(*Warning! Acts of self harm!*)

*Timeskip: 2 weeks later*

*Time: 2 pm*

.

.

.

*Balloon's P.O.V*

Things have been great with Mepad around! Sure, it was a little weird, but we all managed!

Although, it may not seem like it; due to him being built with no emotions; Mepad is still curious about things. I'm sure Taco has noticed this as well....

He doesn't ask, but he's curious. Mepad is too kind like that, it's nice. Maybe we should tell him... Better now then later right?

Maybe I should ask Taco about it. Maybe once I finish making lunch. I'm making simple sandwiches today.

My insonmia has been a real pain these past few weeks. I've barely gotten sleep and I'm soo tired!

I don't know if the other two have noticed this or not. I'm actually pretty glad they haven't mentioned it.

I'm just finishing the sandwiches right now. Taco is playing with Ash and Mepad is on a walk. We did warn him about the cops being most active during the afternoon.

I hope Mepad is okay out there. He should be, he knows the outline of this place well. We all do, so it's kinda easy to walk past people.

Thinking about it, I don't think I've seen much of the people from the hotel. I see them sure, and Taco does too, but it's not as many people than before.

Did they all give up on me? Did they not care about me anymore? Do they all hate me more now for making them search for me? 

All these negative thoughts rushed through my mind. I could feel tears in my eyes, I try to wipe them away, but they kept forming.

I try not to make any noise while having this small mental breakdown. I can feel myself shaking, I was holding knife currently since I was cutting the chicken.

I stare at the knife then look at my arms. No. NO! I can't be doing this now! Not with Taco in the next room!

My mind wouldn't listen to me. I was on auto-pilot now as i place the knife on my tender skin. Damnit! I don't want to!

But my body just wouldn't budge. I had already made a cut. I start to make more cuts on my skin.

I was doing my best not to get any on the food, so I did this over the sink. I was shaking and doing my best not to make a noise.

I was so unfocused by everything around me. I don't know what was happening. My vision is blurry by the tears in my eyes, and I was hurting myself again.

I think I can hear something, but I'm not sure what it is. I can feel the knife being released from my hands. What?

I feel something on my shoulder, so I look up. My vision was still blurry, so I can't make out who this was. But I have an idea on who it might be.

I think she was trying to tell me something. But I couldn't hear her, my mind was tuning her out. She put her hand on my hand I think. 

Suddenly, I think we're moving. She's guiding me somewhere. She led me to a place, I think it's the restroom.

We get there moments later and I can feel her doing things. I think she's cleaning my wounds. I can feel my arms stinging.

I can feel something on my arms now, I think it was bandages. She was bandaging me arms.

Now we're heading back to the living room I think. I feel something under me, which I think was the couch. She pulled me into a hug, which I return.

She was trying to comfort me, which was appreciated. We stay like this for a good while until I feel myself becoming calmer.

"Balloon?", I hear her call out.

"T-Taco?", I respond hoarsly.

We pull away from the hug and she looks at me. She has worry and concern all over her face. Shit, I made her worried!

"Are you alright Balloon?", I hear from behind me.

I turn around and I see Mepad. When did he get here? Shit. Does he know what happened!?

Before I go into another break down, they both hug me. I calm down instantly. They pull away from the hug and have a concerned look on their faces.

"Are you okay now?", Taco askes.

I find myself unable to talk, so I give a small nod. They both smile and look relieved. I give a small smile back.

"That's good. But what happened?", she asked.

I hesitate to answer, but I take a deep breath and began.

"W-well. I-I was m-making lunch. T-then I s-starting t-thinking about t-the resdients at the hotel. I-I noticed that w-we don't see them a-as much.", I started.

"I've noticed that too.", Taco mutters.

"Please. Keep going Balloon.", Mepad says.

I nod and continue my story.

"I-I started to t-think about i-if they. I-if they a-all g-gave up on me.... which lead to... More negative thoughts...", I continue.

I take a really shaky breath as I continue.

"T-then... I looked at the knife.... a-and I... I started t-to cut.. I-I didn't want to, but I did. I-I couldn't focus o-on a-anything...", I confess.

They both look a little shocked. Well, Mepad was trying to look shocked. Taco then looked like she was thinking.

"Well, you not focusing on anything makes a bit of sense. You we're super out of it when I helped you.", she explained.

"You must have been. I came back here about 20 minutes ago. I saw the aftermath where you and Taco were hugging.", Mepad confesses.

"Y-you did? H-how long-?", I started.

"You've been like this for about 30 minutes now.", Taco says, cutting me off.

"O-oh...", I gasp.

I cough a bit. God, my voice is so hoarse, I guess me crying a lot makes sense.

"Lunch is *cough* d-done.... Y-you can get your plates.", I say remembering about lunch.

"Oh. Okay! Thanks Balloon.", Taco says.

"Thank you Balloon. Would you like me to grab your plate?", Mepad asked.

"Y-yea. T-thanks Mepad.", I thanked.

"You are welcome Balloon.", Mepad says.

Mepad heads to the kitchen. Taco begins to do the same before I grabbed her. 

"Hm? Everything okay?", she asked.

"I-I think we s-should tell him.", I tell her.

She looked a little confused at first. But she then understood what I was trying to say.

"A-are you sure?", she asked.

"Y-yea. He deserves t-to know.", I say.

She nods as she leaves to get her lunch. I look down at my arms, seeing them bandaged up. I disregard any negative thoughts that came creeping up in my mind.

We're going to tell Mepad everything that happened soon. I'm nervous. I don't know why I'm nervous!

All this didn't happen to me. It happened to everyone on the show and Taco. I guess I'm nervous on how Mepad might react to everything.

I just hope this doens't affect anything between us. I don't want to loose another friend.

.

.

.

*Mepad's P.O.V*

I was grabbing Balloon and mine plates so we can eat. I noticed Taco didn't follow right behind me. Even though she was hungrier than I was.

I wonder why? Oh, nevermind. There she is. Why did she stall? Did Balloon need something from her?

I grab the plates and some drinks for us. I head back to the living room where Balloon is sitting on the couch still. 

He turns his gaze towards me and smiles. Hmm, I'm detecting some nervousness from him. Why is he nervous?

"Here is your sandwich Balloon. And a drink.", I tell him.

"T-thanks M-Mepad. *cough*", Balloon thanks, coughing a bit.

He grabs the drink and gulps down a little bit of it. His voice was rather hoarse, so it makes a bit of sense he went for the drink.

Taco comes back and she also seems nervous. We're going to tell me something? Wait, was it about what I missed when I was out of comission?

"So, Mepad.", Taco begins.

"Yes?", I inquire.

"Me and Balloon decided that....", she continued.

"You should know what happened during the show. You've waited long enough.", Balloon finishes.

"I see. Are you two sure you are okay with this?", I asked

"Yea. It's best we tell you now rather than wait a longer time. Helps with the coping, and processing.", Taco explains.

"Well. Alright. Please, tell me what happened while I was out of comission.", I say.

"We are. But, you should know that, there's going to be some.... tough things while talking about what happened.", Balloon adds.

"Oh? How so?", I asked.

Balloon looks over to Taco, who turns away. Balloon looks back at me and speaks once more.

"Well, this might shed some new light on Taco. Bad light, but I promise! That Taco has learned from her past mistakes, and she's a better person now.", they explain with guilt.

'Shed some light on Taco? Will I learn a little bit about her?', I ponder in my mind.

I don't say much as I only nod. Balloon takes this as a sign that I'm ready to learn the truth. They tap on Taco's shoulders and she nods. 

"Alright. I'm going to take over now. I know more about everything because, I was there.", Taco states.

'She was there? How? I do not remember her being there.', I think to myself.

"I see you're confused. Don't worry, I'll explain.", she says.

I nod once more and she continues with the explination.

"You see. I was always there during the season. I just, was hiding. I was trying to find the perfect someone to help me with my goal.", Taco begins.

"I wanted the million. I told you how I competed in season 1 and how I have bad connection with everyone who competed back then. There's a reason for that.", she explains.

"I was putting up a act. I was making myself look like I was stupid. I didn't comunicate much and yelled out random things like.... SPRINKLES!", she spoke before yelling out.

Me and Balloon both jump in shock. Taco immediately put her hands on her mouth. She looked rather flustered and took her hands out her mouth moments later.

"You know, you never told me why you do that randomly. The sudden outburst like how you used do it back in season 1.", Balloon realized.

"Ah. Um. Well, it's just a really random thing I've had since I was young. Like a tick of sorts. I thought I could tame it, and I've had! But only now does it come back...", Taco explains, a little salty about it.

"Oh. Wow, that must suck huh?", they asked.

"It really does. It's so fucking random I can't even predict when another one will come.", Taco sighed.

"Anyways! Moving on from that. I didn't really have any friends other than Pickle. We stayed together the entire game. Until the finale.", she continues.

"When we were growing close to the finale, I would slowly show parts of my true self. The person you're seeing now.", she explains.

"When the finale came, it was down to me and OJ. We raced hard, but in the end, he won. I was placed second place. And I was furious, so I revealed my true colors to everyone.", she says.

"I told them that I all I wanted was the million. I had betrayed them all, especially Pickle. I took the breifcase but didn't think twice about it not having money in it. So, I was left with no money, or friends.", she confessed, with guilt in her face.

She had frowned and looked down. She was full of guilt. Balloon put a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. They were comforting Taco the best they could, which was nice of them.

Taco took a deep breath and continued with the story.

"Well. After I left, I realized I didn't have anywhere to go. No friends to rely on. My family never loved me and just used me for my smarts. So, I was alone, and stayed like that for years.", she continues.

"I wanted the million to have for personal reasons. But, I never thought of having more than just that. So when season 2 was announced, I saw this as another oppertunity to get the money I deserved.", she further continues.

"I knew I wasn't going to be added to the season, so I started looking for a partner who could help. That's where Microphone comes into play. I asked for her cooperation.", she confesses.

"Microphone? Why her of all people?", I asked.

"Well. She was the most vurnable She felt like she wasn't important to her team, so I used that as an advantage.", she said. 

"At first, it was going okay. We had a mutral friendship and understanding of what we wanted. Episode 11 was where she showed her true strength. I had a plan to sabatoge the Grand Slams with Balloon.", she goes on.

I can see Balloon getting a shocked expression on their face. Taco gulps and continues with a hint of nervousness.

"I had a plan to um... taze Balloon with a tazer. Make Mic do it so everyone would get upset at them. But...", she confesses, before getting cut off.

"YOU WE'RE GOING TO TAZE ME!?", Balloon asked truely shocked and terrifed.

"I was! But Mic didn't want to! Instead, she manipulated you. You remember what she said at the docks right?", Taco defended.

"Yea. She said that I was the most at risk of being eliminated. Oh. I understand. She made me stressed out so I would mess up on my own. That freaking.... ugh.", Balloon realizes.

"Yeah... Sorry about that Balloon.", she apologized.

"It's alright. Still a little upset you tried to taze me, but it's in the past now.", they say.

"Thank goodness. Moving on. Things were going alright, up until episode 14. That's where everything went down hill. Mic was already second guessing things, so I had to try harder to keep her with me.", she went on.

"During that episode. A whole lot happened. I'm sure you remember some things, right?", Taco asked.

"Yes. I do remember some aspects from then. Cobs had came and attacked us. That egg the Bright Lights found made weird noises that made Mephone glitch out. And Cobs kidnapped Fan while I teleported away with Mephone.", I say, recalling the events.

"Right. You got most of that right. What happened after you teleported away?", Taco asked.

"Well. Me and Mephone had a small arguement and I left. Soon after that, everything became dark and I shut down. Wait. What do you mean by 'most of it right'?", I explain, becoming 'confused' afterwards.

"Well. That weird ship that came? It wasn't Cobs.", she stated.

'It wasn't Cobs? Then... who or what was it?', I qestioned.

"If it wasn't Cobs. Who was it?", I asked.

"It was aliens. They are called the Shimmers. Or the Prime Shimmers. I don't know.", she answered.

"Aliens? I guess the ship did look like the little egg Fan was holding. But, why did they come?", I asked.

"They came because the little shimmer was 'stolen'. There's a whole story about them, but I don't know it. You would have to ask TestTube or Fan. I think Cobs was involved with angering them however.", she explained.

"I see. What I still don't understand is why I was deactivated. And why the show was put on hiatus.", I say, still questioning.

"Well, the show went on hiatus because the stress and drama was too much for Mephone I'd assume. So, that's probably why the show went on hitaus.", Taco assumed.

"And. The reason you were deactivated was... my fault.", Taco confessed.

"You? You shut me down?", I asked 'shocked'.

".... Yes. It was part of my plan. I wanted to help Mic get up on the ship to get her an advantage and win immunity.", she confessed.

She looked ashamed at what she did to me. While I was rather upset at Taco, seeing as I knew a little more about her. I understand why she did it, so I do not hold a grudge against her.

"I used a laser gun to taze you and power you off. While you were in that state, I used your teleportation to help me and Mic.", she went on.

"While up there. I... I did something terrible. I don't deserve forgiveness for what I did when me and Mic were up on the ship...", she said sadly.

"What did you do?", I pryed.

"I... I killed TestTube. I shot her with my ray gun and she shattered. I almost did the same to Fan, but I knocked him out.", she confessed.

I gasp as she looked away. I think she had tears in her eyes, which she didn't want us to see. Balloon puts their arm around Taco and hugs her. Taco hugs them back as she calms down.

"I don't know why I did it. Once I did that, the Shimmers were getting ready to retreat so I teleported us out. We were close by the other contestants, and I gave Fan to Mic.", she continued.

"When the others were giving her a round of appluase, I was caught up in the goal and my gain when Mic cut me off from my rant. She went on to mentioning Pickle and how she didn't gain anything.", she goes on.

"After realizing that I was just using her for my own gain, she cut me off. It was right there where I truely realized, that I didn't want the money. I just wanted somebody to be with, friends. But it was too late for that.", she said.

"I wanted to go apologize to her. But I couldn't. She had quit the show. Too upset to go to her, I left the show grounds with you and had another arguement with Balloon.", she went on.

"We had a fight and I brought up their past persona. Balloon was upset with me too and they left me. I felt truely alone that night. But me and Balloon made up and here we are now.", she finishes.

Taco takes a deep shakey breath as Balloon rubs her back. They whisper comforting words to her as she calms down. Meanwhile, I was truely at a loss for words.

Aliens came to our show grounds. Taco was a manipulator who regrets her actions. And Cobs was hiding things from us, and we didn't know. I suppose Mephone was right about taking a break from the show.

As I gather my thoughts and process everything, Balloon was still comforting Taco. They are such a kind person. I do not know how everyone ever hated him before.

Balloon and Taco are more alike than they think. And I think they know that. Both were hated for who they were in the past. They both have regrets on actions from the past.

It's clear they are going through a lot. Which makes me 'upset' because they are quite young. Not teenagers, but young adults, which is still young to be going through tough times.

Taco begins to calm down as Balloon breaks the hug. Taco looks back at me, expecting me to be 'angry' and 'upset' at her. But I am not.

"Y-you're not upset are you?", Taco asked nervously.

"Why would I be upset? You had a reason to do those things. And you regret them in the end.", I say.

"But. I'm a horrible person! I lie, I betrayed people. I killed a person! I deactivated you! I deserve the worst honsetly.", she confesses, tears forming.

I give a sad smile and look at her. She's broken. I think Balloon is too. Both are broken souls trying to help each other, mend each other.

It's kinda poetic in a sense. They are helping each other mend the hurt and the pain. They want a better life for each other, so they're going to do it their own way.

"I forgive you Taco.", I say.

Taco looks at me in bewilderment. I don't think she saw that coming.

"What? Why?", she asked shocked.

"Because that is the past. I am quite forgiving, and kind. You both are too hard on yourselves. You both should start realizing that we all make mistakes. And that we all deserve forgiveness, even if we feel like we don't deserve it.", I say.

The two of them look shocked, but moved. They both start to tear up and they tackle me into a hug. I guess they were shocked that somebody could forgive them for the things they did.

I smile and hug them. I can hear Balloon sobbing, and Taco doing her best not to choke up. This felt nice and warm.

I don't think we're going to finish our sandwiches at this point. We did manage to eat more than half, which was good. I don't want to ruin this nice moment, so I don't say a word.

Both of them are full on sobbing now. I guess they were holding in a lot of guilt, sadness, and pain in them. It was good that they were getting the emotions out.

Is it weird that I feel like a father at this moment? I didn't care, I was going to comfort my friends. We stay like this for what felt like hours.

It wasn't until I hear soft snores coming from one of them did I take them out of the hug. They both were asleep, how comforting.

I did not want to move them in fear of waking them up. So, I decided to stay like this on the couch. It looks like we were cuddling, how cute.

Since I cannot look at my screen; Balloon covering it up; I decide that I should take a nap. I put myself into sleep mode.

I'm glad they told me the full truth. For the things I still wonder about, I can worry about them another day.

.

.

.

[SLEEP MODE ACTIVATED]

.

.

.

[GOOD NIGHT]

.

.

.

*End of Chapter 30*

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wooo!

30 chapters!

I can't believe I wrote 30 chapters of this book.

I'm glad you all are sticking around!

This book is far from over!

I haven't even got to the fun bits!

>:)

Also!

Results!

Balloon will be shipped with Baseball, Nickel and Suitcase!

I know some of you don't want Suitcase with Nickel, and I understand.

However!

A). This is fanfiction. We can do whatever we want.

B). There's a thing called redemption! So, it could work.

So. This is how the ship will work!

Right now, we have Bickel (Nickel x Baseball).

Nickel already has some 'feelings' for Balloon, but we'll get more into that later!

Balloon however~ He has feelings for certain people.

I'm going to do this seperatly for now!

So it will be Bickel and Suitloon for the beginning stages.

Then~ We'll have our poly ship later!

Sound good?

Anyways. 

Mini rant over!

I'll see you next week!

(Also~ funny haha number of reads right now.... *lenny face*)

(gonna be irrelevant later. darn.)