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The blackened screen fades to reveal the empty audience seats facing Dandy, sitting in a red cushioned chair as he holds a tape in his hands. Besides him, is an old TV car you'd see in schools during movie day. He just politely stares at the 'audience' for a while, before beginning to speak.
"Well, well, well! Hey there pals, I didn't expect anyone else to be down here." Dandy says in that cheerful voice of his. "But that's fine, great even! Dare I say, grand. And do you know why? Because I got quite the story to tell you all!"
Dandy gets up from his seat and walks over to the TV cart, placing the tape inside the TV's VSH slot. Within a view seconds, the TV comes to life. On the screen shows a picture of Razzle and Dazzle's information card, and on the left-hand side was a button that said play tape. In the middle top of the screen, was a title that read; Theatre Tragedy Starring, Razzle and Dazzle.
"It has come to my attention that most Toons haven't been having the greatest time down below, or up above." Dandy starts off saying. "And for some in let's say...special predicaments, they'd rather let their stories not be known. Ever."
Dandy begins to walk closer to the front of the stage as he speaks.
"Like how Astro doesn't talk about me 'betraying' him, or how Vee doesn't like admitting her fear of what might happen, how Sprout thought he killed Cosmo, how Shrimpo is afraid to lose anyone he loves dearly, and so and so." Dandy stops speaking and walking, his smile now more eerie than before. "It's quite a spectacle all on its own. The different emotions being hidden or shown on full display, the tension everyone feels when they are aware of their fates. But no one expresses them more, nor hides them better, than the masked duo themselves, right?"
Dandy begins to playfully skip back to the TV cart, pressing the buttons to redirect the position towards the 'play' option.
"And while I could explain why that is, it's much better to see through the eyes of those who witnessed an event...they really don't wanna experience ever again!" Dandy states, pressing the select button. Before long, the screen momentarily goes black before showing the first scene of the tape. It's a crowd cheering and applauding the twins who take a bow on stage, with Razzle smiling brightly while Dazzle is still showing his nervous face but shows some signs of enjoying the cheers as well.
"Look at those two, the crowd loves them!" Dandy says, letting out a soft chuckle. "Oh, if only that'd lasted longer for them. Despite their expressions, they both truly adored the stage light as much as anyone else here. They were literally made for dramatic performances, as you couldn't tell! But what you all will begin to see is far from any act they've performed, and their true emotions will bloom; just like a flower~. Like me! Hehe." Dandy's giggles at his own little jokes before going back to sitting in his chair once more.
"NOW WITHOUT FURTHER ADO~!"
~ Let's start the show! ~
The theatre room, a magical place for not only the young, but for families to come together and watch movies, see the Toons present their talents on full display, or to host competitions on. And although those sound exciting enough already, they most important event are done by the main stage performers, Razzle and Dazzle! A pair of Masks that share a body. Conjoined by ribbons and always caring for one another, they play both comedy and tragedy, giving the audience a sense of dread to relief whenever watching them perform. They'll either take inspiration from other legendary or fabled plays or reenact their own with a childish spin. No matter the option they choose, the results after are always shouts of encore for more.
"AGAIN! AGAIN!" The children sing.
"What an amazing display!" The parents say to one another.
"Haha, then we can't disappoint...(let's give you another taste of joy...)" The Twins say, about to put on another act for the large crowd. "Please remain seated, this' only take a second!...(We Toons still need a break, after each play or act...)".
Razzle and Dazzle both turn and pull the big curtain hanging up above down, giving them time to prep while they talk amongst themselves.
"Oh man, today has been great for performing! Don't you think Dazzle?" Razzle asked his brother, enthusiasm bursting from his voice as he spoke.
"...(It truly was. You were great out there Razzle...)" Dazzle agreed, giving a heartfelt comment to his brother. "...(I wished I could've done more though..)"
"Nonsense! You were great also, top-notch like you always do!" Razzle stated, trying to lift his brother's spirits up.
"...(But...I don't feel like I did much...)" Dazzle tried to argued back, causing Razzle to sigh.
"Oh Jesus-listen Dazz. You can't keep going on putting yourself down like this." Razzle finally blurts out, causing Dazzle to look at him. "Like c'mon bro! How long have we've been doing this gig for?"
"...(Since we've been born)..." Dazzle answers, reluctantly.
"Exactly! And has anyone ever complained?" Razzle asks another question.
"...(No.)..." Dazzle answers again.
"So, what does that tell you?" Razzle asks his final question.
"...(That people do like our performance...and how I perform)..." Dazzle finally says, giving Razzle a slight smile, causing him to give a bright smile back.
"There we go, now you're catching on!" Razzle says. "Now c'mon, I think the crowd waited long enough for our next a-"
"PLEASE HELP ME!"
Out of nowhere, Razzle and Dazzle were both startled by a random woman crawling from under their curtain. Her face was covered in this black goop while she frantically clawed at the wooden floors, with tears streaming down her face. The conjoined twins were still in shock at the woman's sudden intrusion but still tried to help. Razzle and Dazzle ran up to the lady, grabbing one of her hands and tried pulling her inside, however they felt themselves only tugging her as mysterious third party tried tugging her back out.
"NO! NO! DON'T LET GO PLEASE!" The woman cried out. "I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
"Miss, we're trying our best here!" Razzle shouted back at her, as himself and Dazzle tried to pull her harder. As for Dazzle, his ears caught on the more, important bits. "...(Wait, what do you mean 'die'?)..."
Before the woman could give an answer, she suddenly yelled out in pain, losing her grip on the brothers and sliding from under the curtains, leaving a black and red smear behind her. Razzle and Dazzle could only hear screams from the other side, as well as...so much more. Screaming, crying, screeching, it all came from the other side of the red curtains that separated the Toons from the audience. The brothers looked at each other, both of their faces showing a bit of fear before they slowly walked over and lifted the curtains up, walking outside to see the chaos happening. And to their horror, they saw it all.
"O-Oh...oh my god..." Razzle said silently.
"...(...)..." Dazzle remained silent, looking over the entire area.
What they saw was unexplainable. Toons that were like their friends, only disfigured and corrupted, slaughtering their entire audience of fans. The once happy crowd filled with men and women, boys and girls of all ages, were now fighting for their lives, trying to hop on bookshelves or tables to evade the grasps of those monsters. Razzle looked towards his left, seeing a pair of siblings cowering in a corner, the older of the two protecting his sibling while a Shrimpo and Toodles ran at them full speed. The sounds of their cries made him flinch, along with the sounds of their goop-covered hands meeting the soft skin and flesh. Dazzle peered onto his right, watching as a family of five was quickly divided, with one going into a nearby hallway, while the others were left to evade chase in a random room. Unfortunately for either party, the monsters did not discriminate. Dazzle did not see the carnage happen, but he sure did hear their cries.
As the brothers looked onwards from it all, they both narrowed their eyes onto the woman's body from earlier. She was mangled, battered with bruises, and her eyes stared back at them. They thought the worse has happened to this poor lady until, they saw it. Her eye began to twitch, so did her limbs. One after another, they moved and her bones began to crack and pop as she forcefully twisted her body to sit up right. Her head still facing the Toons as her eyes fully shut, reopening a moment after. They were no longer fully white nor pinkish red from the crying, but fully red. Glowing, piercing gaze, red. The type of red you'd see when it signaled for something bad to happen. Razzle and Dazzle didn't know what this could mean for them, but they didn't risk it as they saw one of the woman's hands reach out for them slowly. They quickly ran from it and off the stage. They needed to get away from this room, no matter what.
'Mom?! Mom wake up! Momma, please wake up!'
(That poor kid...maybe we could-...)
'Get on top of the shelf, hurry! Don't worry bout me, just do it!'
(This-this isn't how they're supposed to go out...)
'Why are they attacking us?! WHY?!'
(That isn't us!...We'd never...would we?)
"MOVE YOUR LEG FASTER!" Razzle shouted at Dazzle, who was in a daze. "CMON DAZZLE! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
"...(Huh?! O-Oh, right...sorry.)..." Dazzle apologized, helping his brother run over to where the elevator was, watching him frantically call for it by bashing his hand on the button. Meanwhile, Dazzle was looking behind them towards the crowd of fans and monsters, feeling uneasy about them escaping as they leave those behind. "...(Razz? Shouldn't we...y'know? Help them?)..."
However for Dazzle, Razzle was too fixated on trying to escape the floor, ignoring or blocking out his brother's question, as well as screams of their fans. Dazzle frantically looked back at the crowd, seeing some of their fans try to desperately run to any sort o exit, only to be swarmed or tackled down to the floor by the mob.
"...(Razzle?! W-We can't leave them here! Razzle?!)..." Dazzle cries out to his brother once more, uses still fixated on hitting his fist against the button for the elevator, all the while the screams got louder for Dazzle.
He couldn't take it, he just couldn't either his brother's ignorance to their cries, or the fact that no matter what he'd do, he couldn't help them. He was merely half of their body, not the full. If they were somehow on different torsos, then he'd have a chance to save a few, maybe even most. But no, this was his reality. His painful reality. It'd take Dazzle some time to finally come to his senses, as he and Razzle are inside the elevator headed to the lobby. As he looks around it, they were the only ones there. No sounds of crying, no screams for help or aid, it was just hem. Just their soft breathing and the lights buzzing, and nothing more.
"O-Oh boy...uhm, that was indeed er, something! Right Dazz?" Razzle called out to his brother, who gave him no response. "Dazz? Dazzle, you there bud? You're not injured a-are you?"
"...(We left them to die...)..." Dazzle finally said, facing his brother with guilt, genuine guilt written all over his face, with tears in his eyes to boot. "...Didn't you hear them? Those people, those terrified families ask for help. And we just...we just ran!)..."
"...We did what we had to Dazzle." Razzle answered bluntly. "You might've not liked it, but...there was no turning back once we made our decision."
"...(So that means we couldn't save at least one?!)..."
"Dazzle, please. I would've if I-I...we would've if we could."
"...(But we could've! We passed every chance to drag someone away!)..."
"Dazzle...stop."
"...(No! Tell me why we couldn't! Why couldn't we just save them?!)..."
"BECAUSE DAZZLE!" Razzle started to shout, his face twisting into anger as he immediately softened. "Because...because I couldn't turn back...I-I just couldn't."
"...(...)..."
For the remainder of their ascension back to the lobby, they remained quiet. And then later, much later, they would soon find themselves divided again. As they are last seen getting out of the elevator and into the lobby from the view of the camera in the corner, the video ends. With this sudden ending, the VSH injected into the tv cart from before is spat out, with Dandy walking over to pick it up.
"Wowie! That was quite the show, right dear audience~?" Dandy asks the 'audience'.
It was then at that moment, who the audience was really. It was the victims of the theatre disaster. Their bodies were mangled beyond being recognition, with ichor seeping from every injury they've sustained. Those who were unlucky enough to be in groups before their demise, are now molded together with others. The ichor coating some of their faces, forever muffling their agonized groans while they struggle to breathe. For others, they aimlessly stare off into the distance, almost as if they remember who they were before they turned. All the while, Dandy just stood on the stage, his smile unwavering with the tape in his hand.
"Quite the show, indeed." Dandy agreed with himself, before suddenly breaking the tape.