Teamwork is a skill we lack. (II SUPERHERO AU FIC)

41

Paintbrush woke up slowly, letting out a groan as they regained their senses, and then their pain. Their neck hurt... a lot, along with their arms... Had they really used that much effort in the last battle? That was... days ago, in the... combat... room..?

No, that wasn't right. Everything in their mind suddenly clicked back into place as they sat up with a start, opening their eyes wide to the room they were in now, startling, and waking up a once sleeping Fan.

"Aah! Y-you're awake!" Fan adjusted his visor, trying to keep himself from falling out of his chair, as Paintbrush looked at them with a hard to place emotion in their eyes.

"What... happened..." Paintbrush shook their head, placing one hand lightly around their own neck, and wincing, as they looked at Fan now.

Fan could only return a look of uncertainty, and sadness, not quite knowing how to explain.

"I- Uh... Where's um... Lightbulb?"

Fan's eyes darted to the ground nervously. That wasn't a good sign.

"Fan. Where is she." They repeated, their nerves quickly returning.

"I-- She's... she's in the room with Testtube, t-the one with all the medical stuff..."

Paintbrush's heart dropped. Lightbulb had been shattered. Ignoring their growing dizziness at that thought, they quickly shoved up and out of the seat they woke up in, rushing out of the room before Fan could say anything, Paintbrush quickly slamming open the door of the medical room to see--

To see Lightbulb... And Testtube, sat on the other side of the room working on something-- or at least, she had been, before the shock of the door getting slammed open disrupted her.

"Paintbrush... I-- I did the best I could... She's uh... Alive, but... uh... She's been completely unresponsive." Testtube frowned, returning to her work as Paintbrush carefully stepped over, looking at the life support machine, the shock and uncertainty of it all rushing back as their eyes traced the many cracks that now lined the entire left side of Lightbulb's bulb, noticing that one of her eyes was just... no longer visible anymore. A pang of sadness hit them like a brick. If they had just been stronger. This is just like what happened to Fan. Another friend that they weren't strong enough, or good enough to defend-- to save... But this was feeling so much worse. Lightbulb was... so much more than just a friend to them. She was a beacon of joy and hope. Someone who drove them to be better... Somebody they loved more than anything else. They watched her body slowly rise, and fall, with each breath she took, before it all became too much. They couldn't stand seeing her like that. Paintbrush left the room without another word, returning to the room they had woken up in to give Fan company.

An awkward, tense silence filled the air between them, neither of them being able to speak under the severity of the situation, both of their negative emotions only festering and growing under these conditions-- before Fan had started crying again, breaking the silence with sniffles as he tried to keep his crying quiet, but... that wasn't working.

"I-I'm so sorry," Fan sobbed out, hugging himself for any sort of comfort in this dire situation.

"No, don't be sorry, this-- this isn't your fault." Paintbrush got up from their chair to carefully move over to the one next to Fan, pulling him into a hug that he returned as he cried into their shoulder.

"It-- it is though-- If... If I just... was smart enough to decline that job, if I had just waited in the base for you two to return-- none of this would've happened. It's all my fault," He sobbed, and Paintbrush... Couldn't argue with that... But they weren't angry. They weren't going to put the blame on Fan, and they weren't going to let him blame himself. They carefully put their hands on Fan's shoulders, pushing him away a bit so they could make eye-contact, him unable to return it as his eyes darted to the side, tears still rolling down his face.