a good thing? It meant no monsters were wreaking havoc, probably.

Distractedly, Eugene tried to slip through the wall of the flower shop, ending up konking into it. He bounced back, surprised, til he remembered that the lock of River's hair was still around the door, preventing ghosts from phasing into this building. He chuckled, then felt a stab of loneliness at how there was no one to laugh with him.

Eugene went around to the front door and tugged on the handle. Locked. Made sense. It was nighttime, after all.

So did this mean he should just give up? No talking to Sean for tonight? Maybe. It wasn't a big deal, it shouldn't be. Eugene used to be able to deal with being alone just fine. Mostly.

Eugene found himself staring at the coil of River's hair around the hinges of the doors. It had remained when she'd passed on. He absently wondered if ghosts always left behind their artifacts when they passed, if there were a bunch of them lying around the world, but he didn't really care about the answer.

"Eugene?"

Eugene jumped. Sean was on the other side of the door.

Eugene sagged. "Sean, hey. It's good to see you."

Sean clicked open the lock and pushed the door open softly so Eugene could come in. He turned back to Eugene, a look of concern on his face. "Are you okay?"

"Ye-" Eugene hesitated. He sighed. "Not really. But I dunno if... I dunno. I just don't want to be alone, I guess. Could you come with me on patrol tonight?"

"Oh, wow. I'm not sure how much help I'd be, but yeah, I could. But what about Charlie?"

"Not Charlie." Eugene shook his head. "She's not the person I want to be around right now."

"Oh, uh, okay," Sean worried his lips.

Eugene shook his head, then straightened. "We've got to get going. We'll have a lot of ground to cover tonight if it's just us."

"We're going to be careful, right?"

Eugene stared at the floor.

"Eugene?" Sean tapped his shoulder.

Eugene curled up. "Sean, how do you know what's right or wrong? How do you know what to do? If we decide what's good or bad ourselves, what does anything matter? How can we really be good? What's the point?" Eugene started pacing. "It's so unfair. Why do we feel the pain of our sins only if we're aware we did wrong? Why?"

"Uhh, hey." Sean laid a hand on Eugene's shoulder, stopping him. "Let's sit down and talk. Patrol can wait."

Soon enough the two of them were seated on a pair of stools behind the counter. Eugene tried to tap anxiously on the wood and was disappointed that it made no sound.

"So I don't actually know if this is true, I'm just thinking, but here's how I reason it," Sean said nervously. "Um, it might sound a little dumb. And maybe over-optimistic. But I don't think what kind of spirit you have here is the final judgement. I mean, we know this is an in-between space."

"What do you mean?" Eugene asked tiredly.

"Um, I don't think how dark a spirit is actually represents how bad they are. Or- we know that, I mean..." Sean froze for a minute, and Eugene waited for him to collect his thoughts. "I think it's how much the spirit wants to change."

Eugene sat up straighter. "What makes you think that?"

Sean looked down at his hands and twiddled his thumbs. "Like I said, I don't know really. I don't have evidence for this. But I feel like it'd be nice if we only passed on when we felt ready. 'Cause maybe the real judgement is beyond, and we'll get whatever reward we're ready for. If that makes sense."

Eugene looked out the window, at the moonlight streaming in. "...I guess that's a nicer way to think about it." He couldn't bring himself to really believe it though. Seemed too easy, like an excuse. The world had never been as nice as he'd come to believe.

Sean hunched his shoulders uncomfortably. "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you guys earlier. About how dark a spirit is not matching how bad they actually are. I guess I just thought, um, from my perspective it kind of seemed like my way was a more complicated version of Boss' explanation. I didn't think it mattered, so I didn't want to stress you guys about it." He hung his head. "I guess this is all... kind of my fault."

Eugene sighed. "It's Boss' fault, Sean." Eugene rested his chin on his hand. "Or maybe it's my fault. You figured it out all on your own. I should've figured it out too. Maybe a lot of this could've been avoided if I'd just..."

"What? That's not any more fair than saying it's my fault." Sean frowned. "Anyone could have figured that out....I don't think it makes sense to blame you."

Eugene looked up at him for a minute, then looked down. "What does all this mean about the..." he made air quotes. "'evil' spirits we've been fighting this whole time? If they're innocent..."

Sean waved his hands. "Wait, that's not what I said. I mean, uh, I don't know. They could be innocent? Ish? But I don't know. We're not sure. Maybe."

Eugene dropped his head into his hands. "Hayden was about to turn into a monster just because he thought it was wrong to feel lonely and jealous. And he only thought that because..." Eugene felt sick to his stomach (even though it was ghostly and empty), "...I've told him that. I repeated to him what Boss said about how he needed to stay away from his family."

Sean's hands hovered over Eugene's back doubtfully, then drew back. "It turned out okay though, didn't it? He's okay now."

"...A-and why-- why is Joan... have the 'good' spirits I've helped really been good either? Joan knew the whole time that she'd killed that man!" Eugene gritted his teeth. "And she still got to be light because she somehow convinced herself that it was okay!"

"...Eugene..." Sean hesitated, glancing up and down Eugene's body, checking to make sure he wasn't getting darker.

"I don't know! I don't know anything! I don't know what it all means! AUGH!" Eugene gripped his hair. "What have I done?"

Sean twiddled his thumbs. "Maybe let's not go on patrol tonight. Sounds like you have some stuff to sort out."

Eugene laughed wryly. "You think? Sean... how many spirits who were just hurting have I helped seal in Boss'... fan..." Eugene looked up, eyes wide.

"What?" Sean looked at him worriedly.

Boss' fan. Eugene had Boss' fan. Boss had given it to him before he left. It was in the lost and found cupboard at the office.

"Eugene, are you okay?" Sean tapped him on the shoulder.

Eugene jumped to his feet. "Sorry, I just remembered something I have to do. Bye, Sean. Thanks for the talk. You're the best."

"But I didn't do anything," Sean said, watching Eugene hurry to the door.

Eugene waved goodbye, tugged the door open, and flew quickly off towards the underworld office.

...

Chapter 2

#Underworld Office #Charlie in Underworld #my fanfics #Eugene UWO #Charlie UWO #Luke UWO #Joy UWO #Oliver UWO #Sean UWO #Mike UWO #ma boy Mike doesn't have tags here or on Ao3 #Out of Office

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