PAINT CANS. [II AU]

10: guilt's assualt

There, stood Paintbrush ominously standing in front of the door.

"Paintbrush, what the fuck are you doing here?!" She seethed in rage, gritting her teeth. "I know what you did to Fan." She added on. Paintbrush's neutral expression melted into a cold frown, and they deeply sighed.

"Test Tube, please, just listen to me." They softly spoke. Test Tube stared at Paintbrush in disgust.

"No." Test Tube's voice was like a stab, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Please..." Paintbrush begged the scientist. "Please don't tell anyone, I'm begging..." Paintbrush was close to tearing up. They lightly smiled.

"Paintbrush did you not hear me, I said no, your guilt tripping isn't going to fucking work." the scientist hissed.

Paintbrush's smile shifted into a frown. "Test Tube, I don't want to do this." They warned her, their tone shifting to irritated.

Test Tube picked up on this threat and went into flight or fight mode. She knew something was coming and didn't want to be caught off guard. "Go fuck yourself Paintbrush, you're done for." Test Tube growled, her tone radiating anger. Paintbrush stood there quietly, staring at Test Tube.

"I didn't want to force my hand, Test Tube." Their voice dripped with venom.

Paintbrush jumped at Test Tube, Test Tube reacted quickly to this and punched them before Paintbrush could tackle her. The artist groaned in pain. They fell knees onto the floor and held their face.

They realized their nose was bleeding when they lifted their hand away. Test tube tried to run out of the security room before Paintbrush quickly snatched her ankle causing her to yelp and fall over, getting dragged back by Paintbrush.

Paintbrush pinned down the scientist onto the floor, only to be hit in the gut sharply by Test Tube's elbow, causing them to cuss out in pain giving Test Tube an escape opportunity.

Test Tube tried to crawl away, fighting Paintbrush to escape by grabbing their hair and slamming them into the ground. Paintbrush knocked off Test Tube's glasses by shoving her into a wall, giving them an advantage since Test Tube needed them to see properly.

Test Tube hastily searched for her glasses but looked up to see Paintbrush holding a blunt object. Paintbrush hit Test Tube's temple with the thing causing her to black out cold onto the floor.

The artist started to control their breathing, tossing the object to the side as they were wide-eyed.

Paintbrush wiped their bloody nose with their knuckles, and the artist quietly cackled and relaxed their eyelids. "I'm sorry." They taunted her unconscious body.

If Paintbrush was being honest, Test Tube put up a good fight before eventually getting smacked upside the head with a metal chair, unlike Fan who didn't have any reaction time before being stabbed brutally.

Paintbrush groaned, and they massaged their bruises. Paintbrush didn't have much time, they needed to deal with Test Tube's body somehow.

The artist needed to do something first.

Paintbrush changed the password on the security monitor to an unguessable amount of random letters and numbers so nobody could look at the footage. They also took off and crumbled the sticky note.

Paintbrush carried the unconscious scientist over their shoulder, grabbing the metal chair and some spare cable wire in their other hand that was laying aside. Paintbrush walked outside into the cold night with Test Tube and the items still in hand.

They tossed the items and Test Tube into their trunk and slammed the door shut. Paintbrush drove off into the night back to the one place they visited.

The off-trail forest.

Lightbulb drove back from her job to the hotel. She was in a lousy mood especially from Paintbrush breaking up with her and not giving her a proper response. Lightbulb focused on the road, seeing cars pass by.

That's until she saw a very familiar car pass by her, Paintbrush's car.

Lightbulb paused mentally to think.

She needed to give them a piece of her mind.

Paintbrush took a turn. The road into the wilderness was crowded with trees next to it. It wasn't welcoming but it was somewhere they needed to be.

Paintbrush slowed down. They remembered this area of the forest, and they looked to their side to see an off-trail car path. They drove off into the secluded path. The place where Fan's remains were buried.

When Test tube woke up, she noticed she was tied up by wire cables to a chair. She started to struggle but her efforts were met with failure.

Test Tube started to panic, her eyes darting around, but she couldn't see anything until a blurry bright light was shined into her eyes. She realized this was a car due to the engine rumble. Paintbrush stepped out of the vehicle.

Test Tube squinted, and her eyes widened. "Oh my god." Her voice croaked. "Where the fuck are we Paintbrush?" Test Tube shouted.

"Calm down for a damn minute." Paintbrush irritably responded.

"How the hell can I be calm when this is all your damn fault?!" Test Tube's voice cracked. The artist sarcastically laughed. "You think I wanted this? Fucking hell no! This isn't my fault, I tried to explain to you but you kept shutting me down." They snapped at Test Tube.

Test Tube mentally had a question mark over her head. She sighed. "Explain." Test Tube spoke out, and Paintbrush took a deep breath.

"I think Lightbulb sent Fan to yell at me for accidentally killing her pet crab, I was dealing with my father's passing and my constant depressive episodes." Their voice spoke calmly. "I didnt mean to kill Baxter!" Paintbrush exclaimed.

"What did you do with Fan after that?" Test Tube questioned them, hanging her head low.

Paintbrush whipped their head towards Test Tube. "Buried, right below us." Paintbrush bluntly responded.

Test Tube began to sob, her vision becoming more blurry.

Paintbrush didn't know how to respond, a little part of them wanted to spare Test Tube, but they had no empathy nor remorse, their head was so messed up.

They would kill to stay with him if it meant saving their own ass and reputation.

The idea of Lightbulb ruining their life ate their psyche. They felt so correct in their head.

Paintbrush and Test Tube shot up, hearing a car approaching.

Both had opposite reactions.