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[ID: An Inanimate Insanity fanfic cover, portraying MePad's shattered screen taking up the entire cover, though the cracks on his screen are centered rather than portrayed exactly where he was stabbed in canon. The background of the screen is dull and blurred. Within the screen is Test Tube, Toilet, Fan, Taco, 3GS, and MePhone. Toilet is in the center, directly beneath the center of the cracks, his body covered in scratches and cracks itself, his expression stressed and alarmed, and dark circles ringing his eyes. Test Tube is behind him to the left, wearing her lab coat, her arms raised and hands clawed in a mad scientist pose, and her face bearing a maniacal grin. Behind Toilet and to the right is Fan, whose teeth are grit as he looks down at his phone in worry. In front of Toilet and to the left is Taco, who also bears dark circles under her eyes, and who is looking off to the side and wiping at dried tear stains on her face. In front of Toilet and to the right of him are 3GS and MePhone. 3GS is standing behind MePhone and looking up at him with a worried expression, while MePhone stands in front of 3GS, arms reached out to grab 3GS's side and the top of 3GS's head in a protective gesture as he looks off to the side with a frown. All of the characters' faces are distorted by the cracks in MePad's screen. At the top and bottom of the cover is the title of the fic, "Broken Pipes & Broken Screens" in white text outline in black. /end ID]

Fandom: Inanimate Insanity Rating: T Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, Friendship, Grief Characters: Toilet, Test Tube, Taco, Fan, Mephone, and 3GS Warnings: Death, depictions of PTSD, detailed descriptions of a robotic character being disassembled Fic Description: Shortly after Cobs's death, Toilet sneaks away from the others to see MePad's body for himself. Not long afterward, he's joined by Test Tube… but she's not here to grieve. Slowly but surely they're joined by others who all pitch in with a single goal in mind: bringing MePad back. Toilet has high hopes that he'll see his friend again… but is bringing MePad back truly a possibility, or are they all staving off the inevitable? Beta Readers: @valencrime and @livemedown

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Chapter 1: Take a Crack at It Summary: In which Toilet goes from grief to hope in an alarmingly short amount of time.

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His porcelain ached with every step, his water sloshing in the cracked pipes within him. But Toilet wasn't going to stop now.

He had to see him.

Toilet? Are you all right?

M... MePad... D-did... did I do it?

Yes, Toilet. You did exactly what you were instructed to do, and very well. You truly are the greatest assistant.

But—but Mistah Phone—

You have done enough now, Toilet. You need to rest.

But I—

I will help MePhone. No matter what happens, I am not leaving him to whatever fate that man has planned for him. I will... try to return to you later.

Toilet stopped, his plumbing straining painfully as he swallowed back a sob. MePad hadn't been able to come back... so it was the least he could do to go back to him.

He'd tried, earlier. In spite of what MePad had told him, in spite of the pain wracking his entire body, he'd struggled to pull himself out of the ground and limp onward. He couldn't leave MePad or Mister Phone—if the corn man was still around, he'd probably do something terrible to them. Maybe even make them fight to the death, like he had tried with Knife and Suitcase. But try as he might, every step jarred his already-damaged plumbing, and he found himself losing balance and collapsing from the pain more than a few times.

It still hurt, but forcing himself to rest had helped. Of course, by the time he’d found anyone—not even an hour ago—Cobs was already gone, and MePhone had explained… what had happened to MePad.

And no one had noticed when he'd hurried away from the others, anxious to see MePad for himself.

The contestant grounds were dark, quiet, lonely, and absent of any sounds of life. Toilet might've missed the body entirely, as he continued limping onward, had the moonlight not swung abruptly into a shattered reflection on the ground.

"MePad...?!" he gasped, and hopped closer, ignoring the grinding noises from his tank.

There he was—a huge, flat rectangle with limp legs, a shattered screen, and not a spark of life within him.

Toilet found himself staring down into what had once been MePad's face, and seeing only his own broken face, marred further by the cracks in the screen, staring back at him.

Just hearing what had happened had been distressing, but seeing the body lying lifeless before him caused something deep within him to shatter. Before he could stop himself, ugly, blubbering sobs wrenched their way out of his mangled pipes, and he turned away to avoid dripping tears and toilet water onto MePad. "I-I'm sorry," he stammered, the grass below him blurring. "I'm sorry, MePad, I'm s-sorry..."

For what, he wasn't entirely sure. Not being able to do more? Not apologizing for how angry he'd gotten at him after he’d been fired? Did it matter?

Other thoughts wouldn’t come—nothing other than the fact that MePad was gone, gone forever, and he would never get the chance to work by his side again.

After an agonized eternity, his tears subsided enough for him to finally turn his gaze back to the body, but the sight of the shattered screen nearly broke him all over again. He swallowed back another sob, opting instead to hover as much as he could—which, at this point, was only a few inches off the ground—in order to take a closer look.

It struck him, briefly, that Mister Phone was (thankfully) still alive, in spite of his own busted screen. What had made the difference for MePad? But a closer inspection brought his attention to the center of the cracks, where a piece of the screen was missing, revealing a hole that went deep into the tablet's workings. So it was more than just a broken screen; he'd been stabbed.

The thought flitted by like any other, before realization struck him—Mister Phone had mentioned that MePad had given his life to save everyone, meaning... he'd taken a blow—a stab wound—from someone.

And there was only one person it could've been.

Slowly his tank began to heat up, rattling the plumbing within him. He was aware, distantly, that this wasn't good for him, but nothing could stop the rage that boiled within him. Cobs—the corn man—he'd tricked him, used Master Adam and the others to make him pilot that phone around and hurt everyone. And not only that, he'd... he'd...

With a furious gurgle, Toilet stomped back and forth before MePad's body, fuming. There was nothing to be done—Cobs was already very, very dead. He'd seen the corpse himself, but only briefly—the sight had been too grisly to linger on for very long. It had made his water run cold in horror, but now it only made his tank burn all the more. He'd deserved that. He'd deserved that, and worse.

How dare he do this to them?! To hurt everyone, and hurt Mister Phone, and...!

The rage quickly drained from him as Toilet turned his gaze back to MePad's body. He stooped over him, tears welling in his eyes once more. "MePad..." he murmured. "You were the perfect assistant."

Nothing answered him other than a cold, quiet breeze.

With a stuttering sigh, Toilet tipped backwards, catching himself in a hover to settle softly on the grass next to MePad and keeping his lid shut to avoid spilling water. From this angle, he couldn't see the broken screen. If he thought hard enough, he could push aside everything that had happened tonight, and pretend they were both just resting in the field together.

His gaze turned upward to regard the stars, and he imagined MePad doing the same.

It was late, and he was exhausted. But Mister Phone would surely be rushing up to their sides soon, telling them about some new idea for a challenge that they'd have to prepare for the next day. That was all right, though. It was fun working for Mister Phone—the best job he'd ever had, in fact. Much better than his old job at the Meeple call center, dealing with angry people every day and frantically flipping through binders of material in a feeble attempt to help them. Better coworkers, too, who actually cared about him, even if things got a bit rough sometimes.

Footfalls softly rustled the grass.

Toilet was alert in an instant, hopping upright. "Mistah Pho—"

The address died on his cracked lid as he found himself staring at a bright green vial, who had stopped several yards away.

"Oh," Test Tube said, scratching the back of her head awkwardly. "Hi, Toilet."

"...Hello," he said weakly. His gaze shifted over to MePad, and, seeing his shattered screen again, he slammed his eyes shut.

"Golly, I... uh... didn't know you'd be out here," Test Tube admitted as she drew closer. Even though Toilet wasn't watching, he could hear the hesitance in her steps. She said nothing as she approached, stopping just at the foot of the body and drawing in a quiet, hissing breath.

Opening his eyes again, Toilet expected to see tears within Test Tube's.

But to his surprise, her eyes were dry. Widened in shock, yes, and then a moment later her brows pinched in sympathy, but there were no tears. She scanned the body, eyes darting over the cracked surface, before she knelt down, reaching out.

"What are you doing?" Toilet asked, hovering closer, his bowl clacking softly against the glass of her side.

Test Tube leaned away with a wince. "I came to survey the damage," she said, turning her gaze back to MePad. "I know what MePhone said, but I wanted to see it for myself." Eyes narrowing, she scooted slightly closer, only to draw back with a gasp. "Ah—!"

Toilet jumped back. "What's wrong?!"

With a sharp hiss, Test Tube plucked something out of her knee and examined it. Toilet hovered closer. It was a small glass shard. She stared at it, frowning, then leaned over MePad's body, reaching out with her other hand. With a few fingers she traced the cracks in the screen, following them to the hole in the center, which she drew away from quickly, shaking her hand.

Toilet watched her as she stared at the body, her brow furrowed in concentration, when a thought struck him. "AH!" he cried, and Test Tube crashed backward into the grass, barely catching herself before she tipped completely over. He didn't care, though, jumping up into a hover over her in excitement. "You're one o' them science-y types! You can build stuff! An' you helped fix Mistah Phone before! I'll bet you could fix him, right?!"

Grunting, Test Tube shoved him away. "Yes, that was the plan," she said, pushing herself upright. Her face quickly fell. "I... can't guarantee anything, but I have to give it a shot." She reached out again, this time rubbing a hand along MePad's side. "He risked his life for us. It's the least I can do to try to give it back to him."

"Oh thank you!" Toilet butted into her, knocking her back again with a loud clang as tears flooded his eyes once more. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Aghh...!" Test Tube rubbed her head where she'd been struck. "Don't thank me yet, and please don't do that again. Seriously, I don’t do well when I spill."

"I won't!" Toilet exclaimed, jumping back. "I promise! And I'll do everythin' I can to help out!"

Test Tube sat upright, though she didn't look near as enthusiastic as Toilet felt, even when she gave him a strained grin. "Oh... great."

"I promise," Toilet went on, lowering his voice and settling himself on the grass. "I'll do anything for him."

"Well..." After taking a moment to brush herself off, Test Tube stood up. "You can start by helping me carry him out to..." She turned, frowning. "Where I hope my lab still is."

"Didn't it... disappear?" Toilet asked, frowning. "Like everythin' else, after I unplugged the wire?"

"Everything MePhone made disappeared. But I built that lab myself." She scratched the back of her head. "I hope that's enough of an exception for it to still be there." Shaking her head, she turned back to MePad. "Now c'mon, let's get him over there."

When Toilet hopped over to the top of MePad, however, Test Tube hesitated.

"Actually... are you sure you're up for this? You look kinda rough."

Brow furrowing, Toilet lowered himself, nudged his lid beneath MePad's body, and hoisted it up. I told you, I'll do anything for MePad, he tried to say, but with the body pinning his lid down, it only came out as a muffled gurgle.

It must've come across well enough, as Test Tube gave him what he hoped was an amused smile before turning around and hefting up MePad's other side by the legs, which she threw over her shoulders. "Okay, here goes!"

With that, the two carried MePad's body across the contestant grounds, Toilet straining to match Test Tube's pace. His porcelain still ached and his pipes rattled within him, but he refused to complain.

They were going to get MePad back.

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