Chapter Text
Astro jolted awake as the elevator came to an abrupt, aggressive halt, feeling a sharp, metallic poke in his shoulder. He blinked, trying to shake off his sleepiness, and saw Goob standing there, having been at fault for the jab, with his usual wide grin, obviously bursting with something to share.
Goob was a decent bit taller than Astro, with no ordinary arms but metallic, colourful ones, stretchy and bendy, with claws that made the playful poke seem like a painful shot in his shoulder.
Under the blanket he always kept wrapped around him, Astro rubbed the spot Goob's sharp finger hit vigorously and, with a grumble that soon ceased, asked the first questions that came to mind upon his rise to the land of the conscious.
"How long had I been sleeping?" The answer was a mild, undescriptive "a while", which got on his nerves just a little.
"Where are we?" This next one was the only reply that satisfied Astro since the expedition mission he had gone on was finally back where they were supposed to be: the Gardenview Center. That means he would be able to see his best friend, Dandy.
Dandy had recently become an odd fellow, though Astro found him to be always a bit strange, and the recent events weren't all that different.
The most peculiar thing of all Dandy's peculiarities had been his newest obsession with ichor, which the rest of them had come to know as their life force, their blood. This 'obsession' led the former cast of Dandy's World (except for Dandy, who provided supplies for everyone) to begin going on ichor expeditions to extract as much as possible. Plodding through the twists and turns of rusted machinery and avoiding the ever-present danger of overexposure to ichor made returning to their former home a harrowing experience. Despite the risks of their missions, Dandy had taken on the role of self-proclaimed leader, so engaging in pointless arguments was futile as it would only lead them back down into the treacherous depths of the elevator shaft.
Astro nodded slowly to Goob, a soft smile now making its way onto his face. On cue of the ceasing of voices, the elevator door flew open, and the four others that had come along with Astro, as did Astro himself, poured out like the ichor to the collection tubes.
As he had thought to do on the elevator, he went right over to the right of him, down the hallway and under the giant, painted sign of Dandy's shop, a literal hole in the wall where it was more of a chatting session than him rather than buying his wares.
Dandy was a bit shorter than Astro, perhaps by six or seven inches. His permanent, bright smile was the tiniest bit unsettling as it rested ever unfailingly. He was similar to his character on the show, consistently keeping his rainbow-dyed hair in the vague shape of flower petals and retaining a mildly gentlemanly appearance with his green suit and pitch-black tie, though adding a little more childishness with pinstriped pants and the occasional throw of glitter onto the outfit.
To Astro's disappointment, he did not see Dandy, but rather a sign written by him with white paint, stating "I'll be back soon!" with a small rainbow dandelion sticker next to the exclamation mark. With a drawn-out, tired sigh, Astro turned away from the counter of the tiny shop, knowing the second likely place Dandy could be.
The cast rooms were a train ride and a decently long walk away from the Gardenview Center, the repetitive routine of going back and forth between the two no longer bothering Astro as it had in the past.
On his walk down the rainbow hallway into the waiting area for the train. It was a pleasant sky blue, off-white clouds painted on the walls and windows, showing through to various meet-and-greet rooms, with their windowsills dusty and unkept, despite the cast's best efforts. There was a small tree with a concrete border around the soil on one side and a pile of multi-coloured beanbags in the corner of the other. On the side with the tree and the dustier window, there was a wooden double door leading to the community cafeteria, which the cast used when the ride to their ordinary lunchroom was far too long, having their food prepared by the bakers and chefs of the crew. Previously, it was used only by the guests of the Gardenview Center, but they had long gone, along with the children who drew drawings of themselves with select members on the walls. He looked over to one in particular, a poorly drawn rendition of a scene in one of the episodes where he was comforted by his dear friend, Dandy.
He found one of his fellow main characters, Sprout, with his best friend, Cosmo. The tall, red baker man turned around at the sound of Astro's light footsteps, walking toward him as soon as Astro was spotted, like a magnet. There was a gentle clinking around in that strawberry bag of Sprout's, likely trinkets he had bought from Dandy or found on his own. Astro glanced down at it for a second or two before slowly blinking up to meet Sprout's eyes.
"Have you talked to Dandy today?" Sprout asked with a slight sense of urgency in his voice.
"I was on my way to," Astro raises his eyebrow at the peculiar tone. "Why?"
"Nothing too terrible, no, no," he gestures to calm the already incredibly calm Astro. "I just haven't seen him today, is all."
"Is that so? I saw him just this morning in his shop."
"Ah, then I must've missed him," Sprout began to reassure himself. Astro nodded along.
"I shouldn't leave you hanging much longer. I know better than anyone that the train ride is excruciatingly long, and I'd hate for you to suffer waiting for it." Astro nodded again, this time longer and slower, and Sprout moved aside to allow him passage.
Astro strode along as a princess would in their big ballgowns, his feet seeming to float lightly off the ground rather than press into the carpet, making his way toward the turnstiles as light as a feather.
Sprout had walked back over to Cosmo, anxiously fidgeting with the light red strap of his bag until he could no longer see the dreamlike sight of the tired man leaving. Astro could barely make out the sound of them talking once more on the station platform.
The station must've had a name before, but the cast didn't know it anymore due to the weathering of all of the signs. That's what plenty of the platform portrayed: saddening, wilted commercials of their past episodes posted on the other side of the tracks, and a previous sky blue of a wall turned into an ashen, almost off-white colour. Astro felt the distant rumble of the train rolling into the station on the ground, shaky with dust covering every inch the crew didn't dare touch. The rumbling got even worse on his skinny legs, having to hold onto a wall until he saw the bright lights of the front of the subway and knew it was safe to let go.
Upon boarding the train (which was kept a bit better than the station), he was pleasantly surprised to be met with Rodger, a renowned detective on their show who loved solving mysteries and Toodles, his unofficial, eight-year-old helper in said mysteries. Astro sat across, though not directly as to set a boundary, subtly watching over the two. Toodles kicked her feet and hummed to the familiar tune of their show's main theme song, and, to break the slightly annoying sound, as anticipated, Rodger's curious nature caused him to stir up conversation.
"Hello there, Astro. Why are you heading back to the rooms?"
He yawned before answering, "Going to find Dandy."
"Find? He's at his shop, is he not?"
"That's what Sprout and I thought too, but now I assume he's gone to his room for a nap or a snack or...what-not."
"Ah, as are we. Someone-" Rodger must've been referring to Cosmo, "gave Toodles here too much sugar, and she's sure to crash soon."
"She doesn't seem too hyper."
"She's always been calmer than most. Can't say the same for the kids we used to get back at the Gardenview Center!" He cracked a grin, forcing out a hearty chuckle, which Astro did likewise, though much more quietly.
Rodger then concluded his fit of laughter with a lengthy sigh.
"Don't you miss the good ol' days, Astro? When we got to play with the children, excited to meet us, and where we didn't have to lose sleep, terrified that we'd succumb to the same fate as our friends?"
"Sure I do, but what's with the sudden solemnity?"
"Nothing. I just wanted to see how you'd react."
Rodger winked with his single eye, the other covered with a bandage, and gave Astro a wide grin. Astro, on the other hand, looked at him unblinkingly, more curious than Rodger was of him.
"You're acting funny, Mr. Rodger!" Toodles said, letting out a childish giggle, still kicking her feet beside the detective. Roger gave her a gentle pat on the head, and abruptly, the train ceased movement.
"This is your stop."
Astro nodded quietly, rising from his seat and moving towards the now-opening subway doors onto the cast room station.
Unlike the Gardenview Center's station, the one where the cast resided daily remained clean due to the combined efforts of the crew. Astro thought of the situation, reminding himself that, unlike many others, he didn't have a specified job, only instructed by their head cleaner, Tisha, to "give good dreams to everyone". Of course, he mostly listened, only giving nightmares to those who deserved it.
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear, the "he" in question being the one Astro most loved to give nightmares to: Shrimpo.
One would think, with his reputation, that Shrimpo was a fearful creature, striking terror just from the looks of him. In contrast, he was short (even more so than Dandy), though still decently muscular, with plenty of body hair to confirm his masculinity.
Through the various nightmares Astro had put him through, he discovered that the tough persona that Shrimpo constantly put on was fragile, easily wrecked by a single mention of his childhood or the events that caused him to become so defensive in the first place, especially the ones revolving around Dandy.
No matter how much he heard Shrimpo cry at night or how many holes in the wall he created by banging his head against the rigid material, Astro knew that Shrimpo, after his relentless bullying of the entirety of the cast, deserved it.
Astro smirked as he looked down at Shrimpo, who was now in front of him with unfamiliar dark circles under his eyes. Astro had known it was only a matter of time before the short, orange man learned that not sleeping led to not getting nightmares. Shrimpo kept an angry posture, though, from the lack of a hopeful glint in his eyes, it didn't seem to be about his dreams this time.
"Dandy," Shrimpo spoke with a booming voice, the name making more of an impact alone than it would with any other word. Astro's smirk faded off his face.
"Yes? What about Dandy?"
"I'm going to talk to him," he spoke loudly again, "my dreams convinced me."
"I was on my way to talk to him now. Would you like to come with me?"
"I hate going with people to talk to Dandy!" he said before pausing, looking off to the side, and rubbing his hairier arm. "But yes."
Astro gestured down the hall as if to say, "Lead the way". Dandy's was just around the corner in the Main Character section, as Astro's was. Upon seeing the hand movement, Shrimpo looked away from the carpeted floor and stomped towards said section.
When outside the ichor expeditions, Shrimpo didn't complain or purposefully slow himself down, contrasting quite fast compared to the moon. Astro was only halfway down the hallway when he heard a girlish scream, now speeding up to about the same speed as Shrimpo had been.
However, when he arrived at the door, Shrimpo was nowhere to be found. Astro assumed that from the new, slightly familiar scars now on Dandy's door, he must've been dragged inside the room or told Dandy of his visit beforehand. Regardless of the reason, Astro pushed his ear against the door, attempting to listen in on whatever Shrimpo was adamant about speaking up over.
He had heard a frightened shout, a scream much like the girly one from only a few moments ago, suddenly silenced with a giggle and an echoey clap against the skin.
"You should learn to shut your mouth, Shrimpo," the moon heard the familiar Dandy say, "maybe this will do the trick~!"
He heard another slap, although this one was more squelchy, and entirely ceased any verbal fighting he had heard from Shrimpo. After a moderate amount of more quiet thrashing, he overheard a final hit, this time assumedly to Shrimpo, and a large thud as a body fell.
Personally, Astro was more confused than scared. He had no idea Dandy was prone to sudden bursts of emotion, though with the unexpected arrival of the ichor expeditions, an attack such as this didn't surprise him much if that were the case.
With how surprising it all seemed, he perceived that a panic response wasn't what was happening here. Between the scream and knowing how to shut Shrimpo up, this "sudden attack" looked to be planned, and Astro planned on finding out what Dandy was scheming.
First, he knocked.
"Dandy? Are you in there?"
Astro heard a harsh, gruff "Shit", unfamiliar for the rainbow-haired man to be saying. He'd never condone cussing if it were another person, let alone himself.
"Dandy?" Astro called out again.
"Just a moment, buddy!"
He put his ear against the door once more, listening intently, as he heard the heavy body of Shrimpo being dragged off, likely to Dandy's closet or under his bed.
Finally, Dandy opened the door, wiping a bit of black substance off his cheek. Ichor was the likely culprit.
"Are you bleeding, Dandy? What happened?" Astro asked, feeling genuine concern pushing itself out, although he forced himself to fight it back, knowing that his best friend wasn't hurt and this wasn't the Dandy he had come to know and love.
"Just scratched my head on the drawer, is all," he said, wiping his cheek again, "tripped and fell-gosh, what a klutz I am!"
"Reminds me of Shrimpo," Astro said, subtly becoming direct. "Where is he? Do you know?"
"Since when have you wanted to see Shrimpo, pal?" Dandy raised an eyebrow, looking to be catching on.
"He had a little midday nap, so I wanted to see how it affected him."
The "observation" made Dandy's eyebrow drop, giggling as he had when silencing Shrimpo.
"You sadist, you! Torturing that shrimp of a man!"
"It's my favourite pastime, what can I say?"
"I thought hanging out with me was your favourite pastime," Dandy puffed, crossing his arms.
"Why don't we combine them, then? I hang out with you, and we cause Shrimpo emotional distress together. All we need to figure out is where he is."
"Surely he should be in the Gardenview Center! Let's go look there-" but Dandy was interrupted by Astro's stopping finger, coming out from under his blanket.
"He told me he was coming to you, Dandy," Astro attempted to peek behind, but Dandy got on his toes to block the sight. "Are you hiding him from me, or did he already leave?"
"He already left! I'd never keep him in my room for longer than a minute!"
"What did you two talk about, then?"
"Well..." Dandy looked down and away, putting on a show of guilt that looked almost too natural. Astro's guard dropped at the sight, and he dug his arms deeper into each other, crossing them tighter.
"We talked about you. Not directly, of course, but more about the dream you've gifted Shrimpo about me. See, they've deeply affected him, having him wake up in the dead of night bawling his eyes out..." he pauses as if he were genuinely going over the conversation. Astro had begun to believe he was being honest, and the faulty, stoic appearance he gave turned to pity.
"He came to say sorry to me."
That cut Astro out of the floaty words Dandy spoke.
"Huh?"
"Yeah, he came to say sorry for all his relentless bullying of us, but mostly me, and he wanted my help to do so! I never knew he could muster such empathy, but he must be a big softie inside that tough shell!"
"You mean he must've been," Astro snapped.
Dandy tilted his head like a confused puppy, his smile unfaltering.
"Whatever do you mean, pal?"
"I heard from outside the door sounds of you and Shrimpo fighting. What did you do to him?"
"You sneaky bastard," Dandy's eye twitched, "you always were too stealthy for your good."
"Let me in the room, and we can get this done. I thought you could tell me anything, or are you not Dandy?"
"Me? Not Dandy? Now you're being ridiculous, Astro, but fine. Come on in, buddy. You'll have quite a sight to see."
Dandy was lying, his room neat and perfect, as always. There were no splotches of ichor on the colourful carpet, no new marks that appeared on Dandy, and undoubtedly no sign of the now-missing Shrimpo. That was until Astro turned to Dandy's ink-black closet, sprinkled with the same rainbow dandelion sticker he had seen on the sign back at the shop.
"Can I see your closet?" Astro turned back to Dandy, pointing to the closed doors.
"Go right ahead." He spoke lowly, with an even wider grin than before.
Astro walked over and gently opened the door.