Errands. The psycho hybrid wanted me for errands.

It was hard, pushing my theory about Michael and Circus Baby to the back of my mind, but I had more to focus on right now. I didn't know if it was true or not, so it was best not to think about it.

Making my way back outside of her inner sanctum, a wooden beam fell down across the path that led me back through the cut me door closed behind me, and I backed away to look up at the large Marie head. "I'll make this simple. Look for valve panels. Turn the little wheels. Then bring me their power cores," Marie instructed over the is she talking to me like I'm five? "Please don't make me regret sparing you, child. I can always change my mind."

"Yes, ma'am," I responded. Looking at the capsule beside me, I saw Alice had sent up a plunger. Why this? How does a plunger help turn wheels? Wouldn't a-a wrench, or another tool be more useful?Whatever. Best not to complain. I laid the pipe down, and picked the new weapon. "Toilets don't stand a chance against me." Time to go to work.

"There are so few rules to our world now. So little truths." Marie's voice flowed through the room as I made my way upstairs. "But there is one rule we all know and respect down here."

"Rule?" I opened a door, and froze as Marie's next words sunk in.

"Beware the Ink Demon."

"… crud."

"Stay out in the open for too long and she will find you. For if you see her, you'd better hide."

"Double crud!" I whacked the plunger against the wall in frustration.

"If you don't, well, I enjoyed our date." So if I live or die, she doesn't really care. Perfect! "Now, let us begin our work." Moving through into the next room, I began ascending the staircase beside sucks. Why did dad have to be an animator? Why couldn't he work as a mattress salesman or-aw, heck no!I jumped back as an ink monster, one of the blobs like I saw in the music department, lunged at me.

"They've gotten faster!?" I shrieked, banging it across the head until it broke apart. "How is THAT fair!?" Next floor! Running up to the next landing, I blinked at the couch with a Freddy's plush on the table. "... you're coming with me!"

With the toy tucked in my vest pocket, I continued upwards, killing another monster along the way. "Split path. Up the stairs, or down the inky hallway?" I walked forward. "Or down the other path behind the stairs?" This seemed more promising.

The door creaked open, and I frowned at the messages written on the wall. "I don't want to work here anymore." Sounds like something Wally would write. "She will set us free" was just farther down the hall, making me sidestep into the room away so my line of sight was anywhere but there. "So, floor P." I chimed in on the punch machine, and looked at the elevator shaft behind me. "Guess I've got no choice but to head further in."

I walked towards where the other writing was, but I stopped in the middle of the room. "Was there… something in there?" My head turned to the right, and I jumped back in alarm. Another one of those beasts like the one Marie was torturing was laid out on a table in the room. "Yeesh!" Grimacing, I walked down the hall again, snapping a monster's head backwards with a well-aimed blow. "Is it a bad thing I'm getting so good at this?"

Right turn and open the door… it's gone. Monster's gone. Where'd it go? I shuffled over to the table, and waved the plunger over it. "It's not invisible," I noted. "So… where is it?" It couldn't have gotten out of here so easily. The windows were cracked, but they weren't shattered.

"… next room!" Ain't staying in here! Running to the room on the far left, I opened the door only to have another blob lunge at me. "Whoa!" Its claws managed to rip at my vest, placing four long skinny holes on the side. "This was my good vest!" Death befell it not long after that, and I continued wandering around.

"Now, am I just gonna keep walking around aimlessly, or am I finally gonna run into-the pipes!" Yes! Finally! Running over to the three valves, I put the plunger under my arm and began adjusting the ink level of each one. The hatch beside them popped open, letting me take the part from inside. "One down. Three left. I wonder if I can bring up the elevator."

It would save so much time, instead of taking the stairs. "Boop!" Pressing the button, I watched the large machine slowly move up through the building. Once it reached me, the gate opened, and Freddy smiled at me. "Freddy!" Running in, I gave the cartoon a hug. "There you are! I was so worried that something took you!" I let go, and put my hands on my hips. "You know, it would've been a good thing to let me know about Alice!"

Freddy frowned, and gave me a puppy eyed look. If he could make noise, I'm sure he'd be whining looks so adorable!"I'm sorry, Freddy. It's just… I'm under a lot of stress right now," He nodded, and I reached behind me to press the button to take me to the next floor, and we began moving again. "Freddy? Is… Circus Baby a good person?"

Freddy seemed conflicted with my answer, so I shrugged it off. "It's alright. I'm sure I'll get the answer eventually." The machine came to a halt, and I stepped out as the door closed behind me. "I'll be safe, Freddy. Just… don't get killed." Boris nodded, and I began moving forward.

Level 11. I patted the toy Freddy's head, and looked around, and whacked another ink monster's head off. Opening the door to the right, I turned down a blocked hall to find a radio beside an old bass drum and a row of cellos. "Wonder what song this plays." It had a catchy beat to it, like a swing. Creepier than the other songs I've heard so far, but not bad. "What a random encounter."

I climbed the stairs behind me, and was about to make another turn until I heard growling behind me. "What the-AH!" Some deformed ink monster, like the one Alice was torturing had crept up behind me. It must have been another Butcher Gang member. It had some weird mechanical arm, and it kept firing forward, trying to knock me out. "Aahhh!" It took four hits for it to finally go down.

Thankfully, its arms were too short to reach me and it had no weapon, but that didn't stop it from flinging its head at me. Panting, I glanced up the stairs before shaking my head. "You know, I think I'm gonna explore downstairs some more. Not like I'm scared or anything."

I wasn't. Nope, not one bit… don't judge me.

Heading back through the door. I moved to the end of the hall and found a Circus Baby's cutout beside a small river of ink. "Yes! More valves!" With the plunger under my arm, I cranked the wheels until the flow was equal again, and grabbed the part from the box. "Two more. Oh, I hope she doesn't have many errands for me to do."

At least the ink only went to my knees and not my waist. Wadding through down the hall, I almost turned the corner until a bright flash had me scrambling behind two barrels. It was… tall and inky.

Like William was, but it had no head. It's entire top was a flickering projector. Crawling back onto the dry floorboards, I crept to the window and peered nervously at it. It had something attached to its back, but its shadowy form made it almost impossible to see. It moved out of my field of vision, and I heard a door slam. "Ain't going after that thing. Nope!"

The… Projectionist. The thing deserved some title. "Making my way downtown, walking fast." I marched back to the elevator, and hit the K button. "Probably gonna walk faster," I mused.

"Have you met her?" Marie spoke, the first time since I had left her area. "The Ink Demon? They say she hears everything." Not surprising. If it was her, he would've heard… all of my comments to the cutout. So if she DID give me the rag... why? "Every creak of the floor. Every rustle of paper." "Whoa!" I launched the plunger at the Butcher Gang monster, it's head dangling from a pole jutting out from its body. "I wouldn't run so fast if I were you. You never know what will draw her in."

I don't like this. I don't like this at ALL. Making my path up the stairs, I smirked as I ended up knocking the ink blob off the balcony, making it explode as it hit the floor. "This is where I started," I realized. "Wasn't there a pipe system where the giant Freddy dolls were?"

There was. Three down now. "Where else could the last one be?" I asked, sticking it into my pocket. The pluses of my artistic weirdness is that my pants and vest pockets were huge. Standing beside Freddy again, I glared ahead of me, arms crossed. Back to level 9 and up the stairs to the side.

"I feel like this gonna get stupidly repetitive," I mumbled. "I'll have so many useless jobs to do for no particular reason, and it's gonna involve so much backtracking I'm gonna lose my freakin' mind! Screw it!" I bashed the plunger down much harder on an ink blob, venting my frustrations. "I hate this!"

I kept climbing, and I was half-certain if I was a cartoon steam would be coming out my ears. Wait. Is that…!? "Ha ha! Yes! Finally!" Last valve found! Mission accomplished!

"You're quite the efficient little errand girl, aren't you?" Marie commented. "Despite that… attitude of yours." So, she was listening in on me. How… much though? What did she pay attention to?I… I don't think I wanna at level 11, I hit the button.

"There was a time people knew my name," Alice lamented as Freddy and I headed back to level 9. "'It's Marie Drew'! They'd say. Feels like so long ago. But those days can come back. Dreams come true, Marie." she whispered to herself. "Dreams come true."

"Marie and Marie Drew really are the same person." Freddy nodded, and put his hand on my shoulder. "Freddy… what happened to this place? Dad… Mike… he used to love working here. How could everything, all of this, have fallen so low?" He shook his head, and how I wished the bear was capable of speech. As the elevator stopped, I walked out quietly and to Marie's door. Holding out the four power cores, I deposited them into the chute on the right, and tossed the plunger in after it.

"My machine's are hungry. Gather me some spare parts!" Marie barked. Gee, lady, couldn't you say please at least? Holding back my tongue, I took the wrench from the capsule and stormed down the … spare parts… would gears work? Let's find some of those. She told me to stop after I found four batteries, so four gears should be enough.

"I wonder… how much weight is in this." It had more heft than my pipe from earlier, and the plunger too. As I climbed the stairs again, I stopped at a vent, and grinned. "Uh-wah!" With one hand, I brought the weapon back and smashed it as hard as I could, leaving a large dent in the metal. "Hehe. Hehehehe! Perfect!

"Ha ha ha! Eat this, you Searchers!" I gleefully killed two of them back where I found the 'no longer working here' message. "Your mother was a ballpoint pen!" Opening the compartment above my head on the wall, I frowned. "Empty. Hmm… I think there was another box in the room on the left."

My luck must've been improving, as I happily took the gear out from the box and tucked it away. "One down." Heading out of the room, I almost jumped in excitement as I took another one out of a box heading back up the stairs. "Let's see if I missed anything in the Projectionist's room." With the monster missing, it was safe now to enter. Wading back through the inky river after getting on the right level, I poked around in the area. "Nothing. Huh?" I looked through the window, and saw on one of the barrels in the ink an audio machine. "I missed one?" Weird.

Moving back out of the room, I moved to the barrel and hit play. I was ready to listen to either a depressed worker, or another rant. What happened next… I was in no way prepared for.

The walls started crawling with ink, and the entire area began to plunge into … she's found into the other room, I threw myself into the box in the corner, shutting the door as fast as I could. Breathing heavily, I bent into a ball, leaning as far away as I could from the peep hole.

Don't find me. Don't find me. I've had no reason to anger you. I don't even belong here. Don't find me. Don't find me. DON'T FIND ME! The ink trails seeped into the room, and I whimpered as a tall black shape entered, only feet from my hiding spot. "Please… leave me alone."

The inky veins slowly began to increase as she stood directly in front of me. She was much taller than Freddy and Alice, and walked with a weird limp. Ink poured from the ceiling, leaving puddles everywhere. Her arms dangled loosely at her side, and she looked around for wherever I could've gone. Turning her head, Circus Baby seemed to continue forward, and headed towards the wall.

A large ink trail gathered in front of him as she got closer, and she walked right through it. She… she traveled through the ink. Lights slowly increased, and the ink spot melted into the wall as if it was never there. As if SHE was never there.

"She's… is she gone?" Voice barely above a whisper, I sat up slowly and looked through the hole. She's… she's gone. Sighing, I let myself practically melt against the wooden … that's… that was terrible.

*CREAK*

I froze as the door flung open, and I shrieked in terror. Circus Baby glared at me, and put her hands on her hips-wait, WHAT!?

This… this wasn't the Circus Baby I just saw! She's... she looks-Normal... e-exactly like her cutouts. "Y' know, kid," Circus Baby started, voice laced with annoyance. "You really should be playing this game of yours by the book." She leered, making me shrink back even further. "Hell knows what would happen if you strayed any further."