Cg29 asks for Day 12 With Virgil. I picked the prompt Red.

Characters: Virgil, Scott, Gordon, Grandma, John, Brains

Warnings: Non-graphic eye injury

The villa wouldn't have registered the explosion, thank goodness, or Scott would be over to Mateo faster than he could launch One. The earthquake-proofing Brains had designed and installed in the villa made Virgil sigh in relief. He did not need to give Scott another reason for more grey hairs.

Of course that reasoning was majorly flawed, which Virgil realised as John materialised beside him. Scott joined him seconds later.

'Virgil, Five is registering an explosion. Are you alright?'

'Virgil, the lights flickered. Is everything alright?'

He groaned inwardly and almost immediately jumped as a hand landed on his shoulder.

'V-V-Virgil, are you al-al-alright?'

Damn, how had he forgotten that Brains was also on Mateo?

The two of them were taking advantage of a lull in rescues to check over the generators and other systems Mateo housed. They didn't need much maintenance fortunately, there was an army of bots for that, but the two engineers tried to get over here at least every three months just to give the place a check over.

Today's maintenance visit had been going well until five minutes ago. A yellow alert had sounded on the scanner but before Virgil could cross the floor to the transformer in question the yellow had flashed red and warning signs flashed up.

And as Virgil had glanced up the transformer had exploded.

God, it was bright. Too bright. Usually Virgil would be wearing at the very least googles or at the most a welder's helmet if he was working near the transformers just in case, but they hadn't yet examined them so his goggles were still in the toolbox.

He'd been far enough away that the blast only just knocked him off his feet, and he'd picked himself up and was brushing himself down when Brains had rushed in.

Brains made him sit so he could check his eyes out as John and Scott watched.

'Brains, I know it was bright, but my eyes are fine. I can see by brothers hovering over your shoulder.'

'I kn-kn-know that you think your eyes are f-f-fine, Virgil, b-b-but that light c-c-could have done some serious d-d-damage. Y-Y-You know that.'

He did. He did know that and so he submitted to the examination with a small sigh. Virgil was an engineer and a medic – and he was not ashamed to say this was not his first eye injury from arc welding, he'd been a learner once.

'I c-c-can tell you c-c-can't see me c-c-clearly, Virgil.'

Virgil's shoulders dropped. Brains was right. He couldn't see him clearly now, nor John and Scott. He winced at their joint sharp intake of breath. He'd been fine at first but as Brains examined him his eyes had begun to water and his vision was dimming by the second.

'Guys, I'm alright. It will take a couple of days for the retina's to be back to normal in a couple of days. This isn't the first time I've had arc eye, and I know that we've got the eye drops at home. Honestly, I'll be fine.'

In the end it was Grandma that settled the matter. Virgil was treated with the eye drops and told to rest for 48 hours and then they'd see if he needed further treatment. Gordon and Scott helped Brains fix the transformer, where a short circuit was found to be at fault. Thankfully their father had always erred on the side of caution and the results of a lost transformer on the villa was negligible.

Unlike his older brothers, Virgil could be relied upon to actually do as he was instructed when it came to his health, and he mostly slept for the required time. Some of that time he was aware of one or other of his brothers sitting with hi, and they chatted easily in the dim light of his room.

By the time his recovery time was up Virgil felt more rested than he had for a long time.

Joining his brothers for an early lunch lifted his spirits even more, but the highlight of his first day of freedom was afterwards, when he, Scott and Gordon took the slow route down to the hangars. He hadn't needed to ask; they all knew Virgil would visit his 'bird before he went to the infirmary.

God, he never tired of the sight of her.

With Scott's hand on his shoulder and a knowing nudge from Gordon, Virgil walked under Two and placed a hand on her frame, barely touching the green Cahelium before running his fingers lightly along her hull.

Then he frowned.

Virgil stepped closer to her hull, almost touching his nose to her paintwork, frowning the entire time.

'Virg?'

'Virgil? What's wrong?'

'She's wrong. Her colour. She's brown, Scott! She's brown!'

Scott strode forward and pulled his brother into a tight hold, moving him away from having Two in his eyesight and nodding to Gordon. Virgil was shaking and mumbling to himself about Two being brown in colour. Scott's worry only increased as he took in the pristine green cargo plane.

It was Gordon who called for their Grandma. As he and Scott got Virgil out of the hangar and on their way to the infirmary he filled her in on what had happened and he saw the moment of recognition.

The journey from hangar to infirmary was by necessity short, but to Scott and Gordon it had never felt so long. But eventually they arrived and sat Virgil on one of the beds, Scott perching beside him and Gordon sat behind him with a hand on his shoulder.

Sally gently lifted her trembling Grandson's chin and looked into his eyes. They were still slightly red and wet but outwardly they did look better than when Virgil had returned from Mateo directly after the accident.

'Ok, Kiddo. We're going to get you over to the mainland and get your eyes checked out more thoroughly. John?'

'On it, Grandma.'

'Gordon, get. Two ready please. Scott, you help Virgil to his 'bird.'

'Grandma?'

'Yes, Virgil?'

'Everything looks normal but red. Like I'm looking at the world through a red-tinted lens.'

She patted his hand. Virgil wasn't one to like platitudes and false reassurances, even though her heart ached to give him some comfort. Sally looked at the horror on Scott's face as he tightened the arm around his brother's shoulders. But at Virgil's next words both their hearts shattered

'What if I'm like this forever?'