Thud Thud

Thud Thud

His heartbeat filled his head like a thousand drummers. He had blood spattered all over his hands, his murderous, murderous hands. How had things escalated to this? How was Mumbo so intent on following orders that he'd not even question killing? Doc paced around his office. He'd been joking when he'd proposed the death sentence, was going to stop that killing blow.

Or so he told himself. This war was just for fun, right? There shouldn't have been any casualties. Yet he, fool that he was, had driven a good friend to murder. All in the name of fun. He could have done so much different. He sat down at his desk, head in his hands. The image of the sword sliding out of Welsknight's head echoed over, and over, and over, until it was the only thing left for him to see.

His alarm went off. He'd planned a skirmish in ten minutes, and wanted to get the team ready. Putting on his best smile, he walked out of the door. He didn't expect to see Ren there, concern visible on his tattooed face.

"My dude, you've been very quiet. Are you alright?" Ren stopped Doc in the hallway to ask.

"I'm fine. Now, we have an attack to plan." There was an obvious fakeness about the neutrality of Doc's voice. Doc set off down the winding corridor, Ren following close behind.

"Is this about Welsknight?"

"There is nothing, about nobody. Wels... was a traitor. He got what he deserved." Doc's pace picked up, as the two almost ran towards the meeting room.

"You know, I find it hard to believe that anyone, even you, would be fine after seeing what happened to Wels." As Ren said this, Doc grimaced. What happened to Wels was his fault. What happened to Wels lay on his shoulders. What happened to Wels was Doc's greatest failure. The blood on his hands? The mark of his failure. It was all his fault, his fault, his fault...

"I'M OKAY!" Doc turned around, a fire in his eyes. Raising his trident, he glared at Ren. "And if you say anything else..."

Ren, as he cared about Doc, pressed on, ignoring the threat.

"You blame yourself, don't you?"

Doc snapped. Throwing his trident, it just narrowly missed his friend's shoulder. Friend. He didn't deserve friends. He was a murderer, murderers should be feared, hated, despised. And yet Ren, in his naïve innocence, was...

Doc turned and ran, fleeing from the base, the team. He'd just hurt them all, if he stayed. Better to be somewhere where he and his stupid temper couldn't hurt anyone except himself.

Time skip brought to you by the author actually getting some sleep.

Doc sat down in the (so far empty) aquarium at Grand Central. The conduit calmed his rasping breaths, the water swirled playfully around him. This was his little space, a grasp on the person he used to be before this war. So naturally, when he heard a rocket firing over his head, he was displeased.

Mumbo glided into the elytra entrance, looking around for Doc. He'd seen what happened between his 'boss' and Ren. He'd seen Doc fly off in this direction, tears building up but being held in. He'd followed the cyborg, but been distracted over the shopping district. But now he saw a familiar green-and-silver face in the aquarium beneath his feet. Hurrying down, Mumbo jumped into the hole broken in the glass and swam towards Doc.

"Doc? I saw what happened back at the base, and I just wanted to-"

"No. Nobody gets to care, to feel sorry for me. You saw what happened. I told you to kill him."

"And I didn't question it. I didn't protest, or ask if you were joking. You may have told me to, but I was the one holding that sword. You didn't kill Welsknight. I did."

Doc glared at Mumbo. This was all wrong. The murder was his fault, he was to blame, it was his failure, he was a failure...

"Look, if I could go back in time and change things, I would. But I can't. Nobody can time travel." Mumbo put his hand on Doc's shoulder, looking him in the eye. Suddenly, a grin broke across Doc's face.

"But what if we could?"

I intended to release this yesterday, oops.

701 words. Why must you do this to me, universe?

This has been Pi, and I'll see you all at some point in the future!