Despair's Insanity - an II x DR fic

Bonus Scene

"Well- what now?" Nickel asked. The three of us had been looking up at the clouds through the treetops of the forest just about all day now. We'd been trying to relax and think of a plan after we recovered Paper, since he told us everything he knew, but Nickel seemed a lot more hollow after hearing Baseball AND Balloon had passed away...

That thought made me bitterly recall my own past friends, the reasons I had come to help at all. Paper hadn't seen Microphone die yet, and now I could only hope she would manage to get out. Pickle didn't last the first week... she was the only chance I had to fix my mistakes.

"Guys," Nickel huffed, "I asked you a question. How are we supposed to get them out?"

Paper shrugged, not bothering to look away from the skyline. "I'm surprised you even care- your friends are dead anyway. All of them are gonna die at this rate..."

"God- you sound like Suitcase right now. 'Everyone's dead Nickel, move on Nickel, you're acting like a psychopath Nickel!' I'm tired of acting like there's nothing we can do. Do none of you have morals?!"

"We have morals," I cut in, "but there's no telling what's going on inside of that hotel. And the more often we go out there, the more likely we are to get caught by someone. We just need to wait until somebody goes outside like Lifering did... speaking off- didn't he say he was going to talk to you again?"

"He must've forgot." Nickel crossed his arms, standing upright. "I feel so useless just sitting around and waiting for their lives to pass right on by. That's stupid! Waiting around is what got THEM stuck, and what made everyone else give up! I mean- I'm working with Taco and Paper- the dream team- because nobody else even cares anymore!" The agitation in his voice only got more evident the longer he spoke, but Paper and I said nothing. I was thinking, but Paper was most likely trying to ignore the situation.

The silence lingered on far too long for Nickel's liking, because he started to walk away from us, out into the open toward the hotel. In an instant I grabbed ahold of his arm. "Nickel!- There's nothing we can do unless there's a sign!"

"Taco- waiting for a sign killed my two best friends." He stared at me, bitter and a little numb. "How much longer until all of them are gone? Are you willing to wait to find out?"

"Nickel- I... No- but I don't know what good is going to come out of any plan we hatch up. They're in a forcefield, we have drones shooting at us all the time... your shoulder is a good reminder." Nickel glanced at the burned up hole going straight through him, and pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to cover it.

"I don't like talking about that. I- I can't stand sitting around anymore Taco. Let go of me and stay here if you want, but I'm leaving."

I glanced past him, toward the hotel, and thought about my own friends for a moment. They didn't like me anymore- they all considered me a terrible monster- but I still wanted to make it up to them.

I'd never be able to have that chance with Pickle, but Microphone could still be ok. If I saved her life, would she consider forgiving me? Even a little bit? Would any of them forgive me?

The silence lingered long enough for Nickel to rip his arm away and begin to walk off again, but I hurried to go alongside him. "It's too dangerous to be alone- I have my ray gun at least. We can go together and try to find somebody."

Nickel paused for a moment, looking at me with wide eyes before he smiled. "Cool... and- Uhm- Thank you. For all of this and- and for comforting me when you found me. I probably would've given up if you hadn't come along."

A person was... thanking me? For being a good person? Certainly an unfamiliar phenomenon, but one I accepted with a slight nod as we started walking out again.

The force field's edge wasn't too far away, but it was a long ways around... we looked at each other, before silently agreeing to go around the entire perimeter.

Paper didn't tag along- he was probably too tired to bother... but that was of no concern to us. We knew he'd be safe in the woods because the drones searching in there would be a waste of time. None of the objects were smart enough to have an efficient hiding spot like that.

Nickel and I kept searching around for anyone though, and as Nickel and I saw a dead body by the front doors, the ground beneath us began to shake.

"Wha- Nickel? Where's the drone?!"

"I don't see a drone..." Nickel looked down, and I did too, but all I saw was a giant hole in the dirt. "Wait, is that the f-" before he could finish, the two of us were sunk into the ground and instantly vanished to who knows where...

Did I just get eaten alive?

All I knew was that as soon as everything went black, the last thing I felt was me crashing into Nickel before going unconscious entirely.