Wonderland

Chapter 7

Ever since the operation, Remy had spent every free moment at Emile's side, holding his hand, begging, pleading for him to come back. Emile was the reason for his life, and without him, he felt so lost, so alone and so so broken. He had to come back, he just had to. He needed him to come back.

As if the thoughts had been a request spoken out loud, Remy felt Emile's grip tighten around his hand. Remy gasped.

"Emi? Come on, wake up. Emile look at me."

—//—

When Emile had returned the next morning with a very injured but still very alive Remus, Janus had been the first to act, taking Remus to his room muttering something about healing him. Then Roman, Virgil and Patton had practically swarmed Emile with questions until Logan inserted himself, reminding them all to relax, that Remus would be okay, and that they could ask him then, explaining Emile was new to corruption and probably had very little idea what had occurred. Emile was rather grateful for that, really, because he was exhausted and still shaky. He had rather quickly gone to bed after that, passing out quickly from exhaustion.

When he woke up the next day, it was as if nothing had happened. Patton made breakfast. Roman invited him on an adventure, which he politely declined. Logan was reading a book much of the morning, and Virgil slept in until Patton went to wake him. The only real difference was the bandages over Remus' wounds, and the strange protectiveness Janus seemed to have over him. Janus had briefly assured that Emile was not injured by the corruption before returning to Remus' side.

Emile had attempted to have a conversation about the night before, but they all assured him it was nothing to worry for, and that everything would be okay. He wasn't sure he believed them. It was the same way Remy had always tried to protect him by telling him they'd be okay. They'd be okay if they didn't their parents. They'd be okay if Remy got fired. They'd be okay if they couldn't make the bills that month. They'd be okay if Emile got in trouble for fighting back. They'd be okay was the biggest lie he'd ever been told. And this was exactly like that. But they refused to talk, so Emile tried his best to move on, to believe that they had it handled.

"Oh, Logan!" Emile called as Logan walked away from the kitchen, the two of them being the last to finish. The knowledgeable spirit-guide turned around to look at Emile.

"Yes, Emile, can I assist you?" he asked. Emile smiled bashfully and nodded.

"Yeah- well, maybe? You see, I was wanting to know more about this world, you see. Patton told me the other day that you know the most, so I was wondering if you could tell me anything about it?" Emile requested. He reasoned the more he knew, the more inclined they would be to let him in on whatever was going on. Logan, for the first time Emile had ever seen, lit up with the same joy Patton had when Emile had called him dad for the first time.

"I-I'd be quite content to do so, Emile." Logan smiled. "Follow me, the library is this way."

"Wait, there is a library here?" Emile questioned, jogging for a second to catch up with Logan's fast pace before falling in step with him.

"Indeed. It's upstairs," Logan explained, "it's likely that is why you have never been to the room before. I'm the only one who accesses it, besides Janus on occasion when he wishes to research or review information applicable to his work." Emile nodded and followed Logan up to the library.

The library was much bigger than Emile had expected. The dark shelves stretched floor to ceiling on each of the four walls, excluding the area nearest to the doorway, of course. Each shelf was filled with as many books as fit on the shelf. The far side of the room also had a stone fireplace. The flooring directly around it was stone as well, though the majority of the room was laminate wood covered by a cool-toned carpet, on which were two matching arm chairs with a small table between them. On the table was a small pile of books.