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The gentle chimes of music slowly got louder as the elevator descended, and Glisten began to wonder if he should have spent some of his tapes.
The elevator was silent. Always painfully silent as the group waited for their fates. Even the most talkative of toons held their breath, anticipating the horrors that awaited them in the depths of this hell.
Glisten futzed with his dress shirt. It was dangerous times like these that he wished he came down in more casual clothes, but his logic was outweighed by a need to keep up appearances.
The team exchanged nervous glances as the door opened, and the lights went out. The music called out like a lullaby, promising a more sinister kind of sleep.
Glisten recalled the begging looks Dandy had given him as he progressively got more frustrated. Glisten had chosen to ignore him, like everyone else had. They had all been protesting him, so to speak, for getting them into this mess in the first place.
But the looks seemed to be towards him specifically. Glisten was used to admiration, of course, but from Dandy, the main character? It was nothing short of absurd. The whole thing made him uneasy.
Dandy, in general, made him uneasy. And it wasn’t because of the operation. But he didn’t know what it was about him.
He tugged on his bow once more, trying to be the last into the darkness. The door shut behind him, almost catching his pant legs in the bottom.
As he wandered, he came to recognize his surroundings as a kitchen. In all his time in these depths, he knew the layout well. But for security’s sake, he still dragged his hand along the wall to guide himself.
A glowing red light shone in the darkness, and he approached. A loud crunch played out in the distance. Someone was dead.
The valve seemed much colder than it usually did. Maybe fear made his hands warm. Maybe the looming breaths of death watching over his shoulder made the air icy.
The crank seemed to be much harder to turn, and the safety mechanisms seemed so much more sudden. The office around him, this office, always made him feel slow and sick. And yet, he always ended up on this machine. The stained pink chair that wasn’t quite pushed in, it was his only hope of surviving after completing this machine.
A machine rang out in the distance. Probably the third machine done by now, meaning there was one other besides the one he had his hands around.
The ichor seeped behind the glass. He hadn’t heard any other noises, so maybe Dandy was the only creature here. Or maybe the soft music outshone everything else.
It almost seemed to be getting louder. The machine was almost full. With one last turn, the chime went off.
He felt eyes crawling along his back. It was some odd instinct that the toons had, being able to tell when something that wasn’t a toon was watching them. Perhaps they were programmed to know so that they could always make sure they were good role models when they needed to be. But now it served to warn them of danger.
Glisten ducked under the desk, shoving the chair in between him and the doorway. He had hidden moments too late. He had been spotted. No way in hell would he be living to see another day.
Thundering footsteps approached him, the music becoming so loud it drowned out all rational thought. He held his breath tightly in his throat.
Large feet with rainbow talons stepped in front of him. Hot breath hit his feet as the beast stood before him.
Its voice, though, was quiet. Hardly to be heard. Soft, like this was the real Dandy.
“You always hide here, Glisten.” Its chuckle might be mistaken as friendly by someone who could not see. “When with you learn?”
The claws reached for his leg and dragged him out. “Like clockwork.” He said.
Those bulging red eyes stared down at him. Two rows of sharp, glimmering teeth. Salivating at the sight of the helpless mirror beneath, waiting for the first bite. Glisten could smell his hunger.
“You’re my favorite.” Its clawed hand moved up to his neck. “You speak so proudly yet shatter so well. You make a beautiful mess.” It sneered. “You’re so weak. So soft.” Its hand trailed down his torso and a single nail caught on the belt of his pants.
Glisten wanted to make a run for it, but where would he go? He was backed into a corner.
The hand reached back up to his neck again, pressing on it softly, but with his sheer strength it was anything but soft.
“I might let the others escape. Just so I can play with you. I can never quite break you right, though.” His sneer faded. “You always seem to hold on the tightest. I’m never quite satisfied, like I am squashing the others.”
“Are you letting me go?” Glisten whimpered. It was a desperate thought, but maybe if he knew to start begging now it would be over quick.
“I haven’t even started.”
Glisten’s hands trembled as his tried to pry the fingers off of his neck. They were not choking him, but he could feel his esophagus pressing against his trachea and his breaths drew raspily.
With a swift movement downward, Glisten’s blouse was cut in half. Glisten cried in pain as the claw dug through his flesh, ichor beginning to flow out of the wound.
He prayed for someone to come into the doorway and drag Dandy’s attention away from him. But nobody came.
The hands released him, and he scrambled into the corner. He grasped his bleeding chest, his hands coming away black.
“Do you know why I need tapes, Glisten?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Watching old episodes of the show keeps me calm. Watching the time me and my friends spent together keeps me together.” He gripped his face roughly, pulling him up onto his feet, then lifting him just high enough that his feet felt the ground. Glisten swore he felt his face crack. “When I lose myself, I become violent. I become hungry.” He tossed him back to the floor.
“To be twisted is to hunger for ichor. To be a toon is to be the purest ichor. Unlike the others, if I feast, then I can return. I can become what I once was. Your friendly little shopkeeper. Do you remember now?”
Glisten stared up in horror, frozen. His mind begged him to escape, or to at least find death quicker than he was.
“I am hungry, Glisten.” He shoved two claws into Glisten’s stomach and pried it open. His ribs cracked and blood spurted. Glisten cried out once more. “Your death will be as slow as you want it to be.”
Glisten grabbed blindly at his body, his intestines spilling out. He tried to push them back in, but he couldn’t get them to fit.
“I know you’re smarter than this.”
The organs slipped from his bloody, slippery grasp and Glisten reached into his body, finding something to feed the beast before him. He felt something squishy and tried to pull, but he couldn’t. It hurt too much and his hands were too wet to keep hold on anything.
The faraway ding of the last machine being completed mocked him. The sound of the elevator opening in the distance called to him. Even if by a miracle he made it back, what use would he be? Ripped in half, covered in his own blood, trying to simultaneously stuff his own organs back in while failing to tear others out to feed this beast before him. He couldn’t bear to let his teammates see such a sight, so he kept quiet. The most he could do was keep this thing occupied so his teammates had a chance at survival
He tried to wipe his hands on his shirt. He dug back into his abdominopelvic cavity, trying to sever the tubes that connected this organ to others. He clasped one hand over his mouth so nobody could hear him scream.
He managed to pull the first thing out. What appeared to be a kidney sat bloody and crumpled in his hand. He held it out to Dandy, who ate it off of his hand.
Through teary eyes, Glisten watched as some of the ichor seemed to drip away. Dandy was smaller now, maybe the size of twisted pebble. But he still looked hungry.
Glisten reached back in compliantly, gripping the feasible ends of the intestines that swung lazily in front of him. The elevator slammed in the distance. He could let himself cry now.
Dandy stared at him like a dog begging for food. That's what he was, nothing more than an animal. But no animal could ever be so cruel. No animal was intelligent enough to make Glisten do this to himself.
Glisten tugged and pried until the flesh tore on one end. He felt so hollow. He was less than he ever was. He tried to use his nails to make the other end easier to tear, to little avail. But nothing was more relieving than the feeling of his own flesh splitting, knowing that he was almost done, almost dead.
He held it out weakly, and it was taken from him. More ichor melted away. It wasn’t far from the Dandy he knew, the version that made him uncomfortable. Maybe this was why. Maybe this wasn’t the first time.
Its teeth were hardly sharp, and it didn’t look so hungry as it had been. But it was still hungry.
Glisten reached up past his ribs, struggling to get his hands past his diaphragm. He tried to tug at his lung, but his trachea had rounds of cartilage that he could not bring himself to break.
“You have your heart left, Glisten.” Dandy spoke.
Glisten stopped for a moment. He felt the pounding muscle against his palm, but he was so weak. His legs buckled beneath him, too weak to hold his weight any longer. His hand slipped out of his chest and beside him.
Dandy took a step closer and got down on the floor beside him, holding his face up to look at him. “You’re still so warm, even with so much soul missing.” Dandy’s knee pressed against Glisten’s crotch. “So much ichor… You’re gorgeous like this. I know you can’t fight me anymore.” He pressed a kiss against his cracked face. “Don’t be fooled. I don’t love you. I just can’t resist destroying you.”
Dandy reached for the torn remnants of Glisten’s bow, having fallen to the side after getting torn in the same motion as the shirt. He carefully knotted Glisten’s arms together behind him with the ribbon, though it was pointless. Dandy had said it himself, Glisten was too weak to fight back.
Dandy tugged down Glisten’s dress pants, ripping them with his not-quite-twisted claw.
Glisten begged for death to come. Empty, half decent, bleeding out and in agony. Bare before his abuser, his only crime being too hard to break.
The music had faded significantly since feeding Dandy his own organs, but knowing what was coming he begged for some noise to drown it out.
Dandy slipped off the overalls that had reformed since his twisted form had begun to melt away.
“This is your fault. Give up on hope. You weren’t made to be loved. You were made to serve me.” He whispered. “Next time, remember. I want my tapes.”
Glisten could not do more than groan at the unwelcome entry. He already hurt too much. He hardly struggled, trying to push Dandy away with his feet.
Each thrust banged his head against the wall. He had been in this position before, below somebody, willingly, but this was not the same. His inky, clawed hands caressed his body. Poking and prodding, trying to find the weakest flesh to sink his teeth into.
Dandy tried to be romantic, solely to make it worse for Glisten. He peppered kisses along the bloodstained broken skin, licking and nibbling his neck, running his tongue along Glisten’s flaccid dick.
“If you tear your heart out for me, I can return to normal and let you die in peace.” Dandy offered, mocking him. “I’ve got to get back to my shop soon.”
Glisten struggled against his constraints. He wanted to oblige.
“No? Oh, you must be enjoying this then? I always knew you were a slut, Glisten.” Dandy traced a circle around his nipple with his finger before biting down and taking a mouthful of flesh for himself. “I knew deep down you wanted me.”
Dandy stared at him for a second more before grasping Glisten’s hair and pulling him up to his knees. “You haven’t spoken in ages. All you’re doing is crying. Did I break you finally?” Without waiting for an answer, he slammed the mirror’s face onto the floor with a loud crack. Glass came away from his face, left on the floor.
Dandy let go of his hair, and Glisten slumped over, coughing. The taste of ichor was bitter in his throat. “If you won’t give up your heart, I’ll take it myself.” Dandy pinned Glisten’s neck to the wall with his forearm and dug his thumbs under the bottom of his ribs, pulling him open like wrapping paper. The wet slurping and cracking of tearing flesh and bone, exposing the last thing he desired.
Glisten was almost a carcass, his heart beating feebly as his last breaths rose and fell. He couldn’t fight as Dandy took the glass from his own face to sever the arteries that held his heart in place. He couldn’t see Dandy eat the flesh, the last of the ichor dripping away. He didn’t know when Dandy left, no longer feelings eyes gazing at him.
On floor two of a run, Glisten caught Dandy looking at him. He didn’t remember why, but he knew he didn’t want another run in with Twisted Dandy. He bought two sets of gumballs. He gave one to a friend and ate the other himself. He stepped away when someone brushed against him.