Chapter Text
Click.
The static fades to a soft crackle over the music flowing from a radio that hadn't been there just before. Russ and the orchestra again, it never hurts to reuse some classics. That's exactly the thought that comes with this book, too. Where it's headed, where it ends up, who it ends up. It was never who this was all about, but it always manages to kick up something within somebody.
And there's a lot to kick up in this guy.
The intrigue is what drew him to watch it happen, to see, to guide. He's out of a job now that Lester and Doe have snuggled into their office, back in Arkham. So here he is. Starting to work this charity case.
A sigh escapes him as he steps out and into his own office, picking up his cigar and listening. He hopes they'll be enough.
As he wakes, he can just barely hear the sound of a choir through the darkness. It is faint, and so easily drowned out by the radio playing somewhere above his head. An orchestra, dipping down and up and down before the vocalist slips through its melodies.
♪We lived and loved, our day is through♪
It’s dark.
The most glaringly obvious thing to notice as he opens his eyes.
♪But each night in dreams, it’s started anew♪
It is dark, he does not know where he is, and he has the heaviest brain-fog of his life.
He tries to think of what happened, any recent memory, coming up completely empty.
Nothing.
♪She comes to me, as she used to do- ♪
He decides he can’t have just forgotten everything, so he tries to recall his name. Its daft, he thinks, surely he knows his own name. But he still does. Just for his own comfort.
Nothing.
♪My love♪
He feels his own heart quicken, and his breaths turn shallow as he sorts through muddled thoughts. The back of his head throbs, and he can't see. He must've injured himself somehow, must've had some accident. But he doesn't think anyone's ever gone blind and lost their mind from a trip and fall. Not that he'd remember.
♪And then she holds my hand♪
“Is-” His throat is tight and dry. He swallows, “Is anyone there?”
I’m here, friend.
The voice nearly makes him jump out of his own skin, instead, he settles on a gasp. Whatever spoke, the sound of its words are deep and reverberating and it felt as though they were rattling inside his own skull. Maybe they were.
“Who are you?” He finally manages to ask, fear exposed with his rising pitch.
Who am I? A friend, just as I said you are to me. The only friend you have right now.
♪And then I understand♪
“What’s ‘appened?” He barely slurs together, sitting up, feeling the room spin even with his lack of sight. The voice hums distastefully as he does so, as if feeling offset too. “I can’t- why can’t I see?”
I'm aware. But for starters, try finding your glasses.
♪Her eyes afire, with just one desire♪
“What do you mean you-? P-please, I can’t- You don’t understand, I can’t- I can’t see, it’s too dark here, I don’t know where here even is, or who, or-” Friend. “Why can’t I remember anything? Just- just answer that- Or-” Friend, listen- “Do you know where the light is?”
OSCAR!
♪Then a heavenly kiss♪
That yell made his head ache further and his heart beat too swiftly for his own comfort.
♪Could I resist?♪
Oscar?
The voice does not continue. Oscar must be him then, right?
“Wh-what… what?”
♪And then I dim the light♪
That's your name. Alright? You're in an office, one that likely belongs to you. Now, I need you to calm yourself. You need to focus. I know that you can't see. I don’t know why you don’t remember anything, and I do not fucking care what other questions you have. Do you understand?
“But-”
Just listen to me. Please.
♪And we kiss goodnight♪
I need you to feel on the ground for your glasses, I believe they fell somewhere to your right.
“O-okay, okay…”
It takes him a bit longer than needed to find them, trying to buy himself time to think, but It does him no good.
Alright… Much better. Thank you.
The thanking wasn’t something he quite expected, but something he tried to appreciate through his confusion. He can’t see, he doesn’t understand why it needed him to find his glasses.
♪She takes me to paradise♪
“Right, right… I still don’t know who you are? A-and-”
Don’t start again.
The exasperated response makes his ears burn as he tries to stand, even if his questions were valid for the situation, he still feels guilty for the mass of them as… whatever it was, tried to speak. He doesn’t even know what it is. He doesn’t even know if its human, and he’s feeling like he’s inconvenienced it already. Good God.
“I was… just going to ask how you- knew my name? Do we know each other?”
… Take a few steps forward. You’re right next to a desk, one I assume is your own.
♪Her eyes afire with one desire♪
Oscar huffs, he's just trying to know what's going on, make sense of it, anything, and it keeps shutting him down. He can't even do anything about it either, not when he's being pushed around amidst his own panic.
Stop- stop, stop, here… One more step forward, then one to the left. Yes, yes, good. Now crouch down, there’s something I need you to pick up. By your right foot, it fell off of your desk when you collapsed.
"What is it?"
A book.
"But- why do you need it-?"
It's a fucking book, what do you expect me to do with it?
"Th-that's not what I-" He sighs, giving in.
♪Then a heavenly kiss♪
Oscar kneels as requested, Wait- no, not- Oscar does not feel a book in front of him. He feels fabric, maybe a pant leg-
♪Could I resist?♪
A leg. Someone’s leg.
Oscar…
There's a man on the ground.
“Sir?” He tries, the air having already forced itself out of his lungs.
He feels dizzy again, as he reaches over to shake the mans back. Always dizzy. “Sir?”
Oscar, the book is-
♪She takes me♪
He misses, by a wide margin too, finding the man’s arm. Finding a cold hand that no longer radiates the same warmth as one gifted with life.
♪To paradise!♪