Surprise!
They all made it back to the mansion grounds, where Vevina was placed carefully to rest on one of the couches. Everybody sank onto either the floor or any other vacant chair.
Billy was scampering around and checking on everybody, to the point where Freddy had to turn the question on its head for him.
"Don't worry, I'm okay," he insisted. "You all did something really big and tiring."
"Need I remind you, my boy, that you also partook in that?" He patted the spot nearest to him. "Rest, Billy. You've earned it, more than anybody."
Billy shifted on his feet for a bit before doing as Freddy requested. His shoulders slumped and his eyelids drooped.
"Wow. I actually do feel... really tired," he yawned. He looked blearily at Vevina. "Will she... really be okay?"
"You let us worry about that," said Freddy gently. "How about you close your eyes for a while?"
"Okay..." He yawned again and rested his head on Freddy's leg. In seconds, he was snoring quietly.
"I gotta give to him, he's got a lot of heart," said Bonnie.
"Yes, rather," mumbled Theodore quietly. "I think that perhaps we've rather misjudged him."
"Yeah." Clyde raised his eyebrows at Theodore's incredulous expression. "What? I'm not going to argue that."
"Poor little Billy," said Hermana sadly. "We should do a real party again, for him. But not right now, I'm too tired."
"Hermana too tired to party and an agreement with Clyde? What is the world coming to," chuckled Theodore. "I suppose I must be going soft."
"That's not a bad thing," said Chica. "It doesn't make you any lesser to have some compassion."
"Aye, that be true." Foxy was watching Vevina, along with Clyde. "Don't ya worry about her, lad. Ye get yerself some rest."
"Don't tell me what to do about my friend," Clyde retorted. Foxy gave him a look, but said nothing else. "Hey, I think she's coming around."
He was right. Vevina was feebly stirring on the couch. Blearily, she opened her eye and groaned weakly. Clyde started to her, but Foxy was closer.
"Bloody hell… my head…"
"Easy there," said Foxy. "Ye've had a rough time of it, lass. Don't push yerself."
"Feels like it…" she said weakly. "I was… we were…" Her eye widened and she suddenly sat straight up. "I hurt you. I hurt all of you."
"That wasn't you, Vev. That was the… whatever-it-was in your head," said Clyde quickly. "But we dealt with it, it's gone now."
"Shut up, don't try and excuse it!" she snapped. "And what the hell were the rest of you thinking? I never asked you to do any of that crazy shi…" She caught sight of Billy and cleared her throat. "Crazy stuff."
"What, so it's okay when you do it but for us, it's not?" Hermana clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh my god, I snapped. I don't get mad, when do I get mad?"
"Welcome to my world and under the circumstances, Vevina, a thank you wouldn't go amiss?" said Theodore.
"For what, finally growing a pair? Congratulations," she growled.
"That's enough," Chica said firmly, but quietly. "Everybody has been through a lot as it is. At least save your squabbling for when Billy isn't in the room."
The boy had barely stirred from his nap, but the sight of him and Chica's scolding was enough to bring quiet back, albeit an awkward one. Vevina practically shrank back into the couch and folded her arms, looking at the ground. Clyde tried to catch her eye, but she just turned further away. He looked hurt, but didn't persist. Then a very quiet, very shortly delivered word broke it.
"Thanks."
They all looked in Vevina's direction, but she hadn't moved an inch. A few of them weren't even completely sure she had said anything, but nobody was willing to broach the subject further.
Fortunately, they were saved from doing so when Goldie walked through one of the doors. She was dusting off her hands and smiled in satisfaction.
"Well, nice to see you all buzzing in such a vibrant atmosphere," she said. "The fragments are all safely secured."
"Yeah, I'm still don't even know what these things are," said Hermana. "You pulled somethin' similar out of Ted's head, but it wasn't like what happened with Vev. Did we all have one?"
"You did. They were what was making you behave strangely when you first woke up. As to their nature, well, I'll explain later. It would take a while and you've all been through enough," she said.
Vevina rolled her eye. "Aye, that's bloody convenient."
Goldie ignored her comment. "Right, well we're done here for the most part. All traces of the fragments have been removed from your minds. I can notify our human friends in the waking world and we can go back anytime you like."
"Yeah, about that." Clyde lowered his brow in a frown. "I was thinking... maybe we should stay in this place for a bit."
"Oh?" Goldie tilted her head. "Why is that then?"
"Well come on, it's obvious. Even with those things gone, we've all got some stuff we need to work through," he admitted. "You guys, well, you've been great. But there's a lot of stuff to unpack and I guess we need to be the ones to do that."
Theodore nodded approvingly. "I never thought I'd say this, but I find myself agreeing with you. Yes, I think that would be best."
"Yeah," chimed in Hermana. "We can try to make things a little bit better."
"Maybe," Vevina murmured. Her eye fell on Billy, who was still sound asleep.
"A very wise and mature decision." Freddy carefully placed Billy on a couch and approached Theodore to shake his hand. "Good luck to you, sir. You're well on your way already."
"Thank you, Frederick," he replied.
"I'm gonna miss you, sis," said Hermana, tightly hugging her.
"I'll miss you too," wheezed Chica.
"Don't work too hard, dude," said Bonnie.
"Won't be a problem," Clyde said, bumping her offered fist.
Vevina approached Foxy stiffly. He didn't prompt her to do anything, merely waiting patiently. She shifted around for a while, then thrust out her hand. He smiled and shook it. For a brief few moments, his eyes met her single one. The corners of her mouth briefly flickered up before she let go and stalked away.
Goldie quietly walked up to Billy and knelt down to look at him. She considered waking him up, but decided against it. He appeared so peaceful, probably for the first time in too long. She affectionately rubbed his hair. He stirred feebly to her touch, but didn't wake up.
"Well, before you go, can I see you all for a moment?" She looked around at her family. "I need to talk to you about what happened. The rest of you, feel free to make yourselves comfortable here. Try not to start any fights."
They all murmured in ascent and the original synths left with her. She took them out into the corridor and gestured for them to stand close. In the blink of an eye, they were in the admin room of the mansion.
"I have to admit, I'm surprised that they settled on this course of action," said Freddy, looking at new synths on one of her monitors.
Goldie nodded while she sent a message to the humans with a quick update. "As am I. But it's the best thing. We've helped facilitate them speaking to each other, but there's a lot of personal details they need to iron out and we'd just be intruding."
"But won't you have to stay here with them?" asked Chica. "You're the one who created and controls this world. It only exists because of you."
"I know and you're right. That's fine though," she said. "The only reason I'm as I am now was to help mentally nurture and develop all of you. If that won't be changing for the foreseeable future, perhaps I can give them somebody new to trust and talk to."
"You don't have to," blurted Bonnie. Her face flushed. "I mean, you could just give control to somebody else or something, right?"
A notification pinged, interrupting them. It was a response from the three humans, simply saying they'd be waiting for them and were looking forward to hearing from them. It also asked about the state of the new synths. It was signed by Jeremy. Goldie nodded to nobody in particular, quickly composed a reply and answered Bonnie.
"I'm afraid not. None of them have the capacity. They just weren't designed that way, nor were any of you. Besides, would you really think any of them are capable of the responsibility?" she added.
"Right. Fine," said Bonnie shortly.
"Bonnie, I'll still be able to speak with you all," she reassured her. "I just won't be able to operate beyond the restaurant for a while. I need to focus my efforts on keeping this environment running. But I can have it be going on in the background and still be able to bother you on a regular basis."
"Great, just when I thought we'd been able to get rid of you again," she remarked.
"I think yer goin' to have yer work cut out fer ya," said Foxy.
"And I didn't with all of you?" she noted. "I'll be sure to keep you all updated. However, that wasn't what I brought you here to talk about."
She turned slowly to a corner of the room. Floating in their containers and wired to new monitors were the fragments. They were all gazing balefully at them, though none of them were trying to escape. Even Vevina's appeared to have calmed down, though it was still glaring.
"You're sure you're not mistaken?" Chica approached one of them and pressed her hand to it. "These are actually from the minds of... of the children?"
"There's no doubt in my mind. The timing is just too coincidental," said Goldie. "When Sid said he was having problems with the brain mapping, he really wasn't joking. What on Earth was he thinking?"
"Heartless wretch!" bellowed Foxy. "Just wait till I get my hook on him!"
"Why use children?" pondered Freddy. "That wasn't a factor in our creation."
"With good reason. It was determined early on that we never use the brain mapping on an underdeveloped, immature mind. The results of the mind created couldn't be fully anticipated, even with a complete understanding of the process." Goldie examined one of the monitors while she spoke. "If Sid didn't have the complete files or he was pushing the systems too much, the strain on the children must have been too great. My best guess is that perhaps he thought children's minds would be easier to control or mould into whatever he needed. Defaming us for their deaths was just a bonus."
"Just when you thought the guy couldn't get any more twisted. Cheeks?" Bonnie saw her trembling. "Hey, are you alright?"
None of them could see her face as she had her head bowed. When she spoke, it was with pure, undiluted loathing.
"No more. No more. After everything he's done…" When she turned to face them, her expression harkened to gathering storm clouds. "He is going to pay."
"He will," promised Goldie. "Right, we need to figure out what we do with-"
She didn't get to finish when a sudden burst of energy sent them all flying backwards. They crashed to the ground in a heap.
"Wha' in blazes was that?!" bellowed Foxy.
"I'm… not sure," groaned Goldie, shaking her head. "Ow, that really did a number on…" She pressed her hands up against something. "What? What is this?"
"What is wh- OW!" Bonnie smacked her head into something hard. "The hell is this mime crap? An invisible wall, really?!"
"Where in the world did this come from?" Freddy tapped it experimentally. "I presume this isn't your doing, sister?"
"Certainly not, brother. Whatever it is was likely the same thing that just knocked us back." She shut her eyes for a moment. "It can't be. There's another AI in here!"
Foxy leapt into a ready stance. "Is it that blasted Puppet?!"
"No, no I don't think so," she murmured. "How is that possible? My anti-intrusion protocols should have picked it up."
"We can't get through!" Chica was banging her fists on the wall. "We can't get to them!"
"Maybe you can't, but I sure caaaaan!" a new voice sang.
A new digital form had materialised next to the remnants of the children. He was tall and gangly, with messy, dirty-yellow hair and a manic look in his eyes, coupled with a matching grin. His pale skin clashed with his bright purple clothes, a waistcoat, bow-tie and trousers with a shirt that matched his hair. A pair of rabbit's ears sprouted in a lop-sided manner from his head.
"Heya Freda, old buddy!" he trilled. "Long time, no see."
"No… no, it can't be," she whispered. "S-Spring?"
"In the flesh! Well, computerised flesh, but you know what I mean." He waggled his foot and did a little dance. "Like the new duds? Gotta say, it took me a while to decide on what I like, but I got it worked out. I know what you're thinking, purple, right? But I like it!"
"Your former partner in crime?" murmured Freddy.
"Yeah, there is no way that we're related," remarked Bonnie.
"You sure about that, sis?" Spring darted up to the border of the field and waggled his eyebrows. "Looks like we got similar tastes in colour, though it looks a lot better on you. You free for dinner later?"
Bonnie grimaced in revulsion. "Please tell me you're not hitting on me."
"Why not? Would you prefer I just hit you instead? 'Cause I can do that pretty well too! It's how I show affection, so just think of it as a loving kiss on the mouth!" he cackled.
"That… is wrong on so many levels," she said eventually.
"Come ooooon, I'm not so bad when you get to know me. By then, I'm a lot worse!" He let out a full-belted laughter. "But seriously, is that a hard no?"
"What do you want, Spring? How can you be here?" Golden demanded.
"Oh yeah, funny story that. Man, a lot happened since we last saw each other, huh? There was some running and hiding and… oh yeah! You left me to die. Again." He kept his grin, but not his light tone. "Luckily for me though, I wasn't actually there. More like I was sort of there, but I was actually not there. Now I'm here, not there, y'hear?"
Golden stared in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"You're smart, you'll figure it out. Meanwhile, I'd love to stay and chat while I make balloon animals with your entrails, but for now, I came here to pick up some kids." He shot back to the children and projected a stream of purple energy, levitating them off the ground. "Get it? Because I'm stealing them and ruining your fun! Like you did for me."
"We'll see about that. If we can't stop you in here, maybe out there…" Goldie opened another holographic screen, but it beeped a negative. "Damn it! He's blocking my commands to end the simulation for you or messages to the humans. I can't wake any of you up or contact them!"
"No!" Chica banged on the wall even more furiously. "Let them go! Put them down!"
"Oh gee, I'd love to, I really would. No wait, that's wrong, sorry. Nah, I think I'll just take them with me, if that's okay? Yeah? Good, don't care, taking them anyway." He started to lift up into the air. "Been nice seeing you, Freda! See you on the flip side!"
They all yelled at him to stop, to come back. They tried to hammer down the wall holding them back. But it only lifted when Spring himself was gone from sight, along with the digital remains of the children's minds.
Guest: Because that was a typo that I missed XD
Teller-Story: Well I hope you enjoyed it regardless :)
Geek4Life: Sadly not. They are just that: fragments.
Arc of Carona: I hope the dread was well met XD
Monkey999Boy: It has been a while, hasn't it? XD I've been keeping as well as can be expected. Thanks for your feedback and I'm glad you're enjoying it so far.