Beep...

Beep...

Gelatin's eyes slowly fluttered open, as he softly patted the white sheets that were laid on him. Each breath he took was agonizing; it felt like his lungs were being filled with fire.

But...

He looked down.

His hands...Why couldn't he...

He raised his trembling arms towards him, and felt his heart and veins go cold.

His hands were gone.

How. How. HOW.

Panic began to bubble up in his chest. His arms itched, and felt rather stiff. He looked down, and noticed the IV tubes that snaked up towards a few IV bags that hung beside him. Hot tears began to sting at his eyes as he stared at the bandages that wrapped the numbs of his arms, and as his trembling began to increase, he felt the needle and tape shift and scratch at him.

He looked around, trying to let his eyes adjust to lighting of the room he was in. His memory was a blur; all he could remember...

Was the bug arrow.

Pin falling.

That soup...

As he continued to look around, the door swung open with two objects (well...Fries and Tennis Ball) rushing inside of the room. Fries quickly ran towards the side of his bed, his face pale with beads of sweat dripping down the side. As Gelatin slowly moved his head to face him, Fries let out a trembling sigh.

"You're awake..." he mumbled. Gelatin's vision blacked out for a moment, before he sat up in his bed, a tear slowly trailing down his cheek. He held up his han- well...a nub; and with a breaking voice, he mumbled..

"My hands..."

A look of sympathy suddenly painted over Fries face. He gently pat his back, as he whispered an apology towards the small figure.

Gelatin then threw himself onto Fries, wrapping his arms around him. Fries carefully hugged back, as he heard Gelatin repeatedly mumble,

"I'm okay..."

"What happened back there..." Fries uttered, his voice scratchy and oddly quiet. Gelatin let go, as he looked over at Tennis Ball, who was currently looking at some of the notes he had.

"Well, from what I found, he had eaten some kind of dieffenbachia leaves...his airways were swollen and clogged up, and he was..dead..for a good five minutes. But I managed to bring him back, and..." he looked down towards his arms, sighing.

"...I did my best to try...and bandage that up as best as I could."

"Where's Pin." Gelatin replied coldly, not caring about what happened to him. Tennis Ball looked up, putting the notes back down onto the floor.

"She's in a separate room. She's being treated because she was injected with bug poison..." he sighed out.

"She was found unconscious by the time we found you. A bugs arrow was stabbed into her as well...and her hands were nearly in the same state; the murderer must have gotten to her, and when they heard Fries coming..." he stopped speaking, staring away from the two.

"But how? For starters, There were only two bugs, and I managed to kill them!" Fries acknowledged, cracking his knuckles. Tennis Ball flinched, as he looked back up.

"W-Well, yes, but as I inspected the two...I found these stabbed into them." He turned towards a small cooler, and took off the cover. He raised up a small plastic bag, with a taped label over it.

There were the two arrows; crumpled and bent. A green liquid was clumped around one arrow, and the other had a few clots of blood frozen onto it.

Fries eyebrows furrowed together, as he walked towards him.

"Those bugs were in my house. I killed them with my own shovel. How the hell did that get into Pin's house?!" He uttered lowly. Tennis Ball shrugged.

"Someone must have taken the remains, or...there could have been two more bugs by her area. They could have scuttled away after..." he paused. What really happened down there...?

"But I'm...immune to bug poison..." Gelatin coughed out, wincing at the strange feeling of needles in his arms. This caught Tennis Ball's attention.

"You, were poisoned by the plant. Pin, was poisoned by the bug. This is all over the place, I'm not sure if it's an accident.."

"Or a frame." Fries muttered.

Gelatin coughed a bit, wincing from the sharp pain that erupted from his throat. Fries looked around, before he turned back towards Tennis Ball.

"Where's your little friend?"

Tennis Ball looked up, raising his eyebrow in confusion.

"What?"

"Where's Golfball?"

"Oh." Tennis Ball placed the bag back into the cooler, before shutting it, a small thunk erupting from the close.

"She hasn't been feeling well. She's resting, and I'm taking care of all of this for her."

"Really?" Fries rolled his eyes, laughing under his breath.

"Never knew she had a breaking point...for a bossy bot."

"Stop." Tennis Ball shot him a look, as he grabbed his notes from the ground and made his way towards the doors.

"I'm going to go check up on Pin. If she's awake, I'll ask her what happened. Hopefully she has some sort of answer for us.." he explained. Fries nodded, and watched as he left the room, the door shutting behind him quietly.

The heart monitor continued to let out occasional beeps, as Fries looked back down at Gelatin. His face was exhausted; darkened eyes and pale cheeks added onto the feeling. Gelatin looked up at him, and his eyes began to shine with tears.

"Fries...?" He whimpered out. He felt embarrassment flood over him, but..

"Yeah?" Fries responded. Gelatin clenched the sheets below him, struggling to not break down in front of Fries. He didn't want to cry, he didn't want to make a scene. But he couldn't help it; the more he thought about it, the more it rugged at his heart.

Fries waited patiently for his response, watching him struggle to speak out the words to say. He didn't mind;

He was his friend.

But what he said next, made chills crawl up his spine.

"I saw Firey..."

I'm coming for you.

Pin jumped at the sudden words, feeling goosebumps rise from her body. Her heart pounded in her chest, as ooze was dripping down her forehead. As she reached up to wipe some of it off, she noticed the IV that was stuck into her arm.

A smile crept onto her face.

It worked.

Now, we just gotta act.

She felt the bandages that were wrapped around her waist and wrists, and gently patted the spot where a faint red blotch was seen.

The arrow that was stuck in her.

She laid back down, as she let her mind adjust and recollect the memories of what had taken place earlier.

Before calling Gelatin over, she had squeezed out the poison of the arrows, and watched as the green, luminescent liquid slowly sloshed down her kitchen drain.

She didn't squeeze most of it out though.

A small amount won't do harm; only knock you out for a couple of hours.

You can be saved.

She then took out two small jars. One, contained the basil leaves she had used for the soup, to add more flavor.

And in the other, were a variety of toxic plants that she had managed to collect.

She went for the one that looked mostly like the basil; or any kind of spice for that matter. But, she went with the dieffenbachia leaves; leaves that could cause the swelling and closing of the airways inside of one.

And after the small 'incident'...

His hands are mine.

Hidden, tucked away...they're finally mine...

Footsteps suddenly began to rise from the halls, as Pin carefully laid back into bed. She let her eyes close, as she pretended to fall into a deep slumber.

"Pin?"

Quiet.

"You...awake yet?"

"Hmmm." She grunted. Tennis Ball walked towards her side, as he looked at her heart monitor.

"Hmm...your heartbeat is abnormally slow..." he mumbled, as he began to scribble down some notes. Pin smirked.

"Can you...move?"

Pin slowly uncovered herself, wincing at the pain that rose from not only her waist...

But her swollen, bandaged wrists as well.

Tennis Ball nodded, as he continued to write.

"Where's Coiny...?" She whimpered out, in the most pathetic, scared voice she could create. Tennis Ball looked up.

"He's on his way. Fries told him to watch Puffball, but he's not leaving you behind."

Pin let her eyes close, as a soft sigh bubbled up from her throat.

You love him...

I do.

"Do you remember...anything that happened?" Tennis Ball looked up at her.

Act.

Pin let her eyes well up with tear, as she began to rub her wrists. She stayed quiet for a moment, before she looked back up.

"I was...just about to bring Fries, Coiny and Puffball the ingredients for a soup, and I let Gelatin try some back at my house...but as we were leaving...I felt something stab me..and..."

Tennis Ball raised his foot, as if he were telling her to stop. She paused, letting a few salty tears roll down her cheeks.

"What did you put in the soup?"

"Some tomatoes...potatoes...uh.." she paused, 'remembering' what else she had added to the soup.

"And...basil? I think.."

"Are you sure there was nothing else?"

Pin nodded slowly, as Tennis Ball looked back down at his notes, his eyebrow raised in confusion.

"That's strange, because as I was working on Gelatin, I found out that he had been nearly poisoned, with dieffenbachia leaves." He acknowledged.

Pin froze.

How did he know?

No time to ask, Pin. Act.

"Dieffenbachia...? But how?" She asked innocently.

"Ingested. From what he told me, he had eaten some of your..."soup"...and then, he fell cold. Not only that, that...bug arrow, was stabbed into him, even though he's IMMUNE to bug poison. What is your say on that?" He replied coldly. Pin flinched, as she began to shake her head wildly.

"I-I didn't do anything, I swear.." she whispered. Tennis Ball raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes! I swear!"

He sighed, as he walked towards her.

"Than what did he eat?"

Pin felt her blood turn cold; her mind was becoming more blank at the second, and her mouth was losing the words it could say.

"I-...I don't know, I...I didn't..."

Silence.

"I swear, I went to get BASIL! It was basil, the jar said basil, a-and I-"

"Enough." Tennis Ball sighed, as he put the notes down, looking at her.

"Just... I know that this may be a lot...so I'm gonna let this go for now. We'll return to this later; but right now, you need to rest. You aren't doing so well, and I have to make sure that the poison is out of your system."

"But...isn't she gonna help?" Pin pointed towards the empty spot besides Tennis Ball, and he looked down.

"Golfball? She's resting. I'm taking care of everything here."

Pin nodded, as she laid her head back down on the pillow. As she heard Tennis Ball's footsteps become more distant, Pin dug her fingernails into her palms.

Well, you've messed up. Now everyone is gonna be on your tail.

I just have to cover this up...

You forgot that he was immune to bug poison?

I didn't KNOW!

Well, look at where that is going to lead us Pin.

Her heart began to beat more quicker, as she began to break out into a cold sweat. This was a slip up- there was enough evidence that they could find...they were going to see that it was her.

What are you gonna do? Huh?

You can't sweep this under the carpet this time, hun. You have to think smart. Think...

Leafy.

"Leafy...?" Pin's voice broke, as her eyes began to rapidly search around the room, afraid that a unexpected...visitor would be there, staring at her.

Smiling.

Leafy.

"What...do you mean by that..?" She responded quietly.

Ugh. You're just as dumb as everyone else, aren't you?

Whatever.

Here's what I got.

"PIN!"

"Coiny!"

Coiny bursted into the room, and threw himself onto Pin, tears now pouring down his cheeks. Pin held him tightly, her arms trembling as the pain in her waist grew more sharp and unbearable.

Coiny let go, and cupped his hands around her cheeks, carefully lifting her face and inspecting it, checking if she was hurt anywhere else.

"Are you okay?! What happened..?!" Coiny choked out nervously. Pin sighed, as she put a hand on his, caressing it softly. Coiny leaned in, and let his lips interlock with hers. She stayed still for a moment, before she broke away from the kiss, her eyes becoming dim.

"Can you get Tennis Ball for me...?"

He nodded, as he quickly rushed out of the door. She waited, letting her cheeks droop and wrapping herself with the white sheets that were on her bed.

Are you ready?

I...

Remember, this is our only chance. You have to act.

And you have to act good.

Otherwise...

We'll be on the chopping block..." she mumbled sleepily.

"What?"

Pin looked up, and saw Tennis Ball walk back into the room, Coiny following close behind. Pin shook her head, as she stared away from him, letting her eyes well up with tears.

"I remember everything."

"You do?"

She nodded pathetically.

"I..."

Silence.

"I..."

"Spit It out, will you?!"

The three jumped at the sudden voice. Golf Ball marched in, her eyes looking more...alive.

"GB, why aren't you-"

"Hush." Golfball placed her foot on his mouth, before she turned back towards Pin. Pin's lip began to tremble, as it came back.

So?

Tell them.

"It..."

Keep going...

"It was..."

Pin.

"IT WAS ALL LEAFY."

'STOP!'

"I saw her! I saw her sneak in!"

'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!'

"Bugs! Bugs everywhere! They're gonna get me!"

'NONONONONONONONO NON-'

"And then....dark.."

'So...much...dark..."

———————————————————————————————————————————————

We just had a breakdown in choir what's up 😎

Anyways I bring you: part 32...........
Gelatin hands are GONE

hands? SNATCHED

anyways I'm in rehearsal so I gotta leave wack

Enjoy!

~ice