[Lightbulb's POV]

My pulse was throbbing in my ears as I tried to think of a plan. Thinking in this heat was miserable. With each spark causing another roar of flames, I knew we only had mere minutes before all of us were consumed. Sure, I could survive a few minutes in the flames but.. Fan would be a goner.

He was still shaking in my arms, obviously trying nothing to choke on the smoke that continuously tried to suffocate us. He looked horrified. I was horrified. There's.. nothing either of us could do about it. But if I kept waiting, there was certainly no future for either of us. Think, Lightbulb, think. I looked down at Fan, who hesitantly looked up at me. I forced a smile on my face as I gave a small nod, and then snapped him shut.

I hated doing that. It felt like a physical violation. He barely snapped himself shut, let alone have anything else close him. But.. this would give him the best chance of survival. His edges were laminated. Protecting the most flammable parts was vital to making sure he didn't burn to a crisp.

As much as I wanted to take a breath, try to at least attempt to call myself, I knew if I did I would collapse to the ground. I.. don't know if I'd be able to get back up. Falling would.. likely shatter me. Even if it didn't.. I would asphyxiate on that smoke. Neither of us had anything to breathe through, to filter it. It was likely much harder for Fan himself to breathe, considering he was folded in on himself. How did that even work..? He's paper thin enough.. no wonder he made so many jokes about asthma.

"W-wait! L..light, lightbulb please-"

I froze. All my limbs tensed as I glared over my shoulder. The one who dared to croak a begging plea was exactly who I thought it was. That damn witch. She certainly looked worse for wear. It was so much more obvious now that I could see her up close. You couldn't even call it close, she was a good distance away. She looked like a gust of wind would've knocked her out. She could see the amount of rage in my eyes. She was scared of me. Hah! That's almost funny. She was scared of me.

"I.. I know, I know you're a-angry but please-
You, you can't.. you can't, leave, me down here. To, to-"
"To die? You're kidding. You, the great and horrible experimenter, are begging ME, for mercy. You want solace? You want forgiveness? You expect me to SAVE you? After what you've done to ALL OF US?!"

I snarled, causing Fan to whimper and shake in my arms. He never liked conflict. I didn't either, but the fact she's begging me for her life here is pathetic. If she wanted mercy, she should've kept to herself. If she wanted mercy, she should've left Fan alone. If she wanted mercy, she should've Paintbrush alone. Let us go home. Let it be some stupid sleepover and that be the end of it. But she just HAD to keep pushing. Look where that got us all.

She was pathetic.

"You're smart, Test Tube. Figure it out yourself."

I'm not wasting any more time on her. As I finally dashed into the flames, holding my breath, I took one last look backward. Just enough to see her face contort into a scream as the flames swallowed where she was standing. She didn't have the strength to get up. Considering how weak and fucked up her body was, she wouldn't last long.

Good.

Though.. I wasn't doing so good myself. Running head first into a fire with a flammable object wasnt a good idea. It was so.. hard to navigate. The heat seared at my arms, singeing off whatever it could get it's sparks on. I bit the inside of my cheek and gave Fan a squeeze, trying not to scream myself. Fan had pulled all his limbs as close to himself as he could. Waiting for it to be over.

Every now and again I'd find my footing. A spot of the lab that hadn't been consumed yet, or something I could climb on top of to get above the flames. Everytime I did, I felt that.. nagging feeling, to look back. Watch her body burn. Get the solace, the satisfaction out of her suffering. She was likely dead by now. Dead and charred. But.. something in me made me realize doing that would put me on too much of a similar level to her. Just like she had said.

As I jumped, climbed, whatever I could to avoid the burns as much as possible, Fan would shudder or give the occasional yelp from the flames catching him. I had to put out small flames that had gotten to him with the tips of my fingers. I'm.. probably not going to get feeling back in those for awhile. It'll make one ugly set of calluses. Hopefully.. hopefully it'll be a fun story. One day. When I'll.. be with everyone again, and we'll be able to laugh about it.

How many more years is that going to take..? How much longer is she going to have power over us.. be able to hold all of this over our heads..? I'm not.. I'm not the best with coping by any means but.. but Fan.. hes.. likely broken beyond repair. Mentally. Me, more so physically. But.. does that really matter..? Will we truly be able to function in a world that's.. not made for us?

I finally made it to the front of the room. It wasn't going to work. I knew that even if I found a door, there's no way she would have it actually lead up to the surface. People would be able to find this place too easily if she had. Then I remember. The tube. Not.. not her, but the slide that we took to get down here in the first place. There's less fire here, but I don't have time. I just need to go for it. That's what your good at Lightbulb. Taking stupid risks and succeeding.

"..Fan, I need you to.. to stick your arms out.. and, and hold on to me."
I wheezed, feeling myself grow woozy as the smoke finally began to set in. Not only was I stuck on a timer from the burning inferno of the lab, I was stuck on a timer of my own physical lung strength as well. He hesitantly peaked at me, unfolding slightly. He looked.. so scared. He barely trusted me.. I could tell that much. He really thought we were going to die here. I.. I already died here once, I'm not leaving him down here.

But he did it. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed for dear life. It almost knocked the limited breath I had out of me. Once I adjusted to the mild extra weight on my lower half, I jumped and grabbed on to the linoleum tube. I sighed in relief realizing that the ribbing of the tube would be something to attach myself to. Make climbing up easier. All I had to do was follow the small gusts of fresh air I could feel coming from the tunnel.

"..Fan.. I need you to trust me. If.. if I slip.. stick your legs out, and catch us. I'll pull us up, but.. I don't know how long I'm going to be able to.. hold my strength."
"..we're gonna die here."
"We're.. not going to die here. I'm getting us out. I promise. Please.. please, just trust me. And.. and do what I'm telling you."
"..you.. you promise..?"
"..I promise. Just.. think about what's waiting for us out there. The.. the people, waiting for us out there."
"..okay.. I'll do it."
"..adda boy."

So I began climbing. Fan still kept his face hidden, but he kept one ridge of himself folded out so he'd still be able to see. Despite there not being much to see. It was pitch black in that tunnel, and all I had to go on was the feeling of cold, fresh air. The tunnel echoed the sounds of both of our breathing. Our labored, terrified breathing. In a weird way it was.. comforting. The reaffirmation of knowing we're both alive. Six of us went down that tube. Only two of us are coming out if it. That.. that has to be special, right..?

Every push upwards made me bite my tongue. Bending my arms, pushing my hands against the wall, putting my feet on the ribbing, everything burned. My muscles screamed as I went. My burnt fingertips grew slick with condensation and sweat running off my arms. Each time I slipped those few inches down, it went silent. His breath hitched, mine stopped completely. If I fell at this point, we'd be dropping right into a pit of flames. We both knew the consequences of that.

I groaned as another wave of pain ran through my arms, my muscles tensing and going shaky. All I was running on was.. adrenaline at this point. Everything in my body told me to stop. But I didn't want to die. I couldn't let him die either. When I looked up.. I realized I could see a light. Not the kind of white light you see when you die, a dim light. A dim, blue toned light. Sunlight. Starlight. Moonlight, I didn't care. It meant I was almost out. WE were almost out. So I dug my burning fingers into the ribbed linoleum and climbed further.

Each rigging step was another slip. My haste was causing me to be careless. Risking another fall, over and over. Eventually I realized that when I reached up, there was nothing to grab. The floor of the tunnel went from a steep decline to a flat surface. It was still dark, but there were bits of light peeking out from the cracks somewhere. We had.. finally made it out. Holy fuck, we actually made it out! I reared my arm back and punched whatever was in front of me with as much strength as I could muster.

That sent us tumbling forwards and out, into something ticklish and partially sharp. I rolled onto my back, and pushed Fan off of me. When I opened my eyes, I was taken aback by the brightness. Raising a hand over my face, I squinted up at what I thought was the sky. It was.. dark outside. A full moon.

"..Fan."
"..what..?"
"Fan open your eyes."
"..eye."
"Shut up and do it."
"..oh my god."

What we were laying on was grass. Grass infront of that stupid soda machine. Smoke was curling out of the side, from where I had punched out the side panel. Every part of my body was screaming, but all I could do was laugh with joy. Laugh, and sob. It hurt. It hurt so bad. It hurt so bad, but it felt so good at the same time. The satisfaction of knowing that we had bested her. That we had managed to get out of here.

Fan started to cry and laugh with me. Neither of us has any strength to get up, to hold each other, to hold hands, share that intimacy that both of us needed so desperately in that moment. But we had done it. We survived. We watched so many of our friends die down there, and we did too. All the people that entered that lab died. The ones that escaped.. weren't the same people anymore.

Our celebration was interrupted by bright beams of light. We both held our hands over our eyes, wincing and curling in on ourselves. It was other people. People we knew, recognized, but didn't solely remember. They shouted to eachother, words that I understood but didn't process. All I could understand at that moment was myself. Myself and Fan. The only ones that would be able to understand eachother for the rest of our lives. We were the only ones to experience that.

When we were taken for medical repair, we were separated. He cried out for me, reached for my hand as he was carted away on a stretcher. I felt tears prick at my eyes again as they took him from me. But.. I knew we were safe now. They.. they were going to take care of him. They were going to keep us safe. The assessment felt like nothing. Lights were shined in my eyes, all my limbs were poked and prodded at, I was put on table after table. All of it gave me too many painful memories to bare. I hate to admit it.. but I threw a fit.

I screamed, I kicked, everything in my brain telling me that these people were trying to hurt me. Hurt me like she did. The table was cold, the tools looked the same, all of it gave me horrible flashbacks. Especially when they tried to put an IV in. Seeing that needle made me howl with a rage and fear I'm sure they've never seen. They must've thought I was a maniac. Eventually they realized all they had to do was keep my eyes covered.

I don't know what happened to Fan during the period we were separated. Hopefully what he went through wasn't nearly as painful as what I did. They didn't do anything about the chip. I didn't have mine anymore but.. I could still see the raised flesh on Fan's hand when we were eventually able to reunite. We both had horrendous malnutrition, third degree burns, scarring, blindness, near organ failure, that kind of stuff. A pair of broken toys.

Being able to just.. sit on the couch with him. Was a nice relief. The ambiance of the hospital drumming in the background. We didn't say anything to eachother, covered in bandages like that. There wasn't anything to say.

All we needed was silence.
The silence.
And each other