Gregory has been running and hiding all night without rest, and it has started to take its toll on him. His stomach has been begging him for food for a while now, but he has been unable to satisfy his needs, especially with Freddy being out of commission in parts and service.

He was on his own for now.

Truthfully it didn't feel strange for him to provide for himself, after all he has lived on the streets for a while now. But this time it felt different then that, for obvious reasons. With all the running he has done for his desperate quest for survival, he has unfortunately used what little energy he had left, and now he was paying the price tenfold. The pain in his stomach combined with the weakness in his legs rendered him unable to be completely stealthy or capable of escaping from the remaining animatronics should they find him. He scavenged every single mini restaurant he came across with nothing to show for it, and it was starting to make him angry.

What was the point of coming here if he was going to starve anyway!? And to top it all off, he ends up being hunted down by everything that moves within this glorified mall! The only exception was Freddy, if not for him, then he would have been caught long ago. But that brings up another problem, he didn't want to leave even after all he has experienced tonight.

He has grown attached to the main attraction. He was the only one in his life to have shown him true kindness and compassion despite not knowing who he is. He didn't want to let that go.

Tears start to roll down Gregorys face, the pain is getting worse, and his body is starting to grow sluggish as the adrenaline wears off. If he didn't find something soon, he may end up starving to death if they didn't catch him first.

'Which is worse?'

As his search dragged on, he found himself ignoring the mini restaurants in favor of searching the trash cans. Nothing he hasn't done before.

'There has to be something edible in here!'

Again, to no avail.

'A certain chicken might have gotten to them first. Greedy glutton.'

His tears began to be accompanied by quiet sniffles and whimpers.

'Something! Anything! It hurts so much!'

As he went on he started to grow oblivious of his surroundings, becoming completely unaware that a nearby animatronic saw an opportunity to catch him first, but she didn't make her move yet.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Roxanne was angry, very much so. She has had it up to here with this kid, and with the others being completely useless she felt alone in her search. Maybe because she is. This could have been over already if he just let himself be escorted out by the security guard, but nnnoooo, he had to be so difficult and run away from them all.

The familiar sound of someone rustling a garbage can catches her attention, and instantly makes her mood even worse. How she wishes Chica would stop turning the slop into a three-course meal, it was disgusting for one, and she shouldn't be eating anyway. They don't even need food! So many things were wrong with that chicken that couldn't even be comprehended.

She quickly stomps in the direction of where it was coming from, fully expecting to find Chica to be stuffing her face with all kinds of inedible materials, however that is not what she gets. Instead, she sees the kid they were all after, digging in the trash. She should have immediately went after him to 'kindly' escort him to a security office, but the sight of him doing Chicas job unsettled her to some degree. Her eyes narrow at his actions, this has to be some sort of trick!

'Why is he…what?'

She continues to follow him undetected, despite her footsteps not exactly being silent. He didn't even bother to look behind him, he just focused on the next trash can. Her suspicions get progressively worse.

'This isn't because of what I think it is. Right?'

Her thoughts are only confirmed when he suddenly collapses from exhaustion, curling up in pain shaking like a leaf with his stomach yelling for sustenance. Despite him being an intruder, she still felt responsible for the wellbeing of this child. She quickly closes the distance between them, paying no mind to how scary she must sound.

Gregory is frozen from the fear he felt hearing the heavy footsteps rapidly approaching, he screws his eyes thinking it must be the end of the line for him, only to be gently picked up.

"Freddy?"

He opens his eyes, only for his vision to be filled with one of the 'hostile' animatronics. He didn't even scream like she expected him to, he started to cry instead. Which sent the wolf into a slight panic.

"No, no. Shhh. You're going to be alright." She holds him close in an effort to calm him down, much like she would see some mothers do when their children were in distress. In between hiccups he would beg her not to hurt him, which didn't make sense to her, why would he think that they were out to harm him? They were made to assist children in all ways possible, not make things worse!

"Nothing bad is going to happen to you, I'll make sure of it." Her system is demanding her to take him to the security guard, but that went completely ignored, right now this kid needed her here and now. She kept up the motions until he was able to form a coherent thought, after which she asked him the question.

"How long has it been since you ate something?" He was hesitant to answer, he couldn't look her in the eyes.

"O…Over a day ago." Roxanne almost shut down from that alone.

"What do you mean over a day!? Are you not taken care of at home!?"

'This is ridiculous! This is such an extreme case of neglect!'

Gregory didn't answer her right away, he fell completely silent before more tears started to fall, making her panic a bit once again.

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything. I'll find you something to munch on, and let you stay in my room until morning."

"P-Please don't throw me out." She had no plans to do that. Not anymore.

It didn't take long for them to reach her personal quarters, normally she would make sure no one entered, not even Freddy himself. This is different though. She set him down on the couch, then drew the curtains closed. He didn't move a muscle for the entire endeavor. She internally demanded a service bot to deliver pizza to her room, which arrived not long after. He stared at the food, not knowing if he wanted to make the first move.

"Go on. It is all yours." Instead of turning into a savage like most kids, he went slow and steady, savoring every bite like it would be his last. When he finished his meal he leaned onto Roxy, who held him close.

"I don't have a home." He suddenly said, "You and Freddy are the only ones so far to have shown me any amount of kindness. No one out there cares about me." Roxy chose to stay silent, letting him talk. "I came here to find a meal and a warm place to sleep for at least one night, but obviously that didn't happen." The sniffles started again. "I don't want to leave."

"Shhh. You don't have to say anymore. I'm sure Freddy will be more then happy to accept you into the family." A small smile forms on his face.

"Thank you."