Hint for chapter: Carrie remembers

I apologize for the last cipher, I guess I was a little loopy at the time I made it. *wry grin* It's been fixed, but here is the answer! Thanks to all those who are humoring me in my little game, and let's get this show on the road!

.o.0.o.

Phantom gets home and flinches as the anger Danny is emitting hits him like a brick wall. Sighing warily, he goes up to Danny's room and slowly opens the door, trying on a grin as he walks through.

"Hey honey, I'm home!" He says lamely.

Danny sits in the chair, still tied down, his eyes a solid gold as he scowls at the ghost prince. The dark aura intensifies as Danny said in a very low voice, "let. me. go. Phantom..."

Phantom feels sweat coming off him in bullets as, still trying to keep the smile, he approaches Danny in the same fashion you would a cobra in the wild. That is, if you were stupid.

Neither boy says anything for a moment as Phantom unties the glowing rope. Danny stands up and stretched himself out, shaking his legs a little to get some feeling back into them. He keeps his face carefully blank as he does this, but his normally sky blue eyes remain the angry, solid gold and the heavy energy never dissipates.

Phantom is just about to get the fuck out of dodge when a loud crack rings out and he is suddenly looking at the astronaut poster on the wall to his right. His cheek begins stinging and he slowly turns his head back to Danny, eyes wide as he isn't quite comprehending yet that his boyfriend had just slapped him.

Danny is still standing in front of him, glaring at him with his hand off to the side. Phantom puts a hand up to his burning cheek, thinking Danny may have used some of his power to reinforce it, usually just hitting him like that didn't do much.

"You left my body...tied up in phase proof rope...for six. hours. straight."

Phantom flinches at the still deceptively calm tone as Danny takes a step forward. The ghost instinctively takes a step back, this going on until Danny has backed him against the wall and gets up in his face.

"You. left. my. body. in a chair...with ghost proof rope...for six. hours." Danny repeats slowly as if talking to a small child, "do you realize, when I came back, my back was trying to lock up on me, and I had even thought for a moment I didn't have an ass! I actually thought my ass had fallen off never to be seen again!" He asks rhetorically, his voice rising a few octaves at the end.

Phantom snorts st the rediculous comment before he covers his mouth with his hands when Danny narrows his eyes, darkening to that solid black with white pupils.

"Let me get one thing straight Phantom, you are never, to do this again, and you will let me go to work tonight. If you go against me on this, or if you ever do something like what you did with me last night, we are through, and I'll be giving your parents a reason to declare war! Whatever you think I'll do to you to give them that reason, multiply that by ten!"

Danny has almost touched noses with Phantom at this point and the ghost seems to shrink down in the face of the raven's raised voice and now solid black eyes.

Danny pulls back and his eyes brighten to their familiar blue, but they are still sharp and cold as ice. He glowers at the cowering Phantom, arms crossed tightly over his chest as he stares the ghost down, "do we understand each other?" He says, his voice low again.

Phantom shook his head fiercely and gave a nervous smile, "Y-yes, love."

Danny gives him a sardonic smirk and points toward the door, "you're on the couch from now on princess, don't keep it waiting. Oh, and if my parents don't come up, your going to be the one making breakfast."

"Of course Wraith," Phantom says, sighing dejectedly as he quickly books it to the door.

"Love you Phantom," Danny calls out syrupy sweet, though there was some sincerity there despite his anger if you know Danny well enough and look hard for it. Phantom's lips twitch into a tired smile.

"Love you too Wraith."

.o.0.o.

She is sitting at one of the tables of Freddy Fazbear's, picking at her cake idly. She had already played all the games, the pizza was like cardboard with cheese and even if it is her birthday she isn't in the mood for cake even if it is the flavor that she likes to which this cake unfortunately isn't.

She sighs and gets up from her seat, pushing the plate away. She starts walking around again, and watches as the other children and their families play and interact with the robots. That was fine, but she wants to see something different. Her parents always gave lavish parties for her birthday, probably hoping that it would make up for them always working, but it isn't really that fantastic when the only people who would show up were the people they work with and their families. Their children are selfish and stuck up, she can't relate to them, but nobody else approaches her either unless they want something that her family's money can give them.

She wishes someone would want to play with her just for the sake of playing, sure she is a bit of a tomboy, but you'd think the boys would want to play with her at least right? Apparently not considering her lifestyle forces her to wear dresses and 'act like a lady'.

She watches as a white and pink robot fox gets torn apart by a bunch of kids and winces, feeling sympathetic towards the poor thing. At least she isn't like those kids, she is nine now, but even she can recognize a bunch of jerks when she sees them. Maybe she is better off alone, at least she wouldn't have to deal with the likes of them.

She tears her gaze away from the group and sees another group of kids circling the stage area. She smiles as she walks up and joins them, watching the blue bunny as he plays a red and white guitar. Now this is what she loves, she always wished she could learn how to play guitar, but her parents would never allow it. If they let her play an instrument it would probably be a violin or something equally snooty. She sighs as the show comes to an end, walking away as the crowd of children disperse.

"Psst!"

She jerks her head over to see a gold rabbit behind a purple curtain. The girl hesitantly approaches the bunny, wondering what on earth it could want.

"You like music little girl? The animatronic asks.

"I'm not allowed to talk to strangers," She replies warily as she brushes a strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Oh, but you talk to the other kids don't ya? And the animatronics, wouldn't those be strangers?"

She shrugs dubiously, "it's different."

The gold bunny chuckles, "very true, such a smart girl you are! And smart girls get a reward!"

She raises a brow, "what kinda reward?" The girl asks.

"There's a secret attraction behind this curtain that the pizzeria only lets special children into," it baits, "there are new animatronics, and lots of music! I'll show you, if you want."

She conemplates the offer for a moment. On the one hand, she knows better than to listen to strange things hiding behind curtains, but the idea of seeing something new in this place was tempting...

"Carolina! Where are you dear?" She hears her mother call out. The girl cringes and glares behind her.

"I keep telling them to call me Carrie," she hisses. the now dubbed Carrie hears her father's voice join in and she makes up her mind, "If it's a way to get me away from them for even a minute, I'll take it."

The rabbit nods and pulls the curtain back, "ladies first," it whispers cordially.

Carrie steps into the hallway behind the curtain and immediately feels uncomfortable again, "where's it at?" She wonders.

The animatronic chuckles quietly as it walks ahead of her, a strange gleam in its eye as it grins at her, "it's right this way."

They walk down the hall until they reach a point that Carrie can't even hear the people in the main area anymore. The yellow bunny opens a strange metal door and gestures into the room, "in here little miss."

At this point, Carrie has alarms going off in her head as a faint odor of copper and something rotting hits her nose. She whips around and tries to run back to the main room when she feels a pair of arms wrap around her. Carrie screams as the animatronic drags her into the room and slams the door behind them, muffling the screams of her struggles and death.

.o.0.o.

Sam is still screaming as she bolts up in her bed, hands flying to her chest and feeling goosebumps and chills running through her body.

She pants as she tries to get her bearings, her throat raw from screaming so much. Sam glances around her room and tries to get her bearings.

'It's okay,' she thinks as she takes several deep breaths, 'I'm not in a pizzeria being murdered by some crazy psycho, I'm in my nice, dark, depressing room, I'm perfectly safe.'

"Sam?" The goth tenses when the door opens, before she heaving a sigh of relief at the site of her grandma Ida. She gives the small woman a smile, "I'm alright, it's just a nightmare," she says, proud that she is able to keep her voice steady.

"Are you sure Buballa?" Ida inquires, frowning.

Sam keeps her fake smile as she nods, subtly gripping the sheets at her sides, "I'll be fine," she reassures, "sorry for scaring you grandma."

Ida gazes at her granddaughter for a bit before letting out her own sigh, "I can see you don't want to talk about it, but you know I'm always here to lend an ear when you're ready."

Sam's smile becomes more genuine, "I know; thanks Grandma."

Sam lays back down as Ida leaves, staring at the dark ceiling of her room.

'Was that really a nightmare? With everything that's going on it could have been,' Sam shiveres and huddles down in her blankets, clutched her chest as she still felt the searing pain of it being torn open, seeing that horrible grin behind her eyes. 'It felt so real though, is...is this what Danny and Wes went through? Why they were giving me those looks and and acting as weird as they did?'

She thinks back to Danny's behavior at the start of the week, how he was so vehement on still going back to the horror attraction in spite of the meltdown he had. More images flash in her mind and she buries her face in her pillows. Four corpses of children of various ages. A voice, that sounded like Lucy, whispering to her. Her time as Bonnie the Bunny, and how she ironically enough made friends with the others after her predicament when she never had friends when she was alive. They had bonded together with a common goal, and gotten to know each other and comfort each other in their pain.

Sam slips back into a fitful sleep, the new information still coming full force and whirling in her head.

.o.0.o.

A few blocks over, at the Foley household, a similar occurrence happens at the exact same time. Tucker bolts up in bed, hand immediately going to his throat as he swallows thickly.

"Just a dream," Tucker mutters to himself between gasps, "It was just a dream. All this stuff about Purple Man and shit is getting to me is all. Just a dream."

He gets up and heads downstairs to the kitchen, his mother meeting him at the bottom of the stairs, "Tucker, are you alright baby? You screamed pretty loud." She says brow furrowed in worry.

Tucker grins, waving Sarah Foley off, "I'm fine Mom, just a really bad nightmare," he then frowns, registering what she said "and I didn't scream I yelled. Girls scream and I am not a girl." He says vehemently as he walks into the kitchen, getting a glass of water to sooth his raw throat.

Sarah rolls her eyes, "whatever you say dear," she follows behind him and gives her son a concerned glance as she sits back down at the table, "that must've been some nightmare though, do you you want to talk about it?"

Tucker thinks about telling her, but when he tries to remember what it was his mind draws a blank, "sorry mom, I forgot what it was about; couldn't tell if I wanted to."

Tucker shrugs, thinking if he can't remember it, it probably wasn't important.

"Alright, but if you happen to remember anything let me know. If it was bad enough to make you yell like that, it must've been something important."

Tucker nods off-handedly, thanking her before he goes up to his room to get more sleep. Something tells him to be ready for tonight.

.o.0.o.

Lucy grins as she feels one of her friends appear. Then frowns when another, Charlie she senses, gives a kind of blip before disappearing again, making her huff in annoyance.

'And I thought Max and Nathan where stubborn' She muses before the smile returns, 'at least Carrie came back, it's nice not to be the only girl again.'

{"Don't think you've won yet Marionette,"} Springtrap tells her telepathically, {"my strength is returning to me, soon I'll be able to succeed you and get to those kids again."}

Lucy grins savagely, {"their powers are returning as well, faster than I'll bet you expected Purple Man; and they have the Prince of Ghosts with them."}

{"Bah! The Prince of Ghosts will never get the chance! It will warm my servos and circuits when I hear their fresh screams again.}

Laughter rings throughout the halls, {"the prince will do nothing but watch as I tear them apart and leave them as the broken machines they should have stayed."}

Lucy sniffs, "you're underestimating them," she says, out loud this time as she grins to herself, "especially your own son. He was the first to be made after me; and he'll be the one to end this story of blood."

{"True, but he is still weak without his suit, now isn't he?"} Came the smug reply, {"he may have chased me into my suit with that infernal screeching of his, but I always had the upper hand before; that child always feared me."}

{"And you're sure of that now?"}

A low chuckle rings out through the halls, {"He always feared me, I was the one who damaged his precious suit. He only stood up to me because he had you and the others with him. Alone he is nothing."}

The building goes silent once more.

Lucy floats in the middle of the party room, a grim look on her face, "if he were alone I would agree with you, but he is nor has he ever been truly alone," she smirks.

"And he's almost as old as I am, do not think he is weak murderer. You'll see..."

"For this game will soon come to an end..."

.o.0.o.

Hint for next chapter:

13 9 11 5 25 - 1 14 4 - 20 21 3 11 5 18 - 7 5 20 - 16 9 19 19 5 4