Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rodger hadn’t seen the clouds before, nor any actual greenery. Only either potted plants or painted clouds on rotting walls.

That changed when he opened his eye, and was met with the leaves covering the sun while he laid in exhaustion.

The events of how he came to be in his place were a blur in his mind, but it hadn’t felt like a dream or him hallucinating. He feels the brushing grass against his coat and an aching pain in his head.

It didn’t help that he couldn’t hear anyone else. Just the chirping of bugs while he tried to sit up, noticing how unkempt he was-

And his hat, a simple fedora with the same colors as his coat, was missing. He would’ve assumed Toodles stole it for fun, but memory came running back and he panicked.

Struggling to get up, he calls out Toodles name. And then Glisten, Teagan, Tisha’s… no response, aside from a minor silence.

He almost laid back on the grass in defeat. He had no utter clue where he was, aside from being outside, and couldn’t see any of his loved ones. While the thought of being free from Gardenview was a nice one, it wasn’t very friendly now.

His thinking was then interrupted by garden boots squeaking. He turned his head around to someone he never wanted to see again.

Dandy.

“Oh, you’re awake now?” He giggled, looking rather messy. “That’s good! You know, I’ve just been looking around the area-”

Without a thought, Rodger got up and pushed Dandy against one of the trees. He squeaked in surprise, not expecting such aggression when Rodger gripped on his overalls to keep him in place.

“Where is everyone else?” Rodger demanded, anger bubbling in his throat. He wouldn’t do such a thing, but considering Dandy’s actions… that line was crossed.

“And where’s your hat?” Dandy tried to joke back, but Rodger only pushed him against the tree more. “Ow- okay, I get it! You’re really angry-”

“And why should I not be?” He hissed in response. “You’ve lied to us and kept us in place for your own benefit. And was it worth it, Dandy?”

The flower looked from side to side, hesitating to answer. “Well, it’s quite complicated!-”

“Can’t you just be honest?” Rodger was already sick of Dandy’s shit, constantly saying things with a fake smile. Dandy just winced from how serious Rodger is getting.

“I don’t know where Toodles is, and I’m worried she could be hurt. Do you know where she is?” He repeated himself, harshly, while Dandy took a moment to mumble his response.

“...I ‘unno.” He choked out.

Rodger pushed him against the tree once more, making Dandy fall on the grass and whimper. He doesn’t have much else energy to waste on the flower at the moment, especially when there’s more important things to discuss.

“W-wait! Aren’t ‘cha gonna beat me up?” Dandy called to the detective, almost sounding like a mockingbird, but Rodger only continued to stomp off.

Dandy was still strong enough to get up on his feet and follow him.

“Really, it’d be fine if Toodles is gone for a while!” He suddenly reasoned, sounding more desperate. “Can’t you just stay put for a while? She’ll be fineee, everybody looks after her! You know, she calls me her uncle-”

Rodger stomped on the ground in an attempt to get Dandy to hush up. “Do you know where she is?”

“I-”

Rodger accusingly pointed a finger at Dandy. “And don’t pull any bullshit with me.”

Dandy looked at the detective, up and down, for once making awkward eye contact. He only sighed, pulling Rodger’s hand down.

“I don’t know where anyone is. And I mean it!” He yelped out, his hands balling into fists. “When everyone was on that train- it was dark, and stormy… and then I woke up here!”

“And was there anyone else?” Rodger naturally questioned him. Why wouldn’t he?

“Nope.” Dandy shook his head, raising his arms defensively. “If there were anyone else here, we’d both see signs! That, or they would have woken you up!”

Rodger rolls his eye, putting his hands back in his sleeves. “Well then. I’ll simply look around, but don’t think of following me.”

“How come?” Dandy tilted his head, while Rodger faced away and began to walk off.

“I don’t trust you.”

Dandy only stood back in silence for a moment. That was obvious why, but…

“...I know where your hat is.” He barely shouts out in return, but it makes Rodger pause and look back once more.

“And I mean it.” He looked at Rodger, face to face.

The detective still felt unsure of him.

. . .

The train took a long time to get back running again, especially when everyone wanted to join in on the fun.

Dandy still wasn’t anywhere in sight, but Rodger hadn’t minded it. Almost everyone was sick of his nonsense, and it was a good thing they had an actual plan of escape now.

Of course, almost everyone excluded Astro. While he helped here and there, he was much more silent. Maybe it was just how he and Dandy were close friends, and his lies hurt him to his core.

Rodger couldn’t help himself but feel guilty, at least for Astro’s case. Their plan was almost done, so it gave Rodger enough time to finally talk with the moon.

It was a good thing he hadn’t strayed far, watching from the distance while everybody worked. He huddled himself into his blanket.

“Astro?” Rodger called out, making his fellow toon look at him with pleading eyes. He just laid on the floor and curled on himself.

“Yeah?” Astro mumbled in return, as Rodger sat right next to him. “Shouldn’t you be…”

“We’re already close to finishing it, Astro.” Rodger explained, holding his hands together. “And I figured it wouldn’t hurt just to have a little chat.”

“Oh.” Astro turned away. “If this is about Dandy, I’m…”

“Fine?” Rodger raised an eyebrow, sounding suspicious. “Astro, I’ve noticed your mood has been deterring since then. It’s okay to let it out.”

Astro shuffled a bit. “No, it’s fine…”

“Is it?”

The moon puffed his cheek a bit, clearly not wanting to say much else. Rodger sighed, standing up from the stairs they sat upon.

“That’s alright, Astro. But if you need me, even after all of this…” He patted the toon on his shoulder. “I will be here.”

No response, as Astro just sat in silence. Rodger realized he didn’t have much of a choice but to leave Astro alone, and that’s exactly what he did afterwards.

Maybe he pressed too hard. He’s always a bit overbearing, and tries to avoid that trait, but he always falls back into it. It’s rather embarrassing, he thinks to himself.

Otherwise, it seems the plan is going exactly as intended. He should focus on helping others for now.

. . .

Rodger took heavy note of the scenario surrounding him, and Dandy.

When escaping to the surface, many expected humanity to exist. They were left abandoned there after all, and created by humans themselves, but he didn’t expect anything but a lack of humans.

Well, aside from bones.

Simply at the outside of Gardenview Center, a few skeletal remains relaxed in corners or overgrown by forage. Rodger hadn’t remembered seeing such a thing, and it came as an utter shock to him. The worst part is how the remains clearly have been left there to rot alongside the rest of the facility.

“Did you do this?” Rodger naturally accuses Dandy, and he just shrugs.

“Was there when I checked.” He just kicked his feet against a small pebble. Even when Rodger wanted to examine Dandy and see if he was lying or not, he had other things to focus on.

The rest of the center was abandoned, and that was expected. Like the skeletons, they were covered in flowers and presumingly made a home for animals around the area. Maybe if he knew how trees age, he’d be able to tell how long it’s been.

But the sun still glares above them all, and Rodger feels like he’s doing most of the work. Dandy said his fedora would be around here somewhere, not outside where Toodles is…

He rubs his temple. “I don’t have time for this.”

“Huh? How come?”

“If I can’t find my hat, that doesn’t matter. Toodles is what I should be focusing on discovering.” He passes by Dandy, cleaning off his coat while the flower stands in mild shock.

“Come onn! We’re really close!” He whined, stomping a single foot on the ground.

“Doesn’t matter.” Was all Rodger spat back, shuffling off in a sweaty coat. He wishes it weren’t so warm.

Dandy just rolled his eyes, slowly following suit. “Look, it may be hard to find your hat… but you can’t just leave yet. What about supplies? What about materials?-”

“Doesn’t matter.” He repeated his words. “And why do you care about that? You hoarded everything from us.”

Dandy puffed his cheeks. “I wasn’t hoarding. I just found them from time to time.”

“And you sold them to us for something worthless.” Rodger crossed his arms.

“I- oh, you mean tapes? They weren’t worthless!” The flower rose his hands defensively, whining to the detective about their worth. “They had a lot of fun shows, movies…”

Rodger already went back to turning around.

“Come on Rodger, please just stay!” Dandy fussed, stomping his feet on the ground. “If you don’t, I’ll- I’ll, uh…”

Then the flower huffed, turning away dramatically. “Well geez, you’re too serious for me! I guess I’ll just be on my lonely way!-”

Rodger wouldn’t have minded Dandy leaving him alone, as it’d give him more space to himself alongside not working with him. But he stopped upon the strange thud, and looked back to see no one there.

“...Dandicus?” He raised an eye, now suspicious.

He eyed around the complex, and it still feels eerily silent. He picked up a rock in defense, if anyone else around decided to attack.

“Come on…” Rodger mumbled, his voice shaking. Then he heard the large Gardenview sign creak by the entrance, and he turned-

WHAP!

Rodger’s body fell to the ground, blindfolded by someone else as he dragged his struggling body against the concrete.

He couldn’t recognize their voices.

Chapter Text

Inside. Has he ever been inside of a building after escaping? He wouldn’t want to be stuck in one again after many long agonizing years being trapped in Gardenview.

It seems that fear resurfaced as he woke up within a decaying room, the windows proving he was hardly dreaming as he struggled to get out of restraints-

Restraints? Where did those come from? He attempted to struggle and tear out once more, until the door slammed open.

“He’s awake!” Some strange toon he had never met was peaking out of the hallway, only being a measuring glass. They picked up a makeshift dagger while another toon, a twig, followed suit.

They were obviously children, guessing from their voices and sizes. He was more worried than before, especially with the restraints and the dagger casually being moved about in the toon’s hands.

There was just a bit of silence, until the measuring glass faked a cough. “Uhm. You’re… an accomplice, right?”

“What?” Rodger raised a brow. “What do you mean by that?”

“To the flower.” The twig added in, and the glass nodded.

“Yes, the flower. Were you going to steal anything?”

“...No. And that flower is not my friend.”

“I thought they were buddies…” The twig whispered, but the glass just pulled them aside.

“How so? I know only friends look at each other like that!”

“...Being angry?” These kids clearly weren’t in the best place.

“I- you were mad at him?”

“Because he probably messed up…” Another addition from the twig.

“I mean it. We are not associated in any capacity.” Even when being honest, the two doubted him. “Is he in your grasp?”

They looked at each other, then back at the detective.

“Why do you wanna know that?”

Rodger internally facepalmed. “I don’t know how else I can prove it to you, but he is not my friend, nor do I intend on working with him. Now please, let me go.”

“He could be lying…” The twig whispered, fiddling with his fingers. “That’s what the moon said…”

The moon?

“Astro?” He could still hear them, thankfully. But now more worry seeped through his body- it was like he was being hit with constant reveals and realizations. “He was here?”

“Novalite wouldn’t know someone like you!” The measuring glass crossed their arms defensively. “He’s nice, and kind. He doesn’t yell at their friends- even if they’re a bad guy.”

So Astro was here. But why would he lie about him? Maybe he turned around his thoughts regarding Dandy, but him? Worry seeps through his mind already.

“...I don’t think he’s gonna tell us about Dandy now, Maxwell.” The twig whimpered, hiding behind the glass and close to bolting out the door.

“He’s probably lost in thought.” Maxwell continued to cross his arms, standing on his toes to seem taller than the actual adult in the room. “Let’s ask him later…”

The two left, closing the door. Rodger tried to listen in if it’d be locked by something else or the expected, but only talking and then silence.

Rodger presumes he has to work quickly here. He rubs the rope against the handles of the chair, trying to at least cut it up enough. But the chair seems too round to even do such a thing.

He hisses to himself. Why did Dandy have to get him in such a stressful situation? He doesn’t want to be here, and he has no clue where Toodles is…

…Unless he can ask. How come that didn’t cross his mind earlier? If kids seem to be in control of the place, Toodles might just be one of them.

With a familiar motivation, he tries his best to untie. But it doesn’t work either, so he resorts to moving the chair against something else- but no use, as his feet are also tied against it.

He hisses, his joints hurting at struggling so much. If he can’t get out of here, then what would he do? He’d have to face the fact that Toodles could be on her own, and possibly die, and-

A louder hiss distracts him, as he feels his foot burn. But now the ropes on his feet fell down, untied- or, well, burnt. He’d be confused if it didn’t give him a better chance to escape.

Once finding a way to untie his own hands, he’s out. He considers just jumping through the window, but he’s old and he’d doubt it’d work well.

And, Dandy…

…He just doesn’t want to see that flower cause more trouble, so he kicks the door open and goes off to search for that damned flower.

. . .

Dandy isn’t having a good time.

Falling into a random leaf trap wasn’t good enough, so now he’s tied against the ceiling and dangling. He could, thankfully, still speak, but kids were rough these days!

“Come on, Simon! Hit him harder!” Some smaller pencil toon yelled out, as a slingshot toon launched a rather weak ball of paper directly at Dandy.

“You guys aren’t the best shooters.” Dandy mumbled, resulting in another crumpled piece of paper to his face. He’s surprised he hasn’t gotten any cuts yet. “And shouldn’t you kiddos be in school?”

“What’s school?” One of the toons asked, as the slingshot hit Dandy again.

“Shush! He’s trying to trick us!” Simon, the slingshot, yelled out in response.

“Owie! I’m just curious!” He swung around in his restraints, hurting more from how the rope tied against his limbs. Least he was covering his skin. “What about a proper education? Oooh, and maybe even learn about math!-”

Another smack to the face with paper. “Can you stop doing that? That doesn’t even hurt.”

“Nuh uh! You could turn into a big scary monster at any moment!” Simon launched another ball of paper, trying to aim at Dandy’s eyes.

“Uh huh. And who told you that? The fun police?”

“Why should I tell you?” Simon looked around for anything else to throw, but they used all their paper. “Gah! I should use rocks next time!”

“R-rocks?” Dandy gulps. He just hopes they’re pebbles, or even his dog Pebble! “Can you make sureee they have legs? Just askin’!”

Simon glared at the flower, before the pencil scrambled up with a bucket of rocks. “He just wants his dog, man.”

“I know.” Simon picked one of the pebbles out of the basket, Dandy noticing how they’re of the… sharper variety.

He began to panic.

“H-hey, you’re young, right?” He gulped, seeing Simon take his time to aim at Dandy. “I can teach you all about, uh… science! Science is super fascinating, you know? I’m pretty good at gardening also-”

The door inside slammed open, making anyone inside look at the culprit.

Rodger, holding both Maxwell and the twig toon in his arms, glared directly at Simon. His large shadow loomed over everyone.

“What are you doing?” Rodger was even more surprised at such a strange rebellion going on in unused staff rooms.

Without a thought, Simon shot at Rodger in fear- but it only hit his chest, stumbling onto the floor. It didn’t do a thing, as both the slingshot and pencil looked upon Rodger.

Rodger only sighed, putting the two passed out toons on the floor and walked towards him. “Children shouldn’t be hurting others. You should know that, Dandy.” He gave a glare towards the flower.

“T-they tied me up here themselves!” Dandy whined, swinging even harder to motion for Rodger to get him down. Rodger just rolled his eye.

“I…” Simon took a step back, scared of Rodger’s larger figure. He tried to pick another pebble from the basket, but it was easy enough for Rodger to snatch it himself. “Hey! Those are ours!”

“And I don’t want a fight.” Rodger held it above his hands while Simon jumped up in an attempt to get them. Didn’t work. “Tell me, did you tie Dandy up for the same reason as me?”

“W-why should I tell you?!” Another similar excuse. Rodger figured it was the same regardless.

“Because…” He took a deep breath. He did had to knock Maxwell and the other toon unconscious, but it was out of defense more than anything. “...I’m already having a stressful time outside. Can’t you just let us go?”

Simon stopped, looking to the side and to the pencil. The other toon simply hid, and he groaned.

“Adults are mean.” Simon squeezed his arms, looking down on the floor. “And I don’t want my friends to get hurt...”

Rodger felt sympathy. As he noticed before, they were all clearly just kids. Maybe they came from Gardenview, but they must’ve been created without anyone to tell them what’s what.

But it was still awkward nonetheless. He hardly knew these kids, and they must’ve been struggling on their own.

“...If it helps, you can have this back- but only if you let Dandy free.”

“Our weapons?” Simon asked, referring to the pebbles. He nodded.

“I doubt Dandy would be a big threat to you. He’s just a bad influence.” He handed Simon the rocks. “And I don’t want to see little kids get hurt, either.”

“How come?” Simon looked up, now clinging onto the basket this time.

He took a deep breath. “You… haven’t seen an eight ball toon around here with a white hoodie, have you? I presumed she’d be with you…”

Simon shook his head. “No, I don’t know anyone like that…”

Rodger sighed. “And that’s okay. I wouldn’t want her to be in such a place like this.”

“Is she your daughter or something?-”

“Can you guys just let me go?” Dandy groaned, as Simon yelped from his interruption.

“Sorry!” Simon giggled a bit, before Dandy was finally let loose- still restrained, but not hanging from the ceiling this time.

Rodger rolled his eye. “You could say that about… Toodles.” He picked Dandy up, easily untying the rope off Dandy. He expected him to leap off, but all he did was lean against Rodger and groan.

“Do you… have any more weapons?” The pencil asked out of the blue, peaking out of his hiding spot.

“Weapons? Why do you need weapons?”

“Weird scary things come out at night, sometimes… or when we need to hunt something.” The pencil finally walked out, straightening his scarred pants.

“Yeah! And you could be with them!”

Rodger could presume it's either humans, or… twisteds. He’d have to see for himself then. “I see. I… don’t have much else, but…”

Rodger looked through his pockets, simply offering a pen. “This is a tactical pen. It works as a writing device, and also…”

By turning the pen around and pressing a button, a small knife came out. The kids looked at one another, as Simon simply stole it back.

“...Thanks.” Simon huffed, looking behind his back.

“I doubt it’d be much help in the long run-” Rodger was then taken aback by Simon giving him a hat in return, his hat. It had the same color as his coat.

“Everything needs a trade off, right?” Simon seemed a bit shy now, but that made sense. You can’t always trust everybody. “And this hat… looks like yours. I don’t need it.”

“That’s… thank you, lad.” Rodger took it in return. It was a bit scratched up, but good enough to wear. “Where did you find it?”

“On the ground.”

Rodger internally facepalmed. Of course it was.

“Yeah, and I swore I saw it on the ground as well!” Dandy finally added in, trying to rub off the rope marks on his skin. “You’re a little thief, aren't cha?”

“There’s nothing wrong with such things when you need to survive.” Rodger was right behind Dandy, his hands together to seem professional. “But… well, I can’t really blame you all that much.”

“About what?” Simon just looked confused.

“...I doubt it’s any of your business.” Rodger sighed, placing back his hand and finally leaving. Dandy just looked from side to side, before following.

“Stay safe, by the way.” Rodger waved, as Simon waved back. The pencil joined in return.

. . .

Outside Gardenview was exactly the same, but he could tell it was midnight. He imagined there’d at least be somewhere to hide for the night.

But it wasn’t helping how Dandy was just following along. He didn’t know what else to make of him.

“Were you really trying to influence those kids?” Rodger asked, his hands in his pockets. Dandy just shrugged, skipping a bit.

“I mean, I think they’re quite influenced by something else!” He chuckled, jumping on top of a log and pretending to balance himself. “You know, maybe bullies or something.”

“You don’t have to act like everything is a cartoon, Dandy.” Rodger just passed by, as the flower leaped down to follow. “It could just be the environment… it didn’t look so good.”

“Yeah, Gardenview does not look pretty! I say it needs a makeover-”

“Are you even taking anything I say seriously?” Rodger stopped again, as Dandy bumped into his back. “For all I know, there’s hardly any humanity here, and there’s other toons. And if I take what those kids say at face value, those twisteds followed us!”

He then pointed a finger at Dandy’s chest. “So if you want to follow me around, you have to take everything as it is; dangerous.”

Dandy looked at Rodger, before smiling widely.

“So we’re buddies now?”

Rodger just groaned, hiding his face with his hat before walking off. “Hey, was it something I said? I promise I’ll take this all more seriously!”

“You really weren’t-” And then Rodger tripped, now rolling down a small slope. Dandy just gasped, but followed suit.

When Rodger fell down, he felt asphalt. But Dandy just jumped up, cheering to himself. “Hey, that was pretty fun! We should do that again…”

But even Dandy paused, upon seeing empty cars in a foraged street.

. . .

“You sure this will work?” Vee looked over the plans, knowing how drastic they are. “It’s making a train slam into a bunch of rocks. How is that gonna work?”

“Me and Rodger looked at the exit, and it seemed hollow on the other side!” Brightney explained in return, showing off small notes. “It’s our best chance to see if there’s any escape!”

Vee’s screen flicked, turning into dots going up and down. “Hmm. You have a point. My camera can't even look back there. But I want to go there myself.”

“An extra look?” Brightney smiled. “Yeah! But it’s a lot of walking…”

“It’s fine, I doubt there’s any twisteds in the tunnels.” Vee just crossed her arms, trying to seem nonchalant as Rodger entered the room. “Oh, hey.”

Rodger just waved. “I suppose you two are planning our escape?” Looking at some of the notes across the desk, it was pretty clear.

“How do you expect us to get a train up and working? Especially stopping it?” Vee raised a robotic eyebrow. “It just circles around before retracting itself.”

“It sometimes stops at the entrance. We can go up front and work from there!” Brightney added in, as the two other toons took note.

“You are good with technology, Vee… we can still figure it’s insides out.”

“Mhm.” Vee still leaned against the wall. Any less serious toon could think Vee is super cool. “But I don’t have any cameras in there.”

“We’ll just have to take our chances.” Rodger responded. “Me or Brightney haven’t recorded when it comes and leaves, but we have all of the time in the world.”

Vee chuckled. “Yeah, you got a point.”

Chapter Text

Empty cars. Most were easy to open after a while (unless they were already ransacked), but the contents were… disturbing.

They had skeletons, just like Gardenview. It smelt awful on the road, and almost every car him and Dandy spotted at least had bones inside. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

Rodger was just speechless. Did half of these people die overnight? He had no clue unless he inspected closer, but he was even hesitant to touch such a scene.

But Dandy, regardless of his silence, hadn’t had much of an issue. He pulled a skull out of a mossy car to inspect it himself.

“Hey, I think this one's human!” Dandy pointed out the obvious, but Rodger was too caught up in his own thoughts to even bother listening to him. Dandy just rolled his eye.

Even Dandy wasn’t inspecting this, however. He’s gotten used to handling dinosaur bones, and even human ones, but the amount of them just… made his petals rise. Did every human here die in an instant? Or slowly?

He distracts himself to think if a car is working. He doubts they are, but it’s a nice thought to drive around without much consequences- if he could learn how to, anyway.

“Can I have that?” Rodger seemed to sneak up on Dandy this time, as he casually threw the bone back. Rodger was a bit clumsy with it. “Thank you, Dandy.”

“Now you’re saying thank you?” Dandy giggled, but Rodger didn’t bother to respond. “Look, I’m just tryna lighten the mood around here.”

“You’ve certainly… have.” Rodger mumbled out, carefully inspecting the skull. It hadn’t looked too old yet, but it was worn with time. Maybe some bugs had lived in it at some point, considering windows were broken.

Rodger assumes the younger toons from before might’ve scavenged this area. It made sense, as there was hardly much left.

“Y’think we’ll find anyone around here?” Dandy relaxed his arm on the roof of a car, trying to remain casual. “Seems like a nice place to hang out!”

“What made you think of that?” Rodger carefully put the skull back into the car, and shut it. Just a little peace of mind for him… even if it feels like the skull is staring daggers into him.

“Dunno. I’ve never sat on cars before.” And Dandy did exactly as he said, swinging his legs back and forth. “Pretty cool, if you ask me!”

“If there weren’t skeletal remains here.” Rodger responded, shuffling his coat. “And I doubt the cars would work, so we have to keep walking.”

“Even when it’s getting dark?” Dandy’s head tilted.

“...I have to find Toodles. But you can explore on your own, if you like.” He walked past Dandy, observing more of the area around him. He imagines Toodles would’ve left the moment she saw bones.

“Is it because you don’t want me around?” Dandy asked, jumping off the roof and back to Rodger. The detective paused, but continued to walk.

Dandy rolled his eyes. Maybe he’d be more talkative further down the road.

. . .

“What do you mean Dandy came back?!” Vee hissed, dragging Brightney from the arm as charcoal and dust filled the tunnel. Vee was glad she couldn’t breathe, but Brightney? No clue other than getting out of there.

Brightney just gagged on her own ichor, finally being led out of the tunnels and laid on the floor. It didn’t take long for Rodger to follow suit, and promptly paused in horror at Brightney’s injuries.

The left half of her body looked like it’s skin burnt off without a thought, showing off her mechanical muscles. She winced in incredible pain, as Rodger guessed the dust from the tunnel opening had increased that pain. Now he had no clue what to even do in this situation, as he wasn’t a healer.

“Brightney…” He winced, covering his eye while Vee scampered off to get Cosmo. “Are you still there? Please breathe for me…”

Brightney only choked in response, Rodger motioning for more help to come while he kept watch.

“I-it was an accident, Brightney.” He used his sleeve as a napkin to wipe off dripping ichor. He was at a complete loss. “Please don’t blame yourself…”

She gagged, as he heard the only healers in this nightmare of a place come. Cosmo couldn’t even look at Brightney, all while Sprout began to panic.

“What even happened?!” Sprout was already preparing to see what he could do, but Rodger just looked at him with shaky eyes.

“...Dandy, and… he...” Was all he could mutter out regarding the situation. “Please. Just… help her.” He covered his head to try and make himself stop from sobbing. If Brightney died, it would’ve been his fault.

“I’ll… figure something out.” Sprout mumbled out, taking out bandages while observing Brightney’s condition. “Stay here and help me, okay? And, Cosmo…”

Cosmo was still trying not to puke. “Y-yeah?”

“Get Vee and anyone else you can find. I don’t want someone else to die tonight.”

. . .

Still nothing to be found, aside from garbage. Rodger felt like he was on a time limit, as the sun slowly lowered down and it began to get darker.

Oddly enough, lamp posts still were working. Rodger debated in his mind if it was a good sign or not that there was still electricity out here.

Dandy interrupted his thinking though, by leaping onto a car. “Anything good?”

“This one was just empty.” He slammed the door shut, before it just ended up breaking off the car. “...And rusty. We should look somewhere else.”

“I doubt Toodles is in rusty cars, detective!” Dandy hopped off, landing right on his feet. “Or are you just looking for something to defend yourself?”

“You could say that. Some canned food would be great.” He messes with his suit to distract his hands, looking further down the road… he didn’t feel too great about their chances, even if there were more cars to search.

“Euugh, not that.” Dandy waved his hand, expressing his distaste. “I just hate canned beans! Hardly good, and I just hate how gross they feel in my mouth.”

“Is that why you only gave us chocolates?” Rodger observed the area around him even more. They could just follow the road, but he isn’t sure if there’s active roads and signs of humanity yet. He imagines it’d be hard to explain why there’s a talking flower and magnifying glass to humans.

“And don’t forget soda!” Dandy added in, leaning his hands over Rodger’s shoulders. “That stuff is way better than beans.”

“And less healthy…” Rodger took note of how some cars were on their sides, or even facing down on their roofs. “...Wait here, a minute.”

“Is it the cars? They just have dead people in it.” Dandy rolled his eyes, until he twitched when Rodger went closer to inspect. “...Rodger?”

“Look at these scratches, Dandy.” He pointed to the obvious, one of the dumped cars looking like it was stomped on by a large claw. “Do you recognize something?”

Dandy gulped. “...Maybe.”

“Dandy, don’t lie to me.” Rodger pointed to the mark again. “You know who made this, don't you? And that means-”

THUNK.

The two turned their heads to one of the car's doors being slammed open, a familiar claw scratching out. Scraps.

What was replaced with relief turned to fear as Scraps looked directly towards them, her eyes crimson.

In an instant, Rodger gripped Dandy’s hand and dragged him across as Scraps attempted to pounce on them- only landing on the car, hissing at the two as they fled.

“Did you know twisteds followed us out?!” Rodger yelled, pulling them down when Scraps launched her strange tail at the two- only missing by a few inches.

Dandy didn’t even respond, looking up as Scraps scratched the car as a threat to the two.

“I think it wants us away from the cars!” Dandy happily spoke, before Rodger had to kick his face out of view as the twisted attempted to bite the flower again. He just yelped, about to complain only to realize why he was kicked.

“It wants us dead!” Rodger responded back, his foot getting bit instead as Scraps attempted to drag him over. He used another foot to stomp the tail, as it hissed. Ichor already dripped off his leg, Scraps lowering down to get her newest kill.

Dandy only watched from the side, considering just leaving Rodger, but then…

With whatever energy he had, Rodger tried to keep kicking Scraps off- he still didn’t want to hurt someone he was familiar with, especially Goob’s sister, but she was trying to kill her right now!

“Scraps, please-” Rodger screamed when Scraps used her own teeth to dig into the previous wound, now actually dragging him back to asphalt roads to maul him. Even when Rodger did his best to pull off Scraps teeth, she bit harder to the point Rodger’s body gave up on him.

“I don’t…” He hissed, Scraps letting go before hitting his invisible throat with her claw- attempting to choke him. He wheezed out incoherent words as she continued.

SCRRRRRRRCHHHHHH!

Scraps covered her ears from the loud noise, turning her head to Dandy hitting her with a piece of scrap metal.

“Sorry, pal! But you can’t just hurt your friends!” Dandy commented, smacking her again so she wouldn’t attack whilst he spoke. She hissed, covering the marks on her skin as she scampered off into the forage.

Rodger just laid on the floor, bleeding out. He wheezed out coughs while Dandy picked him up.

“You alright?”

Rodger wanted to push Dandy off, but he couldn’t. Especially when his life was saved by him… which seemed like a nightmare, almost.

“I’ll be fine.” He touched his own throat without thinking, feeling mild scratches. He coughed again as Dandy led Rodger to stand on his feet.

The two just stood in silence, Rodger trying to get back to his normal attitude- but how could he? He felt hit with even more revelations than ever, and all he wanted to do was just find Toodles and be safe.

He just fell down onto the dirt. “You could’ve left me to die. Save your skin.”

Dandy tapped his foot on the ground, rubbing his gloves. No response.

“...Why did you do that?” Rodger asked, almost repeating, but their chat was interrupted by a loud roar.

Peaking out of the car, Dandy could spot a familiar ammonite from ahead.

. . .

“Would some water work?” Finn asked, holding a bunch of left over bandages stinked by ichor. His bowl was thankfully barely empty, Barnaby Wilikers swishing through his bowl. “You know, not to bathe her or anything! Would be kriller if that happened!”

“Could work.” Sprout responded, still trying to clean Brightney’s body. She seemed less in pain now, only softly breathing. “Does that hurt?”

“...A little.” Brightney sighed, only looking over at Rodger through the window. She awkwardly fidgeted with his hands. “I could do some repairs myself!-”

She hissed at a wire being tapped. “Eeeuu…” Brightney’s lamplight flickered, to a bright light and then nothing.

“Sorry about that.” Sprout continued on, getting another faintly wet rag to clean more ichor off. “I just… don’t know what to do with this.”

“Huh?” Both Finn and Brightney spoke up.

“You’re mechanical, but also have some organic parts… sorry if I sound technical there.” Sprout sighed, looking over to the burn marks on Brightney’s body. “Vee is completely mechanical, but easy to… patch up. But I don’t think I can repair you fully.” He held up Brightney's ruined arm, as it hardly moved nor seemed alive.

Brightney winced at the sudden news. “No, I’m not quite sure myself! But we can both figure it out!” She tried to remain positive in this moment.

Sprout only looked to the side. “We’ll… see.” He turned away, getting up to get something.

Before whispering to Finn, “Do you think we can make prosthetics for her... like yours?”

Chapter Text

Shelly was much larger as a twisted, and even larger now.

“...Are you able to run?” Dandy goes back to hiding as Shelly stomps around the area, so close to them. Rodger just grips onto his chest.

“Do you think I can run?” Rodger tries his best to whisper, but it comes off as harsh and venomous. Dandy looks back to his injured leg and back.

“I’ll just distract, then!” The flower hops onto the car now, stomping his feet to make noise as the dinosaur and the following Scraps are attracted to the noise. “Heya, friends! Nice to see ya both, huh?”

“Are you-” Rodger didn’t have enough time, groaning as he did his best to sneak about while the two only watched Dandy and his yelling.

When he looks back, he wonders why they aren’t attacking yet- or, why Dandy hasn’t bothered to twist yet.

“I know we might’ve left off on some bad terms, but hey! I promise I’ll change!” He does his most annoying voice, starting to sweat bullets. Shelly just looks down on him like a dying worm.

Looking around, he ends up biting down on his own finger- trying to draw blood from his finger. It seemed to work.

Shelly pauses, sniffing the air before launching herself at Dandy- while he hops back, the car being crushed by her claws and jaws. “O-okay, well, I guess you're still quite mad at me!” He winces upon Scraps following suit, just crawling on cars to catch up.

Rodger only scrambled around, limping on his feet as he tried to avoid Dandy’s path. The rest of the forest around them had seemed to pass into fall, each leaf being orange in color.

When he hears less growling, he finally stops and goes back to laying down. He wouldn’t be surprised if Dandy got caught, or just turned into a twisted and left Rodger for dead. The image of Dandy in his head wasn’t a flattering one, really.

“Just a bit farther…” Rodger mumbles to himself, deciding to keep going forward. The dirt became more steep, and since Rodger couldn’t hold himself that well…

He fell down, landing in a sticky substance. Just a quick look showed he was near some large sewer pipe, but more worrying was how even more ichor had produced a whole pit.

Great. Didn’t help how the contact with Rodger’s skin made him hiss from the pain. Maybe he could just imagine it being like quicksand, but he’s not sure if that’d be accurate to the situation he’s fallen in.

He grips on the less inky ground, doing his best to pull out, but nothing works. It seemed the ichor began to pull back on his body, dragging him in- it hadn’t helped when he felt inky hands grab his torso and drag him back.

“Please,” Rodger used his other hand to pull the hand back, fearing it as it squeezed tighter. “Let me- come on-”

Gripping on the ground harder. It seems to work until he directly feels someone above him.

“Let go, Rodger.”

A dreamy voice coos into Rodger’s ear. He almost gives up, before remembering Toodles, and slaps whatever figure is behind him.

He feels nothing, but he sees Astro looking down at him. He can’t tell what the dreamer's expression even is.

“Rodger, please…” He coos again, more hands gripping down on Rodger. He tries to kick through, but his feet are now stuck in the ichor. “It won’t hurt.”

The detective doesn’t reply, trying to ignore Astro. He has to push every question aside to survive.

“I know…” Astro leans in closer. “I know you want to find Toodles, right?”

Rodger pauses, in shock.

“I can show you.” Astro wraps his arms around Rodger, almost keeping him prisoner in a hug. “You both will be safe.”

He tries to see Astro’s expression, but it’s still nothing. All he sees is his empty face as it blends into the trees above, almost transparent.

“And… Brightney?” Rodger asks, closing his eye. Astro’s hug feels like claws tearing his skin, his hands close to the dreamer’s torso.

Astro is now silent, trying to think of a response.

“That’s what I thought.”

He’s able to push Astro’s body away, almost pulling himself out until the ichor does its best to pull him back in. He can’t see Astro anymore, but he can hear growling from nearby.

And then gloved hands pulling him right out of the ichor, Dandy panting in exhaustion in his ear.

“Dandicus?!-” He mumbles out, before seeing Shelly drop down into the ichor herself- trying to reach the two, but growling from now being stuck.

Shelly moves up and down in the ichor, but it sticks all over her bones and toon half that it’s clear she’s stuck. It seems the Scraps, despite chasing Dandy down as well, tries to pull Shelly out- but made the grave mistake of stepping into the ichor.

Dandy doesn’t say much else aside from dragging Rodger aside, as Scraps now begins to struggle- her tail and feet stuck, hissing and yelling incoherently at the flower.

He doesn’t look, but Rodger does. They’re both stuck.

And he feels sympathy, while being dragged off and somewhere safe.

. . .

It felt like hours in Rodger’s mind when they left the forage, only seeing hills in sight and stars looking down on them.

“There’s a house nearby,” Dandy mumbles, already dragging himself and Rodger to the direction. “Think we can sleep there for the night!”

No response. He feels stuck in shock from every recent event that the concept of resting almost seemed like a far off fantasy.

Fantasy is often different from reality anyway.. Dandy kicks the door down as it didn’t put up much of a fight, revealing an abandoned home on the inside. Maybe if it looked more lived in, Rodger would’ve enjoyed it…

“It looks like a grandma lived here…” Dandy muttered, setting Rodger down on a dusty couch. “But hey! It’s somewhere to stay, right?” He smiled.

Rodger just stayed silent, relaxing his back on the sofa.

“Are you gonna stay quiet?” He crossed his arms, tapping his foot. “Well, I’ll go and get settled- maybe even take a little look around…”

Dandy then scampered off on his own, before putting a chair to properly close the door. Rodger just tried to let loose, but the events still bothered him.

He missed not having to run around from certain death, after all.

. . .

Sprout still wasn’t good with machinery, aside from ovens. If Brightney’s arms weren’t made out of metals and wires, then the arm would have been fixed without a problem.

That, and the burns. Vee had an issue with those also, as she mentioned there weren’t enough spare wires to keep it working.

With how Finn handled his handmade prosthetic, Sprout had an idea- but he wasn’t sure if it’d go so well with Brightney. A wooden prosthetic wouldn’t entirely work for the lamp, unlike Finn’s, but he could figure something out…

Walking through the small door to a staff room fitted to be a medical room, it seemed Brightney’s arm looked even worse. While her other half was fine, the other that still had skin surrounding it was completely black.

“Brightney.” Sprout called out, as she looked up from a book she was reading. She just waved, wearing a new pair of glasses. “You’re doing good, right?”

“Hahah, yeah! Finn just gave me a new book, and it’s pretty fascinating… I wish I would’ve read more about ocean life sooner.” She flipped through the pages, a big smile on her face. “Even on the surface! I just can’t wait…”

Sprout felt his heart dip. “Brightney… there’s something that I have to tell you.”

With just a single look, Brightney could guess what Sprout was going to say. Her own smile fell into a frown. “The tunnel… it didn’t work, right?”

“That, and…” He pointed his head towards her decaying arm.

Brightney stayed silent. “You mean…”

He nodded. “I already told Finn. I don’t think anything of wood would help, but…”

Brightney just stared down at the pages, pictures of fish laid out across them- and looking at her hand, unmoving.

“...I think I’m ready.” She speaks out. “It… wouldn’t be that scary, right?”

Sprout nodded. “Yeah.”

They could only smile back at one another, but it felt weak and dull.

It didn’t help how Rodger could hear the thing across, holding a gift in his hands.

. . .

Has Rodger slept for half of the day? He curses himself for that, but recoils upon the sofa feeling so uncomfortable now. He wouldn’t be surprised if bugs decided to make it their home.

The new thing was that the lamp on top seemed to work well, only slightly flicking. Did Dandy…?

“Hey, you’re awake!” Dandy made him jump, spreading his hands wide. Rodger could swear he still had his large teeth. “You’ve been napping for a looong while, mister!”

He squinted. “And you’re still here.”

“Why do you think I’ll just leave you to die?” Dandy waved his hand, giggling to himself. Rodger noticed how every window was boarded up. “That’s ridiculous! You think the worst of people!”

“Sure I do.” Rodger sarcastically replied while trying to get up, using the armrest to get himself properly standing again. He felt his legs weren’t entirely there yet.

“Alright, alright… well, you want breakfast?”

“...Breakfast.” Rodger gave another suspicious look towards the flower.

“C’mon, I’m a great cook!”

. . .

Still stuck.

Even with how hard Scraps tried to pop out of the drying ichor, it was no use. Shelly seemed to completely give up, whimpering like a lost dog.

While Scraps mind wasn’t entirely there, she felt sympathy- and rage. How could they just be left there? How could-

“I’m sorry.” Astro’s voice cut through them, speaking out of the blue. The two looked up to see him looming over, now walking across the ichor like it was wet again.

With a single pull, Scraps was out. “I couldn’t let you both hurt Dandy…” He sniffled, putting Scraps on the free ground while he went to work with Shelly. “He’s still my best friend.”

She rolled her eyes, as Shelly looked up at Astro. She tried to pull away from the dreamer, but it was no use as he used four arms to drag her out.

“Please just don’t try and kill him next time…” He politely spoke, but the two didn’t seem all that trusting of him. “And Rodger… don’t do that, either.”

Just a slight nod from Scraps. Shelly faced away from him, starting to cover her eyes with tears.

“Shelly…” Astro put one of his hands over the gigantic dinosaur centaur. “Please don’t cry. You were doing the best you could…”

Another whimper.

“Come on, I’ll clean the rest off. Let’s just relax…” Astro began to walk off, the others following suit. “...I don’t mind you two getting another meal, however.”

His singular eye looked towards another toon in the dark, looking through the cars. Scraps gritted her teeth, while Shelly’s tail began to wag.

He pointed towards the young toon, and they began another chase.

Astro couldn’t look.

Chapter Text

“Dandy, let me say this the nicest way I could… I think eating this would make me puke.”

He looked down upon a mess of grass and raw meat stuffed in a bowl. His stomach retched at the sight of it, all while Dandy continued to stuff his face with it.

He spoke through eating, making a disgusting gulp before sounding coherent again. “What? Ya don’t like cow food?”

“We’re eating cow food?!” Rodger pushed the bowl aside, trying his hardest not to vomit at the thought. “This is- no, I can’t-”

“I mean, the rest of the food seemed expired.” Dandy shoved a spoon into the mush, happily taking a bite. Rodger raised an eyebrow.

“The rest? Is there any canned food?”

“That’s how I got the meat! It’s chicken.” He winked, with Rodger rolling his eye. “Oh, and just in the kitchen. That’s the only clean one I could find.”

“Thanks.” Rodger got up from his seat while the flower giggled to himself. The rest of the house hardly looked pretty, with newer footprints on the floors.

With annoying creaking, Rodger reached the kitchen. It smelt god awful, like it was from a graveyard or something similar. He covered his nonexistent nose and looked through cabinets…

He tried to ignore each mouse running away from inside. Most of the food cans were bitten and scratched through, smelling like true garbage.

He slammed the cabinet shut. He could not handle the smell, nor the kitchen, and stumbled back where Dandy continued to chow down.

“I don’t know how you do it.” He looked far away from Dandy, almost using his fedora to cover his vision. Dandy looked up with an inquisitive look.

“With what?”

“Eat that. And many other things.” Rodger tightened his coat around himself. It felt more scratched up than usual. “You’ve always confused me.”

“Eeeh, I’d say the same about you if you weren’t so closed off!” Dandy pulled the other bowl forwards, shoving a spoon in to play with his food.

“I can imagine why.” Rodger looked elsewhere, observing the chairs. Yeah, this house was certainly old.

It went back to silence as Dandy continued to eat. Rodger only looked around a bit, then stopped upon the sight of a bedroom.

Surprisingly, it looked less dirty than everything else, but he assumed Dandy had cleaned it. The bathroom didn’t look too bad either, clearly scrubbed off for dirt.

He hadn’t eaten in a while, Rodger thinks. He tests the faucet, but only dark water comes out. He presumes he won't be drinking for a while, either.

Rodger sighs. All he wants is food, and those he loves to be safe. But it doesn’t seem like he’d be getting that anytime soon.

. . .

Rodger laid next to Brightney’s bed, in shock while she held onto a book. He had his hands rub his temple, trying to process more of the situation.

“I never should’ve let you come…” Rodger almost sobs, Brightney looking at him with sympathy. “I didn’t know of the danger- I hadn’t…”

“None of us really knew what was gonna happen…” Brightney squeezed onto the novel. “And it's… something feels off about Dandy, in that tunnel-”

“Dandy? You’re gonna lose your arm and you’re focusing on him?!” Rodger sounded like he was gonna break down at any moment, holding back tears. “Brightney, please…”

He held onto her hand, squeezing it. “It’s my fault, it’s…”

“Rodger. Calm down.” Sprout interrupted the other toon, as he was standing in the back watching the two. “This… isn’t going anywhere.”

“You think?” Rodger looked back at the strawberry, rubbing his eye in case he teared up. “I can’t believe myself, I almost led her to her death-”

“Can’t you just give Brightney some space?” Sprout’s words cut through Rodger like a knife, as the magnifying glass glared back in return.

Before the two began to argue, Brightney slammed her book to get their attention.

“Can you guys just please calm down yourselves?” She looked at Sprout the most, not wanting to directly insult Rodger. “I know it’s gonna be hard- but it isn’t any of our faults!”

“At this point, you’ll both be arguing about nothing…” The lamp looked away from the two, as the others turned to one another. “I don’t want that. I want you guys to be happy I’m still alive.”

Silence.

“...I’m deeply sorry, Brightney.” Rodger spoke up, turning away to leave. She wanted to say something back, but when she looked, he was gone.

Sprout just awkwardly looked at her. “...I’m sorry, too.”

“It’s alright.” Brightney sighed, looking down at her book. “You’ll power me down when the time comes, right?”

“I will.”

. . .

Only a few hours, Rodger presumes. He tried to sleep in the covers of the bed, only to discover bed bugs. So he suited himself to lay on the floor, his coat working as a blanket.

The lights didn’t last long enough, having been wasted during the afternoon. Dandy just resorted to a lamp he found to warm up the two of them, as he laid apart from the detective.

It was silent, at first. Then Dandy spoke up.

“...So, when you find Toodles…” He looked at the ceiling, trying to put together his sentence. “Whatcha gonna do afterwards? Become a detective full time?”

“I don’t think that’d work.” Rodger sighed, his back laid on the floor and turning away from the flower. “Things are too different now. Even if we find a functioning society, I doubt the role of a detective would be all that fulfilling.”

Dandy paused, puffing his cheeks to think of a response.

“So like… you’re retiring?”

“I wasn’t really a detective, Dandicus. You should know that by now.”

Back to silence, aside from the flame within the lamp burning brightly. Dandy went back to look up at the ceiling.

“...Yeah. Kinda funny how we fit those roles still, right?”

“Mhm.”

Rodger didn’t know if it was a good thing if Dandy wanted to talk or not. “We… were a show first, people second. I suppose that’s how it works.”

Dandy didn’t respond this time.

“I was fine with it, really. It’s something I’ve come to at least appreciate.” Rodger shifted a bit, now looking at the ceiling. “My life was figured out for me the moment I was created.”

“...Not born.” He adds in after a moment of silence. “I wasn’t given the privilege of a childhood.”

For once, Rodger looked towards Dandy without anger. He expected a strange response, but…

…Was he crying?

“I didn’t mean to get that personal, Dandicus-”

“No, it’s fine! It’s…” He wipes his own tears off, rubbing them against the wooden floor. “Is that how you really feel?”

They both were looking at each other.

“If you hadn’t made us do a certain project of yours,” Rodger reels back in his distaste of the flower, “then I would’ve been more forgiving of you.” Then he turned away.

“I really thought it would’ve fixed things!” Dandy responds, whimpering. His voice almost breaks down. “I just didn’t think of you guys as…”

He doesn’t get the last word out.

“...I’m cold. Can I…” Dandy shuffles over, tapping Rodger’s coat.

“Only this once.” Rodger opens up his clothing for Dandy to slither in.

At least he’s warm.

. . .

“I haven’t seen Astro in a while.” Rodger laments, fixing his tie up while he and Finn sit on some stairs. “Has he visited Brightney?"

“Don’t think so!” Finn was just busy cleaning his toy fish of ichor, always having a wide smile. “I hadn’t sea-n him either!” He nudges Rodger’s elbow at his small pun.

Rodger can’t help but chuckle. “I just hope he isn’t mad at me, or Brightney…”

The detective sighs. “I should think about these things later. Sorry, Finn.”

“No worries!” Finn pats Rodger’s back a little roughly. “Hey, you wanna eat some krill to get your mind off that stuff? That’s what I’ve always done!”

Food is always a strange distraction, Rodger thinks. He wouldn’t want to overeat…

“...Sure. But I’ll only have leftovers.” He and the fishbowl get up, and continue talking among themselves.

Astro simply watches as they leave, standing through the entrance of Gardenview whilst holding a large ammonite shell in his hands.

There’s some ichor on his hands. He has more than four.

Chapter Text

“Aren’t you gonna tell me a story, Rodger?”

Toodles gripped onto the sleeve of the detective, whining while clinging onto her plush toy. “You hardly said anything! I wanna hear about a cool case!”

Rodger’s breath hitched, his hands feeling metallic once Toodles slipped her own onto his. She pulled back, flinching. “Rodger?...”

Looking up, the detective only gave a sympathetic shake of the head before patting the eight ball on the head. Toodles just huffed.

“Pleaaase?” She begged, but Rodger didn’t make eye contact. His pupil bolted around as Toodles had enough.

“Okay, fine! I’ll just read my own story…” She leaped out of the bed, before being pulled right back.

“Don’t!” Rodger yelped out, now holding Toodles up in the air.

“Why can’t I go outside?!” Toodles whined, so close to just biting his hands. “I wanna see everyone, but they never come!”

Even as she kicked Rodger’s head, he didn’t respond. He just placed her down as he shook his head.

Toodles spat at him. “I wanna see Teagan, too!”

No response. Rodger just looked from side to side, before getting up awkwardly. He motioned for her to keep quiet, and then closed the door shut.

She sat on the bed, crossing her arms. Rodger was acting super weird. Why’d he sound off, too?

. . .

Somewhere off in the night, Toodles waited until it fell dark. Even if she was in the outside world now, why was she still kept inside? Rodger hadn’t said much of a word about anything, so she planned to just see a peak…

Being careful not to make any noise, she leaped off her bed and walked across the hardwood floor slowly. Thankfully it didn’t creak, but the door was a bit of a problem.

For one, it was locked, which would’ve been a dent in her plans…

But the vents are always accessible! She climbed up the bookcase leading to run, using her bare hands to unscrew them. They were a bit rusty, so she had to be careful!

And now she was inside, crawling through. She hoped it wasn’t making any actual noise as she continued forward…

…She could hear two toons talking. She can eavesdrop up here? Cool!

“I told you, I can’t keep on pretending.” A loud, rich voice obviously scoffed in response. Was this in the middle of a conversation?

“Please, I just don’t want her to be upset…” A more dreamy one spoke in response. “If she knew it wasn’t Rodger, she’d…”

“Leave? She’d probably know in a few weeks or so. My voice is hardly the same, even with that magic.” Another scoff.

“I haven’t perfected it yet. Just stay patient…” The other sighed, now leaving the scene. “I know she’s better here than the outside world.”

“Really? Wouldn’t it be better if she saw me instead? I do know she loves me too!”

“...Then you could think of a story why you two can’t be in the same place…” A small pause. “And that’s why I need-”

The two halted their conversation at the thuds within the vent, going back to back as Toodles tried to keep in tears. She didn’t understand what was going on, but why would Glisten lie to her like that? She could recognize his voice from anywhere, even in these stinking vents.

She could hear them panic from below, going faster until she fell down on snow. She sneezed from the shift from warm to cold, covering her arms as she peaked her eyes open.

Outside. It looked like a blizzard, but Toodles had no clue why a vent would lead out there. It broke, but the painful cold had put her mind into other things-

Calling out for Rodger, or anyone. She just wanted to see if anyone else was around. Not even Rodger, but someone she recognized… she kept on sneezing, feeling frost grow on her skin.

“A-anyone?” She whimpered, not even trying to open her eyes anymore. It began to hurt. “Please, I don’t… wanna be alone…”

As she fell on her knees, another picked her up from the snow. Whoever it was felt cold to the touch as the freeze began to warm off, a door closing right behind her.

She was back inside, but even with lamps shining on her she felt exhausted and wilted.

Closing her eyes didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

. . .

Hardly any batteries in sight.

Finn already had a hard enough day, wrangling Barnaby out of a crab's hand, but even harder was dealing with Brightney. He didn’t want to spill water on the lamp's insides, so his bowl had to be empty for the time being.

Not like he wasn’t sick without water, but it was a nice feeling. Least his bowl refilled whenever he went into the shore to find anything useful.

The biggest con is that, outside of Brightney essentially being in a coma, there wasn’t anyone to really talk to. Barnaby of course could listen along, but couldn’t say much of a word for his puns.

So he wrote them down in case Brightney comes back. He just stored whatever he found in a lighthouse, alongside the lamp, alongside anything cozy related to sleep in.

Everyday when he’d wake up, go outside and hunt for supplies, or return home defeated, Brightney always sat in the corner of the room. It was a bit scary, but she was a friend! Not like she could snap awake at any moment.

He only found a small charging plug, which could wake Brightney up… he’d take that chance at least, while swimming through cold water and constantly smelling like kelp.

Still no signs of help. He felt too shy to even go out, as the rest was just a forest and left over homes. Most of the houses obviously were taken in by the ocean, a lot of sea critters making it their personal home… Finn wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t needed to look over Brightney!

Even trying to make the lighthouse work was no use. The light and electrical systems were dead there, and if he did want a light for others to discover him, he’d have to disable Brightney’s. All else he could do was just prep up the fireplace so he wouldn't freeze to death, alongside Brightney.

…Which was the only actual person he could talk to. Could. And Finn was already missing contact with people, aside from Barnaby.

He just laid down on a makeshift bed, his legs prosthetic sitting near. Brightney was draped in some covers he found. He could say it was to warm her up, but also because he didn’t want people to look at him.

For once, he didn’t smile. It was more of a default expression as he looked up at the cold ceiling.

The walls and so-so were always so vibrant, even if the color washed off. He preferred that more than the dry colors of the warehouse, and he was certainly reminded of the warehouses now.

He rolled back to see Brightney.

“C’mon… it won’t be hard to wake up!”

No response.

“Can you just break out of your shell?” Finn chuckled, but it was no use. He was only met with silence.

And his jokes were getting worse. Great.

. . .

Toodles woke up in a cozy, comfortable room. The blanket she was wrapped in felt just like sheep's wool as the ceiling was adorned in stars.

She looked up in amazement, and even more so as she turned to see Astro sitting on his own sofa. She gleefully got up to see him.

“Astro! Astro!!” She cheered out, hugging his legs as he yelped from her surprise hug. He couldn’t help but giggle. “W-where is everyone else? Am I in your room?”

Astro took a deep breath, standing up. “You’re… safe.” Was all he could say.

“Safe?” She raised an eyebrow. “How so? Am I still in Gardenview?”

“I… gave you an awful dream.” Astro’s face was filled with guilt. “And… you couldn’t stop crying in your sleep. I had to bring you inside.”

“Inside?”

Astro tried to ignore that comment. “We… aren’t in Gardenview, but you’re safe. No twisted will get you now.”

Toodles gripped onto Astro’s coat- not even feeling like a blanket anymore. “What about everyone else? I wanna say hi to them?”

“I’ll find them, don’t worry.” Astro kneeled down to pet Toodles on the forehead, as she puffed her cheeks. “You like… playing with dolls, right?”

“Nuh uh! I like being a detective!” She playfully spat at the moon. “And it’s not playing!”

Astro looked to the locked door, and then back to Toodles. “There are plenty of books to read… for you to pretend. But stay safe, please.”

Toodles herself looked side to side, and then back at Astro. “Uhm… okay!”

The moon gave back a kind smile. “Thank you, Toodles.” Gave her another pat on the head, and went to leave.

He tried to bury Toodles confused voice with the door being locked as another toon rolled his eyes once he left the room.

“Can't you just tell the truth? I’m sure she wouldn't mind being around me.”

“Not in that state…” Astro sighed, as red eyes looked at him through the dark. “I don’t want her to be hurt.”

“Your loss. You know, she’s a lot smarter-”

“I know. But you can’t talk to her, or else she’ll know.” Astro almost gritted his teeth, and the other pulled back. “She… has to be safe. Just make sure she’s okay.”

“And do I have to pretend to be you?”

“You’re the only one who can speak…” Astro walked past the other twisteds, as Scraps rolled her eyes from such a comment. “S-sorry. I don’t mean any offense.”

“I’m not too surprised you hadn’t gotten that detective. Not even with Toodles?” The other asked, still leaning against the wall.

“He wants to know where Brightney is… I’ll try and get her.” Astro sounded unsure, hardly confident of his own abilities. “And… he’s with Dandy.”

“Of course he is.”

Astro could see the other toon rolling his eyes in the dark. “What a strange gambit! I thought Rodger hated him after that one… project.”

“Ichor operation.” Astro just looked at his feet. “I don’t think Dandy would even stay long. He’ll… go back to Gardenview, eventually. He hadn’t even seen me with Rodger.”

“Well now, isn’t that a good thing?”

“...I don’t know.”

. . .

For once in Rodger’s life, the sun beamed down on him when he woke up.

At first he was met with shock, wondering where Dandy went, but he simply reasoned Dandy went on his own. Some part of trust he had in Dandy was already broken, he wouldn’t be surprised if he went back to Gardenview-

But instead, he was interrupted by the flower whistling.

“Heya, Rodger! You slept pretty late. Wanna go look outside?”

He almost felt like he had a heart attack.

Chapter Text

When Rodger wasn’t worried about his life and the sky wasn’t covered by branches and leaves, the outside looked quite nice today. Almost picturesque as Rodger observed the land around him.

A lot of hills, and presumingly farmland was once here. He could see cows in the distance, almost clueless of how he and Dandy found another decayed corpse just laying among a fence.

At this point, it was becoming a disturbing common occurrence. The one good part is how the houses near the farms were hardly looted, leaving some stuff for grabs.

Rodger hoped for weapons, but there weren’t much aside from tools to butcher. He didn’t dare touch those or even tell Dandy, but it seems he found out where.

Of course, he couldn't be using the sink out of fear of more black water pouring out, so he resorted to using pipe water.

Which Rodger was sure it would be as dirty as sink water, but Dandy argued otherwise. Rodger just looked over the items and away from Dandy’s busy work.

It felt great to be out in the sun. Less great that he didn’t have anyone but Dandy to share that moment with. He felt it was better to wear his coat along his waist so he wouldn’t overheat.

“Hardly any food,” Rodger scowled at how little there was left. Little holes were through metallic cans, and pouring the contents out revealed bugs on the inside. It was a disgusting sight, so finding any good can take a while. “Wonderful.”

Finding a good backpack also took a while, but since it was the only one Rodger found, he had to dump every bug and their eggs out. Dandy might’ve had better luck than him.

“Hey, Rodger! Look at this!” Dandy called out, and Rodger expected it to be another corpse.

Instead, Dandy took a dirty blanket off- revealing a nice, child-like looking wagon with red sides. Like everything it looked aged, but still usable.

“We can use it to carry stuff.” Dandy explained, looking down at Rodger’s backpack. “Oh! And we can find bags, and then put those bags in the wagon!”

“...It’s rather simple to come to that conclusion.” Rodger shook another bug off of it, ‘till Dandy took his hands holding it.

“I can clean this! You just rest up, alright big boy?” He winks at such a nickname.

Rodger felt a bit of himself cringe, but at least it’s better than nothing. He hands the bag to Dandy as he relaxes near the small wagon, the shade consuming him.

Another moment of silence.

Until Dandy threw the bag at Rodger’s face. “All done! Sorry about that, but you’re rather cranky!”

“I wonder why.” Rodger simply took it off and into the wagon. “How long are you going to stay?”

“Stay?” Dandy tilted his head confusingly.

“You should know…” Rodger felt embarrassed to explain such a thing. “...I don’t understand why you haven't ditched me yet.”

Dandy flinched at such a question.

“That’s, uh…” He swallowed. It was pretty easy to answer. “...I just don’t wanna be alone. How come you haven’t? Hm?” Dandy responded with an accused tone, trying to change the topic.

Rodger seemed to have the same answer in his head; not be alone. In such an open world, he’d want to have someone by his side who he could trust with his life, or care for like a child.

Dandy wasn’t any of those things.

“The same as you.” Rodger mumbled in response, not looking at the flowers pleading eyes. “...I’m still surprised you haven't left.”

“Ditto.” Dandy took a step closer, almost leaning onto Rodger’s shoulder now.

The detective didn’t want to push him, so he could only pull away. “I’m- I’m not comfortable with that, yet.” He was surprised.

“Oh.” Dandy looked surprised at how open Rodger was, so he took a step back. Some guilt washed on his face from already getting rather touchy. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Was all Rodger could say back.

Finding loot was a lot more quiet after.

. . .

“It’s already a bit dark.” Dandy mumbled, placing some seeds inside the cart while Rodger took another moment to rest. “Do you really think going out in the night would help?”

Dandy had that wide, goofy smile. He was right.

“...Fine.” Rodger got up and held the wagon's handle to the inside of a cleaner house they found. Dandy followed along, back to that mild awkwardness from before.

When inside a much more clean, yet foraged house, Dandy jumped on the nearest soft surface he could find. “Did you see any toons?”

“I haven’t. I presumed due to…” Rodger leans his head to imply the obvious twisteds that chased them before. “...Them, many have avoided this area. But I’m still not sure if other toons were created after Gardenview’s closure.”

“Nothing’s impossible!” Dandy winked, almost sounding comically ironic. Rodger just rolled his eye. “More toons means more friends, right?”

“Or competitors. Have you seen those younger toons? They easily snared us,” Rodger looked through the backpack to place some wood down, to create a fire. “It is possible it’s been a long, long time since Gardenview was shut down…”

Dandy winces at what Rodger’s implying. The detective is able to spark a small, contained fire.

“It’d just be nice to meet more friendly folks.” Dandy patted the free area next to him, since Rodger sat on the floor. “I won’t lie, I kinda miss them too…”

Rodger stares in silence.

“...I presume you miss Pebble.” Then he speaks up, fidgeting with his sleeve. A lot dirtier than before.

Dandy sighs. “Yeah. I do… but I know he’s one tough cookie! He won’t crack so easily!”

Rodger almost chuckled.

“Hey, I saw that!” Dandy pointed out playfully, starting to smile at himself. “Are you gonna stop being such a grump now?”

The detective could only laugh in response. “Sorry, sorry. I’m sure Pebble is safe and sound…”

“...And Toodles?” Dandy brought up, sympathy showing on his face. For once.

“I…” Rodger winced at the mention. “...I think there’s something I need to tell you, first.”

“About what?” The flower leaped up curiously.

“About Astro.”

. . .

Still deeply foggy out. Finn groaned as he pulled a net out of the water and back on the soggy wood of the dock.

Only a few fish. Some of them looked just like Barnaby… maybe he’d keep some if he had a small aquarium, then Barnaby would have more friends!

Would have. Probably. Maybe. The lack of people was just stressing Finn out and how much he thought about it. He didn't know how to properly cook then, and he’s hardly learning the basics now.

He should just be focusing on survival and Brightney’s sake, but he would pay all of his saved tapes for someone to come and appreciate him. Not even someone he recognizes, just anyone! The dead silence was killing him-

Finn flinched from the loud, audible crash from afar. He twisted his head where the sound was, dropping the net as he ran towards it.

It could be someone. Anyone that wasn’t his imagination or a decaying corpse. Any damn sound on this shore that wasn’t the seagulls or his own voice was a miracle.

He hurried the best he could, almost tripping his wooden prosthetic, but he was used to high energy for himself. It had to be someone! It just had to!

Finally taking a breather, he saw a car crash in front of a tree. It toppled on the vehicle, leading to a chaotic mess of sorts.

There still seemed to be space where someone could survive that. Maybe this person needed his help? The crash certainly felt fresh.

“Hellooo?” Finn echoed out, stepping closer and observing the rest of the vehicle. “Looks like you’re in a bit of a sea pickle, huh?” He giggled a bit, before opening the door.

He didn’t know how to drive, of course, so it was concerning how easily the doors opened. Were they unlocked? He had no clue, and the inside didn’t look any better.

There was only a small trail of a familiar, dark liquid inside. Finn raised an eyebrow.

No, that couldn’t be…

He brushes his glassy hand against it. It felt sticky and deathly cold.

Finn could only pull himself back as he heard a rattling sound from within. He wiped the ichor on his shorts as a claw peaked out of the window.

Another step away from the car. He felt his heart begin to beat when the back window was torn right off, crustacean eyes glaring right at him.

It was clear that it wasn’t anybody he knew, turning around and began bolting back to the lighthouse. He could hear it right behind him, the sound of crunching behind every step.

Finn was used to running away from twisteds. He could guess that this was a “twisted”, from how it reeked of ichor and him missing every sign to avoid that car. But he isn’t the smartest fish in the sea.

He kept on running and running, even stumbling down a smaller cliff. The crab twisted just looked down, presuming he was dead, before Finn got the bright idea to get himself up and bolt to the door.

It made a loud, guttural hiss, and bolted faster until Finn slammed the door shut on it. Brightney’s covered body still remained, alongside the faint fireplace.

He still heard it scratching from the inside. He’s just thankful there’s an actual door here, but considering the car…

“Oh cod,” Finn quickly raised to pick up whatever he could find to defend himself, grabbing a lighter chair and hid behind one of the decaying sofas. “This betta work…” He mumbles out fish wordplays without really thinking.

The door didn’t take too long to break down. Large claws protruded out of it, long antennae twitching and looking for any sign of the fishbowl. It looked like what one would expect a toon turned twisted hermit crab to look like.

Finn expected to be discovered. He gripped on the chair's legs and held his breath.

But that didn’t happen. Instead, the crab turned its attention towards Brightney. He felt himself beginning to shake as it pulled off whatever was covering her, making an awful growl.

Then it poked at her leg, and Finn couldn’t take it anymore.

“Brightney!” Finn yelped, throwing the chair right at the crab as it swiftly turned towards the fish bowl. It crawled towards him as Finn hopped out of the way, crashing into furniture with a thick shell.

Finn just gritted his teeth, before going back to making sure he wasn’t dying tonight. As the crab tries to free itself from another chair it knocked into, Finn had pushed it aside with his bare arms.

He didn’t even think how weirdly light it felt, as the fish bowl swatted his prosthetic at its eyes. It hissed and protruded back within, scrambling around before loudly hitting against the fireplace.

Brightney, right next to it, almost fell. Finn hurried himself to grab her. Everything around him felt so fast.

He yelped at the crab trying to grab his prosthetic once more, attempting to pull the rest of him into its shell, but Finn couldn’t think.

He could only act.

Finn kicked against the head, pushing it further into the fireplace. Finn could see the flames burning around the twisteds strangely fragile body, backing away from the sight.

Finn had never seen someone burn to death before. Or even sometoon. But the shell was fragile enough to burn through, revealing the rest of the crab's shelled body as it slowly cooked and bubbled out ichor.

The ichor didn’t even stop it. It was just something else to burn through as the exoskeleton broke and bubbled out incoherent organs that turned into nothing more but fuel.

He watched it attempt to scream, flail, and then die. The lighthouse felt much, much warmer than it was before when he first found it– as the fire grew bigger, still contained within the fireplace. It was the strongest he's ever seen of it.

Sweat mixed with water coming from his head dropped down onto his vest. He laid Brightney down safely, gripping his heart underneath his glassy skin.

Finn could only think of one thing.

Did he actually kill someone?

. . .

“Why didn’t you tell me any of that sooner?!”

Dandy being freaked out was an understatement. Rodger had already been so focused on his (and begrudgingly, Dandy’s,) survival that the prospect of mentioning a vision of Astro hadn’t come to Rodger.

Well, until now.

“I was…” Rodger breathes in, and out. He’s almost biting his tongue now. “It was a tense moment, and I didn’t have time to reflect upon it.”

Instead of that playfulness Dandy had, he only stared blankly.

“I don’t know why he’d be there…” He mumbled out after a small moment of silence. “Wasn’t he on the train with you guys?”

Rodger froze a bit.

“How do you know about the train?” He crossed his arms, giving the flower a suspicious glare. “From my memory, you must’ve attacked Brightney, so you must’ve known of our plan after all of that!”

“I attacked Brightney?–”

“She could’ve died that day.” Rodger’s tone was more serious. The detective hates how, in all his time with Dandy, he forgets he’s seemingly the cause of all of this.

“But–”

“Don’t pull that clueless card with me, Dandifer, or–”

“I didn’t attack Brightney at all, Rodger!” Dandy cut the detective off, gripping the dirt beneath him. “I only sneaked on the train, and then all of this happened! The only reason why I’m worried about Astro is that he’d be behind this!”

“And why would that be?”

“Because he’s clearly trying to lure you out with Toodles!” Dandy wasn’t thinking when he spoke, and he paused his arguing the moment Rodger’s eye widened.

“...I thought that was obvious, detective.” The flower lowered himself, his petals closing in and hiding his face. Rodger sighed.

“Why should I believe you, then?” He squeezed his arms.

“Because I’m not lying, Rodger.” His petals opened, and Dandy’s pleading eyes were revealed. “And I’m… sorry.”

The flower gripped his hands. “I’m sorry for everything. I want everyone to know that.”

What else could Rodger say? He hadn’t known whether or not to forgive him. He’s sure Brightney wouldn’t, nor would Sprout, or anyone else he’d recall.

“There’s almost nobody around that we know.” Dandy continued, his pupils avoiding Rodger’s own. “And those that do are just the same twisteds we’ve faced before…”

Rodger couldn’t tell if Dandy was pretending to care, or if that all really mattered. He’d tell himself that Dandy would abandon him if Rodger was near death.

But he didn’t.

“...So, you don’t want to be alone.” Rodger gasped out.

“You could say that, detective. But I don’t want you to be alone either…”

Rodger looked down at the fire, barely just standing. He’s only rarely seen flames, but he knows later on that the sight of fire will be more common as they go on.

They. Both of them.

He still didn’t know what to say. It was already an awkward conversation, at least to Rodger. Maybe both of them missed someone and clinged onto each other so they don’t die alone.

That’s it, Rodger thinks. But he doesn’t want to dwell on it.

“I’m… sorry, for not telling you about Astro.” He gives in, relaxing his arms. “Next time, if I see him, I will tell you.”

Dandy gave a small smile. “And would you tell him I said hi?”

Rodger thought for a moment.

“...You two are still friends, right?”