Visceral displays of rage and shadowing clouds consumed his mind. You came back, after everything they've already been through? You should've stayed gone. He was fucking tired, and you pulled him from his long awaited slumber. So close. A moment later and he wouldn't be burning up inside as you walked down the dim neon hallway towards the Daycare to taunt his agonizing wake.

His thoughts didn't make sense, so he didn't listen to them. Irrational and fueled by nothing but suffering and the stinging in his face. All he wanted was you in his palms again. In his grip.

He spit out the words in a staticky growl, the poison coursing through your veins as you pleaded. Your nails dug into his arms, but he didn't feel it one bit compared to tonight's agony. Before he knew it, you were limp, and his grip loosened, confused.

It was dark. The greyscale spectrum of his single functioning night vision optic didn't do much for revealing colors. He couldn't tell that your face was flushing red while his anger numbed him to the immense pressure he was applying.

You fell to the floor, his hand still wrapped loosely around you neck, sheltering you from the thud of the ground while he followed your body, crouching before you and cradling your head.

The heat died. The venom flushed out of him. He didn't move, but neither did you. It took a couple of seconds before he could start processing what had just occurred as the clouds parted and reason returned to him.

What the fuck did he just do?

His hand that was just choking the life out of you ran over the features of your face. Each bump and bruise, the damaged eye that twinned his own. Did.. did he do that? The memory from moments ago was still fuzzy, but it comes rushing to him that all he did was strangle you. That's all he did. It didn't.. it wasn't enough to kill you, right? He checked for a pulse - his entire body felt as if it was pulsating itself from what had just occurred, stress filling his core. He couldn't get a read.

He couldn't get a read.

His heart sunk. He cursed his body for betraying him. He needed you to be okay.

Cradling you, he carefully and methodically lifted your limp frame into his arms, the back of your neck and head supported by one of his arms, your legs draped over the other. He ran to the only place he knew that brought him comfort, and hoped you would find it there as well.

Up in his room, he swaddled you under him with one arm as he pulled himself through the tube, setting you down on the blanketed floor while pleading for his hands at the very least to cease their incessant numb throbbing. His body was warmer than it had ever been before, almost matching Sun's idle temperature. He held his wrist, squeezing it as the sensation faded, before promptly placing his large index finger on your neck and for once, his intentions with it were pure. He felt the weak pressure of a consistent pulse.

He hung his head in relief, lasting only a few seconds before being washed away with guilt. He backed away from you, squeezing his face plate, clutching the metal and sensitive silicone material beneath his fingertips, claws begging to be released, likely inflicting more damage upon it than there already was.

He's hurt you twice now, and you've done absolutely nothing to deserve it. He'd been so convinced that the monsters were the ones trying to get close to them, he never considered himself to be one as well. He hasn't felt this way in.. ever. He's never regretted hurting people. It was always with reason, it was always justified. He could justify it. But this? He wanted to rip out his fingers one by one, disabling the hands that hurt you after seeing you on the floor in front of him, your chest barely moving with each shallow breath.

You were hurt, but not just from him.

His eyes were still a black and white gradient in the dark. He made his way out the tube, and returned a few seconds later carrying a small flashlight. As he plunged himself into the dark, his eye sparkled white. Never used to not being able to see, it was like he lost his remaining eye - blind, before clicking the button to the light and filling the room with color.

He's seen color before, of course. He could watch Sun, and he saw through his eyes. It was very rare when he was in control however. He never really needed to see color, except in rare circumstances like this one. This more than qualified for it.

He hesitantly made his way back towards you in the center of the room, dropping to his knees, and shining the light over you.

You eye was black and blue. The underside of it was the worst given the swelling. Your nose had a cut on the bridge where there would've been a bandage over it if he didn't knock you to the ground so violently.

He caressed your face gently, only using the tips of his fingers to outline the swollen bruises and contours of your fragile skin. He felt something other than dread that he didn't want to confront yet; that he knew would get him hurt inevitably. Still clinging on to what fear he had left that wasn't reserved for your well-being.

His fingers made his way to your chin, then neck. His claws that resided within his fingertips as of now had cut into your skin just minutes earlier, not deep enough to cause any major injury, but the dried blood still wasn't pretty coupled with the dark red bruising from holding you against the wall, a lot harder than he had to.

The rest of your body he shined the flashlight over had it's fair share of bruising too. He rolled up your sleeves, uncovering your wrists which were now a blueish yellow. He cringed, sickened at yet another injury granted to you by him he's witnessed the aftermath of. He felt it was necessary at the time - a stern warning, telling you to leave. While choking you into unconsciousness earlier, it was unbridled incoherent rage that he now regretted sorely.

Your shirt was partially up, exposing your lower chest - a canvas of different shades of red, more intense than anything else he's seen on you so far. Hesitantly he studied the bruises, slowly sliding up your dark gray shirt, and stopping about halfway. Your ribs were a mess. Deep red bruising plagued more skin than not, and Moon's expression would read immense grief if his face wasn't almost entirely destroyed.

What the fuck had happened? Did someone do this to you? He would probably kill whoever did if he found out. He proved that earlier with his fingers clutching his own chip so tightly.

This was why you weren't with them today. And as soon as you came back, he had hurt you so much more than you were already toughing through to see them again. His stomach sank, and he readjusted your shirt to cover you up again. He slowly made his hand over to yours, and gently held your fingers with his, while his other hand covered the wreckage racking his face, holding it in remorse. His hands dwarfed yours, of course, only taking about two or three of his fingers to cover up your whole hand. Criss-cross applesauce, bent over to hide in his lap. He thought for a while, before springing back up to rush out of the room, and off the balcony.

Moon braced himself before letting the wall down to speak with Sun. If he could, Sun would've been hibernating, but this entire time all he could do was think, and hurt, and ache. All up until Moon opened the curtains once again, to which he would've ignored if he didn't see a body laid on top of almost half the blankets in the supply closet, Moon alternating an ice pack from one spot of your bare ribs, to the other that had warmed up again.

Sun was frantic, he didn't know what to feel as the waves of emotion crashed over him from seeing you again, but in his room, and with Moon, who was gently caring for you like he gave a shit, bruised up, unconscious, but there. There. You came back.

Moon had gathered medical supplies and an ice pack from the break room, he made multiple trips for more blankets out of the supply closet along with a pillow. There was a dim lamp on the yellow kid's table, plugged into the outlet in the wall. It wasn't enough to trigger Sun's transformation, but it was enough to see what he was doing and study the colors you graced him with. He had cleaned up the cuts on your neck with band-aids and antibiotic ointment, as well as any other band-aids from minor cuts that needed to be swapped out and reapplied, including the one on your nose. Your shoes were neatly side by side in front of the tunnel, along with your bag, neither of them aware of the contents. He watched over you for about thirty minutes after he was last coddling you, dreading updating Sun on the situation.

Sun sputtered out question after question while Moon repositioned the ice pack over your swollen eye, carefully, as to not apply too much pressure. Moon only let Sun wear himself out, Sun yelling to him at first not to hurt you, before noticing his unusually gentle touch, then expressing his concern over the injuries, and finally questioning why you came back - connecting the dots, while being overjoyed that you were finally here, of course. It was the same train of thought that crashed through the station Moon had to clean up after when he snapped out of his irrational and regretful episode.

He didn't look forward to updating Sun on that part, and he dreaded even more your reaction to him if you woke up before morning.

As Moon explained the events that took place after he suddenly shut Sun out, of course he was angry. He was upset with Moon more than ever before. His heart dropped when he told him the shutters to the Plex opening was the only reason why he was still here. Distraught at how he strangled you into passing out, but then caring for you so tenderly. It was a rollercoaster, and they wouldn't have time to ride it yet. You taking a deep breath then suddenly wincing snapped them out of their argument.

You forgot the last thing that happened for a few seconds after you came to, but while it rushed back to you, in came the adrenaline and fear to follow. It didn't make it any better when cold fingertips pressed against your forehead and cheek lightly when you attempted to sit up.

You looked over to your right, and shuddered, a singular white eye staring back at you. It was light enough to tell it was Moon, but he looked a lot worse now than you could tell in the darkness of the hallway when he was choking you against the wall. You studied the scratches and disfigurement across his faceplate. The void where his other eye should've been now being filled with only wires and small metal pieces. His expression was neutral from what you could tell despite the damage. His teeth were exposed, some bits of the silicone-like material that made up his lips were gone completely. Why they gave them such sharp teeth was a mystery you wanted to look into eventually, but for now you were afraid for your life.

As the rapidly onset panic caused you to breathe irregularly and far deeper than before, your ribs stung and protested with every breath - while attempting to slow down was met with the anxiety and discomfort of not getting enough air. Your chest and sides were cold in certain places, in which you attributed to the agonizing numbness which still somehow burned. You were helpless, and your sides felt like they were on fire. Paralyzed, your eyes didn't deviate from Moon's gaze, waiting for him to torture you once more.

"Calm down." He warbled, more static than before sizzled in the back of his throat. He didn't move after recalling his hand from your face when he pressed it back into the pillow. Sitting criss-cross at your side, towering over you as he moved his other hand with something in it, placing it to your bare side gently with a cold shudder rocking your body. You cried out before realizing it didn't hurt, just your breathing did.

Your jaw was quivering, you hated feeling this exposed and helpless. You could only watch as the monster loomed above you, treating your injuries like he wasn't just squeezing the life out of you.

"..W-why" you whined out, a tear finally making it's way down your cheek from the pain. "Y-you.. you.. ugh." You couldn't find the words, but he knew exactly what you were asking.

"I'm.. sorry." he forced out, avoiding your eyes as he made his way slowly to your face with the ice pack in hand.

You flinched away, and he stopped.

"..I'm sorry."

You were cautious, and scared, but there was nothing you could do to protest even if you wanted to. You relaxed your head back into it's position center on the pillow, and he proceeded yet again a bit slower, descended the ice pack over your left eye. Your face tensed for a second at the cold, before looking up at the ceiling to avoid his eye if it decided to focus on you - your right being your uninjured one, and of course, he just had to be off to your right also still in view.

It was a few minutes before he brought back his hand. He looked at you for way longer than it was comfortable once you were diverting your gaze from him. He finally spoke up, ending the peaceful silence.

"Do you want Sun?" He asked in a flat tone. Sun was yelling at him the entire time since you woke, but he's grown accustom to ignoring him.

You nodded as to not waste breath, and looked towards him for a second. You locked eyes, and he got up, facing the light switch, before looking back to you. He diverted himself off towards the lamp, and rotated his wrist slowly, turning something - brightening the room, not as blinding as it would've been with the main light overhead, and a lot more comfortable too. He slowly adjusted the dial until he shuddered and stiffened, and you watched as mechanical whirring filled the room, a symphony of tiny mechanical parts did their jobs before the noise died down.

Your mouth parted a bit in shock as Sun turned to you. His face was a wreck also, and he only had a couple of rays, none of which looked intact. The realization of who initiated the self-harm filled you with agonizing heartbreak. He slowly made his way over to you, before sitting in the same spot Moon was. He didn't look at you after he turned around, focusing his gaze downwards.

"..Sunny. S-sunshine.. what..what happened?" Your throat bubbled up after unintentionally pitching up the last syllable, and you could feel tears at the ready, threatening to crash through the flood gates depending on his response.

He squeaked a bit before talking. "I'm okay. I'm.. I'm just so glad to see you again." His intact eye never left the ground.

You couldn't help but cry, you tried not to, but you were very weak as it is. You didn't have much energy for anything right now. He wasn't okay, but you weren't going to push him for an answer he was uncomfortable giving.

"God..god.. S-sunny I'm so fucking sorry. I..I got into a car accident. I passed out as they loaded me up into the ambulance and.. I-I wasn't awake up until a few hours ago. I came as fast as I could." You explained slowly, and softly, pacing your breaths to be as painless as possible, which would only help a little.

Sunny looked up at you for the first time, and your heart couldn't help but drop at his face. It was so tore up. You needed to get him down to Parts and Service ASAP. Luckily the Daycare wasn't open on the weekends. You can only imagine what management would do if they saw him like this.

"O-oh gosh, Sunflower.. we.. we thought you-"

He stopped with your hand on his knee, and there his fidgeting hands joined yours for a few seconds of silence.

"I'm okay. I got here all by myself, didn't I?" You tried to sooth him with the same lie he told you, and you weren't sure if it was working. Both of you knew it wasn't okay anyways.

You attempted to sit up, gritting your teeth, eyes clenched while Sun protested shakily, but up you were, shirt falling into place, and collecting yourself from the movement.

"Sunny.. we need.. I need to get you fixed up bud. I'm fine, I pr-.." You were going to promise, but you didn't want to break it. "I'll be okay. Just please let me help you."

He shushed you, before getting up and reaching into one of the boxes laid against the wall where the tunnel was. He pulled out a bottle of water, and handed it to you before sitting back down.

You only gave him a look of defeat and you drank through the entire bottle. The breath after holding it caused you to vocalize an ouch and crumple the now empty bottle in your hands. Sun's hand took yours, while the other took the bottle from you, discarding it off to the side in a separate box. "I'm.. I'm sure you're tired Sunbeam, you should really really really rest up, okay?"

You hummed in disapproval.

"Y-you can take me to Parts and Service once you wake up, I promise..- only if you're feeling better!" Adding on that last part a bit quickly, while his heart sunk at the imagery of the room he promised you could take him to later on.

Pulling out a moondrop from one of his pockets, he placed it in your palm, closing your fingers around it and holding your hand for a little while, rubbing circles along the back with his thumb. He took his other hand and rubbed your head gently, and you couldn't help but smile a bit at his comforting, warm touch.

You sigh, "Hm, okay.. okay Sunny, if you promise." and he let go of your hand while you took the small dark blue gummy.

"Lay down now, Starlight, pretty please." He soothed, using his hand previously rubbing your head oh so gently to hold your back and guide you back down slowly. He grabbed some extra blankets to your left after the back of your head was snug into the pillow, and covered you up, tucking you in very gently. The room was only a bit cool still to your surprise. Initially you thought it was because of Moon, but now that Sunny was here, you guess it just felt this way normally.

You undid the tucking Sun worked so hard on to his very obvious dismay and a pitiful whine. You reached your right hand out, grasping for his arm, pulling a bit until he gave in, moving closer. You weren't stronger than him, definitely the fuck not, but you did have a pull on him in one way or another. You kept adjusting your hand position the closer he got further up his arm as he warbled nervously with a hint of static, all until he was laid out right next to you. His warmth was more comfortable than the most snug of tucked blankets. You guessed for a second his ever so increasing heat was due to him being closer, right next to you, but you knew better than that by now.

His faceplate rested at the side of your pillow, you positioned his arm you had a grasp on to hold it as the moondrop took effect. His hand laid at your collarbone into the nook of your neck, forearm splayed across your chest and off it to your right. You held his hand with your left, and his forearm with your right. The warmth radiated in your core and neck and you've never felt more safe and comfy. Closing your eyes as he dipped his face plate to meet the top of it at the side of your head, you started to drift to sleep like you just took a fuck ton of melatonin, which you likely did. The white noise of his cooling fans soothing you until your grip on his arm loosened.