Log Date 1568: I have decided on an.. inhumane challenge today. If all goes the way I plan, things will be much more exciting around here.
Edit:... things did not go as plan. It went worse than planned.

Lightbulb's P.O.V

It'd been a week since we almost got out. I sat and drew picture in the dust. Pictures of eggs and pizzas, and whatever else I could imagine from my time on the surface. Fan was asleep and Paintbrush was staring at the one way mirror. I quietly shuffled over to them, wanting comfort.

If there's one thing that this whole experiment had done for me, it was make me appreciate what I got. I didn't know how good I had it with life before it was gone. I didn't understand the value Paintbrush had to me before we had to start again. And now I'm scared to be lonely.
I pulled up next to them. They lifted their eyebrows in surprise and moved over to make room for me.

"Thanks." I said, trying awkwardly to avoid eye contact. They politely nodded in response.
"Is your head ok?" They asked casually. I still hadn't gotten used to that.
"M-My head?" I replied cluelessly,
"From when you ran into the door?"
"Oh yeah, that. Gosh, how long ago was that?"
"Beats me. Time flies when you're stuck in a white room all day." They chuckled. I laughed with them. Being normal with them felt so different.
"But yeah, my head's fine."
"Better than that time Marsh smashed it in I'm guessing?" They added humorously. I laughed.

"Goosshh, don't even remind me!" I shoved their arm playfully. I realised at that moment how weird it must be to laugh about nearly dying.

"What do you think Marsh and Apple are doing now?" Paintbrush asked blankly. They looked further up the window.
"Let's pray they're not killing each other." I smiled.
"Hey! Language!"
"Sorry! Sorry!"
We laughed for a bit, and then we just stared at each other.
"I miss what we had." I finally said. Paintbrush didn't reply, but I could sense their agreement. Then we sat there and stared at the window.

Finally, the door fell. Test tube walked through.
"Ah, at least no one is burning anyone else alive!" She giggled psychotically. Paintbrush shook their hand, disinterested in Test tube's joke. The scientist cleared her throat. "Well you all know the drill, come on."

I turned around, ignoring Test tube's threatening gaze, and went to go wake up Fan.
"Buddy?" I said softly, I had learnt that by now, the best way to get him up was just by a gentle shrug.

"Buddy come on. Wake u-"
Crash
Something smacked the wall next to us, making me scream. This made Fan to wake up with a jolt. He panted and shaked, slowly grabbing my hand and squeezing it. Enraged, I looked for the source of the sound, only to find Test tube blankly standing over me.

"Good he's up!" Test tube smiled. I stared at her, completely disgusted.
Who does she think she is? She thinks she can just snap her fingers and have everything her way.
Not if  I have anything to do with it..

Fan's P.O.V

We got led down the hallway. My body was violently shaking so I clinged to Lightbulb, who took me under her arm. Although she comforted me, her gaze was strong with anticipation, her fist was tightly clutched. I squeezed her arm, she didn't flinch.

Paintbrush led, keeping their distance from Test tube. I could even feel Test tube's anticipation, which was something I thought I wouldn't see in Test tube again.
Emotion.

Finally she entered a room. A giant room. It was like our room but instead of white pads it was just metal. I glanced around the room, it was almost empty. Apart from the small wood table near the back of the room. I peered at Test tube from behind Lightbulb, cringing at her sinister smirk.

"This has to be one of my favourites yet!" She said, stretching her arms. That was my first red flag, Test tube acting normal and casual. She wasn't meant to do that, was she? The other was the fact she was excited, for obvious reasons. She examined us all, I noticed how her expression dropped as she laid her eyes on me.

"Today's experiment is surely gonna put your teamwork and efficiency to the test. It's something that practically I find inhumaine!But are any of us even human anymore?"

Her eyebrow raised in a rhetorical question. Lightbulb took a step forward, Paintbrush put a gentle hand on her shoulder. She looked at the taller with reluctant eyes, then stepped back. Test tube took Paintbrush's hand, making them flinch. She examined their eyes, then pushed something into their hand. They looked down, although her hand still covered their palm.

"Today.. in this room.. I want you.." She said in a hoarse whisper. She tore her hand away in a dramatic matter,
"To build a tower using these."

Lightbulb ran over to Paintbrush as Test tube left the room.
"Don't forget the flag when you're done!" She said before the door snapped shut behind her.
Paintbrush groaned with a mixture of relief and aggravation. Lightbulb looked over their shoulder and frowned.

"She.. wants us to build a card tower?" I stumbled behind her, catching a glance of the playing cards packet. Lightbulb crossed her arms.
"Well, it's cards! It doesn't involve much. How hard could it be?" She smiled, the bags under her eyes showing, "Has anyone done this before?"
"I have." Paintbrush raised their hand, "I hated it."
"Jesus.." Lightbulb dragged her hand over her eyes and down to her nose, pinching it. I took the cards and opened them on the table. My hands were shaking from how weak with hunger and sleep-deprived I was.

Paintbrush and Lightbulb joined me.
"You wanna get us started?" She looked at Paintbrush. Paintbrush leaned down and grabbed two cards.
"Normally-" They said while fiddling skillfully with the cards. "you try to get them to stand like that. Then you can add floors, which just go on top like this." They placed one card on top of their tiny demonstration. It stood still. Lightbulb and I applauded them as they smiled to themself. Lightbulb tried to set hers' up next to Paintbrush's, which collapsed, pulling Paintbrush's down with it.

She let out a staccato growl. Paintbrush leaned next to her and put their hands on Lightbulb's.
"Crap, your hands are shaky." They sighed. Lightbulb went a soft red from the sudden contact. "C'mon, this won't build itself."
I shuffled next to Lightbulb with a few cards in hand. She chuckled defenselessly.
"I love you morons."

~~timeskip ; undetermined amount of time later~~

The tower fluttered down for the twelth time. Paintbrush threw their fists against the table and Lightbulb stood up to yell,
"God I'd rather fight a rat!" She screamed. Paintbrush and I looked at each other with mutual disagreement. I put my head against the table and let out a small sigh.

"My head hurts.." I said, not expecting a response. Lightbulb sat down and cracked her knuckles.
"C-C-C-Come on, c-c-c-come on, let's go.." She muttered to herself, like some sort of cheer. She stacked a few cards up next to each other. Lightbulb was starting to get the hang of it, but her quick temper normally led her to getting frustrated.

I was great at getting them to stand up but I took a while, quality over quantity. Paintbrush went at their own pace and was the line between Lightbulb and I. We would get incredibly close to using up all the cards before they all fell down as if being hit with a canon.

Suddenly, the tower began to grow. We finally made it to two floors. Lightbulb was ecstatic and Paintbrush was determined to succeed. We developed a system and worked as if our lives depended on it. Knowing this new Test tube, it probably does.

I was ready to put more cards together when the realisation hit me. I turned to Paintbrush and Lightbulb with a smile and held up the last card.
Lightbulb walked away from the table and danced a bit. I smiled as I saw the old Lightbulb in her steps, the Lightbulb that took a situation and made it into a game. I carefully handed the card over to Paintbrush who looked at the tower.

"Guys, look at what we did." Their eyes shone with admiration. Lightbulb walked over to them and held their hand. They put the card down on the table for a brief second and looked over at Lightbulb. I leaned over to see what they were doing, not daring to even breathe on the table.
Paintbrush chuckled quietly to themself, making Lightbulb give them a questioning glance.
"W-What? I got something on my face?" She asked. Paintbrush leaned closer to her and gave her a quick squeeze, but ended up not letting go. Lightbulb just froze, but slowly hugged back. Paintbrush started laughing, then let her go with a slight smile.

I watch with hands over my mouth as Lightbulb paced up and down the room mumbling inaudible words, but her expression said everything. She smiled shyly at Paintbrush, sharing the same bright glee as they did. I giggled and elbowed Paintbrush, signalling for them to put the card on top. They happily,  which made me smile like a big dork. I was so happy. For once I wasn't just happy for survival but happy because everyone else was actually,
Happy.

Paintbrush put the card on top. Lightbulb and I clapped as they got up and bowed.
"Thank you, thank you!" Paintbrush said proudly, waving their hand, "I honestly couldn't of done it without you guys."
Lightbulb went 'awww', and I gave them a grateful smile.

Lightbulb walked over to Paintbrush and confidently went into their hold, become a partial armrest. I giggled a bit more.
"Lightbulb!" They chuckled, grinning. She just turned her head and laughed.

I felt a rush of hope and suddenly I just wanted to be back in the white room. I wanted to stay like this forever and we finally did it. We finally made each other happy. I looked at the card tower with pride as I waited to Test tube to escort us back to the room.
Then we heard a hiss. We all turned to face a tiny patch in the ground that was making way for some sort of.. machine?

Lightbulb and Paintbrush jumped back as I scrambled behind the table. Then the patch gave way to a tiny flag.
I smiled as the tension in the room loosened. Lightbulb sighed, then giggled embarrassedly and walked up to the card and grabbed it. But then she couldn't get off the ground.
"Lightbulb?" I asked her. She began to grunt in pain.
"Lightbulb wha—"
"teST TUBE YOU PSYCHO WHAT'VE YOU DONE NOW?!"

My eyes widened as my heart tried to break out of my rib cage. Test tube's door hissed to reveal herself. I ran over to Lightbulb, who had her hand stuck in a handcuff against the ground with Paintbrush trying to break her out. They both screamed at Test tube, their voices too jumbled to comprehend.

"Enough!" Test tube said, grabbing Paintbrush by the wrist and walking towards them. They tried to throw her off but their arms were shaking from exhaustion.
"Test tube!" I screamed, running after them. I was determined to not let her hurt anyone else. The sight of her even making someone back up made me cringe.

Still holding Paintbrush's wrist, they grabbed me and threw me back at Lightbulb, while trying desperately to be gentle. I crashed into her as she tried to get back up. She had gotten too tired to finish her escape attempt, so instead she watched Test tube daringly, as if her gaze would judge her every step.

Paintbrush was trying to pull on Test tube's arm to free themself, but Test tube still stared dead at Paintbrush.
"What the hell are you doing?! Are you mental?! I mean you probably are but this is a new mental-!"

"Paintbrush, Paintbrush.. calm." She said, ignoring Paintbrush's panicked stare.
"W-What are you gonna do, huh?! Kill me!? Gonna... take my bones and.. run experiments on them?!" Paintbrush was too frightened to think straight. Their legs shook as Test tube held their arm, relaxing. Paintbrush finally settled down.

"I'm not going to hurt you two.." Her expression was.. wholehearted..? "That's not what I want to do anymore. Not to you."
Paintbrush was clearly taken aback by her statement, their shoulders tensed.
"G-Go on?"
"Well, over the past interviews and days I've been examining you, I've noticed some.. well.. similarities." She said, confidently making eye contact with Paintbrush. "I could find myself in you, in your character. The way you solved situations and spoke to people I.. I connected with you." She spoke with certainty. Paintbrush's mouth was wide open. "And now, I want to continue working with you."

"W-What?!"
"Four." Test tube took a step forward, making Paintbrush step back. She held her hands up to Paintbrush's chest, still squeezing their hands. "Come work with me! In the lab! We can analyse data together and stay up late together.. and help each othe—"

"You're a sociopath!" They screamed in her face, making her flinch backwards, "You go ahead and torture me and my friends for months, and expect me to play scientist with you?!"
"They're my friends too!" Test tube argued, regaining dominance.
"Yeah, because when you have friends you lock them up in a room until they kill each other!"
"I didn't mean it like that!"
"You let us suffer down here.." Paintbrush's face darkened, "You let innocent objects die because you failed them!"
"And so did you!" She screamed back in Paintbrush's face, freezing them from shock.

"Marshmallow died because of you Paintbrush! But she died because of me too! Why can't you see we're exactly the same?!"
"The same?! The same?!!" They argued, raising their voice so that it echoed off the walls for minutes. "The fact that you can even compare me to the monster you are! And after all I've been through! Weeks, months without food or a proper place to sleep—"
"And you think I get that?!"
"You have access to it!"
"I've lived on 2 minute noodles since this whole thing started! I can't remember the last month I slept in!"
"I—"

"We're the same, two! We both want to avoid conflict. We both want to achieve something bigger than ourselves! We both know what it's like to deal with people who just won't listen!"
"Hey!" Lightbulb yelled.
"We have so much in common! Temper, sanity, dignity.. it's us. We're so similar four! Work with me!" Test tube squeezed their hands. Paintbrush just stared back at Test tube horror stricken.
"Y-You.." Paintbrush tore their gaze away from Test tube. "That would mean.. no more white room..?"

"NO! PLEASE!" Paintbrush and Test tube whipped their heads around to face Lightbulb as she kicked at her handcuff. "You're the only thing keeping me sane in this hellhole! Please Paintbrush!" She pleaded through tears. Her voice dropped to a silent scream, "Please don't leave me, Painty."
Paintbrush's eyes lifted as their thoughts battled each other.
"Paintbrush come on! For us!" I pleaded, my heart beating in my ears, "W-We need you so much, you're stronger than everyone a-and.." I was sweating beyond belief. My hands shook and I felt like I couldn't hear myself. I looked up to fix my sight on Test tube's regretful frown. My jaw dropped a bit at the sight. She snapped her head back to Paintbrush, who she had backed up to a wall.
"You got to listen to me! After a year or so down here what do you think you'd possibly know?" Test tube lowered her voice.

Paintbrush looked at her and then back at Lightbulb. I shuffled over to Test tube and grabbed her leg.
"You got to listen to us!" I pleaded. She looked down at me with sorrow, before twitching again and kicking me to the ground. My arm rang with pain. I screamed.
I saw Paintbrush run over to me, only to get dragged back by Test tube's grasp. This time, Test tube was struggling to keep Paintbrush's arm. Test tube finally started to fight back as they were lost in a tackle.

"I'm the only one who understands you!"
"You don't know anything about me! I'm nothing like you! I'm..!" Paintbrush screeched in protest, now scratching Test tube's wrist.
"I'm being logical while you're just killing us all!"
Test tube's eyes glinted with a defensive fire. Suddenly, Test tube had her leg up against Paintbrush's hip. She pulled violently on their arm. They yelled in pain. They slapped her and tried to throw her off. Pushing her, kicking her.

Then the room echoed with a snap.