Home for the Holidays, Epilogue (Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Dying Informant; Help)
Title: Home for the Holidays; Epilogue
Author: Crystal Rose of Pollux (rose_of_pollux)
Claim: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (The Dying Informant)
Table: Do-it-Yourself
Prompt: Help
Rating: PG13
Summary: Sometimes all one needs are the words of a friend.
Warnings: seriousness in a light-hearted fandom
Will be cross-posted to my journal, 30_hugs, and the V.I.L.E. Headquarters fanfic forum.
The Informant had kept a vigil by the Messenger’s side until just before the older agent had awakened. But through it all, he had been following the advice of the book, locking away his emotions through the self-hypnosis techniques.
“This is the best way…” he had told himself. “You will never fall for Patty again, and that’s what started this mess.”
He didn’t want to leave ACME; the Voice’s visions had shown him how important he had been to the agency. But he had to do something to ensure that something like this didn’t happen again, and this was it. The self-hypnosis was the one last thing he had had to do. And he had done it.
He sat in an armchair by the fire in the ACME lounge, the flames reflecting in his empty eyes. Borealis pranced around him, but sensed that something was wrong with his personality. The husky retreated, whimpering.
“Infy!” the Messenger exclaimed, finding him. “There you are!”
The Informant glanced back at him, his face deadpan.
“I see you’ve awakened,” he said, his voice flat. “And seeing as though I haven’t been kicked out of ACME yet, I’m assuming that you didn’t tell the Chief about Patty. I am grateful.”
The Messenger’s face fell. By the sound of things, he was too late.
“Infy… what have you done to yourself!?” he asked, walking to the front of the armchair to look his friend in the eyes.
“I don’t know what you’re referring to,” the youth replied, his voice still cold and flat. “Since it was my affections for Patty Larceny that caused all of this trouble, I merely got rid of them.”
“Along with all the rest of your emotions!” the Messenger cried, seizing him by the shoulders. “I didn’t want this, Infy!”
“An unforeseen side effect,” the Informant replied. “But perhaps helpful… Agents are supposed to be cold and emotionally detached. We aren’t supposed to let emotions get in the way of our decisions. So meet the new me-far more efficient than before.”
“But what about the old you!? Where’s my friend!?” cried the Messenger. “Where’s my surrogate brother!?”
“He was flawed,” the Informant replied.
“He was human!” the Messenger shot back. “Look at yourself now! You… You’re just like RoboCrook!”
The Informant blinked at the mention of the android, recalling the vision that the Voice had shown him. But he still remained unmoved.
“You seem upset,” the Informant observed.
“Of course I’m upset!” the Messenger retorted. “Every time I think I’ve got my best friend back, I lose him again! You nearly drown, and then Patty turns you against us. You trek through a blizzard to find me, and then Patty nearly gets you to abandon me again. And when I finally wake up after freezing, I find that you’ve destroyed your human side! What did I do to deserve this, huh!? The Dying Informant has checked out-by his own choice! But I didn’t want him to leave! I never would’ve really gotten you kicked out of ACME; why would I have done that to someone I was only trying to help!?”
“Because you were letting your emotions get the better of you, which is why you made that threat,” said the Informant, calmly. “I won’t make that mistake ever again. And yes, the Dying Informant is gone-for now I’m far more efficient, and will not allow myself to get into such situations ever again.”
“What does that mean, huh!?” asked the Messenger, turning away, furiously. He struck the mantle with his fist. “This new you… he wouldn’t have trekked through a blizzard to help me, would he?”
“That would have been irrational,” said the Informant. “To risk losing another agent when the lost one is clearly doomed… That is sheer madness.”
“You’d have let me freeze out there!?”
“It would have been regrettable,” the younger detective replied. “But nothing would have been possible.”
“You aren’t my best friend…” the Messenger realized. “He was lost along with your old self.”
“Friends are impractical,” he replied.
The Messenger slammed his fist into the mantle again.
“If rescuing me was what brought this on, then I wish you hadn’t,” he said, holding back a sob. He rarely ever shed a tear, but this was more than he could take. “I’d rather be freezing in that coal mine than see this.” He recalled the pleas that the Informant had made, trying to stop him from boarding the spirit train. They were why he had decided to come back. “I didn’t come back to work with an empty shell that was once my best friend.”
The Informant trembled slightly now upon hearing these words. The Messenger was hurt again, and, once again, it was his fault.
A solitary tear escaped the Informant’s eye, but the Messenger saw that as a sign that he was beginning to get through to the real Informant.
“I realize that I drove you to this, Infy,” he said, seizing him by the shoulders again. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t try to understand that you had feelings for Patty. I should’ve advised you, not accused you of being a traitor. And now you just want to forget about everything and wall yourself off? I can’t blame you for that after everything that happened, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve lost a brother. But I guess it’s too late, isn’t it? I understand. I’m just sorry that I wasn’t able to stop you before you went through with it.”
With a sigh, he turned to go. He had just reached the door of the lounge when he heard the younger man sob.
“Infy…?”
The self-hypnosis had been broken, and now the Informant was struggling with the wave of emotions that he had been holding back. And the Messenger was at his side in an instant.
“Infy! It is you, isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry,” the younger man said, trembling. “I’m sorry for everything. I… I would never leave you in that place to freeze… I don’t know why I said that…”
“It wasn’t your fault,” the Messenger assured him. “You thought that walling yourself off would be the best way to deal with your feelings for Patty.”
“Yeah, and that didn’t work…” the Informant replied, bitterly. “And now that the self-hypnosis crumbled, I’ll be feeling for her again. What happens now!?”
“We deal with it,” the older agent promised.
“I can’t believe I was willing to choose her over you guys… she never did a thing to help me when you guys always risked your necks to help me,” the Informant went on, relieved. “That was what made me break up with her… I told her that I had made the wrong choice…”
“You broke up?” his friend asked.
The Informant nodded in reply.
“Well…” the Messenger said. “I’m not going to pretend that I would’ve liked to see you two work it out; you made the right choice. She was all wrong for you, Infy-all wrong.”
The Informant sighed.
“You forgive me, then?” he asked.
“If you’ll forgive me,” the Messenger replied.
The Informant grinned, at last. He had his best friend back.
“Well,” said the Messenger. “Now that we’ve got that all out of the way, how about we head to the ACME Holiday Party?”
“Sure thing!” the Informant agreed. He whistled for Borealis, who yelped happily and followed behind them.
“By the way…” the Messenger said, as they headed to the party. “I heard that the Mysterious Woman was the one who tipped you off as to where to find me.”
“Yeah, that’s right…”
“Well…” the older agent went on. “Since you’re officially single again, I thought you’d like to know… She’s single, too.”
The Informant gave him an “Are you serious!?” look.
The Messenger merely smirked in reply, and the two surrogate brothers lapsed into fits of laughter as they joined the others at the party.
Once again, everything was as it should be. And now they knew that it would stay that way.
Author: Crystal Rose of Pollux (rose_of_pollux)
Claim: Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? (The Dying Informant)
Table: Do-it-Yourself
Prompt: Help
Rating: PG13
Summary: Sometimes all one needs are the words of a friend.
Warnings: seriousness in a light-hearted fandom
Will be cross-posted to my journal, 30_hugs, and the V.I.L.E. Headquarters fanfic forum.
The Informant had kept a vigil by the Messenger’s side until just before the older agent had awakened. But through it all, he had been following the advice of the book, locking away his emotions through the self-hypnosis techniques.
“This is the best way…” he had told himself. “You will never fall for Patty again, and that’s what started this mess.”
He didn’t want to leave ACME; the Voice’s visions had shown him how important he had been to the agency. But he had to do something to ensure that something like this didn’t happen again, and this was it. The self-hypnosis was the one last thing he had had to do. And he had done it.
He sat in an armchair by the fire in the ACME lounge, the flames reflecting in his empty eyes. Borealis pranced around him, but sensed that something was wrong with his personality. The husky retreated, whimpering.
“Infy!” the Messenger exclaimed, finding him. “There you are!”
The Informant glanced back at him, his face deadpan.
“I see you’ve awakened,” he said, his voice flat. “And seeing as though I haven’t been kicked out of ACME yet, I’m assuming that you didn’t tell the Chief about Patty. I am grateful.”
The Messenger’s face fell. By the sound of things, he was too late.
“Infy… what have you done to yourself!?” he asked, walking to the front of the armchair to look his friend in the eyes.
“I don’t know what you’re referring to,” the youth replied, his voice still cold and flat. “Since it was my affections for Patty Larceny that caused all of this trouble, I merely got rid of them.”
“Along with all the rest of your emotions!” the Messenger cried, seizing him by the shoulders. “I didn’t want this, Infy!”
“An unforeseen side effect,” the Informant replied. “But perhaps helpful… Agents are supposed to be cold and emotionally detached. We aren’t supposed to let emotions get in the way of our decisions. So meet the new me-far more efficient than before.”
“But what about the old you!? Where’s my friend!?” cried the Messenger. “Where’s my surrogate brother!?”
“He was flawed,” the Informant replied.
“He was human!” the Messenger shot back. “Look at yourself now! You… You’re just like RoboCrook!”
The Informant blinked at the mention of the android, recalling the vision that the Voice had shown him. But he still remained unmoved.
“You seem upset,” the Informant observed.
“Of course I’m upset!” the Messenger retorted. “Every time I think I’ve got my best friend back, I lose him again! You nearly drown, and then Patty turns you against us. You trek through a blizzard to find me, and then Patty nearly gets you to abandon me again. And when I finally wake up after freezing, I find that you’ve destroyed your human side! What did I do to deserve this, huh!? The Dying Informant has checked out-by his own choice! But I didn’t want him to leave! I never would’ve really gotten you kicked out of ACME; why would I have done that to someone I was only trying to help!?”
“Because you were letting your emotions get the better of you, which is why you made that threat,” said the Informant, calmly. “I won’t make that mistake ever again. And yes, the Dying Informant is gone-for now I’m far more efficient, and will not allow myself to get into such situations ever again.”
“What does that mean, huh!?” asked the Messenger, turning away, furiously. He struck the mantle with his fist. “This new you… he wouldn’t have trekked through a blizzard to help me, would he?”
“That would have been irrational,” said the Informant. “To risk losing another agent when the lost one is clearly doomed… That is sheer madness.”
“You’d have let me freeze out there!?”
“It would have been regrettable,” the younger detective replied. “But nothing would have been possible.”
“You aren’t my best friend…” the Messenger realized. “He was lost along with your old self.”
“Friends are impractical,” he replied.
The Messenger slammed his fist into the mantle again.
“If rescuing me was what brought this on, then I wish you hadn’t,” he said, holding back a sob. He rarely ever shed a tear, but this was more than he could take. “I’d rather be freezing in that coal mine than see this.” He recalled the pleas that the Informant had made, trying to stop him from boarding the spirit train. They were why he had decided to come back. “I didn’t come back to work with an empty shell that was once my best friend.”
The Informant trembled slightly now upon hearing these words. The Messenger was hurt again, and, once again, it was his fault.
A solitary tear escaped the Informant’s eye, but the Messenger saw that as a sign that he was beginning to get through to the real Informant.
“I realize that I drove you to this, Infy,” he said, seizing him by the shoulders again. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t try to understand that you had feelings for Patty. I should’ve advised you, not accused you of being a traitor. And now you just want to forget about everything and wall yourself off? I can’t blame you for that after everything that happened, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’ve lost a brother. But I guess it’s too late, isn’t it? I understand. I’m just sorry that I wasn’t able to stop you before you went through with it.”
With a sigh, he turned to go. He had just reached the door of the lounge when he heard the younger man sob.
“Infy…?”
The self-hypnosis had been broken, and now the Informant was struggling with the wave of emotions that he had been holding back. And the Messenger was at his side in an instant.
“Infy! It is you, isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry,” the younger man said, trembling. “I’m sorry for everything. I… I would never leave you in that place to freeze… I don’t know why I said that…”
“It wasn’t your fault,” the Messenger assured him. “You thought that walling yourself off would be the best way to deal with your feelings for Patty.”
“Yeah, and that didn’t work…” the Informant replied, bitterly. “And now that the self-hypnosis crumbled, I’ll be feeling for her again. What happens now!?”
“We deal with it,” the older agent promised.
“I can’t believe I was willing to choose her over you guys… she never did a thing to help me when you guys always risked your necks to help me,” the Informant went on, relieved. “That was what made me break up with her… I told her that I had made the wrong choice…”
“You broke up?” his friend asked.
The Informant nodded in reply.
“Well…” the Messenger said. “I’m not going to pretend that I would’ve liked to see you two work it out; you made the right choice. She was all wrong for you, Infy-all wrong.”
The Informant sighed.
“You forgive me, then?” he asked.
“If you’ll forgive me,” the Messenger replied.
The Informant grinned, at last. He had his best friend back.
“Well,” said the Messenger. “Now that we’ve got that all out of the way, how about we head to the ACME Holiday Party?”
“Sure thing!” the Informant agreed. He whistled for Borealis, who yelped happily and followed behind them.
“By the way…” the Messenger said, as they headed to the party. “I heard that the Mysterious Woman was the one who tipped you off as to where to find me.”
“Yeah, that’s right…”
“Well…” the older agent went on. “Since you’re officially single again, I thought you’d like to know… She’s single, too.”
The Informant gave him an “Are you serious!?” look.
The Messenger merely smirked in reply, and the two surrogate brothers lapsed into fits of laughter as they joined the others at the party.
Once again, everything was as it should be. And now they knew that it would stay that way.