Charlie, since his fusing with the giant bowl of cake batter, was unable to move much. He could feel all the pieces of himself, but had no way to move them around. He felt a warmth as he was sent down the conveyor belt.
"Somebody help me! I'm not a cake, I'm a human boy!"
If he had made any sound to go with his thoughts, nobody was around to hear it. Robotic arms tipped his bowl over and Charlie felt himself being poured into a simple cake pan. The feeling was sensational, but Charlie was scared out of his mind as he slowly filled out the round pan. If a bit of batter was left in the bowl he didn't notice. The pan slid along into an oven. It was becoming hotter. Too hot! Charlie lost consciousness.
+ + +
It was some time before Charlie became aware of himself. He opened his eyes and found himself lying under a mirrored ceiling, staring back at his own face. But it was only his face... Charlie's blue eyes had returned, but his head was completely bald. His ears stuck out, but beyond that his chin, scalp, and jawline flowed seamlessly into a flat surface. This surface was the top of a huge round white cake. Charlie tried to move, but could only move his face. His eyes narrowed, inspecting himself. His skin, nose, and lips were white, and actually made of the cake! Only his eyes seemed human. Cake-Charlie opened his mouth.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!"
"Hey, what's going on over there? Can you help me?"
The tired voice sounded like a young guy about Charlie's age. Charlie's eyes darted to the far left. He could barely make out the outline of a figure. Looking back into the mirror, he was able to get a clearer picture of his entire surface as his eyes adjusted to the room's lighting.
Spaced around the outside of Charlie's cake surface were twelve red... somethings. Three of them were giant strawberries, sticking point up, as if they were decorations for his new dessert body. Two others were human, a boy and a girl, but their skin had turned bright red. They also didn't seem to be wearing any clothes. The rest were... somewhere in between.
Charlie managed to speak normally. "Who are all of you? What's going on?"
The red-skinned girl spoke first. "We're the prisoners of the Queen of Hearts, and today our sentence is being carried out." She sounded bitter.
The boy spoke. "Rose and I were caught picking berries from the castle garden. The Queen has a taste for ironic punishment..." His voice cracked. "We're... being transformed into strawberries."
One of the seven other figures started screaming. Charlie watched as his transformation progressed to the end stages. His arms had already melted into his sides, and his skin was red and smooth, save for the small yellow dots spread about. Now his legs were folding themselves up his chest. His smooth red feet flattened against his chest and fused together to form a sort of pyramid shape. His head became pointed and his eyes shut. The screaming stopped as his mouth filled in.
Now there were four giant strawberries. Moans and sighs were heard from some of the other figures. Their changes were happening quickly.
"Jack and I, we're all stuck to... well, you, by magic and we can't leave. Who knows what happens to us when we've finished changing." As she spoke, Rose held up her red arms to Charlie. Yellow dots appeared on them as her fingers webbed. "Some people say you're still self aware." Her fingers fused together and she shuddered a bit. "It doesn't take long. We were all brought in a short while ago." Rose's voice trailed off. Her toes fused together. Her hair dropped off.
Charlie watched two more figures finish turning into berries. Another had only a head left to go. She didn't make any sounds. Another one resembled a giant berry but was still waving its arms about. The limbs were slowly being sucked into the main body.
Charlie wanted answers. "Who's in charge here?"
Jack's transformation sped up. His webbed fingers curled into permanent fists. "The Queen, but I doubt you'll get any answers out of her. She turned you into a giant cake. Rose!" Jack's arms pulled into his torso.
Rose's legs went up to her chest and melted together. Her mouth was already gone. She quivered a bit.
"I'm the only one left..." Jack's legs started to curl up.
"Fight it! Maybe you can fight it!" Charlie screamed, frustrated at his inability to move.
"Watch out for the frosting." Jack shut his eyes. That was it. Jack was a strawberry. All twelve of them were.
Charlie's eyes closed as he felt another sickening new sensation. Frosting was oozing out of the bottoms of the humans-turned-strawberries. It covered Charlie's entire cake body, leaving only his face, directly in the center, untouched.
Charlie thought he might go mad.