Despair's Insanity - an II x DR fic

AGT - 2

I woke up a little earlier than usual- roughly 4:30, but instead of going back to bed for that half hour, I turned off my alarm clock and got ready for the day. I said I would go see Paper- and I had full intentions to do so before this "final trial" or whatever. If he was still out there, I just wanted to say hi. It had been a while, but he and I got along. I thought we did.

I hoped we did...

The moment I stepped outside, I remembered summer nights were always immaculate. I'd completely forgotten it was even June, or what day it was at that moment, but I heard the cicadas buzzing like nobody's business, and the slight breeze gave just enough chill for it to not be too terribly hot.

Among all of that, just being outside made me feel a lot more comfortable. Never in my life had I loved being a shut-in, or locked away in buildings, so to be able to experience nature again was great... even if a giant blue field surrounded me. I didn't have any shoes, since I had been kidnapped from an island, so I got the luxury of walking through the grass barefoot. Thankfully, no traps were laid out. Nothing but nice, soft grass that was cool because of the morning dew.

I don't usually describe things so vividly- but I could never explain how wonderful this all felt to me. Being outside again after all the horrible things that happened... it felt good.

Regardless, I strolled through the grass and off to where I'd last seen Nickel- just past the field and into a nearby forest behind the hotel. I glanced quickly for a camera outside, found none, and then called out.

"Paper?! Are you out there?! Well- I'm looking for anyone really!"

The loudest response I got was from the cicadas.

"Paper! It's me- Lifering! Are you safe?!" I waited a moment before scruffy blue and white hair suddenly popped from out of the bushes, along with wide, red eyes. That was definitely Paper... he creeped me out sometimes. And yet, seeing him at all made my shoulders relax, even though I didn't even notice they had been tense to begin with.

He looked around for a few moments before making a mad dash toward me, and while already out of breath, he seemed pretty happy. "You're alive! How are the others? Are you the only one? Is Oj?-"

"Oj didn't make it. Uhm... let's go over who passed first, cause that's the worst part. Actually- who am I speaking to?" He cleared his throat.

"Well, it's your favorite... uhm..." he began to trail off, and at first I thought he was confused- until he started to look around again. "Lifering? What the hell are you doing here?" With the way the voice had gotten a bit scruffier, I'd recognized Bristol almost immediately.

"Oh hey! It's been a while since I saw you too! Are you gonna be ok to hear the bad news?"

"Bad news?"

"About- well- some people died and I'm trying to tell Paper. I don't think he wants to hear it though?"

"Just tell me- I'll tell Dinky and they can break the news." Dinky was a new name, but probably just one that didn't front around me, so I didn't press into that.

"Oj was killed on accident by Tissues, and then Candle threw Blueberry off the rooftop. They're all dead. Bomb, Apple, Trophy, Microphone and I are all alive though, and Fan says that the game's almost done! I have a feeling I'm not gonna be able to shut up about it at this rate."

(Note from Apple: You've already said it a million times in this draft lol)

Bristol listened to me carefully, nodding to probably indicate he wasn't in the middle of a switch, and hesitated to respond altogether. "Jeez. I guess- it's weird to think that this stuff is permanent. It's hard to understand what's going on half the time when it's just hotel work- but this whole thing has left a lot of us scrambling to figure out what the hell to do. Dinky and I are kinda just being expected to fix it- but we can't. That's not how it works."