Chapter Text
Arthur sat up violently, gasping desperately for breaths that seemed to be trapped in his chest. He couldn't see anything, and all he could feel was something sharp jabbing into his right hand, whatever he was leaning against, and an almost suffocating pressure behind his eyes.
"I wh- wh…where the fuck and I???"
A voice started to speak to him…but it didn't sound like it was in the room with him, but more accurately it reverberated in his head like a drum
"You need to calm down! You're going to have a panic attack!"
Arthur stopped in his tracks, now filled with a very new sense of fear
"Wh… who the fuck are you???"
"That doesn't matter right now! We need to find that book you dropped."
"A…a book? Wh-where??? Wh-why can't I see? WHY CAN'T I SEE???--"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! None of that matters right now! We NEED to find that book!"
Arthur just silently nodded, his breath still very shaky as he tried to push himself off the ground, as soon as he set his hand down, a sharp pain streaked through his entire arm.
"CAREFUL! there seems to be a sort of…translucent material covering the floor. It looks very sharp, so I suggest you avoid it."
"Wh…how…how do you know that???"
"I have your EYES! Now stop asking so many questions and grab that fucking book!"
"I- you have my eyes??? S-since when???"
"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT ASKING QUESTIONS???"
"R-right…lead me to the book…"
"It's to your left, it looks like a few books got knocked over, so I'll tell you which one is the right one."
Arthur nodded and started to crawl over towards the book, consciously trying to keep from using his right hand for the moment.
"Shuffle your hand over the books until I tell you to stop."
Arthur shakily started to move his hand over the book, waiting for the voice's instructions.
"A little to the right…yes! Yes! Nono too far! YES! That one! Now, start flipping through the pages."
Arthur nodded again, breath still shaky from feat as the voice scanned over the pages, till he suddenly stopped.
"Shit!"
"W-what?"
"None of this is new information, that was a complete waste of fucking time."
"What… are you looking for?"
"Nothing that you would understand. Besides, this is a dead end anyways."
Arthur slammed the book closed, and carefully leaned backward, accidentally leaning on his hand and sending a fire shoot of pain through his arm. He let out a yelp of pain, pulling his arm up to his chest.
"Christ you're a mess"
"Oh fuck you!"
The two sat in mostly silence for a few moments, Arthur occasionally letting out a Hiss or a whimper of pain. Finally, the voice seemed to be fed up with it and spoke.
"Say…I never asked, but what's your name?"
"A-and…why would I tell you my name if you refused to give me yours?"
"Because when you opened THAT book, I don't know what happened, but it seems as if it latched us together and…trapped me here with your eyes."
"D-do you have control of anything else besides–"
"Not that I'm aware of, no. Calm down, I don't want to be in this situation any more than you do, And I'm not INTENTIONALLY trying to steal your body. Now, I ask again, What's your name?"
Arthur tried to recall, but between the pain in his arm, and the general fogginess from the new situation he'd been thrown into, he couldn't think straight long enough to answer.
"I-I don't..--"
"ARTHUR??? ARTHUR ARE YOU OKAY? I HEARD SOMETHING FALL! ARE YOU OKAY?"
"Fuck! Someone's coming! Close the door–"
"N-no! I recognize their voice! Th-that's–!"
A set of footsteps could be heard running down the hallway and through the open door, stopping only a few feet from Arthur's head.
"Sorry for taking so long! The sandwich shop down the road was SUPER busy today, so it took me a lot longer to get back! I-I came as soon as I heard the noise!"
He paused for a moment, Arthur could only assume he was looking around the room.
"What happened here?-- Jesus what happened to your hand!?"
Arthur shook his head and leaned back against the wall, the pain in his arm getting more agitated by the second, but he didn't say anything out loud about it.
"Yeesh, your hand is bleeding bad– wait- is glass?! Yeah hold on I'll grab the gauze and rubbing alcohol!"
The man quickly walked over to a closet in the far corner and started looking through the multitude of boxes inside.
"Hm…so your name is Arthur. That would make sense since your name is on the door…but…who's…he?"
"Th- that would be my Partner…Peter Yang."
"Are you sure we can trust him?--"
"Listen, I trust Peter with my life. He's gotten me out of more scrapes than I care to admit, and I trust his judgment."
"Who ya talking to Arthur?"
Arthur jumped slightly at Peter's voice, looking up to try and see him, then remembering that he couldn't.
"I-it’s nothing–"
"Aw come on Artie! You're not going senile on me yet are you?"
"Peter, I'm only 39!"
"Never too early for the old folks home!"
Arthur and Peter laughed as the latter reached out for Arthur's hand and started to carefully pull out the shards of glass with
"Soo…are you gonna tell me what's on your mind…. or...Maybe at least why we're gonna need a new light fixture?"
"...Honestly…I don't…I don't know if you'd believe me–"
"Oh come on! We've been working as private detective partners for years! I don't think anything would shock me anymore!"
"Ehh…I wouldn't be so sure about that…"
"Well, I won't know unless you tell me!-- oop sorry-"
Peter pulled out an extra sticky piece of glass, causing Arthur to wince in pain.
"Arthur, I'm not so sure about this. You could lie and–"
"No, I trust him. Just- give me a second…"
"Sure! I'm all ears Artie!"
"N-not you, but thanks, Peter!"
Arthur took another deep breath as Peter pulled another shard out of his palm, considering where to start.
"Well…after you went down to get us both something to eat, we got a package. I didn't see who delivered it, but I decided to take a look and see what it was. It…it was a weird book, it didn't have a name on the cover, just a strange symbol on the front, like three tentacles spiraling out from a center point–"
"Oh, you mean this one?--"
Arthur could hear Peter picking up a book beside him, and Arthur and the voice screamed at him in unison.
"DON'T TOUCH IT!!! PUT IT DOWN!!!"
"DON'T TOUCH IT!!! PUT IT DOWN!!!"
Peter immediately dropped the book, causing it to hit the floor with a loud THUD .
The three of them were silent for a few moments before Arthur decided to continue.
"A-anyways, I decided to take a look inside… a-and…everything went dark."
Arthur decided to leave out the part where after he'd opened the book, there'd been a Deafening scream that seemed to be everywhere at once, and the blinding flash of yellow light that had probably been the cause of the broken light fixture.
"...anything else?..."
"W-well… when I woke up…I-I had lost my eyesight a-and…"
"Don't do it, Arthur–"
"Th-there's a voice in my head…H-he-... It has control of my eyes…"
"S-so wait, you're blind?"
Arthur could feel his partner waving his hand in front of his face for a few seconds, then drawing it back.
"Holy shit you are… That might also explain when your eyes became so yellow all of a sudden."
"W-wait my eyes are yellow???"
"I-I mean, not noticeably! It's more of a lighting thing, but yeah they're way more yellow than they were earlier."
Arthur sighed in annoyance as he leaned backward, covering his face with his hands in frustration.
"Arthur, it's not that bad–"
"Shut the fuck up"
"I-I didn't say anythi– ohhhh right right voice!... does…the voice have a name?"
"That I know of, no."
"If I ever had a name, I have forgotten it."
"You…you forgot your name?"
"I have forgotten a lot of things…"
"I-how?--"
"Arthur, I have lived a VERY long time… lifetimes upon lifetimes, far larger than your comprehension. Names don't matter to me."
Arthur nodded slightly and looked back up at Peter in front of him.
"He says he doesn't remember…"
"Hmm…well, we've gotta call him SOMETHING! Hmm.. maybe a…placeholder name until we figure out his actual name?"
"That…could work…"
"He says that could work…"
Arthur could hear Peter pondering it for a few seconds, before turning back to Arthur.
“Why is he grinning at us like that?--”
“How about…Canary!”
“CANARY??? REALLY???”
“...elaborate?”
“Well, they’re yellow, they’re loud, and they warn you of danger in the dark!”
“That is so dumb! I hate it–”
“I love it!”
“Fuck you, Arthur.”
Peter seemed very proud of himself, and Arthur could hear Canary audibly pouting in his mind, but at that moment, he didn't care. He just laughed along with Peter for a few moments until his partner had gotten Arthuer’s hand bandaged, and he could actually use it again.
“Well, back to the business at hand, that book.”
“The… one you told me explicitly not to touch.”
“That's the one!”
“What about it?”
Arthur propped himself up against the wall as he got up.
“Well, why was it sent to us? WHO sent it to us? I doubt someone would send us a book if there wasn’t a reason behind it…especially if something was attached to it.”
“So…you’re saying it was meant…as an attack?”
Arthur was now fully standing, reaching out desperately for something to hold onto, eventually getting ahold of the desktop next to him.
“No, not exactly, but it's possible.”
“For all we know, it could have been someone innocently sending it, not knowing that I was inside.”
“That’s a good point Canary…”
“What?”
“Oh- sorry, Canary said that it might have been a simple delivery from someone who didn’t know the book’s power.”
Peter drummed his foot on the floor for a few moments, before running back to Arthur
“What if we…just ask? I mean, you kept the wrapping right?”
“Y-yeah it should be by the door!”
Arthur could hear the sounds of Peter walking towards the door, then reaching to pick up a paper off the ground at his feet.
“Got it! Hmm…it looks like it says… Junior Dewitt Ackerman Rare Books, Arkham, Massachusetts.”
“ Ackerman Rare Books… That’s just a few blocks from here!”
“Then I guess we've got a lead! Don’t we?”
“I guess we do! Now come on, my coat is down by the front door!”
With a gust of wind, Peter was off down the hallway out of earshot.
“This is great! Maybe whoever sent that book may know a way to separate us!”
“I wouldn’t get your hopes up, Canary, But we’ll try!”
“I still hate that nickname.”
“Yeah, well, we haven't got much else to work with, so come on! Let's go!”
Arthur started to run towards the door, but almost immediately tripped over a book and landed face-first into the stained wood floor.
Canary immediately started to cackle giddily at Arthur as he slowly flipped himself over.
“Oh fuck you!”
“Hehehehehehehehhehehehehehehh.”
As he sat up, Arth slowly pushed himself to his feet once again, careful to not step on any other loose objects around him.
“Well, clearly this isn’t going to work if only one of us can see… Peter can help us but, I’m going to need you to be my eyes, at least until we can...get some answers.”
Canary was silent for a few moments, before finally relenting.
“...Fine, but don’t think I’m happy about this.”
“Oh, I thought as much.”
“Oh, I also think you should know, there’s a large, tattooed man standing at the door staring at us.”
“Oh fuck-”
Arthur turned to stare in the direction that he ASSUMED the door was, where he could hear a deep, rumbling voice calling to him.
“Hey there, are..are you doing alright?”
“Arthur, do you know this man?--”
“Oh, Eddie! Hi! I didn’t know you were coming today!”
“Yeah, sorry about the lack of notice. I heard some commotion up here…everything alright?”
“Oh, It’s alright Eddie! I was just rearranging some things, and a bookshelf fell over. We’ve got it handled now!”
“Ah, well that's good. I’ve been meaning to stop by anyways, and check on things that need some maintenance. I’ve gotten some complaints of leaky pipes.”
“O-oh, well by all means come on in!”
“Arthur, what are you doing???”
“What? It’s not like he's going to do anything–”
“The BOOK Arthur!!! It's right in the middle of the floor!!!”
“Still! I doubt he’s going to touch it!”
“ARTHUR! He’s looking RIGHT. AT. IT.”
“Oh fuck-”
“Hm, I think you missed one…or a few, I can help if you’d like!”
Arthur nervously walked forward, trying not to step on more books as he walked.
“U-uhm that's- that’s really not necessary Eddie!”
“Nono, I insist!”
“ARTHUR HE’S REACHING DOWN FOR IT!”
“U-uhm Eddie! Please don’t touch that one! We kinda need it!”
“I’m not gonna steal it! I’m just going to put it back on the shelf”
“ARTHUR!!!”
“I’M FUCKING TRYING”
Arthur hissed at Canary under his breath as he took another tentative step forward.
“What was that?”
“O-oh nothing Eddie!”
“He’s grabbing it by the spine, pulling it up towards his face– ARTHUR! FUCKING DO SOMETHING!”
“E-Eddie, could you please put that one down? I-”
Eddie looked down at Arthur, his breath flowing down the blonde’s face as he looked back at the book.
“Oh, come on, I just want to take a peek!”
“ARTHUR YOU FUCKING DUMBASS STOP! HIM!”
With a sudden surge of courage, Arthur grabbed onto the muscular man’s arm, holding a firm, authoritative grasp to make sure his point got across in the way he intended and looked up into (what he hoped) were Eddie’s eyes.
“ Alright, listen here, Ed. I don’t give a fuck what you think you need to do in here. You have two options that I’m going to give you only once: you can get the fuck out of my office and come back when I am good and ready to let you or I can pull you out of this office by the greasy hair on the back of your neck and kick your fucking teeth in.”
The two stared into each other’s faces for a few moments, even without his sight, Arthur could tell from the way Eddie was huffing into Arthur’s face that he’d poked the bear with the hot end of the rod iron and that he was about to get the bear’s claws.
He slammed the strange book down firmly onto Arthur’s desk and looked back at the blonde.
“Now listen here, you limey piece of shit.”
Eddie clearly seemed to be holding back a lot of his fury boiling just below the surface.
“No one talks to me like that. You better hope and pray that I don’t see you again.”
He then stormed out of Arthur’s office, slamming the door as he went.
Arthur stood in the middle of the office, panting heavily as he looked between where the door had slammed, and where his hand should be.
“Holy shit… ARTHUR! Go into the bathroom! Now! I want to look at you in the mirror.”
Legs still violently shaking, He complied, following Canary’s instructions as he went. As he clutched at the bathroom sink, he looked up into the mirror in front of them. Canary sounded very excited as he looked at the reflection.
“
Oh, ARTHUR!
You can’t see this… but you have the cold, calculated demeanor of someone not to
FUCK
with!!!”
Arthur smiled and laughed nervously as he looked at the mirror he couldn’t see.
“Well, if there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I don’t like to get pushed around. Now come on! Peter is probably waiting for us at the door!”
Canary sounded very excited as they walked toward the door, and Arthur was filled with a new sense of determination and excitement. Things may be a bit different, now that he didn’t have his sight, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He was on a case, and once Arthur got on a trail, neither heaven nor earth could stop him.
Though…
perhaps they should have…