a dark bedroom. the walls are painted black. there are no lights on. it is silent. a figure on the bed. the head of x-sector.

oblivion, most called him. scary! everyone else did. abnormally tall with an offputting, stern attitude, oblivion was an imposing figure when awake. 

he lay flat on his back. his expression near-relaxed. his long hair, which he usually kept braided while he slept, had managed to un-braid itself. and was gently flowing around his sleeping figure. as if he was underwater. extended wormhole exposure was starting to have an adverse effect on his body.

oblivions hair falls flat against the bed as he stirs. it's 6am. on the dot. oblivion has always been very punctual. he rises out of bed. starts his morning routine. 

step 1. make bed. step 2. wash. step 3. check schedule while waiting for hair to dry. step 4. 

the phone rings in his office. 

an old rotary-style phone. orange. it's loud. he's halfway through step 4. brush hair. it's still a little wet. he picks up the phone, expecting to hear from the lord of darkness. the rest of x-sector shouldn't be up for another hour, and oblivion is only to be contacted by employees through the walkie-talkie on his belt. 

"hello. doctor warden, head of the ministry medical sector. am i speaking to mr. oblivion?"

a womans voice. one that he doesn't recognise.

"yes." he answers firmly. "what business do you have with me?"

she tuts. "i was asked to contact you by a patient. he insisted you visit as soon as possible."

a.. patient? there were only a few people who would need to see him if admitted. but so suddenly?

"what? who?"

she tuts again. disapproving. as if she expected him to know already. oblivion twitches. starting to get annoyed, now.

"the smiler. he was admitted late last night." her voice drops, just a little. hushed.

oblivion freezes. processes the information. he.. what? what? how? was he sick? oblivion had seen him only a few days ago. what could have had happened in that time?

"what.. happened?"

a hum. "i'm afraid i don't know the details, mr. oblivion."

"i'll be there. 1 hour." he speaks without really thinking.

"see you then, mr. oblivion."

the line goes dead. oblivion starts dialing a different number. 

-

oblivion had quickly managed to summon both submission and enterprise, who were to oversee x-sector duties while he was in the ministry. he didn't expect to be long. but conversing with smiler was a test of patience on a good day. and navagating the ministry was intentionally difficult. so who knows. he was to be contacted immediately if needed.

he had to rush through the rest of his routine. step 4. finish brushing hair. step 5. get dressed (quickly). he had no time for step 6. make and drink coffee. he'd just have to wait.

precisely 1 hour after the first phone call. he was in the ministrys medical sector. he had only been in the ministry a few times and had decided quickly that he hated it. the flourescent lights hurt his eyes. he only stepped foot into the place if summoned. a ministry employee had met him at the entrance from x-sector. and loathe as he would be to admit it, he wouldn't have made it through the maze-like hallways without them.

"mr. oblivion." he was greeted by another employee. the same woman on the phone. she wore a nurse-like uniform. "you're right on time."

"yes." he was always on time.

"yes. well, follow me." the warden turns. oversized syringes at her side clinking against eachother as she walks down the hall. oblivion breathes out through his nose and follows after. 

-

"unconscious, sir. our security cameras have no record of the incident, either. he just vanished."

"vanished." smiler repeats. voice hollow. his expression was hard to read. even without the mask he was wearing now. it was like a storm had come over him suddenly. 

"but i don't believe he went far. the exit alarms are operating and haven't been tripped, to my knowledge."

"check them again." smiler responds. quickly. his voice more alert. "double, triple check them."

"yes, sir."

"increase security around the exit. all eyes on and around the ministry. any suspicious activity needs to be reported. i don't want him getting out of here. if he hasn't already."

energizer opens his mouth to respond. there is a knock at the door.

"come in." smiler calls. voice sharp.

the warden cracks open the door. unphased at the intense energy currently radiating off of the smiler. "mr. oblivion is here to see you, sir."

smilers mood shifts immediately. the scary look in his eyes gone. a bit excited now.

"bring him in." :)!

doctor warden steps out of the way and oblivion ducks in in her place. he looms in the doorway. eyes on smiler for only a moment. his attention quickly falls on the other man in the room.

"..energizer."

"oblivion." energizer replies stiffly. "it's been a while."

it had been over 3 years since oblivion had seen energizer. his first apprentice, a promising student who was brimming with ideas and potential. one who had suddenly quit his job to join the ministry. RIGHT in front of oblivion! oblivion had been outraged. and the smiler had watched the whole thing. standing just behind energizer as he quit, smiling as usual. staring at oblivion. at the time oblivion had assumed smiler was silently gloating. that this was some weird way of one-upping oblivion. like it was all a game. now he isn't so sure. he thinks smiler might just be like that.

a pause. smiler is the only one who doesn't feel a little awkward. he's just watching them, again. energizer interrupts oblivion before he can say anything else.

"i was just leaving. thank you for having me, minister."

smiler hums. "thank you, energizer. update me if anything changes."

energizer nods firmly. he brushes past oblivion as he leaves. doesn't say anything to him.

oblivion glances back as energizer leaves. and then draws his attention back onto smiler. sitting upright. he was wearing a clean, white hospital gown. and a mask with a quarter chunk missing. a simple happy face smiles back at him. his right eye exposed, staring. it occurs to oblivion that he has never seen smiler without his goggles before.

"hiiii, oblivion!"

"hello. smiler."

"i'm so glad you visited. come, sit down!" he gestures to the plastic chairs just beside the bed. they look uncomfortable. oblivion sits down anyway. he's a little too tall for them.





smiler rests his chin in his hand. still staring at oblivion. "sooo.. how have you been?"

"i'm.. fine." this is a lie. but he's not about to start venting to smiler about the strange things happening to him. not when there are more pressing matters at 
hand. not when oblivion has been doing his best to ignore it all. smiler doesn't say anything. just stares. expectantly. 

"..what?"

"you have to ask me how i'm doing now."

he doesn't have to do anything. actually. but oblivion would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about what happened. he eyes the gauze wrapped around smilers head. 

"how are you doing."

that was his cue. smiler goes into a long tangent about his entire day. i think this wouldn't sound great if i wrote it as dialogue so i'm not going to. he focuses
too heavily on the mundane. doesn't even talk about what had happened to him. oblivion listens. frustrated. he holds a hand up as smiler goes into his third unrelated
tangent. 

"stop." smiler stops. "tell me why you're here. what happened to you."

"i was getting to it!"

oblivion fixes him with a hard stare. and smiler resigns himself to the short version of events. 

"one of our employees tried to destroy the marmalizer last night."

the mood shifts. just a little bit. oblivion is aware of how much the marmalizer project means to the smiler. he's seen him pour countless hours into it. watched 
the way smiler lights up at the mere mention of it. wah wah