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“Well, I'll be going now!” Dandy said, pulling a lever. He waved as his shop descended back below.
The elevator was a bit.. tense, to say the least. Out of the 5 in the elevator, few toons were in shape to extract on the next floor: Rodger was shaken from seeing his daughter as a twisted, Vee had gotten attacked and had a crack in her screen, and Shelly was staying with Vee until she healed.
Which left Sprout and Glisten to get ichor.
As the elevator door opened, Shelly gave words of encouragement towards the two. Sprout returned the words with a smile, whilst Glisten just rolled his eyes.
Sprout stepped out of the elevator, adjusting his scarf so it didn't get in the way. Glisten quickly rushed off, heading to the first machine he saw, eager to get this over with.
Sprout did the same, although he took his time so he could save his stamina. He picked up a few tapes on the way, which he was more than glad about: he could heal Vee when he got back to the elevator!
He arrived at a machine rather quickly and began spinning the valve. He watched as ichor slowly started to trickle down.. Very, very slowly. It made him a bit mad sometimes how slow his extraction speed was.
It was going well… until he failed a skillcheck. He looked around for a place to hide, trying to get away before a twisted got there.
By the time he'd found a spot, he'd already been seen. Sprout turned, breath hitching when he'd realized which had seen him.
Cosmo. His lover. Ichor dripping down one side of his face.
He ran off, the twisted giving chase. He dashed behind a box, hoping he'd be hidden from the twisted.
Unfortunately, it'd followed him.
He winced as he was scratched across the chest. He wasn't sure what to do. He was at one heart and didn't have enough room to run.
However, Cosmo didn't attack again. He stared, red eyes meeting Sprouts black ones. He brought his clawed hand up to his face, gently caressing it.
“...️S̴̨̛͇̺͇͕̟̘̒͆̀͝p̸͂͒̋͒̓̃͊̐̔͘͝ŕ̶̛̰̱̈́̀́̑̿̾͛͂̈́͗̓̈́̒͘͝️o̶͐̇͋̅̃̈́u̴̢̠͎̲̗̮̤̥̪̖̦͈͛̈́̀̒̒̄̚͠t̵̏͛̃̚͝?”
“Cosmo..”
For a moment he thought he'd come back. That he'd overcome the ichor. Cosmo brought a finger up to Sprouts lips (his FACE lips) and prodded his mouth open. For a moment, he was confused. Until the twisted choked out a word.
“B̴̢̠̋̊͑̈̾̑̊͒͗̽I̸̡̛̳͌̉͋͐͒̍T̶̝̿̑͆̀͋̎̅̓͘̕͝Ě̵̛́̅͒̽̍̐͋͝”
Cosmo inserted his finger into Sprouts mouth. He felt ichor dripping onto his tongue. His eyes darted around, not wanting to look Cosmo in the eyes.
If he bit down, he'd surely be a goner. Everytoon knew what would happen when you ingested ichor: you'd become a twisted, hungering for the very thing that the toons were created from.
And he wondered if that was so bad.
It'd been agonizing when he lost Cosmo; He wouldn't leave his room for days. And even after the guilt and grief had worn off, he still had to go on without him. Wake up without anyone by his side. Make breakfast alone.
There was no one he could tell everything to. There was no one he could share secret kisses with in-between runs. Sure, he was close with the other toons, but nowhere near as close as he was with him.
And if he did this one thing, he wouldn't feel that guilt anymore. He'd be with his beloved again. He wouldn't have to get through the day without him.
He bit down, teeth slicing right through the ichor--and Cosmos finger. The taste of ink and chocolate filling his mouth. Ichor dribbled down his throat. He swallowed, almost gagging from the disgusting taste.
When Sprout looked back at Cosmo, his eyes were focused on him.
And for a moment, he was at peace.
Even as his body twisted, the leaves on the top of his head curling and dripping with ichor.
Even as he screamed, ichor dripping from his mouth, voice slowly giving out.
He collapsed onto his knees, body shaking. He reached up for Cosmo, his hand completely covered in ichor, fingers sharpening into claws.
Cosmo took his hand, curling his own claws around Sprouts.
He smiled, vision growing hazy as he was overcome with ichor.
–
Glisten flinched as an alarm rang through the warehouse. He turned on his heels, making a beeline for the elevator. He turned the corner, prepared to teleport to Sprout – surely he'd made it to the elevator already, right?
However, when he tried, he got nothing but a headache and being in the exact same spot as he was last time. He winced and sighed, continuing his trek to the elevator.
He exhaled as he saw the elevator up ahead, rushing towards it.
He heard a growl coming from the side. He sprinted forward, narrowly avoiding an inky tendril that emerged from the ground. He turned his head. His eyes widened.
Sprout – or, what used to be Sprout – stared down at him, footsteps thudding against the floor. “Shitshit–” he ran forward, looking up at the others in the elevator. Shelly stared in horror at the new twisted, Vee had an error screen, and Rodger stood away from the door, looking concerned for his boyfriend.
Time was running out.
5..
4..
3..
2..
1..
“GLISTEN!”
He collapsed into the elevator right as it closed, his leg almost getting crushed. Rodger rushed forward, concerned. “Oh dear--Glisten, are you alright?” He put his hands on the mirrors shoulders, palms warm against his cold skin(?).
“I'm quite alright.. I can't say the same for Sprout, though.” He hadn't heard Sprout being killed. Attacked, yes, but he hadn't worried about it until he'd seen the twisted.
“So, Sprout is..” Shelly spoke up. “Twisted. It'd appear so.” the magnifying glass nodded.
“A shame about what happened!”
The four turned, staring as Dandy ascended from the hatch in the floor.
“I've got some items for you to buy, though!”