Despair's Insanity - an II x DR fic

VU - 2

I woke up in a cold sweat, shivering in bed as I looked around for Blue... he was getting his sweatshirt on. As soon as he noticed me, he gave a nod.

"Hey Lifering. Are you ok?"

How would I explain what just happened? Was it what really happened that night? If that was the case, that meant Microphone had helped her. Not just that, but she didn't tell a soul after the fact.

She's been lying to us about a murder for a week at least. I didn't know how long it had been- keeping track of time when it hardly matters got pretty difficult.

I guess I forgot to answer Blueberry, because he looked off to the door. "I don't know if you heard, but we're getting our last motive today." I perked up instantly, sitting up from bed.

"Last?"

"He said it's almost over. I don't know if he's saying that to mess with us... but I'm worried about Bomb and Apple."

"Them?" I raised a brow. "Why them?"

"Well, the person who's the most upset over the last people to die tends to get killed. Knife was upset about Pickle, Baseball was upset about Knife and Balloon, Oj was upset about Paper... Bomb's upset about Oj, and Apple's upset about everything in general. She might not fit the pattern, but- for all I know we could be surprised."

Apple or Bomb. That didn't feel quite right- they've been the most vocal. Why would Fan get rid of them?...

Fan isn't technically killing anyone. Besides Pepper, I guess.

My thoughts were interrupted though. "C'mon. We need to be down there."

"Right- sorry... I just feel weird today." Without any further discussion, I got up to put on the vest Bomb had given me the other day, buttoning it up to make sure it felt snug. Although, the memory is been given kept swirling around in my head. Hopefully a motive would distract me.

"You ready?" Blueberry opened up the hotel door and reached out his hand. Ordinarily, I would think he's trying to get closer and feel weird, but I grabbed it without much thought so he could lead me downstairs to the lobby.

Everyone was down there already, but it felt...empty. Tissues looked horrible, more pale than usual as he trembled and stifled his violent coughing on the couch. Trophy sat beside him, whispering something in his ear as he kept kissing the top of Tissues' head; though I noticed him shaking too.

Apple stood by herself, anxiously fiddling with her bracelets. Bomb was a few feet away, his hair down and his back turned to us as he stared at the pictures on the wall. Microphone and Candle stood side by side, eerily silent.

Blueberry and I chose to stay where we were, and Fan appeared just moments later, the same old eager grin on his face.

"Hi everyone! I'm a little bit drained, and impatient quite frankly, so today you'll be receiving your motive! I know that what happened last night was pretty rough, and you didn't get much sleep, but I don't really care... Anyway." Fan straightened his bow-tie a little bit and nodded. "This motive is a bit of a riddle! You all have someone in this place that you cannot live with- not as long as they're still alive. If you figure out who this person is, you'll leave! No trial or investigation necessary. I'll open up the door, and you'll get to deal with your trauma somehow!"

"Isn't it a little late for that?" Candle asked. "I suppose it would motivate someone, but this seems a little bit foolish to be concerned with now. Freedom is most certainly not an option anymore."

"But it is," Fan replied curtly. "So just consider it, ok? The sooner you leave, the happier you'll be, right? Now, that's all I had to say! Good-"

"Hang on!" I stepped forward. "Fan- was the dream I had last night real?"

"...What? What- Dream? Probably not, it's a dream."

"It was about how Soap killed Pickle though. Do you not have any idea how that could be?"

"I guess not? I genuinely have no idea what you're talking about."

"But- well- were Pickle's last words 'Soap, are you ok'?"

Fan stared at me like I was crazy. Was he gaslighting me? He seemed genuinely confused, but he nodded slightly.

"That- I believe so? It's been a long time, Lifering. Regardless, I want this to go by faster, so I'm gonna leave you guys to figure out your riddles, ok?"

I tried to interject, but the smoke went up before I could even make a sound. Everybody then looked at me like I was crazy too. Great.

Regardless, I had the motive, so now I could go do whatever, right? My first choice was to go to Apple, who perked up when she realized that's what I was trying to do.

"Hey Lifering! I- I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to ruin your night and... I made you a new bracelet. I don't know how to fix old ones, but I put just as much appreciation into this one, I promise!" Without skipping a beat, she put the new bracelet on my wrist. It looked exactly like the first, but now it had a little heart charm hanging off of it. She gave me a bright smile, and I felt myself smiling back without a second thought.

"Thank you... but- hey, I wanted to ask if you're free today. Blueberry and I might go hang out, and I thought you could tag along, right?"

"Really?!" Her eyes went wide, and she started bouncing in place with glee. "I would love that so much- it's been so weird not having a FRIEND!" She turned to Bomb, who didn't move. "...I still don't know what I did wrong. B-But- that doesn't matter- he can screw off! I'll be glad to hang out with you and your boyfriend!"

"He's not my boyfriend."

"...oh." She looked down. "Sorry."

"It's- it's fine. You and Blue can go to the rooftop- I'll be up there as soon as I can, alright? We can skygaze, talk about the past... the happy past. That seems nice."

"It does seem nice. I'll go try and talk to Blue then- see you up there! And don't take too long, ok?"

"I'll try my best." The both of us waved at each other as Apple took off to go see Blueberry, and I tried to go into the kitchen.

But it started happening again. The glitching, the painful sensation. It sounded like my brain was just playing a flatline sound on loop...