Just Six Hours
Summary: Halloween fic. With the crew in need for extra credits they will just about do anything for a job. A man approaches them and asks them if they can cover his night guard shift at a family restaurant. Easy enough right? So Hera dictates that Ezra and Kanan should be able to handle it.
"Ezra, Kanan, get in here." Hera called from the common room.
"What do you think that's about?" Ezra asked Kanan as they broke out of their meditation.
"I don't know," Kanan answered. "I guess we have to go find out."
Ezra handed Kanan his mask as they got up and headed to where Hera was.
"What's wrong?" Ezra asked as he and Kanan entered the common room.
"I've got a job for you two." Hera explained. "Someone approached us and asked us if someone could cover his shift. He'll pay us 120 credits so we can't refuse it."
"Okay," Kanan responded. "What's the job?"
"Night guard at a family restaurant," Hera answered. "Midnight till six in the morning."
"Six hours of watching an empty restaurant for 120 credits?" Ezra asked. "Easy."
"Well get going you two." Hera dismissed. "The Phantom is already programmed with the coordinates."
Kanan and Ezra headed towards the back to take the new Phantom to their destination.
"What exactly would we be guarding in a restaurant?" Ezra asked as the Phantom drew closer to the restaurant.
"Probably just making sure no one breaks in and tries to steal anything." Kanan answered.
There was a man waiting outside the restaurant for them. "Are my replacements for the night?"
"Yes," Ezra replied. "I'm Ezra, and this is Kanan."
"Mike," the person introduced. "I'll let you in and lock up after I lead you to the guard room."
"Lead the way." Kanan responded.
"So what exactly are we doing?" Ezra asked.
"Oh, there's a message on the answering machine explaining everything." Mike answered. "The manager will pay you guys in the morning."
Mike led them into the guard office. There were two doors leading out into two separate hall ways. There was a window by each door.
"Here is where you can watch the cameras," Mike said handing Kanan a holopad. "Thank you so much for helping, something came up.'
"No problem," Ezra reassured. "How hard can it be?"
Mike gave a nervous laugh, "Well I must be going. I'll turn the lights off on my way out." Mike left the room.
"He sounded nervous about something," Kanan said.
"He's probably just busy tonight." Ezra brushed off. "Do you want me to handle the holopad."
"Doesn't do me any good." Kanan smiled, handing his Padawan the devise.
"Now where is that answering machine?" Ezra muttered. He eventually found it and played the message.
"Hello?" Mike's voice came through the machine. "So I wanted to record a message for you, to help you get settled for the shift. I actually have worked in that office for a while. I know it might seem over-whelming, but there isn't anything to worry about. First I got to read this introduction thing from the company, legally you know, 'Welcome to Freddy Fazbear's Pizza, a magical place for kids and grownups alike. Where fun and fantasy come to life.' Blah blah blah, I know. Listen there's nothing to worry about."
"He's saying that a lot." Kanan pointed out.
The message continued, "The animatronics characters here do get a bit weird at night, but do I blame them? No. If I were forced to sing the same stupid songs for 20 some years I would probably be a bit irritable at night too."
"Wait, the animatronics are sentient?" Ezra asked.
"But remember, these characters hold a special place in the hearts of children." Mike's messaged continued. "Show them some respect. Be aware that the characters tend to wander about after hours to keep the motors from locking up if they are turned off for too long. Now concerning your safety: the only real risk for you, if any, is if the character happen to see you after hours probably won't recognize you as person, but as a endoskeleton without its suit on. Now that's against the rules here, they'll probably try to stuff you inside a suit."
"WHAT!" Ezra yelled.
"Now that wouldn't be too bad, if it wasn't for the fact that the suit is filled with crossbeams and wires, especially around the face. So you can imagine having your head shoved in one of those wouldn't end to well. Anyways you should be fine, the manager will get you in the morning and you can go home. Thanks, bye." Mike's message ended.
"Kanan, these things are going to try to kill us." Ezra said.
"Just try to stay calm." Kanan soothed. "We just have to last 6 hours. At 6 in the morning we'll be free."
Ezra looked through the cameras. "There seems to be 10 cameras, and it seems right now the animatronics are all on stage. There're four of them: a bear, a chicken, a rabbit, and a fox."
"Just check the camera's every so often to see where they went. They're on the other side of the building right?" Kanan instructed.
"Yeah," Ezra confirmed. He looked back down on the holopad. "Uh-oh."
"What? Are they moving?" Kanan asked.
"Not yet." Ezra answered. "But we have a limited amount of power and using the cameras cost power."
"Well only check every so often." Kanan advised.
"Okay," Ezra replied. He looked around the room. By each door there were two buttons, after testing them he found that one closed the door and one flashed the hall light.
"We're going to be fine Ezra." Kanan reassured, feeling his Padawan's unease.
"Yeah," Ezra agreed. He checked the time, 12:50. He looked at the camera. "Oh-uh, Kanan."
"What?" Kanan asked.
"The chicken is in the dining hall, and the fox is in pirate's cove." Ezra replied anxiously.
"Relax, that's still across the building." Kanan calmed.
"How can you be so calm about this?" Ezra asked.
Kanan didn't have an answer for that.
Ezra checked the time a while later, 1:15. He checked the cameras.
"Karabast!" Ezra yelled and ran to the east doorway and closed the door.
"What's wrong?" Kanan asked.
"It's the rabbit!" Ezra explained. "It's in the hallway."
"Is it still there?" Kanan asked.
Ezra flicked the lights button and found the silhouette of the animatronic looking through the window. "Yes,"
"Then we'll keep the door closed for a while longer." Kanan reasoned.
Ezra looked down at the power, 85% and dropping. "I think having the doors close cost power. How does that make any sense?"
"Well we won't keep it closed forever." Kanan replied. "Just wait for it to leave."
Ezra checked the cameras to see where the others were. Thankfully they were all on the far side of the building, but unthankfully, the rabbit was still waiting outside.
"Kanan," Ezra softly said.
"Don't worry kid, we'll be alright." Kanan reassured.
"I hope you're right." Ezra replied.
At about 1:45 Ezra checked the cameras again. It seemed that the rabbit had lost interest in them. Both hallways were clear, so he opened the door so it would stop draining power.
"Where are they?" Kanan asked.
"One is on stage, one backstage, one in pirate's cove and one in the dinning hall." Ezra listed.
"What time is it?" Kanan asked.
"2, we have four more hours." Ezra answered. "Power is at 75%. Do you think it's going to last?"
"Probably." Kanan answered.
Ezra checked the camera's at about 2:30. "AH!" Ezra screamed and ran to the east door way. He closed the door just in time.
"What happened?" Kanan asked.
"The fox can run." Ezra gasped. He went back to his seat to check the other cameras. "And the chicken is coming closer."
"Save power and wait till it's nearly here before you close the door." Kanan advised.
"How are you so level headed?" Ezra asked as he kept his eyes on the camera.
"Someone has to stay calm. Besides, you are panicked enough for both of us." Kanan answered.
"Oh ha ha ha." Ezra replied. "If you could see these things you would be creped out. They look so scary." He went over to the door as the chicken was only a few yards from it to close it.
With both doors closed the power was draining fast.
"Kanan, it's 3:45 and we only have 50% power left." Ezra informed.
"It's fine." Kanan replied. "See if you can open the doors."
Ezra checked the cameras. "I can open one, but that damn rabbit is guarding the other." He opened the door that the rabbit wasn't puppy guarding and returned to his seat.
"Are you getting tired?" Kanan asked.
"I'm too scared to be tired." Ezra replied. "I think I have too much adrenaline."
Fifteen minutes later the rabbit finally left so Ezra could open the other door.
The next hour was strangely quiet, too quite if you asked Ezra. None of the animatronics made any attempt to come close to the guard room, which was fine by them, as they only had about 30% power left.
"Do you think they gave up?" Ezra asked, checking the cameras trying to find where they were.
"I don't know." Kanan replied.
"Well it's 5, only one more hour." Ezra smiled, thinking they were out of the woods.
Boy was he wrong.
Ezra looked down on the cameras and found that the bear was slowly approaching the room.
Ezra ran to the door and closed it as the bear entered the hallway.
"It's okay, we're okay." Ezra muttered to himself. "The bear is outside the door." He explained, knowing that Kanan was going to ask.
He checked the cameras to keep an eye on the others, and found that the rabbit was closing in from the other side. He ran to the other side of the room and closed that door.
"We're surrounded." Ezra muttered, walking over to Kanan.
"Just keep watching," Kanan tried to reassure. "I'm sure they'll leave in a little bit. They didn't. And every minute the doors were closed, the power drained more and more.
20%
15%
Ezra checked the cameras but that damn bear and rabbit were still right outside the doors.
"Kanan," Ezra whined, "It's 5:35, and we have 10% power. Why does having the door close cost power?"
"It's going to be okay Ezra." Kanan reassured.
"No it's not." Ezra cried. "The power is going to run out and they'll get in and kill us."
5:45
7% power
Ezra flicked the lights for a second. Thankfully the rabbit had left but the bear was still there.
5:50
5% power
Ezra grabbed the clock and willed it to go fast, I anything it seemed to go slower.
4%
3%
5:55
2%
"Kanan,"
"It'll be alright," he responded, not sure if he entirely believed it himself.
5:58
1%
5:59
The lights went out in the guard room and the doors swung up as the power rang out.
"No, no, no, no."
As if it was taunting them the bears eyes lit up and started to play a light hearted jingle.
6:00 The clock finally read 6:00 and the bear was frozen in place outside the guard room.
Kanan and Ezra heard the front door being unlocked and the main lights started to turn on.
The man who must have been the manager came by and saw the two. He pushed the now frozen animatronic out of the way.
"So you are who covered for Mike?" the manager asked.
Kanan, sensing that his Padawan was in no fit state to replied, answered, "Yeah,"
"Well, here's your pay." the manager said handing Kanan the credits. He saw what state Ezra was in, a sort of mixture of pure terror, relief and shock. "Wait, how old is he?"
"17," Kanan answered.
"Kriff," he muttered. "I'll pay you 50 extra if you keep quite."
"About what?" Kanan asked, as he was handed the extra credits.
"We can't legally allow minors to work the guard shift as it messes with you mentally sometimes."
"Okay," Kanan replied, shocked to find that information. Being blind he thought it was just a joke at first, but at about 3 in the morning he realized his Padawan's terror was legit and that he wasn't just messing with him. But it was really that bad.
"Stay for a bit longer if you need time to calm him down," the manager said and walked off, Kanan assumed to put the animatronics back in place.
All the built up stress, terror and anxiety finally flooded out of Ezra. He started sobbing. Kanan opened his arms and he had his breath knocked out of him as Ezra practically dove into his hold.
"It's okay. It's over now." Kanan soothed, hugging Ezra and soothingly rubbing his back.
"I was so scared," Ezra managed to choke out as he sobbed.
"I know, it's okay now. It's all over." Kanan reassured. "They won't get to you ever again."
Kanan held Ezra as he sobbed, and he didn't blame the teen. He had just been through 6 hours of pure terror. That's all it took. Just six hours.