a-longwayhome

[a-longwayhome]

The main story is going on a hiatus. Yes. of course, nothing’s been posted in awhile. However now I will not continue working on it until a point in the future. Instead, a series of short stories will be posted occasionally.

[a-longwayhome]

Chapter 8 ~ Bitter Almond Tea

Timothy walked towards the main room. It was quiet.

Too quiet…

As he reached the room, he found Sapphire sitting at the table, sipping a cup of tea. She looks up. “Why, hello there, doll. Care for a cup?” She asks him. The dog already felt like accepting would be a bad idea, but then again, so would denying.

“Oh…” He started, nervous. “Alright.”

He walked over to her, and sat down in the chair next to her.

She pours him a cup of plain coloured tea. She stares happily at him, a spider crawling from behind her ear onto her eye. She doesn’t seem to notice. Timothy blinks, and looks at his cup, trying not to stare. He feels like someone’s standing behind him, watching his every move. He puts a hand around the warm cup and holds it in front of his face, sniffing before taking a sip. He is still quite unsure about trusting her, let alone her tea. But he takes a small sip anyways. It tasted quite bitter.

The cat smiles at him. “Good isn’t it, my dear?~”

He nods and forces himself to swallow.

~~

The dog doll awakes in Ghostie’s room. It’s quiet. And dark. Very, very dark. He groans, and slowly sits up from the cold ground. The doll’s body feels heavy and weak. Timothy stands up. “Hello?...”

He can barely see anything, but straining his eyes, he could see the door. He slowly attempts to walk over to it, but trips over something. He looks down at what it is.

A large mouse stares back at him. Timothy squeaks, and jumps back. The mouse walks closer. He quickly gets up and opens the door. In the hallway, there’s hundreds more mice. They all stare at him with unblinking… button eyes?

He crouches down and looks at one. It sniffs him quietly. They’re.. Doll mice?

He reaches a hand out to it. It bites his hand hard. He quickly stands back up, and shakes his hand, the mouse flying off into the crowd. He looks at his paw. Blood drips down onto the ground.

Timmy stares at the mouse that’d bit him. Out of the corner of his eye, a figure starts coming towards him from the darkness. He looks. It’s Ghostie.

“Shoo, mice.” He says, standing a few feet away and leaning down. He tries to push them away with his hands but they go right through them. The mice get his hint, but instead of going away, crowd towards Timothy. He backs up, back into Ghostie’s room. Suddenly, a few of them pounced onto him, grabbing his clothes in their teeth and clawlike hands.

He tries to shake them off, but they’re on too strong now. More jump onto him, and he falls onto the ground.

“You damned mice, I said, shoo!!...”

They freeze, and look up at him. Hissing, they get off the dog, then scurry off into the darkness of the room. “Sorry about that, Timothy. They’re rather attracted to the newly dead…”

[a-longwayhome]

Chapter 7-8 Intermission

The following events did not actually happen. They have been recovered from our dear Timothy’s mind. It is unknown where they originated.

Timothy woke up to a great heat, and a crackling sound. He got out of bed quickly, and looked around. The ceiling was covered with thick, dark, gray smoke. He hurried to his door, and opened it. Down the hall, there was a raging fire. Standing in front of it, the dark monster he’d seen in his nightmares time after time again. It stared at him, emotionlessly. The fire was quickly growing closer, and the creature was moving, yet didn’t seem like it was moving. Timmy ran, trying not to get caught in the flame. He looked behind him, it was only 4 or 5 doors away. He entered the main room, and desperately looked for a way out. Nobody was there except for two dark figures, seemingly burnt and rotted. Intrigued, he walked towards them, momentarily forgetting about the raging fire down the hall.

Upon closer inspection, they’re old dolls, seams ripped, threads loose. They stare at him with deep dark empty eyes. “You’ve come quite a long way, haven’t you, Timothy?” One of them asked him. Startled, he looks it in the eyes. “U-uhm…”

It smiles at him. “You’re so much like him. If only he were still alive--”

“Who??”

The other one speaks. “Our dear fox friend, of course. I’m sure you two would get along nicely.”

“Who a-are you?...”

No reply.

Silence.

They seem to be frozen…

Timothy reaches a hand out to the first, gently touching it on the shoulder. He suddenly hears a loud screech from behind him, and turns around. There stands the shadowy figure that has seemingly been following him. He backs up, bumping into the duo of dolls. They quickly turn to ash, startling Timothy as he falls to the ground. His fur gets coated with their ashes. The creature smiles at him, and inches closer. The fire surrounds them.

It’s hot, and bright. Timothy’s vision blurs. “G-get away from me!!”

And then, the last thing Timothy sees before he blacks out… The shadow grabs him with it’s shadow tentacles, and drags him into the ground, away from the fire.

[a-longwayhome]

Chapter 7 ~ Demons and Friends

As the dolls walked down the hall, it was silent. “You know…” The ragdoll started. “I used to be a doll too, just like you.”

“Huh??”

“Well, you see..” He said, continuing to walk.”A long time ago, I was alone here. The only person here was a bull doll named Seraph, though he didn’t pay me much mind. He was always in what is now Blue’s lab.”

“If you don’t mind me asking.. Whatever had happened to Seraph?” Timothy asked, looking up at Ragdoll.

“Nobody really knows. He just.. Disappeared. He left behind a cat doll named Anna..”

Timothy began to question more why dolls weren’t around there. What was Ragdoll going to do to him? Where had he disappeared to? He stopped walking. “...? Timothy?”

Timothy’s mind races. What if Ragdoll is tricking him? What if the hallway will play the same trick the forest did so long ago? Without thinking, the dog turns around and starts to run. The hallway seems endless once again, but as he looks behind him, the ragdoll is standing there, disappearing into the distance. As he looks back in front of him, he bumps into Ragdoll, falling to the floor. “There is no need to be afraid, Timothy.” Shadowy tentacles come out of the ground and hold him down. “I won’t let them hurt you.” The tentacles pull him into the ground, and he’s drowned in darkness.

~~

It’s quiet, and dark. Our dear dog friend feels as if he doesn’t exist. He’s conscious in nowhere. He’s been waiting so long for something to happen. Time’s been ticking, and it feels like there is no real ‘time’ anymore. Only darkness.

He can’t speak, nor move. There is nothing to hear. Suddenly, he overhears a conversation. The voices sound like Ragdoll’s only.. Split. Two male voices argue and a female voice tries to stop them.

“We need to just get rid of him!”

“No, we need to keep him here. We don’t know what he was doing in the forest.”

“Just put him back in his room. We can pretend this was all a dream.”

“It won’t work, you idiotic girl! He’s already claimed by the Corruption. Any more fear and he’ll start to go corrupt himself..”

“Please, we should just get rid of him. The corruption probably won’t survive long on the surface..”

“But what if it DOES?”

“Guys, stop fighting! If we leave him here too long, he’ll get more scared.”

“Good. If he gets corrupted, we’ll get less corrupted.”

“That’s not how it works, you dunce.”

The voices became morphed and inaudible.

~~

Timothy awoke in his bed, startled by what just happened. He sighed.

The dog doll was starting to not like it here.

He didn’t want to get out of bed. He wanted all of this to be one bad dream. He slowly pushed the blankets off him, and stood up. He walked to the door. It was coated in demon ink. He groaned. Despite his older brother’s warnings of the ink, he put his paw to the door handle. It was uncomfortably slimey, but despite his struggle, he opened the door. He wiped his paws on his shirt. He walks out of his room again and hopes nobody else decides to be such a cactus.

[a-longwayhome]

Chapter 6 ~ Nightmares

Timothy awoke the next morning, unable to process the day he'd had. Many different haunts had introduced themselves to him throughout the day, but some just stared, glaring as if he'd done something wrong. His room was cold, and he pulled the blankets around himself tightly.

He looked at the clock to check the time, only to remember that it's not the most functional of clocks. Timothy wondered why Ragdoll hadn't told him about anybody else around this place.

Just then, there was a knock at his door. He groaned, but pushed the blanket off him. He slowly sat up, and placed his paws onto the floor. Whoever was at the door knocked again. "Just a minute!" Timmy said to them, as he slowly stood up. He looked down at himself. While he was asleep, his clothes had been replaced by a starry version of his.

He walked to his door, and opened it. Standing outside was a pair of light gold rabbits, looking similar to how his old doll did. One's coat was much duller than the others, and he looked tired, almost undead. But then Timothy realized this: They weren't wearing anything. He blushed and avoided looking below their faces.

"Allo there!" The brighter one said. "My name's Starstruck. You must be the new one, right?"

"Uh.. Yessir."

"Good! Let's go then!" He said cheerfully, and turned to the side and started walking.

"Sorry about him. He's a bit much sometimes.." The other rabbit says. "Hey, fuzzbutt, get back here!" He yelled out to Star.

"Sorry, Trick.." Star replied, stopping, turning around, and walking back.

"We're here to introduce you to more Haunts today."

"I sure hope yesterday wasn't too much for ya, Timothy! We hadn't really expected the tall sir to disappear like that again," Star said, happily yet seeming emotionlessly.

"Disappeared? What do you--" He was stopped mid-sentence by Star grabbing him by his arm and dragging him down the hall, running fast. His grip was soft yet firm on the dog doll's arm. Timmy ran to try to keep up with him, but the rabbit was extremely fast. He looked behind him for Trick, but the other bunny was nowhere in sight. The numerals on the doors counted down and down. When they reached the early Cs, Star finally slowed down. They were still moving, and Timothy struggled to catch his breath. They slowed down more until they reached room XCVII.

The door was already open, and it seemed endless darkness was inside. But Star didn't seem phased by it. Trick appeared next to Timothy, as if he'd been there the whole time. "Go on," He said. "Step on in."

He hesitated, but slowly stepped into the dark room. It was pitch black, and the temperature was much different than he'd felt anywhere else so far. It wasn't warm nor cool. It felt like nothing.

"You idiots, are you sure this is the right one?" A voice says.

Star walks in behind Timothy and stands next to him. "O' course it is, Boss!"

"He seems... Smaller... Than I'd expected..."

"Well.. this is the only doll here, m'lord."

"Very well. Dismissed, you damned rabbits."

Star walked out of the room, and closed the door behind him, leaving Timothy in complete darkness. "What a small child you are.. Timantha, was it?"

"It's Timothy-"

"Ah whatever. You don't belong here. And I don't like that you're here..."

"W-well... If you could help me leave, that would be nice... Oh, please though, take a seat~..." A plain wooden chair would appear beside Timothy. He would sit himself down in it awkwardly, and look around through the darkness. He felt like he was being watched, and was starting to hallucinate nonsensical creatures moving around in the darkness. None of which were clear enough for the dog doll to see very well.

"Well, Timber-"

"It's Timothy..."

"Timothy. Anywho, you must be quite uncomfortable here. Nothing quite makes sense, now does it?"

"N-no..?"

"Of course it doesn't!"

"Show yourself to me..!" Timothy growls into the darkness, trying to feign bravery. This caused the other to laugh. In front of the doll's face, the darkness formed a figure. It slowly took form into a deep blue mess, then it's image got darker. The creature wore a mask, with a crack through it, and wore a red coat with cream coloured frills across the collar and the cuffs, and shiny gold buttons down the front.

"Well? It's not very nice to stare,  Timbalina."

"I-it's Timothy!"

"Whatever, Timmy. Now then, how would you like me to make your life a living nightmare?" He says. Goopy black tentacles protrude from behind and under his body, smaller ones crawling around his mask.

“Uuh… N-no?”

“Well, good. I know I seem quite scary, Timber, but I am here to protect you from the real nightmares you will face here.”

~~

Timothy yawned. Besides the stress of all of what was happening, life in the Dimensiaverse was relatively carefree. He pushed himself into his bed’s covers. The dog’d spent all day sitting in the other room, various Haunts going up to him and introducing themselves, before scurrying away to talk with their friends.

He fell asleep quite quickly, the light turning off without him doing anything. Just before he fell asleep,   he saw a dark, shadowy figure in the corner of his room.

Suddenly, he was dreaming a rather vivid dream. He was back in his home, and it was early morning. He was back in his real room, in his real bed. He pushed his blankets off him, and stood up. Timmy felt more relaxed and happy than he had in awhile. He looked around. Everything was the same. Was he really back home? He walked to the door, and opened it. It was rather dark. He stepped out and looked around, feeling unfamiliar with his surroundings. The floor creaks with his every step. As his eyes adjust, he’s back in the hallway of the Dimensiaverse. He sighs quietly, and starts walking down the hall. The doll’s body feels heavy, and becomes slow. “Going somewhere?” A voice asks from behind him. Timothy turns around. “I-- Wh-who are you?” He asks, faced to a large shadowy creature. It seems to be made of pure darkness, blacker than black. “You’ll find out in time.”

The creature laughs, causing Timmy to stumble backwards and fall over. The darkness starts to surround Timothy, tentacle-like figures sprouting from the ground beside him and holding him down. They grow over him as the creature nears towards the frightened dog. “Don’t be afraid, my dear Timothy. Fear often leads to unexpected changes…” He says.

And then Timothy wakes up.

Starting to forget what happened, he materializes a pen and some paper on the bed in front of him without realizing it He stares at it for a second before grabbing the pen and scribbling down his words, as they echoed through his mind… The dog pondered it for a moment, but pushed it aside. Although it was a nightmare, it was an awfully odd first dream to have in a new place. He slowly got up, put down under his lamp, and started walking to the door, the paper in his hand. Before he reached the door, it opened. Outside of it stood Ragdoll. There were several patches and uneven stitches around his body, and he looked overall in rough condition. “I’m here to take you back, Timothy. Come with me. It’s gonna be a long way home…”

[a-longwayhome]

Chapter 5 ~ CCCXCIX

Timothy awoke to a knock at his door. He opened his eyes, and slowly sat up. His eyes didn't take long to adjust to the warm light, and noticed his clothes were clean, as if someone had washed them and put them back on him. He stood up and walked to the door, and opened it quietly. There stood Ragdoll. "Hey Timothy.. I hope I didn't wake you up."

"N-no it's fine..."

"I just figured you'd want to meet some other people who live here, considering you might be here for awhile."

"Alright," He replies.

"Come on, there's someone friendly across the hall from you."

The ragdoll leads the dog out of his room, and across the hall, only a few feet. "He'll seem like a bit much at first... But he's cool, trust me." He says, knocking on the door. After a few seconds, the door opens into a dark room.

"Wow, Ghostie. You really need to turn on a light or something..."

"Of course I do.." A deep voice replies, presumably Ghostie.

A candle flickers on one wall, and Timothy stares for a few seconds. It's light suddenly flashes and illuminates the entire room. As he looks, the room has the same flooring as his, only the wallpaper was green, with yellowish figures on it. The figures had something that looked like eyes on them, and they appeared to be watching him.

"Oh? Who's this child?" Ghostie says, appearing in front of the door. He emits a gentle glow, stronger around his eyes. His entire body is slightly translucent.

"This is Timothy," Ragdoll says, "He's kinda new here. I'm just trying to make him feel at home by introducing him to some of the Haunts around here."

"Ah, well Timothy. Come on in," Ghostie says, stepping aside and holding the door open for him. Timmy nods and slowly steps in. The room is cold and smells rotted. "You're quite an interesting looking creature..." He says, closing the door and leading Timothy over to a dusty chair, and practically forcing him to sit down.

Ghostie smiles. "My name's Sir Ghostie, or just Ghostie. You're free to call me as you wish." He sits down on an invisible chair next to the doll, and looks closely at him. "So, you come far to find here?"

"O-oh.. I'm not really sure. I just kind of.. Fell." Timmy says rather quietly.

"Ah, that's how most of us came here..."

"Pardon me asking, but..." Timothy stops for a second before asking. "Are you a ghost?"

"Of course I am! I'm not made of jelly, now am I?"

"No?....."

This makes the ghost chuckle. "So, what are you, anyways? You seem to have some stitches across you... Franken-dog, maybe?"

"No, sir.. I-I'm a dog. A dog doll."

"Wow," He starts. "A real doll... I'd heard about those before. I didn't think I'd actually meet one."

"Isn't that.. ragdoll.. a doll?"

"No, not technically. I don't know for sure, though. He's one of the only 'living' ones here."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, almost everybody here died in some way, usually fire, or sickness, or murder... I'm guessing you were murdered?"

"Wh-... N-no, I'm not.. dead."

A few moments of silence pass.

"At least,

I don't think I am."

"Ah, well..." Ghostie says, standing up. "That's for you to find out. I'd suggest you head out for breakfast, it will give you a chance to meet some other Haunts. That's what we call everybody else here, since there's so many different species here to say."

"A-alright..." Timothy says, standing up. He slowly walks to the door.

"Oh, and Timothy..."

"Yes?" He replies, stopping and turning his head to look at the ghost.

"Do visit me if you need me. I rarely leave my room, and it gets quite lonely."

"Alright, Ghostie." The dog says, smiling for a second, then opening the door, and leaving.

He walks down the hall quietly, looking at the doors as he passes. Each looks quite plain from the outside, though occasionally, inside, there would be some noise; Barking, growling, singing, sometimes even music. He figured he'd find out what all of this was eventually, and kept walking, holding his curiosity aside.

~~

As he finally reached the end of the hall, he stepped into the light. Finally being able to focus more on the room around him, he found the walls were wallpapered with dull lavender and white stripes, and the floor was the same rough light gray material that'd been in the hallway.

In front of him, he sees the table, full of assorted creatures, monsters, and everything else he could think of. The room, as well, had many just standing around, mingling amongst each other. Some drinking, some eating, some just standing there. Not talking, not being talked to, not doing anything.

There was a table across the room, laid out with different foods and drinks, some he'd never seen before, and more food than he could ever want. But for some reason, he didn't feel hungry, and hadn't since before he'd gotten to wherever he was.

In fact, he hadn't felt anything. The most he'd felt was how comfortable he felt in his room. He didn't even truly feel scared of any of this. As if he knew what was happening, and that nothing could hurt him anymore.

[a-longwayhome]

Chapter 4 ~ CD

3 Weeks Later

Timmy wakes up from the pile of blankets. He'd been stuck in the lab for a few weeks now. Ragdoll had been checking on him every few hours, but other than that, he had no interaction from outside of Blue's lab.

Ragdoll walked in the door again, closing it quietly behind him. "Really, though, I'm sorry I can't get ya out of here, Timothy."

"It's fine..." He replies, standing up.

"Sapphire keeps complaining about you, even though you aren't really there."

The room flashes around Timothy again, Ragdoll being the tattered, gory doll again for a split second. He falls back into the pile of blankets.

"Uh.. Sorry about that.." Ragdoll says rather quietly.

"Wh-what even is that? Why do you change?"

"It's just a side effect of me getting you here. As for why I change... uh... I'd rather not explain."

A moment of silence passes. But it felt longer than a moment. Suddenly, Blue walks in. Ragdoll stares at him for a second before leaving. The wolf would walk over to Timothy. "Ignore anything he says. He's a trickster, and he'll do anything to cause a bit of chaos." Timmy remains silent, and stand up. "I finally got you an actual room... Let's go.. He says, turning around and walking to the door, not even turning around to see if Timothy were following. Timmy ran for a second to catch up, and had to take large steps to keep up with Blue. The other would lead him through the other room, and into the dark hallway. Walking down it, the dog doll noticed many doors lining each side of the hall. "Blue," He started, "What's in all of these rooms?"

"Oh, nothing much." He said, not even slowing down his walking pace. "Just a few others who'd fallen down here, and some storage rooms. Nothing much."

Each door was numbered in roman numerals. After awhile of walking, they finally reached a room marked 'CD'. "Here we are, Room 400." The wolf said. "Try not to make too much noise.." He said, and walked off. Timmy looked both directions. Blue was already fading into the darkness, and further down the other side of the hall, there was only more darkness. There seemed to be a dim light coming from his room. He opened the door, and stepped in.

The change of atmosphere was astounding. Inside the room, it was warm and calm. The walls were a pinkish cream color, and the floor was made of a grayish-brown wood. On the walls were various paintings, mostly of red or maroon colored flowers. In the middle of the room, there was a bed, with a nightstand on either side. The bed was neatly decorated with a large maroon quilt, with a print of pink and red flowers. He walked in more, closing the door quietly behind him. There was a faint smell of roses and vanilla. For once, he saw a source of light. There was a desk and a matching chair to one side of the room, under a window. On top of the desk was a lamp, with a light pink lampshade on it. It really wasn't much special.

Walking over to the desk, he looked out the window. Outside, it was a deep, dark purple, almost black. He could hear the quiet sound of rain outside and rain hitting the window, but it didn't seem real. Timothy couldn't quite tell why. He walked over to the bed, and sat down on one side. On the table next to the bed on that side, there was a clock that seemed to run backwards. The hands seemed to be bent and twisted, and the only number on it was a bright red "13" on the top, in place of where a '12' or an 'XII' would be.

He yawned, and let himself fall back onto the large soft bed. He seemingly sank into it, and quickly fell asleep.

[a-longwayhome]

Chapter 3 ~ The Blood-Soaked Cotton

Timothy groggily awoke. "Wh-what happened..."

The world around him was a flash of bright light, as his eyes took a moment to adjust to whatever was shining down upon him. As soon as his eyes finally came to, he realized where he was. A brightly lit room, with clean white walls, a smooth stone floor, and a ceiling to match it. Above him was a bright lamp, shining right into his eyes. He attempted to move his arms but to no avail. They were being held down tightly by leather straps. Trying to move any other part of his body, he found the same result. Around his neck felt like there was a collar or something, tight but not tight enough to be uncomfortable for him. He looked around with his limited movement. He was alone in the room but noticed a set of counters and cabinets to one side of him. On one side of the counters, there was a sink, that looked as though it'd recently been cleaned. Spread across the table were various knives, scissors, scalpels, and other tools which made Timothy fear more and more what was happening.

Behind him, he could hear a door open, close, then lock. "I'm sorry to do this, Timothy," Blue said from a few feet away. "But Sapphire wanted me to prove you're a real doll."

Blue walked to the counter, picking up a blade. "I really wasn't expecting you to be up yet. This will really make things difficult..." Timothy squirmed a bit. "P-please let me go..!"

Blue ignored his request and went over to him. He pulled the straps open that were holding Timothy's arm down, then turned his arm so his palm was facing up, holding him tightly by the wrist. "If I show her your stuffing... She'll know you're a doll.." He said as he made a quick vertical incision across his entire forearm. Timmy squeaked in pain. Blue reached under the table Timothy was strapped to and pulled a rag, wiping away the blood coming out from around the cut. "Try not to bleed too much."

Timothy squirms a bit from the pain, but Blue doesn't seem to notice. Blue walked back over to the counter, putting the rag and the knife down. He opened a drawer, and pulled out a camera. "P-please let me go.." He squeaked quietly.

"Let me just take some pictures, then I'll sew you back up." Blue replies, walking back over to the table. Upon closer examination, the camera he holds is actually quite small and futuristic looking, much unlike the camera's he'd seen before. Timothy stares at Blue, tears in his eyes. He can barely move his arm due to the pain. The wolf carefully pulls at the dog's fur on one side, revealing Timmy's inner stuffing of cotton, bloodied from the cut. Blue holds up the camera, and takes a few quick pictures from different angles, some closer, some further.

He puts the camera down next to Timothy. "I'll be right back..." He says, and walks to the door. Timothy hears the door open and slam shut, followed by silence.

~~

A few minutes, the door opened again, this time closing much softer. Blue walked over, holding a needle and a spool of thread in his paw. "This should be alright... Right?" He says, holding up the thread for Timmy to see. He nods, and Blue puts down the thread and grabs the end, threading his needle. He puts down the needle for a second, reaches into Timothy, and pulls out a few bits of the blood-soaked stuffing. Then, he holds Timothy's arm. "Now, this might hurt a bit," He says, picking up the needle and poking it into his arm. He slowly sews the hole shut. He cuts the thread with his teeth and puts down the needle again.

Tears run down Timothy's face from the pain, though fading, still quite bad. Blue would begin pulling open the rest of the straps holding the dog down. "Now, I think you should stay in here for the night. Sapphire probably won't want to be seeing you. I can trust you not to mess with anything in here, right?"

"Y-yeah.." Timmy says, sitting up. He puts a hand to his neck, feeling the collar. "What's this?..."

"Oh, that. Sapphire insisted you wore it in case you 'decide to try to hurt her'... I don't know what she has against strangers. Anyways, I'll get the ragdoll to get you settled in here." He says, walking back to the door. He looks back at Timothy for a second before leaving.

Timmy stood up from the table. The floor felt cool against his feet. He wasn't sure what to do until Ragdoll came, so he walked around slowly, looking around. The room was lit, but there were no actual lights in sight. Timothy decides to look at his arm. It was roughly stitched shut, showing that Blue hadn't ever really sewn anything by hand before. The stitches were uneven and in some parts his fur still oozed blood through the holes, making him feel dizzy. He walked back over to the table and picked up the needle and threads it. He holds it for a second above his arm, then pokes it in, cringing a bit at the feeling. He slowly sews himself up better than the wolf had. He carefully bites at the thread after he finishes, and puts the needle back down.

Just then, Ragdoll walks in the door. "You alright?" He says, startling Timothy. The dog looks up to the tall ragdoll. "U-uh.. Yeah."

"Did he hurt you at all?" He says, walking closer.

"No he just.. cut open my arm.. And then sewed it back shut.. I'm fine.."

The ragdoll walks over to the corner, and materializes a pile of a few large blankets. "I'm here if you need me, Timothy. Blue isn't the most.. sane.."

Timmy nods in reply. "I might be a bit of a trickster, but really, I'm much nicer than him. He pretends to be nice but.. Don't get too close to him.."

[a-longwayhome]

Chapter 2 ~ The Hanging Fox

After an hour or so of walking, Timmy was starting to get tired. "I could have sworn I didn't walk this far..." He said to himself, stopping. The moon was a third of the way up the sky, peeking down through a clearing in the clouds, and the rain had stopped. He looked behind him. The ragdoll was only 10 or so feet away, still motionless, facing the same direction he had been before.  "Wh-..." Timmy started, and the ragdoll turned it's head all the way around to face him. "Back so soon, young doll?" It said to him. "N-no! I was just leaving!..." Timothy lied, turning back around. He was met face to face with the ragdoll, it leaning down right in front of his face. "I know you're lying, young doll. We both know you'd never REALLY want to leave me. Please, won't you join us for tea?"

"W-well... I guess it won't matter much since I can't really leave..." Timmy replied. The ragdoll leaned up and took a step back. "Well then, young doll. We mustn't waste too much time, the others are waiting for us." It said, starting to walk into the denser area of the forest, away from the path. "Come, now."

Timothy quickly walked after it, having to take larger steps in order to keep up with its pace. "My name's Timothy by the way..."

"Ah, Timothy, what a nice name for a young doll like yourself."

"Th-thanks.." The dog replied, continuing to follow the other. He noticed that the doll's tail was rather small, yet still foxlike. It looked as if someone had cut part of it off.

~~

After almost an hour of walking, they arrived at a rather large tree. "Well, here we are.."

Timmy looked around. "Where exactly is here..? I don't see anything.."

"Look up, Timothy." The doll pointed up.

Timothy proceeded to look up, towards where the doll pointed. There, a few feet above both their heads, was a dead real doll, about the size of Timothy himself. He was rotten and decomposing, hanging by a strained rope. The few bits of the doll that weren't covered in bugs and dirt looked similar to how the tall ragdoll did.  The dog squeaked in fear, backing away from it. "Don't be afraid, young doll. Close your eyes."

The dog's mind raced. Should he run? Was he going to end up hanged as well? He figured there was no use to run, and closed his eyes as the ragdoll said. He suddenly felt like he was falling. Expecting to fall onto the ground, he braced himself... But the ground didn't come. An endless stream of air flowed around his body. "Don't open your eyes, Timothy. We'll arrive soon, just in time to meet the others."

The falling started to slow down. "Oh, great, what did this monstrosity bring in this time?" Said an unknown voice, muted out by the sound of rushing air going by Timmy's ears.

"It looks like one of those other dolls he keeps talking about."

"Dolls aren't naturally sentient, dear,"

The voices got closer. Then Timothy finally fell onto the ground, as if he only fell from 2 or 3 feet. The dog felt tired as if he'd just ran a marathon. He weakly opened his eyes. "Oh, well finally it's up!"

The ragdoll pulled him up so he was standing, holding him up from behind. In front of him were 2 figures. To the left was a light bluish cat, with eyes of bright magenta. Timmy couldn't decide it's gender. To the right was a wolf, who's colors seemed to be of bright blues and greens, but were so toned down he couldn't be sure. Both their eyes were dull as if they'd been experiencing a horrible day.

"Hello, dear. Are you alright? Did this horrid monster hurt you?" The cat asked Timothy.

"Sapphire, don't call our pet a monster." Growled the wolf.

"Wh-where am I?..." Timmy asked, attempting to stand on his own and push away the tall ragdoll which he still had yet to learn the name of. "Well, we call this place the Dimensiaverse."

The wolf would grab one of Timothy's arms, examining it. "So... Are you really a doll?" He asks. "Blue, you can't just ask those kinds of things to someone you just met! Besides, as I just told you, sentinent dolls are just a myth.."

"B-but.. I am a doll. And isn't he a doll, too?" The dog would pull his arm away from Blue and point at whom he'd decided to just call Ragdoll. His question was ignored as Blue rushed off to another room. Sapphire sighed, looking from where Blue went to Timothy. "Sorry about him... He's a scientist, along with a big conspiracy theorist. Although I can't say he does much science..."

"Ma'am, should I get the tea?" Ragdoll says, all voices still together, but finally from his unmoving mouth instead of all around. Sapphire looked at a wall, glancing at a confusing-looking clock. "Yes, go right ahead." She replied to him. Ragdoll turned around and walked off to a dark hallway, so long that Timmy couldn't even see the end of it.

A lengthy wooden table would materialize next to them, along with 5 chairs along each of the longer two sides. The chairs were of assorted heights and colors, no two matching. On each end, there were two larger matching chairs. One with roses growing along the sides, and the other with morning glories growing on it.

"Go on, take a seat," Sapphire says, sitting down on the chair with the red roses, and pointing to the one with the bright blue and purple morning glories. Timothy would gingerly walk to the chair, and sit down, being careful not to sit on any of the flowers. Looking at Sapphire, he could see she hadn't sat on any flowers but had sat on some of the rather thorny vines. Though they quite obviously poked into her fur, she didn't seem to mind. "So, tell me your name, Dear~"

"My name is Timothy..."

She quickly followed up with another question. "Where'd that stupid thing find you?"

"W-well uhm. I was going for a walk in a forest when he appeared. I'd never seen him before, and he asked me to stay. I was expected home, so I declined and attempted to leave--"

"Oh, he pulled that on you, too?"

"Pulled... What?" Timmy asked her.

"He made it seem as though you walked very little distance in a seeming long amount of time."

"Oh! Yes.."

"He's a doll inspirited by a demon, darling. He simply bent your perception of time to make it seem like a long time.."

Just then, Ragdoll walked in holding a shiny silver platter. Atop it was a tea set, white china with pink and red roses along everything. He set it down next to Timothy, setting a teacup on the table beside him. Ragdoll then picked up the teapot and poured some of the reddish steamy liquid into his cup. He then put the pot back and walked over to Sapphire, doing the same for her. "Go on now and leave, you creature.."

"Yes, Mistress.." He said, leaving the tray and the teapot there as he walked into the room Blue had gone into, closing the door gently behind him.

Timmy blinked and swore he saw the gored up hung doll corpse in the place of Ragdoll. "Something wrong, Timothy?"

"No just.. Tired.." He said, taking a sip of the tea. It tasted perfect, even with nothing added to it. But something was off about it. A few moments later, his head hit the table as he passed out. "Haha~ I can't wait for you to join us, dear...."

[a-longwayhome]

Chapter 1 ~ The Frightful Forest

Timothy walked calmly along the path, leaves crinkling under his feet. It was a warm mid-autumn day, and light rays shone through the gaps of the leaves in the trees. A gentle breeze blew against his fur. Though it was a nice day, Timothy had the feeling he was being... Watched by someone, or someTHING.

He decided to take a break from his walk and sat down below a large, sturdy tree, a few feet from the edge of the path. He looked around, to prove to his conscience there was nothing to feel off about. Off on the other side of the path, past the trees, the dog saw a mysterious figure pass through, as though a shadow was floating along in the breeze.

He brushed it off as nothing. But felt some odd presence near him. Leaning against the tree, he closed his eyes and proceeded to fall asleep. About an hour later, he was awoken by a light rain. "Hm. The forecast didn't say anything about rain.." He said to himself, standing up. He still felt like he was being watched, but proceeded onto the path. It was already quite dark out, and the rain started to come down harder. Timothy quickened his pace to get inside quicker but stopped when he saw a tall figure off in the distance. He couldn't quite make it out, but it was most definitely much taller than he was.

"Uh.. Hello?" He said to it, stepping closer. He was quite scared of it, but something told him he should talk to it. It didn't respond. Timmy continued closer until he could see whomever it was more clearly. It looked like an old fox ragdoll, but quite large. It stood there, in the middle of the path, staring at Timothy with its green button eyes. Though there was no one around, the area was filled with laughter. The feeling of watched became more intense as if he were the center of attention in a crowd of hundreds.

Timothy would stumble backward and into the damp leaves onto the path. The world around him and the ragdoll would fade to black. He could still feel the rain, couldn't see it. The laughter would fade. It would reach a paw out to him, to help him up. Timmy reached out a hand, grabbing the other's and pulling himself up. A voice spoke up as if it was many different dolls from all directions. "Welcome to my forest. Please, young doll, won't you stay awhile?"

"N-no thank you. I-I really must be getting home." Timmy stuttered, stepping a few steps back.

"Please, do come back soon. We'll be waiting..."

The darkness fades back to a dark and damp forest, and the doll stays motionless. Timmy would walk around him and continue down the path.