Author's Notes:
Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 125
Take a Break
The night after the manager was traumatised (again), Hedy finally convinced the bots to shut down. They needed rest and none of them would sit still which kept aggravating their injuries.
She let Spring feed Kitty first, of course.
She'd also managed to get Mike to go home and sleep. After promising to take it easy. The only reason Ruby got Jeremy to go home was because she said he stank and the paramedic that checked Ruby also checked Hedy and said she'd be okay as long as she took it easy.
It was going to be a long night of repairs.
Ruby stared at everyone. "It was bad wasn't it?"
Hedy didn't know how to answer that without going into a discussion she wasn't ready for.
The teen stared at her but surprisingly didn't end up pushing for her answer. She instead settled on a table and started flicking through the cameras. It was such a familiar sight and one that Hedy had missed so much it almost made her want to cry now that she was seeing it again. Suddenly Ruby frowned.
"What the..." she trailed off, sounding perplexed. "Why are the daytime employees here?"
Hedy frowned and looked up with a slight squint. "Who?"
Did someone forget something when they left?
Izzy could be so forgetful, but usually, she barely left the parking lot before zipping back to grab her left-behind wallet or cell phone.
Andrew left his school bag once a few weeks ago, but he stopped by to get it in the morning.
Ruby was silent for a moment.
"Practically...everyone. Even that jerk Henry. Though he doesn't look happy about being here." she sounded confused. Why were they here? And during the night shift at that? "Looks like Frank opened with his keys. They're all just standing awkwardly just inside of the door like something's going to jump out and bite them."
Hedy's frown deepened. The building seemed cautious, but not worried, if that made any sense.
"HEY!" She shouted in the direction of the main entrance, knowingly startling the coworkers who couldn't see her. "Are you guys just going to stand there?!"
The teen shot Hedy an amused look after seeing everyone jump in fright on her tablet. After a moment Frank started walking in their direction and the others all followed like nervous ducklings, glancing around at the dark building. Frank was the first into the room and he focused on Ruby and Hedy immediately, practically deflating in relief. The night guard simply cocked her head in confusion as she watched them. This was the first time she was seeing the daytime employees since waking up.
Jerry's face lit up and he waved enthusiastically at Ruby, making her even more confused. Where were the exasperated and reluctantly amused expressions she usually got? Henry stuck close to Jerry and glared suspiciously at, well, everything.
Olivia looked nervous as always to be near the bots but also like she was about to cry from relief at seeing Ruby. That didn't make sense. The woman was always wary of the teen.
Samuel still had his usual scarves over his face but his posture relaxed when he saw them. Izzy looked like she was torn between hugging both Ruby and Hedy while Marco just sighed in relief to see them. Andrew was rapidly looking between the bots and Ruby and Hedy, expression anxious.
Liam and Harrison automatically glanced around the room and frowned at the lack of a mess.
Jess waved sheepishly at Hedy while Marion was staring at the shut down bots.
"Uh, hi?" Ruby spoke up when it seemed like all they were going to do was stare. She forced herself up into a more upright position and frowned at them. The lack of hyper energy and her frankly awful appearance was difficult to miss after the initial relief faded.
Hedy stared, a little less confused and more irritated, meeting Frank's eyes.
As the oldest employee there, the man tended to look out for most of the younger employees, especially the high schoolers who were working their first job. He had been texting and calling Hedy all week, asking if she needed help, which she hadn't responded to. His concern for both her and Ruby was ill-informed and bled to everyone else.
She hadn't told the bots about how involved the employees had tried to be over the week. She didn't tell anyone how several of them had offered to come during the night shift, whether it be to hang out or help with the bots, or just keep them company with Ruby in the hospital. Of course, they didn't know what was going on and Hedy was not about to put them in danger.
Hedy had turned them away every time, purposely trying to irritate Jerry and several others into not asking anymore. She hadn't told them about any of the truth behind the place and she hadn't worried the bots about the other employees either. As they seemed content to use her as a go-between, keeping the groups apart had been easy.
She had ignored how refusing to answer and blocking all their offers further concerned them.
In hindsight, she probably should have expected they'd try to corner the Night Shift, especially with the vague demands and lack of answers from her yesterday.
Frank seemed to be the spokesperson for the group.
"We were worried. You didn't answer any of our messages. Then we just got a message from you out of the blue saying everyone had to take the day off." He crossed his arms and met Hedy's irritated look head on.
Ruby frowned slightly and looked at Hedy with a raised eyebrow.
"I apologize," Hedy said simply. "I didn't mean to worry anyone but I had no...emotional energy to consider explaining to you all that we were fine." The lie behind the single word "fine" stung a bit, and she was too tired to watch herself. They had to have heard her voice shift a bit at that.
Frank squinted. Intuition told him she was lying. They both looked stressed.
Liam looked over at Ruby.
"Are you okay?" he asked carefully. "I was expecting to walk into a warzone since you told us cleaners not to come in either."
Ruby took a moment too long to answer, making them worry further.
"Oh, yeah. I'm fine." she shrugged and then immediately winced as the movement tugged at her sore muscles.
Henry narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Anytime there was a hint that Ruby was injured, he jumped at the chance to blame the bots.
"What happened?" he asked, eyeing Foxy.
"She just got out of the hospital, Henry," Hedy said with a much kinder (if still terse) voice than they expected. "Look, this is just...bizarre of all or you to just show up past midnight. I don't understand what you'd have hoped to accomplish except to see that we're fine. We are. So you should...leave." She felt a little guilty saying it, knowing Samuel at least lived a fair distance away. This had to be very inconvenient for him. But what else were they supposed to do?
Henry decided to be his usual self and butt into the conversation. He was looking vaguely triumphant about something.
"You were in a coma." he spat out bluntly earning a jab in the ribs from Jerry but he continued. "Hedy told everyone you weren't injured. So you shouldn't be wincing. They must have done something then."
Ruby glared at his smug expression. "I woke up from the coma and broke out of the hospital through the window. I was on the second story and fell partway." she stated flatly, gleefully watching the triumph drop from his face.
Hedy glared at her. "Not something to brag about, Ruby," she snapped. She was also hoping Henry learned to shut up soon.
"The bushes broke my fall." Ruby rolled her eyes. "Besides, if nothing's broken and there's no blood then I'm fine." she waved her hand dismissively.
"What?" Frank deadpanned.
"That is not a healthy way of judging injuries!" Olivia blurted out.
"I've had worse." Ruby really was not helping at this moment.
Hedy kinda wanted to slap her, lightly...if she wasn't still worried about how hurt Ruby really was.
"From them?" Henry demanded. He might be afraid of the bots but he was determined to prove that he was right to be. He wanted to prove that they were dangerous.
Ruby turned back and glared at him. "Asshole, I'm in pain but I'll still beat you up if you keep this crap up."
Hedy pinched the bridge of her nose and just wanted her headache gone and for Ruby to take a nap or something. She didn't want to be dealing with this right now. She was tired and stressed.
Ruby stubbornly met Henry's glare, body tensing up in her anger.
"How about we calm down-" Frank tried.
Henry snapped. "Shut up! Everyone shut up. We aren't done discussing this bullshit!" He gestured at the bots.
Frank glared at the young man. "Henry."
"NO! I'm sick of us just dancing around the issue!" Henry shouted, red in the face. He turned to face his fellow day-shift workers. "Are we seriously going to just forget the part where these freaks of nature literally killed people!"
Hedy gripped Ruby's arm tightly, physically holding her down and gave her a look.
Henry didn't notice Ruby's deadly stare directed at him or Hedy's gritted teeth and threw up his hands. "DOES NO ONE FUCKING CARE!?" He turned to face Ruby and Hedy, wavering just slightly at the look in their eyes.
Hedy was shockingly calm, though she was clearly surprised this escalated so quickly. It sounded like Henry had held this in for a while and reached his limit.
"DO YOU EVEN CARE?!" he snapped. "ABOUT ANYONE WHO DIED HERE BECAUSE OF THESE MONSTERS!?"
Hedy wondered if he knew someone who died here…
She glanced at the bots. They felt guilty enough with Ruby, not to mention her and Jeremy as daily reminders of Scott. Their uncle had been here for a very long time. She couldn't imagine that they weren't close to him.
Henry took a step. Maybe in his blind, frantic frustration, he was intending to shake Ruby's shoulders in an attempt to knock some sense into her. This last week was too much for him. The one person he thought had an inkling of control over all the death that surrounded the place ends up in the hospital and he just...
The bots had to be responsible for all this, somehow! There just wasn't any other explanation.
Of course, had he actually laid a hand on her, he probably wouldn't have survived to see the sunrise.
Henry gasped in pain as his wrist was snatched up in a vice grip.
The Puppet animatronic stared at him, standing in his way and holding his arm very tightly.
Henry paled and tried to pry his wrist free as the other day-shift employees were too shocked to move.
"Were you seriously playing possum?" Ruby asked incredulously, while Hedy somehow looked even more exasperated but not surprised.
Of course, Puppet was awake.
"Get off m-" Henry struggled against the robot.
"Shut your fucking mouth and sit," Puppet hissed.
The shock of Puppet swearing made Henry close his mouth fast enough that he tasted blood.
"Let me make myself very clear, since there are no children around to traumatize," Puppet whispered. "Speak that way to anyone here again and a job search is the least of your worries. You are insurmountably lucky Ruby has changed things. Or you would likely be dead several times over—at least once by my doing. You are right to be concerned about that matter. I'm fairly...experienced. However, using such language towards the only ones you can credit with even being able to say those words without being killed is very unwise. We have enough to be concerned about without an adult like yourself being a bitch."
"Aww, Mari Mari you do care!" Ruby cooed. Puppet twitched a bit at the name but didn't break his gaze on the man.
The other daytime workers stared at Puppet in shock and not a little fear. This was the first time they'd seen a bot be openly threatening. Before it was all subtle or non-verbal. This...This was something else. And suddenly they were very aware of how many bots were there, even if they were currently offline.
Ruby leaned back, studying Henry. "If you hate it here so much then get a different job Henry." She looked very unconcerned as Puppet forced the man into a chair. "I honestly don't know why you stay if you feel so strongly about the bots." She swept her gaze over the shocked daytime employees. "You don't need to know everything that happens at night." She gave them a sweet smile. "Just trust that we have it under control. My coma had nothing to do with the bots. So if you could just," she made a shooing motion in the direction of the door. "Before Puppet snaps." she glanced at him. "Well, more than he already has. He's had a rough week. I saw the mess in the prize room. That probably has something to do with his bad mood."
Hedy didn't speak for a moment. "Mari, you can let go of Henry now."
Given the new light they saw Puppet in, the calm authority Hedy spoke with was that much more impressive/scary as Puppet grunted but let go, stepping away from the terrified employee.
Harrison spoke up in an odd tone, completely ignoring Ruby's request as he eyed the bot cautiously. "What happened to the Prize Room?"
Hedy frowned. How did she explain turning dozens of plushies into landmines?
Ruby's eyes glazed over. "From what I can see? A horrific massacre. Those plushies never deserved that."
"Distracted Fredrick well enough," Hedy muttered under her breath.
"Hedy committed plushie genocide," Ruby told them completely seriously.
The mechanic sighed but didn't deny it to the day staff's additional confusion.
"We should gather their remains," Ruby mused. "They deserve a proper send-off."
"Shouldn't you be on bed rest after getting out of the hospital?" Izzy asked timidly.
Ruby waved her off. "I'm fine."
Hedy was starting to really hate those words.
"I can clean it up no problem." She looked thoughtful. "I can cremate the bodies."
"You are not starting a fire inside," Hedy said. But she didn't say no?!
Ruby cocked her head. "Outside?"
Hedy looked her over. "...Maybe."
Olivia suddenly crossed her arms. "Okay. Neither of you are committing arson while you both look like you're about to pass out."
Andrew (and a few others) looked at the woman like she was crazy for trying to tell them not to do anything.
Ruby already looked offended and like she was about to argue.
Hedy only looked like she wanted to argue with Olivia on principle. They would actually call each other friends so she knew Olivia was cashing in on that friendship to put her foot down for once.
Jess snorted. "Should we try locking them in the staff room?"
Marco looked at her like she had a death wish.
Surprisingly, it was Puppet who cut Hedy off. "You promised the doctor that you'd make sure Ruby got bed rest. And then Ruby promised Jeremy the same thing about you."
Ruby glared at him. "You're threatening to snitch on us?" she snapped.
"To Goldy, at least," Puppet said, narrowing his eyes.
Ruby narrowed her eyes. "You wouldn't dare."
"...He would," Hedy said. Honestly, she desperately wanted a nap too, but there was too much to do and she didn't want Ruby out of her sight. She wasn't resting unless Ruby did. She couldn't…
Ruby opened her mouth, probably to argue some more, when Frank spoke up. "Alright, it's settled. You two are taking a break in the staffroom and we'll handle cleanup of the building."
The teen stared at him blankly. "What?"
"Puppet just willingly teamed up with adult humans against us. That's what," Hedy said, a thread of amusement in her voice.
Puppet glared at her.
Ruby looked at her. "Am I still in my coma?" she wondered.
"Not funny," Hedy said immediately. She poked Ruby's elbow to usher her toward the staff room. She shot a look at the staff. "Don't touch my stuff and stay away from the bots."
Jerry glanced between Puppet and Henry. "You don't need to tell us that last part…"
The teen seemed slightly in shock and looked at them all suspiciously as they left. "Puppet's in charge!" she yelled as they left the room.
Puppet blinked. That was unexpected…
Hedy's expression as she looked at Ruby seemed to agree. Ruby hadn't even called him 'clown.'
"What? I at least know he's normal." That made no sense. And neither did her muttered 'tentacles' and shudder.
"Ruby?" Hedy murmured, but the teen went off into the hallway ahead of her before Hedy could get an explanation.
Surprisingly, she actually went to the staffroom instead of trying to slip away. She slumped on a couch, pulling a folded clean blanket from the footrest under the coffee table.
Hedy stood up out of her chair to get to the couch, unsteadily leaning on the couch arm, and worried her legs were going to buckle under her if she didn't sit down fast enough.
Ruby watched her. That was one thing about Ruby. She'd never once watched Hedy do this with anything like pity or even seemed to doubt that the mechanic would make it to her destination on her own. If anything, she got annoyed at the reminder that Hedy was so much taller than her.
Most people would have jumped up to offer help and hover by now.
"Did any customers show up?" she asked. She'd ended up asleep on a table most of the day after dealing with the manager.
It had made everyone irrationally anxious about whether she'd wake up again or not.
Hedy gestured for her to scoot over. "Some. Mari…" she snorted a little. "Mari turned them away with his charm. And then we found the closed sign from Fazbear's Fright in my room."
"Your room?" Ruby looked at her and tiredly tilted her head in amusement.
"Parts and Services," Hedy said with a grin. "I decided it's my office. It's not fair only you and the manager get offices."
"We should rename it Mechanic's Office. And get you a desk."
"Ah yes, and blast doors connected to the generator," Hedy added sarcastically. "Wouldn't mind a desk. Or a proper workbench." She frowned. "How are you feeling?"
Ruby didn't answer and sunk deeper into the blankets.
Hedy frowned. She had left for a portion of the day, and it had just been Ruby and the bots for several hours. "Did the ghosts show up?"
Ruby snarled. "No." She looked up. "Are you okay?"
"Bruised. Sore throat. But mostly relieved you're back. Scoot over."
Ruby complied at last and Hedy sat on the couch next to her, tucking her legs under another blanket and wrapping herself up like she was cold.
"You look like a burrito."
"Shut up. You look like a zombie."
"That's way cooler than a burrito."
Hedy snorted and wrapped the blanket tighter, shivering a bit and annoyed how she was always cold here no matter what she did. "No. I'm a ghost burrito. This is the quietest you've ever been during shift," she noted. "It was creepy with the place so quiet and the bots off."
"Like Hell I'm going to wake them up!" Ruby spat.
"They're so run down." Hedy kept talking. "Usually, they'd be recharged by now."
Ruby looked alarmed. "Are they okay? Should we wake them up?"
"No, they probably need this. It isn't the damage, I don't think. Otherwise, the Toys would be awake. I think they're just exhausted, plain and simple." Hedy ended her sentence with a yawn. "Ugh. Me too. Besides, I don't want to wake them up with the day staff here."
Ruby covered her own yawn with a grimace. "I don't know why I'm so tired. I've literally been sleeping the entire day. Yet I feel like..." she trailed off, eyes getting a distant look for a moment. The teen did look as exhausted at everyone else. And she was still tense like she was in pain as well.
"Like what, Ruby?" Hedy prompted gently, sinking into the couch, her shoulder against Ruby's just barely.
The teen blinked out of her thoughts and looked away. "Nothing." she muttered.
The frown on her face told a different story though. She looked troubled and Ruby usually hid those emotions really well.
Hedy didn't look convinced. There was silence for a few minutes as she tried to sort through her thoughts. She could faintly hear the day shift working in the distance.
They both needed answers…
"Ruby," she said softly, "You've got to talk to me. I don't want to pressure you, but I'm here. I know keeping it in isn't healthy. Everything comes out eventually." She looked away. "I'm not the best at telling people how I feel either, but I try to own it when I can. You remember how I cracked when I learned about Springtrap. It wasn't just one thing. Stuff had been building up for a while and I didn't have anyone to talk about it to. The Toys and Puppet trying to kill me. You risking your life. My old friends. Jeremy's trauma. Scott dying. Then finally...that was just the final straw. Then it happened again, with Springtrap taunting us every night, and I lost it. Jeremy lost it too. If you don't let out what you're hiding somehow, it's just going to build until it comes out in a way you have no control over."
Ruby actually flinched, closing her eyes and shuddering as she remembered something. When she opened her eyes again and looked at Hedy they looked so tired and...haunted. In a way that they hadn't been before. She'd had her demons before but they were ones that she'd learned to deal with. Whatever had happened during her coma had clearly affected her.
But Hedy wasn't expecting Ruby's question.
"You were scared of them all. In the beginning. Weren't you?" Her question confused Hedy and Ruby elaborated when she saw that. "The bots. All of them. The Toys too. You were scared of them all at some point right?"
"Terrified," Hedy said guiltily. "I didn't know Michael was inside Spring at first—when I was a kid. And I trusted Spring. At least, that's what I gathered from what Puppet mentioned. After that, animatronics scared me." Her lips twitched in a little smile. "You know Mangle's first words? That I have a phobia of plushies and dolls. Same thing. I connected plushies with animatronics."
She frowned, "Jeremy had to throw away all my toys when I was little because I hated them so much. All I had was books and my dad's stuff in the garage. Then when I was thirteen, after Jeremy had a fight with Scott, I pressured him into telling me why he hated them too and he finally told me about his week. It seemed to justify my own fear. All the rumors and some random people I knew disappearing didn't help."
Ruby nodded slowly, eyes darkening at the mention of plushies.
"Pushing my feelings down already caused a problem. THE problem actually." She spoke softly, not looking at Hedy and picking at the edge of a blanket. "Nothing can be normal in this place though." A bitter chuckle slipped past her lips and the building shuddered a little, feeling... mournful? Guilty? Ruby absently patted the floor with her foot.
She took a deep breath before speaking again, holding Hedy's attention. "I love the bots. Even the annoying ones like Toby and Puppet. But I'm still human. Deep down, in that part of my brain that still worries about monsters in the dark and doesn't really mix with logic... I was scared of them." Her voice had dropped to almost a whisper, but her hands clenched into fists in the blanket. "At some point or another, they all attacked me with the intention to kill me. And some of them got close. And that scared me."
Was that shame coating her voice?
"I didn't want to accept it of course. Denied it to the point that I'd shoved it into the furthest parts of my mind. Because it was stupid. They're my bots, I shouldn't be scared of them. Those feelings built up and up until they exploded out."
She stared at the floor, probably lost in memories if her expression was anything to go by. Anger, confusion, and a touch of fear...
"Since I denied them so much, they forced me to face them. So they took an actual form." She was quiet for a beat. "Nightmare."
Hedy was quiet for a moment. "Nightmares...Ruby, I don't understand," she mumbled. "Like...actual...creatures?"
Ruby gave another hollow laugh. "Not nightmares. Singular. Nightmare. Think Goldy, but black and male. Oh, and teeth. Lots and lots of teeth..." she shivered and breathed deeply again. Hedy recognised that move as a way to calm panic, not anger like she usually did.
"And red eyes..."
They both associated the red eyes with possession and everything bad in the pizzeria.
"I don't really get the specifics. Timmy understands it better than I do. But my repressed fears...they made him. And his entire purpose for existing was to make me admit to and give into those fears. He didn't have a physical body, not really. He couldn't physically hurt anyone. And he didn't have any control over the pizzeria like Michael in Fazbear's Fright with his phantoms. It was all in my head, but at the same time it was real." She frowned as she tried to explain it, drawing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. "That day I collapsed, that was when he showed up. For a moment I thought he was just a new bot that the manager hadn't told me about. He asked if I was afraid of him and of course I said no." She grimaced. "He laughed and called me a liar. Then I started to get dizzy and my vision started going. I remember him saying that we were going to play a game, but his way. Then I blacked out."
She fell silent, lost in memories for a moment. She'd been alone when that happened. She wasn't even sure when or how they found her.
Hedy looked disturbed. She put a hand on Ruby's shoulder in comfort, freezing in shock as images flashed behind her eyes, too fast for her to make out specifics. But she saw hundreds. She saw the thing Ruby was talking about and paled, jerking her hand away and rubbing it, noting her new cuts and blisters from work the previous night. They were scabbed over by now.
"And Timmy was with you? In the coma. In your head?" That confused her on multiple levels, but she saw the kid in the images. "How?" she asked, still rubbing her hands.
Ruby had jerked when whatever that was happened but eventually she just shrugged and accepted it. Likely the building was trying to help in the explanation.
"He was tailing me that day. He'd been doing it a lot since I beat Michael. Said he was worried about something happening but he didn't know what. Turns out, it was that." she rubbed her eyes. "Next thing I knew I was a kid." her breathing hitched for a moment. "In my childhood bedroom."
The flashes had shown a dark room with flashes of pink in a flashlight beam. That must be what she was talking about.
"Timmy barely managed to explain anything. Just told me to keep them out. That if I died there I'd die in real life too. I didn't know what he meant until..." her voice faltered and she just stared blankly ahead for a moment. "They looked like monsters..." she whispered.
Hedy shuddered involuntarily as the images helped her see what Ruby was talking about. She didn't like those twisted versions of the bots at all. So many teeth. It didn't help her phobia, which was still a thing even though she long figured out how to disconnect the bots from it. "A few times...this week," she mumbled. "The building was...helping me out where it could. But it felt, distracted, you know? It freaked out a few times with an earthquake or something like that. Especially last night. We had a plan, but one hit at a very inopportune moment around 3am… I wasn't paying attention to what Michael was doing around that time. Doctor Cecil said you coded."
Ruby was staring at the blanket like it was the most interesting thing in the world at that moment.
"It wasn't just that I looked like a kid. I...I felt like a kid. With all the kid fears. Instead of just leaving the room like I'd leave the office I stayed and ran around like an idiot trying to keep them all out, listening for the breathing. I was too...too scared to leave." she sounded both angry and ashamed of that. "The only time I did was when I had to play that stupid game with Plushtrap. And when…" Ruby cut off and her eyes were distant for a moment before she shook it away.
"Ironically the only thing that wasn't trying to actually kill me." she tightened her arms around her legs. "They got me... a few times. The injuries didn't carry over, but the pain did. And if it was bad then my vitals dropped. Last night it was only Nightmare. He got tired of the game by then since I'd managed to keep them all out."
Hedy didn't interrupt.
"He got me pretty quickly. I just couldn't keep up, he was everywhere." There was a little panic lacing that statement and she closed her eyes, resting her forehead on her knees. "He was going to kill me. I haven't bled that much since the accident. At the end he was gloating though and...he said that he was doing me a favour by killing me since I'd never be able to look at the bots the same way again. I just got so mad. Monster had me by the throat and all I could think about was that and how it wasn't true. So I told him that it didn't matter that I was scared of them, I still loved them. They'd tried to kill me before and I still loved them. So much."
Her voice cracked and Hedy was suddenly sure that the teen was crying, head down and eyes out of sight.
"He just...he froze. Staring at me before getting really angry. I expected him to just kill me then but...Timmy spoke up suddenly. He usually stayed quiet during the game and talked afterwards. He said...he said I won and Nightmare dropped me. Looked like he'd been forced to. The place we were in was starting to fade and I thought I was dying of blood loss anyway. Probably what sent my vitals plummeting." She clenched her hands so tightly that her nails drew blood.
There was a pit in Hedy's stomach as she turned the realization over in her head, listening to the guilt and self-hatred in Ruby's voice.
"The whole time all I had to do was admit that they scared me. But I was too damn stubborn...too...too guilty...I promised them that I didn't see them any differently from when I was a kid. That nothing had changed no matter what happened. But I lied because it did change and I just didn't want to admit that to myself." Her shoulders shook as she took in a sharp breath, barely suppressing a sob. "If I'd just stopped being so stubborn, just admitted that from the start then none of this would have happened. I just hate that I'm weak enough to be scared."
"..." Hedy turned her head to look at the wall as she worked it out. "You couldn't win like you usually did. You usually 'win' your...games... by surviving...but this time, to survive you had to 'lose' and surrender. It never would have occurred to you to take that route. Unless you already lost hope."
Ruby's lips twisted. Knowing Ruby and her desire to always win, surrendering was extremely hard for her. It's what made going to therapists hard. It's what made talking to people hard.
Because she didn't want to admit that there was a problem she couldn't deal with.
Hedy looked back at the teen and pulled Ruby into a hug with one arm. "Fear isn't a weakness, Ruby," she said gently. "It's human. You're still you, stubbornness and all. You still beat him, even if that meant beating yourself in a way. I'm glad you're okay. I'm so sorry you had to pretend so hard you got hurt for it. You don't need to pretend everything's okay all the time." She thought for a moment. "I think you should tell the others. At least the Originals. I'm not sure Toys are mature enough to understand just yet, but they grew up a lot this week."
"I don't want to hurt them." Her voice was muffled but she didn't pull away. She was shaking slightly with suppressed emotion.
She sounded so young when she said that. So vulnerable.
"You won't," Hedy said, "They love you, Ruby. They'll understand. They know they've hurt people, even if it wasn't their fault, and they're not going to hold it against you. It might help them heal too. Having you be honest with them. We talked some. We were discussing Mike, the temp guy, and Foxy mentioned how he couldn't believe Mike came back to help and not be afraid of them. Mike just kind of laughed and said, 'What are you talking about? You guys terrify the crap out of me.' I think Foxy, somewhere in the back of his mind, knows you've forever put on an act for them."
"What if it makes things worse?" She looked up this time, not hiding the tear tracks on her cheeks for once. "What if...I don't want to lose the relationship I've got with them. I can't. I just can't Hedy. I can't handle it if they try and distance themselves."
"Just be honest with them. They love you," Hedy said. "You treat them like younger children sometimes, but you've got to understand they are twenty-something years old. They're adults in some version of the word and they're just as human as you or I in another. They might be a bit hurt because they feel a little guilty but that's okay. Don't try distracting them from it. That's something you need to talk out with them. They need you to be honest with them so that something like this doesn't happen again because you hid away. They care so much about you and how you feel and you shouldn't deny them that."
The teen curled back in on herself as she processed Hedy's words. She seemed torn and it might take her a while to actually come to a decision. For the moment though she looked exhausted and so far from her normal self that it was almost like sitting next to a stranger.
Hedy let her think it over. "I left my game console in here a long time ago and never bothered to take it back. Wanna play something or watch a movie?" She gestured to the TV in front of them, rarely ever used.
Ruby agreed, finally moving to stretch even if she did wince. She was looking forward to focusing on something else for a bit.
"The hell!" Ruby snarled at Hedy, controller gripped in her hand as she glared at the screen. "Did you seriously just fucking sideswipe me?!"
Hedy snickered as the game declared she had won the moment her little race car crossed the finish line. She left Ruby, who had previously been in first place, in the dust. For the fourth time in a row. "I had some 'video game' practice this week," she said in an insincere bid to comfort the teen.
The teenager actually pouted at her and started muttering about the evil-ness of cars in general. When Ruby acted her age without the insanity attached she was actually pretty damn adorable. She was also too tired to keep her masks up and maybe she didn't feel the need as much with only Hedy there.
Hedy grinned and debated whether to start a new race or put a different game in.
Both of them glanced up at a presence to see Timmy standing in the doorway, looking a bit unsure.
"Hi," Hedy said simply. She spoke kindly and smiled. "You going to show yourself to me more, kiddo?"
The boy gave a small shrug, looking down. But he did move into the room. He had a very different presence compared to the other kids. Calmer, not hostile at all. Mostly sad.
"He doesn't talk much." Ruby warned Hedy as the boy sat near them.
Hedy nodded. She gestured at the screen slightly, "I need a new car to beat Ruby with. I'm thinking the blue one this time. Sound good?"
The boy stared at her with a strange expression for a long moment.
"I'm sorry about what Michael did to you." His voice was soft, his eyes sad.
Ruby paused, looking between the two warily.
Hedy didn't respond immediately, carefully thinking out her response. "There's nothing for you to be sorry about," she said gently. She hesitated with her next words. "You still love him, don't you? Even after what he did to you. You're letting me sense it."
Timmy nodded, not looking her in the eyes. "He wasn't always like this. At least I like to think that. I know he's a bad person and I wouldn't help him. But I still love my brother." He shrugged. "Besides, it was an accident with me."
He shot Ruby a look when she scoffed and she raised her hands in surrender. Apparently they'd argued about this before.
"I'm not sure I can understand that kind of forgiveness. I can't forgive him. Not yet. Probably not for a long time." There was a tightness in Hedy's voice as she admitted it, but she thought it fair to tell the boy. "But I understand that you still care for him and I can respect it."
He shook his head. "I don't expect anyone else to. I…" he faltered. "I don't forgive him for what he did to you and your friends. He chose to do that. Killing me was an accident." He looked sad. "He's still my brother though."
"...How long have you been here?"
He looked away. "Since it happened. Michael was...sixteen?"
Hedy wasn't sure exactly how old Michael was when he killed the kids, but in death he looked around the same age as her and Mike when he died. "That's about twenty years," she said quietly after thinking out the math.
She couldn't imagine being alone like that for so long. The bots hadn't known he was here and the ghosts never mentioned him. At least they had had each other in their groups.
"Did the other kids know you were here?" she asked, her voice dropping with a tinge of anger as she thought of them for a moment.
He shook his head. "Not until a lot later. They were angry that I didn't agree with them when I did show myself. I tried to tell them they were doing the wrong thing but they didn't listen." He sounded sad again.
"Timmy can hide better than any of them. He says even you can't sense him unless he lets you." Ruby added.
"Huh," Hedy said, turning the new information around in her head. "Well, I'm upset you've had enough time to practice that, but I'm glad you're showing yourself now."
Timmy looked down, falling silent again and Ruby let out an exasperated sigh.
"He thinks showing up again more will hurt the clown and Goldy."
How often had Ruby spoken to him to know all of this?
Hedy nodded. "Timmy...they already know you're here," she reminded. "Don't you think you should keep talking to them?"
The boy wrapped his arms around himself with an upset expression. He clearly missed them but wasn't sure what the right thing to do was.
Hedy tried not to sigh. "If you want my opinion, I think you need to be with the rest of the family more. Being together and working things out together is good for all of us. Puppet at his core cares very deeply for children, despite his questionable decisions, and seeing us recover; me, you, the..other kids,"she tried not to make a face, "even Ruby, may help him heal. I think the only reason he cares more for me now, no matter how much he'll deny it, is because he's guilty that I was one of the kids he couldn't protect. But it's a start. With Goldy, she's gone through so much. With you. With Spring. With Ginny. You told her what happened to you wasn't her fault but I think words may not be enough. You may need to show her you still love her. At least give her a hug every once in a while?" She didn't want to guilt the kid and really hoped that's not how she was coming across. She wanted to tell Timmy what she thought in as gentle a tone as possible.
Timmy blinked up at the two of them before speaking again.
"When did I get two big sisters?" he asked bewildered and Ruby laughed.
"Well I'm used to being the big sister to random kids. Don't know about Hedy though." The teen looked at Hedy with amused eyes.
Hedy let out a short laugh. "I don't know. I'm the baby of my family. Maybe I just got too used to looking out for myself and I got tired of being selfish."
Timmy sighed in defeat.
"Alright."
"That's the closest I've ever heard him to a whine." Ruby snickered.
"Heh," Hedy shook her head. "Do you guys want to watch a movie?" She wasn't sure if Timmy could appreciate her and Ruby playing a video game while he couldn't have a turn.
He waved at the video game. "I like watching you play."
"I set up movies for him in one of the storage rooms sometimes. So he's watched a lot." Ruby added.
Hedy grinned. She handed Ruby's controller back to her. "I have a first person shooter game too. Like virtual capture the flag. You might actually last more than three seconds."
Ruby narrowed her eyes when she saw the title. "I'll destroy you in that game. I'm the reigning champ at the Orphanage."
"Bring it. I competed in high school."
Timmy settled down with a slight smile as the two started a war on the television. At least Ruby genuinely could give Hedy a serious challenge in this game. They were pretty evenly matched.