Paintbrush was absolutely crushed by lightbulbs death. And so was test tube. They had both been extremely close to her before she had passed, and now.. something just felt missing. They'd never see her again.. oh and what about her pet crab, Baxter? Paintbrush would have to be the one to care for it. Along with having to take care of their deceased friend's crab, they would have to mourn and move on, test tube would have to also. that's why paintbrush was in the room while test tube finished the autopsy on lightbulbs body.
"She was poisoned with the chemical that went missing... I knew it.. but who would want to kill her?" Test tube looked at paintbrush, concern etched on her expression
"...The same person who killed the others right?" Paintbrush said, trying to find a pattern in the victims
"Well.. probably.. salt didn't have the same patterns as the other one.. salt did it in the open, and the killer for mic cabby and.. lightbulb. The killer lured them away from the hotel on purpose.. they were clean with it, they pulled it off well.."
____
Fan sat on his bed, all he wanted to do was talk to test tube, but he knew she was probably busy in the morgue. It seemed she was always busy there nowadays.
"Maybe if there weren't bodies to deal with, maybe then she wouldn't be busy" cabby crossed her arms
"Maybe if she didn't pay so much attention to you guys then she wouldn't have to deal with the bodies!" Fan snapped at cabby
Something jolted behind cabby
Fan looked at it curiously, before what it was finally registered in his mind
"Lightbulb?"
Lightbulb peaked from behind cabby
"I-"
A loud, annoying ring came from fans phone, causing him to flinch immediately. It was an unknown number, he picked up.
Sounds of crying came through the phone
"S-sweetie? Please.. it's been.. I just... I want my daughter back."
It was the voice of the woman he'd visited.. the one he got the guinea pigs from. His mom.
"Mom. I'm not a girl."
"Please.. just. Come home. I need you home.."
"Why? You don't need me. I'm the one you hate. The one who you'd insist was a whore, just because of the way my body was made!"
"No.. no, you're not a whore.. none of it was your fault.. but please. I need you home.. please."
There was a long pause before fan spoke up.
"What happened?"
A sob was heard through the phone
"I- your father he- he's in jail.. I'm- I'm all alone.. it's so silent. Please.. i- I just need someone.."
Fan didn't understand why she was crying. In fact, he felt uncomfortable because of it
"I'm sorry. I'm not going to be able to make it over there for a while... I promise I'll come soon, bye"
"Thank you.. thank you.. I love you."
Fan hesitated
"I... I love you too mom."
He hung up
Fan sat in silence for a moment
"I'm bored.."
He quickly got up and walked out into the hall
_____
"So your saying.. I'm the one thing these people have in common?" Test tube looked at paintbrush, concerned
"Well.. it's not a coincidence, it can't be. Cabby, right after you set her free, then mic, after you forgave her, and now it's lightbulb, who you started a baking club"
"What... Everyone I've gotten close to..."
"You're the commonality. Whoever is the killer, they're killing everyone you get close to.."
"...I think I know who it is."
"Who-"
"God this is all my fault- If he didn't drink that potion- I should've paid more attention. I didn't know it would work like this"
Tears pricked up in the corners of test tubes eyes as she started to rant
Paintbrush looked at her and tried to calm her down
"It's not your fault test tube. Now please, tell me who it is"
There was a long pause
"..fan."
"Fan..? No.. he wouldn't.. would he..?"
Paintbrush seemed confused
"I accidentally gave him a potion.. it must've made him.. unstable.. obsessive.."
"..I know how we'll catch him..."
______
Fan had been everywhere in the hotel by now and so naturally he decided to go by the morgue to check on his best friend, test tube, of course!
He walked over with a skip in his step and as he opened the door he saw... Test tube and paintbrush.. they were so.. close. Fan's happy expression dropped as he looked at them. They seemed to be whispering about something.
Were they getting closer? No, no fan simply had to put a stop to this...
Fan cleared his throat "hey! test tube, uh how's the whole.. investigation thing going?"
Test tube looked at fan and barely mustered up a smile, It was shaky and nervous, but believable enough for fan apparently. "Oh, it's going great! Can't tell you the suspect right now I'm afraid.."
Paintbrush spoke up "yea, sorry bud, we can't let the word out or else people might freak out."
Fan glared at paintbrush
"Ah.. I see. Well. I guess I'll see you guys around?" He decided to leave before he snapped at paintbrush, although he was unstable, he was still smart enough to know that he'd get in a big mess if he just murdered paintbrush in front of test tube.
Both paintbrush and test tube nodded, before watching fan leave the room
Fans mind was flooded with thoughts of jealousy. His whole body was tence as he walked to his room and picked up a black pen. Paintbrush didn't deserve the glitter one. They really think they could steal test tube from him? No. They couldn't. She was his .
Fan could barely focus on what he was writing. He tried to make sure his words were legible, but the anger and jealousy took hold and made every line sort of rigid.
Dear paintbrush.
I want to talk to you, meet me at the hotel roof during sunset. Make sure nobody follows you, I've got something to show you, Its incredibly important that you're the only person who knows, so please, meet me there.
-Sincerely ___
_____
Fan decided he couldn't put his name on the letter, so he wrote a blank space.
He folded it up nice and neat, before putting it under paintbrushes door
"Fan.."
Fan turned to see lightbulb, her face was stained with tears
"Please. Not them.."
Fan smiled at lightbulb
"They stole her" he laughs, sounding like an unhinged maniac "she's mine, why does nobody get that... She's mine and I adore her... She's.. she's all mine..."
"Fan. You're crazy. And- and like good crazy, like party animal crazy, no you're absolutely bat shit insane. You're a psychopath, nobody can belong to you, test tube does not belong to you. She's her own person!" Lightbulb glares at fan, her voice is shaking with emotion
"You're right, I am crazy, but only for her.."
Fan walks to the kitchen, running into soap on the way, she looked like a mess, scrubbing at the unstained granite countertop like she was trying to get it to be one solid color, like every deviation was a stain, an irreversible mess.
"Oh, hi soap.. how you holding up?" Fan couldn't help but feel a little bit of sympathy for her, she would still have her best friend if microphone had just learned to stay in her own lane and not talk to test tube.
Soap looked at fan, eyes glazed over, she looked almost undead, apart from the labor breathing from the harsh scrubbing she'd been doing on the counter
"Oh. I'm.. well.. um.. I'm doing as best as I can" soap tried to put on a happy face, to keep her tone optimistic, but the sadness seeped into her voice, it was audible
"Oh, well that's good... So.. I came here to talk to you about something.. uh.. yinyang spilled Dr fizz all over the place.. I was wondering if you could clean it." Fan faked some concern
Soap sighed and gathered up her cleaning supplies "thanks for telling me I guess..."
She left the room
Fan looked around to see if anyone else was there, which there wasn't. Fan smiled and grabbed a knife, then he headed to the roof of the hotel.
As the sun started setting, fan realized it was about time for paintbrush to arrive.. and almost as if on cue, paintbrush opened the door that led to the roof.
Fan was sitting on the ledge, an unnerving smile on his face.
"Hi paintbrush!" Fan said, his tone cheery
Paintbrush glared at him "fan.. why'd you want me up here..?"
"The view here is wonderful.."
"Fan! Answer my question!"
"I know who the killer is. But.. before I tell you, come here.. we need to talk, it's about test tube"
Paintbrush shivered, feeling like they were about to snap "tell me who the killer is."
Fan sighs and gets up from the ledge, stepping closer to paintbrush and gripping his knife so tight his knuckles turned White "well.. I was going to draw this out.. give you some more time... But I guess I'll tell you.. I did it." Fan swings at paintbrush, trying to stab them, but paintbrush dodged, soon, the door to the roof opened again, test tube stepped out
Fan looked at test tube and his expression immediately faded to horror "oh god... Uh... Test tube.. it's not what it looks like!"
Test tube stepped towards fan, looking at him with contempt "really..? Cause it looks like you were trying to kill paintbrush. Just like how you killed cabby, and mic, and lightbulb."
Fan paused and dropped his knife "you don't understand.. i- I did it for you! It was all for you! I was protecting you!" He chuckled nervously
Paintbrush looked at fan in disbelief "how is killing innocent people going to protect her?"
Fan backed up, nearing the ledge of the building "they wouldn't have treated her right, they wouldn't have loved her.. not.. not like I do! I'm the only one who'll ever be able to live her like this!"
Test tubes eyes widen "fan the ledg-"
Fan kept backing up "I don't care if what I did was a crime, test tube, I did it for us! For our love! Because I love y-" fan tripped backwards, falling off the building and letting out a terrified scream as he plummeted to the ground, then the loud crack of his bones colliding with the concrete sounded out, and everything went silent.
Test tube and paintbrush looked at each other, shocked.
"Oh my God.. he's dead.." test tube felt tears well up in her eyes
Paintbrush felt a wave of sadness run through them, but hid their feelings well. "Don't feel bad for him... He's a murderer."
"Yea.."
⭐ the end!⭐
(Sorry this took so long! I was going to do some art for it, but then my phone stopped working so I had to get a new one.. thank you all for reading! I hope you liked it!)