Chapter Text
When Dr. D Light awoke, he was in a dark room, not exactly unusual on its own, but he was resting on a concrete floor, which was incredibly uncomfortable. There was no telling how long he had been out. He attempted to stand up and gain a better understanding of his surroundings, and in the process discovered that his leg was definitely broken, sitting up would do. Damn his head hurt.
Through the darkness he saw the vague outlines of boxes in a wide open space, and a large staircase in front of him. Looking around a little more closely granted him a view of several food items scattered around, boxes with cereal spilling out, a slightly moldy cheese wheel, pieces of fruit, and several sandwiches; all of which appeared to have been nibbled on by rats.
And then he remembered. Embry! He had fallen down the stairs while trying to convince them to go down so he could take a look at their parents! Well, it was becoming obvious to him now that their parents were not down here.
Oh dear! Embry was so afraid of the basement that they kept it locked up with chains! Even if his leg wasn’t broken there was no way he would be able to get the door open, and there was very little chance he could see of Embry coming down here to help him, but he had to think of something soon or he may become the next meal for the rats.
He managed to painfully crawl over to the stairs edge, and hit the wall a few times, hoping that they could hear him. Unfortunately, the noise he was making only caused his headache to get worse, so he had to stop rather quickly. “Maybe they’ll be able to hear me if I shout.” It was worth a shot.
“Embry! Embry! Could you please open the door? I’m okay down here I promise! I’m alive!” he waited a bit, no answer. Maybe they just couldn’t hear him. He groaned when he realized what he would have to do in order to be heard more clearly. Biting his lip, he tried to balance on his good leg and use the railing to help drag him up the stairs without putting any weight on his broken leg.
When he was about halfway up the stairs(At least he thought so, he could hardly see anything) a light came from the top. Embry was almost running down the stairs.
“E-Embry?” he managed to choke out before they accidentally barreled into him, sending them both toppling over, and down the stairs.
“ Ow ” D. Light groaned.
“J-Just ea-eat me already! I-I ca- I can’t do this anymore!” the child began to sob.
“Embry? Wha-eat you? Why would I-”
“P-please, just get it over with.” The last part was barely audible, as it was muffled by their sobs into his shirt.
“E-Embry, relax, I’m not going to hurt you.” he began to gently hold them. What had this child been through?
“You-your not?” Embry asked, looking up at him through teary eyes. Suddenly they gasped, “Doctor?”
“Yes Embry, it’s me.” Who did they think he was?
“You-You’re still alive?” They asked, shocked.
He chuckled, “I think so, but I have broken a leg I’m afraid.”
Embry gasped, putting their hands over their mouth, and quickly getting off the doctor. “I’m so sorry! I-I” They began to cry again.
“Shh, it’s alright Embry. Can you tell me why you are so afraid?’
Their eyes darted around the basement, clearly terrified to realize that they were actually down there. “We-we have to go back up! I-I can tell you then.” They walked closer to him and pulled on his arm to try to help him stand. He nodded and, supporting himself on Embry’s shoulder, he managed to get up the stairs and into the living room.
He collapsed on the couch and Embry quickly locked the door behind them.
“Embry,” he paused to steady his breath, “What are you so afraid of down there?”
Embry was beginning to hyperventilate. “How on Earth are you still alive?” They shouted.
“Um… I suppose I’m just lucky,” the doctor replied, a little started, “Embry, calm down.” He wished he could walk over to comfort them, but with his leg being bent at such a grotesque angle that wasn’t going to happen, he tried not to look at it, but he was not looking forward to when he would eventually have to push it back into place to splint it.
“No! I-I saw blood! The monster ate you! How are you still-” They started crying again,
“Embry, come here, what do you mean?” They obliged and sat on the couch’s edge, taking deep breaths. “The-the monster it-it-it”
“Slow down, Embry, breathe.” Again, they obliged. “Now, start at the beginning, why have you chained up the door?”
Embry nodded, took a deep breath, and began, “I-it came four months ago, the-the monster I mean. That’s when it-it-when it-” tears escaped their eyes, “It ate my parents.” They completely broke down sobbing again. Dr. D. Light was frankly shocked. He pulled Embry a little closer to him. They had been alone for four months! And they seemed convinced that there was a monster in the basement that had eaten their parents. Not the most outrageous claim he’d ever heard, but considering that he himself had been down there and he appeared to be fine.
“Embry, look at me. Can you tell me how long I was down there?”
“A-all night. I-I’m sorry, b-but I-I thought the- the monster- the monster ate you.”
“Shh, it’s okay. Now, I want you to look at me. I was down there all night and I haven't been eaten. You’re safe, okay?”
Embry nodded and swallowed. “But, then what happened to my parents?”
“I don’t know Embry, but I don’t think they were eaten. Don’t worry, I’ll stay with you until we figure it out.”
Embry looked up at the doctor with wide eyes, “You-you will?”
“Of course! I won’t leave you to fend for yourself!”
“Thank you!” Embry half shouted, half sobbed, almost jumping into Dr. D. Light’s arms.
“Hpmf-”
“Sorry!”
“It’s alright Embry, but do you perhaps have a towel, or a ruler maybe?
“Oh! Sure! But why do you need them?”
“Just one or the other, I need them to splint my leg.”
“Oh! Okay.” Embry didn’t really know what a splint was, but they knew it must be a doctor thing and it had something to do with his broken leg. They went and got a towel from the bathroom.
“Alright, I hate to trouble you again but can you grab my doctor’s bag? I believe I may have set it down in your room when you found your key.”
Embry nodded and ran to get it. Now was as good a time as any to try and get his leg back into alignment. This was going to hurt, but he really didn’t want Embry to see him try to straighten it, as it was likely going to look pretty bad. Okay, deep breath and one, two, three!
He pushed his leg back into place quickly and let out a cry of pain. Embry, hearing this, came running into the room holding his doctor’s bag. “Doctor! What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing Embry, I was just pushing my leg back into place. Don’t worry about me.” Embry still looked worried, but they didn’t ask any further questions, instead they handed him his doctor’s bag and sat down.
He grabbed the towel, rolled it up, and fastened it to his leg with some medical tape from the bag, all the while Embry watched with interest. “Are you going to be okay? Can this thing help you walk?” Embry asked when he put the medical tape back in his bag.
“Well no, but it will help the injury from getting worse. I really shouldn’t walk on my leg for a while until it’s healed more. And I should get a doctor to look at it when I can.”
“But, I thought you were a doctor.” Embry tilted their head.
Dr. D. Light laughed, “Well yes, but I can’t exactly operate on myself.”
Embry, however, was not as amused. “Operate? You think it’s that bad?”
“Well, broken bones can be pretty bad, and yes sometimes they require surgery. I’m not equipped to handle my own broken leg, so I’m going to need another doctor to look at it to see if I’ll need surgery. But don’t worry right now, I feel fine so it’s probably not too bad.” It would be generous to call this a ‘half truth’, as, although the pain had subsided slightly, it still hurt and considering he fell down the stairs twice, his leg probably was that bad. But Embry bought it, or at least if they didn’t they didn’t call him out on it.
“Do you want something to eat?” Embry asked in attempts to change the subject. “I didn’t actually get anything at the market yesterday when you came, but we should have something.” ‘Something’ was likely to be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but it was better than nothing.
“No thank you, Embry, but speaking of which, have you been throwing food into the basement?”
“Y-yes.” They said sheepishly, “If-if I didn’t feed monster, the only thing they would have left to eat would be-would be-”
“I understand Embry, but there is no monster in your basement. The only things that have been eating the food you throw down there are the rats.”
“B-but that’s not possible!” they were shouting now, “I-I heard them! They-they spoke to me! They said- They said they wanted to get out of the basement! They spoke like my parents!”
The monster spoke to them? “Embry, what do you mean it sounded like your parents?”
“Two-Two days ago! It started talking to me.” They took a deep breath and continued at a normal volume, “It had never done it before, but first it sounded like my mother, and then my father, and then it sounded like-like me.” The last part was mumbled. Embry began to sniffle again. “I-I’m going crazy, aren’t I?” Dr. D. Light pulled them closer to him. “Hey, it’s going to be alright Embry. If I had to take a guess right now, I’d say that being alone for so long made you start hearing things, but I don’t think that you’re crazy. Why don’t you tell me what happened later, okay? You seem a little stressed out at the moment.” Embry nodded.
“D-do you have to stay put because of your leg?” They asked.
“Well, I probably shouldn’t move around a lot, but I think if I don’t put weight on it, I could handle short distances.” Embry thought for a bit.
“If you can manage it, I think you might be more comfortable in my parents’ room.”
Dr. D. Light was a little surprised and worried by this, “Are you sure Embry? I wouldn’t want to -”
“It’s fine!” They quickly reassured, “I mean, no one’s used it for months now.” Their eyes met the floor again. Sensing the tension, Dr. D. Light was quick to reply, “Well, if you’re sure it’s okay-” Embry cut him off by jumping into hugging him. They were smiling again already.
Dr. D. Light was confused to say the least. This child had clearly been through some traumatic stuff. How was he supposed to respond to this sudden change? “Embry, are you alright?” Well, probably not, but it was best to ask before assuming.
“I’m just happy that someone will be there.” they said quietly. Well that did it, his heart was going to explode.
So, supporting himself partially on Embry’s shoulder, Dr. D. Light went into Embry’s parents’ room and collapsed again on the bed. Maybe he shouldn’t have said he could walk, but he made it, so his leg couldn’t be that bad, right?
Embry propped up a bunch of pillows underneath the Dr.’s injured leg. They didn’t know much about broken bones but they had sprained their ankle once when they were little, and their mom had told them it had to be elevated to avoid swelling. Dr. D. Light was clearly trying not to make them worry, but it was incredibly obvious that he was in pain.
Embry wasn’t quite sure what to do. If they went to get a doctor in town, they would start asking awkward questions, but Dr. D. Light clearly needed some sort of medical attention. They wished that they had helped him when he first fell down the stairs instead of letting him stay down there all night and then making him fall again.
What was wrong with them? There wasn’t a monster! And Dr. D. Light had been hurt because of them. Fresh tears rolled down Embry’s cheeks. Maybe their parents weren't eaten by monsters. Maybe they left because Embry was bad.
“Embry, what’s wrong?”
“You-your hurt. I hurt you.”
Dr. D. Light’s eyes widened. “What? Embry, this isn’t your fault, and I’m going to be okay.” He gave a half smile, and internally panicked. There was a child crying in front of him. What was he supposed to do? How does he get them to stop crying? Pat their head? No, not that. Hug them? That might work.
He pulled them onto the bed and into an embrace. They hugged him tighter and started sobbing into his shoulder. That did not work, they were still crying. He patted their back with the confidence of someone who had no idea what he was doing. Okay, new plan! He needed a new plan! Make them laugh? That might work, but he had no idea what might make them laugh at this point. Maybe it was just best to be direct. “Embry, why are you crying? None of this is your fault.”
“B-but it-it is.” They choked out between sobs, “E-ever-everything is my-my fault.”
“No it’s not Embry. Look at me,” they did, “Nothing that happened is your fault, okay? I got hurt because I didn’t stop to listen to why you were so afraid, and I’m sorry for that. There’s no monster and you don’t have to be scared anymore, okay?” Embry nodded, and then buried their face in his chest again with renewed tears.
Well that didn’t work either. Maybe it was better to let them cry. It seemed that they had been holding this in for a long time.