It was in fact, not a short rest that Testtube woke up from. Really, she wasn't even sitting at the counter anymore, waking up to find herself in bed. She groaned as she sat up, putting one hand to her head, the other feeling around her nightstand for her glasses. Once on, she took a moment to really wake herself up, and look around. She was definitely in her room... figuring Fan must've come down while she was asleep, and brought her there... Which was nice, but-- She yanked the covers off quickly, remembering why she had fallen asleep down in her lab in the first place. She was grateful for Fan caring, but if Paintbrush were to face any medical complications while nobody was around to fix it, they would die. So she rushed back down to her lab to see... Paintbrush was just fine. They were still asleep, but stillq breathing. She would have to do a check-up on them soon, but her attention was pulled away by her notebook, which seemed to have a lot more writing in it than she remembered. Peeking at it, she found out why.
'Hey Testtube, sorry for using a page of your notebook for this but I couldn't sleep well last night considering, so I came back down here to check up and you had fallen asleep, so I figured I'd bring you back up to sleep in your room. I kept an eye on Paintbrush for a while, making sure they weren't dying or anything, but me writing this means I'm obviously not there now, I went back out to look for Lightbulb again, call me when you wake up or when you read this, please.'
Her eyes scanned the message twice, before fully processing everything, as she looked over to her phone. Maybe she would give him a call... But first, she had to refill her vial. Calling could wait just a little bit. She needed to clear up her thoughts.
--
Fan searched the woods first, checking every nook and cranny that he could find or reach, to no avail, after several hours, having left at the break of sunlight, it was now almost noon. He could only hope if she weren't in the woods, she'd... be somewhere in the city-- which... Was not great, seeing as Meeple city was massive, but... He couldn't give up now. He wasn't mad at Lightbulb, he knew nobody was, she didn't seem like she was in control anyways, so Fan figured it wasn't... entirely her fault. He just needed to find her to make sure she was okay. She left in such a hurry, and he knew she couldn't be doing well mentally after she had seen what she had done, so he didn't know if he really had much time... Though if she were to... do something dire, she would surely just be recovered back in the base, right? But Fan didn't want it to come to that. So he kept at his search, making his way out of the forest, into the city. This was when he received a phone call.
"Hello?" He kept walking as he answered.
"Hey. You told me to call when I woke up,"
Fan's slightly distraught mood seemed to improve hearing her voice, her just actually being there-- even on call seeming to make him feel just a bit better about all of this.
"Oh, yeah, I did, I just wanted to be able to check in on your end, is Paintbrush still stable?"
"Yeah-- they're fine. How's it going with your search?"
Fan sighed.
"It's um... well, She's either somewhere in the city, or worst case scenario, just completely gone, I searched the forest, and she wasn't there."
"Hm. Well... I doubt she'd be able to get past the city in her current state... I suppose here's hoping you find her..."
Silence for a bit as Fan kept walking, making sure to take note of every object he passed, and for any movement in any alleyways he passed by.
"If... Um... When you find her, please be careful. I... Don't want her hurting you too." Testtube spoke again.
"She's... not going to hurt me. I'm going to find her, and let her know we aren't angry, and everything will be fine."
"... Okay." Testtube was not entirely convinced that this was a great plan, but there wasn't much else that could be done.
"I'm... gonna try to focus on my search... I'll call you back if I find her, okay? Call me back if anything... um... happens on your end, okay?"
"Of course. Bye Fan."
"Bye Testtube, I love you," Fan immediately hung up, mentally facepalming at having added the last part. This didn't feel like the appropriate time to be showing affection, but he supposed he just got carried away... But he didn't have time for this. He shook his head of those thoughts, now completely focusing on his search.
He had to find Lightbulb. He had to be there for her, because that's what friends do.
~
It was late in the afternoon when Lightbulb woke up again, the exhaustion from using too much of her powers so suddenly wore her out completely. Honestly, she still felt exhausted, even after waking up, but she had to get on with the day! So much to be done. She sat up on the couch without a single thought, ready to take on whatever today brought, and was ready to head to the base's kitchen for a snack or something... before she finally opened her eyes and realized exactly where she was. Her original base.
She could feel an immediate headache forming as she put a hand to her head, taking an extra few minutes to process...
What had happened.
What she had done.
She had to get moving, now. She had to keep running, she had to--
Lightbulb bolted off of the couch, heading right for the door, ready to run away again, but a hand grasped hers rather quickly, stopping her from running. She let out a yelp as she yanked her hand away and turned around, stumbling back a bit. The Cherries looked at her with an unsure expression, really, it was something closer to fear. Great. She had already made another object scared of her. She stepped back a bit more, her eyes darting to the floor as her expression turned to guilt.
"Please... don't run off again,"
Lightbulb blinked, her guilt shifting to confusion as she looked at the Cherries.
"what..?"
"You... left without a word. We didn't... know what happened to you and..." the left Cherry's fists clenched as the both of them fought off tears.
"I..." Lightbulbs arms fell to her sides. She couldn't find the words in the moment, so she stepped back past the Cherries, and sat back down on the couch.
"I... um... it's..." Lightbulb mumbled, unable to start.
The Cherries turned to face her, moving over to sit next to her, still unsure. There was no ounce of fear in them directed at her, only directed at the possibility that she'd leave without a word again. They took a deep breath.
"Where did you go..?" Both cherries looked up at her, waiting for an answer... that she just couldn't provide at the moment. She kicked her legs against the couch slowly, her gaze locked into the floor.
"I can't... I just..." She put a hand to her throat, the words being held back as the weight of everything that had truly happened to her began to weigh her down.
"You... can't talk about it right now, can you..." the Cherry closest to her put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, which she couldn't help but flinch at.
"I'm sorry ... I... I can't go into details, but... it wasn't all bad." Lightbulb took a deep breath.
"I um... I didn't... mean to leave the way I did. If that's... what you were worried about. I didn't want to leave so abruptly, but I didn't... have a choice."
It was silent for a few moments. The Cherries shifted a bit, pulling her into a hug.
"You don't need to continue if you don't want to. We understand,"
"I still... owe you an explanation. I could have come back. I could've written or something, I... I just... um... I was kidnapped, at first though-- but that's not um, where I've been this entire time, I was only really in danger briefly it's not um... that big of a deal but..." she paused again, pulling away from the hug to collect her thoughts.
"Who.. who hurt you! We'll get revenge, we'll--" the Cherries started, shocked by this.
"No! No revenge. I... I guess I already took care of that." Lightbulb sparked a bit of electricity, bouncing the energy between her hands to keep her grounded. She stopped very quickly though as she remembered that was the source of her current problems.
"You... hurt someone?"
Lightbulb sighed out.
"I... um... didn't mean to. I just... lost control last night and I hurt the object that hurt me, and-- I hurt..." Lightbulb put a hand over her mouth, trying to compose herself, but ultimately failing. They pulled her into another hug, providing as much comfort as the two of them could as she cried.
...
It was later that evening when Lightbulb was fully able to explain everything. She told The Cherries about the time spent on the base, finally talking to, and getting to know Paintbrush, the one she had been trying to get the gang to help her get to, and she told them about the conflicts, sparing the details of her almost dying, she didn't want to worry the Cherries too much, they were only kids after all, and the details of her losing her powers, only to regain them unwillingly, and what she could remember of what happened on the ship, through a lot of pauses, and plenty of patience from the Cherries.
And the Cherries sat, and listened, because they really did care. They didn't want to lose their leader-- their friend, again. They couldn't.
~
The calming effect that was in the room had faded completely by now as the cracks in the walls only seemed to grow, a bright, burning orange seeming to peek through, all while Paintbrush desperately felt along the room, trying so hard to think of a way to fix this, or to get themself to wake up, or really anything that would keep them from dying. All while the damaged one sat back, having accepted it by now.
"You-- we-- We can't just..." Paintbrush punched at the wall in frustration, one of the cracks only growing a bit at this as they stepped back, deciding this wasn't a good way to go at it.
"We... Can't give up." The desperation in their voice was clear.
"It's not like you planned on waking back up after doing what you did though..."
Paintbrush stopped in their tracks, whipping their attention back to the damaged one.
"Wh... what."
"You heard me. And you know exactly what I mean."
Paintbrush's gaze fell, their eyes darting to the side as a bit of guilt creeped in.
"Exactly. Why do you fight it now? Sure it's fine to keep hope, but... You knew what you were doing."
"I-- I just... We can't... We can't just leave it all like this." Paintbrush stepped over to the damaged one, standing beside them as sitting would feel like accepting defeat, which they refused to do.
"Why can't we?" The damaged one looked up with a saddened sense of genuine confusion.
"Well first of all it's selfish. Second of all, y'know, everyone who cares about us. If we die now, well..." They paused, their fist clenching in a bit of anger and frustration.
"We can't just leave Lightbulb like this. We can't leave any of them. Not like this, it's not right." Paintbrush knelt down a bit, putting a hand on the damaged one's shoulder.
"If... you wake up, you won't be back here when you sleep. Recovery isn't going to be easy."
"Of course not. Just my luck, right?" Paintbrush gave a sad chuckle.
"It's... much worse than you think though." The damaged one remained completely serious.
"I'm sure I'll... we'll manage."
"No... Just you."
"Oh, right." Paintbrush frowned.
"So?"
"Well, I did say it was going to take so much more to take me down. I still have a life to live." Paintbrush smiled as the damaged one shifted a bit to look at them.
"It's... not even guaranteed this will... work..."
"Yeah, but it'll certainly help, right?"
"I suppose." They sighed.
"Then I'm ready."
"We both know you're not... but I suppose this is the closest you will be." The damaged one sighed,
"Thank you."
"Have fun being an artist." The damaged one finally gave a small, sad smile.
And it was like the entire room seemed to crash down around them in an instant.
...
"Wh..."
Testtube jolted up, quickly swerving the seat to face Paintbrush, who seemed to be barely conscious.
"Paintbrush!?" Testtube got out of the seat, running to their side immediately to try to keep them awake and responsive.
They mumbled something out that she couldn't make out, as they reached a hand to her, weakly feeling against her glass vial.
"Paintbrush, please, can you hear me? Can you let me know you can hear me?" Testtube's voice grew a bit more frantic as Paintbrush's hand fell back down to their side, their barely open eyes looking in her direction, but clearly not at her. Another barely audible noise, this one resembling more of a whine than a solid word.
"Paintbrush please stay awake," Testtube took one of their hands in hers, squeezing it to see if they'd squeeze back, but they didn't.
"I... don't... wanna die..." They finally mumbled out, Testtube hearing this clearly, these words alone making the liquid in her vial run cold.
"You-- You're not going to die, I promise just please, stay awake--"
Their eyes drifted closed again.
"Damnit..." Testtube sweared out, stepping back... But surely if they had woken up this was some sort of good sign, right?
Or well... She could only hope it was as she called Fan back.
//
2400 WORDS. Yeah!! Hi guys, another piece I drew on my phone because I've been away from the computer all day, enjoy... I had something else in mind for the piece but I was too lazy so this is as good as it's getting lol yeah