Stranded in Paradise; Welcome Home [An II Au]

Something Old, Something New

Fan stayed silent for a bit before replying with a quiet "No. Not yet."

"Ah, I see. Maybe if I have some free time I'll give it a look-see."

Fan gulped.

"G-..Great...I suppose..."

...

...

"How's he doin' mate?" The Floor asked as he popped in with a plate of cookies. "Better than he was doing 5 minutes ago, to be honest." Pickle said, looking over at the phone. Mephone rested his head against the arm of the couch, eyes still puffed and blue from all the crying he did earlier. "Hey, Mephone...we got some cookies. You want one?" Pickle said as he picked up the plate of cookies and set them on his lap. Mephone just looked down at the cookies, slowly reaching his hand toward one, albeit shaky. With a bit of hesitance, he picked up one of the cookies and began to eat it, taking small bites. Pickle wiped some crumbs off of Mephone's face, almost like a mom wiping their child's face off.

"Yeah, I can tell. Seems he's gotten a bit more comfortable, huh?" The Floor said.

"He's still not completely recovered though...I think it'll be a while until he actually does...if...at all."

"So...what's the plan?"

"We don't really have a plan yet...Mephone's our only source of recovering everyone so...we just have to wait a bit..."

"Well..why not just try and recover them yourself? Didn't you say Mephone had that...MeLife app? You could probably recover them yourself."

"Floory, I can't recover them without Mephone's permission! I don't want him to get even more upset than he already is..."

"Oh...r-right, sorry. Then...waiting it is."

"Waiting for what?" A voice protruded from the doorway. It was Knife, standing there with a confused glare, Baxter sitting on his shoulder. "Uhhh...just...waiting for Mephone to get better! Right, Pickle?" The Floor said with an awkward laugh.

"Yeah, yeah! He'll be fine! Just...give him some time, yeah?" Pickle chuckled as he pat Mephone on the back, causing him to flinch a bit. Pickle quickly moved his hand away, muttering "sorry."

"...Recovering...what was that you said about recovering?" Knife asked, prompting the duo to just sit with realization of what they've done.

"Uhh...recovering...from the island! Yeah! We're taking our time to just...sit back and relax from the stress of the is-" The Floor said before being cut off by the kitchen knife again.

"They're dead, aren't they?"

"Oh." The Floor said.

"How did you know?" Pickle asked.

"You guys are terrible at keeping things secret. Besides, I saw Test Tube's face when Paper said they were at the hospital. Didn't believe it for a second, personally. Just didn't want to bring it up."

"Oh...Then...yes...they're..they're all gone..."

"...It's not a big deal, Y'know. Mephone couldve probably just...recovered them while back in...M-e-e-p-l-e. Wouldn't he just get the notification that someone is dead?"

"...That's a good point. Mephone, hey...did you...get any notifications while you were back...there?"

Mephone looked up at Pickle and Knife with baggy, tear-stained eyes. Taking a moment to swallow a bit of his cookie, he shook his head. "D-...Deleted..."

"...Deleted what?" The Floor asked.

"A-All...all my apps...Cobs...deleted..."

"Even the App Store?!" Pickle quietly shouted, trying not to scare Mephone. "E-...Everything...F-...Full...full...wipe..." Mephone just muttered under his breath, taking another bite of his cookie while tears rolled down his face.

"...O-Okay...this is fixable! W-We've just uhh...gotta get a manual or something, right?? Let's just...stop by Meeple  and-" The Floor smirked nervously before being cut off by Knife again. "Mephone said Meeple burned down...there's no way we could possibly find something to help fix Mephone in all of that..."

Silence rung through the room.

"They're...really...gone forever, aren't they?" The Floor asked.