Work Text:
It hadn’t quite sunk in. There was still a disconnect from himself and his new reality. Whenever he woke up, he had the urge to get moving like he usually did. That’s how it had always been, for the longest time. Even as far back in his teenage years. Once he got his first job, he was eager to get to it and please the hire-ups. He was eager to just, do what he loved doing. But after Playtime Co., he couldn’t. He couldn’t really love being a biologist anymore.
Well, he didn’t have to worry about being a biologist anymore anyways. What he did have to worry about being was a...
No. He wasn’t ready to call himself a...toy. He wasn’t sure he could anyways because his new form was a mix of toy parts. He wasn’t one particular toy, so could he really call himself a toy? Was it better to call himself an experiment? What number experiment would that make him if he went with that? There were so many—too many. Whatever counted as a heart in his small body twisted with grief as he thought back to all those poor kids.
He saw all their plastic and furry faces staring back at him, scared and pleading. He closed his eyes but he still saw them. He heard their crying, heard their screams when he neared to close to one of the labs. And mixed with those versions of the orphans, were the smiling faces of a group of new orphans who had no idea they’d be doing the same thing. They’d be crying and screaming too when their time came...that was, if they survived long enough.
‘I know what it feels like now’
He certainly understood the pain of feeling unnaturally compressed and twisted. That pain rolled throughout his body in a sickening way; in a way he couldn’t really describe. It was the scary kind of agony where his body was literally screaming that this was too unnatural. His senses, his nerves, couldn’t fully connect to this plastic thing! His very soul couldn’t merge with it. Where was his real body, it asked? The fleshy human one, that was right, even if it may not have been the best body in the world. His core wanted that body, and so did he. But since he couldn’t have it, it was like his sense of self was floating in an agonizing kind of limbo within this plastic frame.
How could the children have handled this for so long?
He preferred to think that maybe they hadn’t. Maybe...maybe it went away after a while. Maybe they eventually, truly, became one with their new bodies. He never posed such a question because he was too terrified to ask. It was already hard, and it was only getting harder. But, he supposed he would learn the answer from experience since he was now a...
‘NO!’
He still refused to call himself a toy. He hadn’t been conditioned into viewing himself that way so he wasn’t a toy. Maybe that was offensive to every child that went through this process, but he just couldn’t do it. He didn't even want to consider himself an experiment. He just wanted to consider himself human.
‘But you can’t...not after what you’ve become. And not after the things you’ve done for this company’
He hated his inner voice telling himself such a thing, but it wasn’t wrong. His eyes welled up but no tears came. What was he now, if he wasn’t a toy, or a random experiment, or...a human.
‘PRESTON’
The thought of his name gave him the tiniest feeling of joy. He was still Preston, so why not just consider himself Preston. That was something to hold onto. Something he had to hold onto, if only to keep from losing his mind.
The familiar clicking of the prototype entering the room momentarily distracted him, as well as raised his fear. He was tired of being afraid, but that’s all he ever felt anymore.
From his position on a counter, he watched him move closer. Quickly he tried to will himself to calm down. Sooner or later he would have to stop being afraid of 1006, because 1006 was the only one he had anymore.
‘He calls me Preston,’ he thought, as he urged himself to make that seed of joy grow, if only to beat back the panic. ‘Not Dr. Willard. He calls me by my first name because...I’m still Preston.’
Honestly, he wasn’t certain about the prototype calling him by name because he considered him a friend. A friend would have been more merciful. Surely 1006 didn’t view this as being merciful. But then he remembered he had considering his words.
I OnlY wish to repay your kindness. I oNly wish to keep you with me.”
Why did he want to keep him? And why like this?
“I hope yOU weren’t too lonely My friend. ToDay...has been a busy day.”
As had been the case, Preston said nothing. No part of his body would move. It was the reason he would have to stamp out his urge to get moving whenever he woke from sleep.
Sleep? It wasn’t really sleep. It was passing out from being exhausted. There was no real sense of sleep when one was like this. Sleep was a form of darkness coated in intense anxiety and his own screams of pain. He’d become even more lost in his limbo whenever he wasn’t conscious. That much made him wonder if he would ever truly connect with this body.
‘But I don’t want to connect with this body’
He wanted to be in his old body, even if it meant it was now as useless as his current one. Even if it meant that he would be...well, expired.
Preston dropped his eyes, unable to continue watching the prototype now that his eyes felt so wet. Would he be able to cry?
Gentle metal fingers began to rub across the top of his head. He was barely able to feel those fingers. Slowly he raised his eyes to the grinning jester face. The prototype just kept rubbing tiny circles there. That made him think of the way his wife would run her fingers through his hair. But he didn’t have hair anymore...nor his wife. But still, those moments had been nice. They’d been especially nice when the stress built too high and she was there to soothe him with a loving hug and a back massage. When he’d had trouble voicing his need for comfort, she was there, ready to gently massage the pain away. He wished he could feel them again. He wished he could...feel the massaging that the prototype was currently doing.
He urged himself to feel it. Feel those fingers moving soothingly. It partially made him sick to suddenly want his captor to make him feel good, but he had nothing else; nothing except constant pain, exhaustion, and fear. He just, wanted one tiny moment of feeling good, even if it only lasted a minute; and even if it only came from the prototype.
Preston shut his eyes and pretended he was feeling it, but before he could even get there, he stopped. Preston opened his wet eyes as he mentally pleaded with him.
‘Please...d-don’t stop.’
He felt so pathetic begging that he deflated back into his misery.
“My deAR Pre-ston...it saddens mE to see you SO troubled.” He moved a finger under his chin and tilted his face upwards. Preston had no choice but to keep staring back at him at a new angle. “I know you are not Yet used to your NEW boDY, but in time you will be. you WILL see it as an improvement over your PREvious form.”
Preston wanted to take offense. His human body hadn’t been that bad. It may not have been beautiful, but he liked it. His wife had liked it.
“I admit, I HaD hoped to also use your experience to leARn and IMprove on my current Work. But I see...there is more that can be done. MoRe that mUSt be done for you.” He pulled his finger away from his chin and hummed curiously. “I wish to look AFter you my friend, for ALL time. But I do BELIEVE, I can give you just enough.”
‘Just enough? Just enough what?’ What did he mean by that?
“Full inDePENdenc is too risky for yOU. Even though you helped me...were kind to me...I must ALso keep you safe from yourself. It WoulD be So easy for one who was Once a scientist, to RETURN to being a Playtime scientist.”
Preston internally jolted at what he believed was the prototype insinuating that he might be tempted to betray him, if he were ever to get actual freedom. Did he really believe he would take the opportunity to take revenge by attacking him? If not that, then 1006 was implying that Preston might be tempted to flip the tables back and lock him away again, where he could be tortured once more. At this point no one had the power to retake control of the facility; especially not him alone.
How he wanted to voice that he would do no such thing. If he was given the chance, he wouldn’t in a million years attempt to harm him. This whole thing was about stopping the harm once and for all. But the experiments hadn’t left. They’d stayed and turned the tables on them all. But even for that, Preston didn’t want to seek vengeance. He just wanted to leave. He just wanted to see his wife and find a life that was no longer connected to children and toys.
“Even if you WEren’t Tempted...to be unkind...” The prototype paused as it brought its hand down by Preston’s side. “yOu might leave me...and I don’t WAnt you to leAVE me.” His fingers curled fully around Preston who was struggling to fight off the mounting panic and a sudden desire to scream. “You are MINE. mY FRiend forEver.”
If he had been able to speak, he liked to think he would have told him that his wife was waiting for him; that he wouldn’t be leaving because he desired to abandon him. He’d be leaving because she needed him. But he imagined the prototype would have argued that he needed him more. But why? Why was the prototype so interested in him? Was it really just because he hadn’t treated him like a monster? Well, considering how long the company had been going, kind scientists were few in numbers. Maybe that really was enough to be, special.
Then again, the prototype had admitted that he’d hope to use the procedure he’d done to him as a learning experience to improve his current work. What was his other work? He honestly didn’t want to know. But if he was meant to be some kind of stepping stone toward whatever he was working on, then maybe this wasn’t truly done as an act of kindness. Maybe it was partially a kindness as well as partially a form of punishment all rolled together. Maybe the prototype wanted to spare him from death for being nice, but also wanted to instill a bit of revenge for previously being a cooperative Playtime worker. If no revenge was involved, and the prototype truly wanted to keep him, Preston imagined the prototype would have just kept him locked up somewhere nice, while leaving his human body intact.
Slowly the prototype lifted him up. Preston still wasn’t used to it. Just the way he held him made him feel more like a pet than a cherished friend.
“BUt I cAN give you just ENough...so that I can still be theRE for you.”
Preston was held close to the mechanical body that he could not properly feel as the prototype clicked and clanked his way out of the room.
He was back in the surgical wing, much to his confusion. Then it dawned on him that whatever the prototype was planning to give to him to be ‘Just enough’, required some surgical procedure. He had assumed he was being taken to a new room. Maybe one of the colorful rooms they had for the kids, so he wouldn’t have to be stuck in a bloodstained lab surrounded by toy parts and grotesque equipment. He did not imagine there would be more prodding involved. He couldn’t take anymore! He couldn’t take being opened up and...altered further.
The prototype set him down on the silver table, then slowly he maneuvered his body down onto his belly. It was the first time Preston hadn’t been in a sitting position, and he could feel his innards protest slightly. If his mind hadn’t been so consumed by an overwhelming amount of panic, he might have taken a little relief in being able to lay down.
“Just RElax my friend...and trust me.”
All Preston could do was dart his eyes all around as he listened to the prototype moving behind him as he gathered his tools. If only he could scream. If only he could tell him not to do whatever it was he was about to do.
But of course there was no choice here, except to trust that 1006 wasn’t about to kill him.
‘But, maybe that would be for the best,’ his inner voice suggested. Death had to be more merciful than this. Did he really just want to spend the rest of his life as a statue like amalgamation? Did he really want to spend the rest of his life here, unmoving, in a factory that only continued to plague him with nightmares?
He didn’t, but at the same time he didn’t want to lose his life.
He sensed the prototype approaching behind him again. There were sounds of things being placed down or moving closer. Following that came straps that were pulled over his neck and legs he believed. His sense of feeling was very very poor.
“NoW then.”
The most frightening sound came to his plastic ears as he heard a drill powering up. He would give anything if he could just run. The next thing he knew, something was dipping down into a point on his back. It stayed there briefly before moving to another point. Preston guessed the drill was removing screws from a panel in his back. It was the one time he was grateful his sense of touch was poor. Still it didn’t quell the continuous panic.
The prototype hadn’t put him under. He was just going for it, unconcerned with the fact that he was very much awake. Uncaring it seemed, that he might feel the procedure. Maybe the prototype knew he couldn’t sense anything well. But even if that were true, Preston believed he should’ve known he wouldn’t want to be awake for this.
There was a click and a pop, and the drill was put aside. Next came a squelching sound, and the familiar sensation of thin fingers gliding inside. What was he trying to do? He wondered but he was glad he couldn’t see. He just needed something to latch onto as a distraction. Desperately his eyes darted around for something...anything that could provide him with the tiniest form of calmness. It didn’t help that he caught sight of the shadow of the prototype’s arm bringing down a thin tube.
There was a suction noise, along with some scaping, and more squelching. There was a little bit of tugging and shifting of his innards. The worst was the feeling of fingers prodding just behind his eyes. None of his workings really hurt, but naturally it was extremely uncomfortable.
‘Please...no more...just...no more’
The room spun from his mounting anxiety, and he welcomed the chance to pass out. It was his only chance of escape. Though there was a chance he’d only find nightmares, he would accept that if he could just black out.
A new sound of footsteps entering the room, did make the prototype pause.
“I am in the middle of HELping my friend Catnap. Any business you Have will have to wAiT.”
At the mention of another being present, Preston felt something weird twist in his gut. Why was he here?
There was a pause before he heard Catnap’s chilling whispery response.
“Of course.”
The sound of pattering feet sounded, and Preston was cued to them being alone once the prototype continued. He was almost glad for it; glad that Catnap wasn’t there to witness this, if only to spare him the odd sense of...embarrassment? Whether it was embarrassment or not, he felt odd about another experiment watching him being experimented on. He supposed it might have been fitting and what he deserved. Why shouldn’t these guys watch and delight as the Playtime employees experience what they went through. It was only fair.
“Almost ThERe.”
After his words came a pinch that was steadily becoming stronger. The unsettling agony that his body had been experiencing jolted him enough to where he was sure he twitched in response. When it died back down, relief flooded his system.
“THere...all better.”
Was it over? He hoped to God it was over.
‘Please.’
His eyes drooped and the room spun worse. Unable to take anymore, he allowed his terror to do him in.
“AwaKE...my friend. You’VE been unCONscious for far too long.”
Preston blinked and opened his eyes. Right away he saw that he was out of the surgical room, and was back in the prototype’s quarters. He was also back in his hands as he was being held. But the odd thing was, it was like he could feel the coolness of them better. He could, really feel those fingers around him.
Preston glanced his eyes downward, but couldn’t see them properly. So instead he looked back into that smiling jester face.
“hOW do you feel...Better?”
What was the point in asking when he knew he couldn’t respond. The prototype didn’t wait for one either as he set him down, on the floor. From the lowest position, the prototype towered over him in a way that would have him squirming if he could. He’d never done that before. He was always on the table, at chest level with him. Preston preferred that over the fear that he might be stomped on at any minute. His mismatched body really was pretty small in comparison.
“I have given you just eNOugh,” the prototype exclaimed with a proud kind of air. He then backed away from him, much to Preston’s relief, but he didn’t leave. Instead he made a motion as if beckoning him to come to him. “Come.”
Preston just stared. Was he making some kind of cruel joke? He couldn’t come to him. He couldn’t even...unless the surgery...He glanced down at his feet, fearful of giving into the hope that he might now actually be able to move.
‘Screw it’
Feeling like there was nothing more he had to lose, he concentrated hard on his right foot. There were no toes to wiggle, being it was a Bunzo Bunny foot afterall, but if he could just twitch it, maybe somehow, there would be hope.
‘Come on...come on..listen to me’
His original body wouldn’t listen to him before, but he hoped after everything he’d had to go through, this new body would, at last.
“CoMe.”
The Bunzo foot twitched.
It twitched!
His right foot actually twitched after a heavy amount of desperate concentration. As if to confirm that he hadn’t imagined it, he rolled his eyes up at the prototype. Oddly enough he took the continued grin to be a proud smile. Maybe 1006 was proud, and maybe relieved that it worked. He was sure he saw him relax from the way his metal body sunk from its more intense position.
Preston dropped his eyes back down. They were wet again, but this time from joy. He quickly shifted his focus on his other foot, eager to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. This time it took him less time to get it to twitch. He had movement!
He looked at the prototype again who was beckoning him forward. It was time to put those twitchy motions into actual movement now. He glanced at his arms; the left arm of Bron, and the right of Boogie Bot. The key, he quickly came to understand, was really viewing them as his limbs. That allowed him to get the twitch from them faster. These were his arms now. He could sense them a lot better than before. He could even clench the muscles underneath now, and he wondered if it was all due to the surgery, or from just spending more time in the body.
They were questions for later if he managed to actually voice them. He supposed he probably could if he could move his limbs. After another glance at his captor, Preston realized he was too afraid to try speaking just yet. Better to start small, with small steps forward.
‘You can do this...you can do this...you have to do this’
He forced himself to embrace the legs, then imagined moving them one foot in front of the other.
After what felt like an eternity, he managed to stretch the right leg out just enough, and awkwardly move it to pull himself ahead. He had to move quick to get the other leg moving, for fear that he might topple over. Honestly the mismatched limbs were making him shaky, but he was moving, slowly.
It was more of a scoot that he was doing. Reaching a foot out to pull himself forward, while also twitching his arms and upper torso to assist in forward motion. He didn’t yet attempt standing. From the way his body was put together, he didn’t think standing was possible. For now he’d settle for a baby scoot.
“Yes, yES...you’re doing so wEll Preston.”
That was nice. It was nice to be praised by him for a change.
Preston kept at it, scooting his little body along, all while under the patient eye of the grinning prototype.
It was only when he’d made it halfway, did he start to topple sideways. He swung out the Boogie Bot arm to catch himself, but there ended up being no need for it as the Prototype was quick. His Mommy Longlegs arm stretched out and caught him, preventing what would have just been an annoying little fall. He sat him upright before he clanked his way over.
“I beliEVE that’s ENough for Today.” He grabbed him with his regular arms and cradled him to his chest. Preston could really grasp the metal body now. It was so cool and hard. “YoU did so weLL my friend...so well.”
Preston knew he couldn’t blush, but it certainly felt like he was doing so from the compliment.
“And I do BElieve I’ve learned A little biT more From helping you.”
Preston wondered if he would take what he learned for whatever projects he was working on. He didn’t necessarily like the idea of potentially being a stepping stone for other projects. Was that really his only purpose? To be a test subject for greater things? As he searched the prototype’s face, he recalled that the prototype himself was meant to be a stepping stone for something greater.
Well, all the experiment stuff was a depressing subject matter, and though he technically was one, he preferred to stay on the positive. He had moved! He was able to move, and it was all thanks to the being holding him as though he were a child. Well, he had taken his first steps.
He managed to angle his neck upward as he had a sudden need to respond to what he’d done. His little Cat-bee mouth shook, and his vocal cords tingled.
“Th..th..thank you.”
It was still his voice. The voice he had been born with when he was a human. He was still, Preston.
The prototype cocked his head curiously as if he hadn’t expected him to speak.
“You aRe welCome...my Friend.”
“Friend,” Preston repeated, as though testing the word.
The prototype lifted his hand and began that gentle rubbing of the top of his head. Now that his senses were clearer, he could feel it so much better. It really was nice. So nice, that Preston’s eyes drooped close with pleasure. And to add to the new comfort, the prototype began to hum a soft melody.
“you are NOw CapaBLE of a little more. But YOU will still need Help. And as I’ve Said, I will Always be there for you...mY Preston.”
Preston opened his eyes and stared into the intense yellow one of this curious being. While it was true he was granted a little more, he wouldn’t be able to use it to flee. Just the idea of trying to move out of the room and back out into the factory where he could encounter others, had him shaking with fear. All he had now was the protection of the being that had done this to him. And if it had to be that way, he hoped it never changed.
“Don’t leave me,” Preston begged him. “Please.”
Regardless of who else the prototype looked after, as well as the other work that kept him occupied, Preston truly hoped he wouldn’t end up forgotten and alone. He could barely bare it when the prototype left him while he was stuck in his unmoving state. He didn’t want to go back to that, especially with the changes he’d been given.
The prototype pulled him in tighter and whispered in his ear.
“Never.”
Preston settled into the nice, warm, feeling of relief as the fingers continued to massage the Cat-bee head that felt more like his own head now.
‘My head...my body...my...prototype’
It was nice not to feel so afraid for once.