"Excellent! Ballora is feeling like her old self again and will be ready to perform again tomorrow. Now, view the window to your right. This is the Funtime Auditorium, where—"

Ballora began to tune out HandUnit's voice the very moment that her Gallery returned to darkness and the night technician's attention was elsewhere. She stepped off of her stage, attempting to shake off the lingering stiffness and slight burning sensation that the controlled shocks always left her with.

In about twenty minutes' time, the technician would finish up his tasks and spend the rest of his shift holed up in the small, stuffy office. It would be untrue to say that every animatronic in the facility hadn't tried to get in there and kill him at least once. Most tried it at least twice a week, actually. But Ballora had given up a long time ago. She had decided that she was just wasting her time attempting to achieve something that simply wasn't going to happen for her.

So instead, the bluenette spent most of her nights just dancing around her Gallery. It was better than just sitting there and letting her thoughts consume her. She had seen what that did to a person.

Aside from the sounds of her music box (and HandUnit talking), things were almost always dead silent. Or at least, they had been for quite a few years. And Ballora still hadn't gotten used to it. She still half-expected to hear her friends causing a racket every other night, even though they were all long gone.

Funtime Freddy and Bon-Bon used to bicker loudly. The sound would travel all the way over to Ballora's Gallery, echoing in the large, empty space.

Although it was rather obnoxious, she missed hearing it.

Sometimes, when the arguments went on for far too long, Funtime Foxy would tell the two of them to shut up with the most dramatic wording he could find. His booming voice would drown out theirs, but it wouldn't stop the squabbling.

It was usually then that Ballora would leave and sneak her way over to the Circus Gallery, where the noise was considerably more muffled.

Circus Baby, who the dancer almost always found looking like she was drowning in her own thoughts, would greet her with a smile and ask, "Too crazy out there for you?"

Ballora would sit with her and listen to her ramble on about whatever was currently on her mind, chiming in with a comment whenever she felt necessary. Baby's soft voice was especially pleasing to listen to after all of the shouting. And she could probably manage to make any boring subject interesting.

Ballora scolded the part of herself that wished she could see the clown again, wished that she could just be in her presence and converse about something. Anything.

It wasn't that she missed Baby. No, not at all. The bluenette just missed having another being that she could frequently speak with. The new animatronics that resided with her hardly ever made noise. They only dropped by to say hi or to complain to her about something on rare occasions. From time to time, she would do the same to them. But more often than not, she felt too uncomfortable upon approaching their spaces to actually do it.

Maybe tonight would be one of the nights where she actually ventured into the Funtime Auditorium. Or the Circus Gallery.

"Hello, Bal."

Jolting slightly, Ballora turned back around and found a pair of eyes a couple of inches away from her face. Black, empty eyes with little white dots that served as pupils. She looked away once more, not being particularly fond of the way those pupils appeared to vibrate a bit. She felt like they gave her secondhand hyperness.

"Hello, Lolbit," she greeted. "Must you always insist on entering my Gallery without announcing your presence at all?" It was almost as if the orange and white fox could just materialize into rooms without any need for a door.

"Yes, yes I must," Lolbit said as he laid himself down on the edge of the dancer's stage.

"Is there any particular reason that you decided to visit me, or are you just here to amuse yourself by frightening me with your unexpected appearances?"

"Both," he replied. "Not only is scaring the crap out of you extremely entertaining, but I also saw something interesting and I have to share with somebody. You seemed like the best option 'cause I don't want to wait for the technician to finish working on Yenndo and Bonnet, and you listen way better than Funtime Chica does."

"Alright, well, what did you want to share?"

"Right after we closed, I saw a couple of the employees drag something in here." Lolbit traced his index and middle finger over the curve of his hook hand. "I couldn't really get a good look at it, but they were talking in hushed voices and stuff so I'm gonna assume it wasn't the usual junk that gets shipped here."

"'Assume', huh? So you're telling me that you didn't snoop around after they left?"

"I tried to!" Lolbit sat back up. "I went straight into the room they took it into the moment after they left, but I didn't find anything!"

"Hm... that's a little suspicious."

"I know, right?" Suddenly, the fox's ears perked up. "Aw crap, I think I have to return to the Auditorium. I'll be back in a few."

With that, Lolbit jumped to his feet and ran off, leaving the dancer alone once again.

A good thirty-ish minutes passed before anything else permeated the silence.

It was something metallic, something that scraped against the floor outside of the room.

The handle of the heavy-duty door began to turn at an uncomfortably slow pace.

Once it could not be turned any further, whoever was on the other side paused for a very long stretch of time.

Ballora wasn't exactly sure what to do.

She doubted that the individual was one of the other animatronics.

Yenndo and Bonnet always knocked before entering.

Funtime Chica liked to loudly slam the door open before shouting, "I'm coming in!"

And Lolbit never made any sound at all.

Maybe it was just one of them attempting to mess with her?

Maybe not.

Lolbit did say that he couldn't find whatever the employees had brought in. Maybe that was because it had just up and left the room.

Finally, the door began to open at a similarly slow pace.

It was rather agonizing watching the vague shape of a hand push against the metal, causing the door hinges to let out a prolonged groan that quickly began to drill its way into the furthest corners of Ballora's head.

At this point, it didn't even matter if the dancer had an idea of what to do because she could not force herself to move even an inch. She was completely rooted to the spot.

The noise ceased and the hand disappeared.

Ballora stared into the black void just beyond the doorframe, attempting to make out something in the nothingness.

Eventually, the faint glow of dull, murky green irises became visible in the darkness, having apparently been obscured by the top of the frame moments ago.

She recognized those eyes. They always distinctly reminded her of being drowned in a lake with a surplus of algae.

"Lori..."

She recognized that voice too. It was a little different. A slight static clung to the edges, making it a bit fuzzy. But she definitely recognized it.

When Ballora managed to find her own voice again, she could only get out one thing.

"Circus Baby?"