So I decided to write a little scene concept for TIODM og roleswap au for fun, specifically one that details Gunths betraying Howard and all of the sadness that comes along with it :)
Potential spoilers below:
I imagine the scene plays out first with Howard, having snuck out of the manor with his collection of evidence and letter addressed to Phillip in his grasp, is hiding amongst foliage while watching Morose conversing with Gunths, who has just arrived to deliver supplies to the island.
Gunths asks if he should help Morose carry the crates to the manor, but the 'good' doctor turns him down, claiming that he doesn't want to trouble the old sailor anymore than necessary. After all, it is late at night and if Gunths isn't going to stay for the night then he should be getting home soon.
After Morose left, and Gunths is about to depart, that's when Howard comes running up to him and begs and pleads for a ride home.
Gunths doesn't look enthused or accepting of the idea though at first, it was so late and he just wants to get home now...until Howard presents the evidence he gathered. He still seems hesitant at first, but in the end lets Howard aboard his boat, receiving much thanks in return.
Howard thinks this was it, the final stretch before things will be over and done with. Sure, he may never get another place of employment after this considering his...condition, as some people have so distastefully pointed out, and Phillip will be very upset to know that the doctor they both admired wasn't a good person, but he can't in good conscious let this unethical treatment to continue, so no more people can become horrifying hybrids not of their own free will. The authorities have to be alerted.
Perhaps while on the way back to mainland, Gunths offers a drink of water from a water canister or bottle. He looks...nervous, face pale and looking like he can't stay still for a moment longer.
Howard though, throat dry from the small self neglect with how busy he was documenting evidence, and dismissing it as nothing to worry about, takes a sip.
The water tastes...weird. Maybe it's just because he hasn't had much in the past few days but it...doesn't...it doesn't...
...why is everything...why are his eyes...so...tired?
Howard collapses to the floor of the boat, and Gunths, with a heavy weight on his heart and mind, turns the boat around.
When the boat reaches the docks of the island again, Morose comes back out, revealing he never really left the area. He sees Gunths carrying an unconscious Howard in his arms, and the evidence he has and the letter too. Howard himself was gagged by a cloth tied around his mouth in addition to having his wrists restrained behind his back as were his ankles.
Morose praises the old sailor for bringing back the idiot in the brown hat, claiming that he will be compensated fairly for his troubles. Gunths can't really look at Morose in the eye as he hands the evidence and letter over first, with Morose disposing of them in a trash bag he brought along, intending to burn it to ash later.
And while this conversation goes on, Howard stirs awake. There wasn't enough of whatever sleeping agent that had been added to the water to knock him out for at least another hour or so.
When he wakes up, he finds that he's back on the island, tied up and silenced, and without the evidence he gathered or the letter he was going to give to Phillip when he gives the evidence to the authorities.
To say that he didn't take this well would be an understatement.
Howard looks back and forth between Morose and Gunths, hoping that this was all a bad dream he's having and that he actually fell asleep on the boat and that- that none of this is real.
But it was real. He's not delusional enough to get himself to believe a lie when reality is staring at him in the face.
Gunths can't bear to look at him in the eye.
Morose shakes his head, stating his disappointment towards Howard's acts of treachery. He then says that he will be punished accordingly for trying to ruin everything, and one of the details of his punishment includes having a new room to call home in the manor, tailored specifically for Howard and his 'correction'.
Morose even goes as far as to say that this was all Howard's fault. If he had just learned his place and continued his work, then he wouldn't have to resort to this. But he's left him with no choice. And after he says his piece, he orders Gunths to hand him over and then he can go home and his reward will be delivered to him soon.
Howard shakes his head, looking at Gunths with wide, pleading eyes as muffled cries and begging left him. He begs for Gunths to not do this, that he can't do this. He struggles against his restraints to no avail, his only hope for a true escape was for Gunths to have a change of heart.
Gunths sighs.
"I'm sorry." He says, and Howard felt his heart shatter at those words as he's handed off to Morose.
Howard still continued to try and plead with Gunths, now a lot more desperate as he desperately tries to get him to do something, anything that isn't leaving him in the hands of this monster.
Morose, having had enough of Howard's 'whining', pulls out a syringe and injects him with a sleeping agent to keep him quiet while also protecting his brain and head from harm.
And before Howard's consciousness faded away once again, he sees Gunths look away from him, knowing full well of what will be done to him in that manor will be anything but pretty.
