BFDI AND II ONESHOT BOOK!

I'm Sorry, Balloon.

In Season 2, Episode 16: After OJ collapses, losing his face and limbs, chaos ensues as everyone panics. Balloon, overwhelmed with anxiety, frantically searches for Nickel, only to discover his lifeless body in the bedrooms. Baseball finds him and tries to comfort him. 

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The hotel had erupted into chaos, with everyone shouting, desperately calling out for their closest friends in frantic searches. Only moments earlier, tragedy had struck. OJ had stumbled backwards into the main room, his eyes wide with terror as if he was pleading with something unseen to stop. But no one could see what he saw. In a flash, he let out a blood-curdling scream, and before anyone could react, he collapsed—faceless and limbless—his orange juice spilling onto the carpet. Paper dropped to his knees beside him, staring in shock as panic began to sweep through the crowd. Amidst the confusion, no one noticed Baseball quietly slip away.

Balloon was in the throes of a breakdown, tugging at his rubbery head and gasping for air. Suitcase was nowhere to be found, and more importantly, neither was Nickel. Usually, when Balloon's anxiety took hold, Nickel was the one to calm him down. Now, in the middle of this nightmare, Nickel was missing too. Balloon paced back and forth, struggling to steady his breathing. Objects didn't just suddenly become lifeless... this was something he couldn't comprehend. Everyone around him was screaming for their friends, but Balloon heard none of it. He was trapped in his own swirling panic, his vision blurring, his legs trembling. Everything felt unreal, distant.

Unbeknownst to him, Baseball had returned, looking shaken. But Balloon was too deep in his anxiety to notice. His thoughts raced—if this had happened to OJ, could Nickel be next? He hadn't seen him since reuniting with Suitcase earlier in the evening. The dread seized him.

Suddenly, Balloon snapped out of his haze, gasping for air like he had been underwater. He bolted down the hall toward Nickel's room, sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him. When he reached the door, it was already ajar. Balloon's heart pounded with hope, expecting to see Nickel sitting on the bed, telling him to breathe, teasing him for overreacting. But what he saw instead made him freeze in place.

There, lying on the floor next to the bed, was Nickel's lifeless body. He had no face. No limbs. He was simply a Nickel—just like OJ. Balloon's breath caught in his throat, his entire body shaking as tears filled his eyes. This couldn't be happening. His heart plummeted, his stomach churned, and for a brief moment, he was rooted to the spot, unable to move, unwilling to accept the reality before him. This had to be a nightmare. But it wasn't.

Balloon rushed over and collapsed to his knees beside Nickel, gently turning him over. But there was no face. His tears finally broke free, spilling down his cheeks as a loud sob tore from his throat. Trembling, he pulled Nickel's cold, lifeless body close, clutching him tightly as his entire body shook. Balloon buried his face against the cold metal, gasping for air between sobs, his breathing quick and ragged. This couldn't be real—after everything they had been through, after all of season 3. Everything that had happened between them, the way they felt about each other. They were supposed to have a future together, something new and exciting. Life was finally going to be different for them. But now, here Nickel lay, limp in his arms. Lifeless.

It was cruel—what had he done to deserve this? Balloon's heart shattered under the weight of his loss. He had never even told Nickel how he felt. He never got the chance to say he loved him.