TW: DEATH

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Nickel was screaming, his eyes shut excruciatingly tight as blood continued to pour down his face from his eyes. His eyes felt like someone was stabbing them. The blood began to mix with the boy's tears of pain. As blood also began to drip from his mouth. Balloon was on the verge of tears again, he desperately attempted to help Nickel. And of course he had been, a boy was bleeding out in front of him! What kind of person wouldn't? "I-I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Balloon screamed and once again tried everything in his power to stop the blood, to no avail. "G-GOD... UH—UHM...?!" He grabbed the sheet and held it to the boy's eyes.

Eventually, the screaming died down. The blood was dripping down his face at a less rapid rate, but in still concerning amounts nonetheless. Any amount would be concerning, really. Nickel was breathing rapidly, His breath very shaky as he struggled to ground himself after the pain he had suffered moments ago. He couldn't have understood how he hadn't bled to death. Balloon was covered in the blood. And he had barely stopped himself from crying. Albeit, Nickel couldn't see that. Everything was... So blurry. And it had hurt to keep his eyes open. All of his body felt like it was on fire. "W-Wh... What happened...?!" He groaned in nearly a whisper, a panicked one at that.

Balloon continued to wipe the blood and tears from his face. "I—I don't know...! Y-you said you saw a card... A-and... You started screaming... and Bleeding! Y-you're still bleeding..." he choked out, trying his best to help the other.

"A-are you crying...?" He asked quietly.

"No..." He began, though a tear snuck through, and he couldn't hold it back any longer, "...Y-yeah! Of course! I-I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO DIE!" He cried. Tears began spilling faster down his face, he hugged the other boy again. "DAMN YOU!" He choked out again, squeezing Nickel a tad too hard.

"Oh yeah... I should've known the random glowing card would cause me to bleed profusely from my eyes and mouth... I'll make sure to warn you next time too. Heheh..." He muttered in a joking sarcastic tone.

"YOU BETTER! H....GH...—I don't know what I would've done if you died on me...!" Balloon took a shaky breath. "I don't think I could live with myself if I couldn't have saved you!" He cried, nearly angrily.

"Balloon... Don't say that..." He frowned, choking slightly on the blood in his throat. He hoped he hadn't been bleeding internally.

Balloon flinched and looked at him in his squinting, bloody eyes. He wiped off the blood and tears again. "I'm being serious..." his brows furrowed, grumbling with sorrow.

"That's what worries me..." Nickel huffed, trying his best to not show his anxiety.

"..."

"..."

"I forgive you... By the way..." Balloon informed in a soft tone, turning back to Nickel with a more gentle tone.

Nickel flinched slightly, before he shut his eyes to ease the pain. The light was nearly blinding, and he could barely see anyway. "B-Balloon... I understood you're a kind person... But that's the sympathy talking I—!"

"No! Nickel, I'm being serious..." He said sternly. "I forgive you... A-and it's not the sympathy that's talking. I know... I know that we had a rough past, but, maybe we could start over? After all... We... We gotta make the first steps to get past this." He pulled away from Nickel, and hugged himself as he sat on his knees. The floor would've been hurting him by now, if it wasn't for the carpet as padding. "I just... Want to believe we can move past this. I-if uhm... You want to. As well..."

Nickel's brain tried to spiral and overthink things. Balloon was giving him a second chance. And... He had also given him one. In a sense, anyway... He wondered why Balloon would even consider forgiving him. After all thing things he'd said... And done. But, it was calming. He hadn't felt worthy of forgiveness, but maybe, just maybe, he could open up. Just once. "Alright... I-If that's really what you want." He betrayed a smile. Balloon smiled back, and laughed a little.

The two boy's then flinched at the door as they heard it open. They saw the familiar face of Test Tube. Balloon looked quite stressed at the sight. But spoke up. "Did you find out why this happened?" Balloon asked as he turned to face her, slowly looking between her and Nickel.

Test Tube studied Balloon and was horrified by all the blood. She pushed it aside, and cleared her throat to speak . "W-well, If you want a logical explanation for this... No..." She admitted with nervousness in her tone.

"What?! But you're a scientist!" Balloon cried out, assuming Test Tube found an answer. Of course, what was there logical about anything which had gone on in the past twenty-four hours.

"Yeah! I'm a scientist, not a miracle worker." She huffed. "I tried to look for every variable... Every angle... I asked FAN to look online! All he found was fairytales..." Test Tube muttered, she then pinched the bridge of her nose, "I'd try to search into this stuff more, but... I don't exactly want to be put on a list." Test Tube half joked. She then chuckled bitterly

"So it's just magic then?!" Balloon grumbled, being sarcastic, he wasn't really sure where the attitude came from. Stress was the most likely explanation.

"Well... I'm saying that's a possibility..." Test Tube replied as she took her bag she had slung over her shoulder off. Removing her hands from her face and digging through it with a huff.

"Wow... That helps a lot." Nickel spat through coughing. Rudely scowling even with his eyes shut.

Test Tube brought out a tape measure before she spoke, "What's wrong with Nickel?" A slight tilt of her head to the side.

"I don't know... he just... Started bleeding...! After he touched a weird glowing card only he could see???" Balloon responded with an outraged expression, as if this was some massive inconvenience. Which it was a bit more than that.

"A—... A what...? Did you say a card?" Test Tube perked up, raising a brow.

"Yeah...?" Balloon responded in an instant. He wondered why this is what Test Tube was concerned about rather than the mention of Nickel actively bleeding. "I got one too..."

"Lightbulb said the same thing happened to her before she grew wings... and Baxter turned into a— well... Dragon." Test Tube murmured through her teeth. A sort of doubt in her mind. Maybe that had been magic after all.

"I'm sorry... What?!" Balloon began, "A—A DRAGON?! How did—?!"

"I know about as much as you, Balloon... Even I can't explain the events as of recently." She spoke as she kneeled down to measure Balloon's wings. Careful to not hurt him. She looked at the measurements. The wings had grown out to twice their original size. "Hm... That's rather impressive. Though, I still wonder how you're not completely off balance..."

"I am off balance..." He grumbled, slightly offended that had been undermined.

"You aren't as much as you should... I'll have to look into that." Test Tube replied in a snappy sense. She then turned her eyes to Nickel and furrowed her brows at his bleeding eyes. She reached down to check him over.

"Wh—?! HEY!" Balloon squealed. "Don't touch him! He's hurting!" Balloon panicked, moving to stop her.

Test Tube patted his arm away and sighed, "You want him to bleed out? I can help!" Test Tube crossed her arms looking at him as a disappointed mother would.

"Nickel...?" Balloon looked down at him nervously.

"It's fine Balloon." Nickel mumbled as he turned to face Test Tube, if she could help him, that would be preferable. His eyes still clenched shut. Test Tube grabbed a roll of bandages and reached over. However, upon making contact with Nickel she froze.

There was complete silence.

The colour in Test Tube's face drained away in an instant.

Test Tube fell completely limp to the floor, and the antifreeze spilled out of her glass.

"Test Tube...?" Balloon asked in a slightly panicked tone.

Balloon nudged Test Tube with his foot.
"T-Test Tube...?!" He nervously stood over her body.

There was no response.

Balloon reached for Test Tube's arm. He placed two fingers against her inner wrist. Checking for a pulse or any form of life. He felt absolutely nothing.

His eyes widened and he staggered back, horrified. She was dead. Test Tube was dead—and she just—FELL OVER. His breath became shaky and he screamed, trying to muffle it by holding a hand over his mouth. Though that wasn't very effective.

———

Paper was sitting on the couch while Knife and Pickle played video games. He was reading about mythology, Greek was his favourite. He flipped through the pages one after the other. That's when he'd heard a blood curdling scream ring out through the hotel. Pickle dropped his controller and knife tensed up. Both of the boys looked over their shoulder with concerned expressions. Paper however, sprung into immediate action. He threw his book aside and ran towards the stairs, Up them, and burst into the room where the scream had originated from. His eyes instantly widened at the mess of blood, antifreeze, tears, and of course the deceased woman sprawled out on the floor before him.

"PAPER!!!" Balloon cried. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED SHE JUST— DIED!!!" He pointed at her body and then tugged at his eyes, as if he'd done it himself.

Nickel looked traumatized and shocked. What happened...? All she'd done was touched him? Was that his fault? "I-I... Don't..." He trailed off, unsure how to even finish his sentence.

"Oh my god..." Paper rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing everything correctly. A few others also soon rushed into the room. Soap, Cheesy, and Fan.

Soap gasped and covered her mouth. Fan was staring at Test Tube with tears in his eyes. Cheesy looked at the scene before saying: "Alright... Who screamed bloody murder?" He laughed after and slapped his knee. Death being desensitized to him. That and he was a fifteen year old boy with little to no social knowledge. Everyone, except Nickel, shot him a dirty look. "What? I'm trying to lighten the mood! No need to give me the death stares!" He chuckled again.

"Cheesy. Out. Now..." Paper hissed at the boy. Growling in a sense.

"Alright, alright!" Cheesy pouted, he slumped out of the room. He seemed slightly offended at their lack of approval.

Paper turned back to Nickel and Balloon. "Alright boys j-just... uh... Oh god..."Paper took a deep breath. "I'll... go put the body... somewhere...? Or wherever OJ puts them..." he looked over to Soap. "Soap? Can you clean?"

Soap stared for a moment longer, before nodding slowly. "Y-yeah.... yeah I can do that..." she walked over to get started, Paper had too. Balloon stood up and helped Nickel to move out of the way, and soap's arm grazed Nickel. She didn't even make it another step before falling over with a loud thud.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Paper squealed as he stumbled away from the loud sound her body had made as it thumped against the floor. "H-HOW DID..." he pointed at Soap's now dead body.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! I-I JUST—COUGH— TOUCHED HER!!!" Nickel yelled, completely panicked. Of course he had.

Paper looked between Balloon and Nickel. "H-how did Test Tube die... again...?" Paper half yelled, breathing rapidly. His expression fearful and concerned.

"S-she... also touched me before I heard her fall." Nickel muttered beneath his own shaken breath. Slowly backing away from every voice he heard.

"YOU KILLED HER!" Fan screamed as he clenched his fists. "Y-YOU FUCKING KILLED HER!!!" Fan screamed in panicked rage. He hadn't known where to direct it other than attempting to punch Nickel.

Paper shoved Fan away before he could get his hands on the coin. "FAN! EVEN HE DID, ALL WE KNOW RIGHT NOW IS THAT EVERYONE THAT TOUCHES NICKEL— DIES!"

"BUT BALLOON WAS JUST TOUCHING HIM!" Fan seethed pointing at Balloon who flinched back defensively.

Paper froze and turned to Balloon. Fan was right, Balloon could touch him just fine without dying. Then again... Balloon grew wings for god knows why. He sighed and grabbed Fan's shoulders. "I say... We keep away from Nickel until Mephone comes back... There is no reason to attack either of them!"

"BUT PAPER—!"

"NO! Fan! Calm down! Test Tube and Soap have probably been revived by Mephone already..." He soothed.

"WHY SHOULD I CALM DOWN?! EVERYTHING IS CHANGING! ITS CHANGING TO MUCH FOR THE WORSE!!! IF WE KEEP THEM AROUND, EVERYTHING COULD BE RUINED!!!" Fan screamed as his eyes widened in pure rage.

"FAN. I SAID NO. WE AREN'T HURTING ANYONE." Paper retaliated as his hands gripped Fan's shoulders tighter. "You lay a hand on them... and I swear Fan..." he hissed. "I will figure things out, but leave those two alone..."

Fan clenched his fists tighter before roughly pulling himself away and leaving the room furiously. He disappeared behind the frame of the door. Paper turned to Balloon and Nickel, both of them looked pretty scared, as Balloon was cowering away agianst the foot of his bed, his wings spread to defend Nickel if necessary.

"Balloon... I'm going to get you some bandages in a moment alright...? Could you put them on Nickel...?" Paper asked softly, trying not to escalate the situation any further.

Balloon shakily nodded.

"Could you lift Nickel up for me?" He asked solemnly. Balloon obliged, and yelped as Paper picked Balloon up. Now holding both of them without having to touch Nickel. Paper then placed Balloon down with Nickel on Balloon's bed. "Just rest... I'll deal with it, okay?" Paper reassured, patting Balloon on the head gently.

"O-okay..." he replied shakily, trying to give a smile of reassurance. Balloon watched Paper leave the room dragging away Test Tube, and Soap with him. Paper was g exactly weak, but it seemed like a chore to do so. He strained a small grunt as he heaved them away. As soon as the door shut. Balloon jumped as Nickel burst into tears. he'd NOT expected that.

"I DIDNT MEAN TO! IT JUST HAPPENED I... IM SORRY— I GET IT... I GET IT NOW... I DONT WANT THIS... WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?!" Nickel yelled in complete shock and horror, he knew why Balloon hated what had happened. Everything made sense now... It did more harm than good.

Balloon hugged the coin closer to himself as tears spilled from his eyes too. Both boy's were shaking. "I-I d-don't know..." He replied he buried his face into Nickel.

"IM A MONSTER...! I KILLED TWO PEOPLE I—! YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN BE TOUCHING ME! WHAT IF YOU DIE...?!" Nickel cried. This was completely breaking his character. But Balloon wasn't thinking about it too much.

"N-no... j-just... Shhhh... sh... okay...? Y-you didn't know..." He muttered to the shorter boy, unsure and afraid himself. But what else could he have done? Nickel wheezed, crying as he tried to find words, eventually settling for wailing into Balloon's shoulder. Balloon gently rubbed the top of his head and held him close. "It's okay... W-we're in this together remember...?"

"We're in this together..."

———

Don't worry I haven't permanently killed anyone off.

Yet.

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