Disclaimer this is Silent Hill 2 + Dandys world au, so this is gonna be REALLY depressing like suicide ideation, death, stuff like that basically it's just gonna be heavy proceed with caution. Ik moonflower has gotten some flack, but its personally one of my favorite ships of all time in dandys world, I just don't like characterization of it being toxic. HOWEVER, this is a silent hill 2 au, so if you know you know.
"What are you doing here? Everyone's left."
"Pebble? Oh him...he's not here either. I know."
"What? Why are you here all of a sudden? Everyone's gone--Gardenview is closed and everyone turned into monsters."
"Hah! Oh that's pathetic. You really wanted to just...ask how I am? How do you think I am Astro?"
"Don't backtrack now. God. GOD, I can't believe this at all. I'm stuck. I'm stuck with you."
"I bet they're all laughing their ass's off now. They just left their little lab experiments here, left them all here to just go fucking crazy."
"Get out of here Astro. If you know what's good for you, get out of here."
"Why the hell are you still here?! GO! I hate looking at you!"
"Astro.....please...please come back...."
"I'm sorry....I'm so sorry....I didn't mean that....I don't want to be alone....Astro...."
"Please...please tell me it'll be okay.....I don't want you to go....please....you're my best friend...."
Entering the elevator after completing the first floor of machines, finally Astro takes a deep breath. Nothing in particular was stressful on that floor; besides the fact that the former friends the moon had was now corrupted monsters that don't recognize him in any form or capacity. His eye widens when he hears something-a small hatch door opening and a booth sort of rising up.
Dandy. Dandy was there, smiling. "Heyyy, I got some good stuff for sale, feel free to give me any of your tapes, you know?" Dandy asks, almost robotically, but Astro looked pale. "Whats wrong?" Dandy asks, his chin being set onto his hands as he tilts his head, almost a soulless look to the eyes as he stared at Astro.
"I...." Astro was at a loss for words, so he only stepped forward to go and look over what was exactly for sale. Gumballs...gumballs.....stopwatch. He could go for the stopwatch but it wouldn't be that much of a difference.
Then suddenly, almost as if part of a script, Dandy pulls the lever. "Saving your tapes i see? No worries! I'll have better stock next time!" Dandy exclaims as he lowers into the floor, dissapearing to god knows where.
....is this gonna be the formula for how he's progressing down the floors?
The next floors pretty much stayed similar, a similar formula. Extracting ichor from the machines--he gets to the next floors while evading the bodies of his dead friends. Dandys store lifts up again, his frown evident on his face. Somehow, he looks hollow. "Are you going to spend your tapes this time?" Dandy asks, staring at Astro, who's back is facing him. Astro looks down at the floor, biting his lip, but turns to go back to the store to look at what was there.
Jawbreaker, cola, chocolate. Astro already has a box of chocolates and a band, so he doesn't really need much of these stuff. Astro backs up and turns away, ignoring Dandy.
"Why?" Dandy asks, pulling the lever and lowering himself. Astro turns to the missing spot where Dandy previously was, his eyes wide. Why? Why what? Why say that?
The next floor opens and Astro let out a soft sigh. It was Shelly's room. As far as Astro could hear, he couldn't hear any of the twisteds so that...was good. For now at least. But he stops when he comes across a whole sandbox in of itself, there lay Shelly in that sandbox, stabbing the sand with a plastic small shovel. "Shelly?" The moon called out gently, Shelly flinched in acknowledgement, the fossilian sitting up.
"You're here. You actually managed to find me," Shelly muttered. "Especially when this place went to absolute shit..." she's not facing Astro, not right now.
"I...it's not safe being here alone, Shelly. Come, we can do machines together. I got a medkit with me, I-I can-"
"Can what?" Shelly's voice sounds dead, the ammonite getting up to face Astro. "Can...HELP...me? Can...SAVE...me?" Increasingly she sounds more and more aggressive, more irritated at Astro being here.
The moon didn't know what to say, his eye was wide. "Uh...i...." He looks around, despite the lights practically being shut out, Astro offers a hand. "I...I usually finish these machines pretty fast but it's felt slower for some reason. I can light up the way, but we'll be okay. It's just the two of us."
All Shelly could do was stare down at Astros hand, gaze absolutely empty, but then a smile spread on her face. This made the moon step back, not liking the look that was on her face. "I know what you did...." Shelly mutters, Astro freezing up. "You're a piece of shit Astro. Genuinely...you're...." Shelly's head twitched, but she's smiling.
"God....fucking....God. fuck you. Fuck you and your perfect fucking friendships and relationship where I failed in EVERY aspect-" Shelly began to yell, grabbing the sides of her head. "Get it OUT of me. Get it OUT!" Astro began to run away, Shelly's voice ringing through her room.
"DONT LEAVE ME CONNECTED TO THIS THING! GET IT OUT OF ME! HELP ME!"
Running through the room as a loud croaking noise echoed throughout, Astro dove behind a large table and grabbed at his chest, his eye wide and his heart beating incredibly fast, his vision almost blurry. Why? Why the fuck is he so stupid? He can't trust anybody here.
Now having to do these machines with a transformed Shelly on the loose-Astro went to rush to do more machines. Was the reason he was extracting slower was because of Shelly? It never was a problem before.
Finally, with as much speed as he could muster he finishes all the machines on the floor, the elevator opens and he runs to the elevator, gasping for air as Shelly starts running at him full speed. "Fuck!" Astro screams, the remaining main running as fast as he could with what little time he had, rolling into the elevator but practically falling to the ground as he gasped for air when the elevator shut, a growl rang out and then Dandys shop rose up.
Dandy had a snarl on his face, his red pupils dilated in his eyes. "Buy something." He demanded. Astro only finally asks;
"Who are you?" Astro asks, the flower in front of him smiling a bit wider.
Astro stepped a bit closer. "You're....Dandy."
Astro gulped. "So...you're not....Dandy."
"I am. If you want me to be," Dandy tilts his head. It...looks like Dandy. But is that a answer that it's Dandy?
It shook its head and goes down from the shop. "I don't like you're talking about me like that, you know?" It questioned, walking over to Astro. "Like I'm not real...." Dandy snakes his hand up to the taller's cheek. "See? I'm real. I'm here for you,Astro. Don't you want me here?"
His eyes close, only opening them to stare at Dandy, noticing the more hollow appearance of his eyes, like something else was lingering behind them. "I...."
Then, the elevator opened to the kitchen. The lights went out again.
"That being said...." Dandy murmurs softly, going back onto his shop and flipping the lever. "Those tapes were never yours."
Astro stepped out onto the floor, the elevator shutting behind him as he closed his eyes, took a deep breath and just proceeded again through the floor, walking past a capsule that was technically where Rodger resides so, Astro was doing machines fairly quickly on the floor. But, walking into a room with a desk, seeing the final machine, he sees movement in the corner of the room.
A singular red eye, hoarse breathing, a large tall figure standing there and staring at Astro. He wasn't moving, but he just stares at him. Astro bit his lip, walking over to the machine and then starts working on it, his progress considerably slower as he turns back to look at the lonely twisted. He flinches when suddenly, Sprout rushed out of the room. Finishing the final machine, he walks cautiously out of the room and hears pans in the kitchen, Astro walking over to see Sprout using his large hand to slam pans onto the counter mindlessly, turning on the stove as well.
Heartbroken by the sight, Astro moves into the elevator, the elevator shutting. This time, Dandy did not appear for once, so when the new floor came up--Astros room, Astro sucked in a breath. For once, the floor wasn't dark. So, Astro walked through the familiar spot, getting oddly nostalgic in a way as he examined his large room. Astro stops at a TV, his eyes falling on a familiar scene.
"Heyy! My name is Dandy! I think your face is pretty neat! What's your name?" Dandy asks, the small anthromorphic flower grinning, tilting his head as he looked at Astro with awe. Astro looks down at his knees shyly, Dandy happily waiting to hear the response from the moon toon.
"Astro...." Astro gently responds, his eye avoiding contact with Dandy as Dandy let out a happy giggle.
"Astro? That's a great name! I like your um-" Dandy points at his own face, Astro turning to face Dandy with a raised brow.
"My...?" Astro asks softly.
"The...the part that's not your eye. The pretty sparkle thing," Dandy points to Astro. Astro looks down at the ground and bites his lip, but his face slowly glows out of embarrassment and nervousness. He was quiet for a bit, which he thought a bit before forcing himself to speak.
"Do you...want to play together? I don't know what...." Astro offers shyly, the flower happily agreeing as the two went to play.
I'm so glad they're friends.
Astro took a shakey breath, looking down at the floor and turns away from the tv's. Astro went to complete a machine before the moon proceeded throughout the floor, doing another machine, heading to the very end of the room....where he sees someone familiar.
"Dandy-" Astro spoke, Dandy turning to Astro and gave him a welcoming smile as the two walked fast toward eachother and embraced.
"I've been waiting for you..." The flower said warmly, his eyes watching his beloved moon, acting like he wasn't just masquerading as a shop. "Did you want to see me?" Dandy asks, before Astro acted quick to respond.
"Of course! Of course Dandy I- I always wanted to see you, I missed you so much I-"
"But....." Dandy turns away. "That's not true. Is it?"
He shut his eyes. "Dandy-"
"You killed me, Astro," Dandy turns to Astro, ichor dripping from his eyesockets, his eye pupils dotted with red.
Astro's lips pursed into a thin line. "...yeah. I did." His stare seemed dead.
"I...know i wasn't perfect....I know...I ruined all of your lives....but you were here right with me...you knew about it all too......" Dandy spoke shakily as his head faced away from Astro.
"Astro...." The flower's voice grew shaky. "Everytime one by one everybody changed...I saw that look....I saw it...you tried to hide it....but you....you really....hated me......"
Astro could only stand there, staring at Dandy with a dead expression on his face. He stepped forward. "I...I wanted things to end-I...I knew you didn't want to be here any longer...." he was shaking. "I...it was such a long while where everything was going bad...our relationship grew strained but I....I never...I could never...hate you...."
The shorter one only nods faintly as if pretending to listen but he mutters, "I suppose I understand....everything i had done was my fault...my doing. The star of the show....it all falls onto me...." Dandy hissed under his breath. "So i get it....I wasn't really good. I couldn't give you anything better. And you're right...not like I was wanting to be here anyway."
Dandy turned slowly to Astro. His eyes still bled ichor. "I...love you Astro. You know that? But I can't forgive you for what you did to me."
Then suddenly, with a large hand, Dandy swipes at Astro, Astro getting hit and falling back as he witnesses Dandy transform into the large creature. Astro runs, hurrying to do machines. When finishing a machine, he hears the stomping of Dandy rushing in his direction, the stomping sounding impendingly close as a weird sign of doom.
Astro luckily fled, not wanting to stick around for Dandy to catch him at a finished machine. There's no point to stay there to begin with. Astro runs to the other machines to get it done, the stomping around of the newly formed Dandy monster was driving Astro into being a nervous wreck, each machine done drew Dandy to Astro.
Then Dandy catches Astro by surprise, immediately he hits Astro, Astro being knocked against the wall and the air being knocked out of him. Dandy laughs. "Are you feeling it? Did your life flash before your eyes?" Dandy taunts, Astro getting up to go find the final machine, managing to lose Dandy and get the final machine done.
"Peekabo!" Dandy snaps as he tried stomping after Astro, Astro running down the midway toward the elevator and sliding in, panting. Oddly enough, despite the pressure, things felt easy.
What wasn't easy was going to the lobby to find how empty it was. If one went up to the lobby one could expect laughter of children--maybe all the toons just messing around and having fun--but there was none of that.
Astro's head turns, going to the center tree spot, a large lump formed in his throat.
Astro looked down and saw Dandy sitting there in the grass there, looking up at him. Then, tears fell down Astros face. "I........I miss you............so much......"
Dandy got up, walking over to Astro. "Its okay...." He put both of his hands on Astros cheek relatively with ease despite being shorter. The two stood in the grass right near the tree. "Its okay, Astro..."
