Flipping through the abandoned sheets of paper, in a quiet laboratory thats slammed in the middle of a ghost town, was not how Book wanted to start her week. But here she was, doing it anyway.

Being away from people who would usually break the silence constantly made her used to knowing what day it was, what time it was, where she would go and what she would do. But, the people around her would always pop up unexpectedly- and a surprise would follow along them, some good, some bad, and some, even shocking.

Thats the fun thing about being able to roam around the city. There were people you knew everywhere, and you woke up each morning wondering where the day would take you, and what people life would bring to your doors. Each day would become a new experience for you to frame up and hang onto the walls of your memories, and they'd still be there- shiny, perfect, and ready to play once more when you decide to take a trip down memory lane. And when you'd lay your head to rest for the next day, you would hardly be able to remember the dream that carried you through the blank darkness- you'd wake up, drowsy, of course, and begin to wake yourself up for the next day.

But as this crisis went on, each day became more heavy and barren. One would wake up, and let out the blessed sigh of relief- thankful to at least wake up and see the sunshine pouring through the blinds. You'd continue to trudge through the day- doing the routine that you thought would be necessary and helpful to get you through this disaster, but with each day passing, became more mind-shattering and bearing. You begin to feel your brain melting into a strange, pink goo, oozing down your spine and sinking down into the soles of your feet.

What makes it worse, is the dreams. The sun would slowly ooze into the Earth, morphing into the moon that would then rise up and shine brightly in the sky. You'd stay awake and count your blessing, and make sure everything around you is in a spiffy and functioning order. And once you rest your little head, the vivid nightmares that stab through your brain and freeze the blood running through your body would instantly snap you awake- the memory of it keeping you frozen, and petrified to take one small step outside of your bed.

But one isn't just afraid of the darkness. One is more afraid of what's inside of it.

This all becomes repetitive- You'd crave to escape this world and go outside, just to see those familiar faces once more so you could feel a refreshing breeze wash away your worries. The sight of their faces and the sound of their voices would feel like the first gasp of air you'd take once you've reached the surface of the water.

But you can't. Those people were robbed from the experiences they have worked oh so hard for, and they will no longer have any chances on experiencing them. And for that, you can blame the thumbtack with the knife.

This all has taken a toll on Book's mind. She was unable to think clearly, unable to understand the heaviness of the situation around her. She would wake up each morning and instantly begin to cry, clutching the gleaming red shards of, what used to be, her best friend for life.

But she had snapped out of it.

She was done. Fuck everything that had happened her, fuck mourning, fuck crying, fuck checking the doors around her and making sure they were well locked.

Fuck living life safely. If she wanted to see a change to the end of the story, she was going to make it happen- whether everyone would've liked it, or not.

And now, here she was. Looking through the graphs and diagrams that once below to the sport-ball scientists of the group, who's phantoms are possibly watching down on her right now, and scolding her for going through such precious information.

..Book frowned. A small breeze sent a shiver down her spine, as she slowly began to resume her search. Ever since she stepped foot into this lab, she couldn't help but feel an eerie sense of hopelessness and pain. When she made her way down the stairs, she could sense the presence of familiar figures walking right beside her.

"Ugh.." Book shook her head. "Once I'm finished, I have to take a nap..- wait, no..I can't take a nap right now...I have to finish this before I do anything else.."

She then looked up. "But...rest is important...I could become seriously affected if I don't get enough sleep-"

"If you sleep, you could never wake up to see the next day. It isn't worth it."

"But I could mess up, because of fatigue, headaches- Heck, if anything were to happen, I won't be able to fight, or run fast enough!"

"But the more I sleep, the more time I waste- I need to use every second I can. The sooner I bring everyone back, the sooner we can stop Pin, and put this stupid murdering spree to an end!!"

"....I'm talking to myself, aren't I."

"Yes! Yes you are."

Book sighed, forcing herself to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes as she continued the search.

Screw whatever she was feeling.

And screw the possibility of her dead pals watching her. She would apologize once its all over- besides, this is for the best anyways!

If they didn't bring them back.

She would.

"Arent'cha mad about the fact that she's digging through all of the desks and drawers..and making a mess of it..?"

"I would be mad, in any other cases. But in this one, no."

"Bleh!"

"He's right. She's doing this for us- Book is one of the smartest, strongest and hardworking objects I have known around here- besides GB..- but I know she can finish it. If you both started on the machine, I know, with a little bit of time, and patience-"

"And strength."

"-She can be able to finish what you have started."

"...I sure hope so."

"I know so. You two have definitely put in a lot of work anyways..."

"Ruby's right. Remember how long we'd stay up to try and fix that thing..? I'd make you and I endless cups of coffee, and you and I would crack up at the sleep-deprived jokes we'd make when we were in the middle of working through it all.."

"Wow. Are...you two okay?"

"Firey..don't be so rude."

"Well..besides the fact that I have this splitting headache..I'd say we're doing pretty good...I at least didn't come alone."

....

"Oh..TB..uh- please don't cry.."

"..Sorry GB.."

"You two got lucky. I sure wish I came along with someone.."

"I know Pencil..but hey..at least you aren't alone anymore. You had someone waiting for you...like I did."

"You girls are so cheesy."

"Oh, come on Fries- not only did you have one object waiting for you- you had two!"

"And we both came at the same time...I know you were worried and upset about us..-"

"Yeah, you need to chill Fries. It ain't that bad up here! Look- we can float!"

"Oh, Gelatin.."

"..Say..what are we gonna do when we..somehow get back..?"

"Needle- we're obviously going to stop her. We can't let her go through round two again-"

"Shut it, Firey."

"You shut it! If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have been stuck in this stupid mess! Its your fault we're dead!"

"Hey- back OFF. It's not like he knew either, Firey."

"Fries, if it weren't of his constant nagging- and his stupid love towards her- maybe Gelatin could have been down there with Book?"

"...Cut it out."

"Boys, boys...please."

"..Sorry, Leafy."

"Thank you."

"...You should've seen how Coiny reacted when you died though, Firey. It was honestly kinda-"

"NEEDLE!"

...

"Also, like...if we do...manage to come back roobes...whats going to happen between you and Book..?"

"Yeah..! A-Are you going to leave me..?"

"Match, Flower- I won't..! I won't...but I at least still want to keep her in my life. She helped me when I lost Flower...but when I get back there, I'm going to help her win back what she lost."

"..But she lost you, silly."

"That's right!-"

"Look..!!"

"What? What is it, Woody?"

"Mh. It appears that she has found our blueprints for the unfinished recovery center we were trying to build. Good eye, Woody."

"Do you think she'll be able to find where the machine is, GB..?"

"Definitely. Lets just hope that..nothing gets in her way, alright?"

"Oh- thank GOODNESS YOU'RE OKAY, ICY!!"

Tears poured down Ice Cube's face as she happily leaned against the frigid wall- separating the two from the terrified and concerned crowd that was locked away in the inside.

"I-I know...I'm so happy we made it back.."

Fanny let out a grumble. "What the hell TOOK you both so long?! We were worried sick- and I HATE BEING WORRIED SICK!!!"

"Foinny..." Bubble stepped towards the TLC, placing a gentle hand against the cold, smooth metal.

"W-We were on lockdoiwn- we couldn't leave, b-because Match, Pencil, Ruby- Pin goit them!"

"What the fuck is WRONG with her?!" Eraser shouted, distress breaking though his laid back tone. "That's it- you two have to hide. She's dangerous!"

"Armed, AND dangerous!! Get it? Cause of the hands???"

"...What the fuck, Pen."

Bubble shook her head, wiping the beads of sweat that had made their way down her face. "We aren't hoiding anymore- we came to visit all of you, even if its the last thing we ever do."

"Bubble, this is a suicide mission- are you TRYING to get yourself killed?!"

"Foinny, oi'd rather die staying close to you, than dying in a DEAD CITY...the last thing oi want to hear is the sound of Pin saying some stupid, crazy stuff."

"Well, I-"

"Sorry to interrupt Bubble...but I'm surprised at the fact that you've made it this far. I mean- how many objects have died?" Blocky blurted out, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh..Oicy?"

Ice Cube looked up. "..I'd say about...sixteen.."

"Sixteen?? Holy shit- how the hell did she leave you two, the most fragile out of everyone, for LAST?!"

"That bitch is probably saving the easiest for last." Fanny hissed angrily. "..Do you remember the order of each death, Bubble?"

Bubble frowned. The only faint memories that grew in her mind, were not only the discovery of someone's death- but the discovery of the dead body. Was that something she wanted to put in a neat, compromised list, for the world to read through? Or, at least- listen to.

"..D-Do oi have to..?" Bubble asked, her voice now reduced to a hushed whisper.

"Yes, you do actually. Now spit it out!"

"HEY- she doesn't HAVE to if she doesn't want to! I hate it when someone pressures another object into doing something that THEY don't want to do- its FUCKED UP!" Fanny snapped back. "if you want to figure out what order they died in- hell, even HOW they died- why don't you go ask Pin herself?"

"Oh, I'd love to Fanny! Too bad we're stuck in this stupid box until the day we all rot and DIE."

"Or until Pin comes around and finds a way to kill us all." Eraser mumbled.

Suddenly, everyone was cut off when the soft voice of a child made it through. "Wait..what..? Grassy's going to get killed..?"

"No sweetie, you aren't going to get-"

"Hey! He has point! Who knows what Pin could do to us-"

"Well, she did manage to shove Firey off the roof of the Yoyle Needy.." Ice Cube mumbled softly, the pressure beginning to build up inside of her. She couldn't take any of the arguing anymore- she was sick and tired of it all.

And the only objects that could see that were still around. The problem is, one is stuck inside of a van, frozen with grief, and the other one was right beside her.

"...Are you really going to tell them..?" Bubble knelt beside her, placing a hand onto her back and rubbing it slowly.

"..Yes."

"Are you sure you're going to be alright..? I mean..you know how..hard, it was, to even talk about how they all passed..why on earth would you decide to talk about it now?"

"Why shouldn't I?" Ice Cube then stood up, her mind suddenly going blank. She was disconnected from her mind, to the rest of the world- she was on a blank slate, preparing to scribble all over it and pour out everything she had been forcing to hold back for ages. She wasn't going to stop- she didn't care anymore.

It's all fun and games until someone in the group snaps.

"Well...theres a lot of ways everyone died, actually. But it wasn't really a big deal...Firey had 'fallen off' of the Yoyle Needy- of course, thats what we all thought- but thats where it all started. After that, Rocky was found dead- someone stabbed him, right in the middle of his head. And then, Woody was found dead in the forest- his mouth was slit from side to side. Oh- and then, Flower? She was with us for a while..but then, she began to puke...and puke...and puke...to the point, where nothing but blood would just-pour out of her mouth, right..?"

"Oicy- oi think its time you stop-"

"Oh, and then there was Needle...but Gelatin found her, and after GB and TB did their little investigation, its turns out she had been strangled...and then there was Teardrop, and she was poisoned...i found Puffball dead on the beach...there was knife in her eye, and there was rainbows...everywhere....Gelatin was poisoned, but he had somehow managed to survive- it wasn't a big deal anyways, when he didn't die, we knew that she would somehow find a way to get him off the face of the earth-"

"I-Ice Cube, I think we get the point-"

"And then, Fries went missing...we just gave him up for dead. And then, there was Coiny...when he went missing, we decided that this wasn't funny anymore- it was time to do something. I mean- if the love of your life were murdered, I'm sure you'd curl up into a ball and cry your eyes out, just like Book did with Ruby- but not even two days passed, and the next one to go was Golfball- we found her dead body..I never knew what the inside of her brain looked like..cool, right..?...and then Tennis Ball wasn't heard from in a while..."

"I-Icy..?"

"Oh..you know how Match could have herself light on fire? Yeah...turns out she cant be left with a fire for too long...Pin burned her alive..we found Pencil's head dangling in front of the freesmart van.."

"...And Book came back one day...Ruby's shards in her hands."

"And then Ice Cube and Bubble were found...and thats where the story ends!"

Bubble's heart nearly stopped when she heard the voice. All of the rushing waves of thoughts that were repeatedly crashing onto her suddenly went deathly silent, as she could feel her face turn completely pale.

All her worries.

All her fears.

Gone.

That's because they were standing right in front of her.

"Bubble? Helloooo- where'd ya go?"

"Oh, don't worry boys- and girls! They're right here!"

"..NO!"

Pin stepped forward, a smirk gleaming on her face. She clenched the trowel in her hands as she stood over the two trembling figures below her-

So weak...she loved it.

"Taking a small walk from my perfect garden surely brought me a bunch of surprises! But this..? Ohh, I NEVER thought this would be waiting for me! But, enough of my rambling.." She giggled, stepping forward.

"Are you ready to have some fun..?"

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hey!!! you're just in time for the end of the WORLD!!

nah guys, I'm kidding- but hows this coronavirus treating you?? I've been stuck in quarantine for two weeks, and i have a whole MONTH left- oop.

and my senior graduation? my MUSICAL??? sis, thats gone.

ANYWAYS IM SO SORRY FOR THIS LATE UPDATE!!! I've been noticing more people finding this and i wanted to continue because,,, i don't wanna let y'all down.

anyways, I've been working on some art stuff more, and I gotta say I'm really happy with this chapter?? i feel like I'm improving, and I'm actually excited to see how all of this unfolds in the future (:

but i hope you guys have been doing well! please stay safe out there!!

-ice