Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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Shelly was done, she had been done for a while but now she had decided to finally do something about it. She had finally decided that it was time to end this nagging pain in her heart, this deep dark loneliness that made her a shell of her former self. (no pun intended) And she knew what to do… die.

She had died before, multiple times actually. Enough to say she was familiar with the feeling and its twisted comfort. It’s surprising quiet and calm where she didn’t have to think about her pain and simply be. Tho it never lasted and always she would wake back on the top floor of gardenview. Her hell.

Even in the ‘good old days’ she had this feeling in her gut’s, this loneliness. She was well away she was the least popular amongst the main’s but even then she still had people. Her toon handler, her few fans even her fellow main characters. But then the ‘incident’ happened and everything changed for the worse.

She remembered the day vividly. All of the bodies, all of the blood and in the center of it all… Dandy. Her ‘best friend’, the ‘star of the show’. Why? Why did he do it? And why does he still pretend like everything is alright? Why does he get angry when they ignore him?

And why did she have to suffer as well? The few people she did have were now gone. With gardenview now closed everyone had to do more just to survive. Ration food, break character and do things that would usually get them punished originally. The mains quickly had to forge themselves into leadership roles so they could at least survive which just led to more isolation.

As a leader the toons merely looked upon her as a means to survival, nothing more or less. They rarely even referred to her by name. Just a role model, one she knew they didn’t respect. None of the mains were respected, how could they be with their friendship with Dandy. How could they not of seen it coming and not of stopped it?

because of this all of the mains became isolated, and Shelly got the worst of it. Despite not being liked in their community the other mains still had others. Vee had Finn, Sprout had Cosmo, Astro had Eclipse and she had nobody. Sure there was Tisha but she rarely spent time with her now.

Was it selfish to think about?… Yes of course it was selfish and she knew it. that’s why she couldn’t live with it anymore. She couldn’t stand looking herself in the mirror without being disgusted by herself. She was such a waist of space. This was why she had to just go. She just couldn’t continue to be a bother to them anymore she had to die and not come back.

And she had a plan.

She had signed up for a run, just like a hundred times before. By her side were a couple of toons, she was a such a state that she barely registered who was with her. The only one she gave a care for was one of her fellow mains Astro. Poor Astro, why did he have to be here to see this.

She didn’t know how many floors it took to find the twisted she was looking for but eventually as the elevators door’s opened and her non existent ears were filled with the sound of haggard barking she knew she found who they were looking for… Pebble. They were one of the most violent of twisted’s meaning there would be little left of her when they were done and hopefully there would be little enough of her that she couldn’t come back.

She waited till all machines were done and waited inside the elevator as she saw the last toon begin running into the elevator she took one final glance at Astro before leaping out. The last thing she heard before the door shut was horrified scream of Astro.

“BY THE MAKERS SHELLY WHAT ARE DOING?!”

She ran tears in her eyes right into the open mouth of the beast and then a loud *CRUNCH* echoed through the building. Pebble struggled chomping through Shelly’s head and eventually gave up throwing her across the area. She didn’t even get up before being pounced on by the rabid geo. It clawed her guts, eviscerating her and leaving her black guts hanging out.

She then felt the comforting cold and emptiness. Straining herself, she looked up at the beast and smiled. The twisted’s seemed to stall and get distracted by something but she paid it little head. She laid her head down and closed her eyes.

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Dandy didn’t know why he was doing this, why did he still care about them after they turned their backs on him. He didn’t understand why today he was so enamored by the fossil, why after he had discovered what she was planning on doing it had sent him to action. He didn’t understand why her pain resonated with him.

He rushed out his shelter and into the warehouse where they were completely machine’s jumping out of the way from twisted’s as he made his way to her. He didn’t know where these things came from, he just woke up one day and all of the lower floors were filled with them and the way up had been locked… locked by them.

Why? Why were they ignoring him? Why did they hate him? Did he do something wrong? He tried so hard to make for whatever it was that he done wrong, he gave them items to aid them on their runs but it was never enough. They continued to ignore him but why?!

Eventually he found them, Shelly and… ‘Pebble’ it had torn her guts to peaces but still he was determined to save her, he could still save her. Even tho his Little Rock had greatly changed it still deep down was his little Pebble, he just had to remind it.

“Pebble Dancifer Jr!”

The twisted paused its movements instantly and turned its head. It growled but Dandy stood his ground. He kept his hand raised and his gaze stern as he approached. With each step towards them it backed away eventually the twisted had left Shelly’s body. Dandy keeping hand raised and one eye on the beast glanced at Shelly. She was in bad shape… but he could save her. He took one last glance at his beloved Pebble before taking her body and bolting.

He didn’t turn when hearing the labored breathing or hard stomping he merely ran before reaching one of the many hidden holes he used to navigate the floor’s and retrieving items for the toons. Even when entering he continued running eventually reaching a small elevator he pulled a switch leading them down.

This would bring them to where the toons had been made… where HE had been made. There they could fix her, there HE could fix her.

HE was going to FIX her.

Chapter Text

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Silence… finally a beautiful, comfortable silence where she didn’t have to think about anything. Didn’t have to think about her loneliness, her selfishness or anything. For once she felt at peace… and then in an instant it was gone. The once peaceful moment now felt hollow and the silence of it all was broken off by a soft reverberating sound… her heart beat.

Her breathing had returned and with it her consciences. She felt distraught, her plan hadn’t worked and she was alive. She just wanted to lie down and stay asleep, she wanted nothing to do with the eventual conversation that would come when the others would return. Tho seeing no way out of it decided to get up and face the consequences of her failure.

As she opened her eyes however she wasn’t met with the pristine ceiling of the medical wing she was instead met with a broken blinking lights. She propped herself up and looked around, the room was dark tho she still had decent visual on her surroundings and one thing was clear. She was in a laboratory not a medical room.

Just then the sound of a door opening came to her attention and with it a familiar petaled figure.

“Heya Shelly, glad to see you okay.”

If she hadn’t heard the familiar voice of her childhood best friend she wouldn’t have believed that the toon in front of her was Dandy. He looked so different from when she last saw him.

He was well known for being one of the shortest and chubbiest of the toons but it was clear that wasn’t the case anymore. He looked over her with his signature smile completed with flower seed dimples, his rainbow petals twitching and swaying from unknown force he was now one of the tallest toons in gardenview and significantly skinnier. He was dressed in a light grin suit and tie, the tie being a flower shape making Shelly wonder how it would possibly for anyone to make such a symbol. And finally finishing his look were rainbow pants clinging tightly to his legs. She didn’t know if he had shoes for it seemed that the were the same colors of his pants above making everything blend in.

In summary Dandy just didn’t look like Dandy and that made Shelly feel a pit of sorrow for her former friend.

“You’re probably wondering what’s going on yes?”

She said nothing and just stared, Dandy did the same making the moment feel even more awkward by the second. He eventually sighed ether in frustration or understanding she couldn’t tell.

“I’ll… let you get a grip on things and see your new body, the mirrors over there.”

He said pointing to a corner of the room conveniently being the only area where a light worked at max capacity reviling a large mirror. ‘New body?’ She turned to ask the toon for specifics but by then Dandy had walked through the door closing it behind him without another word.

As she got up she looked down noticing that she was in a hospital gown which was stained with ichor? As she focused her gaze more ichor had began to pour down, at first she believed she had truly gone insane but then memories of the attack from Pebble replayed in her head an she quickly realized what this actually ment. She groggily rushed her way to the mirror to look at herself. She wanted to scream.

The first thing she noticed was her mid section or more accurately lack of it. Almost all of the material that had made up her stomach was gone with the only thing left being her black spinal column and a few of her ribs. Within her exposed body were her organs, all placed inside small machines helping them with their functions. Every organ was there lined up on her spin even ones that didn’t belong such as her heart and lungs (said lungs that had been cut in two to properly fit within the machines). Her bottom half had been covered in ichor and ended in sharp claws, much like her twisted counterpart but… toned down at the end of it peeking out of her gown was a… TAIL!? Her top half looked mostly the same save for the large crack across her shell and one of her eyes being stuck inside a lens of sorts.

She reached out to it feeling the cold glass on her finger, she then turned it taking the lens off, then… blindness. She screamed there was no tomorrow.

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Why was being like this? Why was she ignoring him? What did he do to her? When Shelly had awoken the flower had expected many things. But certainly not the silent treatment, as far as he was aware she hadn’t received any damage to her vocal cords so why the silence. He had to just leave so he could take breather.

‘She’s clearly just stressed, just give her time’ he thought to himself. ‘She can take as much time as she needs’ he thought to himself again… and then the screaming.

He practically kicked the door open to see Shelly with her right eye socket hanging out, its lens opened. He rushed to her aid only to be kicked to the side by one of her clawed feet. He was lucky to have brought her back to the lab and stopped her turning fully twisted but still had grown some of the traits of her counterpart. Shelly huddled herself in a corner shaking and wimpering like an animal, Dandy eventually decided to go about a gentler approach.

“Hey, listen to me you’re okay. Just let me put your eye back in its socket. Can you please just stay still for a second for me?”

Shelly began to still just a bit before finally nodding her head. He slowly approached crouching down to meet eyes to eye. He looked at her for silent ask for permission, one she gave with a nod. He placed his hand on the slimy ball and placed back into the hole it came from resetting it. He then quickly closed the lens locking it back into place.

The eye slowly blinked and Dandy let out a soft chuckle standing up.

“It’s incredible that even after it getting dislodged it can still have functions ain’t it.”

Still nothing, he let out his hand to help her up but she ignored him again. He let out another sigh not taking kindly this in the slightest.

“Well seeing as its a bad idea to leave you alone how about we walk around and get are barring’s together?”

He walked over to the door and was pleased to see her following him. They eventually reached the small elevator, thankfully big enough for the two. They went upwards in cold silence.