Chapter Text
Dogday could feel his body beginning to shut down, which was a horrifying feeling as much as it was a freeing one. The smaller critters were still within his body, scurrying and pushing just beneath the skin as they dragged him around like a stuffed animal. To be fair, he technically WAS one, but still.
The tiredness and hunger from his years of silent torture had been replaced with the horrific burning pain of his insides being squished and broken as he was piloted towards a victim, who thankfully escaped. But now, not even 10 minutes after the fact, he could feel his body become colder; And he knew he wasn’t waking up again.
He was kind of glad. He had nothing to live for anyways. All of his friends, his family, were dead; Slaughtered by Theodore Catnap in the name of his “god.” Any innocent victims had long since died or, in the toys’ case, gone mad. He himself had lost his lower half as well as his will to go on. So when the numbness finally pulled him into a dark embrace, he welcomed it.
He briefly wondered if there was an afterlife for toys like him, and if he would meet his friends? Maybe not Picky, who went straight to cannibalism, or Crafty, who went mad not too long after the Hour of Joy. He hated thinking like that, but he really didn’t have enough brain power left to care about pleasantly. And hey….. Who could blame him?
Thud
Thud
Thud
“-Ill………. -ep?”
“Sta-....... ways-......... rst.”
“He-...... ki-........ Ared?”
“Hang-..... -king up.”
Dogday felt….. He….. Felt? He could still only see the dark abyss, so the voices made no sense to him. In fact, he could barely comprehend anything as of right now. He was dead, or, he should be at least. But then why could he suddenly feel the blood coursing through veins that had been torn out? Why did his arms not feel like snapping on a morning breeze? Why could he feel his legs!?
Eventually, he rediscovered how his eyelids work and abruptly snapped them open, quickly coming to regret it as a bright source of light shined over him. He instinctively brought his hands up, groaning in annoyance as he slogged upwards. “D-Dogday?” He froze when he heard his name, specifically at the voice who said it.
His eyes, finally adjusting to the new brightness of the room, caught a glimpse at a familiar bunch of colorful animals; The Smiling Critters! Crafty Corn, Bobby Bear Hug, Bubba Bubbaphant, Kickin’ Chicken, Hoppy Hopscotch, and Picky Piggy!.... Well, kind of? For whatever reason, they were all wearing various articles of clothing now.
Crafty had brown overalls and a gray shirt, Hoppy had a green sweater and black sports shorts, Bubba had an entire lab coat on with a dark blue shirt and gray pants, Picky just wore a simple hot-pink shirt with gray pants and a black belt, Kickin’ had brown pants and some kind of football jock jacket,and Bobby had an open jacket with a black tank top and dark red sweatpants.
Dogday shifted uncomfortably, discovering 2 things; He was sitting on a couch, and he also had clothing. A tank top with the letter “1” on both the front and back, and some simple dark orange shorts. Of course, everyone still had their iconic necklaces dangling from their neck, his included.
“Geez, it’s about time you woke up,” Kickin’ mutters slightly, “not like ya to sleep in much dude-”
“Oh sweet God I’m dead,” Dogday spoke flatly, being caught off guard at how “normal” his voice sounded. Instead of the deep, gruff, and scratchy voice he’s known for over 30 years, he now held the voice of a higher pitch, something sounding like a kid entering their teenage years.
“H-Huh? Dogday, a-are you feeling alright?” Bubba spoke, concern sprawling onto his face. Dogday looked over to him, not hiding his gaze at all as he stared at the elephant down.
“N-No, that can’t be right, I’m not too sure that this is how death works- But I couldn’t have survived- Why doesn’t this make any-” Dogday began to speak nonsense, his sentences blending into each other as they fought to escape his mind through his mouth. The rest of the critters began to grow even more concerned, but before they could voice any of these concerns, someone opened the front door.
The attention was drawn to it, and Dogday felt his heart sink to the lowest point possible. Because a purple feline, wearing a dark & light purple hoodie, a matching nap cap, and black sweatpants, stood in the doorway, a horrifyingly familiar smile plastered onto his face.
“Oh, Catnap!” Bobby spoke up, he face getting a smile, “you’re just in time actually, Dogday just woke up and he’s acting a little-”
“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!”
Dogday, using his new voice, let out the most bloody scream he could muster. The Smiling Critters instantly stumbled back at the sound, allowing the dog to do the one thing he couldn’t before; Run.
He frantically pushed against the couch cushions, the strength of both his arms and legs being hard to gauge for him. He fell onto the wood coated floor before scrambling back up and taking off, his necklace falling in the process.
The house grew quiet. No, it just BECAME quiet. No one quite knew what to do in this situation. Everyone felt a small amount of fear creep into their hearts, silently pleading for someone, anyone, to make some kind of noise. Finally, Hoppy was the one to speak, “W-What was that a-all about?” Her voice trembled, her eyes drawn to the hallway that their friend had run down.
“... C-Catnap? Are you okay?” Bobby’s words brought attention to the cat, who everyone now realized was shaking. Catnap only responded with a shake of his head, earning a deep sigh from the bear. She, mustering her courage, took the steps towards the fallen pendalet of Dogday, scooping it gently into her hands.
On the corner now spread a crack, one of the pointed orange rays of the sun was chipped off during its fall. She moved her hands up and down as she began to follow Dogday’s path, hoping to calm him down before things got too crazy.
It didn’t take long to find him at all; And she’s glad she did. Dogday was in the kitchen…. A knife drawn to his left leg. “D-DOGDAY?!” She screamed in shock, getting the canine to look over at her. Tears were running down his face and onto the floor, his lips were quivering, the knife shook along with his hands, and he looked…. Tired?
The rest of the Smiling Critters booked it to Bobby’s scream, and they all became just as horrified. “W-What in the world are you doing?!” Picky exclaimed.
“Dogday……. P-Put the knife down-”
“No,” Dogday cut off the rabbit, his brow curling down, “I-I get what this is now. You sick F*CK!” Dogday brought the knife away from his leg and pointed the tip at Catnap, who stood silently. “I’ve gotta admit it, this is a low that I never thought you could stoop to, I don’t even know why you’ve kept me alive for so long but get this- I’M. DONE.”
“I will NOT be your plaything a-any longer, no matter how many lies you try to spin or- or how many nightmares you give me-”
“What in the world are you talking about?!” Hoppy, paying Dogday back for earlier, cut in, “Catnap’s done nothing to you-”
“WOW! You’re making me think my friends sided with you, is that how we’re playing it now? Ehehehh, tha- Sniff that’s real cheap…..”
Dogday’s legs, with his brain using pure adrenaline to keep his upright, finally gave out. He, surprisingly, did not crash into the floor. Instead, he found himself being caught by Catnap. He attempted to squirm out of his grasp, until he heard a sniffle. He managed to feel some wetness down his back, and realized that Catnap was crying.
“I-I’m sorry for whatever I’ve done…. To make you upset,” Catnap’s voice was a light as a feather, nearly inaudible. It was so jarring to Dogday, given how Catnap’s voice was meant to be deep, imposing, and threatening. Instead, his voice now carried a gentleness that was foreign to the dog, but one that he melted in.
He hadn’t realized that he dropped the knife, which was quickly put away by Kickin’, until he felt himself getting wrapped in one big group hug. It was overwhelming, and yet he never wanted to leave.
Dogday hadn’t realized a full hour had passed until they were all seated outside, the sun now hanging brightly over his head. And man, what a beautiful sight; The baby blue sky, the brilliant yellow and orange combo of the sun, and the white fluffy clouds high above the ground.
“-So, we’re all in believing that you might've had a “Night Terror,-” Bubba’s conversation came back into Dogday’s focus, “these are believed to be rare, but dangerous. They’re like regular nightmares, only they seem to be more real. Think like the bad version of vivid dreaming, where you can fully believe that you are experiencing a completely different life all in the span of a few hours!”
Ah, that’s right, they were going with the “Dogday had an extremely bad dream” idea…. It was probably for the best that they believed it then. “D-Do they happen often?” He found himself asking, earning a soft smile from Bubba.
“Of course not! According to most studies, people usually only experience them once in their entire life, sometimes twice, but never more than three!”
“Good, ‘cause I really don’t want to go through that again,” Kickin’ said, fishing a lollipop from one of his jacket’s sleeves, “seriously dude, you nearly gave me a heart attack. ME!”
Dogday felt a rush of embarrassment, even though he was intentionally playing down his….. “History” for their sake.
“Hey, knock it off,” Crafty warned, her front still turned away from the group, “it wasn’t just YOU that he got scared.” Kickin’ made a few mumbles of understanding as he stuck his treasure into his mouth.
“... I-I’m sorry, about all of that,” Dogday, trying his damn best to make good of the situation, attempted to lighten the weight, “I scared you all over some silly nightmare… And what a nightmare it was.”
“It’s alright Doggy,” Bobby said, placing a furry paw onto his shoulder, “what matters right now is moving past it-”
“DONE!” Crafty suddenly jumped up, dragging a hidden Catnap along with her. The feline gave a small grumble of annoyance as the unicorn quickly trodden over to Dogday, extending her hooves out to him. Within her grasp was his sun necklace, the piece of jewelry having been lovingly pieced and painted over. If it wasn’t for the still visible crack, no one would have assumed that it was broken in the first place.
“Sorry that we couldn’t fix the crack, I don’t have the materials to fix it…. Yet!”
“N-No no, it’s fine, really. It’s more than I could’ve asked for,” Dogday mumbled his thank you, her smile giving him a sense of joy. He quickly wrapped the familiar string around his neck, the necklace feeling right at home.
Home…… Home sweet home……