Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Gregory couldn’t sleep. Again. He hasn’t been able to very well for the past few days? Nights? Whatever it is since THAT night. Too many things flash through his head no matter how hard he tries to block them or ignore them. He tosses his body to lie on his right side, facing the wall, hoping falling asleep wouldn’t bring any nightmares the next time. He’s woken up every time crying, forcing himself to stay quiet. Either from the terror of the nightmare or from the pain enveloping pretty much everything in his body. Freddy’s room is right past the closed door. He’s stuck sleeping on a mattress on the dirty floor in the cursed place where everything from that night began. Vanessa brought it in since he refused to leave with her even after saving her. The room is rather dusty, but sadly it isn’t the worst place he’s ever been.

He doesn’t know how she did it, but she also managed to get him to be allowed to stay for now in the pizza plex. He knows adults won’t do things without something in return. He’s terrified to find out what.

He hears a door open, but it wasn’t the one not too far from his feet. “Ah, officer Vanessa, is something wrong?” It’s muffled, and just audible enough to be decipherable.

“Freddy! Just-” She sighs heavily enough Gregory can hear it through the door he’s behind. She hates what she has to do, but management told her it’s the only way they’ll let Gregory stay. He’s so going to hate her when he eventually finds out.

“Listen, you know just as well as I do your shows start again today with the others.” Her tone becomes kinder. “Gregory cannot stay in there the whole day during your shows. He can’t wander around like a regular child either. He’s way too scuffed up and dirty. I’ve already talked to Sun to bring him there for now.”

Gregory felt like his heart stopped completely. He can’t go back! He doesn’t WANT to go back there!

“But Vanessa, he already told you and me the daycare attendant banned him!”

“Yeah, well, I made Sun unban him, at least for now. It’s the only other place, and something can keep an eye on him. Plus, he can help Gregory get cleaned up. There’s already been a newly installed shower connected to the daycare. The kid needs it badly. Especially if he’s going to be staying here. Management told me he has to stay with Sun during the day, or they will call some people that will permanently take him away from here.” She almost sounded a bit saddened. Almost like she was empathizing.

She was. Remembering how attached he was to the bear, and knowing Gregory probably would never function again if taken away from him. The attachment probably isn't the healthiest, but it is very understandable.

His heart sinks deeper. He doesn’t want either! He just wants Freddy! Please, just… Don’t take Freddy away. Don’t take him from Freddy…

“Get him to Sun now before the doors open. I’m going home for the day.” She leaves after a brief final glance at the door Gregory is behind.

It takes a minute before Freddy’s clanking metallic feet come right in front of his door, opening it. He pretends to be asleep just to not make the only one who ever truly cared about him worry about him more.

“Good morning, Superstar! We have somewhere you need to go for today.” He sounded almost re? What was the word? Remorseful? No, that doesn't feel right. Maybe worried? Worried in a way he doesn’t remember hearing the bear ever being before.

If there’s another thing he’s learned, it’s pretending. He rubs his right eye with his fist, pretending to just wake up. “Wha?” He fakes being groggy. Okay, that part isn’t exactly hard to fake. He’s more tired than he’s ever been in his life. The pain and tiredness makes him not even want to move though, the slightest movement making his body scream in protest yet again.

The dirt on his face gets rubbed into his eye, making it burn. Again though, that isn’t nearly as bad as pretty much everything else.

He slowly gets up to his feet. Checking his red shirt with Freddy's face to make sure there was no blood seeping anywhere. Nothing. “Where are we going?”

“I’m… Terribly sorry, but to the daycare. Sadly I cannot stay with you during open hours. Vanessa has already talked to Sun to unban you.”

He hates that saddened tone on Freddy. “...Okay.” It’s not okay, but he knows there isn’t a choice. He hates he’d rather go through that cursed night again than have to leave Freddy.

Gregory likes that Freddy still doesn’t baby him despite what happened. He usually gives him the space and decision when to touch instead. No hand-holding to drag him everywhere either. No forced closeness. No yelling words he doesn’t understand. Just some head ruffles to show “I’m still by you.”

He stays glued to Freddy’s side as they travel to the daycare, still on guard for the others despite them no longer being violent. He hasn't gotten to see them again yet, but he doesn't want to.

Freddy isn’t doing too well himself. He knows what a night like that would do to a child. He’s an animatronic. An animatronic specially built for kids. He already can tell the signs, and they’re really not good. He desperately hopes Sun will be able to help. His scans show significant damage to the kid. How a few of the cuts are clearly starting to get infected as well. How the bags under his eyes are starting to show even through the dirt and grime on his face. How he’s barely eaten the last few days as well despite getting the go-ahead and the S.T.A.F.F bots won’t sound an alarm on him even after hours now. Gregory is still alive, but he feels like he’s failed the child.

It feels too soon for both of them that the doors of the daycare are in view. The “banned” signs that were in the windows from that night were nowhere in sight. Guilt and fear gnaw through Gregory, making him feel ill at remembering the horrid pained scream of Sun being forced into… Into Moon. Just thinking of Moon makes the ill-feeling so much worse. He also has nothing to defend himself since he had to give his weapons back.

Those glowing, burning red eyes searing into him. His hands too close-

The doors practically slam open, making him flinch hard enough that both the animatronics noticed. Neither commented on it.

In all honesty, Sun was horrified at the state the "rulebreaker" was in. He was informed by Vanessa how Moon wasn’t the only one affected by the virus, and guilt ate at him knowing he could have killed the child right after banning him and screaming out to the pizza plex. He remembers even seeing Chica not too far in the distance. Freddy was as well though thankfully and got him away safely. He hoped, but looking now builds a bit of doubt.

The wires in his body painfully tightened as Gregory looked at Sun with nothing but fear. He had time to process after kicking out Gregory, and he realized just how terrified he was that night upon first entry as well. That meant he already encountered the others, and truly did just desperately want to leave. He also didn’t tell Gregory that the security badge also triggered the lights. He assumed the kid would have known, but now it’s easy to realize he didn’t. He banned a child over something that was actually more of his fault. He can’t exactly call them a rulebreaker now, can he? The kid never touched the light, even seemed to make sure he didn’t bump it. It makes Sun want to tear his own wires out.

It gets stronger as he notices that Gregory’s first instinct was to partially hide behind Freddy. He could have helped as long as the lights stayed on! But… maybe it was safer to still ban him from the lights frequently going out with the virus going on. It doesn’t take a genius to think whoever controlled the virus could also control the breaker to the lights.

Freddy glances down at Gregory. He knows what he says might hurt Sun, but the kid’s mentality is more important at the moment. “Do not worry, Superstar. You still have the faz watch. If anything goes wrong here, I’ll come as quickly as I can.” He ruffles the kid’s very matted hair, earning the tiniest uneasy smile up towards him.

It stung Sun a little that he couldn't be trusted not to do anything now. He knows it makes sense though. His fear of the other animatronics, including him, is quite justified. Doesn't mean he has to like it though.

He leaves, and Gregory watches with bated breath as his only form of protection is going farther and farther away from him. He immediately wants to spam the call button on the watch to have him come back.

His heart starts pounding as Sun looks at him. He can barely breathe.

Sun’s scans show how Gregory’s anxiety is rapidly increasing, and he’s quickly trying to scramble for anything that would help prevent this encounter from becoming worse. He stays a few feet away, but that hardly seems to help. It only seems to get worse as he’s closer to the desk where the light is. He quickly takes a big side step away from the desk, guessing from that night there might be at least a bit of trauma with him towards the lights now. It seems to help, but just calms the kid’s heart a tad. Sun tries to stay positive by thinking it’s better than nothing.

It works enough for now, and Gregory takes a few steps in, the door closing behind him. He startles and whips his head to look at it, having a deep, powerful urge to shove the doors open and bolt. Not feeling safe at all his only open place to run was now closed. He glances towards the light again, though no one is even close to it.

Sun decides now is as good a time as any to apologize to the kid. Hoping it will take his constant fearful glances towards the light switch. “Sorry for kicking you out that night,” he tried to make a partial excuse. He decides to use Moon as an excuse, much to his displeasure in their head. “Moon still was affected. It was mostly to protect you from Moon since I knew he wasn’t acting right.”

Gregory couldn't believe it. Anger seared through his body as he crossed his arms and glared at Sun. The drastic change in him and the rapid change to a calmer beat of his heart almost gave Sun’s sensors whiplash. He wanted to freak out again since that’s really not healthy for any living thing!

"You kinda left me out to die. Yelling out really didn’t help. At least I still had Freddy. I’m not stupid. I know I would already be dead."

The anger quickly dissipates as he realized that it wouldn't have mattered. It would have been just as dangerous to stay with the weird power outings and Vanny sure as well would have found him during the night sooner or later. Then it might have been her AND Moon going after him in the daycare while he had to turn on generators. Yeah, no thanks. He feels bad for how quiet Sun stays and heaves out a sigh.

"Not like it would have mattered staying here. I didn't know taking the stupid thing would shut down the power, but even then if the lights shut off, I still would be in danger here. I’m…" Gregory recoils like just what he’s about to say would have Sun slap him. “I’m sorry for making the lights turn off. And uh, just being angry at you. It looked like the change hurts.”

Sun perks up at his apology. He immediately reaches out, grabs Gregory, and picks him up by his sides even though Moon keeps yelling in their head not to. He hisses in pain and freezes. His eyes almost seem to cloud over. His body becomes limp.

Sun notices how deadly still Gregory becomes. He knows it's not for a good reason and keeps calling, trying to bring him back. Worry quickly gets stronger as he remains unresponsive.

“I gotcha now!” Monty yells triumphantly while grabbing Gregory by his lower torso from behind. His claws cut through his shirt and dig rather deeply into the flesh of his sides. Gregory’s squirming makes it worse, but he doesn’t want to die now!

His arms are still free he quickly realizes and he mashes the button to call for Freddy.

“GREGORY!!!” The pounding of metal on the tiled floor comes rapidly. Freddy bodyslams into Monty, luckily making him drop Gregory immediately. Even with the adrenaline still coursing through him, he can feel the sharp stinging where the wounds are. The pain is almost excruciating enough to make him cry. But he doesn’t. There’s no time to cry when your life is on the line.

Freddy freezes as blood starts to trickle down Gregory’s sides. “You’re injured!”

They see Monty on the floor not too far away get back up.

“There’s no time to worry about that!”

Monty tries to lunge for him again, but Freddy stands in front, blocking the attack. A "clank" was heard of his claws scratching into Freddy's back. He opens his stomach. “Quickly!”

He doesn’t need to be told twice.

“Ory? …. Greg-...

Sun tries another thing he might respond to and places the kid’s feet back on the floor. He takes his hands off the child's lower torso. “Ru- -breaker?” Gregory comes back as he feels his feet straighten back on the floor. “Gregory! You’re okay!”

Gregory is not okay. Even he knows it. He tries to shake the memory away.

Sun suddenly notices a too-familiar red substance on his hands. “Oh, my stars! You’re injured!” He can’t believe it! Why didn’t his sensors notify him of Gregory being this injured!? Did the virus affect his and Moon’s scanner of that!?

Gregory looks down blankly to notice the blood quickly seeping through his fresh Glamrock Freddy shirt. Making the red much darker. Just great. And Freddy finally forgot about the wounds. Now he’s going to have to worry him again.

“No, no, no! We must get you patched up immediately!" Sun goes to grab Gregory’s right wrist to lead him to the med kits that are usually stocked for children in case they get injured playing a little too rough.

Gregory immediately flinches and yanks his hand from Sun’s reaching grasp. “DON’T TOUCH ME!” is screaming through his head. He desperately doesn't want to be touched again right now.

Sun stops and turns to stare at him. If his face could be more expressive, it would most likely show a questioning look. He’s incredibly worried. That’s a response no child should have.

“I-” He doesn’t want to share anything with Sun right now. Too much pain, terror, and a severe lack of sleep, adding up to him not really wanting to share or talk about anything. All he wants to do is be by Freddy again, but he has shows to run during the day. The daycare is still closed for the next week just for the Daycare attendant to be thoroughly checked the virus is fully gone from BOTH systems. At least, that's what he's heard from Vanessa. That and they want to upgrade the duo now that they can. Especially with how Moon was even with human staff. “I, uh, don’t want to be touched right now.”

Sun nods rather quickly. The fast movement itself already made Gregory up his guard again. He looks up at the lights, wondering if they’ll turn off again sometime with him in here. He refuses to go even near the light switch or the security key ever again. He glances at the closed daycare door again, wondering if it’s locked or not. It shouldn’t be. At least it wasn’t upon entry, but he wonders if they auto-lock during the lights out. Even with the virus gone, he really doesn’t want to be around Moon right now. He’s barely even able to tolerate Sun at the moment. But out of all of the animatronics, he was the nicest and didn’t harm him that night. But if there’s one thing Gregory has learned before coming here, the kindness of someone can be your doom.

“Right! You must be in so much pain! Let me go get the first aid! Stay right there!” He skips away to go get it alone instead of bringing Gregory with him. Sun's strongly worried about what wounds must be making him bleed rather heavily. He constantly glances back at the kid though to make sure he doesn’t run away or try to hide anywhere.

Gregory scopes the room, looking for things to knock over just in case the lights go out. Just a few stacks of barrels still. He hopes they’ll still be effective, but if Sun and Moon are getting upgrades, that might be removed from their systems.

Sun comes back with a med kit with a few baby wipes. Gregory really doesn’t want him to, but he allows Sun to lift up his shirt to examine the wounds. Could be a bit of spite of him wanting Sun to feel bad that Sun’s the cause of one, but he won’t tell Sun which yet.

If Sun could suck in a breath, he would. It's even worse than he thought.

There’s a terrifying amount of dried blood all over concerningly deep cuts that Sun can easily tell are from Monty’s claws. Now looking closer, three of the giant slashes on Gregory's left side are showing a sign of infection. A bit of cloudy fluid leaking out with the blood. Sun thinks he might blow a few circuits at this point. He tries to wipe as much as he can to see the full damage, but there’s just so much. The massive amount of dirt and dried blood around fresh blood that goes on the wipe after one slide across is baffling. That’s where his shirt is. Sun’s terrified to think what might come off whatever wasn’t covered that night, like his face.

Gregory keeps flinching and sucking air in his teeth, trying his best to act like it doesn’t hurt, but failing miserably.

Sun wonders what will come off in the shower, but he cannot go in there to get wet. He’ll just have to wait until after to see the difference. He decided to leave the rest alone for now and put the antibacterial cream on after.

He tries to make him feel better by taking the last clean baby wipe and wiping a bit of his face. Just one wipe made it look like it was dropped in soot.

“You’re rather dirty! Almost like you’ve been crawling through vents!” he tried to joke to make Gregory feel better.

Gregory rolls his eyes. “Yeah. Not even the vents were safe.” He mentally shivers remembering the tiny music man coming after him, and how bruised his knees got from crawling as fast as he could away and out of them.

Sun did not like what his reply stated. He was feeling worse and worse for the kid. “Well, let’s get you fully cleaned up then! Ready for that show-”

The lights went out, leaving it dark. Only the stars ever-so-slightly lighting the place. Gregory stops breathing.

Chapter Text

No, it couldn’t be happening! It’s not his fault! He didn’t turn off the lights! He didn’t!

His body instinctively backpedals as fast as possible until it rather harshly slams against the wall behind him. He tries to dash immediately towards one of the sets of barrels, but his feet feel like they’ve been buried in cement. He’s stuck planted firmly in place.

He’s freaking out more. He needs to get to the barrels for the generators! Why can’t he move!? What’s so different this time than that night!? His eyes shut tightly, breath shaky. Since his stupid body won't move, he can only wait to be hurt again.

The final generator is in sight! An easy one right on the floor! He just needs to enter to get to it! His sickening laughter and creaking body was nearby. Way too close. He has to rush-

Upon trying to enter, a way too tight grip grabs his right wrist. It really hurts. Any tighter would most likely have broken it. His glowing red eyes lit up that permanent smile that’s so much scarier in the dark.

"Nighty ni-” Gregory instinctively slams the flashlight as hard as he could on the face of the “evil” animatronic. It lets go of his wrist, making him lose his balance and fall knees first onto the floor. It seems to be stunned for a moment. He takes the chance. His knees already hurt but he crawls as fast as he could to the final one before Moon comes back to himself.

He leaps to grab the lever of the final generator. Two hands wrap harshly around his left ankle and yank him back. He twists his body to see Moon. Whatever Moon is saying slips past him from how loud his heart is pounding in his ears. He keeps getting pulled farther from the generator. No! It’s so close! He has to do something!

He keeps trying to kick Moon. On his face, chest, and even a leg. This time he won’t let go. Gregory is desperate. He twists again and tries shoving the flashlight in front of Moon’s face, just far enough away it would shine on both his “eyes”. He can only hope it’s bright enough and close enough to cause a reaction.

Moon lets go and covers his face with his arms. Gregory takes the chance and manages to turn on the generator. He nearly cries in relief as the lights snap on.

Gregory can’t tell, but minutes pass with sheer silence. Moon waits patiently, staying where he is. He knows Gregory is having a flashback, most likely of that night.

“Cleary has PTSD. Poor kid. That should have never happened.”

“I know! I want to hug him so badly from it!” Guilt eats at both as they remember not being in full control.

“That’s not a safe thing right now for him. We’re lucky he’ll even let us help with his injuries. I know you’re easily excitable, but you really need to watch yourself around him better. We need to help prevent these flashbacks as much as possible. At least until they can be better managed.”

“I know! He’s just the first kid since-”

“Don’t remind me. Not being in control and coming back to full control with their blood on our hands still gets me. I’m supposed to be a guardian for the kids, not help be a killer of them.”He runs his hand over the deep dent on the right cheek still there from the flashlight hitting them. “Normally I’d punish a child for breaking something in the daycare, but I’m glad his instinct had him fight back. It was way too close. I refuse to say "naughty" or "punish" around him. That will probably trigger another flashback.”

“I know. I really thought he was going to be another dead one…”Sun’s voice was incredibly saddened, and Moon really can’t blame him. He thought Gregory was a goner as well.

“He isn’t though. It’s our new goal to help him as much as possible, even if it destroys us.”

“I agree. Ooh! Do you think he’d like a friendship bracelet?”

Moon tries to scan Gregory again in case maybe the scanner would somehow work for him. It’s worse. He can’t even check the kid’s heart rate like Sun can. “Maybe. We need to get him to feel safer around us first.”

Gregory snaps back to reality, wondering why he isn’t hearing that laughter or anything grabbing him. He knows Moon is staring at him though. He can feel it. He quickly grew an instinct for it during that night. He finally opens his eyes and snaps his head to where he feels the staring. His mind fails to notice there’s no glowing red. He violently shakes his head, tightly clenching his eyes, hands squeezing his head. “I didn’t- I didn’t do it! I’m not near the light! I’m not bad! I didn’t know!”

It tore the duo apart hearing just how distraught he was. Moon wanted to stop Gregory from curling up in the fetal position after sliding his back to sitting on the floor. He still refused to look at Moon again. With the shape of Monty’s claw cuts, that position will fully rip a part of them open again. They’re just shallow enough to not need stitches, but will take a very long time to fully heal, and need to stay sharply watched, or could get dangerous quickly. Even moreso if they keep getting ripped open again. He wanted nothing more than to cradle the kid’s head on his chest and tell the kid to cry all he needs to. They can tell he’s withholding emotion to an alarming degree, only letting the panic slip through.

“I blame this one on you. You should have been more clear.”

“I know, okay!? I already won’t ever be able to get over it!”

Moon decides not to comment, more focused on what to say to Gregory to hopefully pull him out.

“Gregory.” It weirds Moon out himself hearing his normal calm voice again after so long. It sounds slightly similar to before, yet not at all.

Gregory stops immediately. He stares at Moon again. Just from one word, he noticed it’s so much calmer than before. Not as scratchy. Not so evil sounding. He’s also not close. He’s still right where Sun was!

“You’re fine. You’re there, I’m here. We’re not mad. We know you didn’t do it. You’re not in trouble.”

Right… Right. It’s not then. There’s no virus. He shouldn’t- he won’t kill Gregory.

Gregory tries to stay alert, but his body relaxes on its own just from an almost incredibly different voice. Wait, his eyes-

They’re… a rather strongly glowing blue? He wondered if they were blue the whole time. He wonders if this is even Moon. They’re beyond different in personality. But no red! No red eyes to remind him how Moon was, or to remind him of Vanny. He now hates red eyes of anything.

Again, Moon waits. He’s programmed to be patient with kids. They both are. Moon is a bit more since it's surprising how stubborn some kids can be for a nap. That’s important, especially in this case. He can wait all the time that’s needed for Gregory to be comfortable around them.

He’s more worried about the injuries though. They do need to be cleaned ASAP, and Moon’s going to smack Freddy the next time he’s out instead of Sun for not checking the wounds again sooner, or even informing Vanessa of them for goodness sake! This isn’t a hospital!

Then again that wasn’t really the intention of whatever went on. All kids that knew of the darker things of the place never lived to tell the tale…

Moon ran a timer in their system of how long the lights have been off. An abnormal 45 minutes so far. Usually, it doesn’t stay off longer than half an hour. Back with the virus, he had an hour, just turning back into Sun when going back to the daycare. So someone had to of turned them off manually at the breaker. But why? That is the question.

At least Gregory isn’t as panicked anymore. His breathing slowly returned to normal. Moon wonders why though. The only thing that changed is his voice.

“Your eyes are blue again too!”

Blue?… He looks at the window, which reflected the glowing blue back at him. “I… don't remember them ever being blue. I could have sworn they were always red.”

"Really? Well, maybe Vanessa would know!"

Gregory focuses on Moon’s eyes. Calming instead of fear-inducing now that he fully looks at him.

Moon notices. He slowly sits down on the floor as well in a criss-cross position. Gregory doesn’t understand why that, and just a few things changed make him feel so much better, safer, but it does.

The lights snap back on right as the timer struck 50 minutes. That's confirmation someone definitely timed this. Not a malfunction of the breaker that has happened twice before.

Now’s not the time to focus on that as Moon willingly lets Sun slip back into being the main. The shift is now painless again for both either transformations since Sun no longer has to fruitlessly fight to keep corrupted Moon at bay.

To Gregory, it’s so weird watching the hat and stars disappear, and the rays of Sun poke out, as well as the clothes shifting themselves. It’s so weird how Moon’s eyes glow, but Sun’s don’t.

Sun immediately wants to shove Gregory into the shower. Every ticking minute those wounds are sharing with everything else on him means a higher chance of a much worse infection. He might have to scold Freddy himself!

“Now that the lights are back on, how about that shower, huh? I bet it will feel good to be clean again!”

“You might be pushing it, Sun.”

“What else am I supposed to do? I don’t know how long I can restrain myself to not get him clean!”

Moon remains silent.

It takes Gregory a moment, but he nods. He won’t lie, it does sound rather nice. He can’t remember when the last one was.

Sun fidgets with his hands a bit in worry, wondering if he can or should get a bit closer to lead where it is, or just tell him. He hasn’t moved from where Moon sat down.

“It’s the new door in the back on the right, isn’t it?”

Of course, he’d be too vigilant and notice something that might help him hide or escape if needed.

Sun makes sure to nod his head slower this time. "Yep! Vanessa already dropped off soaps for you to use!"

Gregory nods and enters it.

"Wait, Freddy never came with other clothes for him, did he?"

Moon didn't know he could get more pissed at the bear until now. It worsens when he also realizes the pizza plex is open, so he can't leave to find something for Gregory.

The daycare entrance door opens to reveal Vanessa with clothes. "He's uh, not done yet, is he? Got caught up with a new morning worker and Freddy informed me he forgot to get clothes."

"Remind me. How is he the leader of the band again?"

"Couldn't tell you! But if that's how Freddy is, I'm sure glad it wasn't Monty that was in safe mode that night."

"They'd all have been pretty much destroyed in a different way if that's what happened. Probably us too."

"That's scary to imagine. Do you think the others hold it against Gregory for destroying them?"

"Hard to say. It’s probably too early from that time to ask them. Well, unless their memories were wiped from that night."

Sun shakes his head at Vanessa. "Nope! The power went out not long ago for quite a while!"

She frowns. "Is he alright?"

Sun shakes his head again. "No. He has some rather serious injuries from Monty, and probably others that Moon and I cannot see since our sensors are acting up." He sounds rather serious, which surprises Vanessa. She's never heard him sound so serious before. Then again maybe day staff back when they helped in the daycare have heard him serious.

She almost lets her guilt slip out on hearing that. Curse that damn… thing for ever making her do that to them. She's also worried now. "Serious injuries?"

"It was hard to tell how truly bad it was with all the dirt and dried blood, but one side is definitely getting infected. They're also almost dangerously deep."

She pinches the bridge of her nose with her free right hand. "Son of a…" she sighs heavily. "Anything else?"

Sun was ready to scold her for swearing in the daycare. "Again, our sensors are not working, but it's not hard to believe there's more."

Vanessa hates to hear that, but at least the kid's still alive. He should be able to stay alive now that the daycare attendant will help to the best of their capability. She's tired and drained to the bone herself.

There's no way she can just bring him to the hospital or a doctor for antibiotic medicine either. There would be way too many questions. She wonders if because the hospital would ask so many questions, she could drag management into it for them to get oral antibiotics for him maybe even illegally, or if they'll just let the kid die from infection if it does get worse.

She can't believe the things she's going to try to do for this kid. She walks over and hands Sun the clothes. "I'll bring some Ibuprofen my next shift and I guess we'll see from there what to do." She turns to leave.

Sun decides to bring up Moon before she leaves. "By the way! Earlier with the power out, Moon had blue eyes. Do you know anything about that?"

Vanessa's eyes furrowed in confusion. "Blue eyes? No, they've always been red, even written as so on blueprints that I saw." Which is true. She sure as hell never changed them, even when controlled as Vanny.

All of them except Freddy shut down after that thing lost control, and they all got brought to parts and service. Management couldn't have cared less about appearance though, so still, the color change doesn't make sense.

That's less than reassuring for both Sun and Moon.

Gregory flinches and peels off the red long sleeve that dried to his reopened sides. He’d rather not, but he’d be more willing to have gotten caught by Moon for a third time that night if it meant he never got caught by Monty. Even at his age, he knew it was a stupid idea to give an animatronic that isn’t stuck in one place CLAWS out of all things.

He turns on the water, hoping it heats up quickly. He removes everything and sucks in a breath at slightly touching his ankle. Not only is it the one that Moon grabbed, but it’s also the one he’s pretty sure he at least lightly sprained while running and dodging Chica to Freddy when Sun kicked him out.

Looking closely, it does look bigger than the other ankle. He’s hoping he’s not just being a baby if he complains again that everything hurts.

He feels the water after a few minutes. It’s still fairly cool. At this point, he doesn’t really care and just wants to sit down again. He gets in.

Instantly the cold is a bit of a shock. However, it felt surprisingly nice on his sore body.

On a metal rack is the soap bar and a 2-in-1 hair wash.

He grabs the soap, and soon the water going down the drain even grosses him out. The soap bar touching the cuts slightly stings. The one on the sides of his back surprisingly don’t hurt as bad. He doesn’t understand why one side of the 3 in the front hurt worse than the other.

Oh well. He quickly scrubs in the hair product and rinses it out.

Looking down at the water again, it’s more of a brighter red now.

Red… Why does blood have to be red?

He forces his mind to leave the thought behind and opens the shower curtain to reveal a towel sitting out and new clothes. He dries off and puts the lower clothes on, but leaves the shirt off. He doesn’t think there’s a point in wearing it yet if it will just get bloody again.

He looks at his now visible wrists. The one Moon grabbed now revealed four deep finger-like bruise marks wrapped around it. He… Doesn’t want to bother even looking at anything else.

Sun’s waiting a bit away from the door. Pretty much everything in his system blows when Gregory comes out without the shirt on. If he had a heart, he'd probably have had a heart attack.

“Stay calm, Sun.”

“I’m TRYING. But LOOK at them!”

“I’m no happier about all of it than you are.”

Sun doesn’t even have a face that moves, but Gregory can tell Sun’s losing his… Can he call it a mind that animatronics have? He’s too tired to think much on that.

“What? It would just get bloody again. Wouldn’t it be better to wrap up uh…” He gestures to his sides. “These first?”

“Heh, he’s got a point there."

“You’re not helping, Moon.”

Sun points to a higher chair for him to sit on. It’s instant relief to be off his ankle again.

He quickly checks Gregory over before grabbing the antibiotic cream and using it. Won’t do much good on the already infected, but hopefully, it prevents the others from going down the same route. He then carefully wraps the large rolled gauze they fortunately had around his torso.

Sun gingerly lifts Gregory’s bruised arm and freezes at the damage. Moon goes really quiet.

Gregory doesn’t know whether he should be surprised he can tell Sun’s horrified by it or an odd sense of happy spite again of “Yeah. You guys did this.” He focuses on the first. He sometimes forgets they weren’t in control and wouldn’t have done it if they could have helped it. Doesn’t make not flinching from Sun’s constant hand on him any easier though. Especially above the bruised wrist.

Sun wants to try cheering up Moon. “Hey! At least it’s very faintly starting to turn more of a yellow! At least it’s healing!”

Moon still does not reply.

Sun doesn’t find any other injuries above. “Alright! You can put the shirt on now!”

Gregory doesn’t know why, but Sun being so pressed over just a shirt makes him let out a small giggle.

Sun nearly wants to fist-bump the air in celebration the kid can still at least giggle. “Did you hear that!? There’s still hope to make him happy!”

“Probably from how ridiculous you are right now over a simple black T-shirt.”

“How dare you! I am NOT being ridiculous!”

“Gregory seems to agree with me that you are.”

“Hush!” Sun grabs the shirt and Gregory put his arms up for the shirt to be put on. He giggles again as Sun seems to struggle with it.

He eventually manages and starts looking at his legs. Pretty much the entire front of both is nothing but bruises. At least they’re starting to slightly change to yellow as well, but they look like they’re staying around for a really long while.

“Remind me to ban him from entering vents ever again.”

“Noted.”

He trails down and freezes at Gregory’s clearly swelling ankle that also had more familiar finger marks right above it. Now processing on it, Sun remembers Gregory did seem to be ever-so-slightly limping upon first getting to the daycare. He’s angry with himself for not noticing sooner. He looks back up at Gregory who seems to be eased enough for now. Grabbing the compression wrapping, he loops it around Gregory’s foot and ankle, then grabs a chair to make him keep it more elevated.

Sun wishes there was ice to help the ankle, but the small usually stocked freezer was also shut down ever since the daycare was closed. He takes a step back and crouches.

“If he thinks you’re going to lunge for him from crouching, it’s on you, not me.”

“Well, what else should I do!?”

“Sit again, you dolt.”

“I am not a dolt!” He sits the same way Moon was earlier.

Fortunately, Gregory didn’t really think of anything with him crouching. It is weird to him though that he’s about eye level with Sun despite him sitting on a chair and Sun being on the floor. Makes him wonder just how truly tall Sun and Moon are since he’s never actually seen them at full straight standing. He wonders if they’re taller than Freddy.

It was a rather okay moment until Gregory’s stomach decided to betray him by pretty much screaming at him in hunger.

“Wait, they didn’t bring snacks or food for him, did they?”

“No. It’s beyond a miracle he’s still alive.”

“Seriously! Can ANYONE else take care of a child properly in this place!?”

“Seems not. There might still be some snacks from before the daycare closed in the closet. Hopefully, they’re not outdated yet.”

--------------------------------------------------------------------

An- You can pry soft personality and blue-eyed Moon from my cold. dead. hands.

Chapter Text

“Are you allergic to anything?”

Gregory shakes his head. If there is something, he doesn’t know himself yet. He wonders if he can even eat though if they do find something. His stomach is hungry obviously, but he doesn’t really feel like eating. He still feels sicker than anything.

Sun goes to the closet and nearly recoils upon opening it. His scanner getting slammed and pretty much screaming “MOLD” at every centimeter of his view. Several loaves with different types of still-packaged bread with so much green on them it might as well be called moss. There are partially opened packages of crackers that are likely to be staler than cardboard, and even a jar of still-opened peanut butter on the bottom shelf with clear finger marks of a child dug into it. One of the kids must have snuck in when they weren’t looking. Why that’s also one of the things stored here is odd itself with how many kids come in that are severely allergic to nuts.

“This is terrifyingly gross. Even for us.”

“I guess with everything going on, we just never thought to clean this.”

“To be fair, we never really had to look here again. Kinda thought we’d just be stuck in the daycare without anyone until we rotted or the place burned down like the others or something.”

Sun grabs a box of chocolate chip granola that was by the peanut butter. It’s empty. Of course it is. The same kid must have snuck those as well because he’s pretty sure he remembers it nearly full not long before the daycare closed. “That’s incredibly morbid of you, Moon.”

“The company hasn’t really gotten the best record in ages. Especially with fires. Kind of hard not to be.”

Sun doesn’t reply to him for a moment, looking for other things. He found a final single bag of fruit snacks, but they were opened with only half gone. How long was the kid, or maybe even a few kids, in here back then without him noticing!?

“...This is where you get all sappy or something on me, isn’t it?”

“Kind of maybe! We do finally have control again. It’s a new start for us! That and we have to go to parts and service to get maintenance tonight and tomorrow night. We’ll be fresh and good as new!”

“I doubt it. The morning we shut down after the virus left me, we apparently had maintenance, and we’re no different. They most likely just said we got it and tossed us aside. And the times before that didn’t turn too well for us.”

There are a few Capri suns left, but Sun himself knows those aren’t exactly trustable to be safe with how often mold has been found in them. Looking at the clear bottom proves his point, making him grow a tad frustrated. It would be thought they’d have more items and foods from the pizza plex itself, but no. Then again, even though Sun isn’t human, he would rather not drink the pepperoni-flavored drink.

“We can’t blame Vanessa for those. She was controlled too.”

"True I suppose. Still strange she was though since she's not an animatronic."

Gregory can’t help but wonder why the stuff on the back of Sun’s head is so… loosely open. He knows he’s a kid, but those still seem important and could easily be damaged. He wonders if others have damaged it before. He also wonders what would have happened if he yanked on them when Moon was aggress- no, controlled.

Moon would have probably stopped his hands from reaching that now that he thinks about it. Or maybe not if he snuck behind after shoving some of the barrels over, making Moon’s programming pick them up. He’s still curious about it though.

“What’s with that open thing on the back of your head? Wouldn’t that be dangerous with you being uh, around kids?”

Sun stops for a minute to turn and look at Gregory.

“Where did that come from?”

“Learning as a safety measure, perhaps?”

“If it makes him more comfortable just to know that, then so be it!”

“He is still a kid too. No matter what they tend to be rather curious. It might even be both.”

“Now thinking on it, exactly how old is he? He doesn’t have an age put in his new profile.”

“Too young for all this, that’s for sure.”

“That’s just a given.”

“To be more serious about it, he can’t possibly be older than ten.”

“How lovely.”

“Is that sarcasm I heard from you?”

“Hey! I’m okay with doing it this time! The kid’s life has been ruined before it even really fully began.”

“True. In speaking of that, I’m guessing he’s having a lot of nightmares with how tired he looks.”

“It’s really not looking good for his health in many ways right now…”

Sun waves his hand like what he’s going to say isn’t really a big deal. “Oh, yeah! Some kids got in a lot of trouble trying to mess with it before. Especially one of them.” They remember the time a 6-year-old boy wouldn’t stop trying to play with it though Sun told them not to. They didn’t listen and it made Sun and Moon break down for a week. “The kid came back later and severely apologized after being punished by his mom, and from him thinking he killed us.”

Gregory feels a sickening darkness creep on him. Yeah, he can kinda relate to that kid, but he really nearly did kill Monty, Roxy, and Chica. He pushes that to the back of his mind. “So like a short coma? Was it scary waking up on a different day?” He prefers to think that animatronics have emotions. How else could Freddy sound so sad when talking to him sometimes? He can’t tell why, but Sun and Moon remind him a lot of Freddy.

The two are more concerned that he knows what a coma is. “I guess maybe a little? We can’t ever really leave the daycare for long, so nothing really changed other than some kids asking where we were. How do you know what a coma is?”

He shrugs. “An older kid threatened to “knock my lights out” on the streets before for being in their way. I asked someone else who was older. They said it was like a coma. Just putting someone to a no dream sleep for quite a while.” That sounds good to him right now. He’d love to sleep without another nightmare.

That’s… alarming to the duo. Sun decides it’s best to not comment on that. He moves the opened box of crackers and finally manages to find a few nature valley oats ‘n honey bars buried right by the wall. He makes sure not to touch the clearly starting to rot apples next to it. Sun’s really glad he cannot smell. Right, for some reason this granola wasn’t a very big hit with most kids. Probably since there was no chocolate in them.

He moves the Capri suns to the floor to find an unopened water bottle laying on its side. He grabs it and brings them over to the table Gregory is at. Some kids have come before with extreme discomfort of being watched while eating, so he’s made it a habit to never stare directly at any of them while they do.

Gregory decides to at least try to eat and opens one. After just a few bites, he realizes he’s more hungry than he thought and inhales both whole pieces before he realizes. He grows embarrassed after realizing what he did.

Meanwhile, Sun and Moon are just glad he ate. And that there was something safe at least.

It became a surprisingly mostly non-tense atmosphere between them. Sun was trying to figure out what he could do with Gregory to make more of the day pass. He checks to notice it’s not even noon yet. He loves the friendship bracelet idea, but it might be too soon for that yet.

“What do you think of me getting some crayons and paper for us to draw with?”

Crayons? Gregory wonders why crayons. He feels like he’s a bit old to use those. He raises a brow at Sun. “No colored pencils or markers?”

“I’m not going to lie, I miss markers a little myself.”

“You sure liked how clean and filled-in markers made things. Though the leaking through the paper part was extremely annoying. That one time I had to watch you thoroughly scrub and stare at a table for an hour just about drove me insane. Guess it was sharpie though that they snuck in.”

“Well, markers were able to be used at one point. However, they were not the non-toxic kind and kids kept getting sick by either daring each other to try eating it or got too curious themselves. As well as many kids would take one and start doodling all over the walls with them. Moon and I had to spend a few nights cleaning everything since no one else comes to the daycare at night usually.”

Gregory was a little angry about that. It doesn’t seem fair they’re stuck in the daycare all the time and have to do the cleaning themselves. No wonder Sun seemed so desperate with him to stay around that night. They have no one else to hang out with then. Seriously, not even a cleaning bot? That’s sad, even to him.

“There’s only so much Moon and I can watch and do at once. Colored pencils with the kids were always considered “too dangerous” with the added use of sharpeners, so crayons were the only thing available to be used here.”

It doesn’t pass by any of the three how ironic that seems, thinking about a certain too-open golf course begging for disasters.

Gregory lets out a dry laugh. “It’s true I guess. I’ve been jabbed in my right eye by a kid holding a colored pencil before. He held the sharp part at me and told me to look at him. It went right into my eye. It hurt for a few days.”

“That kid would have surely been put in time out if it was done here.”

“I feel like a crayon would have been worse, especially if wax somehow came off and went in their eye.”

“Let’s try to not imagine that.”

Gregory thinks about it. Drawing/coloring definitely beats doing anything standing or moving right now. Or even just going near the play area. He forces himself not to look towards it and shivers slightly of that night trying to resurface its ugly head again. “S-sure. I guess that will do for now.”

Sun nods and goes to get the still sitting out, untouched supplies, which are surprisingly already getting a little dusty. “How? Hasn’t it only been a few months?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. Let’s be honest though, we’re not exactly the cleanest ourselves.”

Sun looks at their arms that have some rather dark reddish-black spots of things he’d desperately rather not think about. “I suppose that’s a pretty good point, but that’s for a different and very horrible reason.”

Moon stays quiet again.

Sun goes over to Gregory but stays on the other side of the table, placing the paper and the limited color of crayons down.

Gregory watches Sun’s hands sharply. He grabs the paper farthest away from them, and a random colored crayon, trying to think of what to draw. He really does try to think of something, but his mind is overcome of thinking about Moon. He wonders if Moon always was kind of aggressive, if he’s normally like he was today, or what.

Sun noticed his gaze on his hands and tries to keep them a bit farther away. He moves a chair and sits on his knees. Even then the table is rather low for him, but he’s used to it by now. Still seems rather inconvenient, and he questions with things like this why he and Moon were built so tall at times.

Gregory doesn't like the only sound is the music still going through the daycare. “So, uh, what was Moon like before that virus thing got to him?”

“Should we tell him I’m still technically around?”

“Would you be afraid to ask if he could hear your question?”

Gregory was a bit weirded out by that question thrown back at him. He’s confused about it. Sun’s the one active. How would Moon know? Does their memory transfer when they change? With how weird the animatronic is, he isn’t too doubtful if that’s what it was. “But you’re the one active?”

“We’re definitely an odd animatronic! Moon may not be active, but he can still hear and see everything going on that I can! We can even talk to each other!”

“That’s actually… really cool.” Gregory can’t lie about that. Sounds like it would be annoying too though. Constantly having another voice in your head that’s actually real? No thanks. And now he’s a bit worried they’re talking about him without him knowing.

“AW! HE THINKS WHAT WE CAN DO IS COOL!”

“Jeez, could you think of it any louder? But to answer his question, I think I was nice? I faintly remember watching over kids to make sure they had no nightmares while they tried to sleep during naptime. Our memory is rather distorted after the virus still. Be sure not to say anything I may have said that night.”

“Due to that virus messing with us, we don’t fully remember how he was around kids. He says he thinks he was nice though. During the time kids rested, he was in charge of making sure no kids were alone after having a nightmare.”

Gregory was a bit spiteful at those kids since, for him, Moon was some of the cause of the constant nightmares. It sounds nice, but he’s not sure he’s ready to willingly fall asleep in the presence of them no matter how tired he is. He briefly wonders how Moon would react if he told him he was the cause of some of them.

Again, he has to remind himself it wasn’t Moon’s fault. Still easier said than done.

They didn’t miss the flash of jealousy that flickered across Gregory’s face for a brief moment, making them already understand they’re a part of the nightmares as well.

“That’s highly unfortunate, but sadly not surprising.”

“...Why was I never decommissioned? I killed so many human staff as well in parts and service.”

“Let’s not think about that. I’d so hug you right now if I could!”

“... Gross.” it’s clear Moon’s teasing him.

“You know you love me!”

“Do I?”

Sun sneaks a glance at Gregory. If there’s one thing he’s thankful for with his design, it is making it hard for kids to know if he’s looking unless he purposefully stares at them. Gregory is more relaxed than earlier. He looks at the eyesore of the hand bruise on the kid’s arm again.

“Vanessa and Freddy are not going to be happy to see that.”

“They really have no right to think badly of us. The idiots forgot to bring food and clothes and even neglected the injuries up until this point. That night was a week ago today, Sun.”

He watches Gregory’s brows crease in concentration. He stops for a moment and presses an arm on Monty's cuts, flinching. Possibly a spike of pain from them finally being cleaned and ended up irritated in the process, and it settling.

Sun hates there’s nothing around to help ease his pain for him. Then again, if Gregory came sooner, the shower wasn’t available yet. He still would have tried his hardest to at least clean up the claw cuts.

“Right. I’m so going to smack Freddy for both of us. Really wished our scanners still worked so I could make sure he isn’t getting a serious fever with the infection.”

“No kidding. It would be better if he rested now, but we both know why that’s an issue.”

Sun nearly loses it as he notices Gregory doodling crescent moons and star polygons.

Gregory can’t help but feel embarrassed he’s drawing moons and stars. They’re something easy and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t think of anything else easy to draw. He could try drawing Freddy, but he doesn’t really want to. He quickly pockets it before Sun can notice and grabs another paper.

Time slips by surprisingly quickly as Gregory asks them other questions over the hours, such as their favorite colors and if they ever had a favorite kid.

They turn towards the door after a few knocks. It opens to reveal Freddy. Sun checks the time. 8:10 P.M. already.

Freddy looks towards Gregory from the door and again feels like he failed Gregory upon seeing the new bruises appear on his scanner. They must have been too covered before to be picked up.

Sun gets up and walks over to Freddy. He smacks his palm on Freddy’s forehead. It wasn’t exactly aggressive, it was more of a “what the fuck were you thinking?” way. “Carry the kid. If he’s not brought in tomorrow with you carrying him in your arms, I’ll have Moon smack you.” He made sure it was quiet enough that only Freddy could hear it.

The metallic clang of metal hitting metal surprises Gregory, yet ends up making him laugh at Freddy’s surprise who seems to stand there for a second and processes what just happened.

The three are happy to hear for the first time so far Gregory can laugh.

-----------------------------------------------------------

An- Funny story. I projected the colored pencil thing. That actually happened to me as a child lmao. My poor cousin got a good whooping on his behind for it. It also was so much harder than I wanted it to be to figure out how to make the chapter longer and figure out more bonding between them. Sorry if it seems more like a bland filler. I also should be clear, I see Sun and Moon loving each other like brothers that barely tolerate each other sometimes. Tried hard to see how people could ship them romantically, but sorry, I just can’t see it. Gross.

One short scenario I was going to add, but scrapped from not being able to figure out how to add it anywhere, and felt like it would have clashed with the chapter somehow:

“Are ya having fun yet!?” Sun asks excitedly, having sheer hope this is a part of starting over with said “rulebreaker”, who isn’t exactly one in the first place.

Gregory stops.

“Damn it, Sun.”

“I didn’t say anything we ever did!”

“Don’t you remember Vanny saying that to him when I was nearby too!?”

Sun freezes.

Chapter Text

Vanessa is pissed and beyond tired. She has the right to be. Just a few days ago for Gregory’s first time being taken care of by the daycare attendant, she forgot to bring him something to eat and drink, twice after nearly falling asleep where she stood while doing her nightguard duty. At least she made sure to get something for him every morning after that first one. Just like Gregory, she’s having a very hard time sleeping.

The only difference she bets is he’s the one being chased and killed, while she’s constantly dreaming of the past children who she chased and killed. Or, well, Vanny. But the memories are still scarred deep. Their screams, cries, and begs and blood on her hands. That wretched costume she more than gladly burned immediately upon returning home after being freed. She didn’t even take off her nightguard uniform first. The only thing she's glad for with the costume is it took so much time to put on and take off. She doesn't care to think why or how it was necessary.

Before starting her shift for the night and sending him to the attendant in the morning, she had the awful dream of getting to Gregory before he could save her. Her still trapped as the thing’s killing slave. The cycle continuing on and her slipping out of control more and more often until the thing just permanently took over. Like it almost did. It already made her more snappy than she’s ever been. Hating kids as well. She didn’t use to before. The effect still seems to have permanently changed her personality though, which isn't going to be easy to inform her family whenever- or if she can ever- see them again.

She doesn't know if she could handle ever looking at any other kids ever again. Even if they’re family.

That and also still being rather pissed after discovering just how close Gregory was to being ended several times, as well as a certain bear not informing her of Monty’s deep gashes on him. She wants to yell at Monty herself, or for management for giving something so stupidly dangerous, but neither would help anything. She did give Freddy quite the mouthful though. He probably would have cried if he could.

Seriously, she also JUST got her freedom back not even a week and a half ago, and now already has to be an errand slave for Management to be able to keep her job too. If Gregory wasn’t there, she would have quit on the spot and never looked back. But she feels like she greatly owes the kid big time.

She feels like a dog always begging its master for the smallest crumbs of treats, and still having to do painful, taxing tricks just for that. Like the morning she had Freddy bring him to the daycare. What she wasn’t aware of was the Management’s disgusting plan. Oh, she definitely yelled an ear full at them after she got to her home. They had the utter gall to just brush her off and threaten to fire her if she continued.

She rubs her hands on her face, wondering how the hell she’s going to be able to help Gregory’s infection. Sun informed her it was visibly getting worse despite his effort. To the point he wouldn't even need to see with his scanners to tell Gregory's feverish. Likely because the kid can’t fucking rest either. Or oh, maybe the dusty, dirty mattress he’s partially sleeping on?

The only thing she can hope for is Gregory eventually being able to feel safe enough around Sun and Moon to rest in the daycare soon or he might not make it. Their area is much cleaner too. The only way for oral medicine that will help at this point is to beg Management again like she had to just to keep Gregory in the Pizza Plex. They hung up the last time she tried begging them. She should have known the slimy fuck had something up their sleeve then, and they probably will again.

It’s 12:38 P.M., and she’s given up trying to sleep yet again after flashes of warm blood seeped through the fucking suit onto her hands. She can’t even look at anything that looks similar to any sort of bunny or hare or rabbit again either. What’s worse is she can’t even tell her therapist any truth about it. She’d be thrown in the mental hospital faster than she burned the costume. The only thing helping at this point is a concerning amount of coffee that makes it surprising her heart hasn’t stopped.

Her phone rings next to her. “Management”. Fan. Fucking. Tastic.

She answers.

“Hey, so… I’m willing to give the medicine for the kid you oddly so desperately seem to care for, but you’re going to have to do another favor for me that involves him.”Of course, they couldn't even bother with "hello" first.

She absolutely detests even hearing their voice. Nothing would make her happier than being able to bash her still-hot coffee cup in her right hand over their head. Wouldn’t be the first blood on her hands. Would be the first adult’s though. An adult that’s deserving, not innocent. She clenches her teeth for a moment, trying to muster up anything to not sound too spiteful.

“I’m willing to hear it.” If it’s going to end something like last time, she’s going to hate them more.

“So, the thing is, I remembered how you informed me so thoroughly how… attached the kid was to the bear,” She already doesn’t like where they might be going.

Damn it! Why did she so stupidly inform them of the two’s connection!?

“I want him to be put in a room with the others and the Music Man. Figure out where is best. Freddy has to stay on lockdown in his room for the night. He cannot be anywhere near the kid.”

She sucks in a strong breath, trying not to scream at them right off the bat. Why is it she has to help put the kid through even more hell than he’s already had more than the fair share of!? It’s not right!

The breath didn’t help at all. She fails to keep things bottled. “This is no better than you ordering that new staff to turn the lights off in the daycare by the breaker! You knew the kid was in there! What, you just wanted the kid there to be used as... as a fucking. Guinea Pig!? I already TOLD you, the virus is gone!”

The other end is silent for a second, almost like they’re mocking her anger for Gregory.

“Well, the kid’s gotta pay somehow for damaging property. It’s either you keep using him for now as a tester it’s truly gone, or I have no problem calling child services to remove him and ban him from entering for the rest of his life.”

Her coffee cup shatters from being tossed to the floor. The burning of the hot liquid jumping up and spraying into her clothes was the only thing keeping another tirade at bay.

Oh, the one time she’d love to have been controlled to murder someone. She’d willingly just go “whoops” and move on, knowing whoever took over couldn’t be much worse. But sadly she can only imagine them taking the place of the children she was controlled to kill, or imagine beating them with the very chair they’re probably sitting all high and mighty on. “Only if it’s not the whole night.” she tries to bargain.

“Hmm, let me think. No. You were able to talk me into having the new staff leave the lights off for only 50 minutes instead of the 2 hours I wanted when you found out. If you really want to get the kid this,”

The sound of a pill bottle being shaken is heard, making her feel sheer disbelief they've possibly already gotten it. “Then you better do it fully. And just so you know, I will have a staff member come in and check Freddy’s memory to make sure there’s no… editing done to it."

She looks over at her thick wood-top coffee table and wonders if Management managed to give her enough rage to snap it in half. She sure feels like it.

Deep breath in… let it out…

"I'm guessing you want it done soon?"

"Well… I'm surely not against it being done later, but I'm not sure how you feel since this," the bottle is shaken again. "Seems to be quite needed from you sounding so desperate earlier."

… can they even be trusted to keep their end of the deal? The bottle could be a fake. Could be even something completely different that wouldn't help Gregory, then the stress he’s about to be tossed into again will be for nothing.

She runs a hand through her hair, ponytail long since taken out to try to help alleviate a massive, still increasing headache.

There's nothing that can be done except take the chance. It’s sadly the only option.

The silent TV that's on shows a commercial for some sort of round pillow that shows the sun then gets flipped inside-out to show a full moon.

Wait…

Vanessa grows a rather big smirk on her face with a plan forming. It seems it's about time a certain daycare attendant had more free roam of the pizza plex, no?

"Tomorrow night. I need to…” quick, she needs some sort of excuse to shake any possible suspicion. “...prepare some things, just in case something might not go well." She tried to form it like “in case they try to kill the kid again” though, in all honesty, she’s doubting if they really care if the kid lives or not.

"Sounds fine to me. Just get it done. You'll find the bottle placed in the office the morning after by dayshift staff. Now know this, if I find out you lied, you and the stupid kid will be permanently kicked out." They hang up.

Management couldn't seem to think or care less about whatever her plan was. Perfect.

Vanessa heaves out another sigh as the burning coffee on her clothes quickly becomes cold. Hopefully, they're willing though. As Vanny, she really did mess them up.

‐------------------------

It feels too soon to be back again, but she's got work to do. The ponytail was still left out though and the hat felt rather strange because of it.

She first goes to check on Gregory, who's still with Freddy for the night.

The door gets opened, and the familiar bear is standing beside Gregory, who seems to have passed out on the couch. Everything usually placed on it looked to be pushed to the floor, except for a Freddy plush cuddled tightly in his arms.

It would be almost cute if his shirt weren't lifted to show the white bandages wrapped around the large part of his lower torso, and eyebags that could easily rival hers.

"How's he doing?" She tries to keep her voice low so as to not wake him. The poor kid needs as much rest as he can get.

Freddy's eyelids become downcast. Not just from him being so much taller, it's easy to tell he's genuinely upset.

"Not good at all, I'm afraid. I'm getting worried about the fever he has. As well as he's woken up screaming a couple of times. He's been keeping quiet about them, but I caught him earlier waking up from a nightmare on the couch before. His hands immediately cover his mouth upon reflex. I do know it's probably not as safe, but I've been having him sleep on my couch hoping it would lessen them with me around. It helps, but not as much as I hoped."

And she already wants to throw something again. Great. Well, the couch is definitely cleaner than that other place. Huh. The bear did something surprisingly smart. Okay, that’s a bit rude even to her to think.

Freddy is able to tell what seems to be a ticking time bomb in front of him. Her face grew a bit red from his status update of Gregory. He's worried about her too in more ways than one.

"But on the good news, his ankle is only a fairly light sprain, already getting better. As well as the bruises."

That seems like a bare minimum, but whatever at this point. "As good as we're going to get for now. Listen, I also came to inform you that you're forced to be on lockdown tomorrow night. Management is forcing my hand and wants me to bring Gregory to the daycare for it."

Freddy cocks his head in confusion. It's a rather sudden and strange thing after them getting full free-roam after that night for a reason he still can't figure out. "Alright. I'll be sure to inform him whenever he wakes up."

She nods and leaves to head to the daycare. Hold on in there, kid.

There's quite a bit of guilt for not informing Freddy of her plan, but she couldn't risk Management possibly searching his memory tonight too and finding out what it is. At least, not until Gregory’s safe from the infection. They probably won't be happy with her bending the rules. And uh, probably breaking a law again by messing with property in a way.

Thinking of Gregory reminds her of her first time seeing Moon’s new blue eyes after bringing him to the daycare. Freddy was too focused on not having the others see him again yet. Should have done it the other way since carrying him is far from easy for a human, especially with such a distance and he's not exactly a little kid. The power was out then because Management enjoyed finding out how much money could be saved after keeping the lights off in it for a while. A new system was set for them to automatically turn off for 3-4 hours a night.

All because as that stupid controlled rabbit, she kept turning them off for Moon to find the kid. Probably from that near-hour thing too.

They aren't soul-shivering red pinpricks anymore. They're what she wants to guess as cobalt blue, and their whole eyes glow, no longer just a pinprick either. They honestly seem a bit more unsettling to her after being so used to the other before.

It was too dark to see in the daycare when she dropped him off inside to wait for them to carry him to wherever, but she's sure she saw Moon wave back when Gregory surprisingly shyly waved at him. Didn’t really expect that from a kid who sometimes seemed to have more sass than some adults.

Odd as well, but it’s telling they’re at least okay with each other. A bit of a relief for her not to have to carry him around again until the lights in there went back on. Guess there are the generators, but she’d rather not be in charge of having to do that.

She opens the door, searching for the glowing eyes in the darkness, and spots them from up on the top of the play structure. Now thinking, it does seem incredibly… lonely in here. One of the only places not even any cleaning bots come in. Yep, just makes what she’s planning to do even less guilty. Fuck the owners.

“Vanessa? What are you doing here? It’s not even close to Gregory’s drop-off.”

This is the first time hearing this version of Moon, and what. The. Fuck.? His voice is now more like a man who’s constantly comforting a terrified child. It sounds like something he SHOULD have been like since the start. Not like when he sounded in her opinion like a chaotic, evil gremlin of a man who wanted to watch the world burn.

She shakes it out of her head. “I need you to come with me to parts and service.” Immediately it seems they’d be up on their guard. Rather telling as well since Moon didn’t move. “There is some programming I want to fix for you after that… thing controlled me. A major one is your scanners. You probably already figured it out, but with the way they are, it prevented you from ever entering the desired safe mode until the kid was… I’d rather not say. As well as we both know no one else is willing to do it unless you get broken down.”

“I hate she’s right. Can we really trust her though?”

“People do deserve second chances! Plus I’m pretty sure Gregory would refuse to go even near her if something was still going on. Kids can have really good discernment and understanding of things! Remember how he told us he knew she was out to get him? Also, also! She did just seem to really hate mentioning whatever controlled her!”

“I also really want to get it fixed for Gregory, especially now. Right now, Freddy’s the only one I can rely upon with a working scanner from glitching into safe mode that night. Even then, his scanners are still glitching out and not fully liable. And i know you guys are more trustworthy to inform of injuries.”

“Well, we CAN’T say no to that!”

“... Seriously, Sun? Fine. Only since she does truly seem remorseful. Even if it was out of her control.”

He uses the wire to hook onto him and lowers himself to the floor not far in front of Vanessa.

Vanessa has no reason to but flinches slightly. She’s obviously never been harmed by one in real life. Maybe something from testing before was suppressed but instinctual.

Moon doesn’t know why either but doesn’t say anything about it as she leads them to parts and service.

It doesn’t take them long as she places them in the chamber and goes to the coding computer. How she wishes she never had to touch it again. After turning on the light, it doesn’t take long for Sun to become the main again.

They have to leave off safe mode for the coding and programming to be changed. That leaves an intense tightening in her chest, fearing the virus would come back and make them do its bidding all over again.

Nope, nope, nope! It’s NOT around! It can’t come back to do harm! Their safe mode is begrudgingly turned off by her and the programs get opened.

DAYTIME ATTEND PROTOCOL- NEVER_LEAVE_DAYCARE, and several other major ones, which makes her wonder why he’s so forced to stay in the first place. He’s even the safe mode one! Just thinking about it makes it feel maddening. Never being able to see anything past a few small rooms? Haha, how about not? man, it would be so lonely too.

…How the hell can she feel so bad for an animatronic?

NIGHTTIME[NAPTIME] PROTOCOL- LEAVE_IS_POSSIBLE_WHENEVER_ACTIVE

KILL_ALL_INTRUDERS

She hates how she even remembers changing it to that. It was never supposed to be to kill them, only remove troubling people during day hours or at night bring them to the nightguard unless a high threat level was detected.

ONLY then was he supposed to be able to severely harm or maybe kill someone.

It can only be imagined how terrifying it must have been to not realize their programming was changed and got blood from an innocent child on their hands the first time. It sure was for her. Well, minus the programming obviously since she’s human.

She tries not to think too hard about that and looks through very thoroughly what to remove fully or change. If there’s only one positive about that thing controlling, it taught her how to code a program too well and surprisingly stuck even after it was destroyed. Hopefully. She hasn’t seen the yellow thing around.

“By the way, were you given the okay to rechange our program?” Shit, she forgot to tell them! Well, better late than never.

“No. There’s also another thing I’m doing without their permission. I’m giving both of you free reign to roam the pizza plex after hours.”

“She can’t be serious.”

“She seems like she is.”

“There’s no way. She could get fired for messing around again.”

“But what if she can?” Sun’s desperate thought hurt Moon. Out of everyone, he understood his counterpart by far the most. Unlike him, Sun’s MADE for socialization. The one to ease aggression from adults, keep the kids happy, and keep up the funny, goofy acts when needed for smiles. He’s felt himself how destroyed Sun feels some days as of late. The daycare stuck being closed for what already felt like ages to him. Where Moon thinks peaceful, Sun thinks lonely. And yes, it also seems unfair even to himself he can leave, even for only a bit, but Sun can't at all? Quite ridiculous.

“...We’ll have to temporarily jam our memory signal of this if they try to find out.”

He could feel Sun’s excitement pouring through in waves. Moon hopes it works.

Vanessa edits a few final ones, and pushes “enter”. It forces the Attendant to shut down fully and reboot. Usually, it wouldn’t, but a full reboot is needed for such drastic changes.

She watches the computer progress bar that’s recording their reaction go up until it reaches full. Once it does, she pulls out a flash drive and sticks it into the computer, having it save the redone programming for the Attendant. It became an instinctual thing that Vanny did after- no. Stop. Stop thinking of that stupid thing.

“Safe mode reactivated.” A male voice rings out from a speaker somewhere. That’s new. Someone must have changed that down here. No complaint though. Vanessa goes and opens the door to a still-rebooting Sun.

It doesn’t take long before he wakes and looks at Vanessa.

She wants out ASAP. She still remembers what she had to do to Freddy. Luckily Gregory was able to fix him.

“Check your protocols.”

It must not take long because he suddenly lunges and hugs Vanessa almost too tightly. “Thank you, thank you, thank-”

She awkwardly pats his back under the- is it a hook hatch? She's never really been too sure. Also still feels a bit awkward from being very unused to friendly touch except having to that one time carrying Gregory. When WAS the last time?...

“Uh yeah, you’re welcome. Ready for Moon to come out? I need to make sure his are working properly too.”

He nods excitedly, bolting to the light switch near. His actions almost bring an amused smile to her face. Yep, definitely high-energy for kids. She wishes she could still have that energy right now.

The lights shut off, and he lets Moon take over.

“I’m so glad it doesn’t seem to hurt anymore…” She meant to mumble it, but they were still able to hear, making them glad they gave her the chance.

Moon scans through everything without her having to tell him.

“But I never told…” Vanessa was flabbergasted.

“We share the mind. Even if Sun was the one active, I can hear and see everything."

That’s sure alarming and creepy. And concerning since she could have messed that up somehow. It's probably better NOT to mention she could have messed that up.

“Alright. Anyway, I was hoping he wouldn’t be so he couldn’t hear what I’m about to say, but fuck Management. They want to toss Gregory to the wolves.”

“LANGUAGE!”

Moon had to suppress himself from laughing, but it turned back to serious quick when he registered what she said. “They what?”

Anger came off of her in such waves even Moon could physically feel it. “I’m really worried for Gregory. They want to force him to be in the same room with the others and Freddy can’t be around tomorrow night.”

“WHAT!? GREGORY CAN’T HANDLE THAT! HE’LL SHUT DOWN! HE MIGHT EVEN HAVE A HEART ATTACK!!!”

“That’s… dangerous.” Moon doesn’t know how to register that. He’s JUST getting there where Gregory can do a little bit of talk with him without starting to shake. And a few acknowledgments to him, such as an uncomfortable wave. The day Vanessa dropped him off with the lights off wasn’t the best predicament. He sat on the floor again and waited for the light to turn on for Sun to carry him to the chairs again. Even then, he’s still a bit wary of even Sun’s hands. It’s almost amusing how hateful Gregory is of it, always complaining he’s too old to be carried around too. Hopefully not for much longer. Now that their scanner is fixed, they can figure out a better time for him to start walking as well. He'll love being able to do that again. Moon takes the wave for him though, it’s progress. But to be around several sentient animatronics that were after him? As Sun said, he may cease to function.

Vanessa rubs her hands on her face again. “I know,” She looks up and gives them a smirk. The drastic change of emotions and tiredness swirling around is scaring even her. “But… they didn’t say anything about a certain Daycare Attendant being with him.”

Moon really wishes he could frown to show his displeasure right now. “That might still be a bad idea. We might still make things worse since we’re still working with him.”

Vanessa’s body slumps hard in defeat. “We don’t have any other option, Moon. Sun. Whatever’s going on. They’ll check Freddy’s memory, and this has to be done because they promised to give me an antibiotic to give to Gregory. They want it as a test the virus is gone, though I already screamed at them it is. We have to.”

Moon has never wanted to kill someone so badly as of right now. Using an ill kid as a pawn chip of some sort!?

“Moon…” Sun’s saddened voice comes through.

“I know.”

“Okay, but I'll only come out if absolutely necessary. He’s still only partially okay with Sun yet.”

Vanessa lets out a fairly relieved, but still exhausted sigh. “It’s better than nothing, I suppose.”

"She looks as bad as Gregory..."

"Wouldn't doubt she has some trauma as well if she could see who she was forced to kill too."

"...I want to hug her again. She needs another!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------

An- It's ironic I keep writing about people not being able to sleep, and I myself can't fall asleep for the life of me even with melatonin. It's been like 2 weeks staying up all night, falling asleep for like 2 hours, then never sleeping again for too long. Help I've cursed myself. Also, writing this made me feel even worse for Sun. If you think about it, it makes sense. I hope I'm not crazy, but I can swear he sounds desperate talking to Gregory in-game.

...I'm going to go cry over thinking about a lonely animatronic now.

Chapter Text

It took Vanessa a bit of searching around the previous night after fixing Sun and Moon to find a possibly good enough area for Gregory. He’s obviously the main concern. The best place she guessed was the West Arcade right by Music Man. It’s the most open space she could really find that also obviously involved the DJ. She also triple-checked to make sure Gregory was no longer on the new “bouncer list” from that night. With all this, she’s seriously questioning if she’s even really a nightguard at this point.

…She’s terrified of imagining what it would be like for that giant thing to chase her. She can’t even begin to imagine how terrified Gregory must have felt. Or arcade machines being thrown at her. Jeez, pretty excessive.

Meanwhile, Sun had the time and wonder of his life following her around, finally getting to see and focus on everything in detail. He and Moon don't remember much out of the daycare. In short, like a kid in a candy store. Vanessa didn't blame him at all though, once again reminded how he wasn’t ever able to leave the Daycare. She also decided it was best for him to get it all in as she looked for a place for Gregory so the next night he hopefully won't be sidetracked.

Guilt gnaws into her whole body as she appears in front of Freddy’s door. Freddy can't be told until after, and Gregory can't be informed before locking up Freddy or he'd obviously bolt back in, informing the bear. Doubtful the bear would let it happen. Hell, he’d probably keep the kid in his stomach hatch again to hide him. She knows Gregory would fight tooth and nail and deny needing the medicine too. Vanessa also couldn’t believe it when she found out WHERE Gregory hid often that night.

How? They informed her after, and she was the one who had to clean the bits of dried blood out of the hatch. Not the best experience, that’s for sure.

Gregory is the one to open the door while Freddy stays a bit farther back. He's definitely not looking well at all. He looks more tired than ever before. Pretty much a walking zombie.

She bites the inside of her cheek. Hard. Freddy gives her a look from behind Gregory showing obvious worry. Possibly for her health as well. She's beyond worried herself for only Gregory’s though. "He refuses to be carried anywhere anymore even if it will still hurt him."

Seriously kid, you're knocking on death's door and you STILL decide to be this stubborn? Ugh, it's a gift and a curse.

Gregory musters up a glare at her as if daring to pick him up.

Sun's not going to be happy, but fine. He can scold him for Freddy, her, and Moon. "Fine by me. Let's go." She makes sure to keep an arm open behind him without touching for if he starts to fall. He looks like he’d tip over at any slight wind and pass out on the floor. Hopefully, if he does fall, it's backward.

Gregory couldn’t care much less, all that matters is she’s not trying to carry him again. It doesn’t hurt enough to be a serious bother.

She locks Freddy up and heads yet again to the daycare. She debates whether or not to inform Gregory now or have Sun bring him out and get surprised by the others.

… Yeah, indubitably the first option.

“I hate to tell you kid, but there’s something drastic the people in higher power want you to go through in order to stay here.” She’s decided to not tell him that earlier time with the lights. It’s still pretty much the truth since Management will still kick him out if he doesn’t do this.

He gives Vanessa a tired side-eye, and it’s pretty well-deserved she thinks with all the fishy things that have gone on.

He knew there was something that kept him here. He supposes he should thank her sooner or later for trying so hard. Maybe later. He also doesn’t like her tone whatever this might be.

“I changed Sun and Moon’s programming to be able to leave the daycare after hours with you, but-” She sucks in a breath. “Freddy isn’t allowed to be around, and you have to be near the others for the night.”

Immediately Gregory stops stiffly in his tracks, making her arm behind bump into him. Just at the thought, his heart picks up rapidly, but it also feels like it sinks to his feet. He snaps awake. His head turns sharply to look at her as if silently begging he heard wrong.

“You… ugh, you have to. Or they will kick you out of this place permanently. I hate the idea myself.” She refrained from saying “as much as you” since sometimes that can make someone angry and feel worse. She would know since her last therapist before starting to be more controlled said that.

Gregory’s not sure he can even with Sun without running away or something. He also knows damaging the 3 of them was self-defense, but he ruined them. It eats him alive remembering how Roxy was so upset by her appearance, how Monty was literally only half an animatronic trailing around like one of those zombie movies he slipped a view of, or how Chica’s broken voice screams through his head. The distorted sound still too freshly plagued deep in his memory.

There’s one in particular he really would rather not see or even talk to. No, not Chica, not Music Man, not even Monty. Roxy is the one he fears the most though she did the least damage physically. Her harsh words rang through his head throughout the night, reminding him too much of her. Not Vanny, but just as bad.

“You insufferable little brat!” He didn’t like her. Anything would be better. She’s only been mean ever since bringing him here. Why is he here?

He shakes the thought out, trying to forget again. Based on everything now, he’d almost willingly go back to her instead. Man, she’s been forgotten about for a while to him. Would be better if she was completely forgotten. If there’s one good thing about here, it’s that he’s only been having nightmares about stuff around here now.

Sun’s not in the daycare, but outside in front of its closed doors. He has an even higher pep in his step than before and is standing at full height. He’s even taller than Gregory thought, Maybe even taller than Freddy, and it’s slightly unnerving. Gregory’s not completely sure, but he swears there’s a bit of fear coming from the animatronic as well. He couldn’t agree more if that’s the case.

Upon thinking about it, it would make sense. He and Moon never fully really experienced the other animatronics. Gregory wishes the same right now. Knowing the two’s inexperience with the others doesn’t really help settle the terrified feeling in his chest. If fact, it probably makes it worse.

Sun stops walking up to them from the distance as he notices Vanessa isn’t carrying Gregory. “Vanessa-”

“Don’t blame me, blame Gregory. He’s being too stubborn about not wanting to be carried anymore.” She snaps.

Gregory huffs. “It doesn’t hurt that bad anyways.” It’s a bit of a lie, but he’s sick of being lugged around like a huge pet dog or something. There’s still some pain in every step, but it's not bad enough to still be carried.

Sun shakes his head in disapproval.

"Try our fixed health scanner."

"Right! I may have already forgotten she fixed it..."

Sometimes I really can't believe you."

Sun runs his scanner on Gregory, and it’s good, yet bad what comes up. No doubt about it. Those infected three are worse, and the fever is starting to get to a concerning level. The bruises are hanging on from how big they are, and from his lack of good sleep to properly heal. Also showing signs of slight malnutrition as well has him and Moon much more concerned. The best thing though is his ankle is just barely healed to the point it should be okay to walk on, but he still needs to take it easy to fully recover.

Sun feels like a failure he couldn’t be more watchful or be more adamant on Vanessa to bring more food. At least it will be easier soon when the daycare reopens.

“Right! Well, good news for you, Gregory! You don’t need anyone to carry you anymore! It’s healed just enough it should be okay!”

Gregory’s relieved to hear that. That means if it comes down to it, he can probably try to run from the others. He still desperately doesn’t want to see them, but if it gets him to be able to stay with Freddy, then he guesses it will have to be worth it.

Vanessa begrudgingly leaves to start her rounds around the pizza plex again. She would have gone along, but she got a call later to not be around either.

Sun does the same thing as Vanessa with his arm and they head to the West Arcade. It raises Gregory’s anxiety a little bit since he knows he’d have a much harder time outrunning Sun than Vanessa, but he pushes it down. He can tell Sun’s just trying to help and wants a friend. Hopefully, Sun stays respecting him enough to NOT carry him though.

Even to him, it’s a pretty weird situation to get a friend. The whole, “Oh hey, let’s kick you to the wolves, but you survive and we’ll apologize by trying to heal you.” Hah. He’s trying to at least trust Sun as well, but it’s much harder than he expected.

“Where are we going anyways?”

“Didn’t Vanessa tell you?”

“She said I had to be with the others, but I think she forgot to tell me where.”

And… there’s the worry they feel for Vanessa as well after secretly scanning her too. She’s beyond tired as well and has a dangerously high level of stress.

"She must have forgotten to give that information."

"How hard do you think it would be to have her sleep too?"

"Not sure. She may stay way too worried Management will find out."

"Hmph. Silly management."

“Did you really just think “hmph”?

“Shush! It’s true and you know it!”

“I’m not denying it. Whatever they’re doing, it’s making Vanessa worse too.”

“Ah! Well, to the West Arcade! She said it was one of the most open spaces.”

Gregory is relieved it’s a more open space at least.

It’s much too soon when they get to the West Arcade. No music playing making it somehow more anxiety-inducing for Gregory.

The others are already there standing rather awkwardly around. Minus the DJ who couldn’t have seemed to care less about what’s going on. Monty’s on the left, Roxy in front of the DJ, and Chica on the right.

Sun and Gregory move to be in front of the pink neon lights on the open wall in front of Music Man.

Upon seeing even the first hint of green metal, he ducks under Sun’s arm and hides partially behind Sun’s leg. Out of everyone, he’s the one most trusted besides Freddy. Obviously, he’d rather stick to Sun than any other. Gregory didn’t even think about it, just automatically stayed close to Sun. If he wasn’t so terrified now, he’d feel greatly embarrassed.

The movement gets the attention of the others. Their eyes lock on Gregory. He fully freezes.

The feeling in the air is so tense that not even a chainsaw could cut through it.

Gregory’s heart starts beating almost painfully. His eyes go to the massive hands of the resting Music Man, remembering how they kept reaching for him when he was in the bathroom area. The absolute blaring music making everything else almost impossible to hear, how he crawled across the walls like a giant spider, even tossing arcade machines at him… At least this area isn’t the narrow hallway where the machines were tossed.

“I can already tell this is going to go badly.”

"Yeah..."

Gregory latches onto Sun's pants like a lifeline. His hand shakes from how tight the grip is. The pants are softer than he thought they’d be.

Sun already wants to pick up Gregory and run away with him. Also, if he were to be fully honest, he’s absolutely losing his mind right now. He’s not equipped for this! He’s able to handle kids with violent outbursts. This isn’t highly problematic children or parents. This isn’t consoling a screaming child. This isn’t a massive mess left after a rather rowdy day of kids. This isn’t even any sort of potentially dangerous kidnapper situation! This is a group of animatronics that he has no idea how they’ll act, or if they even remember that night. It scares him not only for himself and Moon, but especially for Gregory. They’re easily outnumbered if anything happens. Moon has overpowered Freddy before, but everyone knows he’s a pretty big pushover. He’s able to handle Chica and maybe Roxy, but it’s doom if Monty or Music Man try anything.

The others seem to pick up in their scans of what’s wrong with Gregory too. Monty almost seems like he’s torn between punching something and looking utterly defeated. He refused to look at Gregory again. Looking too high up, at the others, or even straight to the floor.

Chica has a rather horrified expression and covers her beak with her hands. Especially after glancing toward his ankle.

Roxy crosses her arms. She appears rather angry, however.

“Judging from how they’re acting right now, there’s no doubt for me they remember.”

“I don’t know if that’s for the better or worse.”

“Let’s hope for the better.”

For all they know, the virus could still be inside all of them or even one as well. That puts Sun even more on edge. Constantly glancing between all of them. Vanessa told them it was gone, but they don't fully believe it themselves yet.

Music Man can’t do much to help though he feels what’s going on too. He doesn’t exactly feel bad either for chasing the kid. Mostly because he was just doing his job in the “bouncer mode”. He would like to cheer up the kid possibly by music but was informed he cannot operate with music for tonight. That’s quite frustrating. The non-flashing lights and no music are a new and unwelcome thing to him.

Monty covertly manages to look at the kid through his glasses and secretly scans him again, showing yet again some of the marks done by him are badly infected. A whole new level of guilt eats away at him, even though he was controlled. He NEVER would have harmed a kid otherwise! A sneaking part feels bad that Bonnie must have been infected too when he damaged him but didn’t get a better ending.

His violence is also an act. Well, mostly. He wants to stay cool with the kids. He believes most kids like destruction, and it's a way to not get destroyed again as he did with Bonnie. It tells the others he means business. One of his designs is literally strength! He hates it though, and his claws. Even moreso after having to watch them dig so deeply into the terrified kid in front of him.

Knowing blood trickling onto them, but his scanner was too messed up so he couldn't force himself into safe mode. He may not like the stupid bear that much, but he's sure as hell glad he had the guts to bodyslam him to free the kid from his grasp. He did get destroyed though. It's a kid who did it, and it was for self-defense. Just like how he started trying to defend himself against Bonnie. He’s not stupid as he hears many kids and adults around him say.

The still few “Where’s Bonnie?” and the “Bonnie will always be better.” comments hurt. He tries, and always hoped that maybe becoming the new leader would stop those. One reason for hating the beloved bear so much. He’s never had to worry about that.

He knows the kid didn't know the railing would break. How could he when Monty didn’t even know himself? Not even the virus seemed to, or his body could have easily just stepped back or even ran forward. Though he’s thankful it wasn’t the second or he may have gotten to the kid again. The first catch still haunts his memory enough.

Monty wanted to break free. He doesn't want the kid's death on his hands. He's fighting the virus as hard as he can, but it's not WORKING. Tries forcing more anger, a shutdown, forcing to forget, forcing safe mode, anything! His claws tighten around the kid’s body, making the kid squirm harder and gasp a terrified breath. He sees the blood start trickling onto his hands. No! Damn it! WHY did he have to be given CLAWS!?

He notices the faz watch, and right after, a force plows into him. It was a powerful enough blow to very temporarily regain control. It seems being hit is like a very temporary fix. He jumped at the chance to let the kid go before falling. He doesn't want to get back up.

… but he does, again, way too soon for his liking. He sees Freddy facing the kid. His body tries to attack the kid again, but leaves deep gashes into Freddy instead as he stands in front of the kid. He quickly takes off after with him. He may not like that bear much, but he's beyond relieved the bear was around to save the kid. At least one can. He hates to admit it, but he's counting on Freddy.

In speaking of Freddy, it’s rather odd he wasn’t the one to come with Gregory. Also, wasn’t the Daycare Attendant’s day form permanently glued to stay in the daycare? Even to him that seemed like a stupid rule he’d have broken the first day it was applied.

He doesn’t really care. At least the kid has got something for partial safety. He wants to make it up to him but has absolutely no idea how.

“Hey, kid. Sorry for uh… I mean,” He doesn’t know WHAT he means. How do you apologize for something you did, but wasn’t exactly you? But it still WAS your body? “I’m really sorry for catching you.” He sneaks a glance at his hands, yet again hating how they are. He’s much more than just sorry.

Chica’s used to eating garbage and whatnot, but for some reason with the virus, it worsened it tenfold. Except for Monty Mystery Mix. She’ll ALWAYS go for it. Which reminds her of him kicking her into the trash compactor. She can’t say she’d have done the same, especially with a dirty trick like using the mystery mix, but she understands. A very small part is a bit angered too by it, but everything else drastically outdoes that tiny bit. The kid’s rough shape mostly.

She is beyond torn watching his absolutely terrified expression of them. Tracking every single slight shift or head movement each does consistently. She notices a compression bandage just poking out from his sock. It's back from when she chased him out by the daycare, isn't it? Not even knowing it’s fairly healing and properly taken care of helps very much.

Her body gives off warnings of slightly overheating, making her force herself to calm down as much as she can. She remembers he tripped, fell, and immediately was slightly limping while running to Freddy. It was really strange seeing him enter Freddy, but it was like the virus didn’t know. Once in, he was off her radar no matter what and her own body just walked off. So much for the better. She just wants to hug him tightly and apologize every second until her head blows off!

But there has to be SOME way she can make it up to him, right? Ooh! Maybe he’d like some cookies! She’s sure she could make that for him!

She also may want to smack Monty. She can tell he’s desperately trying to figure out a way to apologize, but reinforming the kid about that night in such a way may not be the best option in trying to do so.

“We both are.” Great, she can’t figure out how to bring it up either of asking just to make food with him maybe in a few days or at some point. Oh, now she’s just a huge hypocrite!

It stays quiet for an agonizingly long time to her. She was hoping Roxy would speak up and give her a bit of time as well, but she just keeps glaring at Gregory. Checking the time shows no one has moved for about an hour. Way too long for nothing.

“...I’m not trusting the wolf.”

Sun was confused. She seems fine enough. Maybe a bit grumpy, but she’s most likely just trying to cope with being broken. “Roxy? Why?”

“I do not like the malice coming off her. Watch. Her. Closely.” his voice hisses, dipping closely to the same tone he had back with the virus.

The tone concerned Sun a bit. He’s desperately hoping it’s nothing too serious. Moon is possibly just being overprotective of Gregory from him already going through so much. “Okay. If you’re sure…”

Roxy still hates him. She doesn't care what he did to the others, but he absolutely destroyed her. She's more than willing to still go after him despite that virus thing or whatever is gone. She's the only one who didn't get a chance to hurt him, yet she knows she's the one who wanted to the most after he destroyed them!

Judging from the still-healing handprint bruise on his wrist, even the creepy Moon side of the daycare attendant got to hurt him! That’s not fair! The daycare attendant also got hit if the dent on Sun’s face says anything. What a stupid animatronic-breaking brat! And moreso, how can the stupid attendant only have a dent!? It’s absurd!

She also hates how she knows snapping at Monty for feeling so guilty wouldn’t help anything. He’s already informed her, Chica, and even Freddy about it. How he often still thinks about ripping his own hands off. Even if she attacked him, he’s much stronger than her as well. Ugh. To make it worse, the day attendant already seems rather close with the brat. Heh, they’re lucky she’s unable to turn off the lights around the place. The Moon thing would surely be on her side to get rid of him. She remembers he sure wasn't the most child-friendly even before the virus.

Gregory’s throat closes tightly. He’s having trouble finding his voice. “I… I’m sorry too. Also for- Um, S-sorry Roxy for removing your eyes to feel safer.”

A whole new level of rage overflows Roxy. “A safety measurement!? You ruined my face more for a stupid safety measurement?!”

Gregory flinches harshly at her angry tone.

Sun internally cringes a bit himself. "You were right, Moon. She's still extremely hostile about it..."

Sun’s anxiety is rapidly rising. He stands a bit more in front of Gregory, keeping his arm behind him, but pushing the kid’s shoulders a bit closer to his metallic side. Gregory’s too stressed and focused on Roxy to fully notice or care.

Right as Sun does, two things simultaneously happen that surprise everyone else.

Roxy tries to lunge at Gregory, or Sun who was now standing in front of him. Monty is the one who blocked her from doing so, putting an arm out to prevent her from getting closer to the Attendant and the kid.

The two are still way too close for Gregory’s liking. Even worse now. His head is feeling light…

She loops around Monty’s arm and tries to go after the kid again.

Sun prepared to fully push Moon forward as a safety net for Gregory. Moon is more than ready if it came down to it. Monty is trying, and they'd rather not stress Gregory more by adding Moon if it can be prevented though.

Before he could bring out Moon, Monty got a firm grip on Roxy again by her left arm. Roxy turns to him and with rage overflowing, forgets she wouldn’t stand a chance against him. She punches his face with her free arm. His glasses go flying to the floor near a stunned Chica.

Monty refused to let go, tightening his grip further. “What. is. your. deal!?” he growls, trying to repress the anger from being hit. “Chica and I are willing to forgive the kid!”

Roxy glares at him. “You do not understand! He didn’t take your sight! He didn’t just ruin my beautiful face! He took my eyes, Monty!!!” She goes to punch him again, but he grabs her other fist as well.

“And you think Chica and I weren’t messed up? I was CRAWLING on the floor! Even I know we can be fixed! He can’t! Not to mention we were going to kill him! What else was he supposed to do!?”

Roxy shakes her head aggressively and growls at him. “That doesn’t matter! Let me go!” She keeps trying to yank free with no success.

“Guys! Stop!” Chica pleads to them.

Monty stops to look at her, loosening his grip and giving Roxy the chance to slip out.

“I can't!” He tries to grab for Roxy again but misses.

Roxy tries to go after Gregory yet again. She gets dangerously close, only about nine feet (3 meters) from Sun and Gregory. Monty lashes his arms out, grabbing Roxy’s lower torso tightly enough to slightly dent it.

…His claws glint in the light towards the two.

Moon suddenly gets forced out without either's will, making him and Sun disoriented for a moment.

The others freeze watching the too-quick transformation.

A screen screaming “threats” cover Moon’s vision for a moment, bringing an odd sheer panic to him and he instinctively picks Gregory up in a princess carry, taking off with Gregory back to the daycare.

“Moon! What’s going on? STOP!”

Moon doesn't hear his voice. The only thing that matters is getting the kid somewhere safe.

"MOON! ANSWER ME!!! WE CAN'T LEAVE!"

He looks down to see Gregory had passed out. He scans to make sure his passing out wasn't life-threatening.

An intense calm washes over him as he notices luckily the only reason he stayed passed out was the serious lack of sleep catching up. He enters the daycare. He stands at the entrance after closing the daycare doors. The brightness still somehow not being able to have Sun take control.

Sun tries to retake control, but it's fruitless. “Moon! What just happened!? NOW tell me what you just did! I didn’t give control and the lights didn’t change darker!"

Moon pauses, thinking about it. “I… Don’t know. It felt of something with my own volition, yet wasn’t at the same time.”

“What do you mean!? Oh no, we don’t still have the virus, do we!?”

“No. I was in full control. It was something I wanted to do.” He walks over and places Gregory on the pile of pillows and blankets that were kept in the best shape possible. The starry pillow was just big enough for Gregory’s head.

Only then was he able to push the shift and be able to have Sun take over again.

"Then tell me! You have to know something. That shift... That wasn't normal! Nor is you ignoring me! It was... It was scary thinking you were closed out from me for a second."

His desperate tone really knows how to hit Moon hard.

"Sun... I'm sorry. I truly don't know what it was either.

------------------------------------------

Vanessa went to check on them. Fuck Management, they can kiss her ass. Upon getting close, she heard metallic clanking, making her run to see Monty and Roxy both littered with dents and puncture holes. Roxy's pinned to the floor with Monty on top, pinning her arms to the floor. The clanking was her managing to hit his tail and legs with her knees bending up. Management’s problem on this one.

The Attendant and Gregory aren’t around, so obviously, something went wrong. She pinches the bridge of her nose. “Music Man, stop them.”

He reaches down with his two giant hands and manages to split them apart. Pretty annoying she had to be here to demand him to do it.

The two look at her.

“What the hell happened?”

Monty glares at Roxy again with a growl. “A certain wolf tried to attack the kid.”

She gives a growl back. “Only because he deserves it!”

Vanessa covers her eyes with her right palm, a headache that finally was getting better becoming worse again. Okay, no letting Roxy near Gregory. At least for now. Got it.

“Go to your rooms for the night. I do NOT want to see any of you for the rest of my shift. Roxy, I don’t want you even near the kid for at least a week to calm down.”

Music Man lets them down, and they begrudgingly listen, storming to their rooms.

“Would you be able to ask Gregory if he wants to bake with me someday? I… forgot to ask with everything. Sun and Freddy can be nearby to watch if it makes him more comfortable!”

Vanessa sighs heavily. “I’ll try, Chica.”

Chica fiddles with her hands a bit before heading to her room as well.

Ugh, well, at least what Management asked was partially done. She’s never been more thankful the two are destructive. They better have preferred her to break it up than let the two get fully destroyed again so soon.

She tiredly walks over to the office. Management can be kicked where the sun doesn’t shine. She’s skipping the rest of her patrol as well.

She sees something that pisses her off further upon entering the office. She grabs the plastic amber bottle sitting by one of the monitors. There’s no tag of any sort on it, just the bottle. Underneath it is a note.

“Keep the change you filthy animal” followed by a drawn smiley face. Fucking lying slimeball.

What a pathetic time for such things.

Fine, whatever. The sooner Gregory can get it, the better. Unless it's a useless med, which it better not be or she's going to strangle Management herself if she ever sees them. Her job be damned. She'll figure something out.

Vanessa brings it to where she believes they must have gone.

"Sun? Greg-" Sun bolts up close to her and covers her mouth with a finger pressing against her lips.

She gives him an annoyed look until he points to where Gregory is still asleep. She pulls the bottle out of her pocket. "Scan this," she whispers.

Sun does, and both he and Moon are surprised by what comes up. “Amoxicillin? But it's not a prescription!" He whisper-yells.

Hearing that instantly brings the smallest bit of relief to Vanessa. At least they kept their promise in a way. Surprising.

"Doesn't matter. Gregory still desperately needs it if he's going to survive."

Vanessa crosses her arms, already able to read what Sun might try to question. “Don’t ask. I’ve had to do things I desperately wish I didn’t for it.”

"Well, that's ominous."

"Do you really have to quip about almost everything?"

"Nope. Kinda fun though."

"We'll be sure to give it immediately when he wakes up."

She has no doubt they will.

-------------------------------------

An- Haha I nearly went insane with how many Music Man YT vids I had to watch to figure out an area that would work well enough. Eventually gave up and just used West Arcade. Tried reading maps but they confused me more. Won’t surprise me if its face becomes my new sleep paralysis demon. Also, be sure to write down whatever you think IMMEDIATELY when thought. I had SUCH a good idea for Sun’s analog I think is the word, but the whole thing slipped my mind the next minute. Fak. Also, feel like I should have done a bit more interaction but ran out of idea how.

Chapter Text

It’s been four days since that chaotic night. Management wasn’t the happiest to find out what happened but fortunately relented since she technically DID do what they demanded. It just got interrupted by their own animatronics. That and Gregory’s fever has finally died down a bit, giving her a tad bit of breather.

Vanessa has gone to one place she never thought she’d go to. The bar. Before, she wouldn’t even dream of it, but it’s one of the only places later in the day with only adults. She needs a break from animatronics and Gregory, despite knowing she still owes him and surprisingly somehow feels the smallest bit fond of him. Staying home should have been fine, but the lack of anything grates her nerves worse.

It’s a bit of a regret though with the rather loud music blaring through the place and the flashing lights that make the neon lights in the pizza plex seem like nothing. It’s really not helping her pretty much permanent headache.

She also has to suppress getting a little pissed that the bartender seemed to give her a judging look for something without alcohol. What about it? The last thing she needs is to wake up later with more pain or making an incredibly stupid decision. Probably one of them is calling Management and cussing them out enough to form a worded weapon to then stab them with it.

She still can't figure out why Moon has blue eyes either. That's another thing pissing her off, and worrying her. She can only hope whatever caused it won't be a sudden danger to Gregory. He seems to be fine and caring for Gregory, but what if it’s something in his coding she accidentally skimmed over, having it as an act? But then what would he get out of it from being with Gregory multiple times? Would Sun have warned her then? There’s no way he could possibly be in on it if it’s true. But it’s possible his coding was messed with as well.

It takes a moment to notice she’s chewing off her right thumb’s nail. This is her final non-chewed fingernail. Ugh, if this keeps up she’s either going to get gray hair before thirty, or even end up starting more bad habits like she already is.

The only guess that can be thought of is after the rabbit glitching thing left the animatronics and shut them down, the last-minute people with programming experience came in for a quick, one-time payment to fix them. But how could the one that worked on the Attendant be found then? They could be anywhere!

A man behind her lets out an obnoxiously loud laugh, forcefully drawing her attention to listening to him. “Nah, the daycare will now be the safest place ever for kids.”

The… daycare? There’s no way it could be from the pizza plex. There’s no way they could be here at this time. It must be another place!

She still can’t help but hope and strains her ears to listen in, taking a small sip of her drink.

“But didn’t a kid get killed there like, just a few months ago?” Questioned a feminine voice near him.

Holy. Fuck. There’s no way it couldn’t be!

He laughs again. “Nah, an intruder got the kid before the robot could get the intruder.”

That’s a painful lie. Talk about kissing the place’s ass. Or it isn’t too doubtful he had to sign some document to not talk about what happened in the pizza plex. It's what many had to sign before, making it the only reason a lot of stuff involving deaths avoided the news fully.

She forces herself to go over to get the answers she needs, sitting down at a still-empty seat. Fuck him if it’s rude. He’s the one yelling louder than Sun for security to escort someone out. Now thinking about it, that seems a bit ironic considering Moon IS technically part of security Was he always supposed to be, or was that a last-minute decision?

He looks somehow almost as thin as the Daycare Attendant and has cobalt blue dyed hair in a thin ponytail that almost seems to reach midback. His face is a face that looks so smug and narcissistic it could reflect a punch to it.

He raises a brow at Vanessa.

“Jeez, what’s the matter with you, princess?”

Vanessa had to hold down every part of her being to not flinch at the word “princess”. Guess watching fantasy movies are probably out of the picture permanently now.

“You look like sleeping beauty came and stole every ounce of rest you’ve ever got in your life.”

Says the walking stick figure. She forces a kind act on. She can’t blow off getting answers. “Sorry to interrupt, but I heard you talking about the daycare? Are you talking about the one at the pizza plex? What happened?”

Ugh, the smirk that grows further on his face made her desperately wish to punch it.

“Yes! Yes, I was! It was so amazing to see their code! Such a convoluted mess that it’s surprising it actually functions! Whoever created it, even I have to admit they did a fantastic job.”

“Even you? Sorry, I don’t know about you. Shouldn’t they have hired programmers if they really wanted to fix something?” She lied questioning. She knows they’d spend every minimal penny they can to get the animatronics worked on. It's a miracle they function, and a part of her wonders if that's why they're so sentient.

He seemed a bit miffed she doesn’t know him and takes a swig of his drink. It instantly becomes a cocky smirk again. "Hah! When I found out they were looking for last-minute people to "check" their systems, I volunteered for free as long as I was the one to work on the Daycare Attendant. The Sun guy was fine, but that fucking Moon gave me nightmares in the past! That one time when I was there as a kid, those stupid red eyes wouldn't. stop. staring. at me when I couldn't sleep during the ridiculous "naptime"! I mean, seriously? RED eyes. That glow. In the dark. Where kids had to be. The dumbest shit you could have made for a kid!”

Vanessa has to admit, it is a pretty stupid thing, but she’s already learned the company obviously doesn’t exactly care for kids either. As well as Moon was probably a terrifying security part before they squeezed in the naptime thing or maybe the other way around. The blueprints didn't exactly say which idea came first. “So what? You just changed their system instead of just checking the coding without telling anyone?”

He rolls his eyes. “Well, duh. I made the eyes blue, cobalt blue, which is also a MUCH cooler color in general than red. That and I may have… tweaked the Moon’s personality a bit. Maybe a lot. I don’t really care how much, just that I made sure it is different in a good way. All that had to be done was pick off and delete a bunch of past memories, code in a few false and add other stuff, and bam! A totally different robot! Well, I slipped the false memories into the Sun one. It’s fascinating they seem to be able to communicate through their mind. You think the Sun one would have kept the Moon more in check, but I guess that’s too much thought for a stupid robot.”

She raises a questioning brow back at him, trying to not get pissed he keeps calling the Attendant just a robot. “Changing his code? I had a friend go in recently to fix the Daycare Attendants’ scanners and there was nothing in the protocols that changed.” He doesn’t need to know she was the one who did.

He winks at her. Ew. “Don’t worry about that, princess,” She’s probably going to throw up after this encounter. “I hid it somewhere else than the protocols. I put it deep in the coding itself. It’s like a secret protocol where its main focus will from now on be kids. I left the “kill all intruders” protocol especially to make sure nothing harms kids. Sure, it will probably be traumatizing for a kid, but I can count on they’d rather be alive than be killed by an intruder. I even managed to make it where he activates and overtakes Sun in bright light when a threat is near. It overrides everything else in both their systems. The only thing that would prevent the threat from being eliminated first is if the child is already injured.”

Vanessa doesn’t know how to respond. On one hand, it’s only maybe better, but on the other, she sure as hell wouldn’t want a drastic personality change like Moon has apparently been put through. She’s already fighting with herself if she’ll tell them such drastic information.

“The company could go after you for messing with their animatronics.” A bluff. She’s pretty sure as long as they function at least partially they couldn’t have been more cared about. Otherwise, Freddy would have probably been decommissioned for glitching out that night.

The guy laughs the obnoxious laugh yet again. “They ain’t gonna do shit. We both know it. Many know the slippery ways of the company but just don’t care either. They said they weren’t liable if I got injured or killed. I said I’d do it, on condition I ain’t liable if they don’t like what I did. They better thank their sorry asses the Attendant is one hell of a confusing robot, or I would have given them a better, blinking face like the others. The unblinking view of Sun isn’t exactly the most attractive either. The only reason I didn’t was from already reaching a twelve-hour mark of tampering with it. Another reason I know no one willingly will change things in it.”

Imagining Sun and Moon being able to blink creeped her out more than it should. “They are probably still going to be pissed about your tampering.” Another lie. Good thing there’s no lie detector around.

“Hah! They should be thanking me! Pfft, a security robot. They should have been coded better to not be hacked with the virus so easily in the first place. And really? Using the same body for technically three things? That’s just screaming for disaster. At least they were smart enough to have the Sun one in a permanent safe mode. And I have to admit, that virus put in was one hell of a nut to crack and remove. I’ve never dealt with something like that in my fifteen years of coding. Whoever did it sure has experience. I’d almost be willing to try to find them and ask for tips!”

Vanessa freezes up at that. “They’ve… probably been caught and put into jail or prison by now.”

He shrugs and takes another drink, letting out a belch that grossed out her, the woman still listening next to her, and even the brunet man sitting next to him that’s never said a word.

She tries to think if there’s anything else she needs to ask before leaving. The animatronics are already seeming better company to be around than people again.

“By the way, do you know what the dent in the Attendant is from? It’s pretty small but deep. It can’t be from any sort of gun or stab of a knife, it would have been different.”

Vanessa shrugs. “How would I know? It’s probably from some sort of intruder. I haven’t seen it, but maybe like a baseball bat or something?”

He scratches his head. “Eh, I think it would have been bigger if it was. Maybe somehow the side of a knife or possibly a flashlight?”

Oh, fuck she’s feeling uncomfortable how close he’s coming to things. Whatever else needs to be asked can be figured out some other way. She’s done. She stands up and heads towards the exit.

He raises a hand to the side of his mouth. “Where ya going so soon!?”

She doesn’t even answer and walks out the door, her drink left forgotten.

---------------------------------------------

Vanessa returns to the pizza plex yet again and goes to the daycare to see Gregory shaking his wrist with a- is that one of the Attendant’s bells wrapped around his wrist? Huh.

It seems they still have it handled. She has even more things to think about. Telling them feels important, but it might break their system.

---------------------------------------------

It took Sun and Moon an uncomfortably long time to them to calm Gregory down again. He fainted right before Moon’s forced shift, which they still can’t figure out why or how happened. After deeply checking all of their protocols, they don’t even have anything that would cause it!

It was also pretty bad when the daycare finally reopened the other day after their face was fixed. Luckily for now there aren’t that many kids yet, so Gregory wasn’t entirely panicked. He’s still a little too unstable to probably be around other kids though. Rumors of the last kid must have been spread around, dampening both of the Attendant’s moods a bit.

Gregory is honestly a bit relieved they finally got the dent in their face fixed. It was still a reminder he had to hit and kick Moon many times that night. Also, they’ve been cleaned, showing a brighter yellow on Sun. He doesn’t want to know what those dark spots might have been either.

That and he’s been rather attracted to their bells. Maybe because they make it easy to tell where they are? Whenever Moon’s out, he’s noisier with them than the night he attacked him. He has looked at them a few times and then forced his glance away before being caught. He wasn’t so lucky this time.

Sun caught his glance, a rather excited idea forming in their mind.

“Ooh! do you think now might be a time for the friendship bracelet!?

“I guess you can try asking. Try not to be too hopeful though.”

“Would you be interested in having one of our bells as a friendship bracelet?”

Gregory flinches at being caught. His face heats up. “Wait, I- but they’re yours! Wouldn’t it be weird if you were missing one? People could get mad at me!”

Sun shakes his head. “Don’t worry! We have a whole closet full of them. You’d be surprised how many kids often used to steal them or threw a tantrum until they could leave with one!”

Gregory crosses his arms. “I don’t know… It still seems a bit weird if I take one.”

“Moon and I insist! It will be like a little gift from us!”

He looks away. “I guess… Only if you guys want to though. I’ve never made one before.”

“Sun, I swear if you start screaming in our headspace, I’ll find a way to hide the glitter glue.”

“But it’s soo hard not to! He’s letting us make a bracelet for him! With one of our bells!”

Their body slightly starts to overheat with his repressed excitement. Not nearly to the point of being dangerous, but still higher nonetheless.

“Yeah, yeah. Just ask what colors already before you make us explode.”

“What colors ya want?”

Gregory thinks for a moment. “Well, if it’s from you guys… I guess maybe your colors?”

If Sun got much more excited he’d probably temporarily shut him and Moon down.

“That will do great! They will be a GREAT combination! What kind of pattern should I do? Double wave? Ooh, confetti? Or- oh! or maybe the basic fishtail!?”

“A fishtail might be the best. We don’t have much experience with adding items to the others, and the colors of us are probably too limited for confetti.”

Gregory’s brows crease in confusion. “A fishtail? Why in the world would you wear something that looks like a fish?” He snarks.

“Fishtail it is./fishtail it is!” They think simultaneously.

“We’ll do fishtail then! It’s not what it sounds like, you’ll see!” Sun takes off and gets the required supplies, cutting the string a bit longer than needed to be sure.

He comes back with the four pieces of string required. Two blue, two yellow. He ties the knot and clips it under the safe, small metal clasp screwed into the table. "Do you want me to show you?"

Gregory feels rather uncomfortable trying to do it himself. "Uh… you do it."

Sun nods and nimbly starts looping the strings together.

Gregory is honestly a bit mesmerized at how he can move his rather giant fingers so fast, slide them to the ends of the strings, and continue again. "How are you doing it so fast?"

Sun has to try to not freak out in excitement again, this time at how willingly close Gregory is leaning to watch intently, his head slightly tilted to the side in curiosity.

"Back when there were quite a few children, it was a quickly learned skill for Moon and me to keep up with the kids. Obviously, we couldn't leave a little one disappointed now! I'd never be able to live it down! One day when we were just starting with the basics programmed, it got dangerously close to not having enough time for every kid who wanted one. I trained tirelessly to get them done quickly!" He stops and places down the strings.

He unties the ribbon on the right wrist and pulls off one of the bells.

He picks up the strings again, and loops them around the back part of the bell, continuing on for a bit.

"Could ya hold out your wrist for a second?"

"W-what for?"

"To measure, silly! Don't want it too big and fall off of you now!"

Gregory rolls his eyes and sticks out his right wrist.

Sun unclips the knot and loops it around Gregory’s wrist, already almost the perfect size. He puts the knot back in the metal clasp and quickly finished to where he calculated it would fit perfectly.

Sun then cuts off the excess and ties it together, then places it on the table for Gregory to try on.

Gregory picks it up and slips it on. The shade of blue and yellow mixed in the pattern surprisingly complements the golden color of the bell incredibly well. It also fits really well.

“There! A little gift from us, to you!”

Gregory gives it a test by shaking his wrist in a twisting motion.

A small smile forms on his face at the jingle that rings out.

Sun jingles his left wrist in harmony with him.

Chapter Text

Gregory was asked if he’d be willing to be around Chica and Monty if Freddy and Sun were with him. A part of him didn’t want to, but another part did. Mostly for the promised cookies. It’s been a really long time since he’s had something like chocolate chip cookies. He still remembers the really fresh smell in the air when they’re just taken out of the oven.

He eventually caved and agreed to do it tonight.

He headed there with Freddy on his left and Sun on his right. Since it's still after hours, the places to get to the kitchen are pretty dark.

“It’s uh… heh, p-pretty dark in these hallways…” Sun sneaks a glance at Gregory. These areas are new, and one of the places Vanessa didn't show them because it isn't a very big place where Music Man could be. If it was just the tiniest bit darker, Moon would be forced out. The lights are on, but incredibly dim.

“It’s not fair I’m so sensitive to the lights. If you were active here, you would be fine!”

Gregory rolls his eyes at that. As long as Sun never screams in pain from the shift ever again, and Moon stays fairly distant if the change does happen, there isn’t too much of a problem. Despite all the time passed, it still weirds him out at times how he’s so different without the virus. Moon would have been so comforting if he met him before.

“I don’t know why either. Maybe as a safety measure in case some intruder tried to shine a flashlight on me?”

“But Gregory did, and it stunned you for a bit!”

“That was from temporarily having control again. I think it had something to do with the virus being light sensitive for us from you.”

Being around here reminds Gregory of the pizza-making bot that most likely got destroyed right after making that one to distract Chica. Her face lunged close-up on the camera for the last second absolutely terrified him. Good thing pizza isn’t going to be made. At least, he hopes. He doesn’t think pizza can ever be seen the same way again. Thinking about the compactor as well makes him feel bad again for what he did. He hopes Chica doesn’t bring it up.

They get to the kitchen. The lights are lit up brightly, and not a single work bot around. Chica and Monty are already waiting. Monty has his arms crossed and upper back resting on a wall too close for comfort by the trash compactor. It doesn’t escape Gregory her turned head, more focused on the compactor than Monty. Shoot. They’re deep in conversation though.

“Roxy’s still being a pain. I’m surprised she’s at least fine with you with how she is.”

Freddy notices Chica’s glances as well. He looks down at Gregory. “Gregory, is this…”

Gregory sighs sadly. “I… Y-yeah, it is.”

Sun and Moon know as well from Gregory reluctantly informing them exactly how it happened just the other day, and flinched like they’d be mad at him too. “Seems a bit cruel having to be where you were pretty much destroyed.”

Sun agrees. “Should we all go to a different kitchen?...” he asks.

Gregory rolls the friendship bracelet between his thumb and pointer finger, anxiety trying to rise again. He doesn’t want to think about the past in here.

“Sadly, we cannot. This is one of the only places with a proper oven that can bake cookies. They’re a specialty that only comes at certain times of the year, usually. It greatly increases the number of kids around then, and sales.”

Gregory’s brows crease in confusion at how in the world that would make more kids want to come. Whatever. Not his problem.

Chica is now just realizing that maybe another kitchen would have been a better idea. Wait, is there even another kitchen? She doesn’t remember there being another anywhere except El Chips. She manages to tear her gaze from the compactor, noticing the three that just came in.

“O-oh! Hello guys! You’re here!” She waves as they come up.

Monty stops leaning on the wall. “About time. Was getting worried you guys weren’t gonna show.”

“Monty! Don’t be rude!” Chica scolds.

He replies by rolling his eyes. Not like anyone will see though because of his glasses. He can’t understand how making cookies out of all things will help the kid feel more comfortable around them.

She grabs his wrist, dragging him to one of the tables. The supplies and most materials are already set out. “You’re going to help me!”

Monty is definitely not made for smaller areas. His tail keeps smacking into the sides of everything. It’s almost comical his tail hits one thing, he turns to look, and it hits another.

Gregory flinched at Monty's first few rather loud clangs, but soon found it funny. He’s still too terrified of him to allow himself to laugh though. He suppresses the smile trying to come to his face.

Monty eventually figures out a way to bend his tail to stop smacking the other objects behind. He thinks of punting the other objects out of the way to force more room. He never wants to be in a small area again if it can be helped.

The trio get a bit closer, Gregory pressing his shoulder into the side of Freddy as much as he can. Sun moves a bit closer to him as well, pretty much making Gregory sandwiched between the two animatronics. It brings an odd sense of comfort that surprises him.

Chica turns to look at him after placing a bowl in front of Monty.

“Any shape of cookie you’d want it to be? I’m sure we still have the pizza-shaped, cup-shaped, and a few others around here somewhere.” Chica informs, going to the far end of the kitchen, leaning down, and digging through a bottom cupboard.

Pizza-shaped cookies? Oh, like the chocolate chips would be like pepperonis on a pizza slice! “I guess the pizza one might be cool.” Wait, she’s not going to go too crazy over that, right? It’s not exactly pizza.

Chica realized the fearful expression on his face. The pizza cookies might make him think of how she was with the virus. “Ah… don’t worry about these when they’re made,” She shrugs. “I can’t eat them anyways! I’m banned from eating chocolate!”

That makes Gregory curious. She can eat disgusting garbage, but can’t eat chocolate? “Why’s that?”

She manages to find the proper cookie-cutting shapes in the bag and pulls them out, placing them by Monty. “One time when I did, it melted inside and stuck to everything. They had to shut me down to cool enough and spend a really long time scraping it out!”

“Not to mention it leaked out of your joints, making you look fu- freaking terrifying,” Monty informs, ticked off yet again he can think swears, but can’t say them.

Freddy mentally shivers, knowing what Monty was trying to say. It also reminds him of all the kids, teens, and even adults who were rather expletive about it. Saying things like “looks like the bird got shit on herself” and such. Wasn’t a good day for anyone.

“That shade of brown isn’t a good color with the majority pink and white anyways.”

Sun feels insulted for Chica. “She’s lucky she can’t hear you. She could be sensitive about it!”

“Doubt it.”

Chica hands Monty the handheld mixer as well as the bowl and helped properly measure everything into it.

He’s confused that it has different speed settings. His hand is absolutely massive compared to it, and has to wrap his hand around the whole thing instead of just the handle area. The best would be the highest! He pushes it to the highest setting.

Chica lays out the pan. “Alright, just have to mix and I’ll cut them the way they need to be!”

Monty turned it on. “Chica? How long do I-”

“Be careful! If the mixer’s speed is too high-”

Monty accidentally raises the mixer up a bit to the top of the ingredients. Some of it, such as the eggs, jump up and splatters onto his face.

Everyone stops for a moment, except for Moon. He noticed Monty changed the setting earlier and couldn’t help but let out a slight snicker in their head.

“Montyyyy.” Chica whines.

“Haha, uh… oops?” The chunk of what hit him falls off of his face onto the counter.

Chica groans, and pulls out two more eggs to crack, now that the others could be contaminated from the place not being the cleanest. She may eat garbage from time to time, but at least she knows humans have a lot more danger with health from contamination.

Monty is confused she didn’t put the other eggs back in. He picks it up with his hands and tries to put it back in the bowl.

Chica grabs the eggs from his hands and smacks the top of his snout, right in front of his eyes with them.

Sun doesn’t know what to think. She wasn’t violent about it, just more of a teasing. Is there not a rule to not hit others with food here like in the daycare? But it’s unprepared yet! Should- no, could he even do something?

Moon snickers again, this time at Monty’s processing face.

“You can’t just reuse contaminated stuff, Monty! Now go clean off!” Chica scolds.

“Don’t worry about it, Sun. it’s fine.”

Monty slightly growls at Chica after a moment. It truly has no malice, just more of embarrassment. “That really wasn’t necessary.”

“Hush, now we have to wash ourselves.”

He grumbles and they go to the sink.

She quickly finishes and goes back to the bowl. It's a good thing their hands and wrists are waterproof. She lowers the speed and finishes mixing it, then putting them on the pan, cutting the shapes, and putting excess back in the bowl.

“So, uh… Do you have any good memories before here you’d like to talk about, Gregory?”

Gregory’s expression ever-so-slightly darkens.

Sun and Moon both know what that expression means. Sun starts waving his hands frantically. “Bad topic, BAD topic!”

Gregory, feeling numb for a second, didn’t care about Sun’s outburst. There’s nothing good to remember before. “I don’t… Remember any good things.”

Monty freezes with the rag he found and was rubbing the eggs off his face. “That’s just not right,” he states.

Freddy’s horrified look made Sun feel bad for him and Gregory. They're the closest two, so Gregory never telling Freddy until now must have hurt him a bit.

“W-well! You’ll be here a while with us. We’ll make sure our hardest to get some good ones!” Sun tries to make it less awkward again.

Gregory shrugs. Definitely hardly even close to good yet. He doesn’t have the highest hopes.

Chica finishes with everyone remaining silent for the duration of time, placing them in the oven. This really isn’t how she wanted it to go, but it should have been expected she supposes.

Now that Gregory was thinking about it with their silence, why are all of them trying so hard? Everyone before told him to suck it up whenever something he didn’t like happened. He just eventually learned how to suppress his emotions and never said anything.

He looks at the friendship bracelet and fiddles with it again. The light jingle makes a deafening sound in the silence. A gift given with nothing wanted in return? He tries to think what they’d get out of it, but nothing comes to mind. “A gift from us, to you.” They act so differently than any adult he’s ever been around. He’s learned to be observant of others’ actions and behaviors to stay out of trouble for the most part. That’s why he can’t figure out their desperation to apologize. He’s just a stupid kid who destroyed them. If anything, He should be the one apologizing more. If only he had the guts to.

“Why are you guys so weird about it? You all are super weird. No one before tried so hard with this stuff. They just yelled at me.”

Monty wonders how much trouble he’d get into for punching an adult. Hitting them with his tail would be good too if punching isn’t an option. No? Throwing a golf club as an “accident” will do enough too. He’s got pretty good aim. “Well, if one ever shows up, let me punch them for ya.” he offers.

Gregory refuses to say how much he finds it funny to imagine Monty punching the last woman that “took care” of him in the face. Then they’d be able to at least sorta feel the pain he had to deal with by Monty and the others. She’d probably have just told him to suck it up again. At least until she gets the pain. What a… what was the word? Hypicrote? Hypo something? Eh, he doesn’t care what it is, just that she is.

He notices Monty keeps his arms crossed most of the time, intentionally hiding his hands. Another thing to why they’re so weird. It could just be something to make himself feel safe. Gregory knows he does.

The special timer made for cookies goes off, having Chica walk towards it, and take them out, placing them out.

Just the smell that radiated in the room made his stomach tighten in hunger. He knows he shouldn’t skip eating, but anything any shade of red rips away the hunger for quite a while. Such as what used to be his favorite, pepperoni, and even the salsa or peppers from el chip. Not even ketchup can be tolerated. Or even just pizza too, which is a really big and obviously popular thing in the pizza plex. Even smelling it sometimes is too much.

Chica grabs a wrapper baggy and places it next to the cookies, knowing the interaction tonight though not much is still enough for now with Gregory. The last thing she wants is for him to get too overwhelmed being around her and Monty for too long. They’re flatter than she would have liked, but chilling them was out of the question with no normal fridge nearby.

“Once they’re cool enough, why don’t we wrap them up for you to eat elsewhere? It’s…” She glances towards the compactor again before turning back to face them. Pretty cramped in here.”

Gregory and Monty couldn’t agree with her more.

They manage to leave the room about ten minutes after some cooling. He finally gets to eat one when cooled enough and feels like he could melt to the floor if he’s completely honest. Though he wants nothing more than to shove them all in his face, his fear of being yelled at for eating like that makes him greatly slow down.

None of the animatronics picked up on his hesitance.

Monty keeps scanning the area in case Roxy will be around. He’d rather not be damaged and get yelled at yet again for it, but he’d still go after her again in a heartbeat if she gets too close. He thinks back to how Roxy seemed fine with Chica. Maybe he can make her distract Roxy of it comes down to it. The only reason he can think is they’re so close is they’re the only two feminine animatronics and probably bonded over that.

Chica keeps trying to nudge Monty away, worried Gregory will be more stressed out if they stay nearby.

Freddy’s relieved his friends are back to normal, yet sad they have to try so hard to regain trust with Gregory. It makes him happy though that at least they’re trying.

Sun and Moon are rather quiet at the moment, still not fully sure what to do, say, or think around the glamrocks. They don’t have the friendships, knowledge, or anything really with any of them. That’s why Freddy’s been pretty much the only staple with them because of Gregory. Everything else ever really told to them was by some kids or people to pick up the kids talking about the glamrocks. Even they can tell the two are at least trying, but it will take a while. Took them a while and they’re still rather unsure where they are with Gregory.

Monty spots something through one of the new closed shops, and after stopping for a tiny second in thought, heads to the gate, grabbing the bars to rip the whole thing off.

“Monty! What are you doing!?” Freddy concernedly shouts.

“I want to see something.” If what he sees is right, he knows what he’s going to do.

“Just use our passes then! We’re able to unlock them!”

He lowers his glasses and gives her a “really?” look. They removed his pass and unlocking privileges after he started being destructive, afraid he’d damage everything in the shops after hours. Even though that wouldn’t really stop anything if he really wanted in. “I don’t have one anymore, remember?”

Chica walks up to him. “You could have asked me then!” She scolds, also wanting to facepalm for forgetting. She goes up to the door and connects to the security, having the gate be able to open.

“Whatever.” Monty goes inside and looks closely at the sweater that has a similar design to Freddy. There are the other ones, probably each of one of the glamrocks. The familiar green design is tempting.

He guesses the kid’s size and grabs one, leaving the store with it. Alarms never go off from security being too focused on everything else.

Freddy notices the familiar design as well but is disapproving of him taking it from the store, even if they don’t have money. “We… shouldn’t take such things from the shops.” Though deep down Freddy loved imagining the sweater on Gregory.

Gregory, with half a cookie still in his mouth, gives him the hardest "are you serious?" Look he could muster. Remembering all the stuff he stole before, like the fazer blaster.

“Ah, quit being such a chicken.”

The familiar voice of Chica yells “Hey!” Next to Monty, glaring at him. He ignores her, focus still fully on Freddy.

“The owners of this place can kiss our a- backsides,” oh how he wishes he could swear out loud after hours. Stupid system changing it when he tries to say them out loud. “And I think the kid’s had much more than the fair share of bad things. He likes ya the most. It only makes sense for him to match his favorite.'' Monty informs, jealousy yet again rising for the bear. Maybe some other time the kid can wear the Monty-styled sweater. Just not right now. The kid would look good in his shade of green.

He tosses it towards Freddy, him clumsily and just barely catching it to prevent dropping to the floor.

“What a rulebreaker! Stealing things!”

“It’s not technically stealing. It’s still staying in the pizza plex.”

Sun wanted to argue, but seeing the enthralled look on Gregory’s face while staring at the sweater makes him stop.

“Fine, But I still don’t have to be happy about it.”

Gregory turns to have Freddy put on the sweater.

It’s most likely a size or even two too big, but that makes it more comforting to him. He lifts up the hood onto his head. It just covers his eyes.

Monty's unsure, thinking of grabbing a better, smaller size. "Looks a little big. I'll grab a smaller-"

Gregory frantically shakes his head and hands in a "no" motion. "No-no! It's great! I like it like this!"

What Gregory can’t see, but the others can is the little bear ears on the top. Due to not being zipped up, the lightning bolt on the chest is half on both sides. The orange goes straight to the bottom, and the yellow starts slightly before where the lightning bolt would touch the end of it. The yellow also goes all the way down the sweater to the bottom. Freddy’s blue and red mask logo is on the back of it.

Monty shrugs. Fine with him. "Alright."

Gregory pulls back the hood a bit to look up at Freddy.

Unknown to Freddy, his ears wiggle with the level of happiness that overpowers him.

“!!! His ears can do that!?”

“I’m more curious if he knows he does it.”

Chica’s circuits nearly explode at how cute Freddy and Gregory are. Freddy’s ears almost never wiggle.

Monty’s honestly a little weirded out. In all the time around each other, he’s never seen them do that. Heh, this kid really is special, huh?

Gregory drops the hood of the sweater back down, having Freddy be able to reach and ruffle his hair.

“You’re just becoming more and more of my favorite little superstar.”

Chica, Sun, and Freddy lightly chuckle at how embarrassed he becomes, crunching his neck into himself and looking away, also pulling up the hood again. He tries to act like he doesn’t like it, but it’s clear to even Monty he does like the nickname.

Chapter Text

Warnings: dissociation, framing? Should that need to be a warning? Due to no one helping me before out of dissociations, I winged how someone might help or how quickly they might come out of it with help. If it’s wrong, sorry.

*cocks gun* “I hope you bulletproof for this about to hurt”

I’m not joking.

Vanessa is beyond worried about why Management would be coming into the pizza plex, and informing her, as well as the animatronics. For some sort of meeting with all of them, her, and Gregory? Not good. She’d love nothing more than to hurt them, but with them being so open, they’re definitely up to something. And again, it’s most likely much for the worse. There’s no way they’re just going to come in to apologize for making Gregory go through worse stuff than he already did. No, that’s just way too hopeful.

They wanted to meet in the darker area of the atrium. They ordered someone to turn off some of the lights before. Moon is walking with her and Gregory to the atrium. As usual, Moon keeps a bit of a distance from Gregory, but there has been more progress made. He’s able to be a bit closer to his side.

She hopes they don’t know the attendant has full free roam after hours. With them turning off some of the lights, it’s possible they still don’t know. Even if they did find out somehow, she’s doubting they’d even do anything anymore to make them stay in the daycare again.

When she saw the hoodie on Gregory, she almost melted herself, she won’t lie. The hoodie looks beyond adorable on him, and she made sure to find which store and pay the fee. The last thing needed is that to be another thing Management would be able to mess around with. She refuses to think how often she has to bring clothes he’s worn to her house to wash, and stop by a few stores to get more. She doesn’t know how he might react when that sweater will need to be washed. Something to worry about later.

She notices the friendship bracelet still on Gregory’s wrist poke out of the sweater. That little thing itself causes her anxiety to skyrocket. The last time they knew the kid was close with one of the animatronics, it really didn’t go well. ”Gregory?”

He looks at her, fiddling with it right then. “Yeah?”

“Do yourself a favor, and hide that friendship bracelet.” She doesn’t want him to have to, but it’s better safe than sorry.

The look he gave her was of slight worry and hesitance. “Why?”

Even Moon seems to be curious and mentally asks the same question, though he and Sun have a pretty good idea as to why.

“I’ll be honest, Management is really not good. They’ve made me have to do things I really wish I didn’t have to. I don’t want them getting any ideas of making you unable to see Sun and Moon again like they nearly did with Freddy.” She doesn’t want to inform him she’s partially at fault for him being in the daycare when the lights went out before, even if it was a new worker, not her.

She still made him go there. And also was the one that slipped the bond between him and the bear to Management. Then again, she never thought they’d do such things before that day. She has no idea how they’ve spun such a 180 in personality. Or have they secretly always been this manipulative? Sadistic? Something like that.

Gregory strongly doesn’t like what that might mean. They’re the only other safe animatronic when Freddy can’t be around. He takes it off after one last glance and puts it in his sweater pocket.

They get to where the others are. Management is sitting idly at the end of one of the tables with all the animatronics standing nearby it. They’re all rather indifferent to the person sitting.

Moon stiffens in a way only Gregory seems to notice. He knows that hesitance. He doesn’t understand exactly how or why they could be that bad. Moon’s security, he shouldn’t have to be scared of anything, right? He looks and raises a questioning brow before looking at Management himself.

Just the mere glance at Management from such a distance already has Gregory uncomfortable and understanding. Something about them isn’t right. Bad feeling. Avoid them. Get away from them. Bad person. Very, very bad.

“How are they so casual around them!?”

“The animatronics have probably never been told what they’ve done. Or what they’ve done to us specifically.”

Neither wants to go even near the cursed adult. Though they now know with how Management has treated them, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched for them to act that way to children. How they’re still able to be around kids is baffling to the duo now that they think about it.

Vanessa sits at the other side of the table, patting the seat next to her to have Gregory sit. It’s only to make sure he won’t push something too far that becomes permanent. Freddy comes up and stands close behind his chair, making Management have a ghost of a frown only Gregory, Vanessa, and Moon picked up on. It quickly becomes a saccharine smile. The three know it’s beyond fake.

“Ah, welcome you all! My meeting here will be short, but how’s everyone doing?”

…Are they serious? What do they THINK? Gregory’s already getting angry at them and disliking them more.

Moon crosses his arms. “Why would we not be?” He’d rather not answer at all and just shove them out of the doors of the pizza plex. Anything to get them out of here as soon as possible he’s on board with. Same with Sun. They do not like how close Management is to Gregory. Nor how they’re looking at him like a kid excitedly ready to destroy something they think is no big deal. He and Sun have had much more than an excessive amount of kids that were like that in the daycare in the past. By now it would be surprising if the facial features of such ideas weren’t permanently burning in their memories.

Management stares at Moon's eyes for an uncomfortably long moment before looking around at the others. “Oh, I don’t know. I just thought with everything Vanessa forced you all to do lately would be more problematic,” they look over at Roxy and Monty. “After all, because of one of the meetings, you two had to be fixed yet again.”

Monty knows what they’re trying to do. Many teens and even some human staff have done it to him before. They’re trying to rile him and Roxy up to start something. Unfortunately for them, he’s already learned a few things from how often it happened before. Fine, he’ll feed into their little game a bit though. Get them a bit of false security they have a hold. He lets out a “warning” hiss. The smile that became a smirk pissed him off more than the provoking itself.

Gregory realized this person must think Vanessa willingly made the animatronics do what they did. It’s not her fault! The animatronics forgive her. He forgives her! What right does this stupid person have to come in and not know everything before blaming her!? He stands up and slams his hands down on the table in anger. "What she did wasn't her fault! She was controlled too!"

Vanessa, still sitting next to him, puts a hand on his shoulder. She gently pushes him to sit back down. Fortunately, he listens. Albeit almost grudgingly. She’s secretly touched he’s willing to stand up for her, but that’s exactly what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to get a reaction. Make him do something he can’t take back. Also, there’s no way they’d know she was controlled as well. She came up with the lie that she noticed how Chica was glitching out like crazy and found the virus. They seemed to believe her.

They’re… shit. They’re trying to make him and the animatronics turn against her by the things they’ve made her do, aren’t they? But why? She doesn’t understand. Do they think she hasn’t told them they’re the reason she’s had to do those things? What will they get out of planting that doubt?

Management raises a questioning brow at him. "Or… is that what she wants you to think?"

Gregory violently shakes his head. No! He will NOT believe this person over Vanessa! She’s the one who helped him be able to stay with Freddy, She’s the one who helped give Sun and Moon freedom, She’s the one worried about him, talking to Sun about how she can make things more right with him! He knows he wasn’t supposed to hear that, but he did! And it makes him believe all the more that she’s not the one lying. She’s had so many times to kill him but never has even tried! He doesn’t even feel danger around her anymore!

“No! I believe her, not you! I don’t even know you!”

Management frowns as if they were expecting such an answer, but still disappointed nonetheless. They look at Moon, who’s a bit farther away because the turned-off lights stop there. Any farther would force Sun to come out with the brighter lights being focused on them. “What do you think, security?”

It angers Gregory more they can’t even use Moon’s name. It’s not a hard name to remember at all, leading him to think they just don’t care.

Moon wishes to physically show their displeasure at what Management is trying to do. He’s not stupid, they have something planned though. He and Sun would believe Gregory much before Management could even dream of thinking they’d willingly listen to them. He crosses his arms.

“You have not been here. I believe the kid over you any day.” Moon says, trying to prevent himself from anger taking over, knowing what would happen if he tried to attack Management. One of the only things stopping him from attacking. The other is worry it might trigger Gregory from being attacked before. He strongly doesn’t want the chance to end up back at square one with him.

Roxy can’t believe they’d believe a stupid, destructive kid over an adult that helps keep the place working. Whatever. It must be Vanessa’s doing. Security just backing up security. Pathetic. “Tch, suit yourself,” she growls, glaring at Gregory like he’s a piece of meat to a hungry lion.

He flinches, trying to stay a bit closer to Freddy. Freddy covers an arm in front of him, giving Roxy a disappointed look that gives the slightest twinge of something familiar and rather painful spark through her circuits.

Monty turns towards her and lets out a louder growl than just the earlier hiss. She better not test him, he will strike her right now again.

A sadistic smirk comes to Management's face. “Oh? Well, I have something that might change your mind on your… choice of loyalty, oh dear security.” They pull something familiar only to Sun and Moon out of their pocket, aiming it at Moon.

The way Moon completely freezes when it gets aimed at them makes Gregory know it must not be good. It’s a lot like when he was threatened to be slapped before for talking back and froze. But what could a remote-looking thing even do?

Management presses down on something on it.

“THE BUTTON!!!”

“SHI-”

Moon didn’t even have time to react before a powerful surge of painful electricity shot through him. His limbs unwillingly, violently jolting around, moving everywhere for a few seconds. It makes their system entirely shut down temporarily. Their body lifelessly crumples onto the floor. Faceplate smacking onto it, and their knees left bent upwards in a way for any other animatronic would break them. Their feet are somehow still fully planted in the same spot they were just standing.

Gregory stands up and looks to the floor, beyond terrified for Moon and Sun. The others are terrified with WHATEVER that thing must be for Moon to react like that.

“What did you do!?” Gregory cries out. They didn’t just kill them, did they!?

Vanessa is horrified too. How did she never know about such an object!? She doesn’t know what to do. They’re already dangling her job by a waning thread. And what if she smacks it out of their hand? They could quite possibly have more, then it would be for less than it’s worth to do!

Management rolls their eyes and waves the remote-like object around like what they just did was no big deal.

All the other animatronics instinctively take a step back from the table. Even Freddy, though he wished not to. He also did not like how they seem to be acting around the only other two of their own living, breathing kind.

"I had the thing shut down for now upon this encounter, and as a reminder to who’s the boss. Couldn't have any… problems, we could say, involving it. As for why? Do you really think I’m dumb enough to not have a defense if the monstrous creations here decided to defy me?” They look at the other animatronics as if daring them to try anything.

Monty definitely wanted to try. The fucker most likely just traumatized Gregory even more! He wishes they never came here, and now knows why Moon always avoided Management as much as he could before, even somehow when they had the virus. Like even the virus knew this person had something threatening to his system. If he crushed the remote and gave it to Chica to eat, there’s no way they’d be getting it back. It’s highly tempting.

Chica’s frozen stiff. That’s worse than how the virus made her glitch out! How could they do such a cruel thing!?

Remember Vanessa, very thin ice. You have to comply. They could easily kick you permanently… Her stomach twists into tight knots. Ugh. She thinks she’s going to be sick.

It’s tense for a moment. Management puts a finger under their chin in thought at how Roxy still seems more spitefully focused on Gregory than what just happened.

Vanessa missed their thinking expression, still too focused on thinking about what the chance is they have more than one remote on them, or if there’d be a way to remove whatever it is in Moon to not let it happen again. She strongly wishes to never see him react like that ever again. Wishes to never see any animatronic have to react to that again.

“I’m sorry, but I as well believe Gregory that Vanessa can be trusted,” Freddy informs, taking a dumb chance whether or not he’ll be shocked is his guess at whatever happened to Moon. He doesn’t understand how either, but doesn’t really want to find out if it works only for the Attendant, for all of them, or if they have one for each animatronic.

They tilt their head. "Oh really? You oddly seem to care about and side with the one who's the main cause of Bonnie's forced decommission."

The silence is deafening. Not even a diamond jackhammer could perforate the tense feeling circling everyone.

Gregory still remembers how saddened Freddy was, telling him that night how there’s no longer a Bonnie at this place.

Vanessa can’t believe it. How did… wait, this means that they know she’s the cause of the virus. Then why the HELL did they never do anything to stop her as Vanny!? Do they know of all the kids killed too!? They could have saved so many adult staff from before as well!

Her throat closes up, remembering yet again all the poor kids who lost their lives for absolutely no reason. Now she really wants to hit yell, punch, anything she can to Management! Yet, she can’t even open her mouth, still in shock. An awful revelation. She can’t even tell the police if she wanted to because there’s no proof of anything left from the kids! They’d think she’s insane! Because this is insane!

Monty’s guess WAS right. He hates it was right in Bonnie having the virus. He looks at Freddy concerned. He may be the one around the shortest, but even he could tell the extremely close bond the two had. How can knowing that make him feel even worse?

Freddy slowly turns towards Vanessa, her getting a beyond sinking feeling in her chest. She can’t believe they’d be low enough to take such a blow to Freddy! It’s a very deep wound that just got ripped open for him, and her as well. She never wanted him decommissioned either! A part of her is secretly glad though. One less animatronic that was after Gregory.

But it still should have never happened in the first place! There should have never been a virus! Ugh, she wishes her past self never took part and became controlled. Then none of this would have ever happened! Is there some way to go back in time and change everything? Probably is with the utter strange shitshow of everything that’s ever happened at any Freddy’s location.

… the glare he gives her does NOT seem fitting for the bear in any way, shape, or form. Even knowing he couldn’t hurt her due to the added programming doesn’t feel any better. Nor should it. If an animatronic really wanted to, they could probably break such a protocol. Obviously, with how sentient they are, it would probably be even easier. She knows she kinda deserves something painful to be done to her. After everything, karma will probably come physically one way or another.

Gregory has never seen Freddy so angry. It scares and hurts him Freddy didn't act like that when he got hurt so many times that night. Does he… not matter as much? He knows he’s never got to meet Bonnie, but… He honestly doesn’t know. Freddy most likely knew them longer, so why does it still leave his chest burning and so tight so bad?

He can’t believe he’s thinking it, but he really wishes Sun was around right now. He nearly messes with the friendship bracelet again before stopping himself. He kept a hand wrapped around the bell to muffle the jingle.

With everything going on, no one noticed the muffled jingle as Gregory slightly shifted in his seat, looking over at the fallen Attendant again.

Freddy wanted to hurt Vanessa despite knowing she wasn't in control. It was the reason Bonnie is gone, not her. That much he believes to be true, he completely trusts Gregory’s intuition about Vanessa telling the truth. But he's beyond hurt. It could have been prevented. He could have still been around like the others if he was never just a tested toy! A dearest best friend, a very sore spot. He understands she never wanted to do it. Understands things can’t be changed from what happened. He can’t blame her. He can’t blame Monty for defending himself. He just wants to…

He’s frustrated. He sees the way Monty reacts when Bonnie’s mentioned by others. How he looks at Gregory and still keeps glancing at his hands. The video of him being thrown in the trash in the golf course. How Monty’s envious of him. He’ll admit he may not be the brightest, but he is at least observant. At least, he likes to believe so.

… Management should have never come. They’ve so far done nothing good, only opening wounds that would have been better off left healed and nearly forgotten. He looks towards Gregory, and something in him sinks. His Superstar is… Why is he looking at him like that?

Gregory really hopes Moon can wake up again sooner than later. He’s unsure and now questioning a lot of things. He wants the daycare’s music right now to drown out the thoughts. He doesn’t want to think. He feels his brain trying to go numb and it scares him. Why is his brain trying to go tingly!? His whole body is! It’s not like before with the animatronics in the West Arcade when he fell asleep.

This feels like… He’s not here. This isn’t him. But he is him? He doesn’t think he’s being controlled? He stares at the Attendant yet again, now hardly blinking. There’s no floor, no tables, lights, nothing. Everything but Moon’s body being blurred. This scares him worse.

Gregory doesn’t even realize his hands slowly leave his pockets, now hanging loosely at his sides. The bell doesn’t jingle.

Vanessa looks over at him and notices something is wrong, but she can’t figure out what. It feels bad though, whatever it is.

Monty notices immediately what it is, after accidentally triggering a few kids in the past by destroying something. Shiiiit, the kid’s dissociating. Hard by the look of it. Management needs to leave, now. Maybe throwing Roxy at them would make them leave. His feeling of desperation is rapidly creeping up, clawing in his system with wanting to help Gregory. He hates this desperation.

“If you don’t leave soon, I might fu- freaking lose it. Roxy’s looking really good to throw at ya right now.”

She glares at him. He couldn’t care less. Would be more payback for willingly trying to kill Gregory earlier.

Management stands up and puts their hands in mock surrender. “Alright, alright. I have to get going anyways.” They saunter away, no one daring to move an inch until their footsteps were no longer around.

Roxy looks towards Gregory again, taking one step forward. Monty launches a hand out, grabbing her by her neck. A dark thought of ripping her head right off her shoulders comes to mind, but he knows better than to do that.

“If you’re daring to go after a dissociating child, you’re more of a loser than he ever was.” He doesn’t feel bad at all at the moment playing into her insecurities. As for calling the kid a loser in his current state? He’ll try to find a way to apologize later if the kid is even able to process anything right now.

It gets the reaction he was looking for, Roxy flinching, reeling back, trying to get out of his grip. “Now get the fu- freak away before I cave in on my urge to rip your head off.” He seethed, letting go.

Roxy storms off.

Freddy feels himself sink more upon processing what Monty meant with Gregory. “D-dissociating?” Freddy’s head whips to look at his Superstar, just now noticing how different he seems to be acting than normal, even when tired. He can’t even have good enough observation, can he? He goes to hug his Superstar to apologize.

Chica grabs his arm gently, able to pull him away from reachable length of Gregory. She saw how he looked at Freddy for a bit. The same way he looked at Roxy the night at the West Arcade. She really doesn’t want to know if he’s mistaking Freddy for Roxy right now, or what exactly is happening to Gregory. All she knows is Sun better come back sooner than later with this mess. He has coding for these type of things. He’s told her before for helping a kid in a panic attack. Though this doesn’t seem like a panic attack. Not even any of the Glamrocks can do the same properly.

Freddy looked at her quizzically.

“Ah, Freddy, uh, it might be best you don’t touch him right now. Why don’t you bring the Attendant back to the daycare for now?”

He would, but Gregory is more important right now. He really should be trying to comfort him instead, shouldn’t he? Moon and Sun can’t right now, so it’s really up to him, isn’t it?

Vanessa bites her lip hard enough for it to slightly bleed, trying to ground herself in what to do. She’s never dealt with a dissociating person, much less a child before, but something tells her it would be bad for Freddy to touch him right now. Can she? What’s the rules of someone dissociating? Will he be able to even stand or walk?

Thanks to Management, things are now a little tight between her and Freddy. He may not listen and stay in the daycare if she brings Gregory there and tries to get him to leave for a while.

Monty could force him out of the daycare if needed be, but would Monty being around Gregory in this state be a very good idea? She doubts Chica could keep Freddy out, and going to any of their rooms so close to Roxy, or near Music Man don’t seem like very safe options either.

Come on, think! There’s got to be some way for this mess to turn out okay.

Everyone stays silent as a few minutes tick by, as if waiting for another to answer the others in some way.

Ugh. Monty’s help is the best bet. She does finally have an idea. She’ll just have to risk it. “No. Freddy, go with Chica. Chica?”

She looks attentively at Vanessa.

“I want you and Freddy to go look at other recipes for sweets if you have them. Something that might help him later. Take plenty of time needed. I’ll carry Gregory to the daycare, and Monty will take care of carrying Moon.”

She nods frantically, grabbing Freddy’s wrist again to try pulling him to the kitchen. She’d rather gladly have to see the compactor again if it means Gregory might recover faster.

Freddy doesn’t move, looking towards his Superstar again. He really should stay… “Couldn’t Monty go help with the recipes? I really feel like I should stay near him.”

“Chica banned me from the kitchen.” Monty lies smoothly on the spot. He’s NOT going back in the kitchen or so help him things will probably be broken the next time. The last thing he wants is to be in a smaller space again right now.

Chica nods vigorously in confirmation, going along with the lie, trying to pull Freddy again. “Yup! Now, come on! Let’s go find and try something new!”

Freddy hesitantly leaves with her.

Vanessa heaves a sigh of relief before standing up and cautiously picking up Gregory in a princess carry. She’s so probably going to get an earful about carrying him again later. His body’s basically a ragdoll, not helping in any way to carry him. Her arms burn from the unusual strain, but she pushes through.

Monty picks up Moon and slings him over his shoulder. Moon being bent, his glowless face staring at her from Monty’s back. Yeah, she thinks the glowless is the creepiest yet.

They eventually get to the daycare, her accidentally plopping Gregory a little too harshly onto the pillows and blankets in the corner.

Monty comes in behind her, Moon shifting into Sun while still on his shoulder, freaking him out. He drops the Attendant to the floor like a sack of potatoes. At least the foam makes it a little less concerning to Vanessa.

She rolls her shoulders to try getting rid of some stiffness and soreness. Gregory’s eyes still seem rather clouded over and he’s unresponsive.
She looks at Monty, then Sun, then back up at Monty. “You have any idea when he might come back?”

Monty shrugs. “No clue. I’ve… Never seen that happen before.” his voice grew a bit of an edge, as if he was scared.

Vanessa sits on the floor, unsure whether to keep an eye on Sun or Gregory. “Go make sure Freddy doesn’t try to sneak in. It’s best if he doesn’t come around Gregory right now.”

Monty doesn’t question it and just nods, going over to the door and standing in front of it.

----------------

Sun’s sight is slammed by the ceiling of the… daycare? How’d they… !!! He sits up frantically.

“Easy Sun, Management’s gone. But we do have a much bigger concern.”

Sun’s head snaps towards the direction of her voice, sitting next to a sitting-up Gregory. Her face creased with worry, looking at him.

“Moon?”

“I’m here. Hate that shock so much. Now’s not the time though. What’s happening with Gregory?”

Sun looks closer at him and notices immediately he’s dissociating. He quickly gets up, walks over, and sits in a vertical kneel in front of Gregory.

“What happened? Why is he like this? What did we miss!?”

Vanessa sighs. “They brought up Bonnie and how I was the cause he was decommissioned. Freddy was angry and glared at me. I think him seeing Freddy angry for the first time somehow set him off.”

That’s a really bad sign, and the duo are secretly worried about how this might affect the bond between Gregory and Freddy. Not the time for that.

Sun knows it might not be the best idea to put his hands on Gregory’s shoulders, but he needs to do everything he can to help ground Gregory, first things first. To get him out of it faster. He desperately hopes he can. His hands are firmly placed on his shoulders, heating them slightly with a new upgrade he and Moon have. He squeezes only the tiniest bit.

“Gregory, I need you to tell me something. What’s the sound in this place? What’s playing?”

Gregory strains himself to try hearing. He wants out of his own skin. He slowly makes out the daycare music that gets slightly louder and more clear as he settles and focuses on it. “Day...care…” That’s… that can’t be him. It doesn’t seem right.

“Good! That’s good, that’s right! Now, what’s squeezing your shoulders?”

He slowly feels a warmth creeping through two specific areas on his shoulders. They feel like-

“Hands… Nice… hands.”

Sun nods gently. “Look at my face closely. Who am I? Who’s holding you?”

It takes a minute before colors seem more clear. Yellow. Familiar yellow. Bright yellow. Rays. Rays like- “Sun…” Something shoots through his body, tingling going away fast like a snap of his fingers. Sun?... He finally fully realizes. SUN! He snaps out of it, lunging to hug Sun, glad he’s okay.

Sun freezes for a solid second, taken greatly by surprise, but beyond relieved it wasn’t a longer and harder one to bring a kid back from. He waits for Gregory to realize he’s hugging him and yank himself away.

Gregory doesn’t, even after a short duration of time. His breath becomes rather shaky, fear and an unfamiliar sadness trying to drown him.

Sun slowly, cautiously brings his hands behind Gregory to return the hug, too focused on him at the moment to enjoy he’s willingly touching them for the first time.

It feels nice. A weird too nice making Gregory happy yet want to cry at the same time. He really wants to cry, but he can’t. He’s not supposed to cry. That’s for very little kids, not him. Though he wants to. He really, really does.

He tightens his hug onto Sun, his head resting on Sun's shoulder as Sun sits farther down into Gregory’s full reach. Sun ever-so-gently pats his upper back, able to tell he’s withholding things, raw emotions yet again that he really shouldn’t. "It's… okay to cry, Gregory. You know that, right? You've been so strong- too strong already."

Gregory’s breath becomes even shakier, several sobs wrecking through his body. Tears start pouring and he can't get them to stop. He… doesn't want them to stop.

It feels like the longest time, yet tears just keep coming. Remembering everything that’s ever happened before, how he’s been told before so many times crying means nothing, how he didn’t have time when running from animatronics, how he desperately wanted to so many other times before. He feels so tired, but not like on his body. More like his mind? Emotion tired? Is that even a thing?

He doesn’t want to move, but tiredness starts taking over. He willingly lets sleep slip in, unknowingly mentally exhausted.

Sun notices as Gregory’s crying stops and his body goes limp. He carefully pulls him away, realizing the kid fell asleep.

“Makes sense after everything.”

Sun brings a hand up behind Gregory’s head, having it fully and safely rest on his shoulder. He catches the saddened gaze Vanessa has towards the kid. He and Moon feel the same.

“True. I really don’t want to move him, but I’m worried he’ll wake up sore if he stays this way.”

“I’d usually think against staying this way, but it might be best, and from everything he’s been through, I hate to say he can probably handle a little soreness.”

Moon has some rather violent thoughts that circle their mind about harming Management. Sun doesn’t like he can’t deny more than some he has to agree with.

He’ll stay like this for now, and hopes Gregory will get the best sleep since being here yet. They both can only hope that.

Chapter Text

If someone were to tell Monty he would be the one alone with the kid he nearly killed about what? A month ago? He’d have laughed and probably thrown something at them. A foolish claim and idea, even to him. Yet, here he is while the daycare thing- Moon? He thinks? He still hardly knows it or cared to know their names before. Chica and Vanessa as well try to keep Freddy away for now and drill things into his head. The kid’s still downright terrified of Monty, and he has every right to be.

It was after Gregory finally woke up after falling asleep on the Attendant thing. Sun, he thinks it was. Freddy has tried so many times to get in to be by the kid again over the hours. His persistence was really starting to grate on Monty’s last -only a few to begin with- nerves. Gregory managed to be put back to sleep again since Sun didn’t believe he slept nearly enough, despite several hours passing. Even after the rest, he still looks worse than the kid that one time that was forced to come in with the flu. At least he’s not throwing up like they did. That was gross. He doesn’t understand how the daycare thing handles all that likely daily.

Freddy tries to come in yet again, making Monty’s dwindling patience snap. He opens the doors and steps out, noticing a concerned Vanessa following, and Chica being unable to pull Freddy away from standing in front of the door. He makes sure it closes fully to not wake the kid. He’d rather not be annoyed by being nagged by the Attendant, and the kid really does look worse for wear. “Dam- darn it, Freddy! Are your wires fried or something!? Fu-freaking STOP already! The kid’s not in the best mind to see you!” he seethes.

Freddy gives a rather hurt and pleading expression as he looks at the three around him. “I’m sorry, but you all must simply be mistaken!” he even looks down at Vanessa. “Vanessa! You must believe me, right? I need to help Gregory the most, he trusts me the most after all!”

Even Monty can tell the conflicting thoughts that seem to be circling the guard’s head. Freddy doesn’t seem to be able to, making him question just exactly how helpful Freddy may have been that night. He does remember now that he thinks about it numerous times he was in places without the bear, but the other animatronics including him were around. Those could have gone badly. Especially since he was already limping, which made him able to grab the kid later.

“Monty, why don’t you take him for a while? Looks like this will be a painful process to break into that head of Freddy’s.”

Monty is more confused and concerned about that. Why the hell does she think that’s a good idea at all? “Why not the Sun Attendant thing? He’s not scared of him like me.” He still doesn’t want to know how it works that two are in one body or if they’ve both somehow always active.

“That’s an-!” Freddy gets cut off by Chica reaching up and covering his mouth, shocking him to stop talking.

“It’s about to be the nightly 4-hour power-out, as well as most places lights newly dimming, leading to Moon being forced out,” Her brows crease in great agitation. “No doubt something with Management. Anyway, I don’t want to find out his reaction to waking up still being held, but by Moon instead. Also, it will be good for you to try apologizing for calling him a loser.”

Monty shakes his head. Still a stupid idea. And how was she sure the kid wouldn’t just sleep the whole time? The Sun part was really unhappy having to wake him after only a bit longer.

His arms are crossed yet again, and staying a fair distance from the kid. He’s not really sure what to do. The apologizing thing now seems harder than he thought it would be from hardly ever having to for anything before. That first time from after the removed virus was bad and hard enough.

He doesn’t like just standing around either. The hissing of the gator mechanics in the background being the only noise not helping. It’s always put a bad feeling of some sort in his system. He still can’t understand it himself, only knowing the unease started after his fight with Bonnie. He’s the strongest animatronic! It shouldn’t be happening or the feeling bother him this bad, but it does.

“You… ever played mini golf before?”

Gregory shakes his head.

“Why don’t I teach ya a bit then while we, uh, talk or something? I hate staying still like this for long.”

Gregory shrugs, honestly liking the idea more than just standing or sitting around. He does also have that in common with Monty, he guesses. Staying still on ground level for long puts him too on… what’s the thing? On-edge? He thinks he remembers adults calling it. He still notices Monty almost always has his hands hidden as much as possible with his arms crossed. He doesn’t know if he still likes it or is annoyed by it now at this point. “Sure.”

Monty nods while quickly getting Gregory’s height measurement for a fitting club and goes to get one and a ball for each of them. He returns to Gregory still standing in the same spot. The metal part of the club is being held by Monty so he can keep a bit more of a distance while passing the handle.

Gregory picks it up, and also the vibrant yellow ball Monty drops to the floor, nudging towards him with a toe.

They go up to the first hole, Monty standing sideways. He puts the handle on his shoulder and grabs it farther down with the same arm’s hand, then nudges it. It’s still too strong and goes so far forward it hits the edge of the course and flies upwards before coming down.

Sure, it would be such a great idea to give an animatronic with super strength a mini golf course out of all things. Something that doesn’t need much power at all. He still remembers the first time before being told how much power was truly needed. The damned ball struck through everything in its path and still pierced through a wall into the next room. Luckily no one was around.

He looks toward Gregory. “Alright, you willing to try?”

Gregory nods and tries holding the club thing the same way Monty did, and tries to hit the ball. He hits it, but it doesn’t go past the hill, falling back towards him.

Monty feels like slapping himself for forgetting until now that’s not the normal way for most to do it. It’s the only way he can barely manage to even keep the ball on the course. “Sorry kid, you’re going to have to do it differently.” He grabs and holds the club like someone normally would with both hands. “Try it like this, and hit the ball again. Try giving it a little more of a nudge than before too.”

He does and somehow managed to hit it right over the hill to roll into the hole.

“Looks like the little rookie’ll be a champ in no time. Already having the master beat, huh?” Monty instinctively pipes up, earning an almost cheeky type of smile from Gregory. It greatly surprises the gator. Gregory picks his ball up and they head to the next.

Gregory immediately doesn’t like how closed hole 2 is.

“Can we skip this? I don’t really like small spaces…”

Monty looks away, not too keen on being cramped in such a small area as well. Not to mention he’d be stuck way too close to Gregory. “Me neither kid. Ah… probably not for the same reason though.”

Gregory’s starting to wonder how much he might have in common with Monty now.

They go over the next few holes, Gregory not mentioning it’s a little hard to see with the weirdly darker lights.

“Uh… is something on your mind, kid? I know things still aren’t the best around here.” a massive understatement, even to Monty himself.

Gregory looks like he’s holding back crying. Damn it, kid, what did Sun JUST talk to you about not even half a day ago? “Does… Freddy not like me like I thought?”

Monty can’t believe he’s going to, but that makes him decide to stand up for the stupid bear. It doesn’t take someone smart to see just how close and caring Freddy is to the kid. Just like him, he usually has the right intentions, but the wrong execution. Though even he’s questioning some of Freddy’s past and even current choices.

That time with Management also didn’t just break Gregory, it broke Freddy too when he saw how terrified the kid was of the glaring bear. He’ll never admit it to anyone, but it did scare him slightly too. Monty much prefers the annoyingly, overly friendly way he normally is.

He grunts, a bit of anger rising again as his ball hits the bumper to keep the ball in the course and still gets shot off from him being too focused on Gregory. “Listen, kid, he does to an annoying degree if you ask me. Ever since you’ve come, he hasn’t stopped singing your praise of how resourceful you were that night. He won’t stop saying he’s proud.”

Gregory feels a warmth plow through his chest, yet it still pangs a moment later remembering Bonnie. Monty’s the last one with him, and he’s pretty sure there is great regret in the gator. He wants to ask about Bonnie, or even what Monty knew of their friendship, but it scares him Monty might get angry and hurt him again. The still giant scabs he has to be careful of when changing show what Monty can do again if he wanted. He doubts it from how Monty acts around him, but he knows better than to fully rule it out.

They reach hole 5, and Monty notices he’s not paying the most attention to the gators that come over the railings. He manages to get over at the last second.

Monty quickly moves his tail in the way of the rising gator’s mouth, having his tail get pinched between the railing and the thing’s tongue instead of Gregory’s arm that was in the way as it went back down.

Gregory jumps harshly upon realizing how close and bad that was just about to be. And how close Monty is before he backs up a bit.

“Careful kid, these things aren’t the safest thing here. One’s broken a teen’s arm once. Beats me how they’re still able to be kept as part.”

The greatly widened eyes Gregory grows a second later makes Monty think that’s probably something that shouldn’t have been informed about. Damn it, he messed up again.

They continue on, Gregory now much warier of every gator’s head rising and falling even if they’re a long-range away.

Monty’s torn up on how to bring up his apology for calling him a loser to get to Roxy. She better not rear her ugly head in here. He’d throw his club at her no questions asked. More and more of the holes they finish one way or another, and he still can’t think of a way to do it. Sounds easy, but really isn’t.

He’s thinking about trying to further reconnect the kid with the bear to give more time for it. It’s a sore spot, but bringing up Bonnie might help. “I never learned much about Bonnie either, if I’m honest, kid. I just know they were really close, and the way Freddy acted…” how the hell can he explain the feeling to the kid?

His mind goes back to how Gregory’s also getting really close to the Attendant. “Think of it like how you felt when that person made the Attendant guy shut down. Try feeling like… what if he never could get up again?”

Gregory doesn’t know what to think about that. It scares and slightly angers him, but it doesn’t feel like that would be even close to Freddy and Bonnie’s thing. He still hasn’t known Sun and Moon very long, as well as he was terrified of both before. Still kinda is with Moon. He doesn’t want them to die! But… “I’d be sad now, I think? I mean, I like them, but I still don’t fully like being around Moon. I don’t think that’s how it was with them.”

Monty doesn’t even need to breathe but has to suppress a sigh. Come on kid, work with him. Alright, that’s not gonna work. Maybe instead?... “Think of it like this. Imagine how you felt for Freddy before that person came. Put it in their shoes. You as Freddy, and Freddy as Bonnie. How would you feel if they made Freddy never be able to come back?”

Gregory’s heart plummets, tears trying to come back being forced down. He absolutely hates that idea!

He’s still a bit scared of how Freddy was but kinda understands better now. Freddy being really scared and sad. He now wants to say sorry to Freddy for him being angry and freaking Gregory out, but would Freddy get angry if he brought it up again? It’s happened many times before.

But… Freddy isn’t like them. Still, should he risk it? Does Freddy even want him to say sorry?

Gregory gets riddled with a massive amount of uncertainty as he hits his ball, getting it hole-in-one again. He’s too focused in his head to celebrate it.

Monty notices he's not fully focused but doesn’t interrupt Gregory’s thoughts.

----------------------------------
Freddy is still having a hard time understanding what he did wrong. From Moon and Vanessa sounding agitated to Chica trying to calm them down and try to get them to not be so angry, as well as softly trying to explain what he did wrong, it just stays the same.

Vanessa has had enough. No matter what her and Moon- fuck, even Chica try to tell him, it isn’t getting through. She’s just going to be blunt as possible at this point, his programming be damned. “Get it through your thick head already Freddy! You’re the reason he dissociated! How many times are we going to have to repeat the same thing differently before you get it!?” She snaps, beyond tired of how this is going. Right now she wishes she was an animatronic to slap the shit out of his head. Hopefully, that would pin in what they’re trying to get at. At this point, maybe she should go and ask Monty to try hitting the bear. The gator would with no questions asked.

No wonder Freddy has never killed one of the kids in the past! He’s worse than Chica’s sight!

Freddy freezes, his mind going blank. But how could he be the reason? He’s never caused Gregory to have such a reaction!

“Freddy, maybe you should… just apologize to him?” Chica tries to bring up to get the others to stop. Moon’s face isn’t even expressive, but she can feel the frustration coming off him in waves, along with Vanessa.

He would, and will, but for what?

Vanessa pinches the bridge of her nose. “Freddy, I have absolutely no idea what the kid has been through before coming here, but the way you acted affected him negatively. You’re supposed to be his safety net. I don’t blame you for losing your cool, but think. When exactly did he start acting differently?”

He noticed after Monty mentioned it, so it really could have happened at any time. Why didn’t he pay more attention?

“Freddy, I can’t say I fully understand why you reacted or acted the way you did, but traumatized children’s minds are incredibly fragile. When he no longer felt safe even around you, I believe it made his mind crash.”

Freddy feels really conflicted and a bit guilty. “But I’d never hurt him! I wasn’t angry at him!”

He faintly glares at Vanessa again, making her flinch rather harshly.

Moon walks over and stands in front of her, going to his full height. His arms cross as he glances slightly down at the bear. “A kid’s mind isn’t fully developed -especially, again, a traumatized child- and we all know this. That’s not how he’d take it. He likely thinks you’re angry at him too.”

“I’m beyond glad you’re not this dense.”

“You’re telling me! Even I’m somehow getting a bit of a headache!”

It finally starts connecting in Freddy’s mind, making that conflict quickly become very strong guilt. Why didn’t he think of that as well himself?

He… needs to apologize to his Superstar for being angry and scaring him.

“I believe I’m understanding it now, and will apologize to my Superstar.”

No one will say it, but relief floods everyone it finally managed to break through.

Vanessa looks at her watch to find out it’s 5:45 A.M. already. “I guess now would be the best time for it, since at 6 all the lights will be turned back on. And I’ll have to go.”

Freddy is freaking out again as they all collectively went to Gator Golf. Sure, they just talked to him, but he should have still-

No. The others were right. It’s better Freddy wasn’t around his Superstar for a while. No matter how much it hurts, he knows they’re just trying to protect him and his Superstar. He’s thankful for it. That’s at least a positive, right? He’s easily thankful for things? That he tries to look on the bright side as much as possible?

It doesn’t take them too long to get to Gator Golf. They spot the two and head towards them.

“You know, I think they need to add some bada- really cool music in here. What do you think?” Monty asks, looking towards Gregory who’s sitting on a bench. They finally just managed to finish the golf course after skipping a few other holes that made them uncomfortable.

The lights flicker then turn on brightly, making Gregory let out a slight hiss, adjusted to the dimmer lighting. He quickly recovers.

“Like the daycare’s?” A bit of a smirk came onto his face since he knows Monty is definitely not the type to like such music. He’s secretly started to like it. It feels safe now.

“Of course not quite like the daycare’s! That’s not cool like me!” He replies exasperated but knowing Gregory wasn’t truly meaning it. Little shit. Glad he’s better at least.

Gregory thinks hard, hearing the hissing gator yet again in the background. “Maybe something to go with the hisses of the gators? That might be cool.”

Monty thought about it for a second. He actually quite likes the idea. “Hmm… I like the way you think, kid.”

The footsteps make Gregory whip his head towards the sound to see the others, including… Freddy…

They both freeze in their places.

Freddy fortunately is the one to snap out of it first, walking a bit more forward before kneeling one knee to the floor to be closer to Gregory’s height.

Gregory wonders what in the world he’s doing.

“I’m sorry for how upset I was earlier. I know now it must have been scary. I’m not angry at you- could never be angry at you, my Superstar. Could you ever forgive me?

Gregory feels tears try to come again and pushes them back, lunging and hugging Freddy to the best of his ability. It’s a surprising relief he’s not angry at him. “I- yes, Freddy!”

Freddy quickly hugs him back.

It didn’t slip past Sun or Moon how he withheld his tears again.

“Looks like your lesson didn’t quite stick yet.”

“Of course! It would have been a miracle if he didn’t need it more than once.”

They focus more on the now, glad as well as Vanessa and Monty that it wasn’t a long-term disconnection of the bear and child. For now, everything should be okay.

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AN- I really gotta work on figuring out more sweet moments. I feel like I keep trying to do too much pain -_-

I also just like the idea of the Attendant being taller than Freddy. I like to think the duo is around 7’06 (228.6 cm) when knees, back, and neck aren’t bent like in the game. Based on Sun skipping in-game, I don’t think he’d be taller than 8 feet. Let’s not go into a height ideas I have for everyone canon… XD

Chapter Text

It’s becoming close to the morning, so Gregory is walking to the daycare himself with yet another rough night of sleep. His neck feels rather hard to move. Maybe the couch for so long has been a bad idea. But the nightmares of being killed sure are not fun. Especially with the last one of Roxy digging out his eyes with her nails. Really not helping his discomfort.

Sure, he and Freddy are good again, but he feels… Suffocated? Around Freddy sometimes and it scares him. He doesn’t understand why he feels that way. Or is he thinking wrong about what it might be? Emotions are so confusing. The only thing that's changed from being annoyingly repetitive to Gregory is the few times Monty tries to interact with him, and other times Chica. The sweets that are beyond delicious are always welcomed, even if he has found a piece once or twice with a giant beak bite out of it. He just puts that one aside, knowing she's trying to force her code to make her stop eating so badly, but still ends up caving, especially if it's when she's alone. He doesn't want to think about if she can even taste or not.

He passes by Vanessa and stops to look at her. Her eyes are closed way too tightly, and her body is flinching, fists clenching.

Vanessa has somehow fallen asleep standing up, leaning against the wall. It's a miracle she hasn't fallen or woken up to sore feet, or even a sore shoulder from the way it's pressed onto with most of her body. She wouldn’t put it past herself she was too stressed to feel any pain but the headaches. At least she got temporary relief after throwing up it got so painful a few days ago.

Her dream is of being trapped in the game again. One of the monsters got her. The grotesque texture of the warm slime being so much like blood-

Gregory goes up to her and pokes her, making her jolt awake. She looks down at him with an expression of identifiable panic, before it quickly calms down.

He decides to not pry her on it. It's probably a sore spot like his nightmares are with him. “What are you, an animatronic now? How in the world can you fall asleep standing up?” Gregory questions. No matter how tired he’s ever gotten, he could never sleep standing.

Vanessa stands up straight. Her feet are absolutely screaming at her now. “You sure you’re not? You sure felt like one when I had to carry you.” She shoots back.

“Well maybe if you were one, you wouldn’t have to complain about me being too heavy.”

She crosses her arms and surprising herself, teasingly rolls her eyes at him. “Don’t give me that. You hated me carrying you just as much as it was a pain for me.”

Gregory rolls his eyes back. “With how you kept doing it instead of switching with Freddy, I’m wondering if you secretly didn’t mind carrying me.”

She narrows her eyes at him. “Maybe you should have denied me picking you up sooner.”

Gregory huffs and crosses his arms. “Well, if there is a next time, I will.”

Vanessa doesn’t like the idea of him spraining his ankle again. Great, maybe she’s been around the Attendants a bit too much.

-------------

The daycare is closing soon, and Gregory decided to walk to the bathroom himself, then head back to Freddy's room to meet up again. He could just call Freddy, but something about that brings back the emotionally suffocating feeling to him. He tried a few times in the past but now prefers to just go around on his own, even with the risk of Roxy. He's outdone her before, he can do it again if he needs to. At least, he hopes.

Upon getting there, he notices a new blue-haired man in some sort of uniform. He's looking at an item Gregory can't see held in his hands. The outfit is something with helping the animatronics, he guesses. He remembers seeing such stains on those by a few people that worked on cars before. With that thought, he doesn't focus much on the new man and entered the bathroom.

Once coming out, the man was still wandering around in front of the bathroom. That’s… Really weird. He doesn’t like it. Something’s wrong.

He thinks for a moment. Usually, he’d go towards Freddy’s green room right around now since it was almost the end of the day, and he can see the bear again. Not even to sleep yet. Mostly to hang around the pizza plex.

However, the bad feeling about the man makes him want to get back to the daycare, which is much closer. The only problem is the rather narrow area the man is walking back and forth by, is the only way to get to either Sun and Moon or Freddy.

Gregory wants to think he can easily outrun the man, but he’s learned that just because someone looks one way, does not mean they’re the same. And he's taller. He could probably catch up.

Gregory steps back into the bathroom where no one else is. He really wants to call Freddy, but that might make the man know someone must be here. The man gives off a warning like how he felt with Vanessa back from that cursed night. He’s never seen the man in his life, so it can’t be someone looking for him from before coming to the pizza plex.

Several minutes pass, Gregory hoping the feeling is wrong and the man will just leave.

He pokes his head out, looking at where the man was. He’s no longer there. Gregory makes the mistake of fully stepping out without looking behind.

A set of human arms reach in front of Gregory and pull him rather roughly to a body. A hand immediately pressing hard against his mouth, and the other around his stomach.

Gregory is both terrified of the situation, and angry at himself for not looking behind. That's how Monty got him before! The arm wrapped around his stomach is pressing right on the scabs from Monty’s claws. The bumpy feeling of the scabs being pressed deeper into his flesh feeling very uncomfortable, but that’s the last thing on his mind at the moment.

Panic quickly overwhelms him, and he starts to thrash and struggle, trying to get free to make a run for it. He reaches his hands up and tries to push the hand away covering his mouth. Someone or something has to be close enough nearby to hear him if he could scream loud enough! He’d even take Moon or Monty somehow being the one to hear and come.

The arm doesn’t budge, and the man starts dragging him out from the daycare area’s doors. He's even stronger than Gregory predicted.

Gregory manages to use both his arms to pry the arm wrapped around his body, making him try to duck his head and bolt. In the process, starts pressing the button to call Freddy as many times as he can, showing urgency. No reason to be stealthy now!

The man gets another grip before he could get his head free, this time on Gregory’s right arm. The man harshly pulls Gregory’s arm beside him, making his whole lower body follow.

Gregory tries to make the man lose balance by forcing his arm to yank forward, not caring if it even broke it at this point. He just needs to get away.

Within the struggle, the blue-haired man slips his grip onto the fazwatch. Gregory tries to break free yet again, this time by trying to swing his arm down with being shorter. It causes the latch to snap and the whole fazwatch to fall to the floor. The man nearly loses his footing with Gregory’s pulling, making him step right on the now fallen fazwatch.

The crunch of the said item being crushed makes both freeze and look down. Intense fury sears through Gregory. A sudden, brutal rage he’s never felt in his life. He bites the man’s hand harshly.

“Fuck!” The man hisses, knowing being louder might get him caught. He was told not to be, and even temporarily tried closing off the cameras. Luckily for him, he doesn’t let go of the child, dragging him towards the animatronic’s green rooms.

Gregory dry heaves at the vile copper taste of blood that falls into his mouth from the bite.

It’s a slow process with Gregory still fighting and squirming the best he can every moment of the way. His body quickly starts to drastically grow tired no matter how terrified he was though. He would have been able to fight out of such a grip any other time, so why can’t he now!?

Through a long duration of time, they reach near the green rooms of the animatronics. He didn't see Freddy ever come in his direction. He thinks the fazwatch being crushed must have stopped the calls. If he can get free, Freddy should be really close nearby! Come on, please be in your room! Please notice! Just look out the window!

He notices whose door they’re going to, making him exhaustedly try to struggle and fight again. He tries to bite even harder. It also finally clicks in his brain, and he swings his arms and legs back, trying to aim for the place he knows hurts. He nails it with a side of his fist harshly, causing the man to let out a pained grunt.

The man tries to fight off going down and quickly swipes his card to get the door open, harshly shoving the kid in. He closes and locks the door after. He’s got more tampering to do. Now, he’s free to. Can’t really be called tampering, now can it?

He kneels to the ground. First, a breather and leaving for now.

The sound immediately gets Roxy’s attention, who of which is in front of her mirror.

Her hatred spikes back once it quickly registers who was shoved in and fell on the floor.

“You!” She snarls, standing up.

Gregory bolts to sitting up, scared out of his wits. He should have fought harder! He- he can’t be here! His body is quickly shortening its breath, his heart hammering hard enough to hurt. He’s getting so sick. So tired of fear.

“I bet you don’t even have any friends.” her voice rings out, making him mentally cringe at the harshness of it being rather true.

Wait, she’s close. Too close-

Upon seeing Roxy, Gregory lunges to the side to hide behind a corner. Ugh, how he hates her. Sharp pain stabs through his ankle at the lunge, but he doesn’t care. He doesn’t want to find out what she might say if she catches him.

“I bet I’m your favorite.” Her stupid voice says out, yet again one of her ridiculously repeated sayings. How he wishes he could remove her voice box.

Not even close! Even Moon and Music man still beat her! How he hates her and her words.

That hate is now solidly fear. He knows this is going to go badly. His body won’t even let him scream to get Freddy’s attention. He's clammed up.

Roxy stomps closer. Gregory has his back firmly against the wall and the door won't open no matter how hard he tries pushing on it.

It’s locked!

"You have no clue the terror and anger that went through me that night!"

The guilt is back. He can hardly breathe. Let him out. Let him out-

Roxy lashes a hand out and grabs his right arm. The jingle of the bell tied on his wrist rings out. She hears the sound. Her left ear mechanically flicks. She lifts the sweater sleeve and notices the friendship bracelet. Sheer disgust wrapped with her hatred and anger upon realizing what the bell must mean.

“Aw, so the worthless little kid got all buddy-buddy with the creepy Sun daycare Attendant. It was so pathetic how you latched onto him like a toddler to their favorite toy. I bet that’s all they think of you. Just a pathetic little kid to toy with when the others leave.”

She’s wrong! Sun… He wouldn’t- No! Gregory refuses to let her get words into his head! Stop!

She’s just like her… Just like the one who ripped everything from him before. Stop the words. They- Sun wouldn’t think that way!

Gregory still flinches harshly though and starts tearing up even though he tries not to. He's terrified. He wants Freddy. He wants Sun. He even wants Moon! "I'm sorry! I didn't know you'd jump into the track! I'm sorry!" His voice manages to yell out.

Roxy glowers. "Sorry is not going to cut it." She looks at her nails. They're not quite like Monty’s. But…

Without another thought, she swipes for his face, fingers slightly closed as a claw would be. "Maybe you should see first how it felt! Then you can feel sorry!"

It hits Gregory's face, leaving three gashes over the whole right side of his face. It didn't get deep enough to cut into his eye, but blood does quickly rise from the wounds and starts to trickle down. Even from above, dripping into his eye. It stings so much worse than dirt. He lets out a loud, pained shriek.

The glass to the window of the room shatters.

------------------
Bit earlier-

Freddy’s with the last few kids for the day. A family who was given a discount and extended pass for a complaint given their last visit. Freddy finds it rather strange that Gregory was repeatedly calling for him, then very abruptly stopped. He would have run off a lot sooner, but the children and parents nearby would be very suspicious. Roxy’s still grounded in her room from Vanessa, so he can’t think of why he’d need him. He is still very worried though.

He tries calling onto Gregory’s fazwatch while the kids are distracted by each other. One keeps trying to shove their birthday cake on the other’s face. The parents are irritated by it, but let it continue.

“(UNAVAILABLE)” Okay, that drastically spiked his worry. He focuses on the time. It shows just a few minutes before they have to leave for closing.

Freddy glances at the children and parents again. “I deeply apologize, but I must… Go to S.T.A.F.F. They’re calling for me right now,” he manages to make up to get away faster. “We appreciate you coming, and hope this time, as well as next time, are better for you.” He finishes. The parents roll their eyes in annoyance, but give him a nod.

Freddy quickly runs to find the location of the fazwatch.

It’s… It’s crushed beyond saving. Now Freddy is really panicking. His head looked in every direction to make sure whatever took Gregory didn’t injure him in the moment with something sharp. No trace of blood. Not reassuring in the slightest to him.

He picks it up and runs to the daycare to get Sun and Moon’s help. If he remembers correctly, Moon has a connection to cameras from being security. Otherwise, he has no idea where he’d start to where Gregory must have been taken.

Moon jumps and whips his head towards the slammed-open door, beyond surprised to see it was Freddy. The bear seems rather frantic to the point both Sun and Moon notice. Moon’s immediately on guard.

”Moon! Help me find Gregory! Something horrible-” he couldn’t make his voice box continue the sentence, just showing the crushed fazwatch in his grasp.

Moon quickly becomes concerned as well and scans through pizza plex’s cameras. He makes them turn back on, which is strange since they're not supposed to be off in the first place. He sees an unrecognizable body of someone shove Gregory into Roxy's room.

Oh hell no. Both Sun and Moon can easily agree to that.

He bolts past Freddy and runs as fast as possible there.

Freddy runs and manages to keep up to a point, even if his body is setting off alarms to slow down.

They quickly reach the door.

Moon doesn’t let him or Sun even think. He breaks through the glass without even a second to think about trying the door first and jumps through.

He does not like what he sees. Sun says something, but it’s like he’s far away or muffled. He can’t hear Sun clearly.

“What the fu- fun, Roxy!? Moon hisses, his voice incredibly similar to that night, yet it doesn’t scare Gregory nearly as much as Roxy right now. The severe malice and intention of what he was trying to say doesn’t slip by anyone. Despite it correcting Moon to not swear even slightly, the dark way he said it says a fully different word.

Gregory presses firmly on his eye with his right palm. The heat of the thick liquid covering his hand greatly grosses him out. Memories trying to flood back yet again. He's sick of those memories not leaving him alone.

Moon leaps over and shoves Roxy back. Roxy gives him an annoyed eye roll. “Can it, you put together bolts of a worthless security dog. You can have your turn after.”

Gregory reaches and latches onto Moon’s pants. Moon turns to look at him and sees the deep, bleeding scratches on Gregory’s face. He feels a violence he's never felt, not even with the virus. He turns back forward, ready to maim the wolf beyond repair. "I'M GOING TO TEAR THIS WOLF LIMB FROM LIMB!!!" He goes into a defensive stance.

Roxy readies to attack back. She’s not a fool, she knows his stance is threatening to her. She’s not going to back down. He can have his turn after she strikes Gregory’s other eye.

Moon shouldn’t be active. Not anymore. It’s too bright with Roxy’s lights. Yet, Sun couldn’t take over to stop him. He hears the violent thoughts Moon is having towards the other animatronic within Moon’s sight, and it’s much less than pleasant. Sun’s anxiety spikes. He doesn’t want him and Moon to be stuck for possible days being repaired. Not again, he can’t handle that much loneliness again.

Sun tries to push his mind forward to overtake Moon’s mind and their body. Yet… Sun still can’t push to take control.

“Focus on Gregory!!! He’s already injured!!!” Sun yells, hoping it can reach through to Moon.

Moon hears Sun, though it’s faint. He looks over to Gregory again, fully trying to process the damage. The blood dripping down is bad. He locks eyes with Roxy, and protectively blocks Gregory from her by wrapping an arm around him. He’s still more than willing to tear the wolf to shreds if she takes a single step closer.

A solid stare down. It's now Roxy understands she underestimated the situation. He doesn’t want to harm the little coward, he wants to protect him. Fine by her. She’ll destroy him first.

Sun tries yet again to force himself to take control before Moon does something he'll regret. It's still a fruitless endeavor.

Moon keeps forcing him down, and not letting Sun regain control, although there's light and Sun's fighting hurts. Moon faintly wonders if this is what Sun had to feel back when he tried to keep him down with the virus.

“Gregory! Are you-” Freddy’s voice stops dead upon seeing the damage on his Superstar’s face. Why would Roxy do this!? He notices the staredown between the two.

Before either can take a step toward the other, Freddy steps between them. He puts a hand on Moon’s shoulder. “Take… take him to the first aid station. I’ll handle her.”

That manages to ground Moon enough to become more clear than just focusing on killing- hurting Roxy.

He picks up Gregory into a princess carry. Gregory is still pressing firmly on his eye, and not demanding to be put down.

He presses Gregory a bit more firmly against him, and walks as fast as he can, as not to jostle the clearly in pain child too much.

Going down the stairs was a bit troubling once reaching them from not being made for animatronics like him. Luckily, it’s definitely dim enough for Moon not to have to worry of Sun taking over.

Sun’s nonstop screaming in their head really isn’t helping him be able to stay focused.

He eventually manages to get down all the stairs and turn to the right for the first aid station. He’s too stressed to be upset about the first aid box in the daycare not being refilled yet, and how inconvenient there’s so little first aid care anywhere.

Moon places Gregory on the bench. The kid almost seemed to not want to let go. He grabs Gregory’s hand gently to take it off the injuries.

He grabs the supplies and clearly sees now just how big the cuts are. From the top of his forehead, almost to the bottom of his chin. Blood from it drips more onto Gregory’s shirt.

“Shit, shit, shit.” Moon puts his hand nearby instinctively. Deep coding to have a comforting outlet if children decide to take it.

Gregory latches onto Moon’s offered left hand without thinking, still trying to force himself to calm down. His eye still stings so much worse than when dirt got into it. He keeps his eye closed tightly. His grip is tight enough for his hand to shake. Or maybe it’s him shaking in general? Maybe both.

Moon dabs at the blood. The sight of the red liquid trying to rise things he and Sun tried and wished so desperately to forget.

“How deep is it!? Will it need stitches? Will he be blind!? Do we need to call the hospital!?”

“You know we can’t call the hospital even if we wanted to!”

“We need Vanessa!”

Gregory is still not fully functioning properly, but it doesn’t seem like dissociation, which Moon is exceptionally thankful for. He looks closer and scans the injury thoroughly. He wasn’t able to think clearly to do so earlier.

“I-I know it hurts, but I need to make sure your eye isn’t damaged. Can you try to open it for just a second?”

Gregory strongly doesn’t want to, but he’s also really scared of his eye losing its sight. He manages to keep it forced open for a little over the required second before closing it again.

It slightly calms Moon down; for the very brief flashes he can get of Gregory keeping the eye open, don’t show any damage to the eye itself. Other than it just being red and irritated.

“She’s not going to be here for a few hours yet. He also should be fine. It missed cutting into his eye.”

There are no ice packs, but for now, it should at least be bandaged to not get so much blood everywhere. Moon wraps the half with his eye the best he can. He then picks him up again, and again, Gregory doesn’t fight to be put down.

Gregory can’t help but violently shake, still remembering freshly the nails going right towards his face, him having no room to go anywhere.

Moon notices and tries to give him a gentle, reassuring squeeze to him. It does little to help.

He heads up to the top of the stairs and stops. “Would it really be a good idea to go so close to where he was just attacked? I’m sure if we just bring him to sleep at the daycare it should be fine.”

“I’m sure Freddy would understand! But what about Gregory? He might only be able to sleep there. You know the lights in the daycare don’t come on again for a while either yet.”

"I don't know, Sun. There aren't any ice packs in Freddy's room. We really should bring him back to the daycare with our newly packed freezer. We should make sure it doesn't get too swollen

Sun mulls over it. "... We should really at least check on Freddy first."

Moon accepts the idea, albeit a bit grudgingly. "This is highly inconvenient in so many ways."

He heads back towards Freddy’s green room, being very careful to not let Gregory even look in the direction of Roxy’s now destroyed green room. He scans the area in every direction to make sure Roxy won’t be near. He doesn’t care where she has to be for now while her room gets cleaned of glass. The farther away, the better.

“... She is banned from ever entering the daycare.”

“I can fully agree with that.”

Freddy is waiting in front of his green room and waves to them when he sees them. It becomes very disheartened when he notices the bandages as they get closer. He has a few scratches of his own, but nothing nearly as bad.

“Roxy won’t be around for at least a few hours. I… got Monty’s help with getting her locked in the protective cylinder. It was our only option for guaranteed safety, especially after…” He glances at Gregory’s half-covered face. He should have been there. He should have run sooner! How is he supposed to help protect him, if he keeps failing every time it truly counted?

“How violent she was. I don’t know what that was, but something must still be wrong with her coding. She shouldn’t be able to harm him.”

“Yet she did,” Moon replies flatly. In all honesty, he doesn’t even want to talk about her anymore at the moment.

Freddy nods sadly, and gestures for Moon to walk into his green room.

“I’m also terribly sorry, but it’s going to be fully dark. The lights burned out at some point today, and no one has come to fix them yet.”

“I guess I’m the one stuck being active then, huh?”

“Hey! At least you get to hold him again!”

Moon enters and places Gregory on the couch. He sits cross-legged on the other side. It surprisingly has enough room for him to do it without his knee bumping the kid.

Gregory yawns and curls up next to Moon. He lays on Moon’s leg, making the animatronic freeze. Moon can feel his body starting to overheat in the excitement that Gregory was so willing to actually lay on him. It melted all his anger at Roxy away immediately. For now, at least.

Gregory feels like his body is trying to crash now that he feels safe again. He thinks for a bit about how Moon seemed to so easily push Roxy. Moon’s strong. He could even take Monty. Probably. Monty’s stronger, but Moon is definitely a lot faster than the other animatronics. Sun likely is too. He can’t believe he feels safe enough with Moon now. Sleep starts greatly clawing at him. “Y’re comfy… more th’n Freddy…” He groggily informs, making Freddy let out a chuckle.

Freddy can’t deny it. He’s pretty much completely metal and plastic, after all. Not any rather cushy clothing like the daycare Attendant does. The sight of Gregory finally being so comfortable with another animatronic burns sheer joy through his body. It’s also slightly amusing that even he can tell Moon’s happy with Gregory’s actions, even if he can’t express it facially. Freddy honestly wishes he could take a picture right now.

Moon goes to pet the kid’s head but decides not to push the situation. Gregory reaches up with his eyes still closed and feels for Moon’s hand. He pulls it closer to his chest to cuddle it like it’s a stuffed animal. His arms are long enough that he can still sit mostly straight.

Sun and Moon's systems start to gradually heat up at a rapid rate.

“Moon! I’m excited too but you need to stop before we overheat too far!”

Their body starts making an unfamiliar whirring. Not quite that though. But what-

.

.

.

Oh.

“Am I.../are you…”

"Purring!?

Moon freaks out, never having done so before, and is strongly worried it will wake up Gregory, who has already fallen asleep. Or so he hopes. He’s too worried right now to focus. “Well, how do I stop it!?”

“I don’t know! You’ve never purred before!”

Freddy is rather bewildered. Sure, he’s never really met the daycare Attendants enough to know much about them, but this programming is still strange. “How are you purring?”

Moon wants to run to the darkest place of the pizza plex right now.

“Honestly? Don’t know. Don’t know how to stop it either.”

Freddy raises a questioning eyelid. “... Maybe it would stop if you brought him to his bed, or stopped being in contact with him?” Though he doesn’t like the idea of Gregory being put in the bed. He doesn’t like the idea of him being out of his sight either, and that room has only caused bad things up to this point. As well as even he has to admit it isn’t the cleanest.

Moon looks over at Gregory to see if he truly was asleep. His scans show a much slower heartrate and breathing, signifying he is. He slowly reaches the other arm over, and slips the one in his grasp out, lifting him up. He hardly even stirs.

Freddy’s worried about when the nightmares will start to hit.

Moon carefully walks over and presses the button to open the door. He and Sun are both horrified at the very first glance they get into the room.

“This is where he’s been sleeping!? No wonder he got infected! There’s so much dust you can even see it!” Nope. Nuh-uh, never again. Not if the two have anything to say about it. Not even a deep dusting could clean it and the poor air quality that their scanner quickly pops up and warns them.

They can deal with his outburst later if he has one. That area is not safe. They’ve got plenty of blankets in their room. And it will stay far away from Roxy’s room. Moon and Sun never want him to be out of their sight ever again.

“Where are you going?” Freddy asks worriedly.

“To the daycare. This is not fit for a child. Not if we can help it.” Moon beckons Freddy with his hand still around Gregory’s legs, turns around, and heads towards the daycare. Works out, because there are ice packs there anyways.

Freddy follows. Moon’s still-purring body and the clanking of Freddy’s feet were still not enough to wake Gregory.

Chapter Text

One of the things that scare and worry Vanessa more than anything lately, is when Management gets quiet on her. That can’t mean anything good. Especially since it’s been over a week now from the unsavory drop-in. Good. At least a little break would be nice. Would be even better if they never returned, but sadly that won't happen. However, that also just makes her more uneasy as she steps back into the pizza plex.

What makes it worse is a sinking feeling she can’t shake as she progresses farther into the building to check up on Freddy and Gregory again. It doesn’t get any better as she notices Chica coming her way towards her in a somewhat hurried manner.

Vanessa raises a brow in question. “What’s up with you? At this point, I was more likely to think it would be Freddy or even the Attendant being a nuisance to check up on me.” She won’t admit it feels rather nice however to be checked up on.

She doesn’t get an answer from Chica though as she’s too busy suddenly staring at a black trash bag as if contemplating something Vanessa is pretty sure she knows.

Nope, not again. How that personality or trait or whatever formed itself into Chica by itself she doesn’t want to know. She could swear there was a point very early on when she didn’t have this problem with garbage or the urge to consume food.

She snaps her fingers in Chica’s face. “Hey! No! Come on Chica, remember your promise to Gregory. The last thing we need on top of everything right now is for you to get into something that can get airborne and make him sick again. You don’t want to be the cause of that, do you?”

By the days it is still slowly but surely getting better and better, but there's still been a few times she’s had to stop Chica.

Luckily once again that manages to snap her out of her stupor at staring towards the pile of garbage bags on the ground the day workers were too lazy yet again to properly dispose of before leaving. They’ve especially seemed to have gotten even more lazy when Chica stopped getting into them so much. Almost as if they’re purposefully doing it to toy with Chica. And test Vanessa’s patience. “Right! Uh… oh yeah! You need to come check up on Gregory right now. Something horrible happened earlier.”

Not even five minutes within working and already getting bad news. How lovely. She can’t even sigh at this point. “Where are they then?” She asks as Chica is leading the way. She doesn’t know why though, she knows the place like the back of her hand. Chica could have just told her. She just brushes it aside as Chica’s very sociable part coming out.

“Can you at least give me the rundown on what happened then instead of just leading me like a dog on a leash somewhere?” She snaps. It’s annoying being led through the dark to something that can just be told about. Especially if her drastically sinking feeling about it involving Gregory is right.

“Well…” to Vanessa, it almost feels like Chica doesn’t want to tell her. “Moon will be able to tell you better what happened.”

Vanessa almost facepalms. “Fine. at least tell me Roxy has been nowhere near Gregory.”

Chica uncomfortably shifts. “Not anymore…”

She stops which makes Chica stop and turn to her. She glares at Chica hard. “You mean he was at one point?”

Chica turns and refuses to answer. She starts walking again but quickly picks up her pace, almost making Vanessa struggle to keep up.

It doesn’t take too long to see the getting-way-too-familiar daycare doors and she opens them to enter, forcing her seething rage of Roxy being near back down. After all, with the others around, it couldn’t have gone that wrong, could it?

She sees the bright orange of Freddy and quietly walks up to them. Sun whips his head towards the sound of her footsteps but seems to calm down when he realizes it’s her. Gregory is lying with his head on a pillow on Sun’s lap and a clean blanket laid on top of him. Even if it isn’t clean, it’s still much cleaner than the one he slept with on that mattress.

“Chica informed me something happened but wouldn’t tell me what. What hap-” She gets a better look at Gregory’s face. A deep frown forms on her face already recognizing the claw marks. Thankfully they’re not nearly as deep as Monty’s marks were and are, but they still have red scabs forming over that’s probably going to scar.

She was so incredibly wrong. Something very wrong did happen. “What. happened?” She asks in a much darker tone.

She’s gone for not even half a damn day and this happens. Of fucking course something like this happens. If much more of this happens she’s going to drag him out of the pizza plex herself at this point and never let him return.

“I think-” Freddy goes to answer her, but Sun cuts him off.

“Someone basically kidnapped him and locked him in Roxy’s room with her. Thankfully Freddy noticed something wrong and had us look at the cameras. A man with blue hair did it, but there’s no Staff supposed to be working at that time with blue hair.”

Oh, they most certainly were not, but it must be something involving them and Management then. She didn’t need a second thought as to who it was. She’s already thinking of beating the daylight out of him and making him apologize to Gregory by any means necessary. But maybe that would be too raw of a situation to drag onto Gregory for right now, especially since that just happened by what she’s guessing was just a few hours ago.

She’s going to have to have a serious talk with him after her shift is over. Whether by physicality or a serious tongue lashing or even both she’ll decide when the time comes and as to what answer he gives her.

Gregory starts to shift and opens his eyes slowly, almost like he’s still so sleepy that he can fall right back asleep.

Obviously to Vanessa Sun starts to freak out probably thinking he was still talking too loud and woke him up. She guesses that could be the case, but if that really is and how he’s injured now, it should be quite easy for him to fall back asleep shortly.

Gregory looks up to where she’s standing.

“I-is it that bad?” He way too meekly asks. She already misses his sass again. She doesn’t like his meek personality much at all because it’s not him the slightest bit. He’s much better suited as a quick-witted and sassy for a child type of child. One that isn’t down for taking anything he doesn’t want to and voicing his displeasure for all to hear is more like it. But this?... Fuck, hopefully he can recover mentally from this too. If this is the straw that broke the camel’s back, she’s going to say fuck it and kill the blue-haired man one way or another herself.

She has to force herself not to hiss out her true thoughts. “It’s… not too bad.” Who is she kidding? It in short looks fucking awful. First all the injuries before and now this. What is she supposed to do now!? If he’s around like that during the day, some child or god forbid something like social services sooner or later is going to question it. The pizza plex may be big, but there aren’t too many places that are safe that also don’t have humans or the S.T.A.F.F bots working. For the bots, it’s a 50/50 chance from some having child concern codes of an injured kid during the day, while others don’t. But any human is sure as hell going to ask what happened to him.

Even when it heals, what then? Should she lie and say he was in some sort of dog attack before if someone questions it? But even then she’s night shift and that would be during the day. And even with that, with the width of the claw marks, it would have to either be lied as a very massive dog breed or be just straight-up outright unbelievable.
Gregory narrows his eyes at her, making her know he knows she’s lying. She heaves a sigh. “In all honesty, it isn’t the worst since fortunately your eye was missed, but it’s still going to scar. That also isn’t going to be a place we can easily hide anything as well. One way I can think of is if you grow your hair to cover it but that would look ridiculous on you. Also if anyone sees they’re going to ask questions and we obviously can’t tell them the truth.”

He seems to accept that answer more. He shrugs and rolls over, probably falling back asleep. Vanessa can’t doubt it either. He’s probably too fried mentally and emotionally, and probably in too much pain to care more at the moment.

She rubs a hand on her face but stops as an idea comes to her. “Sun.”

He looks at her. “Yeah?”

“I want you to keep him in your guy’s room for the time being until something can get sorted out. Freddy still has his shows so he still has to be here but he can’t be seen. Is it cleaned up there now?”

“It’s not clean enough for him, but it can be done by the next time the daycare opens.”

“Told you we should have cleaned it instead of the play area first.”

“For your information, how were we supposed to know she’d ask this???”

“I thought it was a given. Safer than most other places and pretty much only we can get there with the other place sealed off. We can open it when needed too for him to sneak to the bathroom.”

“Fine. I guess it was a good idea before.”

“Your doubt wounds me.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

Moon responds with a light chuckle.

Chapter Text

Vanessa’s night shift is almost over in what feels to be a blink of an eye. Or maybe she fell asleep for a bit standing again. She’s even questioning again why she does the job anymore. Obviously, Management doesn’t seem to care that much anymore it seems if the others she saw slacking off in the dayshift are anything to go by.

One cleaner was just sitting on a box on their phone while the S.T.A.F.F. bot was sweeping next to them. There was a massive dried splatter of pizza sauce on the wall right behind them they were supposed to clean right before closing but weren’t.

She goes back to check on Sun/Moon and Gregory before she goes to hunt down that blue-haired moron. Ugh, she really has to figure out his name too. Maybe Blue Freak would be a much more appropriate name.

The lights are off in the daycare through the dark windows. She pushes open one of the fairly heavy doors and enters the daycare.

A soft rumble was heard in the darkness in the dead silence. It almost sounds… like a cat? But there’s obviously no cat animatronic. And how would that even be possible in the first place to make an animatronic do?

Vanessa’s brows crease in confusion as she goes closer to the sound.

It’s coming from where the light of Moon’s glowing eyes are, which would only mean the sound is coming from him. It strikes her with a shocking revelation.

Moon looks at her while still on the ground with a still-sleeping Gregory on his lap. The earlier events must have really taken it out of him. Again.

She walks up to him so as to not talk too loudly. “Are you-”

“Don’t say it.”

“How?? You’ve never done that as far as I can remember!” She’s trying really hard to stay quiet but such a strange thing is really testing her limits.

“We have no idea either. Just happened with Gregory.”

She may as well add that to the unending list of weird things happening and a thing to ask a certain someone later.

“I know who did it and am going to find him. If you figure it out or find out, do not interact. I’ve got it covered. I need to have a serious talk with the man who did this to Gregory.”

Moon notices the harsh glare she has at the word “talk”. “Judging from her expression it’s going to be a lot more than just a talk.”

“You know I hate violence but…

“But this time you’re making an exception? I agree with it.”

Her shift is done, and now it’s time to go hunt him down. The best way is to sit and wait at the cameras, and it doesn’t take long at all for the familiar eyesore hair color to show up, leading her to bolt in his direction.

She slows to a stop when there’s the sight of him carrying a rather big-looking box. She waits for him to set it down before charging towards him in case it might be something important. The last thing she needs is to be forced to pay for some sort of equipment.

He didn’t even get to turn around to her footsteps before she speed-walked right up to him and grabbed his hair, yanking his head back towards her, pulling his head down to her height, and covering his mouth with her other hand. “I need a serious talk with you, now. I’m really not in the best mood so you better follow me quietly, got it?”

A flicker of fear flashes through his eyes before he gives a nod which makes her let go. A part of her really didn’t want to though. It’s telling her she should have yanked harder.

Her right arm goes behind his back to make sure he doesn’t get any funny ideas of trying to run off.

She brings him to in front of the bathrooms. “Alright, first question. Why the hell-”

He takes a few steps back and puts his hand out to stop her. “First, let me tell you something, princess. I know who you are, and what you’ve done. What you were somehow possessed and forced to do, and how you somehow got trapped in a game.”

Vanessa’s body goes numb.

He looks to the side. “How that’s even possible beats me but what weird stuff hasn’t happened at a Fazbear’s pizzeria?” His voice mumbles it to the point Vanessa barely catches it. “I thought calling you that would piss you off more and thankfully, it seems to have that effect~ As for why? Do you really want to know?”

She tries to collect herself but doesn’t say anything.

Hurt. there is so much hurt, frustration, and agony showing in his eyes that it startles her greatly. How can such a self-absorbed-

The familiar sound of Moon’s footsteps can be heard coming towards the bathrooms. She looks over to see Moon stop and so does- shit, of all the times to wake up or to use the bathroom it had to be now??

Just seeing Gregory’s terrified expression looking at this man- Theo the nametag gives- confirms her suspicion.

Theo looks over too and notices the giant scabs on Gregory’s face and grows a bewildered expression. “Jeez kid, what happened to your-”

Vanessa reaches over, grabs his hair again, and yanks even harder than previously.
“-Ouch! Do you really have to pull me by the hair that hard??”

“Be glad it’s JUST pulling your hair.” She’s realizing maybe a different spot would have been a better idea than right in front of the bathrooms. Especially now with how there are a lot of people around today.

Gregory’s fear turns to anger. He seems to understand Vanessa knows he’s the one who caused the injury to happen to him. “He’s the one who made me go in with Roxy and stole my watch!”

Moon’s head snaps over towards the man. Anger is evident even without any visual representation. He… what?”

He doesn’t even get to move a step forward before Vanessa shoves him hard against the wall with her arm, knocking the wind out of him.

“I hate being right.”

Theo’s eyes crease in confusion. “Right about wh-”

“Moon. I got it.”

Moon stops his step closer to possibly do quite severe harm to Theo.

She grabs the man’s arm and drags him towards the office with the cameras. Good. no one else around. After checking all of the doors are closed, she goes over to him again and wastes no time in grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him close.

“Listen up you overgrown fruit rollup. You caused it!”

His eyes widen greatly in surprise.

“How was I supposed to know she’d do that to him!? I was just told in order to be able to continue work on the Attendant and for them to buy the parts to put in it, I had to put him in with Roxy!”

“And you didn’t THINK it was weird they were fighting you so strongly towards her green room? Or even question why Management told you to bring him there forcefully!?”

Theo sticks his hands out in an exasperated manner. “I don’t know! Management told me someone else was going to work on Freddy and he needed to be forcefully put with Roxy because even though she’s his second favorite, he’d still throw a tantrum in leaving Freddy!”

Vanessa can’t believe what she’s hearing. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a long time! It doesn’t even make sense, and it’s painfully obvious she’s his least favorite, especially now! She’s so aggressive to him for no reason! She’s been that way still since the night he was stuck here!”

He shrugs. “Probably because Roxy has some sort of the very edited, but previous virus that was reinstalled, but I didn’t know it’d cause this!”

Vanessa stops her sudden pacing she doesn’t know when she started and looks at him incredulously. The aggression makes so much more sense. “One, Even more, why the fuck would you think it’d be a good idea to force him in there, and two, since when!?”

He waves his right hand nonchalantly. “Oh, like a few nights after they all shut down. Management wanted me to add it to the other animatronics-” He notices her glare greatly hardens on him. “Chill, I didn’t do it. They must have thought I was stupid because I could tell from a mile away it was something not needed. So did my friend in charge of most of the others, but it seems whoever was in charge of Roxy was stupid enough.”

“Why weren’t you or your friend in charge of Roxy?!”

The blue-haired- Theo’s face crinkles greatly in disgust. “Eugh, I wouldn’t touch her with a 10-foot pole. That thing has such weird self-issues that created itself that they’re too hard to even unscramble in code. Probably doesn’t help with the virus though. Surprising enough it also greatly screws with emotions. My friend has his hands full with Chica and decided to try messing around and get rid of more of her eating habits. He knew that would take a long time to even slightly help so he only called to work on her.”

Vanessa thinks of yanking on his hair again. "If you won't fix Roxy, I have a LOT of pent-up rage I'm itching to get out on something. Anything at this point. And it seems quite fit to be against the one causing harm to the kid who saved my ass." She seethes.

“I…” He sighs. “Fine. It’s the least I can do for the harm done, even if unintentionally. I’ll do it tomorrow. But back to earlier. You want to know why I’m so rude, especially to you?”

Vanessa crosses her arms. “Well, might as well lay it on me.”

His eyes immediately darken.

"Again, I know who you are, what you've done, and who you used to be from looking through The Attendant’s memories." He looks down. "That's… that's why you found me drinking, that day. The girl their memory refuses to forget? One of the "missing" kids? That was my biological sister. Do you know how…” He clenches his fists tight. He looks at the floor, closes his eyes, and slowly shakes his head.

“Words can't begin to describe it. The absolute horror you feel when someone you were searching for beyond a decade was torn apart by your future adoptive dad's creation? Then knowing it wasn't their adoptive father's fault or the robot's? Then not even being able to blame you from being controlled too? It broke me. I still took it out on you being rather drunk. And still want to take it out on you now. I couldn't and can’t stop the words!”

He looks like he’s about to cry. “And now-” He choked. “I messed up again. In my desperation to make sure it could never do harm to a child again, I let another get harmed by a different animatronic in the process.”

She finds his story quite hard to believe. Some of it? Maybe. But it feels more like a sob story. As for why, she’s unsure.

"You should have known Management wasn’t a good person from the start. You knew Roxy still has a form of the virus and you stupidly believed it was edited to only harm adults I’m guessing. And also, is this some sort of fake pity party to get you out of this?"

Theo gestures to himself and opens his arms. "Take a closer look, bitch. Does my complexion show me as joking? Do you really think I’d look as bad as you willingly? Normally I’m pretty good with hygiene and a good sleep schedule but I just can’t do anything but fix the robot that killed her with everything I have."

She doesn’t feel nearly as insulted as she should and gets a better look at him up close. He looks incredibly messed up compared to before. His hair is very frizzy and disheveled, his eyebags could almost rival hers, and he somehow looks even skinnier than he did before. Now thinking of it, slamming him against the wall a bit ago his ribs felt way too prominent through his shirt.

“If that is the case… why wouldn’t you turn in the video you found to the police to shut down the place so no child would ever be killed here again?”

Theo gives her a look like she’s stupid. “For starters, no matter what info I gather up, it somehow is very corrupted. Two, no matter where I look I cannot find the bodies. Which I'm honestly kind of glad not to. And three, because she was my little sister and I’d do anything for her. She loved this place and loved Moon to the very last minute of her life. She may have been young, but she was smart. Too smart. She knew there was something wrong with him from the start at times, but still loved him regardless.

“I didn’t-” He choked again. “I didn’t understand what she meant back then there was something wrong with him. I swore after seeing what I did to make him the best possible for all the kids still here. To make him loved like she loved him. It won’t be easy at first, but time heals after all.”

She really wishes he’d stop being so conflicting to her. One second she still wants to knock his lights out, the next she almost feels bad enough to give him a hug. Almost. Doesn’t mean she fully wants to or will.

She rubs a hand on her face and sighs. “Alright, well, that’s not what I was expecting to learn today, but whatever. I guess… I really am sorry for you, but as you might know, I’m not exactly a very consoling type of person. At least, for sure not anymore. My main questions now are about Moon and Sun actually. Care to elaborate why the fuck Moon can pur?”

He doesn’t answer but looks as if contemplating something in his mind before nodding to himself. He pulls out a card and holds it out to Vanessa.

“Call the number on this card for answers. Tell them Theo gave you the number and they’re sure to listen to you. They’ve got those types of answers.”

Vanessa takes the card and looks at the phone number. “But why call them when you can just tell me?”

“Because I’m not in the mood to say more. Fuck my shift, you, and the parts today.” He turns to leave through one of the closed doors. “Again, he has more of the answers you’re looking for. He should be up by now. But you might want to rest before that. If you look much worse people might start mistaking you for a druggie in public.”

She glares at him. “Like you’re one to talk. You look so bony that even I could probably lift you.”

He doesn’t answer and opens the door, then leaves.

Vanessa pulls out her phone from her back pocket and contemplates calling the number, wondering if it’s a prank of some sort.

After about a minute of debate, she calls the number. It only takes a few rings before someone answers. “Hello?” He sounds like an older man, but still full of life and friendly.

“A man named Theo gave me this number. I am Officer Vanessa at the Mega Pizza Plex. I had some questions about an animatronic I asked him and he said you could give me some answers.”

“Why yes, I can. I’m free today. Would you like to come over for some tea over it?”

This is probably a really dumb idea but fuck it. She’ll go in her security uniform and hopefully that will deter him from wanting to try anything if he wants to.

“You have coffee?”

“Of course. I’m not too far from there either. I’ll be sure to have the coffee ready. Hope you like whatever creamer I have, it’s a bit short notice.”

“I’m not picky. Send me the location and I’ll be there shortly.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Upon the first sight of the home, that’s literally what it felt like from the outside. Homey. The pale gray and white on the outside with a white fence and flowers in the ground and in pots looked incredibly peaceful. The flowers are marigolds, lavender and they’re leaving a faint smell, and a dazzling different mix of colors sprinkled in with multiple colors from bachelor’s buttons.

She enters and goes up to the screen door, opening it and knocking on the wooden door.

A familiar man opens it. It’s the same man that was next to Theo at the bar. “Ah, it’s you! Come on in.” He keeps the door open and goes to the side to let her in.

It takes Vanessa a second to collect herself. So this is the guy that was next to Theo? Seems to have better manners at least, but she really can’t say much about that. She enters.

She’s blown away by the homey feel on the inside too. The walls are light cream with beige curtains with some plants hanging by the windows in light blue pots. A matching pale blue carpet and furniture that’s the same beige as the curtains really helps bring it all together. The yellow wooden coffee table stands out but matches the yellow standing lights around the room.

She sits on one of the couches, and he sits across from her. A warm pot of coffee sitting on the table. He takes the pot and pours some in hers, then in his, pours a tiny creamer, and takes a sip.

Vanessa does the same. “Before your questions, I would like to say my name is Gale. I uh, can already see yours from your nametag so sorry if this isn’t formal enough.”

She shakes her head. “That doesn’t matter, this is fine. Anyway, you know why I’m here. I would like some answers about the Attendant.”

He gives a nod. “Ask anything. You’re looking at their creator, after all.”

Vanessa nearly chokes on her coffee. “But how?? You surely don’t even look that old! The Attendant was made over a decade ago!”

He smiles. “Heh, good genes and some simple hair dye can really trick anyone. I’m already in my mid-50s.”

Well, damn. She… probably shouldn’t mention being forced to change some of their coding then. Or the other messing around with their coding again.

“Alright then. Well, uh… First of all, how in the world can Moon Pur?”

Gale’s eyes widen in surprise. “So it still works. That’s surprising.”

She glares at him harshly. What does he mean by that? “What do you mean it still works? I’ve never heard anyone mention he could or did do that.”

He slumps in a way that shows he’s rather upset. “That’s… because we had to disconnect the function.”

What?? So that means…

“It was my idea to add in while we created it. I remember reading how the purring of cats was good for calming people and had healing properties. Management refused to buy the parts that would make it work. Came out of my own pocket but managed to get it in and working. My whole focus was on the Attendant helping children. However, Management from the very beginning focused more on the security half. They threatened to scrap them if I didn’t help focus more on the security part, but honestly? Who would really try to go in there and rob the place? Especially since moving animatronics with their own minds and personalities should have been a deterrent enough?”

So he noticed at the beginning? “So they were getting their own personalities from the beginning?”

Gale shakes his head. “Not until later, but I felt all the animatronics there were special. The place itself is. I’m just worried about the place it was foolishly built on top of. Not many remember, but I do. My family talked all about it.”

Vanessa doesn’t even want to think about that place.

“Anyways, that's also why I made them be able to share their minds, memories, and thoughts. So they can rely on each other with different protocols for different situations but still be effective. It was incredibly difficult to finally figure out and get it to work properly. I wanted Sun to at least be able to experience and see the pizza plex even with Moon being active, but from what my son told me someone else must have been hired after I was forced to leave and messed with their code.”

Her brows creased in confusion. “If they kicked you out, why couldn’t you take the Attendant with you? It’s basically your property, not the pizza plex?”

“Unfortunately back in the beginning, I was so excited at the thought of using my knowledge to help make children happy that I didn’t fully read the full document I signed with Management to work there. Any and all things built in the building belong only to the pizza plex. Although I loved my creation, I didn’t feel it was worth getting the law involved.”

“I guess that makes sense, but why didn’t you use the chance to come back and see your creation again to remove the virus then?”

“Originally I was going to remove the virus from my beloved creation, but I trusted my son to do it instead since he was so adamant.

Now thatmade her choke on her drink. “You’re… son?”

“Why yes, Theo is my son. Not biologically, but still mine nonetheless."

So he wasn’t lying. Shit, she actually- no. He should have been more open-minded and not caused damage to Gregory.

“Okay, then why did he have red eyes before but now with your Sun working on the Attendant, they’re blue?”

"There are two separate blueprints for Moon. One is mine- the one with his blue eyes, and the newer, much more aggressive blueprint was him with red eyes. I gave my son my blueprints when I found out he was going to be allowed to change the Attendant. Not sure what changed Management's mind, but I know it's not a good thing. Please, keep an eye out for them."

“I’ve already had much more than my fair share of run-ins. None have been pleasant, especially as of late. But wait, you’re telling me Moon was always supposed to have a more calm demeanor and blue eyes?”

“Have you seen the plushies? "Moon was supposed to have blue eyes and be kind from the very start. Management scrapped that and forced us, the builders of the Attendant, to give it red eyes and a much more… We can just say unpredictable personality. I hated every change we were forced to make. They started no longer feeling like something I created. Especially after I found out they implemented the red eyes when I left.”

Vanessa pinches the bridge of her nose. How was she supposed to tell Sun and Moon about all of this? And what about the sibling Theo was talking about? Does Gale know about it? At this point, she’s hoping not. And he never finds out what his creation has done in the past.
“If you were the main creator of the Attendant, what about the daycare? Was that you as well?”

“Yes and no,” he chuckles. “Sadly I’m more an engineer, not an architect I think they’re called. But I did give some ideas I said the kids would love. From what I heard the implemented ideas were pretty great successes.”

Vanessa finishes her cup of coffee. She can’t think of what else she wants to ask right now. “That’s good.” She stands up. “Thanks for the coffee, but I just got off my nightshift. I don’t have any other questions right now, but I’ll be sure to call and ask if anything comes up if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all! Do be sure to keep in touch. Theo doesn’t visit as much anymore, so I’d love the company.”

Vanessa just nods and leaves to go home. She can’t help but stress about what possible chaos might happen when Roxy finally, truly gets fixed.

Chapter Text

Warnings: One of her traumas mentions the type of people who are WAY too attracted to her. A self-mutilation thought

Regret. That’s what Roxy felt through and through right now. Deep-rooted, agonizing regret.

Her mind for what feels like the first time is finally crystal clear. All her repressed emotions are slamming through harder than a tsunami. It was unclear as to why, but all she could think of for Gregory was absolute HATE before which she could tell everyone noticed. However, It was for the better that it was so obvious. She doesn’t dare think about what if it was more subtle and they tried to leave her alone with him earlier.

How she wishes that Blue-haired freak NEVER put Gregory in her room. That stupid, gnawing feeling deep inside that made her want to do nothing but harm him. Of course she’s still upset with him and angry, but not to the point of what she did! Nothing can excuse that!

She’s seen how he’s getting along better with every other animatronic. That jealousy further fueled the flames of pushing her to the edge back then. That should have been HER attention! He should have apologized better and it would have all been blown over and he could have made it up to her by her being his favorite instead of the bear. But yet she also hated him so badly she wanted to kill him? Confusion upon trying to figure it out mixed in is just making her circuits try to snap.

She glances down at her nails. Sheer disgust seeing some crusted red on the tips. It is so obtrusive from the neon green that it’s impossible not to see every speck of it.

…She really should wash it off, but doesn’t wish to. Not yet. She should have been able to keep her emotions in better. Control whatever was messing with her system. She’s a full-on sentient animatronic; it should have had no power over her! This is her punishment. Maybe if she could have controlled it, she could have been his second favorite at least. Fat chance of that now.

She knows he probably never even wants to look at her again, just like how she felt that one day with those disturbing adults and older teens who kept looking at her in a way not even she wanted. The desperate need to be adored still courses through her but that was so not adoration. How ironic she, a wolf, felt like the one being preyed on.

She’s heard their crude jokes and seen their acts. It’s always haunted her and she’s always glad they’re not invited to family parties at the Pizza Plex very often. Of course many think she and the others aren’t sentient, so they couldn’t care less if she saw or not. Obviously she couldn’t ask to kick them out.

“It never gets easier, by the way.” She turns her head to see a certain gator leaning in the doorway to her green room. She was so focused on her nails that the sound of the door opening never registered. Exasperation slightly seeps in with all the other emotions going on at the moment.

Of course out of everyone they had to have the stupid gator be the one to still keep tabs on her. Why couldn’t it at least have been Chica? Now that whatever was remaining in her system is gone, he doesn’t need to be here.

But… If anyone were to understand, it would be him, wouldn’t it? Wow, never expected to feel a connection with the brutish gator.

She remembers the sadistic glee she used to feel thinking of that night when she saw his claws sink into the brat-

No, he should be named something else. Rascal? Eh, she’s got plenty of time to think about it (probably forever.)

Thankfully now (or not) that anger has turned into pity from her clarity remembering how scared he was. Why wouldn’t he be?? He literally almost died! More than once.

Fear… Just like how scared she was not being able to see at all. Fear, just like she felt when she realized Gregory wasn’t going to stop. COULDN’T stop.

She still can’t handle being very close to the track, which finally got fully fixed like a week ago. Ugh, if she could stop relating to this junk that would be great.

Roxy looks at her nails again, wanting to change their color from the green. Would white be a good change?

“So what? At least I can paint mine to be different!”

“And what of it? It’s still you that did it. Just like mine are a newly made pair of claws. It doesn’t change anything. I still see it. Still remember how I felt.

Roxy refuses to believe that. It will change how she feels about her own nails because they’ll be a different color! Even then, so what? What’s the point? What’s done is done, and no matter what it can’t be taken back.

“What does it even matter!? Not like I’m going to be able to see him again! YOU can because you were controlled. You could be forgiven! But me? ME? I could have stopped myself! Could have fought harder against what was telling me to do it! It wasn’t what that thing was before!”

“...No, it wasn’t your fault, and deep down you know it. We may have not known each other long before the virus took over, but I know ya. Sure, you’re even more full of yourself than me, but you’d never harm a kid. Not willingly. Or uh.. unless they stuck gum in your hair again. Think your yellin’ scared the snot out of them though.”

Roxy growls of just the thought of gum getting in her hair again. It was made a rule that if a kid wants to be up close to Roxy, they CAN’T HAVE GUM.

But that family still made her apologize to the brat. Now THAT was a brat. Sure, some of the quips Gregory said that night were brat-like, but survival (and adrenaline) are powerful things.

Roxy also won’t admit she’s smug that he already knew her that well. Of course her perfect image would have to be well known!

But, back to the topic at hand, or claws. Gregory. “Even then, I still don’t get what you’re here for or what you want. Wouldn’t doubt that bra- Rascal would refuse to be even on the same side of the pizza plex as me.”

“Vanessa and that Attendant thing- Sun and Moon talked it out and want you to be able to apologize to Gregory. Only he can decide whether to accept it or not.”

Roxy scoffs. Yeah like that can happen. She has been given strict instructions where she wasn’t supposed to go anywhere near Gregory. She’s guessing that’s increased tenfold now even though obviously the remnant of the virus is no more.

“Yeah right. Like I can, even if he would accept it.”

“Why else d’you think I’m here?”

That surprises her. He's really here to help with that? So an escort? What is this, jail now? Well, guess it is deserved.

But even then, Roxy isn't so sure she wants to see him. Utter humiliation is hard to swallow.

At least Monty's scars on him are covered. But the face can't be covered. It's one of the first things that are looked at to judge a person. Which is why she always takes so much care of it.

Maybe she can help hide them by teaching him how to cover it with makeup? She once managed to hide a harsh scrape on Chica a few days before she could be repaired back then. A kid tossed a metal Roxy prize cup at her. But Gregory is different because his skin will have to scar first…

“...fine! Where are we meeting him?”

“The same place by Music Man.”

Roxy freezes.
“What? Was that dumb idea by you?? No way that’s gonna work out!”

Monty lets out a growl. “No, it wasn’t. Keep pushing like this, and I might just say the virus isn’t cleared yet. Ya wanna be locked in here longer?”

No. No, she really doesn’t. It’s gotten quite stuffy.

“Ugh, fine. Let’s get going then already.”

---------------------------------------------------------------

It doesn’t take long to get there. If Roxy is honest, she wishes it took longer. Maybe even forever.

Everyone is back, but this time Vanessa is there too. The Attendant- Moon- is out right now. Roxy mentally shivers thinking back on how much aggression Moon showed when she hurt Gregory. Very deserved, but still terrifying. Especially without the virus blocking off her other emotions now.

She looks over to Gregory. He’s sandwiched between Moon on the left and Monty who walks over and stands on the right.

Alright! She gets it! Do they seriously need to keep rubbing their distrust in??

Of course Gregory doesn’t even want to look at her either. He keeps looking off in every single direction (even towards Music Man) instead of at her. Would be more shocking if he did.

Roxy takes a moment to try to collect herself and wonders if she should just outright apologize, say something else first, or what.

Well, it’s going to need to happen sooner or later so she may as well just bite the bullet.

Roxy bends down to his level the best she can, still quite a distance away. “Listen ki-” probably not a good idea to call him “kid” anymore. “-Gregory, I’m sorry for how I acted before. I know you have no reason to forgive or forget what I’ve done, but someday I hope you can feel comfortable enough around me. Maybe even some day I can kick yours and Monty’s butts at Gator Golf.”

It stays silent for way too long, what has come too often by nobody moving an inch. It seemed like Monty wanted to retaliate on what she said, but kept his mouth shut with the glare Vanessa gave him.

Roxy knows she’s not the only one who still needs to change things. She looks up at Music Man. “Ey, big guy. You gotta apologize too, ya know?”

Music Man tilts his head at her.

“Don’t give me that. You may have been just doing your job, but you need to remember he was accidentally locked in after hours and was trying to leave. He’s also a ki- child! YOU nearly killed him as well.”

It takes a moment of Music Man to do anything. He lowers his head closer and lets out a few slow keynotes which is about the best they can do since they have no voice.

Gregory doesn’t know what to say. He wants to because the off feeling will probably stay in the Pizza Plex, and even if he doesn’t like being around her, he doesn’t want her stuck in her room all the time. He’d sure hate that.

“I… I-I think it will take a while first…”

What she’s thinking might be a stretch, but there’s almost no way to get lower at this point. “...Would it be more helpful if I painted my nails? I’ve been thinking about it. Hmm… how about brown like your hair?” Definitely not her first choice or color, but she’ll do it if he asked her to.

That gets his attention and he fully looks at her. Roxy has to try so hard not to react to the scabs. A harsh thought enters her mind if he’d feel better if she marred her face to look the same. Probably not.

His face crunches in disgust. “Brown nails? Ew. would look like you got poop on them.”

“Hm… You’re probably right. What about yellow like Vanessa’s hair?”

“Wha- Hey! Leave me out of this!”

“Aw, does someone want only them to have a specific color? And I thought Roxy was supposed to be the one full of herself.” Monty pipes in.

“I’m not that full of myself!”

“Keep tellin’ yourself that.”

Gregory is thinking about it. Maybe an opposite color, one that makes him feel safe. “What about bright blue like Freddy’s?”

Eh, Roxy’s not so sure of that. That’s kinda more his color combo. “Mm, I think I should go with something a little different, ya know? Let’s let Freddy keep his shine on that.”

“Then why not just match with your feet? Think I’ve seen some failed art around here somewhere they were purple instead of green… What stupid person did that anyways? You’re literally right in the same place!”

Roxy shrugs. “Beats me. Maybe they just wanted my hands to pop more than my feet. But yeah, that could work!”

Vanessa sighs. "I'll go get the paint later in my shift then. But I'm not helping put it on. You know I don't do that sort of work."

"Why not? It's quite hard for us animatronics to do it. Plus they're bigger so they should be easier than yours."

Vanessa crosses her arms. "My answer is still no. Why not get Sun to do it? He's probably got the most stable out of all of us."

Roxy slowly looks towards the Attendant. Not her first choice but it beats Freddy, Monty, Chica, or even herself trying to do it. Humiliation yet again having to ask other's for help for something that should be her own thing or by a kid who loves her. She can't believe she's about to say it.

"... Could you please help me with it?" wow it feels even more gross to say out loud.

Moon seems to mull it over before giving her a slow nod.

Gregory looks like he has a wild realization. "Wait, couldn't they just like... come off or something and drop them in the paint? would be so much easier if a person has to do it by hand."

Roxy shakes her head. "That won't work. Monty and I's are drilled into the hands. Was to cut some sort of cost since they kept falling out before. One time one of mine fell onto a child's pizza and they bit onto it. Obviously one is tougher than the other so it broke their tooth. They refused to give the nail back though. Said it was theirs fair and square."

Gregory wonders if he would have done the same if it was something of Freddy's if it happened to him. "Weird." He still can't help but not look at her, but does wonder what else about her is different. Even now she seems to not be even close to just liking herself as before. That alone makes him understand how she's been acting wasn't her. Maybe with time he'll start to like her. Will probably take a lot longer though with how much she's done to him he sees the red on her nails but something in him is just too tired to care at this point. If he was finally able to start liking even Monty, he doesn't see why EVENTUALLY he can like her too. He wonders if she'd let him touch her keytar.

It’s a start to a new beginning. Things won’t become perfect overnight, but it’s good it’s at least going forward. Freddy is so glad (almost) all his friends can be together again. And new ones with the bond with the Attendant! He's still worried, but as well hopes time will heal the worst. He feels like if Roxy never had the virus, she and Gregory would have already gotten quite close. Just seems like they would have to him.

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AN: Sorry short and simple chapter but I just couldn’t wait to give the news to everyone I’ll be working on this again. It’s been so long I have to relearn how to format lol

Chapter Text

Yet again the blue-haired man, which has the shiny nametag “Theo” is tirelessly working on the Attendant. The special parts he ordered to add the next step won’t come for a few days yet. By now he’s already gotten a good enough examination to know exactly how to install it on their face.

There is one raw emotion he's feeling more than anything though. Anger. Solid anger courses through him. Clearing out Roxy took a good half a day with how tightly bound and scrambled the edited virus mixed into her. It was fun honestly to figure out how to get it out, but that’s also not what he’s mad at. Maybe he’ll even thank Vanessa later for pushing him to do it. Pin in “MAYBE”.

It’s the damn Management. He thinks back to how scared Gregory was. How hard he fought to stay away, and only seemed to get worse the closer he got to Roxy. That really should have been a VERY CLEAR sign.

Yet he was told again and again before doing it that that type of behavior was normal for the kid. Big fat fucking lie! And to think more on it, why the hell DID they want to shove a damn virus back into an animatronic?? What if it shut them down for good? Roxy is such a popular one too, so it would have lost the company a shit ton of money. It did before with Bonnie, and not even he knows where the body of it is tossed in the place. He’s searched a bit since Bonnie was his favorite, and he misses bowling here. It was one of the only attractions that parents were much more willing to partake with their kids. It would be a dream come true if he could bring it back. The real one, not a damn copy. Even if he were to make a whole new one out one a discarded endoskeleton, it likely wouldn't fully form the same personality.

Maybe Freddy or Monty has a hint shoved deeper in their memories? Eh, he’ll figure that out later. He's got a lot more time to with the way things have been going.

Back to the previous thought of the kid- Gregory. Why does Management seem so intent on hurting a child? True, they pretty drastically destroyed the animatronics, but who wouldn’t do the same in his situation? If only his sister could have- NO. No thinking about that.

He shakes off the thought.

Well, if Management is so corrupt and made him unintentionally hurt a child… why can’t he even the odds a little bit?

There’s a board that’s supposed to document every change made so far given to Management as proof of what has been done. Fuck the board, there’s not going to be any added entries tonight. Or probably any ever extreme changes documented again. At this point he wouldn't put it behind that they're going to use that in the future for something.

Time to poke and prod more around the body and see what else might be in the Attendant that hasn't been found yet. Maybe something not on the blueprints. He wouldn’t doubt it with how unfavored the Attendant seems to be for some odd reason. That's another oddity. Why the hate for the one animatronic probably bringing in at least a fifth of the funds from so many busy parents?

He starts to search the pants and doesn’t find anything. Makes sense. If anything was there that shouldn’t be, it could pretty easily be damaged by their movements.

Maybe it’s because Sun was the only one unable to be fully affected by the virus? Management seemed quite obsessed with it when they first spoke about it with him. Their tone quickly changed though so back then he thought it was probably just his imagination. It sure as hell wasn’t.

Whatever. No use thinking about it now since it’s fully removed from all of the Animatronics. And the USBs used to take them out have been incinerated. It shouldn’t continue existing, even he knows the risks of that staying around and if someone found it.

Popping open the chestplate, a more thorough scan is being done. Maybe there’s something that was somehow missed when the “purring” box was installed. At least it’s still squeaky clean and very functional, so that’s good.

There’s a little glint of something black shoved deeply into the wires, barely visible. In one of the worst places too, as that area has some of the wires that make the whole Attendant function.

He grabs it, and very, VERY cautiously wiggles it gently to get it to come out and raises it to the bright light above.

… A small, black cylinder sandwiched between some of the most important wires?

The flashlight nearby was grabbed and shined onto the area the cylinder was at to get a better look.

Around the area there are some blackish marks on the coating of the wires, almost like it’s burnt. Why would this thing cause wires to be burnt? It was lodged well enough it wouldn’t rub on them, and even then those specific wires barely move, even when shifting between Sun and Moon.

He places it on the nearly empty tray next to the Attendant and also shines the flashlight on the cylinder with the headlight as well to examine it in the brightest lighting possible. There are several very small screws to open it.

Obviously he has to figure out what it is inside if it’s charring wires! He grabs his trusty favorite #000 screwdriver that obviously matches the blue of his hair. Man, it’s not the right one but just seeing a screwdriver makes him want to go watch The Mitchells vs The Machines again… Kind of why he likes to think of how sentient the animatronics are. Nevermind that!

It gets opened to be some sort of fairly large block battery inside. After pulling it out, there’s no brand on it, so it must be a DIY made one. Figures. With how badly made it is, it’s more like a DI WHY WOULD YOU USE THIS?? Barely put together well enough to even be a functional battery. It can’t be for seeing the Animatronic’s location. That's in a completely different part of the system. Then what?

Theo looks closer.

There’s a board on the inside surrounded by rubber that makes it seem remote controlled. With the way the cylinder looks and has the use of a battery, and nothing else it could be, it must be- no wonder the wires look the way they do! Oh, for fucks sake! Management could have completely damaged the whole animatronic beyond repair! One last shock of this power would have shut it down for good! Oh FUCK no.

No way even in Hell is he going to allow this thing to fry the Attendant beyond repair after all the work that has been done so far! And he’s finally almost got everything done!

After taking a second and facepalming so hard from missing it that there’s going to be a red spot later, he pops the battery out (which was surprisingly difficult) and screws it back closed, placing the battery and the device in separate, inside-out rubber gloves. Then ties them closed to make sure they don't fall out. Just in case either being faulty somehow has another partial electric charge in it. There’s a reason why these types of things are supposed to be made by specialists!

He’d rather not get electrocuted. Especially with the voltage it must have.

Someone can call him crazy, but it’s staying with him as a little trophy. As well to laugh at Management later when they try to do it again and it fails to work. Oh, he SO hopes he's there for that.

Hm, should Vanessa be told, maybe as some other sort of apology?...

Probably later. Now that he’s not drunk, it’s easy to see just how tired she is. And he can’t blame her either. Not with all the stuff happening, and admittedly him being some of the cause. Might be a bit hypocritical of him since he’s partially in the same boat, but not for the same reasons. It’s just his choice, she’s stuck with it.

Welp, better get the Attendant back sooner than later to the poor kid.

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Gregory is up in Sun and Moon’s room waiting for the day to end that seems to be taking forever. He doesn't bother checking his new fazwatch because every time he does it seems to make time go even slower.

Slightly peeking over and seeing Sun gives him relief he’s safe for now. And hopefully forever now.

Gregory is wary and vigilant of every single kid and adult that comes in while peeking over the structure. He’s glad heights aren’t a fear with how high it is. It’s actually become a rather favorite spot over time. It’s also kinda funny almost not a single kid or adult looked up this high. The few that did, didn’t get a very good look from him ducking back for a minute.

Every single screech or loud giggle snaps the creeping drowsiness from fully settling back in. The rather loud shrieks especially try to send his mind back to a time that would much rather be forgotten. The only difference being they're obviously joyful ones, not fearful ones.

A big part of him is growing quite envious of the kids so carefree and able to be happy, and able to make friends with each other. Every time he's tried in the past he was ignored or got threatened to be hurt. Or was hurt.

But another part is kinda… grossed out? Why is he grossed out by the other kids? Well they do seem to be a bit younger than him.

Whatever. It’s not his fault for whatever it is.

What he is more focused on though is the tiredness. He’s not sure if it’s his face healing or what, but being that has become pretty common again. Just when it was getting better too.

The times lately of falling asleep on Sun or Moon made sleep so much easier. That was the best he’s gotten since he can remember.

Could he… Would they let him sleep on them again? There is also the faint memory of hearing some sort of sound. Like that cat he got to pet at a previous home that seemed to only like him.

No, they probably wouldn’t allow it. It must have been a few time thing! Honestly, the sticky pain in his neck and shoulder for a day after was more than worth doing it again.

And the time with Moon had to just be Moon being protective after Roxy hurt him. No way they’d allow it again.

The want to still try again though is strongly there. It doesn’t matter which though. If he had to pick which, maybe Moon? He faintly remembers being even more comfy with sleeping then. Is it the naptime thing with him somehow? Would they do it if somehow he got Roxy to hurt him again?

… What is he even THINKING??? That’s a crazy idea! Not only that, but the virus isn’t there anymore so she wouldn’t do that! Even then, next time Moon would definitely kill her! Even after what she’s done, she doesn’t deserve to die!

Even then, she DID change her nails, which is cool. He couldn’t get himself to be very close but Sun seemed semi-okay with doing it. He could tell Sun was arguing with Moon probably the whole time. Been around them enough to already know when they're talking to each other in their head- or is it heads? Ugh no more thinking!

Gregory grows even more disgusted with himself at the thought, and the want to bother Sun and Moon more than he already seems to have to lately. Maybe he should just try again to sleep in the corner…

----------------------------------

Yet another day of the daycare being open but it’s a bit different today. Something feels... They're unsure of why, but missing from Sun and Moon. Neither can figure out what. As far as they can tell, everything is still on their body. It feels like relief, which also just raises their suspicion. Nothing seems to be different, so Theo couldn’t have done anything too serious.

They really don’t trust Theo now but it’s not exactly their choice to make in the matter. Even after everything he's still preferred over Roxy, especially to Moon at the moment.

It’s also hard to decide whether the thought screaming at them is them being selfish of wanting to keep Gregory in sight, or if it isn't selfish and they're truly just caring for him.

The part that makes them feel selfish is the need for Gregory to always be nearby lately, and giving Sun and Moon some sort of unexplainable emotional comfort. Then again can it really be selfish with everything that’s happened since he’s come? Every time he’s not near another bad thing seems to happen.

Today also has already been a rather bad day at the daycare. Even Sun's having a really rough time keeping steady with all the rather excessive amount of abnormally rowdy kids, and even a few returning children who have come during the past during the cursed virus. Those children still have some fear in their faces and tend to keep to each other more, not up and personal like the others. One of which is slightly older tried to pull the wires on the back of Sun’s head when he wasn’t looking.

Sun and Moon were stricken with straight fear when that happened, but the wires didn’t even budge. They’re locked down tight.

“At least that man did one thing right.”

“Those times are scary, leaving the kids alone…”

Before Moon could think of a response, a sudden, blood-curdling scream came from one of the children.

Sun and Moon go into an overdriven panic with flashes of some of the stuff they’ve had to do in the past resurfacing. Children screaming as Moon- no, NO! He can, he WILL-

The lights are still on and fully bright, but Moon takes over, coming out. The process being even faster than the time he ran off with Gregory from Roxy.

This time… This time the change hurt. Severely.Probably even worse then during the virus.

Moon doesn’t care. A part of Sun doesn’t either. Their robotic body shaking with anxiety that not even Sun ever had. Shaking? Why is he shaking? They shouldn’t be able to do that! They’re animatronics!

Doesn’t matter. What matters more is the kid. Moon whips his head around, scanning from where the scream came from.

The kid is… not in danger?

The child and the kids around them don't notice the animatronic behind them and they laugh together.

That eases him for a moment, but not for long as the daycare suddenly becomes deadly quiet the instant after.

All the children are now looking at him. All the children that have records of being at the daycare before have sheer panicked expressions. Moon can’t figure out why such an expression is aimed at him. Some were around before the virus and even some that came during it. Even during the virus, he wasn’t that mean to the kids then if it wasn’t after hours. At least that he can remember.

Is it because the lights are on but he’s still able to be out now? That has to be it!

The looks still feel awful though, even though it’s by children. Admittedly he’d like some physical contact right now. Maybe a hug or something. Not just Sun though, a physical body. Why does that seems like it would help beats him.

He lets Sun take back over. This time not hurting at all again.

The children stare for a few more moments that to Sun and Moon felt like years before they all continued playing.

The relief was immense for both of them.

Sun looks up to a rather worried Gregory peeking over the edge. However, he doesn’t stay peeking over long, before ducking to hide again when a child from across the room glances up to what Sun is looking at. He can feel Moon's rage rise upon the quick glance at the scars, before it's shoved back down.

Sun shakes his head. “Still as observant as ever.”

“Even more observant that you can be sometimes.”

“Wha- hey! Not my fault! Besides, I got you to help!”

“Which can still miss noticing things when you’re not looking in the right direction.”

A 5-year-old child comes running up giggling from another group of kids and grabs onto Sun’s pants, trying to yank them down. It doesn’t work. Doesn’t even lower an inch, leaving the child to stand there for a second in embarrassment instead before running off.

“Now where would they learn to do something like that?”

“Unrestricted internet. Or probably a cartoon. They do that in surprisingly many.”

“It’s dumb. How would that humiliation be funny??”

Another child, who just turned 4 a few days ago, tries to shove a crayon up their nose. Thankfully Sun manages to grab it from them just in time. “No, no! We don’t do that! Tell me, what DO we do with crayons instead?”

He cautiously gives it back to the child that looks like they’re about to cry. They look like they think for a moment, then go back to scribbling with the crayon on paper. No more tears threatening to spill.

“There ya go!”

“You’re awfully observant when it comes to them, but not much else in any other way. You’d be an awful guard if you needed to be.”

“That’s why YOU’RE the security guard, not me! Even then you can tell and remind me where and what to look out for!"

“We can work on that later. I wonder why we haven’t yet.”

“Guess we never thought about it somehow all these years?”

He feels Moon's agreement.

Another child screams but this time Sun and Moon make sure to look before going off the rails again. That forced change should be avoided at any cost if possible unless they both agree to it.

Yet again it’s just one being chased by another in the jungle gym.

“Today hasn’t even been half the day, yet I think this one is gonna be extra exhausting.”

“If they’re like this now, imagine what it will be like after naptime.”

Sun mentally shivers. Don’t get him wrong, obviously he loves kids, but even he can have his limits.

Another kid in the distance tries to climb up the bars of the jungle gym on the outside, and falls to the floor. Thankfully they weren’t that high, but it was still high enough that they’re now screaming and crying on the floor.

Yep. Gonna be a looong day.