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The warehouse is the graveyard of forgotten things. The silence is suffocating, the temperatures are freezing.In the farthest corner of one of the many storage rooms, on a bed of shredded fabric, lay Dandy. His once-bright petals were dull and wilted, his vibrant hues faded to a sickly gray. His limbs, broken and twisted, were useless now. The friendly smile that had once been his signature was gone, replaced by an expression of exhaustion.( When was the last time somebody came down here? To visit him? The silence is too much, the pain would surely be much more bearable if he could simply hear somebody again. )Dandy coughed, a weak, rasping sound that echoed painfully. Every movement sent sharp jolts of pain through his fragile frame, but staying still hurt just as much. His world had shrunk to this corner, this patch of darkness where he waited—waited for somebody.Too stuck in this small world of his, the creak of the door made him flinch. Glancing up, he finds them. The shadowy mass of void. The one that specifically resembles Astro too much for his liking.The sound of footsteps followed, deliberate and slow. Slicing through the silence like a blade.Dandy’s heart, brittle as the rest of him, twisted painfully in his chest. He wanted to speak, yet nothing could come out. All he could do was look up at them and hope he could be held, brought to another place even if only for a brief moment.( But he wouldn’t get that. Why should he? )“Look at you,” They cooed, crouching down to inspect him closer. His voice was honeyed, soft, and Dandy didn’t know any better. “You’re such a mess. It’s only been a month yet. .you look awful.”Dandy didn’t say anything. He was unable too, his throat felt too dry, his voice felt too weak.“Now, now. . .you should be grateful I came to visit. You missed me, didn’t you?”Dandy didn’t answer. ( He can’t. )They chuckled, the sound low and cold. “Of course you did.”They ran his fingers through the wilted petals on his head. Scratching behind one of them like he was some sort of pathetic mutt. And yet. . .the touch felt almost tender, and Dandy couldn’t help but lean into it. His eyelids drooped slightly as he briefly lost touch with the world around him. Focused on the soft touch.“You know,” They continued, their tone still light and conversational, “I’ve been thinking about you. It’s so lonely without you. Everyone else. . .I feel sort of lonely seeing them all talk to each other, like everything was normal. ”Dandy closed his eyes, he wouldn’t sleep, he couldn’t sleep, but he was as relaxed as he could be. Even when he was under their watch.“Don’t you want to be close to me again, Dandy?” Their voice turned sharp, their hands suddenly grabbing one of Dandy’s broken arms and twisting it. The pain was immediate and blinding, ripping a strangled cry from Dandy’s throat. The sense of relief and joy dissolving into nothing more than a mess of agony and despair as he shook with a newfound sense of fear.They leaned in close, their smile wide and mocking.“I knew you still cared.”They let go of Dandy’s arm, letting it fall limply to the floor, and stood up.“You’re lucky, you know. I could have forgotten about you. Left you here to rot like the rest of them all. But I didn’t. I keep coming back because I care. Because I still love you.”( That could be nothing more than a lie. )Dandy’s chest heaved, each breath a struggle as tears welled in his eyes. He didn’t want to hear any of this—the Astro he knew would have never said anything like this in his morbid situation. The Astro he knew wouldn’t be doing this to him, acting like he was finding some sort of twisted pleasure in his pain.Their foot connected with his side, hard, sending a fresh wave of agony through his mangled body.“You should thank me,” they hissed, voice dripping with venom. “No one else would keep bothering with someone like you.”The kicks kept coming, each one harder than the last, until Dandy was left gasping for air, his vision swimming.When they finally stopped, he crouched down again, their face inches from his own. They reached out, gently wiping away the tears streaking down Dandy’s cheeks.“Don’t cry,” they murmured, their voice soft again. “I don’t like seeing you like this. It hurts me, you know. You don’t want to hurt me, do you?”Dandy couldn’t respond. ( He couldn’t even look at them anymore. )They sighed, standing up and brushing themself off.“Well, I guess I’ll leave you to think about that. Maybe next time, you’ll be a little more grateful.”He turned and walked back toward the door, his steps slow and deliberate. As he reached the threshold, he glanced back over his shoulder, his eye glinting in the dim light.“Try not to miss me too much.”The door creaked shut, and the room he was left in was silent once more.Dandy lay there, broken and alone, the echoes of Astro’s words lingering in the air. He stared up at the faint cracks of light in the ceiling, his mind a haze of pain and even more exhaustion.He didn’t know how much longer he could endure this, how much more of himself he could lose. But he also didn’t know if he could stop waiting—hoping—for Astro to come back. Even if it meant enduring the cycle all over again.