Chapter Text
It is a normal day in the abandoned GardernView facility. Vee, Shelly, Sprout, Tisha and Scraps are getting ready to do their rounds in the underground floors. It's dangerous, but it's their only current means of finding out how to help their loved ones. Scraps is coming along this time, despite resistance being her only helpful trait. Goob was fatally injured last time he was distracting and she doesn't want to just stand by anymore without doing anything to help.
"Okay guys, remember,"
Tisha orders, she is surisingly a good leader when there isn't really anyone better to distract, might have to do with her organization skills.
"we don't have Pebble or.. Goob with us today, we have Sprout but he will be focusing on healing. I will handle the more dangerous twisteds if anyone is in urgent need, but try to do the machines carefully."
The elevator stops at floor one.
"Vee, can you tell who the twisteds are?" Scraps asks, an anxious tone of voice.
"Shrimpo and Boxten." Vee may not feel emotions, or even understand them, but she can almost always detect them.
Scraps is clinging onto hope she'll eventually find her brother, even if he's already turned twisted. She clings onto the hope he will recognize her once he sees her. It seems foolish, really. Such blind hope. But Vee doesn't blame her, it's just how emotions work.
Vee was lost in thought when Twisted Shrimpo spotted her.
"Vee! Don't stray too far from the elevator... And also don't just stand there! If you're not gonna extract atleast try to not seem visible!" Sprout shouts while luring the twisted away from Vee.
"Yeah, my bad." Vee says quietly, then proceeds to the nearest machine. This should be easy, today they weren't supposed to even do rounds due to the lack of a distractor. Goob is missing and Pebble is in a condition that requires rest. Everyone else is either busy or mourning too. But Tisha thought it would ease Scraps' mind to do a short run, so she dragged some of the other toons along.
"Hey, Vee!" Vee suddenly gets an extracting boost, halfway through the machine.
"Oh. Hello, Shelly. Didn't see you there." As usual.
"Well, that's because I actually just got here..."
Not because she was ignored or anything.
"I finished the second machine and thought I could spend some time with you, since Scraps is finishing the other one and Tisha used a Veemote!" Shelly exclaimed in her usually calm and happy tone.
She was a kind toon, yet mostly forgotten. Most would find it pitiful, but Vee believes pitying someone just undignifies them even more.
"I also noticed you were.. well, I don't mean to bug in but you were staring into nothing for a while after the elevator opened and it seemed like something was on your mind.." Shelly tries to reassure, calmly.
"Shelly, I am incapable of feeling. What would I even be thinking about?"
Right.
"Well, I just.. wanted to make sure.." Shelly seems a little sad, but still smiles.
"Get to elevator! Scraps is finishing the machine, I'll stay here until then to give her a speed boost, everyone else GTE." Tisha announces.
"Well... Time to go!" Shelly walks to the elevator while waving shyly at Vee.
"Yeah... Thanks for the boost."
Shelly's eyes sparkle a little at that. Something tells Vee she saw that as something more than just small talk. Vee can't feel, it's not programmed into her system.
It's no use hoping, Shelly.
_
The remaining time of the run goes by normally. Some arguments with Dandy, some fights over bandages here and there, nothing out of the usual. Until they get to floor seven.
"Who's on this one, Vee? I might need to start distracting, even got this box of chocolates to help." Tisha asks.
"I don't have my ability yet, I used it later on the last floor because Scraps needed to see where to get access to the elevator. I'll use it when I get it."
"Okay! I'll just look for them.. manually." Tisha uses her Veemote on a more exposed area and is spotted by a twisted Poppy. "Got one! Careful, guys."
"Vee, we'll separate to find machines more easily. I'll go with Scraps to the left rooms, go with Shelly to the right ones." Sprout orders, creating a fast yet effective plan.
"Roger that."
Vee and Shelly wander off, meeting no other twisteds whatsoever.
They find one machine though, Vee starts extracting while Shelly boosts her.
_
It's a comfortable ambience, despite the condition they are all in. The silence is casually interrupted by Shelly's voice.
"Hey, is your ability on cooldown yet? We haven't spotted any other twisteds besides Poppy and there aren't any research capsules on this side."
"It's still on cooldown, don't worry though. Tisha is probably already distracting all the twisteds."
"Yeah..."
Shelly is extracting the last machine when suddenly the sound of a broken heart can be heard.
"Who was it? Sprout!" Tisha calls out while distracting Poppy and Shrimpo.
Shelly and Vee run off to find Scraps kneeling on the ground, a worried Sprout besides her, and a twisted Goob facing them.
"G-goob! It's me! Please..!"
Scraps is still clinging onto that stupid hope.
"Scraps, please don't! We'll find a way to get him back somehow but for now don't! I don't have enough tapes for even one heal."
Tisha doesn't stop distracting, but is clearly also worried about the situation. Everyone is in a panic mode. Everyone but Vee.
Shelly notices it.
'She did say she couldn't feel anything... but another friend of ours is confirmed to be lost and if this keeps going we might lose Scraps too... How can she not react? Is she really incapable of feeling anything?' Shelly wonders to herself. Still, a slight frown can be seen in Vee's monitor and she stays silent, almost if tense.
"Scraps, please! The elevator is about to close." Sprout urges.
"I've finally found Goob... Just let me stay a little more, I swear..." Scraps is on the verge of tears. Even still believing that it is her brother, she takes very cautious steps towards him, sensing the danger. Everyone else is already at the elevator, the countdown has begun.
"Scraps, that isn't Goob anymore, we all know it. Run and use your ability, you'll die otherwise." Vee tries to help the situation, but her sentences come out in a monotone voice, non-caring. And Scraps snaps.
"Do you even know what it feels like!? I know you're a computer that can't feel anything, you couldn't even mourn your dead friends, but at the very least, let me do it!" Scraps starts crying. "I don't care if I die, I don't care if I turn into a twisted! Right now, I just want my brother back. If you can't feel, atleast try to understand other toons' feelings!"
While Scraps rambles on, the countdown to the elevator ends.
She's gone.
And Vee is left with a bad sensation in a gut she doesn't have.
She would argue her ego is minimally shattered, but she shouldn't have one to begin with.
It's empty. It always was.
Scraps died chasing something she knew was unreachable. It was futile, she knew she would die, and she knew she would regret accepting it the minute the elevator closed, but her fragile emotions made her stay.
Still, what kind of sensation is this?
_