Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Where are you taking me?"  

Vee asked, frowning as Dandy guided her into the elevator.  

Astro and Sprout were already preparing to find Bobette and, maybe, the other holiday toons... If they were still alive. Dandy had hope, though. He had to. He wanted to find his friend.

"To Shelly's room."  

"What."  

Vee gave him a look like he had just told her to jump in a pool.

"We need her help if we're going to do this."  

"But-"

"We just need to talk to her. She should be calmer now."  

His voice was gentle but firm, his smile soft but unwavering. Vee huffed, crossing her arms, sulking on the floor. The last thing she wanted was to walk in on Shelly still cuddled up with that— that stupid Tisha—  

"You're jealous, aren't you?"  

Dandy’s teasing voice broke through her thoughts. Vee’s head snapped toward him, eyes burning.  

"Jealous?! Jealous about what!?"  

Dandy smirked.  

"About Shelly and Tishhhaaaaaa-"

One of Vee's crutches flew before he could finish his sentence. Dandy barely dodged, bursting into laughter as Vee scowled, crossing her arms again in an even bigger pout. Soon enough, the elevator dinged, stopping at their floor. As the doors slid open, a familiar sandy color scheme greeted them. It looked... cleaned up. Tisha must've been let loose. Dandy hopped over the counter, grabbing Vee’s thrown crutch and handing it over before helping her up.  

It was quiet... Too quiet. No sign of Shelly moving around.  

"Hmm… where would she be..."  

Dandy muttered to himself, glancing around. Before he could start guessing, Vee cut in flatly—  

"Why not try her bedroom?"  

"..."

The two exchanged a look. Then, without another word, they immediately went to her bedroom.  

The door to it was near the beanbag area they had last seen her in. The usual projection of an old episode featuring her was gone. Dandy stepped up to her bedroom door and knocked three times.  

...  

...  

...  

No answer. He knocked again.  

...  

...  

...  

Still nothing. Dandy sighed and raised his hand to try again, but Vee grabbed his arm, stopping him.  

"Let's just go."  

"No, we need to talk to her."  

"Just leave her be, she'll be-"  

Dandy slammed his hand against the wall. Vee flinched, startled by the sudden force as he stared daggers at her.  

"We've always left her alone when she needs us, and look what happened."  

His tone was stone-cold, serious. From behind the door, they heard a shuffle. The bang must have stirred whatever was inside.

They fell silent as the doorknob twisted slowly, the door creaking open.

"Shelly?"

Vee muttered. The crack in the door revealed nothing but pitch black - except for a single glowing, pinkish eye staring down at them.

Dandy and Vee tensed. A chill ran down their spines as Vee swallowed and tried again.

"...Shelly?"

The door inched open a little more, light from the hallway spilling into the darkness. Slowly, Shelly’s form took shape.

She was taller. A whole foot taller than Dandy, maybe even taller than Sprout. Her hands were stained a dark brown, her fingers sharper, more claw-like. Her legs, still dinosaur-like, were nearly pitch black, and the bony ribs she’d gained remained visible.

"...Hi, Vee..."

Her voice was quiet, every word carrying a low, guttural growl. She smiled, but her sharper teeth caught the light. Dandy and Vee hesitantly waved. Vee sucked in a breath, pushing down her nerves.

"How are you feeling?"

"Grrh... Uh, I'm feeling... tired. Yeah, tired."

"Where's Tisha?"

Shelly let out a small giggle, tilting her head toward her bed. Twisted Tisha lay curled up, sound asleep.

Dandy chuckled. Vee, on the other hand, tried - and failed - not to show her jealousy.

The dinosaur enthusiast turned back to them with a soft smile.

"What, um... what did you need?"

This time, Dandy spoke up.

"Shelly, Bobette’s still alive."

Silence. Shelly froze, her glowing eyes widening.

"She's..."

"Yeah."

Dandy confirmed.

"She’s still down there. We’re getting ready to go find her, and we were hoping you-"

He barely got the words out before Shelly blurted -

"YES! YES, I'LL HELP! O- of course, I'll help!"

Her eagerness caught Dandy off guard, but he smiled anyway.

"Great! Let's go tell the others, okay?"

Shelly nodded and stepped out, shutting the door behind her as she followed them back to the elevator. Her footsteps were still heavy, each one landing with a soft thud against the floor. It was... unnerving. But they all stepped inside the elevator, Dandy hopping over the counter to pull the lever. The platform jolted and then began to descend.

"..."

"..."

"...So, Shelly-"

Vee broke the silence first.

"Are you... okay?"

Shelly glanced down at the TV toon, curiosity flickering in her glowing eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"I-I mean you- you twisted! Like, how are you recovering? Are you alright? Do you need anything?"

Vee’s gaze flickered over Shelly’s transformed body as she shifted uneasily on the cold metal floor.

"Please, tell me anything! How did this even happen!? We've all been so careful not to ingest this- this ichor stuff-"

She turned to Dandy, her voice rising.

"And you! How did you even twist!? How did you go back to normal so quickly!?"

The air in the elevator grew tense. Her overflowing questions, the sheer confusion in her voice, made both of them uneasy.

"Vee-"

Dandy tried to interject, only to be met with more words.

"None of this makes sense! Did you both drink something weird!? What happened!?-"

"Vee!"

"We have been SO careful about this! Is it the ichor on your clothing!? I told you that you needed to be more-"

"VEE!"

Dandy screams at the gameshow host, his teeth sharpening a little as his claws dig into the wood of his shop. The soft music playing around him gets distorted and off-key, just for a moment. This scared Vee enough into silence as Dandy needed to take a few long gruff breaths to calm down.

"Don't start blaming us for everything."

Vee just sighs as the elevator soon comes to a halt and the door opens, letting the three walk out and soon make their way back to Astro and Sprout in the dining room.

"Hey! We're back!"

Dandy calls out as Sprout finishes preparing some sweet treats. Astro looks up and is about to smile before almost shrieking at the sight of Shelly.

"OH MY-"

Sprout quickly covers the dreamer's mouth as he shares a similar, but subtler, shocked expression.

"Whoa."

Is what he mutters out instead as Shelly sheepishly laughs, scratching the back of her neck, her sharp teeth on full display.

"You look like you could tear us in half."

Sprout says, causing Shelly to start giggling a little, lightening the mood a little.

"Ohhh! Ima get'cha!"

Shelly laughs more as she pretends to chase Sprout who promptly starts to run, chuckling as well. Soon enough, everyone was. The area filled with the laughs and chuckles of the mains, almost bringing them back to a time before this. Before all of this. It felt nice, but all good things must come to an end, right?

Slowly, the laughter died down and the cheery mood went back to somber as everyone remembered what they were here for. Dandy coughed in his hand to get everyone's attention again.

"Heh... Uh, okay... Are we ready?"

He asks, looking at everyone, their hearts heavy as they knew this could take a while. No one knew where Bobette might be or if she was all right, hell, she could be actively hiding somewhere. She was always good at hide and seek... Everyone collectively nods as they head to the elevator. If this ended well, they'd have another ally. But if it didn't...

They might just end up with another problem.