Yo! Hi, hi! Crazy again with the second chapter! Ryan and I decided that the chapters will be alternating nights or even some of Hiro's backstory! Not many details now, just enjoy!
Disclaimer: None of the recognizable BH6 characters nor FNAF stuff nor references belong to us!
"Whew! Spooky," Crazy said as she leaned back in her chair. The recording on the phone droned on as she looked through the cameras. "Moving animatronics at night, eh? Who the heck came up with that idea?" Adjusting her hat, she listened closely to the tune of the music box. It was one of her favorite songs that she couldn't get enough of. At least she can enjoy this to pass the time. "Wind up every now and then, huh?"
"Hello?" A small voice called out. Instantly, Crazy pulled on her mask and waited until the voice went away but it never did. "You can't fool me. I'm not that stupid." She didn't move, not once. "I need help, please. I lost my older brother."
"Eh?" Crazy looked through the eyes of the mask and saw a boy standing there. He was even transparent! "They never said anything about holograms," she said mostly to herself. She wouldn't remove the mask, as she had heard about the face recognition mechanic in the animatronics.
"Can you help me? Tadashi said that if I get lost, I have to stay with a trustworthy adult and he'll find me." The boy crawled under her desk as if he needed to hide. "I know you don't trust me. It's understandable, everyone here went crazy and they're trying to kill you, huh?"
Crazy raised an eyebrow. First of all, she was starting to become positive that this boy is no hologram. Second, how did he know the animatronics were nuts? "Slow down, kid. What are you..." she trailed off when she heard the music box stop. "Shoot shoot shoot!" She pulled up a camera and started to wind it up, trying not to look at the creepy animatronic peeking out of its box.
The boy stared at her for a bit and when he was sure that she was going to be alright, he spoke again. "Dashi told me to stay with a trustworthy adult..." She refused to take her eyes off the cameras, but she did make gestures that she was listening. "You can talk to me, can't you?"
"I am talking to you right now, aren't I?" Crazy replied as she wound up the music box some more. She checked the vents and hallway quickly before looking at the boy. "So, your brother, Dashi, is supposed to pick you up? I don't know if he can do that if you're a... hologram?"
"I'm not a hologram," he growled, looking rather insulted. "I'm part of some supernatural crap that's going on around here."
That sounded strangely like Ryan, Crazy thought to herself. At the age of 12, he liked to say, "There's some supernatural shit goin' on" all the time. It got annoying sometimes.
Well, at least the guard was now sure she was talking to no hologram. "Okay, so you're a ghost, probably. Isn't it difficult to wait for your brother then?" she asked, just now realizing that she was unnaturally... not cheerful. Well, it was a bit difficult to be cheerful in this spookiness. And among strangers. "I'm not really sure what to tell you, uh..."
"Tadashi is here," he said. "I know he is. There wouldn't be any other reason why I'm trapped here. He's here somewhere and I need help finding him." Crazy wasn't too sure if that was the best idea for about two reasons: one, this kid could have been dead for centuries; and two, if his brother was here, it was a wonder how he didn't find him already.
"As much as I'd like to help, kid, I can't leave this post," Crazy tried to explain. She quickly checked the hallway and shined some lights on the old fox bot, causing it to go away. Then she checked the vents. Empty. Good. "Besides, we hardly know each other. How do you know I'm not some insane-o person? I mean, they don't call me Crazy for nothing."
"You do realize by 'they', I know you mean your family, right?" the ghost asked, raising a brow at her. "Your fellow employee buddies call you Kerry." Was he active all day?
Crazy wasn't sure if she should be creeped out. This kid was pretty observant, but it's probably to be expected of a trapped ghost. "Well, it ain't fair if you know my name and I don't know yours," she said, smirking a bit. "What's your name?" She quickly checked the vents and hallways and then pulled up the screen to wind up the music box again.
The spirit crossed his legs and smiled. "I'm Hiro. Hiro Hamada." Crazy nodded her acknowledgement and set the cameras down to check the vents and hall. "So do you have any siblings at home? You know about Tadashi, kinda."
Pulling up the screen to wind up the music box again, she couldn't help but shiver at the puppet that was still there. "Yeah, I got two younger brothers: Max and Ryan." She checked the hallways and vents again. Unsure of what else to say, she decided to change the topic just a bit. "Were you and Tadashi close?"
Hiro didn't say anything, but his silence revealed all to her. "What about you and your brothers?" he asked, trying to avoid answering the question he unwittingly did answer. "You seem fond of them, at least a little."
With a smile, Crazy leaned back against her seat. "Sort of. Ever since they went to college, we've grown apart a bit," she admitted. "Well, that's the case with me and Max. Ryan's still my little buddy!" Of course, her brother would be flustered and sputtering denial if he heard her say that. "Part of the reason I took this job was to help him pay for college. Don't tell him I said that, though. He'd probably return all the money to me!"
The spirit had to smile a little. "What college is Ryan going to right now?" he questioned. "Is he struggling in college? What about Max? Where's he going? is he also struggling? Are you guys still close at least? Do you and Ryan still talk daily? Is he living in dorms or is he living at home?" Crazy almost had to ask him to stop with the questions. Luckily, he quieted down when he realized he was asking a bit too much. "Sorry."
"It's alright." Wind up the music box, check, then speak. "Ryan's going to the San Fransokyo Writing Institute nearby, and he's doing real well. Max is in CA Long Berlin, I don't know how he's doing. Both live in the dorms and Ryan and I still text daily," she answered in order. "Now that that's out of the way, and we know each other a bit, I guess that makes us friends... sort of."
"Ye, friends," Hiro cheered. "Dead boy makes progress on night one!" Crazy chuckled at that. This ghost is excitable like a little kid it seems. "Stop laughing. This is amazing. No one likes talking to me as you're the only one. Let the dead one have his happy moment."
"Sure, sure," she said as she playfully rolled her eyes. She quickly wound up the music box and checked everything before speaking once more. "Feels nice to finally have someone to talk to, huh? It sure gets real boring and creepy around here when you're alone."
"Well it's not technically lonely, here... I mean you have the animatronics that are always out to get to you but it's not that bad." Was that... sarcasm? "Sure, they want to kill you, but they're not bad, just seriously fuuuuu—messed up in a certain way."
"You can drop the tone, little guy," the night guard said with a bit of annoyance. Suddenly, she spotted one of the animatronics in the room: a faceless rabbit. "Oh shoot!" She scrambled for the mask. "Don't recognize my face, don't recognize my face." It eventually wandered away, though it did look back at her. "I wonder why I can't just leave the mask on and operate all the same." Pulling up the screen, she found that she couldn't see anything. The empty mask-head was too big. "Oh, that's why."
"Yeah, they thought it would be cool to make these suits really fat. It sucks, doesn't it? I mean, you could always hold up the camera really high to see it, but that would hurt your arms a lot." Noticing that he was still under the desk, he crawled out and suddenly began to wonder how she could reach the mask if it seemed so far from arm's reach. "So are you secretly Slenderman? How do you reach that far back for a bear head?"
Crazy hadn't wondered, actually. She didn't know the mask was that far away. "Long arms, I guess," she answered, reaching for the head and pulling at it. "Yep. That seems to be it." She wound up the music box again. "That darn puppet just won't go back to its box!" It seemed to be mocking her. "I wonder why only this song affects this one at night, though. I've heard other songs play and yet they don't work when used."
This reminded Hiro of Tadashi. When he had a hard time sleeping, he'd always listen to that song's music box version at night so he could sleep. It really worked with his older brother. Should he tell Crazy?
... No.
"I dunno. Maybe this song is just really soothing. Even I want to sleep to it right now. I'm surprised that you're not tired yet."
The guard shrugged and hummed to the tune. "Sleepless nights in university has that effect," she simply answered. "Besides, I like talking to people. I can stay up an entire day if I'm in a good enough conversation. Or if I'm lonely enough. It's pretty lonely here, more so with the scare factor." Check the vents and hallway, then check the cameras. "Do ghosts even feel tired? You're apparently up and awake all day." Well, then again, it's not like ghosts needed to sleep.
"Just because we're always active, it doesn't mean that we're never tired, you know," Hiro said, huffing. "I just want to curl up into a ball and sleep, but it sucks being a ghost. Can't ever get any sleep around here anyways, so it just adds more to the exhaustion." He looked distressed, almost lonely, even though he was talking to someone right now. "And I hate the fact that these things never leave the security guards alone. Seriously, if they're angry spirits, they should take it out on the other messed up spirits here, not people who just need the money. Not only does the screaming cause a ruckus, it's gory and disgusting."
"Angry spirits would make much more sense than malfunction." What kind of program would cause robots to stuff people in deadly suits, anyway? It was a wonder why no one had this restaurant shut down. "Anyway, if you're tired, maybe I can help you sleep. I can pull up some song lyrics and sing you a lullaby." After making sure she was in the clear, she pulled out her phone. "My voice might not be all that soothing, but I can give it a try."
"I've tried countless times before to fall asleep, but I can't do it. I haven't actually slept in ten years and I don't think one song is just going to have me knock out just like that. I used to wonder how a ghost would feel as... well... as a ghost, but now I'm sure it's not as cool as I imagined." That shouldn't have been much a surprise. Aside from wailing at night, or so everyone thinks that do, it must suck, not being able to sleep. And it must seriously sucked to have been stuck in this place for ten years. Now if it were ten thousand, he'd probably have a crick in his neck.
Unsure of what else to say, Crazy just looked at the cameras and hummed. All the animatronics were away from the office, at least. "Well, you were alone all this time. How do you know someone else's singing won't work?" she asked as she wound up the music box again. "Just give it a try. You can even sing along if you like."
Hiro sat next to the chair and sighed. Fine, if she was going to be like that, might as well just "give it a try" like she told him to. She sounded like Tadashi. "Fine. We'll try it. I just hope you don't sound like a banshee. Those things have the worst singing voices..." With that, he tried closing his eyes and he listened in for any kind of music.
With a slightly triumphant smile, Crazy pulled out her phone for the lyrics and pinpointed where the music box was in song duration. "When you're lost and need a friend, you can just call on my name." There was that nostalgic feel, though she never recalled singing to her brothers. Was this what it would have been like? "You can count on me, I will be right there for you." Needing to multitask, she eyed the hallway and everything else warily, then wound up the music box some more.
Hiro didn't sing along at first. He never sang along to this song. He could have sworn he heard Tadashi somewhere during the song. He really missed his brother. He really, really missed his brother. "I'm not alone," he sang quietly. "You are by my side." Yeah, right. He'd been alone for ten years and Tadashi never came for him. He should have been twenty-nine by now or maybe thirty. Or was he dead? No, with proper diet and exercise, he should have lived a long life.
The night guard trailed off when she noticed the ghost was only getting sad. "Hiro? You okay?" she asked worriedly. "Maybe this song wasn't such a good idea."
He shook his head. "No, no, it's okay. Keep singing, please," he requested, though his expression never went away. "You remind me of my brother, that's all." He tried to give her his full attention, but his thoughts went away. Now that he thought of it, how could he expect Tadashi to come back for him, a ghost? People don't normally try to help ghosts. Tadashi might be the last to do so, as the idea of a spirit after life was so unscientific…
Maybe Fred would suggest ghost saving, but he would be the last person anyone would listen to. In any case, Tadashi would only be trying to find his murderer. Yes, murderer. He could still remember how he died and it wasn't pleasant.
"Nii-chan," Hiro mumbled. "Anata ga inakute sabishii desu."
Crazy tilted her head at the unfamiliar language. "What did you just say? A request to your brother?" She checked the time to see how much longer her shift should last. Only an hour and a half now. "Cheer up, Hiro. I'm sure your brother will come for you one way or another." Was she sure? She was the first to doubt Hiro's resolve to wait. It seems they switched hope and doubt.
The ghost said nothing more and just curled up again. Lonely, he was lonely... When will Tadashi come? When will he be able to move on? What cruel joke was it that he had to stay here! "Nii-chan..."
If she could hug him, Crazy probably would have. It might be an awkward hug, because she wasn't good with hugs in general, but all the same... Then an idea struck. "Hey, Hiro, have you ever wanted a sister?"
Hiro looked up at her with the same sad expression. "I never really thought about having a sister," he admitted. "Why?" Was she going to give him a little sister somehow? Oh god, please don't let her be on pregnancy stage one... Then she'll have the mood swings and it'll be scarier than the animatronics! If this was an anime, he definitely would have had the sweat drop and the empty, white circles.
Crazy just grinned widely. "How about this? As scary as this job is, I'll stay until your brother picks you up, no matter how long that will take!" she declared. "Until Tadashi comes, I'll be your onee-chan!"