Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was another day in the Meeple Headquarters for all of the objects. Fan was being checked on by Test Tube, Lightbulb was fixing some circuitry while Paintbrush observed, and all of the others were going about their cycle-like day. 

Steve Cobs sat at his desk, filling in paperwork, when the door slid open. Test Tube stood in the doorway, and walked to his desk. 

"Cobs, Fan's left wing is busted again."

Steve Cobs sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We can't keep doing this, T. We're gonna have to scrap him if this happens again, alright?"

Test Tube laughed nervously, not wanting to imagine Fan's body being ripped apart into tiny metal shreds by the scrapper. "No offense, but I think you should really stop giving him the dangerous jobs. He's our most agile asset, sure, but he's fragile. I think we should get someone like Trophy to start cleaning the saws, don't you think?"

Steve Cobs scoffed, and slammed the desk. "Are you implying I'm bad at assigning those useless robots to their proper place?"

Test Tube quickly straightened and quickly responded. "No, no! I'm just saying it's optimal to-"

"Get out of here, and bring me that useless robot!" Steve Cobs snapped, pointing to the door, still open from Test Tube's arrival. 

Test Tube quickly backed out the room and brought out her phone to text Fan with. 

TT: Fan, Cobs wants you. 

TT: Try to convince him not to scrap you. 

F: okk im on my way soons

TT: Please call me if you need anything. Thank you. 

F: ok bu twhen does he wnat me

F: like now now or now with flexiblitiggy 

TT: Probably "now now", knowing him. Please don't get scrapped. 

F: i wpnt dont worry testy <3

That little heart at the end made Test Tube laugh a little, but it quickly died when she went back to thinking about how Fan is on thin ice. She sighed, knowing he 'd be fine. He always is.

He has a way with words, that little guy. 

Meanwhile, back in a storage room, two objects were cleaning computers and other machinery. "Painty, cmon! You gotta clean it fasterrrr!" said Lightbulb, impatient as ever. 

"I'm trying, jeez! Hold your own light straight and maybe I'd be able to see!" said Paintbrush angrily. "If you want it done so fast, why don't you do it yourself? You're paid just as much as I am for this." they added. 

Lightbulb giggled a little, amused by their annoyance. "You're fun. I like you." Paintbrush just scoffed at this, trying to hide their reluctant liking to this comment. "Shut up," they growled, more of a mumble than a genuine treat. "We're done here." they pulled back and wiped the dust off their hands. "Seriously, why do we have to do this? Not like these computers will ever see the light of day again anyway."

They walked off together towards their rooms, the sun setting in the sky outside the metal box they resided in. Paintbrush sighed."I really, really hate this place." Lightbulb just slumped forward a little in agreement, before reaching out and taking their hand in hers."Hey," she started. 

"At least we've got eachother."

Chapter Text

She stood at the edge of the railings, watching his fragile body be ripped to shreds by the saws. The screams of pain echoed through the chamber, grinding metal against metal. But despite it all, she stayed silent, staring down at his body. His mutilated, deformed body. A sharp snap echoed as his arm was ground into nothing. Another crack as his leg comes off. And a sharp screech as the screaming comes to a stop. 

Test Tube jolted up from her bed, breathing heavily. What the hell was that?! She got up and picked up her phone, hands shaky. A couple notifications from Fan. 

F: testy the talk went ok 

F: he told me to die but didn scrap me! 

F: ill js hang w you until my next job b

F: see you tt <3

Test Tube sighed in relief. He was okay. It was all okay. Nothing was wrong, and Fan was fine. And then another notification popped up from Paintbrush. 

Painty: test tube. you slept in. tasks. 

TT: By bad. What're my tasks today, oh Task Lord? 

Painty: well you have to clean out the vents because fan is off, I'm cleaning the saws 2day

TT: Got it. 

Painty: oh yeah and don't forget to bring a map of the vents because lightbulb did that and then got stuck for a day

TT: That was very comforting, Paintbrush. 

TT: How did you even find her after that? 

Painty: we heard giggling from the walls

TT: Oh, so that wasn't just me. Cool. 

Painty: anyway mgoing to go to job now

Painty: can you check on lightbulb for me @ lunch thanks

Test Tube put down her phone and got up to open the door, ready to start her day, her boring, looped day. As soon as she opened the door-

"TESTY!" Fan shouted, crashing into her with a hug. "Woah-" Test Tube exclaimed involuntary, falling over backwards on to the floor with a THUD. "Sorry." Fan said simply, helping her off of the ground. "Yeah, the... the talk went well. Nothing... Nothing went wrong."

Test Tube didn't believe it for a second. She'd been around him long enough to tell when he was lying. She sighed. "Show me your back."

Fan winced, knowing he'd been caught. He turned around, and there it was. Bruises. Bruises from being punched. Test Tube hummed thoughtfully, and put a hand on his shoulder. 

"Yeah... That's what I thought."

Meanwhile, Paintbrush was walking down the hall towards the saw area. They walked in the room, sighing. Looking down into the pit, it seemed there wasn't an end. Just a massive metallic crusher. They swore they could see parts of robots wedged inside. They turned off the power, just in case. They then began to walk down some stairs leading to the pit. Opening the metal door, the metal door that was the only thing between them and the most feared thing in the building asides from Cobs. 

Starting with the first set of saws, all they had to do was clean off a bunch of little springs and things. Going down, there was a few wires wedged inbetween the blades. They continued going. Deep into the darkness. Deep into the pit. 

The only thing keeping them going was the hum of distant machinery. The hum was almost comforting, slightly shaking the saws, but nothing human balance couldn't handle. They continued cleaning, zoning out to the cycle they kept repeating. 

And then they slipped. 

Chapter Text

And then they slipped.

Down into the depths of the sawblade ocean. Where no one can find them. They didn't gasp or scream. It was useless. They knew that.

So what? After all these years of living life as a Meeple company worker, after all these years of service? Isn't death our only gateway anyways? And their life flashed before their eyes. Their first meeting with Lightbulb. Hating her. Hating that stupid face, her stupid face they grew to love. That stupid face who couldn't do anything right. It's funny, how the careful one dies first, isn't it... at least Lightbulb is still alive... 

She doesn't even know they're dying right now, probably... 

A faint whirr snapped them out of it as they continued to fall. No wonder no one ever liked cleaning this place, it was so infinitely big. What were they even crushing down here? And what was that whirr-

Oh God. 

The sawblades above started to spin, faster and faster. This was it. This was the end. And eventually, they caught up. Pain, exploding pain. Blood stained the blades above, their blood, the blood they couldn't smell for the metallic air already was too much to handle. It all stopped when they landed. The ground beneath clinked and moved, almost like a pile. A pile of robotic rejects. How... How could they possibly be alive? Those sawblades should've killed them. Suppose the blades up above are the strongest. They looked up above them, barely any of that sweet, sweet, artificial light peeking through the spinning sawblades… what now? Looking around them, they saw… so many bodies. Detached arms and legs, faces mangled and torn.

Whatever, it was time to leave. There should be stairs somewhere, this has got to have happened before. Tracing the walls and floors for any sign of an escape proved useless however. Great, just great. They couldn’t reach the way they came, the ceiling was too high. So they sat. And waited.

A security camera lay in the corner of the room. They stared at it. It was on, but if anyone saw them would they even try to rescue them? Who would even be on cameras tomorrow? Who would have to see… this? 

Minutes passed into hours. And hours into who knows how long. They grew hungry after ages of waiting. Days passed. They were starving, thirsty. And eventually they began to cough. The dust in here was horrible, from all of those discarded things. Gross. And eventually they grew tired. Not from exhaustion. From… something else. Their breaths grew laboured, becoming shallow and hard to complete. Their limbs were so much weaker than what that perfect Painty they were mere days ago was… and their heart rate grew desperate. Amongst all of the sudden overwhelming weakness, pathetic mess they were…

”L-light… bulb…”

And the world went dark.

Chapter Text

Weeks and weeks passed by. Task after task, the sweet innocent worker did her work as best she could. Lightbulb was happy. In her quiet and empty world. Unusually quiet, since Paintbrush was taking the task of cleaning those darn sawblades. Such a scary place, that was. It was so sharp, something Lightbulb had gotten used to. She smiled through the days, and one day was called for another job.

Mr. Cobs greeted her at the desk, simply slipping her a piece of paper that read “Lightbulb - Cameras”. She nodded and left the room with a skip. Running down the hall she bumped into Trophy, who was of course being followed by Tissues and Cheesy, before excitedly going into the security room. She had a special feeling about today!

She sat down at the terminal, watching every little worker and robot go about their day. It was so fun… she got a bit jealous of the robots, they got to have antenna. Silly.

A thought occurred to them - what about Painty? Imagine watching them clean up those little saws, one by one! Such a cute sight, little Painty doing the work. As Lightbulb switched the cameras, it… huh?

”Oh Painty, you get work done so quick! How far down are you…?” She scrolled down the cameras, one after another. “Must be… somewhere…?”

”Maybe they’re at the bottom!”

She switched to the bottommost camera.

Meanwhile, Trophy, Tissues and Cheesy were walking down the halls, Trophy with his arms crossed. Suddenly, he whipped around to glare at the two other robots following him.

”Would you two snobs QUIT following me around?!” He yelled at Tissues and Cheesy. Tissues just instantly started bawling, and Cheesy whispered “authority… noted!”

Trophy’s eye twitched as he sighed. “I’ll tell you what. Let’s play hide and seek. You guys go hide, and I’ll… seek.”

Cheesy and Tissues jumped up and down excitedly, instantly snapping out of the guilt. They started to run about quickly like hyperactive dogs. Tissues sneezed and fell over, but eventually they hid. Trophy sighed and just went onto doing his tasks, and not at all looking for the two little shits.

”Clean the vents…? Seriously? I’m too fat- I mean, strong and muscular to do that. Shouldn’t have distracted those little brats… stupid admirers.” He trudged off to the vents and attempted to climb in, only to bash his head against the opening. “Damn it…”

Meanwhile, Test Tube was still in her room with Fan, tending and caring for him, working on a new wing. It’s weird, she hadn’t heard from Paintbrush or Lightbulb for a while. “Fan, have you got anything from Paintbrush or Lightbulb?” Fan shrugged. “No… why?” Test Tube sighed and stood up, brushing herself off. “They haven’t been texting for ages, I know PB is busy with the saws so they won’t be texting, but it’s been a day. And Lightbulb usually sends me messages every other second.” Fan just sighed. “Should we go check on Lightbulb…?” Test Tube nodded, finishing up her work, tidying it away. They opened the door and walked down the hallways.

They knocked on Lightbulb’s door, but no reply.

They saw her go in an hour earlier.

”…Fan…” Test Tube started, having a little alarm go off in her head about what could have happened. She covered his eyes with a hand.

She opened the door.

”…oh my god.” Test Tube whispered.

Lightbulb’s lifeless body hung above them.