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The rusty metallic scent filled Sprout's lungs as he stood in front of the decayed body. How long was he going to mourn here? Why did he keep coming back here to mourn almost every day? He knew he should be letting go, but something kept pulling him back every single day.
He put a hand to the wall, feeling the black substance that had since dried up. He remembered the first time he came here after the incident when the ichor was still fresh like the wounds it had inflicted.
A low stomping noise in the distance snapped him back to reality and signalled for him to leave. He didn’t want to end up like the others that were down here. So, he took his flashlight from the ground and made his way to the elevator, pressing the button that would drag him back up to his room.
Sprout wasn’t being himself. Maybe the other toons didn’t notice, but Cosmo did, of course he would.
It started off small enough, dark circles under the strawberry’s eyes and an occasional slip-up while the two were baking, but then it devolved into Sprout missing out on plans and going back to his room at night smelling of ichor.
At first, Cosmo tried to brush it off as some late-night ichor runs. They had plenty of those over the past few weeks, but he seemed to go even if ichor was still flowing through the building, and sometimes they still had blackouts after his “ichor runs”. As time went on, the chances of Sprout going for all these ichor runs late at night became slimmer and slimmer.
He wanted to confront him about this. He felt like he needed to confront him about this. But how was he going to do that without seeming suspicious?
He needed more information about what Sprout was getting up to at night and, given that he wasn’t going to get anything out of the strawberry himself, decided that he needed to ask around to see if anyone had any information about his nightly whereabouts.
Rodger was his first thought, given that the magnifying glass typically had information on every toon. Unfortunately, he had nothing to reveal in terms of Sprout’s nightly activities, claiming that it was due to Sprout’s lack of willingness to let him interview him.
Teagan was next on the list. Her tea parties were usually a time when a lot of toons would spill out their secrets and personal issues with her. However, she, too, had no information on Sprout’s whereabouts.
He asked the other main toons (well, the ones that weren’t Dandy, anyway) if they knew anything. Astro wasn’t very responsive, simply shrugging off Cosmo before going back to bed. Shelly talked about dinosaur relationship dynamics for half an hour, completely getting side-tracked from the original topic. Vee was…busy with her gameshow, probably too busy to know anything and Pebble…just ended up running to the elevator and scratching it, probably thinking the mention of an ichor run meant he was going on one.
Finally, the toon Cosmo was dreading asking the most, Dandy. He would’ve put this off longer if he could, but he knew most other toons probably wouldn’t have a clue where Sprout was and what he was up to. Sprout usually kept to himself, and that trait is what made him so difficult to track.
Thankfully, his conversation with Dandy didn’t last long, but it did give Cosmo an idea, a probably very terrible idea.
He stood in front of the metal flaps that opened up to reveal Dandy’s shop every time they went for an ichor run. He tried to pry open the heavy doors but to no avail. Eventually, he found a small opening and used a wrench to hold it open just enough for him to squeeze through. He grabbed a couple of items, stuffing them in his hoodie pocket, and waited for the time to come.
As soon as he heard Sprout coming, he got into his hiding spot and waited. He felt the elevator moving, stomach churning from the movement in an unfamiliar position. Despite this, he kept quiet, trying not to do anything that would give away his position.
After what felt like hours, the elevator stopped, and Cosmo listened intently as Sprout walked out of the elevator. He waited until his friend would be out of sight to leave his hiding spot.
The elevator had stopped at one of the projector room floors, which had been completely abandoned for…well, nobody could remember how long it had been since the place shut down. The only sign of life was some animation of Razzle and Dazzle playing on a projector screen, though it was obvious that nobody was watching it. The room had a heavily metallic smell in the air, along with the same inky stench of ichor they had all grown so accustomed to.
Cosmo passed cubicle after cubicle and machine after machine before he finally found where Sprout was standing. The berry appeared to be looking at something, but he couldn’t quite make out what it was from a distance.
Well, here goes nothing.
“Sprout!” Cosmo called out, grabbing his friend’s attention, “What’re you looking at?”
“W-what? Cosmo? What are you doing here?” Sprout responded with a hint of defensiveness in his tone.
“You’ve been acting strange lately. I wanted to see why. I’m worried about you, Sprout.”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
“If I shouldn’t be here, then neither should you. We’re all supposed to work as a team. You can’t just go on ichor runs on your own, especially without getting hurt.”
“That’s not it! I’m not here for ichor!”
“Then what are you here for?”
Sprout sighed and took a step back, revealing what had been behind him the entire time – a body, a human body, one that had been lethally damaged, stab wounds covering the entirety of the body, along with a mixture of blood and what was probably ichor. This person felt…familiar, though they had been so badly injured that it was hard to make out any identifying features.
“What is…is this a toon handler?” Cosmo only realised what he was looking at when he saw the ichor-covered badge on the human’s shirt.
“I don’t know if you remember, but…they were…they were my toon handler,” Sprout explained, voice cracking like it was under pressure.
“Oh…th…that’s why they look so familiar. What…happened to them?”
“I…do you not remember?”
“No???”
“They died, Cosmo! Not just my handler but all of them. That’s why nobody has come to save us. We’re stuck here because the twisted killed the only people who were capable of helping us. It’s all our fault, Cosmo!”
Cosmo took a step back. An outburst like that was the last thing he was expecting in this situation. He tried to remember what happened to the handlers, how they all died, but no matter how hard he searched in his mind, he couldn’t remember anything about what happened.
Why couldn’t he remember?
Cosmo was about to say something. He had no idea what he was going to say, but all he knew was that his mouth opened before he suddenly closed it upon hearing a loud stomping noise.
“What’s that sound?” He whispered to Sprout, trying his best not to disturb whatever was down there with them.
“We have to go.” Sprout grabbed hold of Cosmo’s wrist, pulling him away from the handler’s body.
“Why? What’s down here?”
“The thing that killed my handler, obviously. I usually avoid it, but that’s easier when you’re alone.”
“Okay, jeez, I get it. Let’s just go.”
Just as the two were about to get moving, a loud, guttural scream was heard from behind them. The two turned around to face the source of the noise, only to see possibly the biggest twisted either of them had ever seen, standing right in front of them – a berry-shaped being with overgrown leaves and covered in ichor. Upon seeing it, they instantly knew who it was…
A twisted version of Sprout himself.
That’s when it hit Cosmo. The wounds on the handler’s body. They weren’t just any stab wounds – they were from Twisted Sprout’s tendrils that sprang from the ground whenever he attacked.
“We need to run. Now!” Cosmo took the lead this time, trying to get to the elevator as fast as possible to avoid getting injured. He could already see the ground beneath them turning black as a sort of warning sign.
The two ran through the projector room, trying to remember where exactly the elevator was. The booming sound of Twisted Sprout’s footsteps rang throughout the room as they ran away from it. The floor seemed to turn black under their feet with every step they both took. Every now and then, one of them would feel a slick tendril wrapping around their ankles, but they just had to keep running – no looking back, no looking down, just running towards the elevator.
The elevator door opened as the two approached, jumping inside of it once they had the chance. Sprout instantly made a run for the buttons, frantically pressing the button to go back up as if it was going to make the door close faster.
Cosmo looked back at the Twisted that was chasing them. A trail of inky black tendrils was sticking out of the ground, slowly retreating one by one as the Twisted grew closer. It gave a low growl before the door finally closed on its face.
Cosmo immediately collapsed to the ground when the door closed, catching his breath after such a tense chase. His heart pounded in his chest, and the nausea he had felt before in the elevator returned. He had been in chases with twisteds before, but none seemed to be as intense as that one.
He looked over at Sprout, who was curled up against the elevator, looking completely out of it. He looked closer at his friend, only to realize that he wasn’t just sitting there, but he was also crying.
“Sprout?” Cosmo called out, moving closer to him.
“I…I’m sorry. It’s just…I knew there was a twisted down here, but…I didn’t…I didn’t realise…it’s all my fault.” Sprout said between sobs.
“Sprout, no, it’s not your fault. We still don’t know where the twisteds came from, but we know we aren’t the same as them, right? I don’t remember what happened that night, but I’m sure it wasn’t your fault.”
“I know, I know, but…they were trying to save me. They were all trying to save us, but why couldn’t we have saved them as well?”
“I…I don’t know. I think they all thought that they would be able to handle them because they’re…y’know, handlers,” Cosmo inched even closer to Sprout, “I guess sometimes people just…overestimate their own abilities, and sometimes, it ends up being their downfall.”
“You’re right,” Sprout sniffled, “I just wish there was more I could’ve done for them.”
Unsure of what else to say to calm his friend, Cosmo pulled Sprout into a hug. As Goob had often said to them, hugs are the best medicine for a frown, but it still couldn’t heal the pain deep inside.
The elevator door opened, signalling to the two that they had successfully gotten out of the lower levels. They both got up off the floor and made their way to the first hallway of the toon rooms before Cosmo eventually stopped and started talking.
“Um, I’m not sure if this is a bad time, but nobody else is gonna be in the kitchen if you wanna do some baking to help you feel better.” He said nervously, trying to find a way to stop Sprout from going to bed upset.
“Oh? Sure, I’d love that right now.” Sprout smiled.
Cosmo, glad to have his best friend back, smiled back and took his hand to lead him into the kitchen, which was, as predicted, completely empty.
“Ooh, maybe we can make some of those Astro cookies. Seems pretty fitting for a late-night snack.”
“Sounds good to me. I’ll go get the ingredients.”