The car rumbled smoothly across the road, allowing Carmen to nap more-or-less peacefully. Every once and a while, the voice of the GPS would pierce her sleep, but she quickly brushed it off and drift off to sleep again.
She had started off pretty awake, gazing out the window and talking to Gray, all while listening to whatever song came onto the radio. But she was still drowsy and it became a struggle for her to keep her eyelids open for any extended amount of time and she ended up falling asleep. Gray had noticed, of course, and had turned down the music and tried to drive as carefully as he could so she would sleep fine.
Truth be told, Gray was still a little tired too. The fact that they had left so early in the morning accompanied with the several flights he had taken in the past week alone had left him a little tired and worn-out. But, despite all that, he had insisted on driving because he knew however tired he felt, Carmen was twice as tired.
He didn't envy Carmen. No, certainly not. He knew it couldn't be easy for her right now. There was no easy way to recover from what she went through. Gray could relate on some level since he also knew what it was like to have your memories stolen, but even then, he hadn't been manipulated into joining VILE.
No, he had joined willingly. He sneered a bit in disgust at the thought. He never would have if he knew what they were capable of. But, no, he chose to go back to them and it was his own damn fault.
He remembered that day in the Himalayas and imagined what he would've done differently.
He had been angry, yeah, he remembered that anger at learning what VILE did to him. It had almost felt like a violation to know that someone else had gotten inside his head and started messing around with his memories and personality and everything. Once that happens, how could he possibly know which thoughts were his own and which were VILE's? How could he trust himself? How could he even know himself? No, he didn't know who he was or what he wanted at that moment. So, he turned to the last thing he knew he had wanted before VILE fucked around with his memories.
So, when he heard Carmen say, "Gray? We have to move" from behind him, he latched onto VILE and betrayed her.
"The name is-"
"Graham. I know, I know." Carmen interjected.
"No," he activated the crackle rod in his hand, feeling its familiar hum. "It's Crackle."
Her eyes still haunted him.
A/N:
The chapter title is from Tear in my Heart, I think. I know it's by Twenty One Pilots. but I haven't actually listened to them since middle school, really.