Work Text:
Normally Reginald Copperbottom was the type of person who would scoff at the thought of waking up for some messy midnight snack, being too dignified as the leader of the Toppat Clan to be say, shoving shredded cheese into his mouth while sitting in some corner like a certain right hand of his.
But the Toppat Leader had been so focused on new paper work and starting his space station project that sleep and food had sort of taken a backburner these past few days, and those needs now had started knocking on his body.
So Reginald begrudgingly started his way from his office through the long corridor of Toppat Leader portraits, his stomach letting out a mighty growl as an errie chill tickled his spine.
"Have you ever thought about a world where everything is exactly the same...
Except you don't exist?"
An undignified yelp came from Reginald's mouth as he jumped, looking around to see who whispering just now.
"Everything functions perfectly without you...
Ha, ha, ha...
The thought terrifies me."
"Who said that!", Reginald demanded, on guard for whoever was trying to mess with him.
At first nothing else was said, but the hallway then turned cold, with smoke somehow coming from one of the portraits further away.
Reginald wasn't sure what type of prank was being pulled on him, but he was going to find out, trying to hide his shivering body that was totally from the sudden temperature change and not from nerves.
"It makes sense why a new leader rose up to lead after so long with Suave.
After all, the strongest one Sir Wilford the IV.
What an act to follow!"
It seemed that the closer Reginald got to that portrait, the louder the strange voices were.
"They say he saved the Toppat Clan.
However his life was... cut short.
One day something happened and...
Will Reginald end up the same way?"
Reginald just shook his head, he didn't want to think about Sir Wilford IV of all people, especially not here and not now.
But this strange event had other ideas.
"Reginald might work fast but the old leader, Sir Wilford the IV?
One day he vanished without a trace, some say he shattered across time and space.
How can we say so without fear?
Because a part of him is near."
Now Reginald couldn't hide his nerves, stopping in front of the very portrait of Sir Wilford IV that was still bellowing smoke outside somehow.
"Only one other person knows what happened that day to Wilf...", Reginald thought to himself as he stood before this supernatural portrait. "...and Vinschpinsilstien left the clan years ago to live in some rinky boat so nobody should've known what happened.
So how did someone find out-"
Reginald's thought screeched to a halt as Sir Wilford IV himself flew from the portrait, looking at Reginald with a strange curiosity before speaking.
"You shouldn't gossip in silence...
After all, it's rude to talk about someone who's listening."
Reginald almost fell over backwards, stumbling backwards to the wall behind him, breathing heavily as this strange Wilford let out an almost ghostly laugh.
"Dark...
Darker...
Yet darker.
The darkness keeps growing, the shadows cutting deeper."
Reginald shut his eyes closed and desperately covered his ears, trying not to remember about those times and drown out this strange haunting visage of the former Toppat Leader.
But Wilford continued undeterred.
"Photon readings negative.
This next experiment seems very, very interesting.
...
What do you two think?"
Memories flashed through Reginald's mind like lightning, of him and Dr. V in the deepest parts of the Airship, of helping Wilford with his weird experiments, of the three once hopeful that they could make sure that no Toppat was ever injured again and that they would one day be free from any Governments.
And memories of explosions and gemstones shattering, of scars and arguments that maybe this wasn't the way and finally those memories of that fateful day, the day Sir Wilford IV disappeared without a trace and a friendship shattered.
Reginald wanted to scream out, he didn't want to remember all this, he just wanted to move on from that past and protect the Toppat Clan the best he could.
He wanted all this to stop!
...
The silence felt deafening at first.
But Reginald eventually opened his eyes, seeing the Toppat Leader hallway the way it should be, feeling the deep chill having lifted and hearing or seeing no Wilford floating around to haunt him.
The Toppat Leader let out a sigh of relief as he quickly dusted himself off, taking deep breaths to compose himself.
"It was just a bad hallucination from a lack of sleep.", Reginald thought to himself, deciding to just skip the midnight snack and go straight to bed for some very clearly needed sleep.
As Reginald started making his way back to his room, he heard a faint but deep rumble of laughter behind him and a whisper in his ear.
"Denying the past will get you nowhere...
After all, I see all that you have done and all that you will do...
And if you aren't careful... the Toppats will crumble and burn because of your actions...
Don't forget."
Reginald didn't dare to turn back, hastening his pace and trying to think about anything else.
After all these were just hallucinations, and Reginald knew that the Toppat Clan was safe in his hands.
Reginald so very much hoped that he was right...