Author's Note:

Depending on how this week goes, there might not be a chapter on Thursday. Been a bit busy lately. Hope you enjoy tonight's chapter!

Chapter 130

Music Box

Ruby asked to speak to Hedy alone for a moment when she arrived for her shift.

When they were out in the hall, she pulled Puppet's music box from her bag. It looked as good as new, a dark wooden box replacing the old splintered one and polished to a shine.

"Thought you could check it over for pranks to make you both feel more comfortable," she told Hedy with a cheeky smile. The smirk dropped and she shrugged. "Besides, the jerk wouldn't accept it from me if I gave it to him."

She handed it over.

"Still has the original song, just had to replace some parts. Luckily, the actual important stuff didn't get crushed."

Hedy smiled a bit and opened it, immediately putting her finger against a mechanical part so it wouldn't play and give them away. She was cautious, but she didn't really believe Ruby would prank the box as she glanced inside. "It looks good." She looked up at Ruby with a smile. "You did a great job, Ruby," she said it sternly so Ruby couldn't skirt around the praise. "This is really important to Mari. I don't know why. It really bothered Goldy when she heard he broke it himself."

Ruby nodded, shifting awkwardly at the praise.

"Well, you would have gotten around to it. You've just got your hands full, and I needed something to keep me busy." She shrugged.

"You're acting like a kid who just shyly gave an estranged uncle a fridge doodle," Hedy deadpanned in mild amusement.

Ruby actually blushed a little and looked away.

"You did something nice for Puppet and you did it really well." Hedy lifted the box to look at the wood and varnish. "Not complaining. He saved my life a few times this week, not to mention Mike's, whom he had no initial reason to care about. And Jeremy. Puppet still hates adults, but I'm pretty sure he's rethought his 'kill them all' philosophy. He earned a good thing for once."

Ruby huffed. "He helped out, so I'll let up on my 'anti-Clown' behaviour. Besides, I think that nightmare version really cured my clown phobia," she mused.

"Makes Mari not as bad by comparison?" Hedy said, still looking at the box. She set it down in her lap and looked at Ruby.

"Yup." she popped the 'p'. "He's the cartoon to the horror movie that is Nightmare Puppet."

Hedy shoved her sense of pity away as she saw Ruby wince.

Ruby hated too much pity.

"Want me to tell him you fixed it or keep it a secret?" she asked.

Ruby shrugged. "Whatever, I don't care. He wouldn't accept it if I gave it to him. Probably think it's a prank. You know him better." While the hostility had died down a lot between them, Ruby still didn't know him nearly as well as the other bots. She even knew the Toys better.

Hedy nodded, already guessing how it was going to go.

Mike suddenly poked his head around the doorway, looking around for them with the flashlight. They usually kept some of the lights off in the hallways but didn't need their flashlights often, both of them used to seeing in the dark-to a point.

"Mike!" Hedy shielded her eyes as he blinded her and Ruby.

"Sorry," the man said, clicking his torch off. "Was looking for you guys. Um...there's an argument."

Hedy frowned. "About what?'

Mike snorted. "Heh, Jeremy decided to tell the Toys that Pluto isn't a planet anymore and they're yelling at him."

"As they should," Ruby deadpanned.

"I mean, I took it personally too, but I was not expecting the Toys to be that into astronomy," Mike admitted.

Hedy smiled. "There was a lot less light pollution from the city out where the warehouse was that was storing them. There were way more visible stars outside, and I brought my telescope for them to use after I got Teddy's eyes fixed. I just haven't had a chance to bring it recently, and they haven't been as comfortable about leaving the restaurant. The bots worry a bit too much about people seeing them outside."

"Don't know why," Ruby muttered as she headed back to the bots. "No one is out around here at night."

The argument and cries of injustice only ended when Ruby brought Betty out, which sent Jeremy putting a chair between him and the teen, although he didn't drop that nearly hidden smirk while the Toys kept glaring at him. While the teen was definitely on the whole 'Pluto is a planet' side, she was getting annoyed with the Toys' whining.

Unfortunately Ruby yelling tended to escalate things. So Hedy decided to try her own brand of distraction.

She grinned and closed her eyes as she concentrated while Ruby had her attention elsewhere. She hadn't tried exactly this before. She asked the building for help, not quite expecting it to work, like always. Damn thing was so fickle.

Ruby looked down from her threatening as a hula hoop dropped from the ceiling out of nowhere and fell around her. She immediately snapped around to glare at Hedy as she recognized the toy she had stashed in the office for a future prank on Hedy. "You're so dead!"

"A...hula-hoop?" Toby asked, confused, his own irritation abruptly cut off.

"Filled with salt," Hedy said, and immediately grabbed a paint balloon from Ruby's bag. She carefully aimed, but didn't take so long that anyone could react. The balloon hit Ruby right in the face and it exploded on impact, drenching Ruby's face and her shirt in neon green liquid and pink sparkles.

The Toys stood shocked.

"FINALLY!" Hedy cheered not fazed by the near murderous glare suddenly directed at her.

Mike ran for his life. He was the smart one.

Hedy heard the front door slam after him but she might have imagined his car starting.

"You do know that this gives her incentive to target only you for at least a week right?" Foxy asked curiously while Freddy gaped and Mangle stared with slowly growing glee.

Ruby usually spread her pranks around, but with those like Foxy and Spring getting away with practically none while Toby got hit often.

"Does...this mean I'm safe for a week?" Toby wondered.

"Yes." Ruby answered, gaze not moving from Hedy.

Hedy grinned, not cowed by Ruby's stare, even though she chuckled nervously. "Heh. I'm going to regret that. Very much. But at the moment..." she giggled and took out her phone, taking a picture. "Worth it."

Mike was smart to run.

"Yeah, we like you mechanic, but Ruby's still our favourite." Foxy chuckled and lifted the hula hoop over the teen. "Have fun you two."

The Toys did not come to Hedy's defense for various reasons.

Ruby's smile was distinctly shark-like.

"I intend to." She darted over to her bag before Hedy could react and splattered her with bright yellow paint and glitter.

"Thanks for the break, Hedy!" Toby grinned cheekily.

"Come on Hedy, let's turn you into a rainbow." Ruby purred with a grin.

They realised that this was the first time that particular mischievous sparkle was back in her eyes since returning from the hospital.

Thank you, mechanic...

Hedy sighed, wiping paint out of her eyes. She couldn't run away. She looked at Ruby and her eyes widened. "How'd you keep a cream pie in theimmnnMWPHFFFF!?" she screamed as Ruby smoooshed the pie into her face and slowly rubbed it in still grinning madly.

Hedy squealed, muffled, and grabbed a glob of cream off her hair and blindly smeared it on Ruby's face in reciprocation, nearly punching Ruby in the face.

The teen didn't seem to mind too much. She never had a problem with getting dirty while playing around with her pranks.

As long as her targets got hit as well.

"Don't think about it too hard Hedy." Ruby shrugged. "Don't really know myself."

Hedy pushed Ruby away for a second and spat out pie. "Puppet! Take your box before it's collateral!" She blindly held out the wooden box with her clean hand, drawing attention to it and struggling to hold it away from the paint that was threatening to drip on it.

Puppet stared for a moment then darted forward and took it, immediately getting out of Ruby's range as the night guard immediately lifted an entire full paint can and dumped all the contents out over Hedy's head before she could recover.

Hedy screamed.

Puppet couldn't help chuckling at Hedy's expression as he subconsciously held the box close to him without studying the details just yet. It hadn't occurred to him immediately that the thing Hedy was holding was his music box with the new casing. He watched the 'proceedings.'

Payback?

"Ahh! It's going down my shirt!" Hedy said in a high pitched shriek as she squirmed, futilely waving her hands to keep Ruby away while still blinded.

"Hedwig, are you ticklish?" Ruby asked innocently.

"No!" Hedy shouted.

They were unsure if she was answering or telling Ruby off.

Ruby's expression was downright evil.

"Before we test if you are, I've got a new toy to reveal!"

She pulled something out of her bag.

"Glitter grenade!" She pulled the pin and they were engulfed in a massive cloud of sparkles. It was way more than her glitter mines. It even hit a few of the closer bots.

"Success." Ruby grinned as the glitter slowly settled. "Now, about you being ticklish..."

Hedy looked almost like a cross between an animatronic with poor taste in color schemes and a sparkly disco ball. It was giving Bonnie flashbacks. The massive covering of paint gave her a plastic slicked down look. At least that's what Mangle thought as she grinned, also amused. Hedy avoided the brunt of Ruby's pranks too often.

"MIKE!" Hedy shouted, knowing he was the only one unaware of Ruby enough to possibly help her.

"Nope!" Mike popped his head in the front door and promptly ducked out again. Well, that escape plan was shot.

Mike did a double take and looked back in at her again. "...wow..."

"Jeremy," Hedy whined pathetically.

Jeremy had an unreadable expression as he bravely approached.

Ruby eyed him warningly. He wasn't saving Hedy here.

Jeremy leaned forward a bit, his height easily noticeable next to the girls, before abruptly smashing a water balloon he had swiped from Ruby's bag (like Hedy) right down on the top of his sister's head.

Slime dripped down Hedy's mildly shocked face.

"Love you, Hedwig," Jeremy said.

Ruby cackled approvingly.

Chica shook her head. "I'm sorry, Hedy."

"I'm not," Goldy said easily with a grin. She had her camera out…

"Fuck you."

"Language!" came the cacophony of voices.

Mangle was dying from laughter as she said it mockingly.

Ruby didn't bother Hedy for too long since she knew the bots still needed a lot of work.

Instead she went off to hunt down Michael so she could beat him up again. A very cathartic exercise.

Hedy was in the bathrooms changing clothes and trying to get herself cleaned up enough to actually work when Puppet came in. It was a little weird seeing him in the bathroom, but not so weird Hedy told him to get out.

"Yeah, Mari?" Hedy said, still fairly covered in paint as she scrubbed at her face, a mild bit of panic growing when a splotch on her cheek was giving her particular trouble. She really hoped Ruby didn't put dye in the concoctions she poured on her. She couldn't go to class looking like she got beat up by a unicorn. She looked up at Puppet behind her in the mirror.

Puppet stared at his reflection for a moment, tilting his head in a rarely shown bit of curiosity at his physical appearance.

"Did you give someone my music box?" he asked, dragging his eyelights away from a staring contest with himself.

"Hmm?" Hedy said, turning on the sink to wash the paint out of her hair

"I know you couldn't have fixed it," Puppet said with a stern tone. "You haven't had time. Did you have a colleague from your university do it? I'm not...angry. I just would have preferred to know if someone else touched it." He sounded a little disturbed and annoyed, but not angry. If he was, he was hiding it well.

"A friend offered," Hedy said, "How'd she do?" The mechanic rinsed out her hair, looking at Puppet sideways.

Puppet shifted and glanced back at the mirror and his reflection. "Well enough. It works. Much better than I expected. Better than it has in a long time," he admitted. He didn't like the idea of some random adult touching it and wished Hedy hadn't given it away without telling him. "I wasn't expecting the new casing. It seems an unnecessary touch, but... a welcomed one. And the song is the same. I worried I destroyed the note roll along with the box." He hesitated. "I'd prefer you not give my belongings to strangers if I expected you to fix them. However, do...thank your friend for me."

"Thank her yourself," Hedy said, feeling her hair soften as the paint washed out and she could pull her fingers through to break up the stuck together clumps. She had rolled up her new sleeves, but the water soaked them anyway. Probably should have changed after she washed off. "Ruby fixed it."

Puppet startled, realizing the trap Hedy caught him in.

"...You asked Ruby-"

"I didn't. She offered. She said I was busy with the others and she needed something to do," Hedy cracked a smile and sat up pulling some paper towels to dry her hair. "I think she did a good job, don't you? Oh wait, you just said so."

Puppet stared at her unblinkingly before deciding to change the subject. "Aren't you going to get the rest of the paint out?" He asked, gesturing at Hedy's hair.

"I got it all."

"I don't think so."

Hedy turned to glance at her reflection and froze. Why was her hair...?

...

...

Hedy stared at the mirror.

Puppet didn't comment.

She wasn't sure if it was because Puppet was busy thinking, or actually realized what was wrong with her hair and didn't want to anger her.

"RUBY!" Hedy shouted as she left the bathroom, very much no longer ash blonde.

Puppet could get through his conflicted thoughts well enough on his own.

Ruby was bouncing around in front of the bots, apparently taking a break from hunting down Michael to clean up a bit. Her black hair had spots of brilliant green in it since she didn't get a soaking like Hedy did. The teen turned to her and cracked up laughing.

"I didn't know it was my experimental dye stuff," she finally said after calming down from her cackles. "I was going to use that in the manager's office. Forgot about it with everything happening."

"My hair is blue, Ruby!" Hedy snapped. "I look like Toby got genderbent and turned into a human."

"Hey," Toby whined.

"Well, I think it looks cute," Mangle said with a giggle. She and Chi bounced over and started playing with Hedy's still wet hair in curiosity, careful not to get the moisture in their casing. "Should've gone for pink though."

Gold was suddenly next to them and started doing the same. "It's like if someone got a repaint!" She giggled, holding up a lock of hair and inspecting to see if there was any blonde left in Hedy.

Hedy didn't shoo them off, but continued to glare.

"It's temporary." Ruby waved her concern off. "Besides, you started it. I got distracted and grabbed the wrong paint."

"What were you planning to do to the manager with it?"

"Redecorate his office."

Hedy huffed and muttered under her breath. None of this was equal to a single balloon to the face. And she knew Ruby wasn't done with her. Not by a long shot.