Revelation
Word count: 926
Warnings: crashout/mental breakdown
Comments: proof of just how not okay Goggles is in Trapped in Shadows.
Goggles pushed through the coffee shop door. The ringing of the door’s bell alerted the jellyfish patiently cleaning the counter, causing him to look up at Goggles.
“Welcome to Coffee RPO,” the jellyfish said. “Can I take your order?”
Goggles scanned the menu. Despite the menu’s size, he didn’t feel like having anything it advertised. “I don’t know. Just give me whatever you think I’d deserve.”
The jellyfish gave a slight nod with an odd expression. “...Okay. Will do.”
“Thanks…” Goggles took a brief glance at the nametag on the jellyfish’s nametag. “Jeffery. I’ll be over here.” He loosely gestured to his destination, a row of cushioned stools by another part of the counter.
Once he sat down, Goggles folded his arms on the countertop and let his head drop on top of them. It had been too long and too punishing a week. He’d barely scraped out a victory for Team Chaos in the Final Fest, only to be forced into a deal for the fate of Inkopolis. And even with how hard he’d fought to keep everyone safe, he still doomed Team Supreme King to be trapped and replaced by their shadows because he’d been too stupid to realize what his shadow meant by “Winners stay, losers leave”. “I got my friends hurt again. I got Rider hurt again, just like in the Metro. He doesn’t deserve me. None of them do.” Each memory caused tears to well up in his eyes.
Goggles felt a tapping on the back of his head, and looked up to see Jeffery pushing a cup and spoon towards him with a concerned expression. “Are you okay?” the jellyfish asked.
Goggles wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to put on a smile. “I- I’m fine. I promise.” he responded, examining the contents of the cup. He could see two scoops of bright white vanilla ice cream. The top scoop had been drizzled in chocolate syrup and coffee, with the latter pooling in the bottom of the cup.
Jeffery gave Goggles a suspicious look before returning to cleaning. Goggles began plunging the spoon repeatedly into the cup, breaking apart the smooth ice cream and mixing it with the coffee and chocolate. Then, he spooned a soaked chunk of ice cream into his mouth. Oddly, with how fast his mind was racing, he could barely process the warm, bitter coffee and cold, sweet ice cream. Still, he allowed it to melt in his mouth before eating another spoonful.
The doorbell rang again, and Goggles could see Jeffery slide away from the top of his vision. “Welcome to Coffee RPO.” Jeffery announced to the new customer. “Can I take your order?”
The customer took in a breath before firing off his order. “A grande-light ice-two pump white chocolate-matcha latte-upside down-with 10 pumps of vanilla, crushed pistachios, crushed cookies, and extra whipped cream!” Goggles recognized the voice: it was Vintage; well, Vintage’s shadow, to be correct. A brief glance proved him correct: the rounded tentacle-cut and neon cyan and purple jacket matched, even though Goggles knew it wasn’t the same soul.
Jeffery sighed, and Goggles could feel the heaviness weighing down on himself too. After all, he was the one who caused it. If he hadn’t rushed into that deal, Jeffery wouldn’t have to deal with such a big order because Vintage wouldn’t have been replaced with that chatty double. Another tear ran down Goggles’ cheek and fell into his ice cream.
Shadow Vintage seemed to notice Goggles too, and quickly walked over to the side counter before climbing onto the stool next to him. Goggles only barely heard his friendly greeting, and tuned out the entire ramble that followed. Or at least, he would have if not for something in it that caught his attention.
“Ya’ know, Shadow Goggles said something about using his original’s idiocy- his words, not mine- to get us out. I didn’t think it would be that easy, I knew he’s pretty strong, but hey! He was right, and here I am now.”
Goggles lifted his head and turned towards Shadow Vintage. “...How did he say he’d use my idiocy?”
For the first time, Shadow Vintage seemed hesitant to say anything. “I… don’t really remember? Something about making a deal and slipping the possibility of some of us being free?”
“So…” Goggles felt his body heating up with anger as the truth ran through his mind. “My shadow, knowing I wouldn’t look deeper into the deal, tricked me into giving up my friends, and then left me to believe it was my fault?!”
“That- that sounds correct.” Shadow Vintage said with a scared expression.
Goggles took a breath to try to stabilize himself. One train of thought rose to the surface: “Shadow me did this. Shadow me should pay for this. I’ll make shadow me pay for this.” He felt a laugh escape: starting out small and choked, but growing into a burst of emotion greater than any Splashdown could produce. He glimpsed Jeffery placing a cup of light greenish liquid on the counter before sliding away to a door marked “Staff Only”, while Shadow Vintage attempted to add his own awkward chuckle before trailing off.
Finally, he let his laughter trail off. He leaned forward and placed both his hands on Shadow Vintage’s shoulders, causing the duplicate to flinch away. “Thanks. Thanks so much. I know what to do now, and it’ll be much more useful than just moping around.” He stood up and walked out of the stunned cafe with one last cheery wave.
