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“Orange is missing.”
Chuck’s head shoots up, instantly batting the hands of the doctor away. “What?”
“I can’t find him.” Kris says, stepping further into the room. “I’ve checked the locker room and I’ve checked the ring. I have also tried calling him, but he won’t pick up his phone.”
His heart sinks with worry as he hops off the medical table, ignoring the doctor’s pleas to stay still. His ankle radiates with pain the second his foot hits the ground and his leg nearly gives way beneath him. The only reason he didn’t fall was because he had a death grip on the table behind him. “We need to find him, Kris. What if Trent-”
“You need to stay here. You can’t possibly-” Kris interrupts, only to be interrupted in turn.
“We need to find him!” Chuck shouts, hobbling over to a pair of crutches. Once he’s balanced himself, he starts towards the door. “You saw what he was capable of tonight. I won’t let that happen to Orange.”
He continues past Kris and out into the hall. He must be quite a sight right now. He was still covered in blood- and honestly, Kris was probably right. He was in no condition to be wandering around right now.
Chuck just really hopes that he was wrong in his thinking.
Because if he was right?
He would never want Orange to be alone.
It didn’t matter if he was injured or not.
Chuck continues down the hall and turns into the Dark Order’s lair. Hopefully someone has seen him. “Guys, has anyone seen Orange?”
Alex looks up from his phone, shaking his head. “I haven’t seen him since before Collision started.”
“Same here.” Uno pipes in. “Why’re you looking for him?”
“It’s- Just-” Chuck really hopes that he doesn’t sound as nervous as he thinks he does. “Me and Kris can’t find him.”
Uno seems to sense the urgency of the situation and nods. “We’ll keep an eye out. I’ll send you a text if we see anything.”
Chuck nods and turns to leave the room. God, he wishes that Danhausen and Hook were here right now. They would be able to cover a lot more ground than they were currently.
He proceeds to spend the next hour wandering the halls of Daily’s Place before something in the back of his mind tells him to check the parking lot.
And that’s where he finds Orange- sitting amongst the broken glass and bloody carnage.
“This is my fault.” Orange rasps, not even moving to look up at him. The clicking of the crutches must have given him away.
Chuck stops and leans against the car that Orange was sitting on. The pain in his ankle was nearly unbearable now. “That’s not true. You know it’s not.”
“Look at you.” Orange laughs sadly. “Trent would have never done that to you if it wasn’t for me.”
“Orange, c’mon-”
“I’m at the center of all this, man. He didn’t turn on you. He didn’t turn on Kris. It was me. He turned on me.”
Chuck catches a glimpse of something in Orange’s hand. When he cranes his head for a better look- he really wishes that he hadn’t looked at all.
There, clenched tightly in Orange’s hand, was the pipe wrench.
This was bad.
Chuck shifts himself to stand in front of Orange, balancing himself carefully on his good foot. He places his hand around the one that Orange had on the wrench. “Listen to me, none of this is your fault. I wanted to do this. This was my decision.”
“Chuck, I can’t-”
“You know full and well that you would have done the same thing.”
Orange looks up at him, finally making eye contact for the first time since Chuck had found him. “I hate this.”
Chuck reaches up and gently slides Orange’s glasses off, revealing the tears and reddened eyes. “I know you do. We all do.”
“Why wouldn’t you let us help you?”
“I had to do it on my own. You have to understand that.”
Orange sighs and Chuck swears he can see the walls in Orange’s mind sliding back into place. “Are you okay?”
Chuck nods, but his facade quickly fades away when he bumps his ankle on the car’s bumper. It takes everything he has in him not to cry out.
A few tears gathered in his eyes anyway.
Orange’s eyes widen and he hops off the hood of the car, grabbing the crutches and sliding them under Chuck’s arms. “You need to go back to Doc.”
Chuck shakes his head, a grimace still clearly written on his face. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not.” Orange says bluntly. “Why didn’t you let him help you?”
“I had to find you.”
“I was fine.”
Chuck looks at him once he finally has himself adjusted. “Kris came into medical saying that you were missing- and you really expected me not to come looking for you?”
“Let’s you get back. You’re still bleeding pretty bad.”
Chuck sighs, sensing that he had finally hit a wall. “Fine.”
Orange sticks close by his side as they make their way back to medical, completely silent.
Chuck was really hoping that things were going to be okay.
Because that wrench never leaves Orange’s hand.