The first thing Fan did when the two made it back to the base was head straight for his room. He had a lot of sleep to catch up on, having not slept at all the night prior. A passing 'rest well' from Testtube as she headed straight for the stairs down to her lab. Check up on Paintbrush...
She let out a gasp at the scene in the room, the blanket they had draped over them at some point kicked away and half off the bed, along with Paintbrush themself on the ground, looking weak, and unconscious. She quickly moved to check their breathing, which still seemed regular enough.
She lifted them up in her arms, making sure to be careful as they let out a small whimper, their eyes fluttering a bit as she set them back down on the medical chair.
"Paintbrush..?" Testtube asked in a soft tone, hoping maybe they were responsive in the moment.
Their eyes fluttered open, looking in her direction again, but not quite at her.
"Can you--"
"Lightbulb..." They spoke, barely louder than a whisper. "Wh... where..." They seemed to lightly wince, but for the most part managed to keep their eyes open. Whatever the reason for them being found on the floor, it must have left them rather weak. That being said, Testtube knew the honest answer would not be something Paintbrush wanted to hear now.
So she lied.
"I'll... Go get her." She gave a fake, brief grin, knowing they wouldn't be able to notice the difference, as she carefully laid them back down on the bed, and sped walked out of the room... Just standing in the hallway. She put a hand to her head, and mentally cursed herself. She couldn't just make Lightbulb come back, or even stay , but she also still felt so bad for lying.
There was nothing to be done.
So she stood out in the hallway for a few minutes, just having to hope Paintbrush would be asleep again by the time she re-entered the room.
Luckily for her, they were.
This was still not something to be happy about though.
~
Everything was dark. He felt like he had been slammed shut, and that he couldn't move, or breath. All he could do was hear the commotion around him as he struggled to open up, or move, or regain the sensation of breath-- but nothing.
And then something. He regained his breath quickly as the grassy opening in the wooded area surrounding their base seemed to materialize around him. He was sitting with a dazed Testtube in his arms, both of them completely stuck in fear as they watched Paintbrush get ever so close to Lightbulb, who looked at all of them with nothing but hatred in her eyes... No, that wasn't... Right?
A flash of lightning changes the scene again, Paintbrush is down, but Lightbulb is still in her power fueled trance.
"That's... not what happened..." Fan mumbled to himself, but didn't have much time to think about it, as Lightbulb's hatred was now directed at him... And Testtube. She outstretched one of her hands, electricity already forming.
It all happened so quickly, Testtube shoving him out of the way. The deafening shattering noise, the glass that scattered across the ground, the bright green liquid that stained the grass, and-- and...
Her glasses.
The last thing he saw as Lightbulb turned to him, were Testtube's glasses.
--
Fan jolted awake with a yell, putting one hand to his chest, and the other to his eyes to wipe away the tears he already knew were forming.
None of that had happened... It wasn't real, it wasn't... Real. Fans head reeled as he felt around the bedside table for his own glasses, and his phone. First thing he did was text Testtube, if only to just reassure himself that it really was just a nightmare.
'How are they?' He sat and waited a response, tapping his finger to the side of his phone anxiously.
'They fell out of bed, but they're still stable. Did you sleep at all?' She texted back after a few moments.
Fan hesitated in responding, letting the relief wash over him for a moment, but also just... Not knowing how to respond.
'Not really. Didn't sleep well.'
'Are you okay? Your typing is more formal than usual'
Shit. Fan sighed. Nothing would get past her, huh. He supposed he should be happy for that, but he really didn't want to burden her with his silly bad dreams.
'Fine, promise' ... He added a thumbs up just to make sure.
A delayed response from Testtube;
'I'm downstairs if you need to talk about anything, which we probably should, something did happen with them.'
Fan huffed, taking a moment to calm his brain down a bit, his thoughts still racing.
'Okay. Will come down in a bit, just need a moment' Fan hit send before thinking, immediately realizing that definitely made it seem like he wasn't doing well. He let his phone fall onto the bed he sat on, and groaned, flopping back to compose his thoughts before going down to see her. He was still so tired, but there was no use in trying to sleep again. Not at the risk of another nightmare.
So he made his way downstairs to the all familiar medical room, where Testtube sat at the counter, writing something in her work journal. He cleared his throat as he stepped through the already open doorway, feeling a bit bad as Testtube jolted at the noise, turning around to face him.
"Oh hey,"
Fan could tell she was looking him up and down for any read on his emotions, which he felt like he was good enough at hiding, but with how tired he was, it was easy to tell he felt miserable.
But she didn't say anything about that, not yet at least, rather opening the conversation on something else;
"They called out for Lightbulb. Um... When I put them back in bed they woke up briefly and they um... Wanted her." Testtube sighed, leaning back on the counter behind her, as the seat she sat in did not have a back rest.
"That's... not great." Fan frowned, moving over to lean on the counter next to her as he kept his expression as calm as he could.
"If they figure out she might not be coming back I just... Don't know if they'll keep trying to make it out of this." Testtube spoke cautiously, her eyes glued onto Paintbrush as they lay in the bed almost completely motionless, their only movement being the rise and fall of the covers draped over them as they breathed.
"But we can't just force her to come back... Especially when she's... Not in the right spot mentally. This is all just so... Difficult. For no good reason." Testtube let out an annoyed sigh, turning back to her journal.
"So what can we do about it?"
"I... just... Don't hate me... For suggesting this, but..." Testtube's gaze moved back up, as she looked over to the recovery center.
"If things become dire... We need a way to assure we won't... Lose them permanently."
"That would put Lightbulb at risk." Fan put it together in his head rather quickly.
"It would, but--"
"We can't, Testtube."
"Listen, it wouldn't be a forever thing, just until they've recovered--"
"And if Lightbulb is shattered in that time? She dies, and they wake up to that? They would never forgive us." Fan crossed his arms, not meaning to sound so stern, he really hated being so serious towards her, but he had to. Testtube remained silent.
"If they get any worse, I refuse to take any chances." Testtube's grip on her pen tightened a bit as her gaze returned to her journal. "They were the only one to give me a second chance when I reformed. I'm not letting them die, Fan. No matter what I have to do."
Fan stood there in shock, a bit uneasy at her sudden shift in attitude. He took a moment to properly come up with a response, but there was nothing. All he ended up saying-- or rather, asking, was;
"When... you reformed..?"
The pen in Testtube's grip snapped in half, the two of them flinching at this as Fan backed away from the counter to give her space, and also so the ink wouldn't get on him.
Testtube swore under her breath.
"Just... Forget it, Fan. Now's not the time." She got up from her seat, walking over to the door. "Getting something to clean this up. I'll be back."
Fan sighed, now leaning against the wall. He stood for a moment, before sliding down to a sitting position. Sure, the floor wasn't comfortable in the slightest, but he was still tired, and very low on energy from being so.
A small nap wouldn't hurt.
He didn't want to argue with Testtube anymore anyways.
~
...
Four days. It had been four days since Lightbulb had been left at her own base, and four days of her sitting around with her guilt, still festering, and unable to decide. It was easy to hide at first, sure, putting on a brave face a bit after Fan and Testtube left so she wouldn't worry the cherries any more than she already had, getting on with the rest of the day with only a small bit of anxiousness. But it was fine. She knew Testtube would take good care of Paintbrush, and it wasn't like she didn't want to see them, she really did... She would do anything to have them hold her in their arms again, the two of them close and--
She shoved away that thought quickly. She wanted to visit them, but she couldn't. Sure, Fan said they 'needed' her or something, but her mind was convinced of one, simple truth.
That they would never want to see her again. What would she even say? What would she do once faced with them? An apology would never be enough to fix, or mend the damage she had caused. They let her in and showed her almost nothing but kindness, and she only hurt them in return. So for the better of both of them, she had to stay away. She could only hope the other two wouldn't come back again, now that they knew where her home was-- or well, base. This was not a home anymore. For the time she had been back, she knew this was no longer her home, or even base. Once the gang had a meeting, she hid out in her back room, having the cherries swear they wouldn't mention her to the others.
Through the closed door, she listened in on the Cherries planning a new heist. After spending so much time with heroes, or at least-- objects that didn't do crimes, it was interesting to listen to, to say the least. She couldn't tell what they were planning exactly, but she wasn't a part of it anymore. Really, she didn't have to listen in, but part of her was definitely curious. Thankfully, they still seemed to have kept up the 'no harm done' motto she had set when she was the leader. After a while, the voices seemed to gradually go down, the meeting coming close to a wrap. Maybe if she really got curious she'd ask about it, but probably not. She moved away from the door and to her bed, so if they opened it to tell her it was safe to come out, they wouldn't realize she had been listening. She flopped down in bed, staring up at the ceiling. Her thoughts couldn't help but run away again.
The thought of being held close by them, reassured that it would all be okay, that it wasn't her fault... She just so desperately wanted to be close to them again. For them to be awake, and well. She wanted them to hold their hands on her cheeks again, the same, warm, soft hands that held her when they k--
The door opened, cutting her thoughts off immediately as she sat up.
"Meeting's over!" The Cherries smiled.
Lightbulb stifled a sigh, a bit let down by her thoughts being interrupted, her flushed red face very quickly returning to normal as she gave a smile, and a thumbs up.
"So what are you uh... planning?" Lightbulb rubbed the back of her neck, narrowing her eyes a bit as the Cherries flicked on the light switch, and stepped in to sit down with her.
"Oh we're getting supplies for a new prank! We have a new hero monitoring us, actually, so tomorrows probably gonna be rough, but it'll totally be worth pulling off! It's gonna be so much fun!"
"A new hero, huh?"
"Yeah! This one's kinda silly, he doesn't even go by his actual name, he has one of those weird 'secret identity names'," The cherries used air quotes.
"What's his title?"
"Something like; 'Orange Justice' or something like that, it's so lame!" The Cherries giggled.
Lightbulb couldn't help but let out a small laugh too, really some of those heroes were just so bad at coming up with titles. The thought of heroes eventually shifted a bit more to her thinking about Paintbrush again. She frowned, forgetting that the Cherries were there to see her expression change.
"We've... um... Been meaning to ask something?" The left one spoke, their tone dropping a bit to something more serious. Lightbulb could feel her stomach twist. She knew this was going to be a serious conversation already. Great.
"Uh... ask ahead," Lightbulb gave a nervous smile, her hands falling back down to her sides as she leaned back on the bedboard casually.
"What... happened to the hero that you liked..? You... said that you two got close, and you told us what happened between you and them but... You didn't mention anything about them... um... when talking about the alien situation?"
Lightbulb felt the knot form in her throat as she looked anywhere in the room that wasn't at the two Cherries.
"I just... Um... I..." She shut herself up, her hands tightly gripping the covers below her.
"I hurt them." She blurted out, shutting her eyes tight. She knew the Cherries would be upset hearing this. She didn't want to admit it, but she hurt them.
"I hurt them... Really bad... And I'm... so scared to go back to that base." She paused, collecting her emotions before she had another breakdown.
"I'm so scared to go back... I don't know if I'll snap again or something if they're dead, or if I go back and they hate me and want nothing to do with me I just-- I can't..."
A hand on her shoulder.
"But you told us you didn't mean to do it, right? If... They love you, they'll understand, right?" The Cherries frowned, already knowing what they were going to have to say.
"Lightbulb... Go see them."
"wh... what?"
"You... Belong with them now, don't you? That base... it's a much better home than this is now, isn't it?"
Lightbulb slowly opened her eyes, reading the expression of the two that stared back at her. Genuine, but sad.
"I--" Her gaze fell to the space on the bed between the two. "I promise I'll call. I'll visit."
The Cherries smiled at this sentiment.
"We'll keep the gang running smooth for you."
"Wouldn't expect any less." Lightbulb smiled, moving to get off the bed.
"Before you go-- um... We actually have something for you actually," the Cherries hopped off the bed too, running out of the room with a; "wait right there for a moment!"
And a few minutes later, they returned, a long piece of blue, smooth fabric in their grasp.
It was a cape.
Lightbulb couldn't help but smile.
--
She had somewhere to be. Even... if Paintbrush wanted nothing to do with her, well... She at least had to go see for herself. There was no use in festering and letting the negativity get the better of her. Not when she still had people who cared.
So she ran again. This time, not out of fear or desperation. This time, not pushing herself beyond the limit.
It didn't take so long to get to the wooded area.
She had someone to see.
//
2700 words.
I teased the nightmare snippet on twt & insta and I don't know if anyone realized it was just supposed to be a nightmare but the reactions i got were pretty funny, i like being evil sometimes :]
Also a simple piece for this part.