MIA (Team Chaotix fanfiction)

Part 3

"You look tired Espio, did you sleep last night?" Charmy was sitting on the couch and eating a bowl of cereal when Espio came in and sat down beside him.
"Barely." Espio muttered under his breath. Espio had been woken up countless times during the early hours because of reoccurring nightmares about Vector, and what could've possibly happened to him. Eventually, he just gave up on trying to sleep.
"Did you have any bad dreams?"
Espio nodded quietly, getting annoyed at the amount of questions being thrown at him.
"What was it about?"
"I don't remember." Espio said, lying through his teeth. He didn't like being dishonest, but the last thing he needed was for Charmy to find out and get worked up as well.

There was silence for a short while, the only noise that could be heard was the sound of Charmy's spoon clinking off the bowl. It just felt so lifeless without Vector around. Despite Espio being tired, his mind seemed to be wide awake, being overcome by his own paranoia and guilt. Vector could be in danger, and he wasn't doing anything.
"Espio?" Charmy waved his hand in front of Espio's face, no response, he had completely spaced out, like he had fallen asleep with his eyes open. So Charmy did what usually woke Espio up and grabbed Espio by the horn. This did cause Espio to shake himself back to his senses and notice what was happening.
"Charmy. Stop doing that."
"Sorry." Charmy said, letting go of him, "that's the only way I can make you wake up."

~~~~~~~~~~~

It was starting to rain heavily outside.
"Espio," Charmy said, poking his shoulder to get his attention, "can we watch the tv?"
"I don't really care," Espio said, handing Charmy the remote.
Charmy flicked through the channels eagerly, though at lot of them were showing what he considered to be "boring", until he came across one channel with an old horror movie playing, he glanced at Espio for his permission.
"Are you sure about that, Charmy?" Espio asked, "would that not be too scary?"
"I can handle it." Charmy replied.
"Alright then, don't let me rain on your parade."
Charmy nodded, put down the remote and sat back down.

Espio wasn't paying attention for the most of the film, but bits that he did see, he found amusing. The effects were cheesy, the acting was over the top and it really was a product of it's time. However, Charmy didn't feel the same way. Being so young, he didn't really understand that there was a line between real and fictional. By the time the movie was over, Charmy was almost frozen in terror.
"Are you alright?"
Charmy stiffly nodded.
"You said you could handle it."
"What if he comes for me?" Charmy squealed, wrapping his arms around Espio and hiding his face in the chameleon's chest. Charmy didn't seem to understand the concept of personal space either.

Espio sighed and placed his hand on the trembling bee's head.
"Charmy. It's just a movie, it's not actually real."
"b-b-but it said that it was based on a true story." Charmy stammered, still shaken.
"That's just a lie made up by the producers so more people would be scared by it."
Charmy wasn't thoroughly convinced, but he wasn't going to doubt him.
"Now, can you please get off of me?"
Charmy obliged, and grabbed the remote. He spent the rest of his time watching the kid's channels, most likely to try to wash the memory of the movie from his mind. Even though Espio was usually annoyed by these obnoxious shows, he restricted himself from complaining, he'd take anything as a distraction from his own thoughts.

That was, until Charmy decided to open his mouth again.
"I kinda miss Vector," Charmy said, "what about you?"
"It is a little strange without him here."
"You have been acting strange ever since he left." Charmy added.
This confused Espio. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Charmy shrugged. "You never really hang out with me, but ever since Vector left, you've been hanging around with me nearly all the time."
"Well, I'm sorry if that's strange to you, I'll try not to do it again." Espio spat.
"Wait no!" Charmy exclaimed, "that's not what I meant at all!"
"Seems like it to me." Espio muttered, crossing his arms.

Charmy sighed. It was like talking to a brick wall, if that brick wall never shut up about the fact that they're a ninja.
After a few moments of silence, Espio finally answered Charmy's question.
"I do miss Vector."
The two didn't say anything else to each other for a long time after that. Charmy had kept watching the tv while Espio couldn't stop thinking about Vector, almost hating the bee for bringing it up. It was getting unbelievably annoying how he couldn't even hear or mention the crocodile's name without worrying about him. It seemed illogical, Espio still didn't doubt Vector's ability to take care of himself, so why was he worrying about him like this? There could be so many reasons as to why Vector wasn't here, why is the only one Espio can think about the worst possible outcome?

"Vector is never coming back" seemed to ring in Espio's mind constantly, and he didn't know how much more of it he could take.