Chapter Text
It was dark at first, he couldn't see anything at all. He could only hear the muffled sounds of what made out as a bunch of gibberish to his ears, if he even had any.
He could feel though. Whatever he was laying on was cold and made him shiver. He felt things all over his arms. Was he wearing anything? It felt as if he was wearing some type of gown. His feet were so cold.
Suddenly, there was a light. It wasn't comforting at all— it was blaring and was giving him an horrendous headache.
Out of desperation too get that disgusting light out of his face, he forced his eyes open. It was difficult yes, but he would much rather take trying to peel his eyes open than a itching migraine.
His vision was blurry. He could make out only two faces. One a man, the other a woman. They weren't looking at him in concern, more of fascination. Or something like that.
"Dyle? Dyle, are you there?" He heard the man say, was that to him? Who is Dyle? Is he in the room with them? …Was he Dyle?
Something clicked in his head. He didn't know what it was, but it had told him he is Dyle. Great, at least he has a name to go off of now.
Dyle didn't say anything back, his eyes were wide open now, yet they were more just staring into the abyss, completely lost in thought. The two humans looked at each other in concern.
"Is he supposed to be doing that? Dandicus didn't do this when he first woke up." Arthur murmured, waving a hand in front of the dial's face.
"No, he isn't. He's clearly conscious. He's just ignoring us." Delilah sighed, she didn't want to make a bad first impression on Dyle. But clearly he wasn't snapping out of it anytime soon.
She took hold of his a-little-to-long chain and gave it a good yank, Dyle's head leaned forward as he let out a hoarse squeak.
Dyle blinked, his eyes immediately focusing and he took hold of his chain, bringing it closer to himself in an attempt to not have it pulled on again. What even was that?
Delilah smiled. "Now that we have your attention, welcome to the world, Dyle." There was a smugness in her tone that Dyle didn't enjoy too much. Did she seriously need to do that just to get him to listen?
Dyle didn't say anything. He looked over to the other man. Who was he? In fact who was either of this people? This was starting to stress him out. His hour and minute hands were starting to spin erratically.
Arthur noticed it immediately. Raising his hands up in a means to not make himself look imitating. "Calm down, Dyle. We mean no harm. I'm Arthur," he gestured to Delilah. "And this is Delilah. We're your creators."
Dyle blinked once, then twice. He was stunned, what does Arthur mean by creators? "…What?" He murmured. The dial paused, bringing his hand up to his throat like he was surprised he could speak. His voice was deeper than he thought, and it hurt to talk for some reason.
Dyle tore his gaze from the two humans looking into his soul, instead choosing to look around and take in his surroundings. The place was sad and unwelcoming. It was obviously a sterile lab room, the only specks of colors being some vibrant building blocks on the ground that had childish drawings all over them.
Dyle shuddered, biting his lip unconsciously. "Where are we?" He furrowed his eyebrows, looking towards Arthur and Delilah for some answers. He didn't want to be left in the dark.
Delilah cleared her throat. "You're in Garden View, Dyle." Before Dyle could ask another question asking what a Garden View was, Delilah was already speaking again. "Garden View is a company. We make beings like you to entertain and educate a primarily child audience."
The clock tilted his head. So he was meant to entertain? Was that really it? "So, I was created to… make people happy?" He was unsure of… this. He didn't know if he would enjoy that.
Arthur grinned nervously, giving Dyle a pat on the head. Dyle had to use everything in him to not flinch back. "Uhm, no actually. That's not why we made you." This only further confused Dyle. Then what was he made for?
"We created you to work behind the scenes… you know, help the company operate properly." Arthur continued. He looked almost to happy to tell Dyle this. Dyle wasn't very ecstatic from this information.
"Oh." For some reason, that made Dyle feel even worse. He was created to just work? That sounds… horrible, actually.
"Trust us, Dyle. It'll be fun! We have a nice job for you to do." Arthur's smile only widened, already picking Dyle up to then place him on the floor. Delilah watched, unamused. She could see Dyle cringing from suddenly being lifted.
Arthur gestured for Dyle to follow him, holding the door open for the clock. Dyle looked back to Delilah. "Delilah isn't coming with us right now." Arthur pulled Dyle's hand, bringing him along.
Even the hallways were so cold and lifeless. The white LED lights made Dyle want to shut his eyes. His feet were freezing against the tiled floors. They couldn't at least give him a pair of socks?
Dyle had to speed-walk to keep up with Arthur's strides. They were turning so many corners it was starting to mess with Dyle's head. Arthur looked completely unaffected, humming as he practically glided down the halls.
Arthur pushed open a double door that led to yet again more hallways. Except these hallways were full of color and patterns, a stark difference from the unwelcoming hospital environment they were just in. There were posters of what Dyle could only assume was other people like him. He noticed that there was a flower with multicolored petals appearing more often than the others.
"Who is that?" Dyle pointed to a specific poster. It was of that same flower, they had a cheerful smile and was sitting on a picnic blanket in a park. Arthur looked at the poster.
"That's Dandy. Our lead character, he's a happy little fella. But you won't be seeing him to often. So don't worry about it." Dyle barely caught anything Arthur had said. He didn't even get a chance to think about it before he was being dragged along again.
"Why won't I be able to meet him?" Dyle couldn't help but ask. He doesn't see why he shouldn't be able to talk to others like him. Wouldn't that be for the better anyways?
"Dandy needs to focus on the show, Dyle. And you need to focus on your work. And we can't risk you being seen with him." Dyle noticed Arthur's smile was more strained. Perhaps he shouldn't pick at the topic anymore, even if he was disappointed in the answer.
The walk was silent from then on. It felt as if they were walking for hours. Arthur pushed open a door that led to what looked like a station. For what? Dyle had no clue.
"This is the train station," Arthur pointed at a bright red train. Dyle hadn't seen anything like it, well he hasn't seen much actually. "This is what you'll be in charge of… when you get older and more used to this place, that is."
"You'll be head of what goes in and out of Garden View. It's an important job, Dyle. You're lucky. Delilah would never give this job to one of the other toons." Arthur clasped his hands together. Dyle looked to the trains again, then back at Arthur.
"When will I learn how to operate these?" Dyle bit the inside of his mouth. Arthur was speaking as if Dyle didn't have a choice in this matter. Which he was pretty sure he didn't.
"Soon, Dyle. Like I said, you need to get settled in first. We already have a room for you." Arthur gestured for the took to follow him again. Dyle sighed, his still wobbly legs were getting tired of all this walking. He only first woke up like ten minutes ago. Albeit his internal complaints, Dyle was already trailing behind the human.
The two took a elevator down to what Dyle could only assume was one of the lowest floors. It felt like they were going down for forever. Can a building even have this many floors?
The elevator opened to what looked like a warehouse of some sorts. Wooden crates stacked on top of each other and metal grates everywhere. It looked like a labyrinth of concrete. Dyle could hear the faint noise of trains rushing by. Just how big was this train system?
"Stay close now," Arthur interrupted Dyle's thoughts. He was already halfway down the hallway. Dyle rushed to catch up with him. He hated to admit it, but he didn't want to be left alone down here.
They stood in front of a large, grated dull blue door. There was one metal handle at very bottom. Arthur grabbed hold of it. He lifted it up, a sound that scratched Dyle's ears echoed from the door.
The room was exceptionally large. The floorboards were made of oak. A nicer feeling against Dyle's feet compared to the dirty concrete. There was a window with red curtains looking out into a train station to the right, it sat above a wooden desk with nothing on it except for a lamp.
There was a ladder leading up to what Dyle could only assume was his bed. There were pretty fairy lights hung up above his bed. A nightlight of some sorts.
To the left of the bed was another room. It looked more like extra space, more crates stacked onto of each other. The only notable thing was a blank bulletin board on the wall. The wallpaper around his entire room was a dull blue with rainbow stripes running across it. It was supposed to be a comforting note, but it didn't make the place feel anymore alive.
"This is your room, Dyle. Do you like it? I had stayed up for awhile designing it." Dyle looked to Arthur. Should he lie to him? Well, he didn't hate it. It was just… Dyle couldn't put a name to what he felt.
"…I like it," The dial whispered. Forcing the words past his tongue like it burned. "But why is my room so.. far down?" He took hold of his chain and trailed his hands over it.
That smile on Arthur looked so fake, Dyle didn't know if he was doing it on purpose to intimidate him or if it was on complete accident. Either way— it was making him more uncomfortable than he already was.
"You're not supposed to be seen. It's for the best that your room is lower than the rest of the toons, okay?" It was always the same answer. He wasn't supposed to be seen. Why not? He didn't press on it any further, last time he did Arthur looked as if he was going to tear down the walls right then and there.
Dyle looked to the floor and nodded. He shivered, this hospital gown he was wearing was doing little to conserve any warmth. "Are there any other clothes I can wear?"
Arthur beamed at the question, going over to a wardrobe that Dyle hadn't even realized was there. Arthur swung the wooden doors open, showing an array of clothing that was all in Dyle's size. "You can choose from any of these. These are all yours."
Arthur moved to the side to let Dyle inspect the clothes. There was an abundance in copies of an specific suit. Interesting. For now, Dyle grabbed what a matching set of pajamas. A black t-shirt and an baggy dark blue pair of plaid pants.
"I'll let you get dressed and settle in. I'll be back for you in maybe two hours from now, okay? I have work to do." Arthur was already outside the room by the time Dyle turned to look at him. Dyle could only muster up a small wave before the door shut on him. He noticed there wasn't a metal handle on the inside, was he seriously just locked in here?
Dyle listened to the fading footsteps of Arthur's shoes. His throat felt like it was closing in on itself. Dyle hurriedly slid off the gown, throwing on the pajamas like if he didn't he would be punished.
He couldn't help but think about everything that has happened so far. Why was he not allowed to be seen? Why can't he meet… what was that flower's name? Dandy— Why couldn't he meet Dandy? Was his only purpose really to just run a train station? Dyle didn't dwell on it for long. Perhaps it was for the better. That's what he was telling himself over and over again in a futile attempt to make himself believe it.
Dyle looked back to the door, then his surroundings. He was stuck in here for the next two hours against his will… what now?