Hidden Mysteries

The Hardest Thing

AN: Warnings for implied death, weapons, blood and mentioned injuries
A quick shout out to Oliver aka @Theotherduck2 for making the new cover you might've noticed! (tysm again Oliver!! I just can't express how much I love this!)
With this chapter, there's now only 3 more updates left until Hidden Mysteries' conclusion, so thank you all for sticking around! :) These last 3 chapters are going to hopefully send Hidden Mysteries off with a bang!

"It's wonderful, isn't it, Test Tube?" Shivani asked, watching the green-haired girl tinker away at the many inventions in front of them. "Everything that you've always desired, right here."

"Yeah, it is!" Test Tube exclaimed, standing up and wiping her hands on a nearby rag. "This is all amazing, but...it's kind of lonely, in all honesty. I wish Fan and my friends could see this, too."

"Who says they can't?" Shivani stepped to the side, revealing that Fan had supposedly been standing right behind them all along, an unfamiliar glaze in the red-haired boy's eyes as he stared at Test Tube.

"Heya, Test Tube!" he chuckled brightly, smiling at his friend. "Good to see you!"

"Fan!" Test Tube ran over and hugged Fan tightly, tears pricking at her eyes. "I can't believe it! You're here! T-There's so much I want to say-"

"Testy, it's okay! Don't worry about it," Fan reassured her. "C'mon, don't you want to go on an adventure?"

Test Tube blinked. "Adventure?"

"Yeah! There's a whole fantasy world waiting outside for us to explore! Lightbulb and Paintbrush are already waiting for us!"

"A fantasy world?" Test Tube couldn't believe it; she wasn't sure if she should. It wasn't that she wasn't excited about everything the mindscape had to offer her, but it all seemed too good to be true. Part of Test Tube's mind insisted that this was probably fake, and it was most likely true.

But on the other hand...Fan was here.

Well...a probably-fake-version of Fan, at least.

And she wanted to be with him. Even if he wasn't here with her in this false reality.

"Sure!" Test Tube took Fan's hand, holding it tightly as she pulled him along. "C'mon, Fan, let's go!"

~~~~~

Suitcase stared at her hands numbly, tears brimming in her eyes. The events from several nights ago still echoed loudly in her mind, especially when Silver Spoon and Candle (at least she thought they were Silver and Candle-their faces were blurred in her memory) gently took Nickel's limp body from her, leaving her to slump over and cry in her parents' arms.

Suitcase buried her head in her knees, her sniffles echoing through the empty room. Nickel was dead, actually dead. She knew it was true, true as it could be, but she still refused to believe it.

She didn't know if she could.

"Suits?"

She glanced up at the source of the voice, seeing Baseball and Handbag standing in the doorway, the former holding something close to his chest that was wrapped in some sort of cloth.

"Suitcase, are you alright?" Handbag asked softly, approaching her daughter and sitting down next to her. "You've been in here for a while now..."

"Am I alright? What do you think?!" Suitcase snapped, her expression turning furious. "Nickel died in my arms three days ago, Merripen or Vial or whoever the hell they call themselves now is probably going to take over the rest of the world once they clean Ohio out, and I...I..." The tears started streaming down her face before the sobs began to escape her body, Handbag and Baseball rushing to her side.