Chapter Text
Roderick's fingers drummed against the steering wheel.
"Work's got us tangled, so we need you to take Roy for a couple days."
"Th-thank you so much, Roddy. Really."
They were supposed to pick up Roy three days ago.
They were a little late sometimes. That was fine. But he called. Seventeen times, in fact, and the silence on the other end of the line was deafening.
So here he was, parked outside his brother's house, Roy asleep in the backseat. He got out of the car, walked up to the door, pulled out the spare key they had given him... and hesitated. There were a few things that could've been on the other side, and he dreaded one option in particular. The thoughts were pushed out of mind as best he could - hesitation was as much of a killer, and he was here, now, so he steeled himself and opened the door. There was nothing.
Literally. The house that was filled with pictures and all the knick-knacks his brother insisted on collecting was barren, leaving only empty furniture and house essentials. He went door to door, room to room, every single one telling the exact same story. It was like the place hadn't been lived in for years.
"Uncle Roderick!!"
"Eh?" He looked up from the papers strewn about the table. Roy was standing on the chair seated on the other side, propping himself up with his hands.
"Can we have spaghetti for dinner?"
"Mm, that depends," he began, glancing at the colorful chalk covering his nephew's hands and clothes, "do I need to repaint a wall?"
"...No. What're those?" Roy asked, pointing at the papers.
"They're papers."
"What kind of papers?"
"Work papers." Custody papers actually, but he wasn't going to tell Roy that.
He reported his parents missing one month ago to the date. Despite his insistence, those louts at the police department were unwilling to investigate - "they were adults" they said, "they'll turn up eventually" they said, despite the fact the two left behind a four-year-old boy they were so overjoyed to have. He still remembers his brother calling him at three in the morning to tell him he was going to be an uncle, stumbling over his words so badly his wife had to take the phone and do it herself.
A smack to the table grabbed his attention again. Roy was looking at him, eyes narrowed. "If this is stuff for your work, why does it got mom n' dad's names on it?"
"It's not for my work," he lied in a matter-of-fact tone, "it's so your parents will still have their jobs when they get back."
"Oh." Roy sat down in his chair, pulling at his shirt sleeve. They're not comin' back, though."
"Uh- of course they will! They--"
"They don't want to come back. They told me so." They- they would never do that. His brother would never do that. But all the mischief was gone from Roy's avoiding eyes, leaving something he never wanted to see from him. Not this young.
"...Did they tell you why?"
"Mom n' dad thought somethin' bad was gonna happen... that we were gonna end up like everything, so they left me with you."
End up like... everything?
Everything.
Everythings.
A sick sinking feeling hit Roderick in the stomach, the same one he felt ages ago when he saw that news report about Lila and David Everything dying in a house fire.