The room was bathed in a monochrome glow as I sat snuggled under a navy blue blanket on my bed. The small and boxy television set on my desk thrummed with the electricity it took to run the old tape I had inserted, and after a few quiet seconds, bells filled the air as the title card played. Cookie Cookin'.

Always a classic, no matter what time of the year I played it. Sure, it was by no means anywhere close to Christmas, but it was a cartoon I loved all the same.

"Whatcha watchin' there, kid?" The door creaked open a hair, and the animationic slipped inside. She walked along to the end of the bed, and climbed up alongside me. Gone were the bandages around her arm, as the ink machine had taken care of healing those. However, her eye was still a mess, covered with the fabric she used in the studio itself.

Dad had offered to repair it, but the demon stubbornly refused, never giving an actual answer. When I found her, she said it was easy to fix. Maybe it's a pride thing? I'd probably never figure it out, but I chose not to bring it up.

Jules and Autumn, while living a more relaxed life now than in the decades past, kept their weapons. In the guest room, of course, that mom let them have. She downright refused to have the bear carry his trusty ax around all the time.

Baby still had her plunger in her subspace, and as for me and my pipe... yeah, I was going to try and get a new one. The fear, of being ripped apart a-and being constantly watched... I felt better having something to defend myself.

As for my own appearance... it wasn't that much different than before I was dumped into the ink machine. My arms and legs were black, and I had the h... horns on my my head, with my braid running down my head right in the middle. There were two other things I was unable to note when I had awaken. My lips were black, just like Marie's and Autumn's were. My... eyes though...

They were black. All white had turned to an inky blackness, and what was once brown had altered to the same orange glow of the lost souls of the studio. No pupil to be found. It was just a ball of light in a sea of darkness. When I had gone to the washroom to tidy up, and saw my reflection... it was one I was familiar with, and at the same time... it was a complete stranger.

"One of your old cartoons. Want to join me?" I opened up my blanket cocoon, and Baby joined me inside. Her bobbing head rested against my arm, and we began to watch herself stir the batter in a bowl merrily.

She poured it out onto a baking sheet, tossing the bowl aside. With a loud bang, and chuckles from the two of us, Baby slammed her face down on the ball of dough, flattening it out so that it filled all of the sheet. "That was my favorite part of this tape."

Baby didn't respond, but I saw her eyes flicker from me to her animated self. She peeled away the excess dough around the gingerbread man, letting it hop to its feet and wave with a big smile. Why was it smiling, anyway? It didn't even have eyes and a mouth to begin with.

The cookie laid down, and Baby began to put the tray into the oven. After a few seconds, a ding was heard, mixed in with the jolly music in the background. A puff of white smoke came from the machine as she took the tray out. Much to her confusion, the cookie was gone, as if it were never even there to begin with.

Baby kicked the lid upwards, and finally took notice of Freddy leaning against the counter. The bear was happily eating away at the cookie, not seeing Baby right beside him.

The animationic looked from him to the tray, baffled at how he had gotten her holiday treat without her noticing. The camera zoomed in her disappointed face, before the ending card played, marking the end of the cartoon. The tape came to a halt in a small bang, and I turned off the TV with the remote resting on my legs. She's still silent.

"Baby? Is something bothering you?"

"... you're just... handlin' this so much better than I thought you'd be." Well, that wasn't what I was expecting to hear. "I want ya to be honest with me, okay?" I nodded slowly, and Baby's head drooped.

"What do you plan to do next? You're outta the studio, but... what happens for ya now? You can't go out and get the life you wanted; a job, a family. You're as stuck as the rest of us." I wrapped my arm around him, hugging him but refusing to meet her face.

My initial fear was still there at the surface, but I was trying to smother it. Contain it, for my sake and the sake of everyone else around me. How am I supposed to react, exactly? This, this isn't normal.

"I... you knew that this would happen, when you put me into the machine. You knew that doing so would destroy my future. Baby, I... I'll figure it out. Me, my dad, my mom... a-all of us will figure it out." I sank further into the pillow wall I had built behind me, and Baby followed suit.

"But for now... it's time for be-"

"Mary! Pick up the phone!" We sat upright, hearing my mom's voice from down the hall, no doubt in hers and dad's bedroom. I leaned off the bed to the bedside table, sitting down the remote and picking up the landline.

"I got it!" Clearing my throat, I brought the speaker up to my head. I had been missing for ten days. I had not received a straight answer as to if or how the police were involved, so if anyone was calling for me despite the news I had gone missing... who did my mom think was worth taking this risk? On if I had returned at all, and in my current condition?

"This is Marylin Schmidt speaking. Who is it?"

"Marylin? Oh, thank goodness. I've been trying for the past three days to get hold of you, but Uncle Mike kept saying you weren't here."

Uncle... Mike? Marylin? N-

"Hey, Marylin? What's with the look? You got sorta pale there." I didn't acknowledge his concern, focusing every part of me on the voice on the other side of the line.

"Y-yeah, well... a lot happened recently. Wh-what are you calling me for? I thought you-?" The caller cut me off, nerves evident in their words.

"Look," they started firmly. "I know that the two of us hadn't spoken properly in the past couple of years, but I need someone I can trust. Marylin, you're the only person I can turn too-guys, leave my bookcase alone, now-and I'm at my wits end over here!"

The sudden change in their annoyance confused me, and I unconsciously leaned into the receiver. "O-okay. I-I'll be right over in the morning. Meatly, you swear you'll be fine until I get there?"

"I should be fine. I-!" A loud bang made me flinch away from the phone, and a curse followed immediately on the other end.

"I got to go. See you then." A click, and the dead tone of the conversation coming to an end. With my head still facing forwards, I slowly reached over and put the phone down. The plastic thumped nosily as it missed thrice, but it came to rest in its holder the fourth time.

"Uh, Marylin? You mind fillin' me in on what just happened there?" I felt her poke me, and sharply inhaled through my teeth. "Marylin?"

"Baby... apparently, that thing about doing anything for family... is broader than I thought it'd be." Ah, great.

"Get your plunger on standby in the morning. Things are... about to get interesting."