Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Walking

He's walking

He knows exactly where he's going

He's leading himself to his own doom

But he can't help but smile

A note clutched in 1 hand and a needle filled with an odd substance in the other, Dandy trudges forward

He walks until he finds who he's been looking for

He walks until he's face to face with his corrupted former friend

It's all his fault

Everything is his fault

Everything was ruined because of him

Everything was fine before She messed it up, telling him what to do... He still agreed to it, and it's all his fault

Everyone hates him

Everyone should hate him

He's starting in the face of the reason why this should be where he meets his end

The reason why Dandy shouldn't live anymore

The Twisted version if his former best friend makes a hasty move to harm Dandy, swiping one of his Ichor covered claws at Dandy, but the claws do not collide

Dandy catches the twisteds arm and before it could make another move, Dandy stabbed the needle directly into the creature who used to be his best friend's chest

The Twisted let out a loud, animalistic Shriek, Roaring to scratch the needle out of him, but they'd already been injected

After several moments, the Twisted fell, then fell limp

He was to awake soon

Maybe in a few hours

Dandy didn't know

He didn't care

There's no way he'd be around long enough to see

He was too much of a coward to face Astro

The first toon to twist

Dandy's own best friend

The first toon to be affected by this forsakened.Ichor Operation

The Twisted was quiet

The floor was silent

Nothing but the sound of himself

And soon, not even that

Dandy raised the empty syringe in his hands from his sides

Took in a deep breath

And with his finale exhale

He let go

Leaving Astro behind a cure for every twisted and carefully constructed instructions on how to create more if something were to happen

This would be what Dandy has left

To save them all

To finally help

This would be

His Finale Act

Chapter Text

Waking

Astro is waking up

He's stirring "huh.. w-where am I?" He says groggily

He looks around, empty

His eyes land on a horror he couldn't comprehend for a good few minutes

His best friend, laying there, lifeless, dead

Astro gasps "DANDY!?" he moved his body quickly towards the lifeless form of his best friend

"DANDY! OH GOD! WHAT HAPPENED!? DANDY!? ARE YOU ALRIGHT!? SPEAK TO ME" he pleaded shaking his dear friend

Dandy didn't respond

Astro flipped his body over onto his back, now seeing the syringe thats been sticking out of his neck pooling Ichor underneath him for possibly hours

Dandy was far too gone to be saved

He had lost too much Ichor

Astro sat confused, shocked, scared, above his dead best friends body

"Oh god.. y-you did this to yourself..?" He said to the unresponsive body below him

Seeing the note left behind by his best friend, he picked it from his friends lifeless hands

"Dear Astro,

I'm sorry you're going to see me like how you did before reading this, I know I'm a coward, too scared to face the mess I left behind, too scared to look at it. I'm sorry that I've left this all on you, I hope 1 day you'll be able to forgive me.

I wish that none of this had ever happened, I wish Gardenview never shut down, I wish this whole Ichor operation never came as an Idea to her, I wish Arthur were still alive, I wish I could hug Devan 1 last time.

I'm so sorry, I truly am, and I cannot express enough how much guilt I hold. So with this guilt, I've made a cure for everyone, it took longer than I ever wanted it to, I wasn't able to start making it until she was gone. She didn't even die, she just disappeared, from us, from me, like she did from the rest of the world when Gardenview originally shut down.

If you go into my room, I built a special desk for you, it contains a cure for everyone, labeled, and how I made each one, and why some are different. I hope you can save everyone, I hope that you can all be alright again. I've always known you'd all be better off without me.

If you don't manage or hate me and don't want to because of that, I won't blame you, I couldn't possibly. But, if that is the case, don't do it for me, do it for your friends, please Astro, this will be the last thing I ask of you.

When/if you can save Vee, I have a gift for her, it's near the desk I made for you, I wanted to apologize to all of the mains separately, especially Vee, I was always horrible to her.

Tell Shelly nothing was ever her fault, tell her I love her, I'll always love her even after death, she means the world to me and I've caused her nothing but harm.

Tell Sprout I'm sorry for the amount of times I've lied to him, for everything that happened to him and his loved ones because of me, I'm so sorry.

My sweet baby boy Pebble, I know he can't read but I know he'll understand you. Let him know he was the best pet rock I'll ever know, tell him he means the world to me and everyone around him, he's the goodest boy to ever live, and I am so, so sorry I left him.

Tell Bassie, Bobette and Gourdy not to hide, tell them to roam Gardenview freely no matter what season or holiday it is. I've always felt so bad for them being locked away after each of their holiday ended. I've never spoken up because I was scared I'd be thrown out with them.

I guess I was right to think that'd I'd be thrown out, after Delilah, ruined my life, she left, she's gone, I don't even know where she is...

I'll love everyone forever and ever, every toon in Gardenview, everyone who got treated like objects, I'm sorry everything happened like this, I wish it hadn't.

Astro, I hope you can one day forgive me, or forget me, either way, I'm dead to everyone now

Love, Dandy"

. . .

Astro held the note with shaking hands, he couldn't stop crying. Everything written out on this note, everything was so personal. He couldn't stop his tears, his sobs, his begging for this all to be just a bad dream.

Astro wished so desperately he could wake up and all of this would go away, That the whole Ichor operation was never a thing, that he was having a big sleepover with the mains and he'd wake up with Dandy right there sleeping next to Shelly like he always had.

He was sobbing holding his best friend's corpse, praying it would all just go away, go back to normal, something that wasn't this.

But nothing happened, nothing came of his prayers, nothing came of his begging, nothing came of his wretched sobs. The amount of emotion he didn't know how to expel or even identify, he couldn't tell every emotion he was feeling.

He felt like sobbing for days until he couldn't anymore. He felt like screaming and breaking things. He felt like getting up and helping everyone like Dandy had wanted.

He felt like tearing Delilah to shreds, piece by bloody piece. He wanted her to feel every bit of pain she'd put everyone through. He wanted to taste her blood after he was done bludgeoning her skull. He wanted to pull her heart clean out her chest and make her eat it.

But he couldn't stop crying

He just couldn't move, he couldn't get up

His best friend

Dead

Right there

So close

So far away

He'd never hear his voice again

He'd never hear one of his stupid jokes again

He'd never hear him lie and tell everyone he was fine again

Dandy was gone

Astro was broken.. Astro was sad, Astro was angry, furious.

His tears dried and his fists clenched

Astro picked up his best friend's dead body

With shaky limbs, he trudged 2 bodies through the map, to the elevator, into Gardenview.

He lays Dandy's lifeless form onto the bed of flowers next to the tree in Gardenview.

He took down the sign, he removed the boxes, the cardboard cut-outs, the potted plants, the benches.

This was Dandy's final resting place

His home

"I promise you, with the lost life of yours, and my own, I will save everyone, I will cure everyone, no matter what it takes. I promise you, she Will die, Delilah will pay, I promise you Dandy. Your death will not be in vein, I will not let it be."

Chapter Text

Astro was in Dandy's room, looming over the work that would save everyone, the work the would cure everyone. As Dandy had promised there was indeed a cure for everyone, each of them labeled and packed in their respective areas in multiple brief cases.

There were 10 cures per suitcase, and there was 1 that was made especially for Dyle, that hardest Twisted to cure by far, he'd definitely have to be the last done.

Astro picked up the closet to him, and when he opened it, the first cure was a chip. It wasn't hard to tell who this was for, looking at the label wasn't even needed.

He picked up the chip and headed back down to Gardenview center. It felt almost dream like, being out here, all alone, no one in sight, a body right under the tree.

Astro grazed his hand over the engraved writing on the tombstone he made for Dandy, feeling the words and all the fury he held within each word.

He finally stood and headed towards the elevator. Stepping inside, it went down, the first floor. He didn't want to do all of this, not again, the only difference is that he will be experiencing doing all of the boring machines, along with avoiding these twisted versions of his friends.

Astro was the first to turn into a twisted, so he didn't go through that, but he remembers briefly, as a twisted, other toons, mixed faces, all a blend by they would run from him. They would fail the skillchecks on the machines and if they weren't there, god he'd drink the Ichor.

It leaves a sour note on his tongue just thinking about drinking bood, not knowing that's what it was.

Astro completed machine after machine, went down floor after floor, experienced a variety of his friends twisted forms and what they do, he didn't know Tisha could be so annoying when pared with scraps.

He kept notes on what everyone did, "Tisha = time waster, Scraps= sniper, bad combo" he made general notes about every twisted he ran into, mostly twisteds like Poppy or Looey, he rarely ever saw Blot or other Twisteds who had something to pick apart, like they'd do something.

Astro noted especially disrespectful Teagan was now, she hadn't even scratched him, She punched him and snagged his tapes, they weren't of much use but still, how rude.

Passing floors seemed especially draining, because Dandy's shop never rolled around. There were no cards to pick, there wasn't anyone to hand them out.

Floors stayed the same until floor 10, Astro heard an unrecognizable sound, electronic noises, it seemed as if Astro had hallucinated Vee pop-ups? They were ads, but he was able to physically touch it and make it get out of his vision.

Astro took a guess and figured it was Vee, given the contents of the pop-ups and the electronic noises, along with the very metal like footsteps, now to find her.

Astro walked around, this is Sprouts room, Astro always found it funny how the mains "rooms" were huge open areas and then their actual sleeping quarters was a storage closet that just so happened to be attached to their room via random door with the mains face plastered to it.

It didn't take very long so spot Vee

"Holy Shit"

He couldn't help but say to himself, she was a full head taller than he was, and he's already taller than he was before, he couldn't imagine the difference if being twisted had reversed completely.

She surpassed the average toon height by a foot probably. Astro would even bet she might be around the same hight as Shelly's toon handler.

...He misses Shannon, everyone has.

He hid out of sight before the towering figure of his friend cought see him, he tried to figure out how to cure her. He knew he should have gone for someone easier, where's he supposed to put this chip? Just jam it into her face!?

A very loud sound crashes over Astro, a sort of electronic like buzzing, loud and in your ear. And then he realizes he's been slowed? She's right behind him, he screamed because he was a bit startled and popped the speed candy he'd been holding onto for a bit running away a little more efficiently then he originally could.

As he's running he realizes his stamina had gone down really quickly for the distance traveled, but that's because he was slowed.

He finds himself out of stamina, Ironic, but terrifying. His chest is screaming, telling him to take a breath, stop running, he can't run anymore. He has no choice, he takes out the chip turned around quickly to be hit by Vee, god that stung.

He can't loose focus, he jams the chip into her screen. Making her make that same noise as before when she had seen him, it was excruciatingly loud.

Vee's screen flashed with various different Errors and glitches, before her screen powered off, and she fell limp.

Astro sat stunned, looking down wide eyed at was looks like Vee dead. "God is it going to be like that every time?" It's uncanny looking, a twisted being cured looks like the toon just died. He took a deep breath before patching himself up with the bandages he picked up earlier, laying there shaken.

Vee's Twisted body has visibly shrunken, but not very much, she was still insanely taller than she was originally. Astro struggling, picked her up and plopped her down next to the elevator, going to finish the machines that he didn't get to before.

He'd only gotten around 2 done while trying to figure out how to deal with Vee before she saw him. Which of course put them both into a chase scene and paused Astro from doing machines.

After the last machine was completed, Astro hurries to the elevator, grabbing Vee and putting himself along with her in there, then pressing the button that sends the elevator back up.

Gardenview is so unbelievably boring. Of course not when Astro is left completely alone, He turned the space next to Dandy's old shop into a med bay of some sort, there wasn't one before anywhere, so it's best if he uses what he's given.

On his way to the room, Vee's screen turns back on, well, half of it, half of it is broken because of the chip, Astro knows next to nothing about Vee's programming or screens or computers in general, he's not in expert or even experienced with computer stuff.

The half of her screen that is working flashes a "loading" screen along with 3 dots that disappear and reappear.

"Loading . . .
Loading Reboot
Rebooting now
Rebooting successful
Powering on"

Astro watched the power on go from 1 to 100% then Vee Opened her digital, eye.

She looks around confused, then her hand goes up to her screen.

"What happened, Astro? Why is half my screen fucked?" "You just woke up from being whatever that was and your first sentence is vulgarity?"

They just stared at each other, an emotionally absent look on their faces. Astro took a shakey step forward and Vee stood up slowly.

It was the quickest impact you could've seen, the hug was so sudden. They held each other tight, understanding the seriousness of finally being reunited, the stress the other has been through.

They were both silent, but how they felt didn't need words, they were both more than happy to finally see each other again. Vee didn't care about her screen at all, Astro didn't care he was a full head shorter than Vee.

They both only cared that after so, very long, they'd seen each other again, the real them.

The hug stayed as such for a good minute, before they pulled back, Astro had silent tears rolling down his face. "Crying? Wuss" she joked, but both of them knew she was internally crying, since she is a robot, she is incapable.

"I missed you", Vee didn't respond for a little, of course she knew that, just didn't expect to hear it so quick, "I missed you too"

Astros mind wandered and his head turned towards the Gardenview tree, and his attention most importantly whats under it. "I see you've been doing some redecorating? Have you been alone? What about Shell's boy toy or something, he twist too?

Astro didn't speak, his guilt settling in once again, knowing that she would have to know, if she looked a little closer she'd find out.

"Vee..." Astro didn't look at her directly, Vee looked at him though, "yeah?"

Astro took in a deep breath and gestured she follow him.

Astro lead her to the Gardenview tree where the tombstone was, Vee's expression darkened, then she gasped, she didn't read it yet, but she was able to put it together that Dandy was dead.

The tombstone under the Gardenview tree, in the bed of flowers Dandy tended to daily, the Dandy plush sitting against it.

"I-is he? Is he really?"

Astro only nodded, staring at the tombstone, a look of pure exhaustion on his face.

Vee's non-existant stomach churned, this horrible feeling settling in her gears. She felt like puking, but she's unable, now could a robot be nauseous? She didn't know but that's exactly how she felt.

The fact that he was just gone, no goodbye? She'd usually say that she wished he were dead, but that was when he were alive and could say it back, she never ever hoped for it to become true.

The fact that he was just gone, settled, and not very nicely, especially not with what Astro said next.

"He killed himself"

. . .

It felt like time itself had stopped, what did he mean he killed himself? "W-what..?" "-You heard me" he said sharply, a cruel contrast to just a few minutes ago.

Vee still couldn't wrap her head around it. Dandy, killed himself? I-is Astro serious? He can't possibly be, this is a cruel joke-

"Read the tombstone" he said his voice like another swift blade cutting through the silent air once more.

Vee began reading, and reading, she read it over and over again, filthy? Messy? By his own hands? She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe what she was reading or what she had been told. This had to be some cruel joke and Astro would wake her up from this nightmare or at least change her dream. But she wasn't dreaming.

"Rest in peace
Dandicus Dancifur
1988-2010

He died filthy, messy, by his own hands, stricken with guilt. He left behind cure for his "former" friends, passing Astro as the "savior of the rest". His self sacrifice could not have been saved his final act, was intentional, and permanent"

It was like the words came off the carved stone and punched her right in the face, with every word, she could feel the fury Astro held while carving this out.

"He wanted my to give you this" he pulled out a medium sized wrapped gift from another box that was already in Gardenview center, one that Dandy had left for Vee as he said he'd left something for everyone.

She opened the box, It was a charger, it looked really new and higher tech, how in the world did he get this!? Along with a letter.

"Dear Vee,
I know we've never gotten along, I got you a little something so you could spend a longer time awake and charge faster, I hope you can forgive me. You were always liked more than me anyways.
Love, Dandy"

She didn't know what to say...

"W-what's gonna happen...?" She said hesitantly and in a weaker voice.

"We cure everyone just how he wanted."

Chapter Text

Vee was handed a suitcase by Astro, and he had one himself, they went down separate elevators so they could cure more people.

In Vee's suitcase 2 names stuck out to her, Brightney and Shelly, another main, and her girlfriend!

The circumstances they got together weren't very, romantic, to say the least. They had both gotten trapped on a floor and Vee wasn't able to make it out with Brightney. They had confessed moments before Pebble bit Vee in half.

That was quite the harsh memory but Vee's happy she'll at least get to see her again. She went down the floors literally ignoring everyone until she found who she was looking for.

Brightney, Vee was ecstatic when she saw the unmistakable glow of a twisted, though it was red Vee knew Brightney was the only twisted at all who glowed even without the lights being off.

Vee took the Brightney labeled syringe out of the suitcase, watching Brightney to see her moving patterns, which were just a tad random, but when Vee got the hang of it.

She readied the syringe, preparing to jump the corner. She also mentally prepared herself from what Astro told her, that while they're curing they're gonna look dead.

What Brightney's twisted got close enough, Vee swiftly jumped from around the corner and dug the syringe into Brightney's arm. The twisted tried attacking Vee but before any good hit was landed, Brightney landed, on the floor.

Vee made sure Brightney landed carefully, she didn't want to hurt her worse than she probably already was. Vee picked Brightney up, bringing her back up to Gardenview center, bringing her into the Astro crafted medbay.

Speaking of Astro, he doesn't seem to be back yet, Vee'll just wait for Brightney to wake up then she'll go find Shelly, or someone else who's name is in the suitcase.

After 30 minutes of waiting by Brightney's side (Vee just played tetris on her screen) and wondering where the hell Astro was, Brightney woke up.

Brightney began to stir, slowly sitting up holding her head. "Morning sleepy head" Vee spoke first. "V-vee!?" Brightney was shocked, confused, happy, sad, many things. "Y-you're ok! And alive! And not a twisted!! A-and Very tall!" Vee was indeed a full head and a half taller than Brightney.

Brightney was understandably overwhelmed with happiness. "Well not anymore I'm not" Vee replied, opening up her arms a bit gesturing that Brightney could hug her, which She very quickly took.

The embrace felt like a complete win to Vee, giving herself an internal high five even. They pulled back after quite the long hug, "so, what happened?" A genuine question Vee wasn't so sure on how to Answer.

"Well, to me? I woke up in the same place you are, hugged Astro and was told a few things, handed a briefcase and sent down an elevator, and I went down floors till I found you" Ved explained very briefly.

"Aww, you looked for me?" Vee's mechanical heart raced a little. "Of course I did, duh". "You mentioned Astro, where is he?" Brightney Asked, again another question Vee couldn't really answer. "Beats me with a metal bat"

Brightney raised a brow at the specification of the idiomatic expression, but ultimately brushed it off. "Speaking of beating me, I have Twisteds to cure, and you dear, are still hurt, Imma find you a medkit ok?"

Dear? Did Vee just call her dear, that made Brightney's face go a bit red. "I- ok! Be safe". Vee waved goodbye before taking the briefcase and heading back to the elevator.

While going down the elevator, Vee's mind was racing. "Was I too forward? Did she not want me to call her dear? God what if she hates me now!?" Her thoughts were interrupted by the elevator door opening.

Now her only thought was "Time to slave away till I find a name". Vee of did just as she thought, completing machines and avoiding Twisteds she didn't need, which was like everything.

Until, "God damnit a blackout in Shelly's room" and growling, "That a fuckin dinosaur?" It was indeed a fucking dinosaur. Vee found that of after having of of her arms nearly bitten off by a fossil with dino legs, time to run.

Vee made a full sprint, as fast as she could run as a big hunk of metal. Ducking behind a Table until Shelly lost interest, Vee took a heavy sigh of relief. "What the hell am I supposed to do" Vee didn't dare say a thing, but the thought was valid.

Vee thought about several ways to get Shelly sedated, but all of the scenarios that didn't involve at least a little bit of delusional ego, ended with Vee being dino dinner.

"Welp, I might just die before I kiss a girl..." Vee thought out loud to herself, which unfortunately caught the attention a famished fossil, yikes.

Vee heard the roar as well as the sound of heavy hurried footsteps, Vee thought about hiding under the table, that thought ended when Shelly flipped it. Vee could have sworn she saw Dandy welcoming her to heaven.. Hell? The afterlife.

She couldn't think of anything, she was actually cornered. So she did the first thing that came to mind, playing a Dandy's World episode on her screen, sure half of it was broken, but she had no better opinions.

Surprisingly, Shelly's attention piqued to the episode, her pupils widening as a cat's would, watching the screen with focus. Vee was scared out of her circuits, very slowly opening the suitcase and taking out the syringe that had Shelly's name on it.

When Vee was sure that the syringe was secured, and Shelly's gaurd was down. She swung and jammed it right into the side of her neck, not where she was aiming but if it works it works.

Shelly roared swinging at Vee, nearly taking her head clean off, But Vee very luckily was able to not get hit, somehow. The Dinosaur legged fossil lost her consciousness and fell to the ground.

"Oh good Veronica" She blessed her handler's name for giving her the mental balls to even think about going through this, and the confidence to complete it.

Vee watched Shelly's body shrink down, the ribcage going back where it's supposed to and the skirt actually covering her torso. Funny enough the Dino legs didn't go away, Shelly's gonna love this for sure.

Vee hoisted the new and maybe improved Shelly over her shoulder and headed to the elevator, plopping her down next to it and going to go do the machines.

After finishing the last one, Vee hurried to the elevator, happy to get out of that hell, getting her and Shelly into the elevator, Slamming down on that up button and collapsing on the merciful and cold elevator floor.

It was a pretty decent way up, she wondered if Astro got back yet and if he has anybody cured yet. Her questions were answered when the elevator opened and another elevator opened directly across from Gardenview.

Vee picked up Shelly and went over the the elevator Astro was at along with his cured. "Dude, I made 2 trips, how did it take you so long?" "Vee, do not even, I went down 17 floors without a single twisted showing up who's name was in this briefcase, and This building was the first one who showed up, so I had to wrangle this plant into calming down!"

"Hi" Sprout waved at Vee. Vee saw instantly why Astro called him a building he was probably as tall as Sam. "Hey there Seedly, did the sedatives in here not work on him" She greeted sprout then asked Astro the question.

"Kinda, I jabbed him then he passed out, within 5 minutes, I wasn't even done with the machines, I felt the shadow of a human and thought Arthur came back from the dead" Vee snorted.

"Yeah I see, Seedly grew, A Lot." "You said you made 2 trips?" Astro inquired. "Yeah, found Brightney, brought her up, she's in the medbay, and then went back down for Shelly, oh speaking of"

She quite literally Handed Shelly to Astro and pranced her happy ass to the medical bay to give Brightney the Medkit she promised her.

"So.. um, can you tell me now whats going on?" Sprout asked, and Astro sighed of exhaustion. "Let's go to the medical bay". Sprout got his answer.

Chapter Text

Vee sat on a chair, outside of the medical bay, Astro was currently explaining to the others what's going on, as they had been asking non-stop. Especially Seedly.

Vee only sat outside playing Tetris with outside sound cut out because she knew she was going to hear yelling and crying, and god knows she doesn't want to hear that right now.

As much as she feels bad for Astro, the one having to relay this news, she was tired. Which may seem selfish yes, but she honestly couldn't care less in the moment. Vee hasn't had not 1 moment to rest since she woke up, she may as well get it now.

As Vee was sitting outside, Astro was by the door, well arch where the door should be, he'll fix it later. He thought, multiple times, how is he going to tell these people that Dandy is dead. He knows exactly how they're going to react, and he is too emotionally and physically spent to deal with all of that.

Astro took a heavy breath in, and let it out. "I cured you guys because of a little mess a certain founder caused. I have this curr because of a dear friend of ours. Who is this friend? Why it is Dandy."

The room sours by just a bit, the others could tell there was bad news. "Is he ok?" Shelly asked, which everyone expected. Astro however did not expect that to be her question about Dandy, he took another deep breath.

"No.. he is not... He cured me first, but, unfortunately, he was dead before I even woke up"

. . .

Astro recognized this silence, it was almost Identical to Vee's. And unfortunately he felt he was going to hear this silence, a whole lot more.

"Y-you're lying.. r-right..?" Shelly asked with a shakey voice. Astro could bring himself to look at them, he could not face them, as it would be too painful. He also couldn't answer Shelly's question with anything but a denial in the form of shaking his head.

He didn't have to look at Shelly to see the tears forming. It was silent, expect for the noise of footsteps running across and out of the room, Pushing past Astro and waking up Vee.

Vee poked her head in to see a variety of shocked, concerned shock, and sad shocked. Vee understood what's already happened. "S-should I go after her?" Vee asked genuinely conflicted.

"No, let her have some space, I'll check up on her after she'd had time to calm down a bit" Astro answered. "You sure she's even gonna Calm down? I mean I'm like 90% sure they wanted to marry each other" which was true.

The question filled the room, before Sprout spoke up. "S-so that's an actual tombstone by the tree? And it's, Dandy's..?" "Yes. It is..."

The room went back to that state of silence that churned in everyone's stomachs, no one knew what to say, there where so many unvoiced questions.

"But... We shouldn't make that stop us from fulfilling his final wish. He wanted me to make sure that everyone else got out of this, that everyone would be cured, everyone could 1 day be happy again. So, once we've all caught our breath, calmed down, all of us. I'm putting everyone in groups with a briefcase, make sure to pay attention to the labeling."

No one had ever seen Astro so serious before, or seen all four of his arms before. Vee especially was impressed, knowing him the most out of probably everyone other than Dandy. She knows how difficult making all of this happen would have been to him before.

Everyone left the Medical bay separately, expect Brightney, who went with Vee. Leaving Astro in the medical bay.

As put together he sounded in his little speech, he wasn't doing well. All of this didn't just hit him at once and he was getting over it. Everything felt like it was just getting worse for every time he's had to say out loud, that his best friend is dead.

Which is why as soon as everyone had left, he just collapsed down to the floor, holding his knees to his chest. Gardenview center was silent, well, aside from the faint muffled sobs coming from the newly made medical bay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hours had passed, but Shelly couldn't tell, she'd been curled up in her bed since she got to her room. She looked over at the alarm clock, it'd been 3 hours since she'd gotten here.

It's been a blur of crying, sobbing, begging for this to be fake, some messed up cruel joke that she'd eventually be able to forgive.

Her room had never been so messy, she didn't even remember trashing it in her fit of desperate rage. She just wanted this to be a horrible, horrible joke, a nightmare that she'd wake up from.

She kept pinching herself, she's not dreaming, her arms bled from her claws digging inter her flesh. This wasn't fair, this couldn't be fair, this couldn't be right.

He's not dead, he's not dead, he can't be dead, he'd promised he'd never leave her side, he promised! Shelly couldn't stop crying, even if all of her energy had been lost, the tears just couldn't stop coming.

Knock knock

There was a noise at her door. She only grumbled loud enough to let whoever it was know that the door wasn't locked.

Astro carefully pushed the door open and spoke in a soft tone, "Hey Shelly", she only grumbled. "I understand how you feel, well, of course not exactly, but" he sat down at the foot of her bed.

"I get it... I know it's hard Shelly, I miss him, you miss him, everyone is going to miss him at least a little bit. But what I do know is no one will understand how you feel as much as I do."

"... So what..? You gonna tell me to suck it up? Power through it because you are?". "Goodness no! I couldn't say that to anyone, especially not about something like this".

"But, I am saying that, I understand but Dandy would want you to be strong, you don't have to get up, not right now, maybe not for a few weeks, I know it may take some time, and you don't have to do anything if you really just can't get yourself to."

"There is something that he wanted to leave to you though, and it's only if you want to, but would you follow me?" Astro extended a hand. Shelly thought for a moment, hesitating, but she ultimately decided she would, and took his hand.

Astro lead her to Dandy's room, to the desk, and to the personal gift, just for her. Astro handed her the box and Shelly took it into her hands, inspecting it.

"No rush, you can open it whenever you want, you can wait till your in your room and I'm out of your business". Shelly only nodded, she was indeed curious.

"If you want to maybe stay in here, I can leave if you want" ... Shelly took a while, but she nodded, giving Astro the sign she wanted to be alone in Dandy's room.

Astro left, Shelly stood there, she fell back to sit on the edge of Dandy's bed, staring down at the last thing from him in her hands. For the longest time, she only stared at it, not opening it, not inspecting it even more, nothing.

After a good while, she began to open it, removing the top from the clean and smooth wooden box. There was something that looked like it was poorly knitted, along with a note.

"To my dear Shelly,

I'm so sorry, I'm sorry for hurting you, I'm sorry I hurt you and everyone else. I wish that none of this ever happened, I wish that everything could just go back to the way it was. I wish you were standing next to me right now instead of writing you this goodbye note. I wish I weren't so stupid to follow the orders of Her. And I wish for you to one day forgive me for everything I've done, even if you don't, I love you.

As of the gift, I've had a lot of free time for the past.. well, year, and I know you're more into sewing but I also know you like knitting and I can't really sew anything for you. But, I learned to knit, I don't get how you're so good at this it's so difficult! I know it's really bad but, I hope you like this, I love you Shelly.

Love, Dandy"

At this point she was in tears once again, they'd finally dried just to read this note. She carefully pulled out the god awful sweater and laid it out on his bed, Dandy was right, it was absolutely horrible. But that didn't stop Shelly from loosing her footing by how touched she was.

The fabric smelled just like him, she could feel just how hard he had worked on this with every incorrect stitch he made, with all the failed loops that ended up making wonky looking knots. She felt the dedication, and the love that came from Dandy through this sweater.

It was an incredibly basic sweater, but he hand knitted it, just for her. It was even in her favorite color, a lot of people assume that her favorite color is Yellow or brown, but, she actually loves lavender, Shelly's always been a big fan of purple, and she loves the shade of lavender.

She couldn't help but hold this sweater like it was Dandy himself. To Shelly it Was Dandy himself, he made this sweater with incredible love, and she felt all of it.

Her cried filled the room as she clung to the lavender Sweater that her love left her. She will Never wear this on runs, but she will always be wearing this any other time. This sweater is going to be a treasured gift, and she will keep it safe, and clean.

She slipped the sweater on over her head, hugging it tight to herself as she sat on the floor, sobbing against the foot of Dandy's bed.

"I love you too Dandy, I'll never stop"

Chapter Text

Uhh there might be a small bit of a pause in my writing. I broke my hand. I'm currently speaking into the phone speaker I know I could write it with one hand but I don't want to. Anyways I'll like see you guys later hope you enjoyed chapter 5.

Chapter Text

Keep it together, don't panic. Astro paced around Gardenview, he knows he has to save more people but he's not ready just yet to get everyone together.

Astro decided he'd go just quickly, go on a quick run, save someone. It's been weeks since he's woken up, and only a few people have been cured.

Astro took a deep breath, grabbed a briefcase from the medical bay, where the cures have been relocated, and headed down an elevator. Astro thought it'd be a safer place, and less painful, than Dandy's room.

He went down the elevator, looking at the twisteds with pity, looking into the briefcase praying someone who's name was in the case would show up. Astro wanted to help people, he wanted his friends to be safe, he wanted to fulfill his best friend's wishes.

Floor 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Finally, on floor 6, Tisha. But something wasn't right, her twisted wasn't attacking, in fact, she looked more sluggish even as a twisted. She only kept cleaning the dirty floors with the dirty mop she's been holding for a year already.

Astro grabbed the needle from the briefcase and carefully injected the docile twisted Tisha. It didn't take long for her to be out, and Astro felt an amazing sense of relief. This wasn't going to be as hard as he thought.

But, a feeling of uncertainty also began to bubble up, Tisha was a concerning weight, feeling light when he picked her up. He felt she was a little Too easy to cure. So he made sure to finish the machines quickly.

When he got back up to the medical center he found Vee and Brightney talking in there, Vee was sitting on the edge of the bed and vee was sitting on a chair on the side. "Oh hey, you went on a run?" Vee said getting up. "Yeah, um, what are you guys doing in here?" "Something wrong with the circuits" Vee answered, Very vaguely.

"Um, ok? Well Tisha was... Weird, her twisted I mean" Astro started speaking while laying her on the bed. "What's that mean?", "She was.. like, docile" He said grabbing a medkit and some other supplies. ".. thats odd" Brightney intervened"

He leaned against the wall when he finished bandaging any scratches or injuries. "I know, it was an easy twisted to cure but it was still so weird! She just, let me cure her. Her twisted was insanely docile and didn't try to attack me at all"

"That's definitely odd" Vee said confused. "Maybe she's sick?" Brightney said very uncertain, not thinking it was an actual possibility. "That's... Not out of the realm of possibility" Vee said, she looked like she was thinking.

"Wait can twisteds even get sick?" Astro was confused, thats a possibility? "Well, if she were sick before than, it's not a completely lost theory". The three sat there, thinking of possibilities. And then Tisha woke up, and Immediately hurled on Vee.

"OH GOODNESS!" Brightney shrieked, nobody had any time to process her waking up let alone puking on Vee. Vee SPRINTED out of the room, running to the elevators to go to her room and find a towel before that got into her screen and makes her malfunction.

Brightney wanted to follow along to make sure she'd be ok, but Astro sent her to get a barf bag for Tisha before she went after Vee.

Vee was feeling many emotions, panic at the thought of being shut down due to a malfunction with liquid, MID elevator ride. Disgust because obviously, uncomfortability due to how long this elevator was taking. And a slight relief, she didn't wanna be in that room guessing, took a weight off her shoulders.

With the contrasts of these emotions, and the difference effects these emotions had physically, it made her stomach- she doesn't have a stomach. It made her gears? Circuits?.. churn.

Made her stomach cavity feel weird.

Astro helped Tisha sit up without choking on her retch. "Tisha are you alright!?" "What happened? Where am I?" She started freaking out, tiredly, and her voice sounded terrible. "Tisha!" That made her stop, and look at him. "Astro?"

Astro took a deep breath. "Tisha, are you alright?" "... I-I don't know what's going on" that's understandable. "Tisha how do you feel, like, physically" "I'm really tired.. nauseous... Really really nauseous. And my head is killing me, I feel dizzy"

Astro through about all of this. "Hmm, so you Are sick, that's why your twisted reacted so... Differently" Tisha had already figured she wasn't a twisted anymore, and decided those questions would wait for later.

She subsequently, passed out after vomiting more into the bag Brightney got her. She was absolutely in horrible shape, she wanted to clean but she was so tired right now. Astro let her sleep.

A while had passed and Vee had come back, her screen was already half broken, but now it was actively glitching. "Soo.. I'm guessing she's sick" "she's sick" Astro and Brightney responded together as if coordinated.

"I was thinking she could be on cleaning duty, like cleaning up floors after the twisteds have been cleared out but, uh, she's clearly not in commission" Astro and Vee nodded.

"I think we'll have to wait for her to get better before we cure anyone else, so she doesn't like.. retwist them or something", "Is that even possible?" Brightney asked after Vee's comment.

... Astro's voice soon broke the silence, "I mean, it hasn't happened before.. maybe she'll be fine?"

Chapter Text

Tisha walked through the dirty halls, the ichor getting stuck to the bottom of her recently cleaned heels. She could barely walk normally, she always feels drowsy, but she somehow manages to clean every inch of wherever she goes with heels on and precision.

It was only a few days after she was cured that she started to act like she wasn't sick. She didn't want them to worry, she didn't want their progress to slow just because she was a little sick, it would pass anyways.

Tisha swept behind every box, mopped every ichor puddle she found, stains would clean themselves just seeing her in the vicinity. Every dirty window sprayed and cleaned till it was a mirror. Tisha always held herself up to the highest of standards, people can't see her slip up, she can't make another mess.

She moves a box to clean it, her eyes widen. "W-what..? G-glisten?" She stares at a figure, he seems to be unconscious, even as a twisted. "Oh dear.. I don't have any breif cases.. I'm only here to clean, how could the team forget a twisted? Or was he hidden the entire time!?"

Tisha's thoughts raced, questions, some she answered herself. Then she was swiftly pulled out of her thoughts as something grabbed her arm and she shrieked. "EEK!" she jumped, Glisten backing us while already in a corner.

They just stared at each other for a while. "G-glisten? Oh no are you ok?" She hurried to his side, "my sincerest apologies if I scared me you just startled me a bit". She helped him stand up.

As of right now, Glisten is unable to speak due to the lack of a mouth but Tisha is sure once he's cured and fixed up he'll be fine, she just needs to find sprout. Believe it or not she is rather not fond of medical related mess.

She cleans a bit of the Ichor from his face and arms with a wet wash rag, "Don't be scared it's only water dear". He was only partially better, she could only do so much for him without medical assistance.

Tisha kept Glisten at her side for the remainder of the time she spent cleaning the floor, making sure he was at least nearby. If he were to sneak off she'd go and get him again, keeping him near her. She remembers how he would get if left alone for too long.

Eventually she was done cleaning the floor. She took him back up the elevator and luckily for her sprout was in the medical bay, sorting medkits and bandages other toons have collected. "Uh.. Tisha..? Are you aware you have a Glisten shaped twisted following you around?"

"Yes, I'm aware Sprout, now may you be a dear and grab me a cure with his name". Sprout flung her a thumbs up before rummaging through the breif cases, scrounging around until he found Glistens name.

"Found it, hey, do you want me to deal with this or whatever so you can do your job again, I know how much you hate distractions", Sprout said holding up the needle. "That would be very nice of you", she tapped Glisten on to go over to sprout, and by the time he had gotten to him she was already going down another elevator.

"Alright bud, just sit still, I think it'll hurt a bit but you'll be fine ig". That made Glisten a bit scared to say the least but he stayed mostly calm. He felt the slight prick of a needle breaking skin, the fluid entering his blood stream.

The tired, feeling..

The..

passing out...

——————————————————————————————————

She swept, and swept, and kept sweeping. If she just ignored the growing nausea and drowsiness it would go away right? She hated being sick, could this just pass already, she just wanted to clean comfortably.She didn't know the harder she would work the worse she would eventually get.

1 floor, 2 floors, 5 floors, she had only ran into 1 more twisted in those 5 floors, insane luck. She would have cured him immediately but she had no was of bringing them with her, a few mis-steps and she could wake them up anf cause them to attack her. So begrudgingly she ultimately left R&D alone.

Cleaning each floor with such professional precision, it would look like it had never been dirty in the first place, or if it were physically incapable of dirt to infest the floors. They were spotless, she coughed more from the ichor inhalation.

She was cured, yes, but she's no where near safe. Breathing became difficult around ichor puddles. She didn't even realize, she just thought the circulation was bad. Unfortunately for Tisha, she spent too long standing in a Puddle while cleaning it. She had inhaled so much of the air.

Her breath now felt light, her body was starting to feel heavier, "I cannot pass out now! I'm not done cleaning". She tried to force herself to take a step, but with the increase of body weight she felt, lack of oxygen, and drowsiness, she only fell.

She sat laying there on the ground. She rolled over as to not inhale the fumes from the puddle but despite her actions, she did indeed pass out, the exhaustion was getting to her, it was just too much. She saw her vision going black, the overwhelming stench of Ichor nearby, was sickening to pass out to.

——————————————————————————————————

A group meeting was formed, and everyone started talking about what they should do, save twisteds faster ? Or wait for everyone to recover, from physical and emotional pain, as well as illness. Astro was usually quiet during big crowds like this, but when Illness was brought up.

"Hey uh, guys... where's Tisha?"

Chapter Text

Shelly was descending the floors, briefcase in hand, she couldn't sit around all day being useless again. Everyone thought that she was in her room sulking, what kind of example had she made pf herself, a coward.

She wanted to help, she wanted to be useful. She descended down further, carrying the briefcase no one saw her take from the medical bay.

1-6 floors, no twisteds, and she wasn't around to help it be that way. With each empty floor, the emptier she felt, why was she so useless? She had finally run into a floor with a research capsule on the ground, right outside the elevator too.

She picked it up to see if she had a twisted that was in the briefcase. God damnit... Goob, she had nothing against the guy, he was just... Difficult. She took a deep breath looking in the breif case, his name, dead center.

If she succeed, she was useful, if she fails, she dies. It's simple it's only him... His sister is occupying the area aswell, damnit, this might be hard.

She came up with multiple different plans, she found a safe spot a sat there, drawing out game plans so the could go smoothly. She picked a bandage out of her bag that she also snook.

"Ok, so, I'll follow them until they're far enough from each other, I'll get Goob first, he'll be easier. I'll grab the needle and let him see me, he'll pull me towards him and I'll jab him. The claws are going to hurt though so I'll just bandage up after he's out."

She thought for a moment, how's she going to cure Scraps... She can easily snipe her with the tail and tear a hole in her back or stomach, it's risky and she only has 1 bandage.

She peeked her head up slightly and saw Goob alone, she can worry about scraps later. She fumbled the breif case open and took out a syringe labeled Goob.

She carefully got up and went out of the spot she was hiding, staying outside of his line of sight until she was sure. She looked around once again, making sure scraps wasn't nearby. She readied the syringe, took a deep breath and ran into his line of sight. He immediately reached out to grab her, scratching her arms and sides with his claws as he pulled her.

When he pulled her close enough she jabbed the syringe right into his chest. The fur was less of a problem then she thought it would be, which was a relief.

She watched as he attempt to claw at his own chest in the area the needle was inserted, leaving a gash of a scratch wound on his chest. Shelly panicked, not accounting for how dangerous the twisteds could be to themselves.

Goob shortly passed out, Shelly didn't know what to do, she was going to use the bandages on herself. She didn't even think about how he could've accidentally harmed himself, she has no other bandages, or med kits for him.

The wound he left on himself was gnarly, the claws dug into his skin and his fur was bloodied and torn. Shelly was mortified, confused, panicked, "oh dear, oh no!"

After a little bit of panicking, she began to bandage Goob up. Temporarily putting her own injuries aside because Goob looked worse than her. By the time she was done her hands were bloody and The bandages were already getting wet with blood.

She panicked even harder then, she thought she knew what she was doing, but then things went really bad. She rushed to drag him into a corner where they wouldn't be seen as she struggled to keep Goob's chest from bleeding.

Then the elevator opened, was it supposed to open while someone was on the floor? Shelly couldn't see who it was but heard the clanking of heels on the ground, was it Brightney?

Then the abundance of blue became visible after the figure turned the corner. "TISHA!" Tisha jumped at the sudden voice, holding her broom defensively before seeing who had called her name.

"Shelly? Oh dear!? What's going on here!?" She spotted Goob, pulling out a medkit she had. "Oh thank god! What are you doing here? I heard everyone talking about how you had gone missing!"

Tisha cared for Goob bandaging him up while his head rested in Shelly's lap. "What happened to him?", Tisha asked concerned, "I had injected him and his started scratching at his chest, and his claws are much sharper than they were before".

Tisha nodded, knowing that certainly wasn't good. Tisha had cared for Goob like he was her own little brother, if her and scraps were more serious he actually would be. "But, why are you here Tisha? I'm very happy you are don't get me wrong but what are you doing here?"

"Well, you're right, I did.. 'disappear' for a bit. But it's.. nothing, I just got carried away while cleaning, my apologies". Shelly didn't quite buy it, but there were more important things happening right now, so she didn't say anything.

"Is it just Goob on this floor or are there others?". Shelly was hesitant to tell her, she knew how much Tisha and Scraps had meant to each other and didn't want to worry her. "W-well, it's uhh, his sister".

Tisha's eye's widen "Scraps is here? Is her name in the briefcase you have?" Shelly nodded, Tisha grabbed the briefcase from the ground, ignoring any protests and went to cure Scraps. "Keep Goob safe, we'll bring the two up when I get scraps"

And like that Tisha was off, Shelly really didn't get the choice or chance to protest or try to tell Tisha it was a bad Idea, it's not like she would have listened though.

Tisha looked in the suitcase pulling out the needle with scraps name and placing the rest of the suitcase on one of the many tables that were just around. She walked around looking out for scraps until she heard the undeniable sound of an elastic snap.

She didn't think to look, she instead ducked behind a few boxes to not get bitten by Scraps' tail. She looked at scraps what save and readied the syringe. Scraps twisted began running towards the spot Tisha had ducked behind, seeing her go there.

When Scraps was about to round the corner to see Tisha, she was met with the blue toon lunging at her, syringe in hand. Sticking her right in the side of the neck, injecting her. Tisha had seen what Goob had done to himself so she swiftly took hold of Scraps claws, avoiding the scissor part of them, and holding them behind her back.

Tisha hated to hurt Scraps but she was keeping her from harming herself and others, so it was necessary. Tisha may have been a clean freak but she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty. When Scraps' consciousness finally faded wholy, Tisha picked her up, grabbed the suitcase, and made her way back to Shelly and Goob.

"Tisha! You're all covered in Blood what happened!?" "Scraps was already bloody, and handling her got me dirty". Shelly knew Tisha didn't care much about uck, it was her job to clean it after all, but she's always made such a big deal about mess.

"Aren't you, freaked out? You're all bloody, and holding a bloody unconscious toon!" Shelly said with hints of confusion on her features and in her tone. "I'm not afraid to get myself messy, I know I can clean everything up again, it's annoying but it's expectable."

The two went on to start completing machines, leaving Scraps and Goob at the elevator sat up against the wall. When they were done, Tisha told Shelly to bring the two up and to the medical bay while Tisha cleaned the remains of the floor.

The elevator ride felt like an eternity, both previous Twisteds knocked out right next to her on the wall of the elevator. She didn't even dare look in the direction of Dandy's shop, she'd find nothing but disappointment.

Except it wouldn't be from Dandy selling shitty items they couldn't use. Shelly would kill to be able to see Dandy selling gumballs while the whole team was hurt, just 1 more time. She tried not to think about it, she went down the elevator because she was strong, she couldn't be weak now.

The elevator door to Gardenview opened, outwalked Shelly, dragging the craft siblings out the door, not the most gracious appearance but it'll do.

Chapter Text

Ngl I don't like Goob's design, I might change it later lowk

Can you tell that I rushed her design💔