Work Text:
Eustace tries not to sulk when he wakes up early in the morning to yet another Vaseraga-less kitchen.
The Society (or what was left of them) had been quiet recently. Which Eustace found himself growing used to - sure, the lack of work made him antsy at times, but no pressing world-ending threats was a nice change of pace. They had even settled down more permanently into one of their safe houses, only really taking on assignments with Gran and Djeeta whenever the Grandcypher passes through the area.
It's also where both Vaseraga and Zeta are at the moment. Djeeta had requested their presence on a trip to Albion, and it had been two days since they had departed on a week-long trip. And maybe Eustace was missing Vaseraga's company, and maybe it already felt strange to not see his bulky figure curled over a coffee cup first thing in the morning...
Resolving not to think about it any more than he has to, Eustace sticks some bread into the toaster and starts the routine of making breakfast.
Four days later, and Eustace is more antsy than he's ever been.
A letter had shown up this morning at the safe house with no identifying features and no return address - only the words "Mission complete. Returning soon." Which, given the speed that mail traveled between islands, meant that Zeta and Vaseraga would be arriving any day now.
Any hour now. Any minute now.
"Down, boy," comes Ilsa's voice from the entrance to the living room, and Eustace doesn't even need to look at her to know there's a smirk on her face. "What are you so excited for?"
Eustace grunts in response. "Can I not be happy for the safe return of my friends?"
"Sure, if that's all it is. You're not drinking that juice, are you?"
"No, I think that's Beatrix's anyway."
Ilsa eyes it consideringly, then shrugs and puts it back. "Probably not worth her getting mad at me for it. Anyway, do you - "
The front door slams open.
Zeta barges in, alone and breathless.
"We...might have a problem?" she says.
The fridge door swings shut on its own.
"I swear I turned my back for just one second - we had already cleared out all the monsters in the area - and I've never seen something like this before, I'm so sorry - "
Eustace, Ilsa, and Zeta are all seated around the dining table. Eustace can hear hear Ilsa trying to calm Zeta down and get her to talk slower, for heaven's sake, but it's all going in one ear and out the other. He's far more focused on the...thing currently sitting in the middle of the table.
A lifelike, downsized plush of Vaseraga. Which, according to Zeta, was actually Vaseraga himself. Which meant that Vaseraga was now this tiny...cute thing, and.
Eustace was going to ignore whatever his chest was doing at the moment.
"...him to Gran and Djeeta for a while, someone in the Grandcypher would know how to handle this - "
"No."
Ilsa pauses in the middle of her sentence, both eyebrows raised as high as they can go. "Excuse me?"
Eustace surprises everyone in the room, including himself, by standing up. "No, I - I'll take him.*
"Do you know anything about magic? Would you be able to handle this? Eustace, I know you care for him, but don't take on more than you can do."
He was just going to ignore that as well. "Give me a few days. If there's nothing I can do, then I'll personally deliver Vaseraga to the Grandcypher."
Ilsa and Zeta exchange a look. Eustace continues standing, because he knows that if he lets anything show on his face, it'll be over for him -
"A week."
He blinks, startled.
"You get a week," Ilsa continues. "If you can't make any progress by then..."
Eustace nods sharply. "I understand."
"I'll be there to personally ensure Vaseraga's arrival on the Grandcypher if needed. Now," Ilsa sighs and waves a hand in the air, "go. you're wasting time just standing there."
He doesn't need to be told twice. Eustace nods one last time in acknowledgement, picks up Vaseraga from the table more gently than he'd like to admit, and makes his way out the door, already forming a to-do list in his head.
Eustace falls into bed, Vaseraga hugged tightly to his chest, and exhales the day's stress out.
He hadn't gotten anything done, not really. Nothing that Zeta could recall was useful to him in terms of backtracking, Cassius had never seen anything similar in his life (and had wanted to take Vaseraga home out of sheer curiosity, to which Eustace had to issue a soft but firm no ). Any potential next steps would have to involve contacting someone on the Grandcypher, and that can definitely wait until tomorrow. Maybe he could ask Ilsa for help - she certainly would have connections that Eustace wouldn't, but who knows how long that would take? By the time Eustace heard back from anyone, it could already be too late -
He blinks, and the scenery before him changes.
Instead of the sparsely furnished room that Eustace had grown comfortable with, he's in a room that resembles his, but has more of an obvious personal touch to it. Trinkets brought back from missions along the walls, a little bit of a messy floor, papers spread out over a desk instead of in Eustace's more neat piles. His first thought is oh no, did I sleepwalk into Vaseraga's room? His second thought is what? Where did that come from?
Eustace's third thought, once he notices that there's a dip in the mattress to his right, is who's in the bed with me?
"Eustace?"
Eustace stiffens, turning around to look at the person next to him.
"...Vaseraga?"
"Geez, what happened to you yesterday? You look pale."
Beatrix was never really one to beat around the bush, Eustace supposes. He thinks about it briefly - maybe he should tell someone what happened, even if it wasn't Ilsa. But even though though the Society had been through some strange circumstances, both by themselves and with Gran and Djeeta, yeah I saw Vaseraga in a dream last night, alive and well seems to be on the verge of unbelievable.
"Nothing," Eustace says out loud, after realizing that he's been silent for too long. "Nothing happened to me yesterday."
Under Beatrix's suspicious gaze, he wonders if he can get the same result by taking a nap during the day.
"I'm trapped here," Vaseraga explains that night (Eustace did not, in fact, take a nap). "I can see everything that's happening outside, but I can't do anything."
Eustace hums in acknowledgement. "And if I tried leaving the room?"
"It just brings me back to this room when I do it. You should try it, though, it might be different for you."
"Alright."
Eustace gets up from the bed, walks over to the door, and turns back to Vaseraga expectantly.
Vaseraga tilts his head in confusion.
Eustace holds out a hand.
"As a test," he clarifies. "You can't leave here alone, and I would guess that I'll be forced awake if I leave alone. So, what would happen if we…left together?"
Why are you getting embarrassed about this now? Get it together, you can think about it later.
After only a moment of hesitation, Vaseraga nods slowly. "That's good logic, even if it doesn't work out. I think we should at least try it."
He gets up, walks over to stand next to Eustace at the door, and takes Eustace's outstretched hand carefully - his hand is held in between two of Vaseraga's fingers like he's afraid the armor will crush Eustace's hand if he's not careful enough. And really, if Eustace didn't already think Vaseraga was charming in his own way, this would've sealed the deal -
"Okay," he says a little too loudly, desperate to think about this later. "On the count of three then. One, two, three - "
Both Eustace and Vaseraga take a step forward at the same time. There's a burst of light, there's a warmth all over, and -
Eustace wakes up alone in his own bed, wrapped up in blankets, hugging the plushie version of Vaseraga tightly to his chest.
"You know, if you wanted more time off, you could just tell me."
Eustace looks up from his breakfast, glancing at Ilsa in mild confusion.
"Oh, come on, you're gonna make me say it?" Ilsa huffs. She takes a seat across from Eustace at the dining table, setting down her plate with a little more force than necessary. "You've been sleeping in the past few days, and I mean sleeping in . Getting up in the afternoon when you're usually up at seven or eight banging pots and pans around. If the whole thing with Vaseraga is tiring you out that much…"
At that, Eustace straightens up. "The extra hours of sleep are actually related to the issue at hand."
"Oh, I can't wait to hear this one," Ilsa mutters under her breath. Eustace ignores her.
He launches into a explanation of Vaseraga's current predicament, as well as one for what conversations the two of them had had so far. What Eustace does say is the subjects of what they had talked about and what attempts they had already made to break out of the dream - what Eustace doesn't say is how nice it felt to simply relax around and with Vaseraga, how waking up always left him feeling like something was missing.
Maybe he does have a little bit of a problem. Because if he's trying to simulate real life contact by burying his face into a plushie, then maybe Eustace is in deeper than he had thought.
And maybe, after this whole nightmare is over, he should ask Vaseraga if he wants to go out for dinner sometime. Outside of work. Maybe he'll even say yes.
Eustace finally reaches the end of his talk and unceremoniously digs back into his food. Ilsa, on the other hand, had stopped eating at some point - now, she looks almost wide-eyed at Eustace with a fork hanging loosely from her hand. "That - " she starts, then shakes her head. "You're telling the truth," said more like a statement than a question.
Wordlessly, Eustace nods.
"...Okay. Why not? We've been through stranger things. But you do realize," Ilsa's tone turns sterner here, "that you only have another day left? And you did promise that you would let Gran and Djeeta handle the rest of the process."
"Of course. I don't intend to go back on my word."
"Good, good. Well, good luck with the last day, I'll be heading out now." Ilsa pushes back her chair to get up, and gives Eustace a hearty slap on the back on her way to the sink. "You can do it."
"Thanks," Eustace mutters under his breath. He knows, really, that Ilsa is being considerate in her own way. And he knows that he doesn't have much time left, so she likely wouldn't begrudge him if he went and laid back down now, would she…?
So, mind made up, he also gets up. And heaps on another serving of breakfast onto his plate, in case Vaseraga is hungry when he comes back. And then walks back to his room, a sort of nervousness settling in the pit of Eustace's stomach as if he's about to go on a dangerous mission.
And he lies down on his bed for what will hopefully be the last time outside of his normal sleeping hours for a long time.
"Remember at the beginning when I said that I had a week to try to get you out?"
"Hm. I do remember that. Although you bringing it up now, does that mean…?"
"...It's the last day, yes."
"Ah."
Vaseraga fiddles with the blanket in his lap, clearly unsettled about something. He and Eustace are sitting on the bed next to each other, with a respectable distance in between them that Eustace is specifically trying to keep. "Well, this was…really nice. Maybe we should do it again sometime."
"Maybe," Eustace echoes.
Silence.
Thoughts start swirling around in Eustace's head. Perhaps it had been selfish of him to take this on in the first place. He wasn't the right man for the job - he had only prolonged Vaseraga's issue.
"I've been thinking," Vaseraga suddenly says. "Maybe it's because of me. Maybe I'm the one that needs to do something. If I just…"
Vaseraga inches closer to Eustace on the bed.
Eustace holds his breath.
"Would you like to go to dinner sometime? Just the two of us."
Eustace holds out his hand. Vaseraga takes it, less gingerly this time.
"Sounds good to me. Would you like to try getting out of here again?"
Light, filling Eustace's field of vision again.
Warmth, but this time it surrounds him all over.
The plushie is gone.