Carmen's headquarters was impressive, Gray had to admit. Though, it did seem kind of lonely. It was a big building and not a lot of people actually inhabited it. But, it did provide a lot of space for Gray to explore.
Carmen had shown him the basics, of course. So he was familiar with the location of the kitchen and bedrooms and stuff, but he was kind of curious, so he decided to explore the rest of the complex.
Well, curiosity was not the only reason. There was some guilt behind it too.
He generally tried to forget the carnival in Vienna, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to right some wrongs.
So, Gray found Zack in the living room, watching TV while slouched on the couch.
Gray leaned against the edge of the couch before he began to speak, "Uhh, hey. Can I talk to you about something?"
Attention grabbed, Zack lowered the volume on the TV, "Yeah, sure. Is this about Carm?"
"No," was Gray's first response before he continued after a moment of hesitation, "Well, yes. Kind of."
Zack muted the TV completely, sitting up a bit straighter, "What's this about?"
Gray shut his eyes for a half-moment, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, about the carnival."
"Oh, yeah."
"I'm sorry. If I knew what Carmen would try to do, I-" He hesitated, "Would've stopped her. I would've done things differently." He finished limply. "I considered turning the Ferris wheel back on, but I didn't really think that would help."
"You were the one who turned off the Ferris wheel?"
"Yeah," Gray averted his eyes.
Zack slouched back into the couch, "Yeah, it's cool."
"It's cool?" Gray echoed, a bit disbelieving.
"Yeah. I don't blame you. It wasn't your fault, ya know." Zack elaborated before continuing, "It's not Carm's fault either."
"Yeah," Gray agreed, nodding as he slouched. "I don't think she remembers."
"She doesn't?"
"Messing with memories is messy," Gray stated lamely. "You don't really remember everything at once." He sighed deeply, "I don't know how to tell her. Crikey, I don't want to tell her."
He knew, deep down, that she deserved to know.
A/N:
So Gray still feels pretty guilty. If you're wondering why Gray is doing so much better than Carmen, it's because Gray has had a life outside of VILE. He knows who he is. He just feels guilty. Carmen, on the other hand, has been associated with VILE for her entire life, and now VILE's gone. So, she is going through an identity crisis while dealing with the guilt and after-effects of the mind-control.
The title is from Pat the Bunny's song of the same name.