Chapter Summary: Despite the sudden symbols in red, you open the box and come face-to-face with stitched-on eye sockets !
Starter Notes: The AOT Characters are just minor. You won't see too much of them during the story as it processes but Levi is your best friend in here so there is a chance that he'll be around often.
Let's welcome in the Dollies!
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Ignoring the symbols, you gently lodged the knife into the tape and began to slice through it. Once getting rid of the sides, you placed the knife on the table and held onto the cardboard flap. Heart racing a mile with excitement. What's in here? Was it important to someone? Was it really from the dark web?
You shivered softly, ignoring the scoff from Levi and the gentle nudge from Erwin as you closed your eyes and opened it. Since you kept the flap upright, Erwin and Levi had no clue what was inside. It was until you gasped loudly that made Levi go to your side.
Several dolls laid on the bottom of the box. A small dog's bed was used for padding as two pairs of six stuffed skeletons had their arms over their respective (you assumed) brothers.
"Freaks." Levi snorted, grabbing one pair of skeleton brothers—you slapped his hand away and gently placed them back on their spot.
"They're so cute! Oh my gosh they're like.. five inches, and that's just the tall ones! The short ones much me four or three inches tall..." you cooed, not sure if you should pick them up like Levi had. His word flown over your head as you examined the skeleton dolls.
The first two you saw as the name tags sewn on their legs. 'Sans' and 'Papyrus'. Sans was one of the smaller ones, probably standing at 4-inches while the taller one stood at a proud 6-inches.
You measured them by using your phone. Sans was tall as your phone while Papyrus was few heads taller—your calculations were wrong the first time but it's okay because these dolls are s O CUTE!
Sans sported a white shirt with a few red stains on it, a fluffy blue sweater that zipped up in the middle, black shorts with a stripe going one in the middle of each leg hole. Socks that rolled around his ankles and pink fluffy slippers. His grin with wide and almost chubby-like, white stitches in the sockets must be his eyes and lastly, a triangle nose hole. When you pulled the two apart, you noticed that they were actually a pair! One couldn't live without the others like..
Like how you were with your grandparents...
Pushing the thought away, you gently placed Sans back on the dog bed—idly saying goodbye to Levi and Erwin, and examined Papyrus. He was iPhone-6 big, while Sans was a iPhone-5 big. Maybe they all were the same height?
Anyways, Papyrus sported a crop-top of sorts. It was hard—almost metal like. It was white with a rune etched on the plate. His bones were covered with a long strip of black cloth, jeans that was cut to fit his pelvis bone, bright red boots that stopped mid-calf with gold accents. He wore a similar colour of red around his neck, a scarf that's been immensely cared for, and red matching gloves.
Unlike Sans, Papyrus' skull and body was slimmer, longer even. With not much of a mandible, his teeth was stretched into a proud grin, same triangle nose and eye sockets that looked like he was taken mid-photo. Happy and crescent shaped.
You cooed softly at Papyrus, a feeling swirling in your chest as you hooked his arms around Sans and picked up the other pair.
These two looked the same, if not swapped versions of Papyrus and Sans. Looking at their name tags on their legs, you whistled softly.
'Blueberry' and 'Stretch', huh?
Blueberry was true to his name, bandanna wrapped around his neck, a white shirt with a star stitched on the left, two grey shoulder pads that seemed to be the same material as Papyrus' chest plate, blue gloves and boots (that stopped slightly above his ankles) and black pants that tucked neatly into his blue boots. You awe'd at the blue stars in his wide eye sockets, and like sans, he held a toothy grin that looked chubby.
The brother behind him was like Papyrus, but his Name was Stretch and he wore something similar to Sans. Instead of a blue hoodie, he wore a orange sweatshirt, beige cargo shorts and orange sneakers with its shoelaces untied. Furrowing your eyebrows, you lifted his sweater and— he wore a white shirt underneath. Nodding your head, you examined his face. Unlike the others, he looked relaxed and nonchalant. Like Papyrus, he didn't have eye lights but had half-lidded eye sockets with small bags underneath his sockets. Kind of odd, but then again it's just a doll, right?
Blueberry and Stretch were put down with Stretch's arms around Blue and propped up against the box like they were when you first opened it.
The last two were... well, more edgier. And safe to say that you were kind of scared to examine them. Nonetheless, getting over your useless fear, you grabbed the two gently and pulled them apart. Unlike the previous two, The papyrus looking one had his hands wrapped around the Sans-looking hoody, almost like he was dragging him back.
You frowned softly, wanting to know these two back stories but when you looked into the box once more, you didn't see any pamphlet that'd tell you each skeleton dolls story.
Looking at the tags on their legs, it read 'Edge' and 'Red'.
They...kind of fitted the name they were given. Maybe the one who made them got lazy? Who knows. Maybe you'll call them by a different name if they wanted one—wait no.. you shook your head, lightly hitting your forehead.
"They're dolls. They can't talk, you idiot." You spoke to yourself, chuckling into the silence and placed Red down to look at Edge.
The same hard material was used for his chest plate. He looked (clothing-wise) much like Papyrus but the colour scheme was off. Instead of white and red, it was black with red accents. The chest plate was spiked at the shoulders and his face held a ever-lasting scowl. Oddly his eye sockets were pulled into a glare, the sharp stitching of his teeth were jagged and pulled into a, well, a scowl. One of his eye sockets had two jagged cracked stretching up and down his skull—you were pretty sure it must've been painful if he an actual breathing person.
Much different than the other, he wore leather pants and black boots that stopped lightly below his knee, heeled slightly to add height (he may be the tallest between Stretch and Papyrus, with Papyrus coming close). Instead of black it was red with black straps.
You weren't sure if it was appropriate, but the leather pants stopped slightly below his pelvis bone, exposing the top half, his pants were looked around with a black belt with a golden skull buckle. Like Papyrus and Blue, he wore red gloves that spiked off. A long red tattered scarf was wrapped around his neck looking like a cape but with a few holes in it.
You wondered if this is how Papyrus would have looked like if they didn't change him so much. Maybe? Maybe not?
Gently placing Edge down, you picked up Red. He much much larger than Blue and Sans. His hands were shoved into his unzipped sweater pockets and his grin wasn't chubby-looking at all. You knew it was a doll, but the malice in his sharp-toothed grin sent you to the edge, especially when he had a single gold tooth. Much like his brother, his colour scheme consists of Black and red with occasional yellow.
Black sweater with yellow zipper, a greyish fluffy hood, red turtleneck looped around a dog collar with yellow spikes, a leash hung off of it. Basketball shorts with yellow stripes going down the sides of each leg hole. Yellow socks and black runner, both untied.
His eye sockets were stitched into a glare, a red fire coming out of his eye as the other had a red dot.
You shivered slightly, giving Red back to Edge and looked over the dolls you received a week ago. Why were they here? Should you do something?
They were cute, no matter how intimidating, and you wanted to show them off. Should you, though? What could Levi say if you decided to display them on the window?
Pursuing your lips, you picked up the box and walked towards your room, throwing the curtains open and placed the box on the floor near your feet. Opening the window, you peeked out and glared into the sun. A small huff coming from you as you pulled your head back into the apartment and carefully set up a place for them to lean onto, so they wouldn't fall out of the window.
After finishing up, you grabbed Blueberry and Stretch, placing them in the shade while putting Papyrus and Sans nearby, Edge and Red were propped up against the windowsill together. If they were alive, you were almost certain that they would hate being separated. No matter how brutal and mean they look, they were brothers with an obvious bad backstory. Taking a few steps back, you lowered the box onto the floor and admired your work. Slowly, you pulled the window and huffed with a sense of accomplishment.
Now everyone will see how cute your new dolls are.
*Saturday*
You were so hungry.
You were so lonely without Levi's usual jabs. The smell of fresh windex was beginning to fade and you were sure you were going to die then and there.
That is, until the door began to shake as the delivery person knocked. Jumping off the couch, nearly tripling over your own two feet as you opened the door, a wide smile on your lips as you paid for the pizza, took it from the man's hands and thanked him before closing the door.
Missing Levi can wait, you have food now.
You chuckled softly, opening the top and picked out a plate from the cabinet—
The apartment was weird today. Something felt......Off. Opening your mouth, you took a bite out of the triangle while your eyes carefully examined the kitchen. Walking towards the living room, you scanned the area. Something was definitely off and you weren't sure if it was safe to actually walk around without a weapon. Maybe it was because Levi wasn't here? He made sure to pick out a place where the neighborhood was silent and secured. That was waay before you moved in but he said it was safe around the area for you to walk at night, yet he also said to carry a weapon just in case.
Yeah, that's how you were feeling. It was...unsecured in your own apartment.
You carefully grabbed your phone from your couch while making sure not to splatter any pizza grease on it, you opened your messages while your eyes were trained on the hallway leading to the bedrooms, the bathroom and a single closet.
To: Hange Zoe.
I think I'm going to die. Tell Levi is he a butt and that my ghost will come haunt his dreams, thnx luv u.
*Sunday*
Okay. The feeling hadn't gone away and you were carrying a knife around with you, even to the bathroom where you refused to close your eyes to wash your face, you didn't want to die naked in a shower, that'll be very embarrassing.
Hange didn't say anything to your text just a 'luvU2bye' and left you on read. So much for babysitting, huh? Holding onto your controller, you cursed softly as the main character died, damn you Shepard!
Reloading the game, you leaned back onto your couch while propping your leg up, nipping at your bottom lip as you gunned down indoctrinated Cerberus men. The familiar screech of a banchee made you straighten up, a loud curse coming from your lips as you screamed and ran head-first towards the screeching asari.
Turians and Krogan mercs were a hard kill, but these fucking bitches were the icing on a cake and everything else. You debated with yourself either or not you should lower the difficulty but after a 10 minute rant to your mother Via phone, she told you to just keep going and kill them even if you died. You weren't sure if she was listening or not but you appreciated the moral support.
Thus came your fifth death from a banchee, instantly failing the mission with Garrus And Tali.
You inhaled softly, closing the game and lied down on the couch. Grabbing a couch pillow, you admired the pattern before shoving it into your face and screamed bloody murder.
You didn't notice the startled looks from a small person.
*Monday*
Mike decided to crash at your place since you said you didn't feel safe. Hange said it was because you were used to having Levi around 24/7 with the addition of Erwin. You insisted that that wasn't it, that you felt like you were being watched with every little thing you did. The only sense of relief you felt when you were in the bathroom.
"I don't know.." you spoke, hugging your knees to your chest. "Don't you feel it?" You asked, looking up at Mike.
However, his attention wasn't on you. It was down the hall and on your door window. "It smells different, too." He spoke, looking at your briefly and stood up, walking down the hallway and stopped at your door.
You furrowed your eyebrows and quickly followed him. You paled as he twisted your door handle and pushed it open, sauntering it while examining every nook and cranny as if he'll see the culprit of your discomfort.
"....when did you get these?" He asked, looking at your pure of skeleton dolls on the windowsill. Red, Edge were still where you left them so were Papyrus, Sans and Stretch—you paused. Looking around for the small Blue.
"I got them last week..." you said, looking around your room for the small blue. "They're cute, aren't they?" You smiled, pushing your covers away to see if you accidentally buried blue underneath them. Nope. Pushing your pillow away, you frowned at the empty spots and looked up at Mike.
"Hey... do you see Blueberry around there? He was supposed to be in Stretch's arms." You asked, going on your knees and looking underneath your bed—at the corner you saw a small blue bandanna peeking out from behind the bed leg.
"Ah-ha! Nevermind I found him!" You cheered, reaching over and pulled the end of the bandanna.
However, he didn't move a bit. You tried pulling a little harder yet he didn't budge. Not wanting to rip him, you softly cursed and crawled out from under your bed, pulling the frame towards you and climbed over it, reaching down to grab Blue.
But you didn't feel him.
*Tuesday*
Okay, Dolls can't move on their own, right? Maybe you were just going mad and that you just thought you saw Blue underneath your bed, yeah. That's the only explanation other than a possessed doll. Nope, not while you are home alone. Levi comes home on Friday, that's a few days away. Maybe you won't die and be the first to be killed by a cute starry-eyed skeleton.
Sitting on your bed, your phone in your hands as you scrolled through your social media, DM's, Messages, anything to keep you distracted from the dolls that motionlessly sat on your windowsill. Stretch had been moved by Blue. They had been rearranged with Edge and Red far from each other, Papyrus and Sans were still together but out of the sun.
Pushing the blankets from your legs, you sighed and exited your room. Maybe food will soothe your thoughts. You're definitely not going crazy. Blue is moving around and you have no idea how.
The box they had arrived in was mysteriously missing, too. The dog bed had been torn into pieces with the fluff used as a nest for Stretch. A blanket for Papyrus and Sans and a Pillow for both Edge and Red.
Blue was definitely behind the changes in your arrangement, you didn't move anyone or anything to make it look like they were comfortable in anyway, just that they had their brothers close as they had came in pairs.
Grabbing a pan from the lower cabinets and began cooking. Spaghetti? Nah, that's for Wednesday nights... it's Tuesday.. taco Tuesday?
You hummed in thought, barely noticing the blue doll looking at you curiously. He was on top of the fridge, watching you silently as you worked around the kitchen.
You suddenly tensed—feeling those eyes on your once again as you looked around the kitchen, breathing suddenly becoming heavy as you seen nothing but everything that was left as it was. Biting down on your tongue, you slowly went back to mincing the beef with your spatula. Letting it shimmer with a little bit of water, you covered the top and began to cut the lettuce. After you finish, you went back to the beef and poured in the taco seasoning.
While that cooked, you went to shred the cheese, making sure to be careful in case you cut your fingertips. You didn't need a bloody situation after trying to make yourself tacos.
After finishing that, you went back to the beef, mixing in the mixture and set it off to the side after the water evaporated. A content sigh coming from you as you turned on the oven, took out the taco shells from the—
You paused.
He paused.
You blinked owlishly at the small skeleton behind the taco shells, clutching at it as if it was his life line. The lights in his eyes went from stars to cyan blue dots.
How..how did he get into your pantry? Blinking twice, you screamed and jumped back, retracting your hands from the sealed taco shells and the small monster holding onto it.
"Y-you're!" You stuttered, eyes wide as the skeleton monster tried pushing the taco shells closer to you. You watched as Blue struggled, pushing it close to the edge until—quickly, you grabbed the falling shells, your hand cushioning the...bitty... as he held onto your thumb. Tears of blue gathering in his eyes as his lights turned into a dull blue.
"I'm...Hungry, Miss.." he sniffled, nuzzling his face into your palm.
"You're alive..." you breathed in disbelief.