Stranded in Paradise; Welcome Home [An II Au]

Words Hurt

Fan opened up the door back into the hotel, noticing how quiet things had gotten since he left. Pickle, Knife, and The Floor were all taking care of Mephone in the other room, comforting him while talking amongst themselves. Fan didn't really care to listen, though. He just listened to the beat of his own footsteps as he made his way towards the staircase. Yet, on his way, he was able to hear the sounds of scribbling away inside the office. He poked his head in, his eyes widening upon seeing what was going on. Paper, hunched over the office chair, writing helplessly on a tax document while he held a calculator in his other hand. His eyes were red and puffy from possible lack of sleep, bags under his eyes making themselves visible. Just a month ago, Paper said he could handle running the hotel in OJ's absence, since he didn't think he'd be gone for so long. And yet, here he was, slaving away at piles upon piles of documents around him.

"Um...Paper?" Fan said, causing Paper to shout on surprise upon hearing Fan's voice.

"Oh-...U-Uh...sorry...just-...j-just trying to finish this up..."

Paper just continued to go back to what he was doing, hunching back over to continue his work. Fan scrunched up his eyebrows and entered the office, sitting down on the unoccupied chair across from Paper. "Maybe you should...I dunno...take a break? You look terrible...like you look like you need some sleep...C-Can't you just go lie on the couch for a bit?" Fan asked as he set his hand down on the arm of the chair. Paper just let out a small sigh as he looked up, all the while he just continued to write.

"I-I can't stop! I promised OJ I'd deal with the hotel's financials while he was gone...everyone else has been helping me a lot, but...I-it just got so bad that I'm practically drowning in all of this work! Some of the others have had to take up part-time jobs just to make enough money for taxes..." Paper said as his tired red eyes looked at Fan.

"All of this came in within a month...? H-How?"

"I don't know! But I wasn't keeping track and now I have to pay the price for it! No pun intended!" Paper just laid his head back down on the desk while letting out a sigh, "I can't wait for OJ to finally come back...he was so much better at handling the hotel's money stuff than I was..."

Fan seemed to be at a standstill with himself.

The look in Paper's eyes...they told him everything he needed to know.

He still held out hope that OJ was coming home...

But he wasn't.

Fan looked outside the office doorway, looking to see if anyone else was around. Then, he went over and closed the door, turning back to Paper. "F-...Fan? What are you doing?" The loose leaf sheet of paper asked.

"Paper...I-...I'm sorry, but...all this talk about OJ, everything you just said, I can't...I can't take it anymore! You deserve to know the truth more than anyone else in this hotel does..."

"W-What truth...?"

Fan sucked in a breath,

"OJ is dead."

Paper's pencil broke in his hand. "H-...Haha...! F-Funny...what a funny joke, Fan! I don't know if you get your sense of humor from Cheesy but, it...it sure got a laugh out of me! Haha!" Paper's laugh slowly died when Fan pulled out the bandages. The bandages that were once wrapped around OJ's arm. Paper looked down at the silk red gauze, noticing the bright orange splatter on the fabric. "...I-...Is this...OJ's blood?" He asked, the smile on his face beginning to die. Fan nodded,

"H-...He...he drank some contaminated water while on the island...there was a body was floating in that water for a while, but...OJ didn't know that. And...and he drank the water. He was bitten by a snake before that, and that's where the bandages came from. But...it was the water that killed him. I'm...sorry."

Paper was at a loss for words, gripping onto the bandages with shaking hands as tears burned up in the corner of his eyes. "B-...But...Bot said..."

"It was...just to make no one sad..."

"So...Everyone else is really dead, huh...? T-They're not in the hospital...? T-...They're...they're gone...?"

"...I'm sorry, Paper...Im sorry."

"N-No! No...it's...it's fine...I just need to..."

Paper got up from his seat, beginning to stumble towards the door to the office. He barely made it a few steps before he collapsed onto his knees, still clutching the bandages in his hands.

Then...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHH!!"

Paper let out the most gut-wrenching scream he could possibly make, tears streaming down his face like geysers. He doubled over, hands hitting the floor as he continued to scream out in despair over the realization that everyone was gone.

That OJ was gone...

"OJ!! PLEASE!! COME BAAAAAACKK!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHH!!"

Fan quickly ran over to Paper's side, wrapping him into a tight embrace, holding him close to his chest. Paper buried his face into his red torn paper, tears continuing to pour from his eyes to Fan's chest. All the while, he just continued to let out the most agonizing screams you could ever hear from Paper.

Fan just regretted saying everything in that moment.

Perhaps Paper was better off not knowing.

Perhaps Paper would've been much happier if he never knew.

Paper could've been so much happier...

"...I'm sorry, Paper..." Fan said as he rubbed his back, "You deserved so much better..."

-Crack-