Author's Notes:
Bit of a shorter chapter but hope you enjoy!

Chapter 121

Here There and Everywhere

Ruby wasn't sure how long she lay staring at the ceiling. There was no hiding in nice memories now. She'd destroyed that the previous night.

She couldn't bring herself to regret it. She didn't want to spend more time here than she had to.

Between one blink and the next, she was in the hallway instead of the bedroom. She pushed herself upright, her entire body screaming with pain still. It must be time for the mini-game.

Sighing heavily, she picked up the flashlight and flicked it on.

She blinked.

Then she blinked again and also rubbed her eyes for good measure.

Then she burst out laughing and fell to the floor again.

That was BB. With wicked sharp teeth and claws and he looked absolutely ridiculous.

"Hi!" The voice was deep and gravelly and made her laugh until there were tears in her eyes.

She was still laughing when the minigame started and still laughing when it ended. Actually, the 'jumpscare' made her laugh even harder.

"What's so funny?" Timmy asked her in confusion when she was back in her room.

"B-bowling b-ball, with teeth," she dissolved into peals of laughter again.

Timmy felt completely lost, but he had a feeling Nightmare wouldn't like her reaction much…

He was right. The moment he caught sight of her opponent that night, he felt the fear hit him like an electric shock. He didn't have a heart anymore but it probably would have stuttered.

Why?
Why?!

Please, no.

Wasn't it bad enough that Nightmare pulled this particular monster out during Timmy's own time in this hellscape? Why did Nightmare have to use Timmy's Nightmare version of Goldy against Ruby?

He wanted to look away, in all honesty he wanted to hide. Anything but watching Ruby running from door to door in a panic as the monster teleported everywhere.

He remembered this fear, the panic that came from never knowing where it would be next. On the bed as just a head with too sharp teeth? At the doors? In the closet?
And that creepy, gravelly voice…

"Goldy's a girl!" Ruby yelled, a panicked edge to her voice that she tried to hide.

The creature just laughed.

Timmy had thought Nightmare Puppet was the worst. But watching this was much more terrifying. And hurt more.

"No!" he cried out, not able to maintain any emotional distance as he saw the gold bear get into the room and dive for Ruby. His cheeks had the phantom sensation of being wet. He cried often. He had been crying when he died, and it was one of those curses that stuck to him as a ghost. Lots of things were stuck to them as ghosts when they died. Even the other kids had their own "curses."

Ruby panicked and dodged. But she wasn't fast enough. Those teeth that Timmy still had nightmares about, even when he no longer slept, closed around her shoulder, her arm trapped in its too large mouth.

It! Not Goldy. Not my Goldy.

Ruby screamed as it bit down, stopping her struggles as moving only made it worse.

Timmy fell to his knees and curled onto the floor. He could almost imagine feeling that along with her.

"Regretting losing the mini-game?" Nightmare's voice echoed in the room.

Ruby bit her lip to stop another scream. "Was-was worth it," she panted. "That was a t-terrible attempt," she gasped as it bit down harder. "T-terrible attempt at making BB s-scary." She forced the words out through gritted teeth.

Distantly, through his panic, Timmy thought it was weird that she didn't seem as scared of this Nightmare as she did of the others.

Was it because this was his fear more than hers? She seemed more wary of this Goldy than afraid.

Nightmare had overplayed his hand tonight. First with the failure of Nightmare BB and now by choosing Timmy's fear over her own.

Ruby had never feared Goldy, just what Goldy was capable of.

Ruby finally managed to twist out of the monster's hold and scrambled back, eying it warily.

"Running out of ideas, Nightmare?" she asked, voice wavering but still stronger than before as blood coated her right arm.

Timmy could hear the hospital monitors going wild again as she lost blood.

Nightmare Fredbear (not Goldy NOT Goldy) lurched forward to attack her, but she managed to avoid it.

Timmy remembered the Nightmare being faster than this. Was it because of how weak he had been? Or was it Ruby?

Eventually the time ran out, and the clock beeped. Ruby sat down hard, panting and clutching her injured arm. It was the least injured she'd been in a while, and Timmy knew that Nightmare wouldn't like that.

She stared blankly at the wall for a long time before finally speaking.

"That wasn't my nightmare," she murmured. "It was different to the others."
Timmy bit his lip, still out of sight.

"Timmy?" she asked.

"It was mine," he admitted softly. "That's the one Nightmare used for… my nights."

They fell into silence for a moment.

"He does know that Goldy's a girl, right?" Ruby mused, voice strained by pain.

Timmy snorted. "I never understood that choice." He frowned and swallowed.

"When...when you wake up...don't tell Goldy. Please…" He wasn't an idiot. He probably wasn't going to be able to hide away and avoid the others after this. One way or other, Goldy would learn he was still around. That would hurt her, so much. He couldn't add to that. He couldn't hurt her like that.

Ruby hummed, but pointedly didn't outright agree. "He messed up tonight."

Timmy nodded. "He won't make the same mistake."

"No. No I don't suppose he will," Ruby murmured, eyes on the small puddle of blood under her hand.

"He's getting impatient," Timmy whispered.

Ruby didn't say anything. She could guess what that meant. Part of her wanted to laugh. Even Nightmare wanted to stick to the game timeline.

Night six.