Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shiloh sighed as they leaned against a wall. They, as well as the others, came here for what? Retribution? A sense of self-righteousness? Their thoughts were interrupted by a twisted creature approaching them.

“Hey Sprout!”, Shiloh sighed as the creature leaned in, perhaps looking for pats Shiloh proposed. It still didn’t stop them from tensing up when it- he came in closer.

Shiloh ran and ran as they were being hunted. They were such damn idiots! How did they think that bringing everyone else; Asher, Davis, Selene, and Vivian to an abandoned center (that was where they all previously worked at) was a good idea? Even if they had all known the death trap they were all walking in, it’s still their fault for gathering everyone.

God, they were just thinking about their old job. The one in 96’ where they worked as “toon handlers”. The toons- artificial life forms that were created from this “ichor” by their boss, Delilah Xeen for entertainment and education for the masses at the “Gardenview Centre”. It was all going fine, well even, until that fateful day where everyone got fired. All Deliah said was that “the toons were upset with them”. Upset? UPSET?! Shiloh thought it was bull along with everyone else. They all objected, fought, and even cried a bit (thanks Vivian) until they were all kicked out. Legally they weren’t welcome there anymore and because of this, everyone was forced to move on with their own lives.

While Shiloh had no real idea of what the rest of the group ended up doing, they started to work as a private detective. Clients lined up for their “special” services. Need a real answer the police wouldn’t give? Shiloh was on it! Cold case that was dropped? Not on Shiloh’s watch! But, even with all of those distractions, their mind still drifted to Gardenview. More importantly, what happened to the toons after they and the others got fired? Everyone assumed that the toons were simply moved. That they were all protected in some sort of facility where they were with each other instead of entertaining guests. Shiloh? They were paranoid in all honesty, looking back fondly on the previous life they had working with the toons. So they gathered Asher, Davis, Selene, and Vivian to just see if they were doing fine just one year after they were all fired. Now it’s 2003, what could go wrong?

“SWHOOP!”

A tendril erupted from the ground. Shiloh barely missed being caught (or impaled) by it. They muttered a curse as they threw themselves behind a table. The monster that was currently chasing them? It was Sprout, one of the “main characters” of the centre; Astro, Shelly, Sprout, Vee, and even a rock dog named Pebble. How funny. These main characters were toons, focused on teaching children how to share and care for each other. Ironic, the toon who taught those ideas to kids was the same one hunting them. A roar emitted from the now corrupted strawberry toon, black liquid dripping from his body. His usual stern but helpful voice was now a sickening gurgle that sounded like it came from hell itself.

Sprout stomped as he inched closer to Shiloh’s hiding spot. It felt so close that Shiloh could feel his tendrils summoning to grab them. Shiloh was about to pull out their pistol. They weren’t about to become part of the missing people statistic. it wasn’t over for them. Right?

Before Shiloh could fire their first shot, they felt tendrils invade their body. It constricted them from where they could barely reach their pistol before it suddenly was knocked to the ground by Sprout himself. Shiloh could only utter a shaky response, a plea to hopefully not get torn apart.

“H–hey Seedly… I know you haven’t seen me in a good while but I promise- Mmmph?!”

Shiloh’s attempt was immediately silenced by tendrils muffling their mouth. Oh god, they were really going to die. Not just that but they also dragged others into their delusion. Sprout was gone… he’s now a monster that’ll tear them apart without mercy-

“S–Shiloh…?” Sprout’s croaky voice interrupted Shiloh in their moment. They looked around and realized they were at the abandoned Gardenview Centre. Their coworkers are still here chatting to the now “twisted” toons, alive. They were still alive, not dead. They and Shiloh were all in the ruins of the once grand “Gardenview Centre”. It’s 2003 in Omaha, Nebraska. Thank god.

“Oh Sprout. My bad, I just drifted off but I know that you and the others didn’t mean to hurt us.” Shiloh petted Sprout as he kneeled down for comfort and the familiar touch of his handler they could only sense. They could feel this black goop staining their fingers as well as their own clothes. It felt like sludge but also was foul in a sense. Shiloh could feel themselves getting a nauseous sort of feeling, like they weren’t even supposed to be anywhere near it. Or really any human for that matter. It also didn’t help that the “main” toons grew a couple of feet. This added to their already monstrous appearance and it seemed to Shiloh as if they looked even more mangled compared to the rest of the normal toons. They didn’t even want to know what happened to get them all in such a horrendous state.

Shiloh then looked around to see the rest of their former coworkers comforted by their own main toons while the other toons seemed to have calmed down. After a few seconds of silence, Davis spoke up with a “leader-ish” tone. Normally Shiloh would have been caught off guard by Davis’s serious expression but not this time. Definitely not this time.

“We need to all find some way to find her.” Davis announced to the room, much to the annoyance of Dandy who responded by smooshing Davis more in his already huge four legged like body. The flower toon who was the star of the show! But now? A disheveled abomination with claws that could and maybe would kill in Shiloh’s opinion . Davis’s usual smile was wiped off at this moment. Shiloh mused that even Davis can’t always keep up his happy facade.

“You know we can say Delilah right? It’s not like her name is forbidden-” Selene snarked before her mouth got covered by Shelly. The ammonite shell toon who used to love to teach kids about dinosaurs had particularly gruesome mutations Shiloh could only wince at. Her ribs were completely exposed, some even horrendously inverted, and covered in that same black viscous liquid. Any movement she or any other of the toons emitted a horrendous quelch came from their bodies.

“Selene, please control yourself.” Vivian sternly interjected as Vee’s looming mechanical body stood right over her. Vee just “monitored” Vivian and everyone else, just like she did for her own now past game shows. But Shiloh felt Sprout’s claws dig into their skin but they felt anything but malice from the tightened grip. Even if it hurt more than they would like to admit.

And Asher? Well Astro is currently fussing over him like a parent with a toddler! Not letting him get a word in. Even if the main toon used to teach children how important sleep and a sleep schedule was, it didn’t mean that he had to try and baby a grown man. In all honesty it did irritate Shiloh a bit but that wasn’t the main thing anyone needed to worry about now.

They could feel the tension in the room from the toons to their former co-workers. Everyone seemed to be dancing around the actual subject. Shiloh didn’t know why but they were damned, they were going to say something in the middle of this dilapidated hellhole. They weren’t afraid of saying something brash, that was just their personality they guessed, as long as it didn’t upset Sprout too much.

“Shouldn’t we ask the toons themselves? It’s not like any of us know anything apart from what happened when we all got fired. Plus, Delilah might be the only way any of the toons can be helped.”

Another round of silence spread across everyone (and everytoon). All that Shiloh could hear was the laboured breathing of the main toons hunching all over them. The other toons didn’t bother to speak as it seemed that they all had their own internal issues. However, before anyone could formulate a sentence, Dandy interrupted with a low grumble.

“Fine. I’ll try to think of where that little rat could have scurried off to after she abandoned all of us.” Shiloh couldn’t even stop themselves from being a bit intimidated by Dandy and his demeanor. They didn’t know how the others felt, especially Davis since he’s being the one held by him. Seemingly, Dandy notices and softens his grip while Shiloh could only feel Sprout’s claws dig into their skin. They wouldn’t be surprised if their skin tore from being unconsciously used as a stress toy for the massive anxious strawberry toon.

“Everytoon. Release our toon handlers from your grips. They all need to be comfortable to start listening to me.” Shiloh could feel Sprout shifting his body so that they would be squished against him. The other main toons? Same reaction; clinginess to the worst degree which was met with squirming from Shiloh and their former co-workers.

“Release. Them.” Dandy’s voice boomed across the entire room. It was like Shiloh themselves could feel the pure vibrations from his voice through the air. It startled quite literally everyone and caused the main toons to begrudgingly release Shiloh and the others. But even with that they still sat right next to them. Dandy’s voice calmed down while Shiloh got up from where they were to use this opportunity to tend to the main toons’ and the rest of the toons’ injuries as best they could.

“Dandy… you’ve stated that you have knowledge of where Delilah could possibly be. Mind spilling it?” Shiloh stated in a very blunt tone. Something they had used when they had to do their own special interrogating.

“Ah. So you still have that attitude of yours?” A bitter chuckle came from the twisted flower toon’s mouth. Shiloh just wanted him to get to the point already for once, not annoy them with trivial hypotheticals. Dandy noticed and he then turned back to his serious tone. “Alright then, from what I know, Delilah could have fled anywhere but she most likely just went into her own house to hide.”

Shiloh’s eyebrow quivered in interest. Finally some useful information. “Well how do you think me and the others could locate her? It’s not like we have her goddamn address written down on a piece of paper-”

Right after Shiloh stated their snarky response, Dandy interrupted by sliding a piece of paper to Shiloh to the best of his ability with his cat-like claws. Shiloh picked it up and felt its age just from how crumpled and bumpy it felt to their fingers. They squinted their eyes as they tried to read some of the smeared ink to the best of their ability.

Greetings _____,

Meet me at my place at 12. Do not be late or let anyone else follow you. Tell the man near these streets at the hotdog stand: .…___....___.. that you were sent by me.

Sincerely,

Delilah Xeen

Shiloh sighed in contempt. Was this all Dandy had? There must be more information. For god sakes even some of the ink was faded. It was a miracle that they were even able to read it at all!

“Well some of the ink is faded but Dandy do you really think that me and the others will know of a ‘hot dog man’ on some streets?” All that Dandy seemed to respond was with a huff that matched Shiloh’s own. He then shifted his own body.

“While that might not be enough information from just the letter, I do remember that she used to go to a place near here to smoke. Maybe the locals there could have some sort of an idea of who this hot dog man is.” Shiloh sighed in relief but with a mix of skepticism. How were they all going to pull this off?

“Alright then. Thank you for the information you were able to provide to me. I think that me and others will be off.” The second after that sentence was uttered a chorus of objections were emitted from the toons. Even more from the mains and even Dandy himself.

“Guys don’t worry… none of us are leaving any of you permanently. We are just going to go on a quick journey to find Delilah.” Vivian in a tender voice explained to the fussy group of toons, or more accurately twisted creatures Shiloh proposed. Though it seemed to escape most of the group’s eyes, Shiloh could tell the growing animosity when Delilah’s name was even mentioned. How did it escape the others’ notice?

Shelly spoke up in a quivering voice. In almost an inhumane instinct, Selene went back to petting her. Shiloh wouldn’t be surprised if Shelly wasn’t thinking of trapping Selene in that very moment. “P–please… just come back for us…”

During that very moment everyone of Shiloh’s co-workers including themself all objected to that statement. What an idiotic form of thinking. After this, most of the toons were able to calm each other and themselves down. Shiloh even spotted a few of them cracking a smile. A weary one, but a smile nonetheless. Good, they really need it.

“Of course.” was all that Selene and the others said. Then the group left the Gardenview Centre. Shiloh had a specific goal in mind: get Deliah Xeen to help the toons she probably abandoned. No matter what. They sighed as they had the rest of the group follow them to their car as they all got inside of it. Davis decided to open his mouth first.

“No offense Shiloh but how are we going to find Delilah? What did you and Dandy even talk about?”

Shiloh grunted while they started the car, then proceeded to hand that damned letter to the rest of the group. Vivian was the first one to read the slightly crumpled up letter. After the rest of the group read it, Shiloh could tell they were confused. And maybe slightly pissed with them.

“Who the hell is the ‘hot dog man’ and how is this cryptic letter going to help us?!” Asher interrupted in an even more annoyed voice. Before he could continue his rant in his somewhat grating voice (in Shiloh’s own personal opinion), they silenced him with a good glare.

“As I was going to say, I talked with Dandy about how we were all going to find that ra- Delilah.” Shiloh looked at the now even more skeptical group to at least make sure they were listening. The toons’ well-being was on the line. “He told me that Delilah used to go to a specific place to smoke while we were all working. If she’s been there recently, we can ask the people in there for information about her.”

This seemed to resonate with Selene at least. Maybe she was the one to see Delilah since she was the one to do overtime the most? Shiloh just had to assume, no time to question it.

“Oh yeah! I think I remember that place. It’s not far from here at all.” The group curled their eyebrows in interest as Selene explained the basic directions of where the place is before her face fell a bit, reflecting a sense of hesitancy. “Are you sure about this… will it even work…?”

At first, Shiloh had to stop themself from groaning in annoyance. But then, they could feel doubts starting to invade their mind. The little hypothetical left them stunned. Nervous even. Would they even find Deliah? What if something even more horrible happens to the toons while they were all gone? Would it all just end in failure?

failure

failure

failure

failure

F̴̪̠̞̦̣̣̆̎̏̈́̽̓̚͝Ả̵̠̮̖̽Ȉ̷̠̭̄̈͌̎̈́̎͑͂L̴̳͑̈͒̏͊̑͌̚̚Ų̸̡̨͙͓̻̜͋̍̏R̶̨̻̞̫͔̬̗̝͙̳̻̻͒̒̒̈́E̵̟̙̞̊̈́̌͆͒̄̈̅̄̽͘

“Hell that’s going to happen!” Davis shouted out as the other former toon handlers flinched with surprise and even with a hint of nervousness. They’re probably still not used to Davis’s attitude. Shiloh? They felt the stone that was in their stomach dissipate. Even for a moment. They were an adult, they needed to act like it. Their hands gripped the wheel. If they gripped it any harder than no doubt their hands would have started to draw blood.

“For once I agree with Davis. Selene, if you remember, give me the directions. Now.” Shiloh’s stern tone silenced the others. Right after the directions were being spouted by Selene, the car started to drive.

Getting to the oh so “mysterious place” wasn’t too hard. Thankfully for Shiloh and the rest of the group, Selene’s instructions proved to be accurate. The car parked right next to the place.

“A bar? Maybe I shouldn’t be too surprised…” Vivian remarked after everyone got outside of Shiloh’s car. Shiloh could tell that her tone was already resigned. While Shiloh couldn’t read the other’s minds, they could tell that no one was surprised. “But let’s try to get this over with.” All that was let out by the others was a sigh.

Everyone walked into the bar, each person was preparing themselves while Shiloh opened the door with a slight grip. First thing they smelled was the smell of booze. Shouldn’t be that surprising, Shiloh mused. The crowd was booming with varying conversations, one about a missing cat and another about an affair.

“Uh Shiloh, who are we even supposed to ask…? It’s not like we can go up to a random bartender-” Asher’s nervous question was immediately interrupted by Davis taking a seat at the bar and chatting it up with a somewhat aged man who was currently grumbling to himself. Oh god, this was either going to go really good or really bad…

“Guys! Come take a sit, me and him were just chatting it up. I asked him about Deliah and he said he might remember her.” The man’s grumbling seemed to be somewhat quieting down already.

Shiloh sighed in annoyance of their own. Even if Davis had unarguable levels of charisma (Shiloh hated to admit it), how did he expect this to work out?! “Davis, are you sure that he isn’t just some crazy old coot?”

At this Shiloh was met with a glare and a hard nudge from Vivian who desperately tried to mediate the situation. They were only being blunt since the toons’ livelihoods were on the line for god sakes. It’s not a damn game!

“What they meant was that the person Davis might have asked you about may not be the one we are looking for!” Vivian looked at everyone else with a hitch in her breath. In addition, with some added incessant flaying of her hands. “NOT that any of us think of you like how Shiloh made it about to be… heh…”

Shiloh observed the cold man with a judging glare. If this was the man that Davis thinks can help them all, then they were all doomed. But it’s worth a shot, they lamented. Anything to help them. Shiloh swallowed their own pride and calmly questioned him. “Look, I apologize if my remark was rude but are you sure that you know Delilah Xeen?”

The old man just bellowed his chest out in laughter. Laughter? This was serious! They needed to find that disgusting rat to fix the toons. That old geezer was certainly getting on their nerves. But he decided to open his mouth again in a snide tone.

“Don’t worry youngster… I’m not offended. Though the letter that your friend Davis here gave me does seem to be something I recognize.” At this statement Shiloh felt their stomach flutter, could they all possibly be close to finding her? They could feel the tension radiating from the others.

“So my handsome buddy here knows where Delilah is. Right bud?” Davis cheesed in his oh so magnificent voice. Though Shiloh could notice the man’s face blushing slightly- the praise from Davis certainly got to him. “Well I may or may not be the quote unquote ‘hot dog man’ that dear Delilah was talking about~”

Shortly after that little phrase was uttered, a series of objections came from the group. They were obviously bewildered that this was the man who knew where Delilah was hiding! After a bit of silence, (as much as there could be between the group since they were at a bar) the old man finished writing down something. As he gave the note to Davis, Shiloh and the others saw his face light up.

“Come on guys… let’s visit dear old Delilah.” Davis exclaimed as everyone perked up. While his voice sounded sweet, it was sickening to Shiloh but it solidified that Davis was determined to hunt down Delilah. The group started to hastily walk out of the bar while Shiloh followed them in a slightly slowed trot.

As they also started to walk faster, Shiloh couldn’t help but feel the bar’s still cheery atmosphere. The voices of bubbling conversations, arguments, celebrations. Everything was melting in a concoction of muffled voices and gasps. What if that geezer was lying to their faces? Was he truly being honest with them? The hypotheticals were piling in their head like the voices in the bar were. The worn out wood under their shoes creaking. It was as if they were responding to Shiloh’s paranoia.

“Shiloh? You coming?” Shiloh felt Asher’s grip on their shoulder. It gripped them onto reality as well. He pulled them along to catch up with the rest of the group who were already plotting various ways to bring Delilah back where she belongs. Everyone got into Shiloh’s car with a mix of hope and suspicion. They could feel it.

“Here’s the note that guy gave me. It’s at least something.” Davis remarked in a more heartfelt yet dry tone as he gave Shiloh the surprisingly well written note. Asher nudged Davis in a joking manner. He remarked something about Davis “having a type for old men” while Davis just laughed it off. Selene and Vivian were also talking about the sun setting or something. Must have been a miracle it wasn’t too dark in Omaha. Despite the darkness in the sky it wasn’t really ruining anyone’s new hope. Whatever. Shiloh looked at the note and it had directions to Delilah’s presumed house.

“I’m sorry to break into your guys’ conversations, but I need someone to read out the directions on the note.” Shiloh threw the note to the group in the backseat. Vivian caught the note first while she and the others examined it while Shiloh started to drive.

“Go left! Oh uh I mean right?”

“Pretty sure the guy meant to go right on this street.”

“You missed an exit!”

“I think we’re going the wrong way Shiloh…”
After multiple responses from the group, Shiloh was so close to losing it. How hard was it to read and coordinate from a letter?!

God this would all be so much easier if they had a map or something. But eventually, they arrived at the place. Everyone scurried to get out of the car, almost slamming the car doors (much to Shiloh’s slight horror). Shiloh sighed. They all saw the entrance to Delilah’s house, it looked normal. Like it was something meant for a suburban family instead of a mad woman who fired them.

Asher stormed to the front door and slammed it with a ferocious kick. The poor door never stood a chance against him. “Come on guys. I don’t see her in the front of the house.” That was all that Asher decided to grunt out before storming into the house like a goddamn mad man. Everyone soon followed, but Shiloh? Shiloh was on the hunt. They scoured her house, their feet barely making a sound. Being a private detective wasn’t for nothing after all. Their little train of thought was interrupted when they noticed a door was slightly opened. Their eyes opened wide as she stared into the soul of pure evil.

Shiloh recognized her, Delilah Xeen. The little rat they needed to bring back to Gardenview to fix the toons. She seemed to be on her computer, one of those big clunky models. They heard the click clacks and slight mumbling of her on her notes. Quietly, Shiloh opened the door even if it creaked a bit. Nonetheless, Delilah hadn’t noticed at all as Shiloh crept on her behind her back. By the time she did it was too late.

“Hey who are you- mmph?!” Delilah exclaimed while Shiloh pulled out their glock. Shiloh could see Delilah’s eyes widen in confusion and slight surprise as she realized she was being held at gunpoint.

“Come in everyone! I found the little rat we needed. In this room.” At that particular moment footsteps, no stomps were heard from across the wooden tiles of the house. Shiloh felt Delilah trying to shift so they tightened their grip as a warning. There was no way they were losing her now. Not after everything.

Everyone else came in, looks of contempt were across everyone’s faces. Even Vivian’s and Davis, though Viv’s was more of a nervous look while Davis’s was determined. He was the one who spoke up first. Unfortunately for Shiloh it was in that grating charismatic tone.

“Delilah Delilah, remember us? We just want to talk.” His voice was more of a clenched anger than charismatic but the others stepped in.

“E-everyone, let’s all take a seat and talk about this like adults.” Vivian mumbled while she tried to mediate the whole situation. Before she could respond Delilah cut her off with a snide glare. Her response? Irritated to say the least.

“My former employees are here and are currently holding me at gunpoint. Shouldn’t I be questioning why YOU all are in my home?” Shiloh felt themselves (and the entire group) shift a bit with a sense of unease. Their former boss was taking it (having a pistol pointed on one side of her head) pretty well. Too well. Something that always disturbed Shiloh to an extent. Selene “broke” the tension with one “request”. The one that Shiloh and the others dragged themselves on this “quest” for.

“Delilah, me and the others just want you to explain yourself on the whole twisted toon situation.”

“Yeah and to fix your goddamn mess that you left behind.” Shiloh’s snarled comment didn’t go unnoticed to say the least. But Vivian the oh so wonderful mediator hardened her own face and tone for her second attempt.

“Guys. We are all sitting down so that Delilah can explain herself.” At that, everyone forced themselves to try to calm down (besides Delilah of course, the one thing Shiloh didn’t blame her for). “And for god sakes Shiloh, stop pointing that pistol at Delilah’s head. It’s even scaring me a bit…”

After approximately 10 minutes passed, Shiloh and everyone else settled down. They even let Delilah be let go from their grip as she escorted everyone to a diner table of some sorts. Everyone sat down. Soon after that, Delilah spoke up in that “professional” tone she used to use with Shiloh and the others before everything.

“I know you all have questions about what happened to the toons but, you didn’t all have to barge into my house like this.”
An annoyed grunt escaped from Shiloh’s lips, threatening to turn into more of a curse than anything. However they held their tongue. They all needed to negotiate with Delilah to make her come back and help the toons. Not act like a petulant toddler.

“We want you to come back to Gardenview and fix whatever happened to the toons.” Davis made plain what everyone wanted Delilah to do. But Shiloh could tell that she wouldn’t budge. They all needed to find a way to convince her with a bit more grace. Shiloh sucked in their pride and asserted themselves with more of a careful set of words.

“Look Delilah, we know you aren’t a complete monster. The toons need you, we all do.” At that, Shiloh noticed Delilah shifting nervously, perhaps with even some guilt sprinkled in. Her body language was more slouched and unassuming like she was trying to compensate for something. They could tell the others noticed this too as they jumped into the conversation.

“The toons were something that everyone adored. Including you Delilah.” Asher’s voice added even more humanity than Shiloh’s could ever have. Vivian and Selene added their own opinions as well to sway their former boss.

“Me and Viv here love the toons! Especially Shelly and Vee but now they are all twisted and miserable. It was horrendous seeing them all not even able to move their own bodies without pain it just really…”

“Hurts. Like really hurts Delilah, and the toons are hurting even more.” Shiloh analyzed Delilah, she seems now more uncomfortable with everything. Certainly more than when Shiloh pointed a literal gun to the side of her head.

“Please Ms. Xeen, the toons need you. They need help and you’re our only hope. Don’t turn your back on them now.” Davis’s tone was pleading, it even caught Shiloh off guard with how genuine it was. Delilah’s eyes even widened from how vicarious his emotions were. Maybe this was what could make their boss crack?

“F-fine… I’ll come with you.” Yes! Delilah finally cracked and with that everyone sighed in relief. This whole goose chase wasn’t for nothing after all. Thank god. Everyone rushed themselves (and forced Delilah too as well) to Shiloh’s car as they all invaded it.

The ride back to Gardenview shouldn’t be too long. After all, Delilah’s home wasn’t far away from Gardenview. It wouldn’t make that much sense how she was always able to arrive at least two hours before Shiloh or the others could. The car ride itself? Very silent. And awkward…

Definitely awkward. Nobody dared to make a peep, not even Shiloh themselves. This was the same boss that fired them all and then kicked them out without any explanation. Now with the obvious added information of the toons being left behind as well as going through gruesome transformations into twisteds. It was honestly a miracle that they were even able to convince her in the first place. Eventually Shiloh parked their car and they all arrived back to Gardenview Centre, more importantly to toons in need.

As soon as the entire group walked into the abandoned building, Shiloh and the rest of the toon handlers were jumped by their main toons; Dandy rushing over to pick Davis up like how a momma cat would to her own offspring, Shelly rubbing her body against Selene’s, Astro fussing over Asher’s “apparent lack of sleep”, Vee quizzing Vivian to see if she was in her right mind. But what was Sprout doing with Shiloh? Using his tendrils to wrap around their own body but, they were able to feel that they weren’t constricting like before. No, it was more of a gentle yet firm embrace. Like Sprout was wrapping a blanket around Shiloh’s body during a cold winter. Speaking of such, it seems that it was so late that the sun already set, nighttime was as dark as the liquid coating the toons.

The other toons perked their heads up presumably hearing the onslaught of affection that Shiloh and their former co-workers were getting. That was until Dandy spotted Delilah. At that moment Shiloh could feel the tendrils that wrapped around their body tighten as to protect them from her. They looked to the others who were no doubt experiencing similar things from their respective toons.

“What are you doing here…? After ALL you’ve done.” Dandy let out a raw, guttural scream of what can only be described as pure anger. Shiloh even trembled a bit themselves at the sheer force of it, coming from a creature a couple of feet taller than them. The dark, viscous liquid dripped from Dandy’s mouth causing even Davis to squirm under it. Delilah’s usual “boss-like” demeanor slightly faltered as even more toons joined Dandy in a chant for “revenge”. Shiloh knew they needed to do something or else whatever this dark liquid was isn’t going to be the only thing covering the toons…

Shiloh tried to speak over the chanting but Sprout just covered their mouth again. They gave him a little squeeze of assurance, that they just needed to speak for a moment. Shiloh felt Sprout reluctantly releasing his tendrils while they gave him a little pat. “E-everytoon here! May I have your attention?!”

The toons at first didn’t even notice (or care) about Shiloh’s request. They needed to be louder or something- a deafening roar interrupted their line of thinking and everyone else. It came from Sprout who was at least annoyed that none of the toons were paying attention to Shiloh at all. “T-thank you Sprout. Now that I have all of you guys’ attention, me and the rest of the toon handlers brought Delilah here to fix whatever mess she made. We should at least give her a chance to speak.”

What came after Shiloh uttered those two simple sentences was a guttural growl from Dandy, who seemed the most pissed at Delilah. “None of you understand what she did to us. What she did to ME.” Before Shiloh or the others could even question what Delilah exactly did, the rat herself interrupted.

“I was trying to save the company… to save all of you from being taken away from me!” That was the most emotion Shiloh ever heard come out from Delilah. She seemed almost… guilty? And even shameful of herself. But Dandy didn’t seem to believe her himself.

“So giving me an excess of ichor to ‘help’ the other toons and then running away once you realized it twisted the others and then me was helping?!” The rest of the human group and Shiloh were absolutely gobsmacked. The revelation clearly hit them all hard. Shiloh never knew Delilah would go that far and do such a horrendous thing to the beings she created herself. Their stomach felt it was sinking even more than when Sprout was hunting them down.

Delilah tried to scurry away from the entire group while Shiloh was released from Sprout’s grip. They took this as Sprout suggesting to them to catch up to Delilah. They all worked so hard to bring her here in the first place. It wasn’t about to be thrown away because Delilah was scared.

“Delilah. You can’t run away from this now. It’s your mess to clean up.”

Delilah stopped in her tracks at the sound of Shiloh’s voice. She turned herself to face Shiloh in an almost desperate look on her face. Shiloh’s breath hitched a bit, they really weren’t used to the same boss who always had such a serious demeanor acting like this.

“It was the best thing for me to leave the toons after what I’ve done.” Shiloh’s eyes widened, the gall of this woman?! They clenched their right hand into a fist, that anger that they’ve always hidden was boiling up.

“Stop your goddamn pity party.” The cold response made Delilah look up from the ground in surprise. Any objections from her probably died in her mouth from just that. After a couple seconds of silence, Delilah nodded in response. Her expression turned into her usual stoic one but she started to walk back to the entire group while Shiloh followed. Despite the growls from the toons, (mainly Dandy) she pulled out a med kit that she brought from her house.

Delilah started to robotically (even with some sort of tenderness) start to wrap bandages around Shelly’s exposed ribcage. She made sure to clean out any of the black liquid that was still on her body. Shelly seemed to use Selene as her own stress toy while the other toons relaxed a bit. Delilah looked up and questioned Shiloh and the others.

“Aren’t you all going to leave? I thought you all got what you needed.”

The others and Shiloh objected to that statement in a series of offended grunts and cries. Everyone got something out of the kit that was still open on the ground as they all started to work on the toons’ injuries and even infection.

“Look Delilah, everyone and I mean everyone here is still mad at you. But I feel as it is my and the others’ responsibility to help you heal the toons.” Shiloh’s voice was calm as they wiped Sprout’s face with a cloth to get the sticky, dark mess from his face and mouth. He seemed to greedily take the affection from Shiloh. The others were cleaning their “respective” toons while the other toons were waiting for their presumed turn.

“I guess it’s better late than never.” Delilah remarked as she narrowly avoided being bitten by Shelly’s jaws. She was at least trying to atone for her mistakes and everyone let her, it was the least she could do. Shiloh felt the light creeping in from the windows. It coated everyone in a blanket of warmth as well as the building itself. The sun was rising from its grave, maybe this really was a new beginning after all.

Chapter Text

Journal Log- #3,625 August 23, 2003

This was certainly an eventful day to say the least. My former employees broke into my home and one of them, Shiloh Selliton, even held me at gunpoint. They all demanded to know what happened to the toons while I was trying to figure out how the hell they got in. I’ll admit I fired them all one year ago on this exact date, but it was for their own good. The government was trying to take the toons away to “analyze their biological makeup”. However, I called them out on their lies since I knew they would just be experimenting on them and exploiting their abilities.

How would I know? I’m the person who made these toons in the first place, plus, I have a degree and everything! Of course I know how they work. I made sure that they were satisfied with their toon handlers and myself. I always came about one or two hours ahead of any of my employees so that any lingering government agents would be kicked out accordingly. But…seven years later, they accused me of negligence of the toons based on false reports from “concerned guests”. I panicked and told Dandy to distribute the ichor to every other toon and himself, hoping that the extra substance in their systems wouldn’t make them viable for testing. I therefore made the government’s attempts to experiment on the toons useless. But it all went wrong. The toons transformed into these monsters that could no doubt tear a human apart limb from limb. I had to leave and fire my employees so that we wouldn’t be compromised or be imprisoned for “creating” these dangerous creatures. There was no other option unless I wanted to have even more blood on my hands. The government just considered them dead as they never bothered to find them once I left. I thought my struggles would end there.

However, my former employees decided that going to the abandoned center would be a good idea. They could have died terrible gruesome deaths if the toons didn’t recognize them! Were they just thinking with their emotions when they decided to TRACK ME DOWN BY POINTING A GUN AT MY HEAD?! It’s a miracle that they were all able to get the toons not to attack me when we came back especially Dandy… I say it’s a miracle that things went as well as it did for them as well as myself. I am tending to Dandy’s wounds (as well as the other toons) with my former employees here, we will be staying here for the foreseeable future.

Signing off,
Delilah Xeen