———

Pickle had been lying in his bed awake all night. The sight of her... He didn't know what to think. He wanted closure of some kind. But he just couldn't forgive her, he just... Couldn't let it go. He knew it wasn't healthy to hold a grudge like this, Knife made that clear many times. So maybe he should just, tell Taco how he feels, and break things off for good.

Make it clear he wanted nothing to do with her after what she did.

But he also felt bad about it, since, they were still kids after all. She was 14 when it happened, and he was 15. They were just children. They were still children.

Did he have the right to be angry?

He was someone with his own feelings. He could be mad if he wanted to... Right? He was upset. And he wanted to make that clear, he wanted Taco to understand she hurt him. And then he'd finally have closure and be able to leave it alone.

He sat up in his bed. And rubbed his eyes before looking at the clock next to him. It was 7am. He usually slept in until 10, but he didn't care at this point.

He knew Taco was in Microphone's room, so he'd wait for breakfast at 9am when Microphone, and Test Tube hopefully leave for breakfast. So he can talk to her alone.

He'd probably take Knife with him. Just in case, he knew Taco had a tendency to become violent when she was upset.

He slid out of bed and opened the door quietly as to not wake his roommate. And swiftly made his way down the stairs and sat immediately on the couch. He had two hours to kill, so why not play some games...?

———

Fan was building his rage into pure energy, trying to prove himself as better than the others. To prove he was the one destined to save everyone rather than the other boy. He was older, smarter, why not him?! He was a capable 19 year old!

At least, he thought so.

The orbs got bigger and stronger as he blasted the empty walls of the temple. His desire for revenge and to prove himself was rising so fast it surpassed his morals. He wanted to be better, he wanted to fix things.

To fix something that didn't need fixing.

Like a completed puzzle. He wanted to rearrange the pieces into something he thought was right. He didn't understand why things changed for the worse. In his opinion, everything should've stayed the way it was before. To resume their normal lives. Which was impossible.

He would prove to everyone after those abnormalities were eliminated. That life was better before.

He'd carve the world into his foolish state of mind if he had to.

He'd carve it to his liking, until it felt right. He was given the power for a reason. He would use it for the better of everyone. Or what he perceived what the better of everyone was.

He was blinded by hatred and rage.

It wasn't like him.

He had no idea that he was changing for the worse too.

He breathed heavily as the rocks in front of him exploded on contact with the magical orb he had shot out of his palm. Fan lowered his hand, he wondered what other abilities he had that weren't flight, and the explosives he could materialize in an instant.

He tried to focus on the depths of his mind for some clue at what it might be. He once again focused all the energy he had building up inside him to his hands, but didn't try to form it into something physical. His hands began to glow, he wondered what it did.

Fan walked over to the wall and touched it.

No explosion.

He made a groan of annoyance, and winced as the scratch on his eye still throbbed in pain. He grasped the wound with his glowing hands. But... As soon as he made contact with the wound, it disappeared. He was surprised at first, and then laughed a bit at this. He could heal himself, whether or not he had limitations was something he didn't care about.

He clenched his fist wanting to try one last theory. He punched the wall as hard as he could.

Cracks shot down the wall. He laughed in triumph, impressed with what he had done. He shook the small bit's of stone off of his hand and backed away. He was stronger than he thought.

He wanted to test out this new ability on a less solid cave wall. To see what would happen. He walked deeper into the temple he had discovered, and found a large room. Fan looked at the markings, and ancient structures to pair with it. He was impressed by the intricacies of the engraved markings the room was decorated with. He continued and found a statue, it looked ruined and old. He couldn't make out who the statue was made for, but he didn't care. He charged the power he had into his hand and punched it. He watched as the statue crumbled and crashed into the stone ground.

He snickered and looked down at his hand, and released the energy until it stopped glowing.

He continued to look around the temple in amazement. He couldn't wait to tell Test Tube about this, one she realized he was the good guy at least!

As Fan ventured further in, he saw a massive doorway. It seemed to lead to nothing. It was nothing but stone beyond the wall.

It had 11 markings that looked like magic circles along the outside. One was glowing. It looked like two swirls going in opposite directions. He looked at the other ones. "What is this..." He muttered as he reached to touch the arch of the door way.

As soon as he touched it, the marking with an wings around the centre orb began to glow. Fan's eyes widened and he stumbled back. That felt weird... He wondered why that happened. There was still 9 unlit markings on the doorway.

He wondered what would happen if they all lit up...

Fan suddenly shook his head.

He couldn't dwell on that now. He had other things to do.

And he needed to prepare himself for them.

———

Paintbrush's eyes drifted open. They lift themselves into a sitting position on their bed and rub their eyes. The room felt so empty. They knew why too... They glanced over at the bed next to theirs that used to belong to their friend.

The frown, as much as Fan was annoying... They still had a friendship nonetheless. They bite their fingernails for a moment before pulling off their sleeping cap and sliding off the bed. They might as well get up and check on Lightbulb after all.

They travelled to her room, and stopped in front of the door the wood making a slight creek beneath their feet. The knock on the door three times, as they usually did. They heard someone leap out of bed and rush up to the door, they smiled  as the door opened and they saw Lightbulb's familiar face.

"Hey Painty! What's up?" She said as she pointed finger guns at the taller object.

Paintbrush chuckled. And tried to steer their words away from 'I was worried about you' though it was the truth, Paintbrush was stubborn when it came to things like this. "Well, I thought maybe you wanted to... Go downstairs early?" Paintbrush smiled nervously, twirling one of their bristles with their finger.

"Alrighty! Let's go then friendo!" Lightbulb happily left the room and slammed the door shut behind her without care in the world. She probably woke up her roommate, but she didn't care.

Paintbrush wanted to scold her about doing that, but decided against it, as Lightbulb probably wouldn't heed their instructions anyway. They sigh and began to walk down the hall. Lightbulb followed close behind them. Paintbrush continued to walk down the hall before they suddenly stopped. Lightbulb ran straight into their back, making Paintbrush stumble forward.

"Huh?" She looked past Paintbrush to see them spaced out. "What's wrong Painty?" She questioned, squinting her eyes.

"I..." Paintbrush shut their eyes tight before gaining a look of defeat. "I can't hide from this..." They exhale shakily.

"What?" Lightbulb was incredibly confused. She walks around to be a few feet in front of Paintbrush. "Is something wrong?"

"You could say that..." The said reaching their hand forward.

"Woah—! Painty are you upset with me?" She panicked.

Paintbrush shook their head. "No... I'm frustrated with the circumstances." They answer in a defeated bitter tone as they supposedly grab the air.

Lightbulb looked confused.

Paintbrush could see the glow emitted from the magical object in their hands. The flat surface of the card was all they tried to pay attention to. They had accepted their fate. After all, OJ couldn't run from it, so how could they?

The watched as it turned into the orb and flew into their chest. Paintbrush took shaky breath, and their head began to ache... The grab the sides of their head and yell in pain as the headache worsened rapidly.

Lightbulb gasped and ran to Paintbrush's aid. She grabbed their hand and helped support them so they wouldn't fall over. "OMGA PAINTY?! ARE YOU OKAY?!" Lightbulb half yelled with worry.

Paintbrush gritted their teeth as their bristles flickered into a fire. But, the fire wasn't the bright orange colour it usually burned when they were angry, instead it was a light blue flame. The fire flickered and danced, but Paintbrush didn't seem angry...

Paintbrush tries to ground themselves after the pain they had felt. They saw Lightbulb's amazed face as she looked up at where their bristle's used to be. They notice the fire and the fire became purple. "WHA—WHAT THE—?! HOW...?!" Their face was that of shock as they saw the fire dance and glow purple. They flinch back as Lightbulb reaches to touch the fire. "LIGHTBULB! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" They shout and push her hand away.

"Well obviously I'm trying to touch the magic fire." Lightbulb stated as she crossed her arms.

"WHY?! It's FIRE. It will BURN YOU." Their hands shake in frustration, and their fire turned red and more violent.

"Well yeah, but it's changing colour. So it must be magic, therefore could be safe to touch." She insisted as she took a step forwards.

"LIGHTBULB, THAT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL!!! THEY TEACH YOU NOT TO TOUCH FIRE IN PRESCHOOL. FUCKING, PRESCHOOL." They fume.

"I see your point... But... Consider this: I... Wanna touch it." She smirked.

Paintbrush's eye twitched. "NO!" They scream, the fire on their head growing larger as their rage boils inside of them.

Lightbulb sighs. "Fine..." She frowned.

Paintbrush rubbed their temples and closed their eyes as they sighed. "Thank god..." They huffed, their flame returned to a blue colour after a moment or two. When they opened their eyes they looked at Lightbulb,

Just as she stuck her hand in the fire.

Of course her hand caught on fire, and she began to panic. "OW— OW OW!" She waved her hand around frantically trying to put the glam that engulfed her hand out.

Paintbrush rushed to help her, their bristles sparked into a purple colour. They ended up suffocating the flame rather quickly, before Lightbulb could get to injured.

Lightbulb looked at her burnt hand with a frown, and winced as the regeneration kicked in. "Owww..." She whined.

Paintbrush took a deep breath as the purple faded back to light blue. "This is why I said, DON'T TOUCH THE FIRE." They growled in annoyance.

"Sorry..." She muttered as her hand healed slowly and literally painfully.

Paintbrush looked into Lightbulb's sad eyes, and their gaze softened in an instant. They grab where the bridge of their nose would be after taking a deep breath. "Listen... Lighty... Let's just go downstairs okay...? I'm just in a bad mood from the pain, I'm sorry for yelling..."

Lightbulb rubbed her healing hand gently before looking up at Paintbrush and giving a small smile. "It's alright, I'll live." She giggled.

"Yeah... This whole magic card things is... Scary..." They admitted as they rubbed the sides of their arms.

"I agree... It's all just, so dang sudden!" She huffed.

"Maybe we can play with Baxter a bit before breakfast...?"

"Ohh! Yeahhh!!! Let's do that!" Lightbulb ran down the hallway.

Paintbrush followed.

———

OJ had been awake for a few hours, he was at the dining room table doing his paperwork, bills, and other things. He clicked the pen a few times and sighed. His back was killing him, it felt horrible... But he refused to acknowledge the existence of these weird powers. He didn't want to dare about them.

He swiped the papers to the side and leaned on his hands. Everything felt like such a damn disaster. How was he supposed to keep up with it...?!

He heard footsteps and he looked up at the door to see Nickel and Balloon walk in.

"O-oh, uh... hey OJ." Balloon gave a nervous smile.

Nickel yawned, "hey..." He said in a tired tone.

OJ looked at them both, a smirk grew on his face as he sat up straight and pointed the pen at them both. "You both seem better than yesterday... Was it the cuddling that helped more? Or the actual healing?" He teased.

Balloon felt incredibly flustered immediately. "WH-WHAT?! I MEAN... IT— WHAT DO YOU EVEN WANT ME TO SAY HERE??!" He panicked.

Nickel nearly choked on nothing as he heard OJ make that remark.

OJ broke out into laughter. "I'm just joking... Lighten up! Regardless, it was quite the adorable scene." OJ had a smug grin plastered on his face.

"Shut up before I wipe that smile off your face old man..." Nickel growled defensively.

"Woah... Hey I'm not that old..." OJ frowned.

"You're fucking ancient compared to us." Nickel smirked.

Balloon stopped him by putting a hand on his head, "Nickel... Please... Don't piss him off." He requested in a polite tone.

Nickel sighed and walked towards the corner of the table like before, and sitting down.

Balloon looked at OJ, and then spoke up suddenly. "What's with the bandages...?" He asked as his emerald eyes sparked with curiosity.

OJ flinched and clicked his pen a few more times. He sighed before giving a real, and truthful answer. "I got a card.." He admitted.

"Wait what...?" Balloon's eyes widened and a shocked manner and he looked to Nickel for his reaction,

Nickel seemed to be in a similar state of shock, but studying OJ more closely.

"I put the bandages on to cut off the water flow of my wings. Since they, are made of water. And I don't really want to deal with magical card power— bullshit right now. I have property damage to clean, bills to pay, and people to talk to. So it's just an inconvenience to deal with."
OJ crossed his arms.

Balloon frowned. "You cant just run away from it... I tried and— that didn't turn out very well..." Balloon warned.

"Balloon's right... It'll only cause a built up of stress. Both mental and physical apparently..." Nickel pointed out in a annoyed tone.

OJ grumbled and turned his head away. "It's whatever... I can at least try..."

Balloon placed his arms on the table, and his head on top of them, he seemed worried. Most people are.

Suddenly more footsteps were heard. It was Paper!

"Hey guys...! I'm gonna start in breakfast!" He smiled kindly as he walked towards the kitchen.

OJ waved back and felt his cheeks turns slightly pink.

If only everything didn't feel so off...

———