EDDY!

I'm thinking of some sort of future au thingy for Colt, after he finally managed to escape from the Starrs. He decides to settle down in Oldtown and exercise his ranger duties alongside Shelly and Spike, but this time, without the cruch of the Park controlling them.

It seemed fine at first, but very soon Colt found how lost and alone he really was. With all of his artifices stripped away from him, he realized that, at the age of about 30, he barely had an identity to call his own. Sure, he liked to care about his appearance, he liked his little tricks, and he was still a skilled fighter. But all these things, he learned them to be loved and admired by others. He could still distract himself with this in public, but now, it always felt pointless and empty. Being alone was miserable. His alcoholism would get even worse, and this started to seep through his work and daily life. At one point, he just couldn't hide behind a pretty smile anymore.

Thankfully, his friends were there to support him (or kick his ass when he was going too far), but it was still a process he needed to go through himself. It proved to be very difficult, since he had to basically start everything over (which is honestly understandable).

But eventually, the rangers find an abandoned baby in the junkyard. She was a little girl with red hair and a disability (idk what it would be yet though), and they theorized she was a bastard child from the Starrs who was left behind. Shelly and Colt took her in, while they were looking for her parents, but nobody ever came to claim her. During this period, them, and the whole town became very attached to the child, and Shelly suggested they'd take care of her.

It meant a lot to her. Shelly's childhood was very short, in fact, she had lost her home and part of her family because of the feud between the Starrs and the Goldarm. She had to grow up quickly to provide for what was left of it, and it had left her regretful of the innocence she left behind, and guilty of the person she became during that time. Shelly didn't want the same fate to happen to other children, and wanted to use the more comfortable life she had now, to take care of the baby, and give her a normal childhood. However Colt categorically refused, he completely understood Shelly, and he did want the same thing, but he was just too much of a mess at the time. He saw himself in the kid, and was just terrified of ruining her, like his parents did him.

-"Mr. Self Destruct" is a boogeyman the protagonist (here Shelly) made up in their head to pin all their misery on. For Shelly, it's Belle, Eddy, the Park and herself all at once (but it mostly takes the form of Eddy). It appears to her and announces that he embodies everything that went wrong, and beckons her towards a comforting place, a path of self-destruction. Together they enter the downward spiral.

-Piggy is Shelly's backstory, and the birth of "Mr. Self-Destruct". She progressively loses her home, her friends and her family, and becomes a violent, savage and apathetic criminal. In the end, it's just her, battered and bruised, and the silent desert, painfully walking towards her next target.

-Heresy is the same story of rebellion told 3 times with different characters. Belle tells of the Starr's atrocities and how she's ready to become the villain to see it all burn. Eddy tells the story of how he escaped said villain to become Colt, and Shelly telling how she met Colt, and how she found out he was a fraud. He might look perfect, but he's just as pathetic as any other human.

-March of the Pigs is your typical "consumerism bad" song, but apply that to Starr Park and it's cooler. Colt is a litteral brand mascot, and people are feeding off his body. Shelly is disgusted and fascinated at the same time, she enjoys seeing him being torn apart, but she doesn't understand how he can keep smiling. Until Colt warmly bekons her in his arms, and a glimpse of Mr.SD can be seen in him, she starts savagely indulging as well. Both of their broken bodies lie down together in the end.

-Closer is THE Sholt song. Shelly and Colt indulge in their fantasies of self-destruction as they get "closer" together... hehe... Shelly pervertly tears Colt's seams apart, as he offers his soft insides. It's nothing but a featureless, rotting mass, that Shelly embraces and caresses.

-Ruiner is the return of Mr.SD, in the form of a grown Eddy, bigger than ever after that disgusting altercation. She feels the world around her has become even worse, but at the same time, her only way to hold on, is to indulge in her self-destructice behaviors. She projects Mr.SD onto Colt, who she start to "use" more and more to cope with her feelings.

-Becoming is the only song that's really from Colt's POV. It's about his metamorphosis into a perfect, unfeeling being. Leaving his sentitive, angry and afraid self to rot in a beautiful metallic shell. He allowed Shelly to see inside, but she started to force it open more and more, as much as he liked this, it was too painful. So he ran away.

-I do not want this, pretty explicit, it's the divorce arc. They're both mad because they feel betrayed, but they also feel awful for what they did. Ultimately, they do want each other's love but they feel like they could never give it properly. So Colt isolates himself, and Shelly starts wishing for more power.

-Big Man with a Gun, as a way to get back to Colt, Shelly starts caricaturing him as an idiotic alpha man with a gun in her head. But in her fantasy, she slips up and reveal she wants him to kill her.

-A warm place

-Eraser Shelly and Colt meet up again, losing themselves in each other.

-Reptile

-The Downward Spiral