Object Show Oneshots (hiatus)

I Love You

TW: Corruption, Major Character Death, Humanised, feral Glass Shard.
Ships: BottleMilk, PlasmaCube, MeloFridge, JournalChest and implied AceShard.
Don't like angst or any of the above ships? Don't read.
—————————————
"Is he going to be like this forever?"

The doctor glanced at the boy in the huge room who was tethered to a pole sticking out the ground by a metal chain, and sighed.

"We're not so sure. There's a small chance he may heal, but there's a higher chance he might be stuck like this forever."

The Paper Puppets Take 2 cast stared with worry at the silver haired boy who was growling like a rabid animal, glaring at the cast outside like he didn't know them at all.

Mr Hand had been defeated; cast away to another dimension when Journal activated his last invention, a reality warping portal that had access to different dimensions, and he'd been thrown to one with a swarm of hungry Wildflowers ready for blood.

But it was only after the defeat did they cast realise that Mr Hand had not taken one, but two contestants away and had turned them into his horrifying monsters.

Glass Shard had been acting rabid since he came to; he'd almost killed 5 staff and had to be shot with enough sedative to knock out an elephant before he fainted.

The doctors had examined him, and had reported that a virus Mr Hand had unleashed on him had affected his mind and body; the boy now sported razor sharp claws, pointed ears and a harpoon-like tail, and he acted like he was a feral bear.

Now he was chained to a pole to the ground, an electroshock collar around his neck in case he broke free. His slitted blue eyes glared furtively around the room, and his mouth opened in a slight snarl, revealing razor-sharp teeth.

Journal winced when he started gnawing on the chain, hearing the clanking and screeching noises. Around him, the rest of the cast watched in sympathy and fear.

Bottle held Milk's hand as she murmured words of pity, Plasma Ball let Caramel Cube hug her while she held back a quiet sob, Melon rested his head on Fridge's shoulder as their fingers twined with each other's, and Flashlight's hazel eyes watched her ex with worry, her hand on the glass pane separating them from the feral human.

Journal noticed that Ace seemed oddly worried about Glass Shard, the magician constantly asking the doctors questions and wringing his hands with anxiety.

He seemed even more defeated when the doctor had told them there was only a small chance of Glass Shard recovering, and something about his expression told the green-haired teen the magician thought of Glass Shard as something more than a friend.

But he was worried about someone else. Treasure Chest. The boy had been even more severely wounded than Glass Shard, and his body had been so cold and still that he thought the team captain was dead.

Journal brought his thumb to his mouth and quietly nibbled on his nail.

He had only discovered after TC had gone missing that he had severe separation anxiety, which explained why he was so desperate for Journal not to leave him, yet he'd pushed him away so many times to the point he wasn't even aware Treasure Chest had gone missing.

Suddenly, a green-eyed nurse walked over, her expression grim. Something about that caused Journal's heart to pound even harder with nagging fear.

Seeing her, Gold Ingot quietly approached the nurse and after a minute's hesitation asked tentatively, "Is... is our other contestant okay?"

The nurse exchanged a look with the doctors, before she replied back in such a soft voice Journal barely heard what she was saying, but his ears caught four words that the nurse had spoken.

"... We couldn't save him ..."

His heart stopped. "Please tell me you're joking," he whispered, his eyes turning to the nurse. "Please tell me you're goddamn joking." The nurse heard him and gazed at him, the same solemn expression on her face.

"I'm afraid not, sir. He was dead long before he was brought here."

Gasps echoed out, and for once in their lives, Team Bracket seemed stricken with horror and grief. "How... how did he..." Journal knees wobbled, and he would've fallen over if Malachite hadn't caught him in time.

"The patient already had an extremely weak immunity system to begin with. The virus unleashed on him was too much for the victim to take, so it took over his body completely and killed him. His body was still in semi-good condition because the parasite he'd been affected by preserved his body as it needed a human host, whether it was dead or alive," the nurse explained.

Journal felt his heart tear in two. "C-can I see him?" He choked out. "Yes sir, come this way."

The nurse turned and started walking down the corridor, and Journal followed. Half the cast went with him, while the other half stayed to watch over Glass Shard.

The nurse halted in front of a room and hesitated before saying quietly, "He's in there." Journal wasted no time and immediately opened the door.

He was greeted with the sight of the doctors covering the Team 47 captain's body with a white sheet. He immediately ran forward, pushing past the doctors as he reached his dead teammate.

The doctors stepped aside, letting Journal view the body, and the boy felt like his world came crashing down. Treasure Chest was truly dead.

His face was peaceful even in death, and all the dirt and gunk that had been in his face prior to the discovery of his body had been cleaned away.

Journal felt the tears coming now; maybe if he so much as blinked, a waterfall would come pouring out. The overwhelming guilt he felt surfaced, and he started to sob. "No... Treasure Chest... Please wake up..!"

He desperately stared at the body, hoping that it was another huge prank, hoping that he'd see the other boy's jade green eyes sparkling again.

But they stayed shut, and his chest never heaved even once.

Journal started to cry as the doctors placed the sheet fully over the corpse so they could wheel the stretcher with Treasure Chest's body away when the contestants had finished grieving.

He felt Malachite, Bubblewrap and Ukulele try to comfort him as the doctors quietly left the room, as he broke down sobbing when he finally realised the other was really dead.

"Why? Why did you leave me?!" He wailed, tears blurring his vision as he stared at the corpse under the sheet. "I need you, Treasure Chest! I cared for you!" He knew this was a lie.

He said he cared, he said he needed the other. But he had pushed Treasure Chest away so many times when he needed Journal for support.

Yet deep down in his heart he desperately wanted to hug Treasure Chest again, to tell him he was sorry and to comfort him and share their woes together.

It was all too late for that now.

Journal slumped to the floor, crying as his teammates tried to console him while tears of grief streamed down their faces too.

Journal wished he hadn't been so foolish, to push away the one person who befriended him when most others didn't want anything to do with him.

He had lost a friend, a teammate, a person who loved him and cherished him.

As he melted into the embrace of his teammates once again after so many months of distancing himself from them, he felt like a piece of him was missing.

Of course he did. Treasure Chest was always the first one to hug him during team huddles.

Journal sniffled, and muttered three words only he could hear, three words that were long overdue to be said.

Three words he could never say to the boy he truly loved ever again.

"I love you."