Chapter Text
"Maybe one day, we can find a way to bring you back."
"It's fine. I'm here..."
These 2 sentences kept on echoing deep within her mind for a while after the MePad Dedication Ceremony. They don't seem to leave her thoughts much like her hallucinations. Just another thing to add onto her own mental baggage after she found out that Knife had sacrificed his life to save Marshmallow. He was still there in the mansion - she can talk to him, but he's not here anymore. Maybe, just maybe on a slimmest chance, there's some way to bring him back. Or at the very least, find a method for him to go outside of the Mansion's parameters and interact with the world again. She can only imagine how it feels to be reduced into an incorporeal spectral form after only partially finishing that brutal Red Line game, now forever stuck within a certain area with people that he either doesn't know much about, get along well or had cruelly tormented before. Granted, Marshmallow was thankful for his sacrifice, a gratitude he genuinely did not expect he'd ever receive from her. But they still maintained some understandable distance from each other.
Knife was always there for Suitcase, when she needed to finally stand her ground for her own sake and her best friend Balloon.
It was his idea and motivation that encouraged her to put an end Steve Cobs's tyranny and win the game.
And now it's time for her to do the same for him. She made a promise, after all.
To never give up on him.
Suitcase walked past the construction site of Hotel Hoot on one fateful evening. There were many tools and construction materials scattered around on the new hotel's grounds. Some contestants are still busying themselves with work, while others engaged in a more casual, lighthearted chat and goof around. Poor Tissues had already fallen asleep and drooled over some wooden logs he was lying on top of. The sun was about to set and the sky above began to paint itself in hues of darker blues and oranges. It was clear that today was indeed a long day of hard work and everyone's gotten quite tired. Although everything was still a heavy work in progress with many fellow former contestants pitching in and doing their part in helping OJ & Paper rebuild the hotel from scratch. New life needed to start somewhere, after all.
Of course, it's not going to look the same as before, it'll be different, especially when Mephone4 had permanently lost his abilities after the lost Shimmer was removed from his system and the contestants were left on their own to rebuild everything anew with whatever resources they could find. Suitcase encouraged everyone to stick together, rebuild and create a new community, where everyone can live in peace and choose what they want to do with their lives but they don't have to see each other, if they don't want to. Suitcase herself has become the guiding light and encouragement for many. While things may not be perfect and good after everything they've all been through, but they're still holding on and are looking forwards a brighter, new future. At least, that is what the rectangular travel luggage object and many others were trying to hope for anyway.
She wishes she could say the same for a certain close friend of hers. A friend who gave up his physical form to save someone he had bullied for so long.
Currently, Suitcase is on a search for a specific object that she's been meaning to talk to. Perhaps that scientific object could be of great help for her special request.
In the meantime, Test Tube and Fan were clapping their hands, cheering on for Bot and Goo while they performed a silly little improv comedic act together for the two geeks. At the end of their show, the small butterfly-like robot and blue orb of goo loudly exclaimed in perfect unison "...Brought to you by THE CHEER FACTORYYY!! Thank you all for coming wooohooo!!" Test Tube and Fan laughed together, then enthusiastically clapped their hands some more in support of the two small best friends.
After the excitement and applause had settled, Bot came up to Test Tube and Fan, giving them both a big hug. "Thanks so much, I'm glad you liked what we put together!"
Test Tube happily replied. "Golly, but of course! I'm proud of you both! It was lots of fun, we should be thanking you two for it all. I think we should come by again, right, Fan?" Fan nodded with a big, wide, dorky smile of his own.
Bot chuckled, feeling accomplished and happy about yet another success of 'Cheer Factory'. They looked over to their best friend Goo, then back to their creators. "Hey, umm, Goo and I kinda wanna hang out together and draw for a bit longer, if that's okay. I know it's getting late, but we won't be gone for long!" They spoke.
"Alright, you two, have fun!" Test Tube calmly nodded in agreement, while Fan nervously hesitated for a moment before giving a thumbs up.
"WOOHOOO!!" Bot yelled in pure joy, picking Goo up in their arms as they extended their legs to lift themselves up far above everyone. Then they walked off by taking big leaps with their elongated legs to play together, plan some more "Cheer Factory" activities to do and just overall chat around the outskirts of Hotel Hoot.
Fan's expression briefly contorted into a worried look. He ran after Bot and Goo for a few steps, loudly calling out. "J-just come back safe and sound, okay??" Test Tube snickered a little at Fan's anxiety-filled caring nervousness, before going over to him and putting her hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile. Behind the two, a voice spoke up, belonging to none other than the Season 2's winner herself. "Hey, Test Tube? Got a moment to talk?"
Test Tube and Fan they briefly exchanged brief glances with each other, before turning around to face Suitcase. The nerdy science woman spoke. "Hi, Suitcase! How's it been for you?"
"I'm doing good, thanks." Suitcase gave a small smile, before her face turned into a more neutral, serious look. "Look, I know we've had our differences back when we competed, but can I ask for your help for something?"
Test Tube gave Suitcase's question some thought for a moment, before nodding. It's true that their relationship indeed got a little complicated on a more negative side during Inanimate Insanity, but it didn't end on the worst terms, either. Suitcase did basically give the scientist chemical object a wake-up call, when pressure of the competition, Fan's life and the Egg got into her head too much. She decided she was still happily willing to help out Suitcase with whatever she needed. It shouldn't be anything too difficult for her. "Hmmm, sure! What do you need help with?"
The short armless woman spoke again. But there could be small hints of sorrow and concern seen in her beady eyes during her speech. "It's about Knife. Maybe you can help me out with finding a way to bring him back? I know you've been busy with the hotel's construction and probably other science work, too, but if anyone would be able come up with an idea to bring back my friend, it's probably you." She took a deeper breath and sighed. "So that's why I wanted to ask your help, will you be able to assist me with this?"
Test Tube's smile faltered to a somewhat nervous frown. She and Fan now exchanged visibly concerned glances at each other. They then looked over to the direction, where Bot and Goo ran off to.
Suitcase raised a brow, noticing how their demeanor suddenly changed in a concerning way after she asked about her request. "Uhhh, is something matter, you two?"
Test Tube took a deeper breath to collect her thoughts before speaking. "Listen, I know Knife probably means a lot to you from what we both saw and it's hard accept the reality of what happened to him back when...y'know. When we were stuck in...that place." She scratched the back of her tubular head with her left arm, while shrugging with the other, still rather uncomfortable about mentioning the finale's events and shocking revelations that happened about everyone.
"But he's not gone, though! Absolutely not gone! Y-you can still talk to him in the mansion, don't you? You don't need some, uhhh, ahahaha, robotic replica of him or anything with fabricated memories and blocked out words in attempt to bring him back, r-right?" Fan began to impulsively ramble out of his usual talkative habit that he usually does whenever he felt anxiety or passion about some topic he wanted to talk about.
Test Tube nodded in a agreement, lifting her index finger in the air. "Mmhmm! Exactly! You see-!" She then suddenly cut herself off mid-sentence and her face contorted to a more nervous 'caught red-handed' look as she quickly glanced over to Fan. "Wait, what- Fan!" She called out to Fan, who, once again, had spilled far too many beans than she would have desired.
"O-oh!! Uuhh uhhmm-!" The red chinese hand fan soon realized what he just accidentally blurted out, so he immediately tried to do some damage control from what he just said. But it was already too late for anyone to fall for it, nor the attempt of it was good to begin with. "Hypothetically speaking!! I-It's all hypothetically speaking, anyway! W-what we're just trying to say is th-that it's maybe s-something that we...probably don't wanna do. A-and we should just accept what happened!"
Suitcase blinked a few times, confused at their rather strange behavior and responses, then quickly shook her head. "Huhh? Wait, a replica?? No! I wasn't thinking of replacing him with anything! I just wanted to ask if you can build him a body for his soul to possess! So he could talk to people and do things outside of mansion's parameters? You know? Like how Bow does it?"
Test Tube briefly made a surprised face, now truly understanding what the brown travel luggage actually wanted. "Oh. Ooooohhh! Well, that makes more sense! Hmmm...give me a sec." She then turned herself away from Suitcase as Fan looked over to his best brainiac friend, whilst wearing a worried expression on his face.
Test Tube decided to think Suitcase's request through once more. There's the obvious question of very morality over doing something eerily similar to what they tried to do once before. Building a sentient robotic replica just to replace someone, who died. It's something that was attempted with Bot out of a selfish desire and the poor creation had suffered a lot for it. They still do. She has learned from her past adventures, mishaps and dramas that mistakes from experimentations ar crucial to learn from, so that harmful patterns do not repeat over and over.
But...this will be a different enough case, right?
It'll just be an empty robotic shell for someone, whose consciousness, memory and personality still exists, to possess. Back then, they didn't know that Bow's ghost was indeed real, not just some illusion as part of Mephone's challenge. A possible way for someone to come back without creating a new sentient mind that's just meant to act like a completely different person. Besides, this is a good chance for her to really study ghosts and their spectral ability compatibility and integrity with machinery!
Golly, such golden opportunities like this don't come easy! Of course, she's been quite busy helping out with construction work of Hotel Hoot and doing research on that mysterious Egg machinery left behind by the Shimmers, but she's very confident about her scientific craftsmanship - this will be a piece of cake for her to do. She can multitask easily, if needed after all! Even with very limited resources, her only true limit is her imagination.
However, there was still one problem to all this, though...and it's the self-proclaimed jerk himself, if he would even want this to begin with.
...
An increasingly louder voice broke Test Tube out of her deep train of thought, snapping her back to reality.
"Uhhh, Test Tube? Hello?! I know you said you 'needed a second', but you've been just standing there for a good bit." Suitcase spoke to the vial, slightly tilting her body out of concerned confusion.
She quickly turned around to reply, yet again scratching the back of her head. This time, out of slight embarrassment. "Oh, whoops! Heh, sorry, sorry. Guess I got carried away."
"Are you sure everything's all right?" Suitcase felt an urge to even ask about what Fan meant in his rambles and if it had something to do with someone that just so happened to look strikingly similar to Bow, but instead chose to hold her tongue. She didn't want to ask too much, since this already seemed like a sensitive enough topic as it is for them, but she did take a mental note of this exchange.
"Oh, don't you worry about it! Anyway, here's what I can offer for you. If Knife agrees that he definitely wants a new body built for him, then I'll consider it. If not, then it's probably better to respect his wishes and leave him be. Deal?"
"Hm...well, okay." The travel luggage replied and nodded. While Test Tube's and Fan's behavior was certainly a little odd in response to her request, to say the least. But even so, she still decided to trust the brainiac vial lady. This is a good chance to finally make some progress on her promise. She never gives up on anybody, especially those she holds close. "Thanks a lot. I'll be sure to let you know after I visit him tonight."
Test Tube gave her a thumbs up. Afterwards, the inseparable geeky duo waved their goodbyes to Suitcase as they all went their separate ways.
A small seed of doubt began to sprout within Suitcase's mind during her long walk towards Mepad Mansion, when the Sun had finally disappeared beyond the horizon.
How much of a good idea was this, actually? Is it something that Knife would even want?
Test Tube is reliable when it comes to scientific and technological breakthroughs, that is true, but some parts of the earlier conversation indeed struck an odd, somewhat suspicious vibe to it.
Either way, she already asked for the favor and made a deal. She decided to put her faith in Test Tube.
If Knife wants it, then he'll get his chance. Maybe.