Timeline note: Set between the shredding of Boo's door and the epilogue of MI.
Rating: T for dark stuff. (At least references to torture, but maybe more; haven't decided yet.)
"Don't tell him that, Celia!"
The faint voice dragged him out of his feverish illusions. Slowly blinking his eye open, he recognized reality for what it was, and tried to leave the cackling and clanking in his dreams behind. In fact, it was quiet in the room, completely silent except for the agitated voices drifting over from the adjacent one.
"Sulley, look, I know you feel guilty about this, but…"
"Guilty doesn't cut it. I left him to die! Some friend I am!"
"…but I'm sure he'd want to know."
This was not his own room, Mike realized. It was Celia's. And this was her bed - he recognized the smell. Not that he had never woken up here, mind you, but why was it so cold? Celia did not like temperatures as low as this.
"He's too weak right now. After everything that happened, the least I can do is not to burden him with something like this."
He tried to get up to turn off the air conditioning, but then he remembered the energy crisis, and that the current situation at Monsters Inc had exacerbated it. All households were advised to save energy as much as possible. The air conditioning was off. But then why was it so cold?
"You mean all you can do is not to lie to him!"
Only now did he realize that he had never actually made it out of bed. His body had just stayed down and refused to do what it was told. Weakly raising one hand to his forehead, he could feel it burning up even before he touched it. The room was not cold at all. It was just that he was in some sort of horrible condition.
And then it all came back to him. The Himalayas. Forcing himself through the days after that. His vision getting hazier. Losing consciousness.
"It's not lying, Celia! I'm gonna tell him, just not yet!"
Now he understood that they were arguing about him. What was it Sulley could not tell him? The mere thought was ridiculous. They told each other everything.
On the second try, he made it out of bed somehow, and when the world had stopped tilting, he wobbled over to the door that had been left slightly ajar, and into the hallway.
"You shouldn't have to deal with that alone! He wouldn't want you to!"
Their voices were indeed coming from the kitchen, so he made his way there, clutching the wall for support, and smiled when he heard Sulley's reply drifting through the open kitchen door, one that was infinitely calmer than the argument that had preceded it.
"But I'm not alone, Celia! You're there, and the guys, and even mom! And my colleagues are all…"
"Employees, Sulley!"
"Er, right. My employees are all very supportive. They know we're gonna pull through. We just need a bit of time."
"Pull through what?" Mike mumbled when he reached the kitchen.
The way they both flinched was actually kind of amusing. They had not expected him to join the conversation. For a moment, they both stared at him, but then Celia shook her head with a wry smile and approached him.
"Googley Bear, you should be in bed," she scolded, leaning over him in some sort of motherly gesture. "Don't you worry, Sulley's got things under control."
Credit where credit was due - she did not just betray Sulley's trust before she had convinced him that Mike did need to know whatever it was that was wrong.
"Didn't sound like it," he slurred, blinking to keep her in focus.
Celia sent an apologetic look back over her shoulder, but Sulley did not seem angry. Which was good, Mike supposed; he did not want this argument to escalate into an actual fight, especially not for his sake.
Sulley also came over and placed a hand on Mike's forehead, obviously to check his temperature. "Don't worry, Mikey, things are just a little hectic at the company. It's the inevitable pitfalls of a change in management, unfamiliarity with the new type of work… stuff like that."
"Sul," Mike huffed, batting his friend's hand away like he would an annoying insect, "I might be sick, but I'm not an idiot. If it was just that…" He paused, blinking again until the haze had cleared. "If it was just that," he then repeated, a little more slowly, "there would be no reason why you couldn't tell me."
Sulley sighed. "Why are you always so stubborn?"
"I'm not," Mike deadpanned, not missing the irony.
They both chuckled at his snarkiness, and Sulley gave him a playful nudge. "Your sense of humor is back," he observed.
"Never lost it," Mike quipped, then crossed his arms. "Well?"
Sulley rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, fine, it's just a little hitch with technology, okay? Laughter is a little, well, a little more, er, powerful than we had thought. But don't worry, everyone's fine. I just… it's…" Again, he sighed. "Well, let's just say that when you're back on your feet… I'm gonna need your help," he finally muttered.
Ah, that was why Sulley had wanted to keep him out of the loop.
It would be up to him to fix the mess.
Note: This is the prologue to my next multi-chapter story, and yes, it's the one I announced in Volte-Face. The rest of it is not written yet, so updates will be slow. To stay up-to-date, as usual, just put me on author alert or follow my Twitter account UntoldStoriesMU.