Despair's Insanity - an II x DR fic

KEC - FTE 3

I ended up waiting for somebody else to take care of Tissues besides myself, since I really couldn't stand next to him for much longer after what I'd almost pulled. A couple people came into the kitchen, Apple and Paper respectively, and I waved them over. Apple came to me, but Paper stayed back, glaring at me like he knew what I did...

"Hey!" Apple shouted happily, "What are you and Tissues up to? Anything fun?"

"Not particularly," I said with an awkward laugh. "But- I need your help. Tissues here- he's blind and deaf- and I don't know if he really wants to spend time with me. Do you think you could hang out with him for today? Just until he needs his night medicine?" I held the sheet out for her to read over, but she looked deeply uncomfortable with it.

"...I don't know what that says..."

"Oh! Uh- well? Can't you-?"

"..." Apple's discomfort only got more apparent, and I quickly put the sheet on the countertop.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize-"

"It's ok. I'm- I'm working on it." I seemed a bit confused on what she meant by 'working on it'...

It wasn't my business though. "Well, can you find someone who'll go through the sheet and help him? He needs someone to get him through his meds- or I think he'll get all messed up."

Apple nodded, her chipper self coming back again. "Okey dokey! I'll see what I can do!" She grabbed ahold of Tissues' arm, and the pair took off in a flash, leaving me with... Paper. I had forgotten he was even there.

He looked different, with his hair tied up into a little man bun, his eyes narrow, and his usual work clothes being replaced with a black sweater and some navy skinny jeans. He seemed pretty cozy... but then he started to talk in a harsh tone of voice.

"What's wrong? Have you never seen an outfit before?"

"No- I have! I'm just a bit confused on why you're wearing this today."

"Oh, I forgot you guys don't know. Uhm- we... I'm not Paper."

We both got suddenly quiet, but I held my hand out for them to shake. "Well then- allow me to introduce myself! My name's Lifering, what about yours?"

"..." they looked down at my hand blankly for a moment, but seemed slightly emotional as they looked right back at me. "You don't think I'm lying?"

"Why would I think that? Even if I did, it's not my place to give you garbage about it."

Their emotion began to subside, and they flashed me a weak smile as they shook my hand. "I'm... Bristol. You'd probably recognize me better as Evil Paper, but- I don't do all that stuff anymore. It took a long time, but now I'm- just a guy! To you, anyway."

"Just a guy? To me? Well, what did you do before? I don't remember everything."

"Well- when the system became as big as it is now, everyone started getting these fancy roles and working together, and I kinda got shafted. I was hated by them- or at the very least an aggravating source, being this weird 'persecutor' thing? It sucked because eventually I just kinda got ignored, if not actively tortured, because nobody ever wanted to-"

"Ok- wait... you're losing me a little." I cleared my throat. "I'm sorry, I just need a second to process all of that."

"Right... sorry. I'm just relieved to be able to talk to someone without pretending I'm Paper anymore. It's irritating as fuck to act like someone else."

"That's fine! Why don't we talk more about stuff in the cafeteria once you get your food?"

"Sure." Once they grabbed a pudding cup, we walked out those couple feet to the cafeteria so we could sit at a table. They began to eat, and tried to talk in between mouthfuls. "So I'm gonna start over. Is that ok?"